A week went by and I.M was still in town.

Not that Kihyun minded, but he was growing more and more worried each day. For starters, he had to go back to work that day and he didn’t feel really keen on leaving the outsider on his own; the last couple of days seemed to have been hard on the guy by the way he looked after his sessions with Minhyuk. Besides that, he hadn’t met his boss ever since he gave him those few days off and that hadn’t gone so well for his mental health.

He felt weird all of a sudden. All those years where he had built up his fortress -a.k.a routine- were starting to crumble down on him. He didn’t feel comfortable in his hometown anymore, it didn’t feel like home. It was like he was going back in time to the days he-

“Kihyun” a hand on his shoulder dragged him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the foreigner with a creased brow. “Are you okay?” he asked worried, letting go of him.

“What?” the receptionist dumbly said before straightening up. “Yeah, why?” he smiled as brightly as he could.

He hadn’t realized he had stopped eating and was just glaring at his plate.

“You looked troubled” the other bit his inner cheek.

“It’s nothing” he hurriedly answered just as a door was being opened.

Jooheon entered the room and, as if it was a normal thing to do, took his things and muttered a quiet “Good morning” to then get out of the apartment quickly. Kihyun just sighed, knowing there was no point in making his brother stay and try to fight the guest. I.M, however, shifted uncomfortably on his seat to then suggest the possibility of him staying somewhere else.

“Don’t be stupid, he’s just stubborn” the homeowner shrugged it off with his hand. “Unless you really want to stay somewhere else because of some other reason”

“No, of course not!” the man was fast to exclaim, apologizing for the outburst after it.

“I’ll be back pretty late today” the local said concerned. “You can go for a walk or something. Maybe watch movies here, you can use my laptop” he suggested.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out” he smiled warmly, and it actually calmed the other down.

“, I gotta go” Kihyun muttered when he saw the time on his phone, getting up. “Take care, okay? I’ll call here when I can to see if everything’s alright”

“Yes, mom” the outsider groaned. “Good luck”

“Thank you!” was faintly heard through the door the other had just shut.

The apartment had never felt so silent, it was the first time he was left alone while being wide awake, which made him a bit uneasy. He didn’t feel comfortable enough to touch anything without Kihyun’s supervision. However, if he was going to stay there for longer, it was meant to happen.

He pouted unconsciously before getting up and taking the dishes to the sink, staring at them for a few minutes. The homeowner always insisted on doing the dishes himself -he had actually tried to fight against him to help, but the receptionist was stronger than he expected- and he didn’t feel good about it. It didn’t look too hard to do either so he hesitantly grabbed the sponge and spilled some soap on it, opening the hot water faucet to start working.

In the end, it didn’t look as if he had done a bad job out of it, so he smiled proudly at his first successful chore.

Now, what could he do?

It was also the first time he didn’t have his daily session with Minhyuk and the other two wouldn’t come back home until 10 in the evening. It was almost 8 in the morning, he had a lot of free time in his hands.

He started walking aimlessly inside the apartment -slowly since it wasn’t a very big space- and watching everything intently. He didn’t dare to go into any of the bedrooms, it didn’t feel right to do it while the others weren’t around -something that made his little tour even shorter. However, it didn’t make it less interesting. In the past week, Kihyun had taken him out almost all day long so that he could get distracted, he hadn’t gotten the chance to pay attention to the little details in their home.

One thing that especially caught his eye was a wooden bookshelf in the corner, at his bed’s -couch- feet, which did not only contain books but also a few pictures. Now, even if he didn’t like to stick his nose in other people’s business, he was really curious. Looking at some photos wouldn’t hurt.

He felt a soft smile creep into the corners of his mouth when seeing the first one. It was one of Kihyun, apparently as a high-school student next to Dr. Chae and Dr. Lee, smiling brightly, carrying a terrible hairstyle and some thick, square glasses -I.M seriously hoped he still had those things somewhere around the house, the local looked adorable in them.

The second picture was an even older one. The two brothers were side by side, carrying bored expressions as if someone had pushed them into posing for it, and behind them there was a huge Christmas tree shining brightly. This made the outsider wonder how he looked like when he was younger. His nose was probably smaller, he thought with a snicker.

He kept on admiring the frames until he reached the end of them, finding one that puzzled him. There were four people in it and he had never seen two of them. Kihyun had never mentioned any other relative besides his younger brother, so those two grown ups had to be their parents. Where could they be? His guardian was always taking care of Jooheon as if he were his mother and father at the same time.

The smile he had been carrying this whole time slowly faded away.

Kihyun was such a good person but nobody seemed to notice it. I.M wanted him to be happy, to see how much he was worth and to stop letting people step over him. Because, even though the other liked to pretend everything was fine, he could perceive that the people in that town weren’t so nice to him.

He sighed heavily and retreated himself from that corner, looking around. Maybe it would be good to sleep for a little while longer since it was so early.

He slept for about four more hours before his growling stomach woke him up. And after eating some leftovers, he set out to try to watch a movie in Kihyun’s laptop, like the latter had suggested doing.

I.M hesitantly opened the lid of the computer and found a post-it attached to it.

‘To turn on, press this’ it read, followed by an arrow pointing to the left where a button was. The outsider laughed and obeyed before looking at the other note stuck on the device.

‘Open last page of red notebook for further instructions’

Needless to say, the young man couldn’t disobey the other’s orders, and he really needed something to entertain himself.

With the help of the homeowner’s indications, I.M was watching a thriller within minutes while happily munching on some cookies when the phone suddenly rang.

“Hello?” he shyly answered, afraid it would be someone who didn’t speak English.

“Hi, I.M! How is everything going?” Kihyun’s soft voice greeted him.

“Hey! Everything’s good, I was watching a movie. Thanks for your indications” he chuckled, remembering how organized the notes in that notebook were. “How about you? How’s work?”

“I’m glad they helped” he chirped. “It’s... good, as always” the tone in the other’s voice said the opposite, though. “I can’t talk much but I wanted to make sure you’re alright”

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry so much” he laughed. “I promise I won’t try to cook or anything, so everything should be okay”

“Thank god, how would I feed you and Jooheonnie with a burnt-down kitchen?” I.M was glad he sounded amused, as if he had lifted some of the weight on his shoulders. “Anyway, the number I’m calling from is in the notebook so call me if something comes up, I gotta go”

“I will, thank you, Kihyun”

After hanging up, the stranger stood for some seconds staring at the phone. What was that warm sensation on his chest he always felt when talking to the other? It probably had to do with the fact that he was the man who had saved him. Yep, that was it. He shouldn’t have been thinking about those things, there was nothing more to it.

I.M shook his head and returned to the chair on which he had been sitting and pressed play.

His plans of relaxing, however, were interrupted when a loud knock on the door was heard throughout the apartment a few minutes later.

A man shouted something. However, he couldn’t understand a word, so he nervously and carefully approached the door and peeked through the peephole.

Detective Shin Hoseok and two other men were banging on the entrance repeatedly. He thought he heard Kihyun’s name being called, but he wasn’t sure. He unlocked and opened the door with trembling hands, not liking the way the visitors were behaving.