1 year later:

The big grey walls were right in front of him, imposing and impenetrable. The detective tightened his jacket around his shoulders, the cold breeze of February was freezing him to the bones. He had been waiting in front of the prison for hours now, he could’ve waited in the car, but it shouldn’t be long now. As he thought that, the silver gates opened up and a very tall and frail figure walked out the building. His hair had been cut clean, he was wearing clean and tidy clothes and his face seemed less tired, than all the times he had visited him. As soon as the boy saw the detective leaning there waiting for him, he was tempted to just ignore him and walk the other way, but the thin detective didn’t let him a chance and walked towards him.

“Hey there!”

“I told you not to come get me.” the boy said in a mood.

“And I told you that I would be here when you got out.”

Changmin stopped a second to look at the man from head to toe. When they first met, Changmin knew exactly what he and his partner wanted and he really believed that he would never betray his brother to help the authorities that so many times had let him down. But he convinced him, not with pretty words and comfort, but with the harsh reality that he was being selfish and irresponsible. Then after that he came asking for forgiveness for a promise that he hadn’t been able to keep. But that day he made another promise, and ever since he did everything in his power to fulfill it, and atone for broken word. Changmin didn’t really believe he would see the world outside these walls again one day, but there he was. Eunhyuk had kept his word and even more than that. Surprising the boy, Eunhyuk suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. Changmin didn’t hug him back, but let him do it. Then he let him go and saw the smile on the older’s face.

“So… How is it to be a free man?”

“Feels liberating! Finally I won’t have to see you so much.”

Eunhyuk punched his arm slightly.

“Don’t be such a brat!”

Changmin couldn’t help but smile. They’ve seen each other so much over the past year that they could not, not bond, and even if he hated to admit it, he really liked that detective.

“It took us almost a year but we did it.” Eunhyuk said with a hug smile. “You can start a new life now.”

Changmin took a deep breath and looked up to the blue icy sky of winter. It was something else to look at that sky caught up in a prison yard and knowing you were outside and could follow up that sky anywhere.  Eunhyuk took him out of his thoughts by patting hi shoulder.

“Come on, we have somewhere to be.”

Changmin asked where they were going, but the detective wouldn’t say a word. They got in the car and went off. They were driving for a while now when Eunhyuk asked.

“Have you thought about my suggestion?”

“About going to law school? I don’t have the money for that…”

“I already told you to forget about the money, I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re on a detective salary; you wouldn’t even be able to pay for 1 book for law school.”

He saw the thin man frowning, ready to snap at him, but then he just winced.

“Is it that expensive?”

Changmin could only laugh at the other’s cluelessness. It was almost cute seeing him trying to do things right. During the time they were prepping for his trials, Eunhyuk had come with a bunch of propositions to what Changmin should do once he got out of prison, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Again, I told you, you’re too smart to let it all go to waste. You should go back to college as soon as possible to get your degree.”

“Its not that easy… No one would want an ex-con in their university and I barely had time to finish my high school diploma…”

Eunhyuk was going to argue something but Changmin cut him off.

“Listen, I appreciate everything that you did for me, really. But you should stop going all big brother on me, we are only a year apart.”

The boy hadn’t noticed that the light had turned red until the car stopped abruptly in an awful wheel squeak, making them both to be projected against the car’s seat. Then Eunhyuk turned to him.

“I already told you… Henry, I’m sorry, Changsoo, was like a little brother to me and I wished I could’ve done more for him. But since I can’t, I want to do everything in my power to help you, in his memory.”

“And you’ve already done enough!”

The man shook his head, and Changmin lost patience.

“So I’m your charity case!”

“No you’re not my charity case, you’re family!” he snapped.

Changmin stared at him surprised. He seemed sincere. Sometimes he couldn’t understand that man… or maybe it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand him but rather that he had trouble believing and trusting him. In his wretched life, he always was only handed lemons, it was hard, now, think that maybe life started handing him sweet things. The light turned green, and Eunhyuk started the car again, focusing back on the road.

“I’m not doing this only because of your brother. I actually kind of like you, kid.”

The tall boy smirked, touched by his words but unwilling to admit it.

“Alright I got it, but stop calling me kid, we are a year apart.”

That got Eunhyuk smirking as well. Changmin sighed in relief inside his head. He would’ve been terrified to get out of prison and face the world alone. But with this strange hot headed person with him, he found himself less scared.

