My heart has never been beating so fast. I´ve always wanted to feel this way but unfortunately the situation wasn´t really according to my imagination. What should I do? Become angry, sad, and happy or feel betrayed? From all the emotions the last one was the strongest. I felt betrayed and wondered if he really found me this easy and cheap. Am I a charity or something? No, I want tolerate this, I´m a man and I have my pride too. He will regret stepping on me like this! Bastard!

I hit my small coffee table with a spoon I was holding in my hand at that moment. The spoon made a small scratch on the cheap piece of furniture and then hopped down on the ground and dirtied everything with a chocolate pudding that it was just a second ago dipped in. What a mess. I sighed and went to clean up. My mind was still focused on the happenings of last night and cleaning my single room of the tiniest flat you´ve ever seen became an exceptionally long activity.

It must have been around midnight when I heard some banging. The noise was so loud that I almost got scared that it´s police knocking on my door. I quickly jumped from my bed and made a run, actually I made just three long steps, and opened the door. Instead of police it was more of a secret force waiting on the other side. My favourite detective was leaning against the door frame and calling my name tirelessly.

“Donghae? What are you doing here?” I was pretty worried. He doesn´t really visit me often and he also never knocks since he has a key to my house. How he got it I still don´t know.

“Jaeee! I miss you!” His answer was as unexpected as the visitor himself. And thanks to my slow reaction to his short display of affection I missed the timing to close the door. Donghae didn´t hesitate to invite himself into my room and went to sit on my bed. On his way he got rid of his belongings and the first thing I did after recovering was to put his jacket on a hanger and shoes to a shoe rack. Neat.

“Are you possibly drunk?” I asked carefully although the answer was actually clear. Donghae´s cheeks were flushed and his eyes glassy. He had problems with sitting straight and whatever he said came out in a slur. His ubiquitous accent not helping at all.

“I can´t keep you anymore,” was what I encrypted after a short brainstorm when Donghae decided to speak up.

“What do you mean? I don´t understand at all,” I said in a hushed tone because my friend looked kinda distraught. I sat next to him and patted his back gently, I tried to push him to speak more.

“It´s forbidden now,” Donghae sniffed but suddenly became serious and looked straight into my eyes, “let´s keep it a secret!” He suddenly exclaimed. I wanted to say something because I didn´t understand a single word of what he had told me but I didn´t get my chance.

Donghae suddenly grabbed my nape and pushed me towards himself forcefully. My previous sleepiness was immediately gone when our lips touched. I gasped in surprise and that bastard stuck his tongue inside my mouth! In my life I have never been kissed this way. My eyes were as wide as saucers but Donghae wasn´t concerned at all. His own eyes were closed; his right arm was still holding my neck while the left one went to my cheek. He moaned slightly and continued attacking my sanity. For a moment everything went blank and I couldn´t even recognise the taste of the alcohol anymore. What woke me up was the sudden saltiness in my mouth. I don´t know whose tears caused this, if they were Donghae´s or mine, but I felt very sad at once. My head started spinning and exactly at that moment Donghae pulled out. We were both desperately gasping for air and I wanted to scream even though I had no power in my lungs anymore. Donghae then leaned in again but this time only my lips slightly. For some reason I shivered because of this gentle action. And after that he just closed his eyes again and unceremoniously flunked himself on my bed. He was dead asleep the moment he hit the pillow.

I was left there dumbfounded. What the heck had just happened?! Donghae came drunk into my room at night, said some nonsense, kissed me and dropped off. That´s not a normal way, how private detectives pass their evenings, right? Something surely must have happened but taking it out on me just isn´t fair! I´m so angry and confused. What about the kiss? He said ´forbidden´ and ´secret´, don´t tell me he wants to keep me as his secret lover or something! I don´t want to become a rich man´s affair, what am I? Some tears streaked down and landed into my lap. Stupid Hyukjae, stop crying over a man that gives no about you.

I slept on the ground that night and when I woke up, Donghae was already gone together with his shoes and jacket. Only a bitter feeling was left. Literally because I could still taste the alcohol in my mouth. I went to brush my teeth thoughtfully and opened the chocolate pudding to repair my mood, taste and sugar level in my system. What to do I still didn´t know.

