“Sorry?” Donghyun smiled, his full body turned to ensure he was giving his full attention to the boy sitting at the corner of the shop.

“T-That…” Minwoo stuttered, pointing at the entrance of the shop while fighting with his inner self that wouldn’t allow him to meet the other’s gaze. “Today m-morning…”

“Something happened today morning?” One of the look-alikes caught onto the words and tried completing it in his stead. Though they wondered why he was tripping over his words.

Minwoo nodded meekly, raising his head and widening them when he realised the five men were now gathered around him.

“Do you mind?”

-

Minwoo sighed in relief. He had to stare into his mother’s eyes and pray she wouldn’t say a thing about him leaving the shop or that he was her son. His mother was about to say something looking at Minwoo following the crowd when Donghyun promised they would be back quickly for the food.

Assuming she might be nervous because they haven’t paid, the detective even paid in advance, surprising the lady.

“Here.” Minwoo pointed to the four men following him, Donghyun still caught up in payment. He noticed the wary man dropped his guard, more interested in the three words apparent on the wall standing where they’ve reached.

The twins were less interested in the words once they recognised its existence, instead looking around the scene as if for clues. The wary man took out a map and started marking their location, while the last of the four seemed a bit bored.

“So are we supposed to make a sentence or what?” The shortest one questioned noisily, and Minwoo noted with slight joy that he wasn't the shortest. His height had always been a bit of a complex for him, but now- “Stop looking like you're happy you found someone shorter than you.”

“S-Sorry-”

“Jeongmin-hyung!” One of the look-alikes exclaimed. “I'm sorry, he's a bit of a joker.”

“Heh, he looked so nervous. Have you been living in your mother's arms for your whole life? Sheltered and loved, never seen the outside world...”

Minwoo pressed his lips together. Yeah, he has, does he look the part?

“Anyway, I want to apologise for whatever my colleagues have been doing-”

“Friends.” Jeongmin piped in.

“Friends. Yes, sorry. We should have done some introductions before.” Donghyun spoke as he caught up with the group, smiling at Jeongmin's words before nodding towards the previously-wary man.

“I'm Shim Hyunseong, hello.” The said Hyunseong gave a friendly smile, and Minwoo tried to forget the scary first impression he had of the guy. Minwoo gave a bow, then stumbled back a little when the two look-alikes came before him trying to introduce themselves.

“I'm Youngmin!”

“Jo Kwangmin.” The more serious-looking twin said simply. As if as an afterthought, he added. “Twins.”

Minwoo nodded with a small bow and wondered if it's time to give his name-

“Jeongmin's the name!” Jeongmin grinned, giving Minwoo a small push from the back towards Donghyun.

“And I'm-”

“Kim Donghyun.” Minwoo unconsciously said, hands reaching for his mouth again. He tried to come up with an excuse for himself, ugh, what has he done again?

“Ooh, Donghyun-hyung's famous!” Jeongmin sang. “Must be some kind of idol to the kids, huh, young and handsome, smart and dignified!”

“Stop teasing.” Donghyun smiled softly, bowing slightly to the flustered man. “I'm thankful you've heard of my name before. And you are...?”

“Minwoo.” Minwoo mustered, glad he could wriggle out of that at least.

“Anyway, are we supposed to wait for some connectors to appear? I mean I'm not sure we can form a sentence from what we currently have.” Jeongmin continued from where he previously left off, seriousness setting in despite the light tone of his words.

“I don't really understand it. Is there a possibility the words are random?” Kwangmin looked to his twin, who gave an apologetic smile.

“I'm not good with what little hints we have now.”

“Catch me if you can?” Hyunseong asked, and Minwoo started feeling smaller and smaller with every word the five spoke. He should have just kept quiet and stayed in his corner, since he so obviously didn't fit into their discussion. “Sounds like a challenge, but why break it up? As if he's leaving hints a bit by a bit.”

“So what do we have again?” Donghyun frowned, turning to Jeongmin who was keeping a mental note on the words the criminal left.

“Survival, game, opportunist, catch me, if you can.” Jeongmin stated, not forgetting to add a cheeky tone at the last five words as if to give some ring to it. “In that order!”

“That's about as vague as-”

“Frank William Abagnale.” Minwoo paused.

“Huh?” A collective sound, and Minwoo winced slightly at their stares.

“No, I mean, I'm just...”

“Please, don't be pressured.” Donghyun gave an encouraging smile. “How about we talk back in the shop?”

-

“So? So?” Hyunseong asked eagerly the moment they sat back down.

Minwoo tried to ignore the frown on his mother's face and the pressure Hyunseong was putting on him. It was just intuition on his part.

“Hyunseong.” Donghyun gave a small smile, but the other man understood the meaning and apologised for his behaviour. “Do you mind joining us for a bit of food first, Minwoo?”

“A-Absolutely not.” Minwoo thanked, while Youngmin and Jeongmin started chomping down the food before anyone else. Minwoo looked at the familiar dishes and wondered if it would be more polite to wait for the five to take their first bite before he raised his chopsticks when Donghyun offered him some vegetables, neatly placing them on top of the additional bowl of rice he had ordered for the younger (Minwoo tried to play off his mother's nudge as an accident). “T-thank you very much.”

“The vegetables here are pretty well prepared. Please don't stand on ceremony.” Donghyun smiled warmly, himself taking a bit of the same dish.