“And by the way… Instead of law school, I was maybe thinking about getting into the police academy…”

Eunhyuk threw him a surprised glance, and he shrugged innocently.

“I don’t know… I think it could be fun working with you…”

A huge smile grew on Eunhyuk’s face.

“I’m sure you’ll make a great detective!”

***

The buzzing sound of the metallic doors opening and closing would’ve made any person go insane and was actually giving him a headache. The brunet was walking down maze of hallways, following the prison guard to a room he knew even better than his own home. The guard opened the door for him and he went in the room where his brother was waiting for him sitting in front of the small metallic table. Donghae walked to it, in some bad mood and put the bags he had in his hands on the table violently, but he waited for the guard to be gone to start complaining.

“I really can’t believe them!” he said without even a glance to his brother. “The security is getting worse here.”

“What happened?” Donghwa asked amused.

“I decided to bring something extra this time, but that son of a cow of guard that inspected the bags saw it and took your chocolates, saying that it was a privilege prisoners weren’t entitled to. But I know very well that he just wanted to eat my chocolates!”

Donghwa let out a small laugh; it was unlike his brother to get angry with anything. He watched Donghae display the boxes of food he brought him. Every once a week, Donghae was authorized to bring some “home cooked meals” to him, and it was honestly the best day of the week.

“So I brought you kimchi from the ajummah around the street, I know you love her kimchi.”

The brunet took out a bowl and prepared the meal for his brother and him. And then they started eating while talking casually, even if it was more Donghae who told his brother how his life was doing. After the trials, a year ago, Donghwa was sentenced to life imprisonment, for Donghae’s relief. But even if justice was made, Donghae didn’t imagine himself staying in the same place, so he asked for Donghwa’s incarceration in a prison outside the city, and he moved to another city to follow his brother, somewhere where no one would know him. The brunet also took a leave from work and spent some time only going to prison to visit Donghwa. But he couldn’t spend his life like this, so after a while he found the courage to go work again. But unfortunately he wasn’t good at anything else outside the force… It was hard to be hired anywhere at first but finally he found something that suited him. Donghae was now working at the archives, of course most of the things were now computerized but still some old cases where still on paper, and Donghae was their human database. He even worked, sometimes, on cold cases, when other detectives needed. But mostly Donghae did a desk job, being as discreet and invisible as possible. He lived in a small shabby apartment, but that was enough for him, he rarely spent time there anyway since his days where always between work and prison. The brunet wouldn’t skip a single day to go see his brother. Donghwa had changed a lot after his incarceration, he would talk less, but smile more, it was as if he was constantly tired … It hadn’t been easy… The judge had added a feature to his incarceration, it was for him to see a psychiatrist, because they all understood that even if yes, he was a highly intelligent man and that his murders were all very well calculated, but also he was sick disturbed person.

“How are your sessions with Dr. Han going?” he asked.

The oldest had a small smile.

“He is very kind… I think we are making a lot of progress.”

“I’m happy to hear that…”

Donghae hesitated in going to see a shrink too, but he felt that his issues could never be eased by just talking about it… But he was happy that it was working for his brother. Indeed, after he confessed he seemed lighter and relaxed, actually Donghae had never seen his brother so much in peace since he was in prison, and only now he started to grasp how much it must’ve been exhausting to keep all those secrets about his true nature. They finished eating and Donghae took out something else form his bag and displayed the chess board in front of them.

“We almost finished that game, be ready to be destroyed by me.” the brunet said, with a smile.

He reorganized the pieces on the board exactly like they were the last time they played; of course Donghae remembered exactly where they were.

“Don’t use your highly functioning memory to cheat!”

“Even if I do you would never know.”

Even if Donghae had memorized all the possible moves in Chess, playing against his brother was always a challenge, because he always had new ways and strategies to surprise him. A focused silent fell in the room as they started to play. While it was Donghwa’s turn, the brunet couldn’t help but throw glances at him. Of course their relationship never went back to normal, it never would, but they had managed to find a certain balance. They never talked about what happened again, and even if Donghae didn’t forget he tried to put it aside when they saw each other. Donghae had sacrificed his life after his brother went to prison, he wanted to punish himself too, and Donghwa knew that, but he couldn’t do anything about it. They’ve come to a silent agreement that each of them would do penance on their own terms. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing chess, when they decided to stop it was almost the end of visiting hours.