____________________

Two weeks had passed and I was lost more than ever. When I went to the agency I found out that it was closed down. No one told me anything! Donghae didn´t accept my calls and I couldn´t get any news about him either. I tried to call Heechul but he was as confused as me. I met up with Siwon and also with Taemin who tried to cheer me up. Nothing helped. Donghae was gone and I was left abandoned.

“Hyukjae, stop it. You are scaring my customers away!” Sungmin scolded.

“But hyung, what am I supposed to do now?” I continued to wail and put my head on the table. Sungmin was taking care of his salon´s customer and others were occupating the fluffy sofa, waiting for their turn. All the girls and ladies expertly pretended that they weren´t listening.

“Find a new job to pay for your bills. As soon as possible if I may add, I know very well that you are completely broke already,” Sungmin didn´t even spare me a glance and brushed through the girl´s hair.

“Not only broke but broken too!” I attacked my hyung´s soft spot once more.

“Hyukkie, what he did to you wasn´t nice but you need to get over it. Forget him and cheer up, okay?” This time he looked at me and smiled. I felt suddenly guilty because under that smile was very apparent concern and worry. He was right, it wasn´t my style to sit down and bath in my depression. I should pull myself together and do something really big. And then I got this one idea.

“Fine,” I stood up courageously, “I´ll fight again but you need to help me with something,” I grinned for the very first time in a few weeks. Sungmin blinked in surprise but still nodded his head in my full support.

“I need you to dye my hair black! It has to be short, neat and pitch black,” I clenched my fists and looked at him in full determination.

“That was unexpected. Hyukkie, I don´t know, what´s your plan but I have lots of customers here waiting and you have no money-“

“Aww, that´s no problem!” One of the ladies exclaimed. “We can wait,” added a girl at the back. “Put it on my tab, Sungminnie. I bet Hyukjae has something interesting up on his sleeve,” unexpectedly a man´s voice announced. I snapped my head into that direction and saw Leeteuk leaning against the doorframe.

“Weren´t you supposed to come at three, Teuki hyung?” Sungmin asked. Leeteuk chuckled and went to sit into the corner. It was the place where Donghae was once sitting, the one with Super Junior poster as a background. He also didn´t look very cool in that seat.

“Yeah, I had some time so I came for a chat. Good thing I did,” Leeteuk said and winked at me. A huge smile grew on my face. If Leeteuk were to play the game with me, I had way better chance to succeed.

Sungmin then went to work on my head and while my hair was being dyed I went to chat with Teuki hyung. He was visiting Sungmin´s salon only for a short while. Apparently it was Donghae who told him about this bizarre place and he wanted to see it with his own two eyes. These rich people really have no better things to do. Then we discussed my new plan to gain back my happy life and with a small participation of the ladies we took it to its utmost perfection. And when Sungmin revealed my new hairstyle, everyone in the room was sure of my success.

“Is that really you Hyukjae?” Siwon´s smile was dazzling. I nodded my head proudly and went to give him a friendly hug. I made him invite me for a lunch.

“I´m preparing a huge thing, Siwon,” I said quietly so the handsome man would become even more curious. And as expected Siwon´s eyebrows lifted up and curiosity was written all over his face.

“I hope you will initiate me to that,” another smile and we both sat down in a secluded corner of one of the more expensive restaurants in the city.

“Actually I would need a bit of help too,” I casted down my eyes. It wasn´t easy to ask for help and even my new confident self wasn´t enough for it. I put more dignified character for this plan. Sungmin dyed my hair black and styled them upwards into waves just like Siwon or Donghae often wears it. I put on my black suit and white shirt underneath and wore even a black cravat. What I couldn´t though were dress shoes. I didn´t have any and buying new ones would cost me too much, well it would cost me everything. So I decided to leave a bit of my own fashion and put on my silver sneakers. I felt better in them anyway. Prepared like this I went to ask my friends of an assistance and that´s why I´m having lunch with Choi Siwon.

“Of course! Whatever it is my dear Hyukjae!” My handsome companion didn´t hesitate even a bit.

“I would like you to find someone for me. You have the most connections from all the people I know, that´s why I would like to ask you to help me,” I smiled nervously.

“No problem, for you I would find even hundred people,” Siwon chuckled and relaxed.

