EHEHEHE so sorry i havent been paying attention to this story so far! T___T but i have updated!!! please give me your comments!! thank you guy!! *bows hehehe

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A sunny morning greeted Onew, it felt like perfection when he got out of bed not able to trip on anything and his body is not experiencing any sort of aching at all. A wide smile plastered on his face as he went to the kitchen following the delicious smell of something that he is quite fond of, he was excited, feeling that tingling feeling rise up his body like a child waiting to open his present. Finally setting his eyes on the kitchen table, something there glows brightly as if it’s something of the divine, as Onew crept closer to see what it was the glow subsides and he was finally able to see what the thing is…

“Chicken!” he squealed almost to the extent like he’s fan-boying, he was so happy that he could almost shed tears of joy, the smell, the sight, the existence of that plate of homemade chicken waiting for him to gobble up made his senses oh so sensitive he could almost hear those crispy drumsticks scream for him “Eat me! Eat me!” and he finally grabbed one, feeling the texture in his fingers he just know that its good quality, and now he his lips and opens his mouth as his canines aim for a bite…but suddenly the chicken disappeared between his finger’s hold, and so does the whole plate on the table. The face of disappointment showed on his face as he screamed no, begging for it to come back…then he woke up, it was all a dream, a terrible one because his chicken got away.

Onew groaned as his groggy eyes were buried on the pillow, the sound of his phone ringing woke him up, he did not like dreaming of chicken if he cannot eat them and he has convinced himself that that kind of dream falls into the category of nightmares. Also because it reminded him of home, where servant maids would serve him every morning his favorite food and of course all of it was well cooked and prepared, he doesn’t want to, but it seems he misses the luxury in his old home.  He grabbed his phone on his bedside table and clicked the answer button lazily.

“H-hello?” he said then yawned, the person on the other line was completely annoyed by what he did.

“YAH! Wake up sleepy head!” Siwon shouted on the other line, his voice was enough to make Onew sit up straight.

“S-sir? Good morning—I—uh…”

“Save it Onew, I want you three to go back to that farm Taemin came from, and of course it’s the crime scene, I want you to ask questions, find out what you can about the kid while we handle the case from the juvenile hall.”

“He’ll be coming with us then? I can’t leave him here inside the apartment.”

“Yeah you can bring him, good luck with the babysitting! Use your car; the station will pay you with the gas fee instead.”

“Seriously? Its police business, why won’t you let me use the police car in the station?”

“Well your black sports car looks more attractive and classy; just do your job okay?”

“Ugh…fine, did you call Key and Jonghyun?”

“Already did, you three just meet up in Eunhwa.”

Siwon hangs up and Onew dashed towards the shower to take a bath, after fixing up his clothes he knocked on Taemin’s room and told him they’d be going somewhere, when the boy asked where exactly Onew hesitated at first but then he spills nonetheless. Taemin froze after hearing that they are going to his old home, he had no choice but to come and took a bath, wearing the clothes Onew gave him. He was thankful for his kindness and for offering him a place to stay, but it he realized that he is not exempted when it comes to interrogation nor he cannot refuse what Onew requests for him.

The two left the apartment in Onew’s car, they arrived at Eunhwa and the first person that Onew saw is Key, who is brightly smiling in her desk as she saw Onew approaching. The detective was about to greet someone so pretty in the morning yet before he could wave his hand and say hi Jonghyun entered the scene, planting a kiss on Key’s cheek. Onew’s smile faded in an instant.

“Good morning people, I see we are all set for our mission for today, but Taemin here will be coming with us” Onew said talking to the couple, Jonghyun rolled his eyes and gave his partner a glare.

“Aish you’re late, and I thought you’d be the early bird! Well I have no problem if the kid will tag alone, but you’re the one responsible for him…I don’t want to babysit a teenager!” Jonghyun let out laugh that annoyed Onew.

“I know you can’t handle responsibility Jonghyun so I won’t expect much from you”

“What did you say?”

