Taemin timidly goes into the station for his next shift, not really knowing what to expect. He dreads seeing Minho again, especially after going off with Jinki that morning. He tries to convince himself that Minho was being totally unreasonable, but the truth was, Taemin was scared to confront that he had once again hurt his very dear friend.

He walks into the common room, directly going to the fridge for a drink of water, when a voice cuts through his thoughts.

"He's leaving," Jonghyun says, flatly. The older man was sitting on the couch in front of the television like he always does.

Taemin stops dead in his tracks and stares at him, not really understanding what he was talking about. 

"Taemin, Minho is leaving our team. He asked for a transfer to a station in his hometown... Effective immediately," he says, never taking his eyes off the screen. 

The news knocks the wind out of him and young man feels his knees buckle. He stares at Jonghyun in total shock but all he is able to see is the back of his head. Even from this angle, he realizes that the older man is upset. Both of them knew that this was entirely Taemin's fault.

Taemin closes the door to the fridge and takes one step after the other, hoping to be able to make a difference. He walks briskly to the sleeping quarters and finds Minho collecting his personal belongings.

"What are you doing?" he asks, standing at the doorway with a concerned look on his face.

Minho freezes at the sound of Taemin's voice and heaves a big breath. He hates the way the young man can so easily affect him. Minho stops to collect himself as he felt tears welling up in his eyes, before continuing to put his things in big black duffel bag--totally ignoring the question thrown at him.

"Minho..." Taemin says as he starts moving towards the older man slowly. "Please don't do this... We can work together, can't we... Jonghyun Hyung is really upset... You can't just--"

"What? Can't just what?" Minho says, banging the door to his locker and facing Taemin hastily. His lips quiver as all kinds of emotions come over him at the same time: frustration, hearbreak, love, jealousy, despair... Anger. "Tell me... What is it exactly that I can't do on a whim? You move on whims all the time, Taemin. This is me moving on my whim for my own sake."

Taemin is taken aback by the pure pain in Minho's eyes. He had never seen him that way before, and it scared him so much that it send shivers down his spine. 

"I love you, don't you understand that?" the older man says, tears finally falling down his cheeks. "I love you, and every day that I see you... It gets harder and harder. You confuse the hell out of me, Taemin. One day you're telling me to you off and the next, you go off with some other man? I can't live like this... It's too hard."

Minho takes his bag and storms away, leaving a shocked Taemin in his wake. The young man is too stunned to run after him, but he knows that this is what he has to do.

"Hyung..." he says, as he makes himself snap out of it. "Hyung, wait a minute."

They both find themselves in the common area where Jonghyun was still sitting, glued to the television. The older man whips around to listen to the commotion happening right behind him. 

"Hyung, please... Don't go just because of me," Taemin says, looking at Jonghyun nervously. He hated the feeling of having a public confrontation but this is where everything has led. "Okay, I admit it. I made a mistake. I'm a complete jerk for leading you on. I shouldn't have... Damn it, Hyung... I'm an , okay? I'm an !" 

Taemin runs his hands through his hair in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration, not knowing what else to say. 

"I'm sorry..." he says, looking to Minho and then to Jonghyun. "To both of you, I'm so sorry. But this team... We're good together, right? Minho Hyung... Don't leave us because I messed up. Please..."

There was a thick tension in the air as both Jonghyun and Taemin was waiting to see what Minho was going to decide to do. This team meant everything to them in the last two years that they had been together. They were family. 

Minho turns to Jonghyun who had this pleading look on his face and back at Taemin--the man who had shattered his heart into a million pieces. But something shiny catches his eye. He looks around at the awards and commendations on the walls of their station, knowing that they accomplished so much in their field. They did that together as one unit. The best years of his life was spent in service to the people, next to his team mates. No matter how he felt, Taemin was right. His feelings had nothing to do with the job that all of them loved to do. Deep inside, he knew he would regret going out the door that day, leaving them like this.

He takes a sharp breath and grips his duffel bag tighter in his hand, looking Taemin straight in the eye.

"I'm not staying because of you," he says coldly as he returns to the sleeping quarters.

Taemin closes his eyes and sighs in relief as Minho walks past, and Jonghyun finally shows a snippet of emotion as he held his head in his hands. 

"You better fix this, Taemin," the older man says, coldly. "I mean it. Fix this."

*****

"I'm going out," Jinki says carefully, almost scared to bother Kibum. "I.. I have a job."

The younger man was laying on the couch and doesn't even look up from his cellphone, as if he didn't hear anything at all. 

"Kibum. I'll be late, I have a job," Jinki says, standing there not really knowing what to do. Kibum had never been that mad at him before and he didn't know how else to behave except to be his normal self. This definitely made Kibum all the more annoyed.

He continues to be transfixed by his cellphone and this makes Jinki heave an audible sigh. Kibum knew he was getting on Jinki's last nerve and couldn't bear the build-up of the tension any longer. He finally looks up and gives the older man a dead-pan look. "So, go," he says.

"I lost my keys," Jinki says, scratching his head.

"Go. I won't lock the door," he says, returning to his cell phone.

"D-don't wait up for me..." Jinki says, scared of Kibum's reactions. 

"You lost that privilege, Jinki. I don't wait up for room mates," the younger man says coldly. 

Jinki sighs in frustration. He doesn't know what else to do but to stare at Kibum as he stands halfway out the door. He gives the younger man one last look as he closes the door behind him, shuffling down the hallway.

Kibum peeks from behind the couch, making sure that Jinki had really left. When he doesn't hear a peep from the other side of the door, he throws his phone on the couch and starts to breathe deeply. The young man sits upright with his head in his hands and sobs loudly. His body was wracking with every heavy breath that he took, the tears stinging his eyes. 