The lunch went well. We laughed a lot and I told Siwon my plan. He was surprised but liked my idea as much as Leeteuk did. I gained a new ally in my fight and hoped to gain even more. I needed to do this. The only thing that made me a bit nervous was the feeling of being followed. I had it for a few days already but I couldn´t find anything suspicious so I let it go.

After the meeting with Siwon I called Heechul. He was really happy to hear from me again and invited me to come to his place in the evening. That´s exactly what I hoped for. Around eight changed into something more comfortable and took a bus to Heechul´s. I was welcomed by a stressed Heechul who went to check if I´m alright. He asked if I had eaten, slept and if I hadn´t cried. It was strange seeing Heechul in a mother´s role but I didn´t hate it either. When the red head had calmed down we sat down in the living room with some snacks prepared by Ryeonggu beforehand. I told Heechul about my project too because I was kinda lost on how to do some things. I came to ask for an advice.

“That´s pretty interesting, Hyukjae. You think it will work?” Heechul took a sip of his wine.

“I believe, hyung,” I answered confidently although I wasn´t really sure.

“Actually what you need right now is money,” the red head said bluntly. And I sighed because he was right. I need more money but I have no idea where to take them. I increased the number of manuscripts for proofreading and the number of other part-time jobs I have but it was still just enough to pay for my own bills.

“When I think of it, I left a bit of a debt in Private Eye Lee you know? I was wondering how to pay back and this might be a good chance, right?” Heechul´s smile grew large.

“That´s not right, hyung. I didn´t come here to ask for money,” I pushed back the urge to scream with happiness.

“Donghae didn´t take any payment from my dongsaeng Taemin and my friend Jungsoo didn´t pay you either. I myself used Donghae´s services a few times for free and the amount of money the agency lost is then pretty big. The Fish himself doesn´t need more money of course but it´s something else for you. So I´ll pay my debt to the agency through you,” Heechul finished and I knew that my arguments were no more valid.

“Hyung,” was the only word I managed before I started crying.

“Yah, Monkey! What am I supposed to do when you get emotional! Stop wailing and pour me more wine!” Heechul scolded. I smiled and with snot dangling from my nose poured my friend another glass of the expensive wine. Cheers.

_________________________

Time keeps passing by but I have still no news from Donghae. It´s as if he had disappeared from this world. Not even Heechul or Leeteuk were able to contact him and I´m seriously worried right now. My plan is doing well for now especially with the help of this city´s most influential people but my mind is becoming more and more restless. What if it won´t work?

Another unnerving thing was that someone was still following me. I was sure by now because the feeling didn´t disappear only strengthened. A few times I even caught a glance of people in black or a suspicious car parking in front of my house. To say I was scared would be an understatement.

I looked down from my window and just like a few times before spotted black SUV parked in front of my block of flats. Shivers ran through my body but I had no choice but to leave the house. I had an appointment with Leeteuk that afternoon and I couldn´t let the man wait. I tried to walk through the parking lot as unnoticeably as possible but my effort might have been destroyed by the flashy silver sneakers since the men in the car undoubtedly noticed me. I began walking faster but opposite of their usual behaviour the men didn´t try to hide themselves. Instead the car started moving, shortening the distance between us. I thought they may want to hit me and jumped to the side but the car stopped next to me and one of the men got off.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lee Hyukaje,” the bulky man in black suit put down his shades, revealing his small eyes. My curious self started to wonder if his eyes are really so small or just closed. I didn´t dare to ask. “It´s very unfortunate that you decided to meddle into business that shouldn´t concern you at all,” the man smiled showing off his white teeth.

“I-I think I don´t know what you are talking about,” I stuttered out shaking in front of the muscleman.

“But I´m sure you do,” he put his big hand on my shoulder, “If you don´t want me to take you with us you better remember. I wouldn´t want to break one or two of your bones,” the man chuckled.

“JongKook, calm down. We didn´t come here for this,” another man who was less bulky but taller got off of the car.

“You are no fun Kangin,” the small eyed muscleman complained but retreated his hand from my shoulder. Kangin? Why does this name sound so familiar?

“I´m always serious when the matter includes Donghae,” Kangin stated flatly and my heart stopped beating. Kangin was one of Donghae´s men who would come to clean up the mess after some of our cases. So these guys work for the Lee family! Okay, now I admit that I´m in trouble.

