The air still smelled like smoke long after the fire was put out.

Hanbin let his arm with the phone fall back to by his side when the line went dead. He looked over his friends getting interrogated by police officers who also tried to keep the reporters away as much as they could but it didn’t stop the press from taking photos most likely for a future article. Hanbin hated that they came and looked at the burned down place as if it was a circus for their entertainment, that they used their tragedy as an asset to get some attention, to blow something off as big news even if it was ‘just’ a fire in the suburbs with only a few ‘kids’ involved. They didn’t really care that that car repair shop was their life, the only sort of income some of them had and phew, it was all gone from one moment to another.

It was really just luck because they were all in the front having an early dinner after working hours and they were joking around as usually. So free-spirited they didn’t even find the smoke’s distinguishable smell suspicious. Barbeques weren’t that rare of a thing around there after all. If it wasn’t for Bobby who went into the back to get a few more beer from the fridge who knows when they would have noticed the fire spreading from throughout the entire shop. Even with the guy’s alarming warning they barely escaped before the whole place blew up because of the chemicals on fire inside. Damn, it was such a mess.

“Hey, are you ok?” A hand patted his back and Hanbin sighed as he looked over Jinhwan, who looked dead serious for once.

“Yeah… it’s just a lot,” the younger frustratedly raked a hand over his hair.

He knew he should have only cared about them being alright but that car repair shop meant a lot to all of them and with their insurance they probably won’t see a won in return of the damage. The ground was all black and ruined where the place had been once and only a few burnt metal withstood the destruction of the flames.

“Did the cops said anything?” The driver pointed at the police car that left the spot just now with all the gathered information.

“Nothing much that matters. They will contact us when they have info yadda yadda. But according to the pyrotechnician it seems to be arson. However with no cameras or witnesses around we have nothing on the possible culprit,” Jinhwan grimaced and Hanbin let out a groan because he knew what this exactly meant: that most likely they won’t ever catch whoever did it.

They had quite a few petty enemies from the races and local gangs, so it was hard to tell who it could be and why. They even laid low for a while, so why now? It just didn’t make sense. Maybe it was only a few rascals who wanted nothing more than to cause trouble and vandalise strangers’ property.

“That ,” Hanbin buried his face into his hands, feeling totally useless. Lately everything was almost too good to be true. Maybe this one was the payback for all the good times.

“Yeah, I know,” Jinhwan agreed, understanding well how he felt. They were all quite devastated. Yet, he tried to find directions for themselves. One step at a time. “Look, I’m gonna take the girls home. You should head back, too. We will figure out what to do tomorrow.”

The racer nodded with a sigh, knowing that they can’t do much more tonight and he watched the last of his friends leave. Despite the lingering smell of burns brought by the wind and the dark patch in lieu of the shop, the street started to resemble itself when all that attention died down. He was just about to get into his car heading home as he promised to both Soyeon and Jinhwan when a lean figure blocked his way.

“Hey,” the guy greeted him.

“Oh, hi Donghyuk,” Hanbin shook hands with the neighbour dance studio’s owner. The dancer was also interrogated as a possible witness but since he had a class while it all happened, he couldn’t tell anything. “Sorry for today’s mess.”

“It’s not your fault,” Donghyuk shook his head, sympathy painted all over his features. “Look, I didn’t want to get involved with the cops but thought you might need it,” he cleared his throat as he hands Hanbin a pendrive with a meaningful look. Neither of them needs to say anything more for them to know what it contains.

“Thank you,” Hanbin closed his fingers around the small storage device, nodding towards their neighbour.

“Let me know if I can help in any way around the shop,” the guy said as a goodbye and walked away.

Hanbin stared at his fist for a while before shoving the pendrive into his pocket and got behind the wheel. I had already gotten late in the meantime and he hated to make Soyeon wait in the dark, especially around a neighbourhood he lived in. He texted her that he was on his way before driving off. There were so many different feelings overlapping inside him that it was hard to tell which got him so worked up by the time he parked a block away from his apartment. Was it anticipation to see his girl again? Fear and anger mixed because of the recent event? Excitement to figure out who did it?