Minwoo tried not to laugh. He would know, if he ate it since young. His mother calls it her secret recipe, but what goes in is just a lot of seasoning and a lot of oil. Well, maybe a lot of love too, the overprotective sort. He raised his chopsticks and started eating, watching Jeongmin fight for food with Kwangmin (thank goodness the twins were wearing different coloured tops) for the sake of it, and Youngmin laughing at the scene. Hyunseong was busy chomping down food, albeit a little messily, while Donghyun had this soft smile, carefully savouring his food. Minwoo blinked, unconsciously trying to mimic the other's elegant eating habits.

In the end, everyone was about to finish when Minwoo realised he still had half a bowl of rice left trying to act all classy. His mother would kill him for leftovers, so he started returning to his usual eating habits instead. Minwoo bit his lower lip to fight a smile, because Donghyun was increasingly admirable the more Minwoo got to know him.

“...” Hyunseong looked to Donghyun as he finished, who broke out into a smile. “Heh, well, now that we had our fill...”

Minwoo nodded, though slightly self-conscious he didn't have a piece of tissue paper to clean his mouth with. Jeongmin giggled at the side, and that made Minwoo lower his head a bit.

“Here.” Youngmin offered, and Minwoo blushed when he realised he must have gotten something around his mouth. Ugh, why in front of Kim Donghyun! “It's okay, Kwangmin's a messy eater too.”

“Am not!” Kwangmin retorted, to which Jeongmin laughed out loud at. “What!”

“Take it.” Youngmin chuckled, passing another piece of tissue paper. “You're the reason I keep this packet around.”

Kwangmin fell silent, pouting.

“It's just a thought, I mean it could be anyone, anything, any reference. It's just I've been reading biographies and its related genres recently, and one of them was the autobiography by Frank William Abagnale, Jr. There was a movie made on it way back in the 2000s, and before that was the actual book. The words that have been appearing around here seems to have appeared in the book.”

“Movies are a good way to popularise something, and the criminal must have felt inspired watching the movie before researching the actual book, and then deciding to leave the words from this said guy.” Youngmin nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you know the exact quotes where the words appear?” Kwangmin raised his eyebrows, while Hyunseong and Jeongmin made a face at the question.

“I don't even remember what the words the criminal wrote anymore.” Hyunseong scrunched his face up as he tried to recall. “Nope. Words are not my forte.”

“And Minwoo said he's been reading biographies recently. Those big, obnoxiously thick books with so much content and so few pictures!” Jeongmin added with a horrified expression.

“Um.” Minwoo shrugged slightly. “I think it goes “But what started out as survival became more and more of a game.” which was actually something he said in an interview, and that “I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young”. The title of the book was “Catch me if you can”.”

The five fell silent, while Minwoo tried to shrug it off as if it was nothing. He was weak with numbers and science so if he couldn't even remember what he read (seeing that's the only thing his mother lets him do) then he's pretty much useless as a human.

“I think he might come in handy.” Hyunseong muttered to Donghyun, who only nodded with the same small smile that never left his lips. “Youngmin as counter for our logic and someone with an insane memory.”

“So...” Kwangmin exchanged glances with the oldest two of the group, then leaning forward to look at Minwoo who was starting to fidget a bit under their surprised stares. “Mind summarising the book for us?”

-

“Mom...” Minwoo bit his lower lip, shifting weight from left foot, right foot, back to left foot. “Um.”

“No.”

“Mom's the best! Mom, I love you~!” Minwoo gave his sweetest smile, hugging his mother tightly from the back. He saw her fight a smile, then leaning his face against her back while speaking cutely. “Mom's going to let her son do something useful for the society!”

“Minwoo, it's dangerous!” His mother sighed, gently prying Minwoo's arms away from her waist as she continued cleaning up the store. Minwoo sat on an empty seat and stared at her while she worked, trying to let his hopeful gaze affect her. “What if something happens to you like that time?”

“But he's there.” Minwoo's eyes sparkled, both hands holding his mother's to stop her. “He's there.”

“He's not family. He might leave you in the lurch in times of trouble.” His mother gave a frown, not comfortable with trusting a more-than-stranger-less-than-acquaintance young detective.

“But he didn't.” Minwoo smiled brightly, unperturbed by his mother's negativity. “I watched him leave and didn't expect anything but he came back for me.”

“It's just his job...”

“Mom, those people have been harassing us since I was in middle school. It was the police's job but that didn't make them help.” Minwoo shook his mom's arm slightly as if literally shaking her resolve, eyes still having that certain glint. “I can't be jobless forever!”

“...” His mother sighed. “How do you even know they want you?”

Minwoo deflated at her words, then regaining his smile as he paused. He stared into his mother's eyes to confirm the implications of her words, and then broke out into a wide grin.

“I love you the best!”

-

Updates would probably be slowed after this!!
So sorry, it's because honestly these were all written back in December.
I just posted it slowly 'cause I know I'm a slow writer especially since school started >_<

Happy Birthday to our leader, Donghyun! <3
Hoho, I waited till 12AM KST :D
Love to the 38 subscribers and 6 commenters, please be patient with me!
(And keep your comments coming! I'm not replying mostly 'cause I don't wanna burden you guys with replies, but if you don't mind it you can tell me ^^
I'm not intentionally ignoring you O_O!!)