"I hate you, Jinki," he says in between sobs, as he punches his thighs out of sheer frustration. "I hate you... I hate you..." 

He wipes the snot off his face with his sleeve and looks around their apartment.

His tearful eyes slowly crawl all across the room. This was the life that they built together. Each part of this apartment stood for the years that he had devoted his life to loving and caring for a man that apparently didn't feel the same way about him. It was a rude awakening to realize that all this years, his life had been a lie. He gets up and goes to the kitchen, shaking from rage and frustration, as he took some plates in his hand.

Kibum lifted his hands above his head and proceeded to smash the plates all over the kitchen floor. Each sound of destruction somehow made his burden feel lighter. He felt a sense of justice as he threw every breakable item on the floor, as if he was getting back at Jinki for all his years of suffering. The shards hitting his bare feet made him take steps back until he was against the kitchen wall. 

His back slides down the wall until he was on the floor with his knees to his chest, sobbing so loudly that it echoes through the entire apartment. He had given Jinki everything he could--every best part of him. And what did he have to show for?

"I hate myself more," he says as he sobs into his arm, knowing exactly what to do next. 

He gets up and walks across the apartment and into their shared bedroom. Kibum frantically looks for the biggest bag that he could find, and haphazardly throws in all the belongings that he could carry. He sobs at every move he made, ashamed that it had taken him this long to do what was best for himself. 

He puts on a decent outfit and wipes the tears off his face. Kibum walks out towards the door and gives one last look around. 

"Goodbye, Jinki... Enough."

*****

Jinki arrives at the meeting place with the others already there waiting for him. It was unnerving to be carrying so much money on his person but he figured that he wasn't alone this time. At least there were people who had his back this time--or at least he hoped so. 

He nods at the members and they surround him as he arrives, all of them starting to walk towards the direction of Heechul's headquarters. Walking back this way was making him anxious, as he felt the stitches in his abdomen throb. This was the exact route he took that night he was injured and the armed men surrounding him somehow gave him little to no comfort at all.

They reach the door and knock. One look from the guy behind it and they were let in, without having to say a single word. 

"Just the kid," the huge bouncer says, as the rest of the members were ordered to stand in the hallway. There was nothing that Jinki could do but follow the man through the familiar hallway, and ending in front of a familiar door. Memories of the worst day of his life resurfaced and made his hands shake as the door opened with a puff of smoke hitting him squarely in the face.

Jinki slowly made his way into the room, one step at a time, clutching the bag closely to his chest. He looks around the room, his senses alert and heightened. There were no girls this time, just a bunch of guys counting the contents of loads of crates surrounding them--Heechul sitting comfortably at the center of it all.

"Well..." Heechul says, standing from his chair to greet Jinki. "I had to see it with my own eyes... Good to have you back, kid." 

His devious smile streched across his face, his long scar shining in the light. Jinki's hair was almost matted to his head in a cold sweat as he tried to remind himself that he wasn't alone this time. There were people waiting for him, and a big reward was in store. He had to make it through... He needed that money to make it up to Kibum. 

"Do you finally have the entire amount this time?" Heechul sneers, pointing to the bag that Jinki carried across his chest. 

"Yeah, this time I made sure that it was all here," he says, handing the bag over. 

Heechul scoffed, like it was entirely beneath him to hold anything that came from Jinki's hands. One of his men readily took the bag and started counting the bills inside it.

The gangster stared long and hard at Jinki, assessing every feature that he could. The younger man stood there in sheer terror, awaiting his fate.

"You know... It isn't everyday that I hear someone had made it through one of my... special gifts. You're tough, kid. I'll give you that." Heechul circles around him slowly like a vulture would circle his prey. "Working for that pudgy old man... That's nothing. I could use someone like you. You seem like you have a sensible head on your shoulders."

Jinki's throat was going completely dry at what he was hearing. Was Heechul trying to get him to switch sides?

"That old man was foolish to send you here in such a compromising position, without anyone to back you up... Looks to me like he doesn't care very much for you, does he?" Heechul says, in a tone that sends shivers down Jinki's spine. Somehow the younger man knew of the unspeakable deeds that he had done, just from the way he spoke. 

Jinki is still silent as Heechul returns to his chair and tilts his head to the side.

"You see, unlike the petulant Hornet, I care about you, Lee Jinki. I know that you were orphaned at a young age... I know that you escaped that abusive orphanage with your friend... I know that you've both survived on a life of petty crime... And I also know that you want more." Heechul sits forward and clasps his hands in front of his face, never taking his eyes off Jinki. "I can offer you so much more. I've been looking for a young man like you... Persevering, resourceful, tough. You can be my right hand man."

Jinki's eyes burn with the cold sweat dripping down his forehead and into his eyes. He could not believe that Heechul knew all those things about him. Not even Hornet himself bothered to know about him this way. 

"Look around carefully, Jinki... This isn't some small-time operation I'm running here. With Hornet, you'll be shaking down scared old men for their measly debts. With me... You can travel the world."

"It's all here, boss," one of Heechul's henchmen interrupts, throwing the empty bag back to Jinki. 

"Well, that's nice... Hornet's finally paid off his debt. There's no reason for me to see you anymore Lee Jinki... Unless what I've been saying has piqued your interest." Heechul smiles at him like never before. It was warm and welcoming... Genuine. "Be here the night after next. We have a new shipment coming in and I would like you to help..." 

Jinki hugs the bag closely and swallows the lump in his throat, not really sure of what to do next.

"Go... Go back to your little buddies..." Heechul says, waving his arm in the air. "I hope to see you again, Lee Jinki."