“Seems like you finally understood, Lee Hyukjae. In that case I hope we won´t have to see each other anymore,” JongKook smirked and went to sit back into the car. Kangin on the other hand examined me carefully and then smiled for himself. He didn´t say anything only climbed into the SUV and started the engine. In a few seconds they were gone together with all my blood because there wasn´t left any in my body.

When I gained back a little bit of my strength I ran off to Leeteuk. I was already late but meeting up with him has never seemed so important. I was being followed by Lee´s henchmen and they even threatened me! I arrived into Leeteuk´s apartment and jumped into his arms the moment he opened the door. I felt like a kid in my daddy´s hands but I couldn´t help it, Leeteuk was the second comfortable person for me after Donghae.

“Don´t spill that cocoa on yourself, Hyukjae,” my hyung tried to calm me down. We were sitting in the kitchen with two cups of hot cocoa and some cookies in front of us. I told Leeteuk about today´s happenings and he tried his best to make me relax again.

“I know that you are scared and all but from what you told me it seems like that Kangin guy has some loyalty for Donghae. If he was there today, Donghae might soon find out about your situation from him. That´s if we assume that he doesn´t know yet,” Leeteuk reasoned.

“Why do you think he doesn´t? Maybe it was Donghae himself who sent them on me because he doesn´t want me to come near him anymore,” I sniffled and sipped from my cocoa. “Hot!” I was careless and indeed spilled the dark liquid on myself. Great.

Leeteuk only sighed. He already expected this to happen. “Wipe it with this,” he gave me a towel, “and if you ask me, I´m sure that Donghae would be much happier with you by his side. I don´t see a reason for him to send his henchmen on you. You were probably just lucky that one of Donghae´s friends was among them.”

“Hm,” was my only response. Honestly I didn´t know what to think myself. Did Donghae hate me? Was he tired of me and just severed our relationship? Maybe he didn´t want to be a detective anymore and decided to rather play golf instead. But I remember him talking many times about world´s best fictional or real detectives who fought for the justice. He loved the job. And if he decided to play golf he would have contacted at least his old friends like Heechul. I don´t want to be this confused anymore.

Leeteuk wanted me to stay overnight but I refused. Although it would be much safer to spend the night at hyung´s place I didn´t want anything else today than my own bed. I was tired and depressed so I stopped on the way home in the market and bought myself a carton of strawberry milk. I´ll drink myself to sleep tonight.

When I arrived home I put the milks on the coffee table and settled on the ground. But before I even opened them I heard my door unlock. Someone was coming inside! I jumped up but the only weapon at that moment was the pink box in my hand. I prayed for the assaulter to be allergic to strawberries or lactose. But the person who entered was only allergic to my love for strawberries and I wasn´t even sure if I wanted to defend myself from him at all.

“Thanks god, you´re alright!” Were the first words I heard from Lee Donghae after ´let´s keep it a secret´ a month ago.

I was so shocked that I couldn´t even blink. My head was spinning and my heart was beating fast. Donghae was okay, he was here in my house, he came uninvited as always. It was as if nothing happened. Like he didn´t disappear for the whole month, didn´t close down his agency, didn´t stop accepting calls and didn´t kiss me. Suddenly tears filled my eyes and rage took of my body. I was over helmed by everything and couldn´t take so many emotions at one time. So when Donghae started coming closer I exploded.

“You bastard!” I yelled and with full force threw the pink box on the ground in front of him. The strawberry milk of course didn´t withstand the hit and the content left the paper cover only to go flying and soak thoughtfully Donghae´s clothes.

Donghae was left dumbfounded in the middle of my tiny flat in clothes that were now pink and smelled of strawberries. I broke down in tears in front of him. I could barely hear him call my name over the sound of my cry and ringing in my ears. Then I felt two hands carefully touch my shoulders and then I was gently taken into embrace.

“Please, don´t cry,” Donghae pleaded softly into my ear, “I´m sorry, Hyuk.” He then sniffled too and tightened his embrace. The action made me cry even harder and I probably wouldn´t stop until I fainted. I´m not called a crybaby for nothing you know.

