There are only the sound of the pen brushing against the papers, and the voice of a man cursing and swearing at the one who had locked him up.

“Eric Mun! Open the door!” Hyesung bangs at the door again. The said man continues to sit at his table, with the posture of an aristocrat as he writes. He is not bothered by Hyesung’s constant swearing at him. He wants to listen to the man’s voice. Hyesung falls silent gradually. Eric sighs. The man must be tired. He is already detained by Eric for a few hours.

“I am sorry Hyesungie.” Eric whispers softly so that only he hears it. Hyesung’s phone beside him rings. Eric turns and sees Dongwan’s face, lips puckering as if he is offering his lips for a kiss. He had seen that expression many times before; when he was still dating the man. But the image he is seeing now is not for him but for Hyesung.

Eric answers the call but says nothing.

“Hello? Hyesung, are you there? Where did you go?”

Eric’s heart tightens hearing the familiar voice. He bites down on his lips to prevent his sob from being heard.

“Hyesung?” Dongwan’s voice turns worried when he receives no reply.

“Dongwan…” Eric answers finally. He can almost feel Dongwan’s shock over the phone. After a moment of silence, Dongwan says his name. Just one word, but the vast amount of sentiments with it is overwhelming.

The last time they heard each other’s voice was six months ago, and it was only filled with spite.

“I’ve Hyesung with me. If you want to see him again, meet me tomorrow at 1pm. I’ll text you the address.” Eric hangs up immediately, disregarding the pain in his heart. He stands up and moves to the cabinet, retrieving his shotgun.

“I’m sorry Dongwan. There is only one way I can end this.”

***

Hyesung feels his body aching all over when he wakes up. He was sleeping on hard concrete floor. It takes the journalist a while to recall his plight. He stands up angrily and bangs at the door again, shouting and swearing at Eric. The man rests once more when he gets tired. Eric is blatantly ignoring him.

Hyesung squats down, thinking about how he can change Eric’s mind of killing Junjin. His anger evidently did nothing to elevate the situation. Junjin has suffered enough, why does misfortune have to keep befalling on the man? Hyesung gasps suddenly as the dots start connecting themselves in his mind. He stands up and starts banging on the door again.

“Eric! Eric can you hear me? Junjin was Andy’s boyfriend! They were dating!” Hyesung shouts frantically. Maybe Eric will spare Junjin’s life for Andy’s sake? Junjin mentioned that no one knows about him and Andy’s relationship. (Author’s Note: Hyesung is still clueless about the exact reason why Eric wanted to take Junjin’s life.)

The new piece of information successfully gains Eric’s attention. Eric holds his breath as a new wave of pain attacks him emotionally and physically. He stands up and slowly staggers over to Hyesung, stopping outside the door. “What did you say?”

“Junjin brought me to the beach once, the one where you confessed to me. He told me he was covertly in love with Andy and they dated after he finally confessed.” Hyesung quickly supplies more information seeing that Eric is finally responding. "But Andy died before they have the chance to tell you guys."

Eric’s heart clenches. So that was the thing Andy wanted to tell him the day before he was killed; that Junjin and him had become an item.

“What is with that smile?” Eric narrowed his eyes and questioned his brother when Andy returned to the room they’re sharing. Andy beamed at him.

“Junjin and I will make the announcement tomorrow, but if you want to know I’ll tell you first! I am dying to tell you anyway.” Andy said excitedly.

“YOU AND JIN?!” Eric asked cynically. “Since when do both of you click together?”

Andy laughed.

“Yes! Jin and I will announce something. But if you don’t mind knowing before Dongwan hyung, I’ll tell you tonight.” Andy said, knowing that his brother and Dongwan hyung will always want to share every experience together if they have a choice. It was difficult for anyone to imagine these two elites among elites in the police force are such sweet lovers.

Eric smiled. “Tell me tomorrow then, when Dongwan is there.”

Andy rolled his eyes. “I knew you would say that. Guess I’ll have to hold it in until tomorrow.” He climbed up to his double deck bed and lied down. Eric raised his leg and kicked the base of Andy’s bed.

“You’ll understand me when you have a girlfriend.”

“Dongwan hyung is not a girl.” Andy retorted, earning another kicked from his elder brother.

“You will understand me when you fall in love.”

They didn’t have until morning. Dongwan (he was their superior leading the special crime unit at that time) barged into their room before sunrise to gather them for an urgent mission.

“Eric? Eric, are you still there? Did you hear me?” Hyesung pounds on the door three more times. After a short while, he hears the sound of the key unlocking the door. The heavy metal door of the storage room swings open, revealing a poker face Eric. He grips Hyesung’s wrist and pulls him out of the room, handcuffing him to a table with food lay out. “Eat,” Eric commands. “I’m bringing you to see Dongwan later.”

Hyesung widens his eyes at Eric.

“Eat.” Eric repeats before walking to his work desk and continue what he was writing.

Andy, did you send Hyesung into our lives to relief me from all the injustice I felt? Eric thought silently. Did you want to tell me that Dongwan never betrays me and you want Junjin to live on?

A faint smile appears on Eric’s face even though his heart is still hurting, in a brand new way.

When Hyesung is done with his breakfast, Eric leads him to his van and drives them back to his apartment. They make their way to the roof top. Dongwan is already there waiting for them.

“Eric…” Dongwan takes a fleeting glance at Hyesung before turning to Eric, the hue of his eyes reflecting worry and unease. “Hyesung has nothing to do with the grudges between us. Let him go please.”

“You really love him.” Eric comments. He fishes out his shotgun and points it to Hyesung’s head. Hyesung’s heart skips a beat when the cold metal comes into contact with his skin. The gun next to his head is as real as any other he had seen in his career. He hears the sound of Dongwan gasping and the police officer quickly pulls out his own gun, pointing it to Eric.

Eric let out a content laugh. “It feels like we are back to our rivalry days, competing who is better.” He takes a deep breath and whispers softly to Hyesung, “I’m sorry Hyesung. I told you when we first met; one last person has to die for this to end. I only know yesterday that the person is not Junjin.”

Dongwan suddenly throws away his gun and kneels down in front of the two men he loves. “You won. Can we get away from here now?” The tears gather in Dongwan’s beautiful eyes and make its way out as he desperately continues to beg Eric. “ERIC, PLEASE! YOU WON THIS ROUND! CAN WE GET OUT OF HERE PLEASE?! ERIC, I BEG YOU!”

The criminal turns to Dongwan, his own eyes teary. At last he won the man. Finally he is one step ahead of Dongwan. Although Dongwan still manages to figure out his plan, he is too late.

“I’m sorry Dongwan…I could have done this myself in the warehouse, but I want to see you one last time.” Eric closes his eyes as his hand pulls the trigger.

“NO!” Dongwan screams.

There is no sound of a gunshot when Eric falls. Everything seems to be in slow motion when Hyesung feels Eric’s grip on him loosens. The journalist turns over; Dongwan was howling in pain as he rushes over and cradles Eric in his arm. He holds Eric’s body close to him, like a mother rocking her baby to sleep. Hyesung’s eyes fall on the faint smile form by Eric lips before moving to the gun wound at the side of his head. The pool of blood slowly expands in size as Dongwan continues to cradle Eric.

Hyesung suddenly understand the last piece of the puzzle. Dongwan’s most important person that Eric took, is the man himself. 

I apologise for being confusing again. Yes you never read wrong. Eric died! T.T

The last person was not Hyesung but Eric himself. There is a reason why he asked Dongwan to meet at the roof top. Clearer explaination will be in the next chapter. For the moment let me live in this angst. 

My Ricdy brother OTP. *wails*