I felt my lungs gasping for air and my body was trembling slightly. But no tears were in my eyes and I couldn´t relieve the horrible grief I was feeling. I thought it would come together with Heechul hyung, he´s so good at making me cry after all. But even now in his embrace I couldn´t find myself relaxing. The tension this time was too much to bear.

“Hyukjae, listen to me,” Heechul then pulled away slightly but his hands were holding my shoulders firmly. “You can´t tell this to absolutely anyone. Not even Jungsu, understand?” The older warned and a pure fear was mirrored in his wide eyes.

“But hyung, I need to know. Especially now that Seunggi is dead I need to find the truth,” I protested but that scared Heechul even more. The grasp on my shoulders tightened.

“Hyukjae, you know already almost as much as I do, maybe even more judging from  the fact that you have for some reason the key to the library,” he frowned and I bit my lip. “But this isn´t funny, Hyukjae. You are in some serious troubles knowing all this.”

“So I should pretend as if nothing? That it´s completely alright when somebody plays with children’s´ DNA?” I was a little angry at his passivity. “When my friends, the unsuccessful experiments, decay and rot in front of me, I should stay back and watch? Wait for it to happen to me too?”

“Hyukjae, calm down,” Heechul tried to regain his composure and authority. I would step down if he made it but he was still hesitating and so I continued.

“You said you had been doing this job for a long time, you said you hated chimeras and that we were no more but monsters. At first it made me really angry because I´ve always thought of myself as human but I understood, hyung,” I stood up and looked down on him as his hands fell into his lap. I wanted to get the upper hand in this argument. We weren´t talking about cupcakes anymore.

“I understood that attachment to chimeras is unhealthy because we are all about momentariness. There are only three years of chimeras, you watched us from toddlers and now we are all in high school. Somewhere along the way the weaker ones disappeared, quickly charred and buried without anyone knowing. You are scared because it hurts to see a life end in such a dreadful way and usually after long time struggling. I understand your fear but I´m not going to accept it, hyung.”

“Hyukjae,” Heechul sighed and cleaned the tears with his sleeve of his flashy red coat, “you can´t win this game. At the start I had the same intention, I wanted to save the kids instead of hiding them but it won´t work. There are restrictions and authorities and I fell into a dead end.”

“I can do it,” I said firmly and looked him into his eyes.

“I don´t want you to,” Heechul answered equally serious.

“I don´t really listen well to orders you know?” I retaliated and crossed my arms childishly over my chest.

“Me neither,” Heechul stood up and used the advantage of being taller to look down on me.

“That´s good to hear,” I grinned, “you better stop listening to those restrictions and authorities and help me out over here before I crumble too.”

“Don´t say that, Hyukjae. You won´t. You can´t!” His voice was louder and he stepped closer to me. I knew hyung was already attached to me and those not even ten years between us meant nothing when we created this strange friendship depending on trust and solace. We were so far and yet so close. I wasn´t special, I was just like any other chimera but I understood this weird detective and that made me special for him.

“Fine,” Heechul gave up, “let´s work together but you should know that you aren´t playing with fire anymore, this is more like atomic bomb, you .”

“Pity I´m just a firefly and not a cockroach then,” I joked and we both chuckled lightly. The atmosphere was still too gloomy to laugh but better enough to ease.

“An insect either way,” the detective returned the joke. “We better head back, Jungsu was already nervous that the two of us would meet. He´s a little paranoid.”

“Can´t blame him, I gave him a few hard times already,” I said and went to unlock the door to the library. I heard Heechul chuckle again behind me.

I opened the door slowly and when the hallway looked empty, I gestured to the detective to come out. I locked the door perfectly after us and hid the key in my pants pocket. The rest of the way back to the cafeteria we finally spent by talking about normal stuff. Hyung´s cats, how the food here is and how Leeteuk´s white Maserati became black on the way to the institute. But when we arrived to the hall, we knew immediately that our disappearance didn´t go unnoticed.

“Where have you been?” Leeteuk asked as soon as we came closer.

“Hyukjae took me around,” Heechul shrugged as if nothing. I followed his acting and nodded my head adding a little smile.

“Oh, really? But according to the principal, Hyukjae was forbidden to participate in the festival as punishment for his escape two weeks ago,” Leeteuk pressed and Heechul had to find a way out.

“I never said we went to the festival. Hyukjae showed me his room and we just went around talking about stuff,” he played it off and I hoped it would be enough but as expected, Leeteuk was suspicious.

“Talking about what kind of stuff?” He said sternly and by now Heechul was at his wits end. Before he could say something stupid, I answered for him.

“I was wondering why you brought your white Maserati here to the end of the world. The car isn´t very reliable and the white colour on top of that,” the attention was immediately on me. I was slightly amused by the scene. All Leeteuk´s subordinates hiding their chuckles. I was one hundred percent sure that after this, the topic of me and Heechul would be dropped.

“That isn´t your problem, Hyukjae,” Leeteuk was embarrassed, “and for your information, Maserati is more than reliable.” He added childishly causing another wave of supressed laughs.

“Anyway,” Leeteuk cleared his throat, “how are you doing?” He asked me. See? I told you the topic would be forgotten.

“Fine. I´m happy to be back at school and studying,” I answered honestly. Leeteuk and I had an agreement and my only request was finishing my studies. I didn´t believe he would keep the promise but I felt like I should remind him either way. “It would be nicer, if I could continue like that in the future too.”

Leeteuk was slightly taken aback and a few agents at the back started murmuring. I knew I would cross the line when talking about something as complicated as future but I had the guts to do so today. The presence of the detective was reassuring. And I had to work hard for Seunggi now too.

“I promised, didn´t I?” Unexpectedly Leeteuk answered. It was a pleasant surprise that he remembered and even intended to keep the promise. I smiled at him, I don´t usually do that so he should feel honoured.

“And for what reason are you studying so much, huh? Nerdy Fairy,” Heechul didn´t like being left out of the conversation as always. But I was waiting for this question.

“To become even better detective than you.” I stuck my tongue at him and ignored the shocked audience. Keep you allies close, your enemies even closer.

“In that case I will make sure for that to happen, Lee Hyukjae,” everybody turned to the doorway to see the newcomer giving such strong promises. The headmaster only smiled.

Hello! The cliffhangers are back! :D The promise is from the chapter where Leeteuk came to pick up Hyukjae from Heechul´s, if you were wondering. And once again, chimeras don´t die after they are eighteen. :) You have to look at the year of birth and not the lifespan. Talking about that, about two or three more chapters and there is going be a bit of a time jump. Look forward to it! :D I´m so excited for Heechul´s and EunHae comeback! Take care and have a nice day everyone - PandaHero