Jaejoong was walking home and reached at the front gate of his apartment. He was almost getting hit by a car when it suddenly appeared out of the blue. He looked up and met with a pair of widen eyes shooting a glare at him. The driver got out from the car with furious look on his face.

“YAH KIM JAEJOONG!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I CALLED YOU SO MANY TIMES!” the man shook his shoulder.

“You called?” Jaejoong took his phone out from his back pocket. “Sorry. Out of battery. Did I make you worried?”

“Where did you go this late at night?” his voice soften.

“Ah... Heechul called me and he seemed pretty drunk so I went out to help him. I didn’t inform you because I know you’re busy and shouldn’t interrupt you. Plus, it was just for a while. Sorry, Yunnie.”

Yunho just sighed. He hugged the raven; relieved that he was finally home. He had been worried when he got out from his study room and saw not even a shadow of Jaejoong around. He called but only the voice operator answered it. He called Junsu but the brother didn’t know either.

“Where are you going?” Jaejoong asked.

“Uncle Jinu...”

“Uncle Jinu?”

“Yeah... I got a call from mom just now. She told me that he’s in the hospital. I’m on my way there,”

“He - “

“Can’t tell you much because I don’t know the details. But I’ll let you know later, ok? Your cold will be getting worse if you don’t get in now,” he cut Jaejoong’s sentence.

“Can you drive? Should I go with you?” Yunho just shook his head. He assured him that he was fine and asked Jaejoong to go to bed first as he might be late.

*****

“Eomma.. You promised that you’ll play with me!”

“It’s already night. What kind of game can we play?”

“Hide-and-seek? Let’s ask Appa as well! We can make him as the ‘IT’,” the kid suggested. His mother just chuckled at her son. Who can refuse that innocent eyes - begging her to have fun. 

The mother went to look for his husband with her son. And unsurprisingly, the father agreed to play along upon the request. He was so excited and sprint as fast as he can - looking for a place to hide. He went into the guest room and hid inside a closet. Not long after that, the sound of the doorbell can be heard. His mother’s voice was heard faintly and he decided to wait for a while before coming out; wondering if his parents entertained the guest first and will continue their game later on. He decided not to come out at the moment. Without he realized it, he fell asleep inside the closet. He woke up when he heard his name being called by his mother. He wanted to get out from the place but the mother stopped him. 

“Listen... we have unwanted people outside. I want you to stay inside here no matter what and don’t make any noise. Promise?”

“Why Eomma?” 

“Because I don’t want any harm near my precious. Can you promise me that?” he nodded lightly and realized that the mother couldn’t possibly see him and answered her. “That’s my boy,” and with that she left the room.

He waited and waited when a sudden cry startled him. He almost got out from the closet but the promise that he made with his mother prevented him to do so. He heard noise in the living room but have no guts to move. Then, he heard his father desperate voice. He cried. He didn’t like that noise. He didn’t like to hear his father’s voice like that. 

“Appa... Eomma... sorry,” he whispered with guilt coating his voice and broke the promised he made with his mother. 

Opened the closet door slowly; careful not to make any noise, he tiptoed to the door. He was peeping through a hole on the door as he was too afraid to step out from the room. The tears streaming down like a river when he saw the scene in front of his eyes. Two men were standing there with a smug on their faces when they hurting his parents. The skirt his mother wore was torn. The father’s face was full with bruises. He wanted to scream but no voice came out. His body froze - refused to cooperate with his brain’s command. He wanted to reach for the doorknob when a voice came to his mind.

“Because I don’t want any harm near my precious. Can you promise me that?” 

He was crouching as he couldn’t bear to see them. But his father last voice made him peeping through the hole again. He felt the need to see his father. The ugly scene of his father being stabbed greeted his view. He almost shrieked out loud if not for his palm stifled his mouth. He hid inside the closet again when he heard the rustling sound getting near to the door. He waited again while sobbing in silent. When the house had gone quiet; too quiet that the deafening silence was unbearable, he got out and ran to the living room. There he was crying as loud as he can. His parents were lying lifelessly - unmoved. They were still with closed eyes no matter how much he begged for them to open it. He screamed for them on top of his lung.

“EOMMA! APPA!” Jaejoong woke up from his nightmare breathlessly. He was perspiring like there’s no tomorrow. The cheeks on his face were dampen with tears. He cried. The unfortunate event visited his dream and he did not like it one bit. He got up and washed his face; too afraid to sleep again as it might come invading his dream again. He decided to went into his art room and killing his time there while waiting for Yunho. 

As time goes by, the white canvas was tainted with colours; painting a picture he had in his mind. Once he finished, he smirk in satisfaction looking at it. Wandering around in the room, he looked for a particular painting he had paint long before. Took off the white cloth covered on it - revealing a painting that gave off a mysterious vibe. 

FLASHBACK 

“What is this hyeong?” Junsu asked.

“Painting,” Changmin answered instead.

“Obviously,” he rolled his eyes. “I mean what kind of painting is this? Dark all over and only the center one have something that I can’t really figure it out. Which view is this from?” Changmin scooting closer to Junsu to take a look on the said painting.

“Looks like a hole?” Changmin guessed.

“But he can’t see through a hole,” Junsu argued.

“Did you got too lazy to draw properly this thing? Are those... People? Human? Or poles?” Changmin asked.

“Those are monsters,” Jaejoong replied.

“What monsters? I thought you only draw real things?”

“They are real,”

“This one is different from the one you usually draw,” Junsu stated. “But I like it,”

“But this one is too vague that I can’t really figure it out,” Changmin commented which Jaejoong replied with a smile.

END OF FLASHBACK

The pain he thought he had buried deep down inside his heart just proved that he was wrong. The aching was back and thrice harder. The tears escaped from his two pool of eyes - streaming down his cheeks. The ugly image kept coming to his mind and he couldn’t take it anymore. He smashed the painting onto the floor. Looking frantically for something, he found a painting knife and ripped the poor canvas. Like it was not enough as the frustration was bottling inside him, he went to the freshly painted painting and threw the palette that contain colours onto it. Variety of colours were splashed. The sound of breathless panting filled up the messy room. He wiped the tears and decided that it was enough and he shouldn’t do any mess in the room anymore.