“Thank you for always coming to see me…” Donghwa said.

“Of course, hyung… I told you I wouldn’t abandon you.”

Back in that bathroom where everything was decided, Donghae had meant it, he would never abandon his brother no matter how much of a monster he was. The brunet packed everything back, and was ready to go when suddenly he decided to break their silent agreement.

“No matter what anyone says I know you’re not all bad.”

The man looked up to his little brother, surprised.

“Hae…”

“You lost your mind for a while and made a lot of mistakes, but after that I realize that you were swiped away by a tourbillion of guilt. After Sora, you spent your life trying to fix that mistake didn’t you? You wanted Henry to be a better version of you, but you failed… I know you let Siwon go because you actually liked him and felt sorry for him…”

Donghwa kept staring at him, his eyes shimmering with tears. It took a while for Donghae to understand but now he finally did. It didn’t make anything the other did ok, but he understood the logic of his sad and painful mind.

“Do you think in another life I will be able to make amends to Siwon and Eunhyuk?”

The question surprised Donghae. He realized that Donghwa really did like Siwon, in his own way, and that he must’ve been missing him.

“I don’t know, hyung… But I would like to believe that you would be able yes.”

“Thanks.”

They said their goodbyes and Donghae went home.

The next day Donghae was in his small desk, clearly bored, when suddenly his boss came in.

“Lee! I have an errand for you.”

The boy threw him a questioning glance, and his boss explained that he needed him to bring some case files to the courthouse as they were too busy to come get it. The brunet pouted, not understanding why he should be the one doing it, he wasn’t an errand boy he was an analyst for Christ’s sake! But he wouldn’t upset his boss, and anyway he had nothing better to do, so he took the files to go to the court house. That place was a maze on its own too. All the corridors and stairs made the building look more like a castle than a court house. Room 704 they told him… After 15min, the man was finally able to find it. He knocked but no one answered. He thought for a second that he had come all this way for nothing, and felt his blood rising a bit, when suddenly the door opened in a fly.

“Hello, I came here to bring the files from the case number…”

As he was talking, Donghae’s voice disappeared as he realized who was in front of him. The tall man also stared at him eyes wide open. Siwon… he hadn’t seen the lawyer since the last trial that condemned Donghwa. The analyst was tempted to leave the documents and run away fast, but the man took a step on the side and pointed at the wooden table in the middle of the room.

“Please put the files over there.”

Not really feeling that he could refuse, the brunet did what told, and that’s when he noticed that there were other people in the room, other washed out lawyers by the look of their clothes and their tired eyes. As soon as he put the files on the pile of documents already scattered on the table of the lawyers sighed heavily.

“More?! We will never be able to finish this case before the deadline!”

“No worries, we have help now.” Siwon said, then he turned to Donghae. “I guess you read all those documents?”

The brunet nodded, not really getting where he was going with this.

“Could you resume for us? That would be of a great help! Tell us any detail that could help us.”

“Siwon! What are you talking about? Who’s that guy? How can we trust what he says? We have to review everything ourselves!”

The tall lawyer shook his head and took Donghae by the shoulders.

“This is Lee Donghae, an analyst for the police. I worked with him before and he is really amazing. He has hypermnesia.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that he remembers everything that he read once. Believe me, he will help us. Won’t you?”

The brunet couldn’t possibly say no, so he nodded. The situation took an unexpected turn, seeing Siwon after all this time touched him more than he would’ve thought, and when he would’ve thought the other to hate him and ignore him, he was asking for his help. What were the odds for them to be meeting here? Siwon wasn’t even from this town; Donghae knew that sometimes lawyers were called down here since it was a small town without a lot of good lawyers, but for them to meet again it was almost as if fate was playing with them, shamelessly. Donghae spent a long while helping the lawyers and at the end of the day they had made great progress.

“Maybe we’ll be ready for the trial after all. Thanks a lot officer Lee.”

“No problem…” he said timidly.

He was ready to leave when Siwon grabbed his arm.

“Could we talk?”

The brunet nodded, a knot forming in his stomach. They went out of the room to the silent and desert hallway. They found a spot near the window and the two men faced each other. Then to his surprise, Siwon hugged him.