“I really feel like I’m doing something really wrong” Seungmin said quietly as Hyemi scanned the paper in her hand, her heart heavy.

“Why?” She asked.

“Because if the boss didn’t tell us anything about pushing for Seungsoo’s release, then he must’ve had a good reason and I know for a fact we did not have a good reason to look this up” He said nervously.

“I had a good reason” Hyemi said simply.

Seungmin had his own set of questions but decided that getting as far away from this situation was his safest solution.

“I just — I don’t know. Anyways, I’m done with the favors” He said firmly, pulling out a small piece of paper from his pocket and placing it before her, “Also, I did some research on old phone records, it looks like in the time frame you gave me, this number appeared to be in contact with him quite often. Although why you’d want phone records from so long ago is beyond me”

Hyemi pulled the paper closer, immediately recognizing the string of numbers before her.

“Thanks”

“Yeah, whatever” He replied standing and giving her a quick wave of his hand, he disappeared.

Hyemi stared at the set of numbers for an impossibly long time before standing up herself. Betrayal stung deeply in her heart and she got a taste of what Jongin was most likely feeling. She knew at that moment that it would be a miracle if he ever forgave her.

She took a step out the door, staggering slightly before she collected herself.

Her phone was easy to find, recalling his number not so much.

“What?” He answered harshly.

“We need to talk” She said.

He recognized her voice instantly, “You’re insane”

“I’m serious and if you refuse, you’re never going to get Jongin out”

Kyungsoo scoffed, “Jongin may have been an idiot, but I’m not. Whatever trick this is, I’m not buying it”

“Please” She said and something in her voice made him pause.

“Where and when?”

“I’ll text you the details” She said simply before she hung up and walked out with the bag she had prepared ahead of time. She had been hesitating, but her choice was made by the phone number sitting on the counter of her kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~

“What the hell is the trick this time?” Kyungsoo asked, closing the bag with the used gun, “Bunch of your little buddies waiting outside to take this from me?”

“No trick, just get him out”

“How is this supposed to work then?”

“My fingerprints are on that. You use it to cast reasonable doubt. Can’t really take the word or evidence from an undercover cop so seriously if she’s involved in some gangster’s death can you?”

“Wouldn’t that get you in some trouble?”

“It would be enough to get his case thrown out or at least brought down to a stupidly short sentence. As for me, I’ll simply explain the facts, that I was being threatened, kidnapped, about to be killed it’ll be ruled as self defense at worst if not swept under the rug” Hyemi said quietly, “If you have a good enough lawyer, he should able to work with this”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you throwing away everything you’ve done?” Kyungsoo asked.

She held his gaze, “I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I’m not good at telling the good from the bad after all”

Kyungsoo gave her a hard stare.

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged, “I just want this to end. This mess has gone on long enough. Too many people have been hurt and I just… I’m tired of all the damn lies”

“You really don’t want to know about what really happened to your father?” Kyungsoo asked.

The temptation was there, but she dared not ask for it so instead she shook her head.

“He’s dead either way, does it matter?”

“It wasn’t Jongin’s fault” Kyungsoo said carefully.

Hyemi stilled.

“I think you’re a little biased on the topic”

“There were a few men who wanted revenge for Jongin’s father’s death” Kyungsoo began, “Jongin was new at this, had no real authority in the matter. He was just a clueless kid who wanted to get things settled as fast as he could before getting out of here”

“What went wrong then?”

“Your father” Kyungsoo replied.

Hyemi met his gaze and frowned, “What?”

“Those men who wanted revenge thought they got lucky by finding Myungsoo. It was the perfect opportunity, the way in they needed. They ended up getting information from him. An even exchange for keeping his secrets, you probably know that by now he wasn’t nearly as innocent as he pretended to be?”

She nodded, feeling more than sick. She knew more than she wanted about Myungsoo’s doing and she wanted nothing more than to stop Kyungsoo from talking, but she couldn’t and therefore had to listen.

“They got information from him then?”

“Some” Kyungsoo said, “He called Jongin trying to make him call it off, didn’t bother to listen when Jongin said it wasn’t him and of course, instead of coming clean to your father about it all, decided to come up with some half assed plan”

He tapped his fingers on the counter, as if trying to recall a long buried memory.

“Long story short, his plan failed and because of that entitled little bastard your father got killed and he had the nerve to pin it on Jongin too. Ha, if Jongin hadn’t shown up you’d be dead with him” Kyungsoo slammed a hand onto the counter, “You know nothing about Jongin you know? He felt so damn guilty about your father he decided to keep this little job of his, so that he wouldn’t lose control over them and so no one would get hurt again and… here we are”

“Myungsoo told a different story” Hyemi explained, keeping her voice down not only to be quiet, but also because she didn’t trust her voice to not shake if she spoke any louder.