“Hyukkie, I´m really sorry. I disappeared to protect you, I didn´t want you to get hurt because of me,” Donghae started but didn´t let go of me. “My older brother is supposed to take over father´s business in future so I felt safe and started this little detective agency. But my father didn´t like me befriending his business enemies as he calls them and wanted me to stop. I couldn´t come out of the house anymore. He cut off my money and I didn´t have enough to keep the agency running or to pay you. I´m a rich man but I own nothing, Hyukkie!” Donghae cried.

“I thought that it would be better if I didn´t keep in touch with you and so I didn´t even tell Heechul or Leeteuk what happened or where I was. But today Kangin told me that you did something dangerous and that my father got angry. When I heard that, I immediately ran here!”

We were standing in my room hanged on each other and crying. It was a pitiful sight if you include the size of the room and the spilled milk. After Donghae´s confession we didn´t know what to say anymore and what to do but we just couldn´t let go because we might lose each other forever.

But as I was hesitating to make a move the doors of my room opened harshly and more uninvited guests entered. Four men in black. One I recognised as Kangin, the other one as JongKook and one I was pretty sure must be Donghae´s father. His looks and gestures gave it all, this was Mr. Lee.

“What are you doing here, Donghae?” The old man coldly asked. The boy spun around but his one arm stayed wrapped around me. “F-Father. I was just worried about Hyukjae.”

“Your little friend over here gave me a headache. No threads worked on him so I came to give him a lecture personally,” Donghae´s father smiled but it was more than creepy I tell you. He gestured to his three men and they all made their move to corner us.

Actually it was harder than you would expect with the amount of space in the flat it was a miracle when they managed to close up to us. I was standing side by side with Donghae, his arm never leaving my body. Luckily our backs were covered by Kangin, who as Leeteuk predicted, was absolutely loyal to Donghae. Even against Mr. Lee. JongKook kept his eye on Kangin while the other bulky man stared at me. Donghae was having a mental battle with his father. The atmosphere was tense, one wrong move and something horrible could happen.

“Please, leave Hyukjae out of this. He´s a very important person to me and I don´t want you to come near him,” Donghae suddenly announced and protectively pushed me closer to his body. I was shivering like a puppy in the rain.

“Hm? How important?” Mr. Lee´s expression changed and I couldn´t read him at all.

“The most important,” came Donghae´s answer. I didn´t understand the game those two were playing but I was sure that something was hidden behind those lines.

“Is that so?” Mr. Lee than gestured to his men to come back to his side, Kangin included. I was utterly confused by the outcome and jabbed Donghae´s side for some explanation. Instead it was Mr. Lee who gave me my answers.

“I might not look like it but I do believe in love. I thought that my little son just liked playing with fire but now I see that he was actually serious. I hope you can take care of him well, Lee Hyukjae,” I nodded my head feverishly although I didn´t really understand the reason I was agreeing. “And for you, Donghae. I won´t financially support you anymore, the company assets you own right now and a few other belongings are everything I´m able to give you. Don´t come asking for money anymore,” he said sternly but the tone had a certain fatherly feeling.

“Yes, sir,” Donghae slightly smiled.

“Good, in that case I´ll excuse myself,” Mr. Lee announced. And in two minutes all that circus was gone. Only a few footprints of their shoes and puddle of spilled milk remained.

The moment the doors closed my legs gave away. I would have fallen, if Donghae´s arm still wasn´t wrapped tightly around my body. I was exhausted and to tell the truth Donghae didn´t look any better. We decided to call it a day and leave all the unanswered questions for tomorrow. But first we went to get rid of the strawberry milk. My visitor took a shower and I cleaned the room, I secretly drank one of the milks too. After the light was switched off we both climbed into my bed and lied as far from each other as possible. The memories of the forced kiss were still apparent in both our minds. We fell asleep with a simple ´good night´.

_______________________

The next morning I was woken up by the sunshine. My mood has considerably improved and I rushed to the bathroom to clean myself and do my hair. When I came back to the room, Donghae was already awake and sitting on my bed with a horrible case of a bedhead. I couldn´t help but laugh at him.

“Yah! That´s not funny!” Donghae grumbled but his voice was still hoarse from the sleep which made me laugh even harder. “You know, you should stop drooling so much if you don´t want to drown yourself in one unlucky night,” Donghae made a comeback.