Turning around the corner his heart skipped a beat when he saw Soyeon there and a small smile made its way onto his mouth despite the circumstances. She noticed him right away too, standing up from the few steps of stairs in front of the apartment building’s door. But the smile froze to Hanbin’s lips soon after because a few meters behind the girl, a black car flashed its lights and he immediately knew what it meant. Nothing good, that’s for sure.

He had his guts twisted and turned as he gritted his teeth. Walking over the parking lot, he looked past Soyeon as if he didn’t even know her but slowed down when he reached her side.

“Go inside, I’ll follow you in a minute,” he promised in a whisper, dropping his keys into the girl’s open palm, fingers grazing against her hand just a bit longer than intended before he passed by her. He didn’t look back, didn’t confirmed that she did as he asked or not but he heard a door open and close, so he hoped she listened to him.

Yet, his steps were still jittery as he walked to the black minivan and got inside. As his back collided with the leather seat, he sat next to a man in his late thirties. With his Rolex and silk shirt, blowing cigarette smoke into Hanbin’s face, he looked more like a businessman than the gangster he was. But oh well, there was just a fine line between the too around the Ring.

“Still don’t like my offer?” The Ringmaster was known for going straight to the point, so Hanbin wasn’t surprised by his recurring question coming up again but the timing was quite suspicious.

“Was it you?” he asked with lips white in a firm line but he got laughed in the face.

“What? Behind that amateur arson? Don’t kid me, it doesn’t benefit me in any way. But I have eyes everywhere,” the man shrugged and Hanbin had to admit he was right. If he wanted to get his money, taking away a part of his income was no solution. But lately, the man was trying to persuade him to take an empty position in his gang and the racer wasn’t sure how desperate he was, so he didn’t say anything.

“Look, kid, I know you love racing, you love your friends and you loved that ty shop. I’m offering you a way out of your debts and a job with easy money,” the man said and Hanbin hated when he acted like some kind of fairy godmother. As if it wasn’t him who tossed a once 16 year old kid into such situation.

“I won’t be your runaway driver,” he shook his head, determined to not let himself get swayed. He didn’t want to be more involved in criminal acts than he already was.

“Then deliver me the money, the whole sum by the end of the month. There won’t be any more extensions. If I don’t have it in my hands, I will take everything you own starting from that beloved car of yours, understood?” the Ringmaster growled as hostile as he really was. Hanbin nodded.

“Will you leave me alone once you have the money?”

“You act like it wasn’t an honour making business with me,” the man tsked and rolled his eyes running out of patience. “Just give me my damned money back and we are done. Now get out.”

“Make sure to bet on me next week ’cause I’m gonna win,” Hanbin promised with a confident smile, hands already on the handle.

“Girlfriend?” the gangster called after him suddenly, before he could open the door and there was a lump in the boy’s throat once again. Of course, the bastard had to notice. But he couldn’t see her face, so he couldn’t know who she was, Hanbin tried to reason but he knew it was in vain. If the Ringmaster wanted to find someone, he did.

“Leave her out of this,” Hanbin said through gritted teeth, willing himself not to do anything reckless and stupid. He knew the other was doing it on purpose, he found pleasure in kicking into people already on the ground.

“I will if you fulfill your part of the deal,” the man promised but it sounded like a threat and Hanbin was glad to leave the car behind. After he made sure the minivan disappeared from the sight, he jogged upstairs in the apartment building, knocking on his own door.

Soyeon looked utterly worried when she opened the door. Her face was pale and eyes narrowed in question. But she enveloped him in her arms as soon as he stepped inside with no questions asked. He must have smelled like fire and burns but she hugged him close as if it didn’t matter at all.

“What happened?” she murmured into his chest, sounding small. Hanbin a hand down her back trying to soothe her and himself, too. Feeling her close grounded him.

“I need to tell you something. Let’s sit down,” he suggested quietly and even though he didn’t want to lengthen the distance between them, he pulled away and taking her hand in his he led her to the couch in the small living room.

Silence only disturbed by their uneven heartbeats followed and Hanbin didn’t know how to start. It was like ripping off a bandage, he had to do it fast to make it hurt less he knew but he was still afraid of what Soyeon might think. She had never looked down on him because of anything but his past was something that never came up and she deserved to know.