“He would wouldn’t he? He’s always been about self-preservation”

Hyemi felt like throwing up, but somehow kept it together.

“I need you to get him out and away from this situation alright?”

“Fine”

She stood up, “One last thing, don’t tell him about me, about this. Say you found the gun, lie, I don’t care I don’t want to know, I don’t want him to come looking for me, I don’t want him to get involved with me again. I’ve only ever caused him trouble” She whispered, “Everything we cross paths… bad things seem to happen”

She took a breath.

“Plus Myungsoo is relentless. He won’t give up, I just need you to get him out of this and away from him”

Kyungsoo watched her carefully.

“You actually love him, don’t you?”

“….Yes, but he won't forgive me and things are too complicated. I don’t want this” She lied.

“Thanks for the help then, after this you won't see us again”

She nodded and left. This was the right thing, to get him as far away from Myungsoo as possible, to end things as cleanly as possible. The scars they had both caused each for other, would be ones they would be fools to think would be easily healed. She had made her choices, no amount of backtracking would help and and part of her was thankful for the clean break it gave them.

~~~~~~~~

“Put him on the line. I need to talk to him” Kyungsoo said quickly, running down the steps.

“I came here at this time of night for a phone call?” His lawyer asked.

“Just do it”

The minutes ticked past quietly.

“What?” Jongin asked, when he was finally allowed to come to the phone.

“How’s life in the slammer?” Kyungsoo asked, a slight smirk on his face.

“Lovely” Jongin hissed, touching a finger to the scab on his bottom lip.  

“That’s unfortunate since I found a way to get you out”

There was a shuffling on his side which he assumed was Jongin sitting up.

“I’ve got some evidence to clear you, it came up a couple of days ago and with it, you should be out in a couple of weeks”

“Not fast enough” Jongin said, interrupting.

“It’s the only chance you have”

“No, it isn’t. I need to get out, now. I don’t care how. I need to get to Hyemi before she can leave or Myungsoo gets her out of here”

Kyungsoo hesitated, “Jongin, you need to let it go. Whatever happened it’s only going to complicate our lives. This isn’t time for a stupid little vengeance. We’ve always been about the big picture and she’s not in it.”

“Let it go? I can’t just do that” Jongin snapped.

“Jongin, I’m serious”

“So am I. And what the hell is happening with you? You would be first in line for this usually”

“Jongin, of all times to trust me, this would be it. We’re letting this go and we’re getting the hell out of here”

“I’m not letting this go” Jongin promised, hanging up and leaving a worried Kyungsoo behind, “If you can’t get me out faster than that I’ll take care of it myself”

~~~~~~~~

Myungsoo ran past the people rushing in the opposite way, sirens echoing all around them. The smoke had filtered down the hallway and everyone was being too damn loud.

“What the hell happened?!”

“There was a fire, then a short explosions and in the meantime as people took care of that someone let him out!”

“What the do you mean someone let him out?!”

“I don’t know” The nervous man echoed, “I just don’t know! All I know is that’s he’s gone!” He yelled in a panic at his supervisor.

Hyemi…

Myungsoo gave the man one last searing glare before he ran off to his office, he needed to get to Hyemi. He tried her number three times before she finally picked up.

“I’ve been trying to reach you!” Myungsoo snapped into the phone, gathering up his things in his arms, “Where are you?! Jongin escaped!”

“What?” Hyemi asked quietly.

“I need you to get someplace safe” He said nervously, his previous taunting words echoing back at him like a bad joke, “Where are you right now?”

“I’m at home…” She whispered.

“Ok, I need you not to panic, I need you lock everything and wait for me, I’ll be there soon”

Hyemi tried to find her voice, struggling ever so slightly.

“That should be simple enough”

“Wait for me, don’t do anything stupid, alright?”

“Ok”

“I’ll be there soon. Grab a gun if you have one available, be ready. We’re leaving as soon as possible”

She said nothing and he let the line go dead, heading towards the office door.

“Boss, I think we found his accomplice in the police department, I need you to take a look at this before you go”

Myungsoo hesitated, “I only have a few minutes” He finally said as he placed his things down and followed the security tech back into his office.

Hyemi let the hand holding her phone slowly fall to her side. She said nothing as she carefully raised her eyes to meet the ones of the man holding the gun aimed directly at her heart.

“You really are a natural liar” He said quietly.

There was a dark look to his eyes, one more menacing than she had seen. She could have started to explain herself, but it was like dealing with a ticking time bomb. One wrong move and everything would go up in flames.

He motioned to her apartment door, the one she had almost made it into before he caught her, only seconds before Myungsoo had called.

“Aren’t you going to show me your place?” He asked, a slow smirk on his face.