“Hello?”

“Can I stay with you?”

“What?”

“Please.”

“Myungsoo?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you calling me in such an early hour?”

“Please, Woohyun. I need a place to stay.”

“What about your place?”

“I can’t stay there.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain everything later. Can I please stay with you?”

“What about Sungyeol.”

“It’ll just be me.”

“Um, alright.”

“Thank you.”

“Hm.”

Myungsoo hung up. He ran his fingers through his hair. The guilt he had still not dissipating, in fact, the more he comprehended what was happening, the more it guilty he felt. The more he hated himself.

Scrolling through his contacts, he quickly called the next person.

“Hello?” a female voice answered.

Myungsoo paused, rechecking the caller ID.

“Uhh, is this Sungjong’s phone?”

“Yes, he’s… busy at the moment.”

“Can I please speak to him? This is urgent.”

“I’m sorry, but he’s not here right now. Are you his patient?”

“No, I’m calling in regards to one of his patients.”

“Oh, then they should have been transferred to another psychologist. I’m sorry, but Sungjong’s been dealing with some complication at the moment, and won’t be working in the meantime.”

“O-Oh.” Myungsoo mumbled, before the female muttered an apology before hanging up.

He let out a frustrated exhale, before remembering someone else.

He brought the phone shakily up to his ear, impatiently waiting for the other to pick up.

“Hello?” A soft voice answered.

“D-Dongwoo?”

“Yes? Who’s this?”

“It’s Myungsoo.”

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t get your contact details the other day. Is there something wrong?”

“Yes.”

“O-Oh, what is it?”

“Are you free today?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to come over and look after Sungyeol for a few days?”

“Few days?”

“I messed up. I-I can’t face him anymore.”

“Myungsoo.” He whispered, “What did you do.”

Myungsoo shook his head, trying to stop the tears from forming. “P-Please. I need you to look after him.” He said. He knew that he sounded petty, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about himself anymore. Why should he? When he had hurt the person that meant the most to him.

“Please.” He begged with a whisper.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Thank you.”

~

“You what?” A loud yell asked, breaking the silence.

“Sunggyu.” Woohyun said, trying to calm him down. Myungsoo had arrived at his friend’s place, only to find the older lawyer asleep in his bed.

If it were any other day, Myungsoo would’ve questioned them till their deaths, but today wasn’t like any other day.

“You ed everything up!” He yelled angrily.

Myungsoo continued to look down, taking all the nasty words the other was throwing at him. He deserved them anyways.

“Sunggyu please calm down.” His friend begged.

“How can I calm down when your friend here literally just threw everything out of the window? We’ll need at least another year to regain his trust.”

“He was drunk.”

“I don’t give a . Drunk or not, he should know what’s wrong or right, and anyone is not right.”

“I didn’t him!” Myungsoo yelled, wide eyed, “I-I didn’t.”

“You were about to.” He argued.

“N-No. I didn’t. No I didn’t him. No.” He shook his head, his breathing growing more shallow, “It’s all my fault. Did I - No. All my fault.” He blabbered.

“Myungsoo, shhh.” Woohyun soothed, trying to calm him down.

“No.” He replied louder. “I hurt him. Arrest me.” He said, “I hurt him. I hurt him so bad. Woohyun, arrest me. I deserve it.”

“Myungsoo, it’s not your fault. You were drunk.” He reasoned.

He shook his head, “No, I hurt him. I can’t hurt him. I promised I wouldn’t hurt him. But I broke that promise. I don’t deserve to live. No, I hurt him.” He continued to mutter.

“Myungsoo, please.” Woohyun begged, before turning to Sunggyu, and asking him to help.

The other glared at the vulnerable male, before sighing, “You have to fix up everything.” He said in an authoritative tone, “And in order to do that, you have to be strong and overcome this. Rest for a few days, then regain his trust. And don’t ing get drunk again.” Sunggyu said. He was obviously not good at comforting, but it seemed to break Myungsoo from his trance.

He nodded, muttering to himself that he had to mend the trust and their friendship.

“I’m leaving.” Sunggyu announced, “Remember what I said, Myungsoo.”

He slammed the door on the way out, clearly still annoyed at the events that had happened.

“Myungsoo, are you alright?” Woohyun asked, concerned, after only a couple of sniffs were heard from the other.

“I feel horrible.”

“I didn’t want to say this, because Sunggyu was here, but maybe you should stop with this case.”

The other’s eyes widened and shook his head frantically, “No, I can’t.”

“What good would it bring to you? At first you only agreed to this case because you thought it could potentially be your first win as a rookie, but that was a year ago. You’ve won countless of cases since then already, so why are you still caught up with this one?”

Myungsoo shook his head, chewing his lower lip- a habit he had attained from the man who had once given all his trust to him. “I could save them all.”

“I think I’m the only one thinking realistically here.” Woohyun replied, “We all know that we can’t save all of them.”

“But saving a few is better than saving none.”

“Is that the real reason now? I understand that back then that was the main reason, but is it now? Are you motivated to win this case by the thought that you could save ‘a few’, or are you motivated to win because of someone?”

“Woohyun.” He whispered.

“Tell me the truth, you like Sungyeol don’t you?”

Myungsoo shook his head, “I’m not supposed to.”

“I don’t care whether you’re supposed to or not, goddammit. Tell me as a friend, not as policemen and lawyer. Are you in love with that slave?”

Myungsoo flinched inwardly, as the other called Sungyeol a slave. “Don’t call him that.”

“And why not? He is one, isn’t he?”

“Stop it.” Myungsoo replied through gritted teeth.

“Do you like him?”

“I haven’t thought about it.”

“Well think about it now.”

He sat there, hunched, staring at the floorboards. They had suddenly become interesting, as his eyes fixated on the natural patterns of the wood. His friend had left him to think. To think about Sungyeol. About what the male had meant to him.

Sungyeol was obviously just a job.

He was obviously just a person he had to take care of until he won the case. And once he won, then the two could part ways and live their lives separately.

Yes, that was it. He nodded. Only, why did the thought sadden him?

If it was their inevitable fate to part ways after the case was over, then would it be too selfish of him to wish that the date of the hearing would be further away?

Would it be too selfish of him to hope that he could lose this hearing in order to ‘gather more evidence’ and stay with Sungyeol a little longer?

He shook his head. How dare he wish for millions of people suffer just for his selfish needs to have the other stay by him.

Why would he even think of that? His main goal since the beginning was to free these innocent victims, so why had it suddenly changed to having this tall male by his side as long as possible, without his knowledge.

His eyes widened in realisation.

He should have realised- the rapid heartbeats, the unconscious long stares, his excessive cooing of the other. It was very unlike him.

“Myungsoo?” A voice cut him from his thoughts. He turned, facing his friend with a look of realisation.

“I think I like him.”

OKAY I think we are seeing some progress now ehh? :D I told you guys that you could put your trust on me ^-^ This is a relatively shortish update, because I feel like it's nice :) And it suits what I have in store for you guys later ^-^

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I really do wish that you guys enjoyed it :) Please don't hate me anymore! With that being said, I'm going back to sleep :D

Till next time!!!! Stay safe and well ^-^