“I’m in a debt. I owe a big pile of money to someone really powerful around here. That’s why I needed the driver job so bad and that’s why I participated in more races lately,” he blurted out quickly, worrying a lip between his teeth without taking his eyes off of their intertwined fingers.

“If it’s money…”

“No, I don’t want you or anyone to pay for it. It’s on me,” Hanbin cut her off early on, not wanting to hear any of it. He appreciated that she cared but it was something he needed to deal with. He got himself into this mess and he was this close to get out finally. “I was sixteen when my parents died. In a car accident, ironically. I had nothing and didn’t know what to do with myself and got into the wrong crowds. They introduced me the Ringmaster who paid me for simple deliveries. It was only later when went down that I realized I helped him dealing with drugs. I lost a package, a big one full of , so he basically owes me ever since. As soon as I learned how to drive he was the one who sent me to races, so he can bet on me and take his share while it gives me time. But lately he has grown inpatient, so it was him reminding me to pay.”

As his voice died down, there was a light, encouraging squeeze on his hand. As Soyeon tugged on it, he had no choice but to look up and to his relief there was no disappointment in her caramel eyes.

“Is this why the next race is so important to you?” she asked curiously, thumb the back of his hand gently. She knew well how much money that meant.

“Yeah.”

“You can do it. I believe you will win and overcome it,” she told him while pressing a kiss on his knuckles lovingly. It warmed Hanbin’s heart and calmed his nerves.

“Thanks. It means a lot,” he said and he couldn’t even express himself with words. He had the fam behind his back and they accepted him as he was, true, but not even all of them knew about his detailed background story with the local gang. And Soyeon who just barely joined these circles could have been freaked out or even ashamed of him for having such life. But instead she seemed proud that he had come such a long way and supported in everything he did.

There was tranquility in the silence that stretched between them after such confession but they couldn’t forget about the circumstances. In the end it was Soyeon who tentatively brought up the topic.

“This Ringmaster… is it possible that ha started the fire?”

“I don’t think so. But…” Hanbin stopped in the middle of his answer to take out the pendrive from his pocket. “We will see.”

He quickly get his laptop from the coffee table and once the operating system loaded, he inserted the device. It had nothing but a video file on it and they exchanged a knowing look before clicking on play. The recording showed the back area of the dance studio but also a piece of the car repair shop too. For a while nothing happened but then a car pulled up at the sideway and two masked guys got out with bottles in their hands pouring their content on and around the wall.

They watch the video in silence but when Hanbin’s muscles tensed, Soyeon nuzzled closer and tried to pry open his heavy fists gently.

It was when the two guys got back into the car that the unmasked driver leaned out of the window and threw a burning lighter onto the liquid that got on fire immediately.

“Oh no… he didn’t,” Soyeon gasped when she recognized the figure on the frozen screen. “He’s a psychopath, he has gone crazy for sure.”

Hanbin didn’t say anything, just detached the pendrive from the computer and handed it over to Soyeon.

“It’s yours,” he said firmly which confused the hell out of the angered girl.

“What?” She blinked gaze shifting between the boy and the device that held all the evidence against Seungyeon. It wasn’t just a petty little crime anymore that their father could have saved him, they both knew it but Hanbin also knew that how much damage something like this could leave on her family. A scandal, all that press, the trials…

“Despite what he did, he’s your brother. I don’t want you to suffer because of this. So it’s your choice whether we use it or not,” he explained patiently with both his hands around hers. Out of the two of them now she was the more shaken up and he wanted to be there for her just like she was there for him.

“Of course you shou-” ld use it, Soyeon wanted to blurt out immediately but she was interrupted with a request.

“Think about it, don’t decide in a hustle.”

“Okay,” she huffed out knowing that Hanbin is right even if in that moment she wanted nothing else but to see his brother finally suffer the consequences of his actions.

This time the quiet was suffocating and heavy. It felt like rain pouring from above.

“Hey Soyeon,” Hanbin whispered as they cuddled on the couch and she hummed acknowledging him. “No matter how you decide, I love you too.”

His voice was soft and fond, honest and he smiled when he finally felt her relax by his side. Everything was so hectic and messy that he didn’t have a chance to tell her earlier but he needed to let it out now. Because even if their worlds were crumbling down around them, at least their love was constant.