“What?! I don´t drool!” I defended myself but one glance at the pillow made me shut up. Monday morning, Donghae wins.

“Hyukjae? What were you doing that you caught attention of my father? I can´t imagine you pulling something dangerous,” Donghae then asked seriously or maybe more curiously.

“Why don´t I show you then?” I smiled playfully and pushed the brunette in to the bathroom and gave him some of my clothes since his got destroyed by my strawberry attack yesterday. He´s luck that I like hip-hop style though because most of my tight-fitted clothes are women clothes.

After a quick breakfast sponsored by me, we arrived at one of the streets in the centre. I guided Donghae to a house on the corner and up to the second floor. I waited in front of one of the doors to give Donghae a chance to read the metal plates.

Private Eye Lee

Assistant: Lee Hyukjae

Technician: Cho Kyuhyun

Helper: Henry Lau

Under that was a small note: Detective Wanted, contact Lee Hyukjae. Donghae was standing there without moving. His eyes were once again opened widely and his mouth agape. Then he slowly reached out and took off the note. He crumbled the paper and put it into the pocket. Donghae just got the job.

“The office was paid from Heechul´s debt to you. Siwon helped me to find the two other employees since we´re going bigger now. You can´t use your father´s technician anyway and this Kyuhyun guy seems funny. Also I don´t want to run your stupid errands anymore so Kyuhyun brought his overly enthusiastic friend who doesn´t mind working just for a few bugs. The rest was taken care of by Leeteuk who is by the way our boss. But I´m sure you don´t mind,” I explained and Donghae looked contend with everything I said.

I then hurried to pull out the key and opened the office. It was much smaller and of course cheaper than the previous one. There was no exotic wood or marble but still it was nice and I designed it to fit the image of a private detective. In the office were three tables. Two of them on one side for the technician and the helper and mine was on the other side of the room. Two other doors were on the side. One led to a small kitchenette and bathroom and the second to the detective´s office. I didn´t open then on purpose. I had yet something to ask.

“Donghae?” I started. Donghae hummed and focused on me. “Why did you do that?” I didn´t need to say more, we both knew that I was talking about the forced kiss.

Donghae bit his lip: “When I found out about my situation, I panicked. I thought of not being able to see you anymore, to keep you by my side. I wanted to see you again and tell you something important but I got drunk instead and made a huge mistake. I couldn´t face you anymore, I felt guilty and embarrassed. But unlike me you never gave up and waited for me to come back to you.”

“What did you want to tell me?” I insisted. I wanted to believe that my instinct was right and that I didn´t fight for nothing. I looked into his eyes and waited for his answer.

“That I love you,” Donghae whispered, “thank you for trusting me.”

Donghae then slowly walked to me and unlike the last time he carefully leaned closer and closed his eyes. I erased the rest of the distance and connected our lips. It was sweet and gentle kiss, the one that always appears at the end of the romantic movies. We separated with a quiet smack and hugged each other. Donghae gave me a huge smiled and to ease the sudden awkwardness asked if he could see his office.

I felt really happy. Who wouldn´t if they caught one of the hottest bachelors in the city, right? When I developed my crush for the detective, I would have never imagined to fall in love with him so hard and even in the craziest dreams, I couldn´t see him return that love. But it happened and I might soon start to believe in vampires or fairytales too. Although I´m sure that for some time we´ll all have to keep at least a one part-time job to keep this business running, we can establish the best detective agency in the city. And with others like Siwon, Heechul or Leeteuk behind our backs we could really make this work. I couldn´t wait for the new cases to come.

“Lee Stupid Hyukjae!” A yell suddenly woke me up from my reverie. “What the hell?!” Donghae screamed again.

Ah. He must have seen that! I grinned. Donghae made me suffer a lot and I wouldn´t let it slide without a small revange. C´mon, you guys didn´t think I would just forget about the best picture of Donghae ever, huh? I printed Donghae´s photo in dress and make-up in much bigger format than last time and hanged it in his new office.

I hanged it very high.

-The End-

_______________________

So the story is finally finished! I hope you liked the end. TT_TT I´m not really good at writing stuff like that, right? Anyway, thank you for the reading and your comments. I really appreciate that. I love you all - PandaHero :)