Jonghyun faced Onew and grabbed his collar, tension is building between them again and Key who doesn’t like violence between the two, pulled Jonghyun’s hand away from the other boy.

“If you two cause a ruckus here I’d report this to the chief, now break it!” Key snapped and the two boys controlled themselves, Taemin just chuckled at them.

“Can you two serve as a good model for the boy? Sheesh…” Key took a good look at Taemin, “Don’t be shy to ask for something you need, it is as if you are a part of the team now…”

Taemin nodded, he’s blushing a little on how Key looked at him, he can tell why Jonghyun got jealous, yet the boy is a little halfhearted about being comfortable beside her. Finally, the four set off on a road trip outside town, they were heading to a remote farm where Taemin used to live, and where the mass murder happened. They were all in Onew’s car, the couple at the back and Taemin seated at the front, the ride was peaceful for four hours, Onew was happy not to hear a single complaint from Jonghyun, of course,…it’s all because of Key.

They were nearing the farm and passed several pastures as well, a melancholic feeling crept inside Taemin when Onew opened the windows of the car and then the fresh air started sweeping their hair. “This is the scent of my old home” Taemin said to himself and continued to reminisce the beautiful scenery, a tall house then caught his eye, it towered over the rest of the houses in sight, it was elegant and almost looked like a castle.  A tourist attraction some would say for it was the only house worth visiting in the bleak farm, but Taemin looked away, he reminds himself not to remember the things that had happened in that house for it will only bring misery to him, he doesn’t want to dig the memories in his vault of unfortunate events. However, deep inside him, he knew he had to; he had to because the detective with him wants the truth.

“Let’s park over there!” Onew sighed with relief, glad that they have to walk and interview people around now, his was aching for hours already and driving was tiring for him, he did not expect that their destination would be so damn far.

“Ugh! Finally, we have arrived! Onew didn’t step on it fast that’s why we didn’t arrive here early!” Jonghyun grunted as he woke up, the first complaint was heard from him and that ticked off Onew.

“Jonghyun don’t be so inconsiderate!” Key scolded him and Jonghyun just pouted like a good dog on his master’s lap, Onew glared at him and stuck his tongue out. Jonghyun could not believe he had done that and gave him the rude finger; Onew just smirked and parked the car in the entrance of a village.

Taemin suddenly felt his head spin, he fidgets in his seat then began to massage his temples, a headache is working its way…

“NO! Please don’t uncle!” he heard a boy scream for mercy, the voice so familiar that it gave him chills, Taemin suddenly looked from his left and right and realized that the car had been parked and the three officers had got off.

“Damn it, get yourself together Taemin!” he scolded himself, “It’s all in your head stupid!”

“Hey we need to go, we have to ask some people around and you can’t stay here okay?” Jonghyun suddenly tapped Taemin’s shoulder from the window, the boy got startled and flinched, but he was glad that Jonghyun snapped him off from his irrational thoughts.

The officers began their work; Taemin was trailing behind them watching them do their routine of questions in the neighborhood, but they would just get a lot of “I don’t know what you are talking about” or “We don’t know those people” replies from door to door. The worst and the most amusing to Taemin was when a fat man actually cursed at the officers, “ off man I’m trying to cook lunch here, if you could buy me some food then probably I’d be happy to entertain you meddling people!” the man snorted after hearing Onew’s explanation,  and slammed the door shut in front of his face.

As much as Jonghyun wanted to laugh at that, the fact that they are getting nowhere made him frown, Onew didn’t stop trying though and moved on to the next house. The events that they wanted to ask about and the people involved were strangers to the community, the crime happened years ago and they should have expected that the people here do not care anymore.

“Good afternoon Maam could you spare us a moment please? I’m detective Lee and I was hoping if we could ask some questions regarding of the mass murder that happened here eleven years ago” Onew greeted the middle aged woman who kindly opened her door with a bright smile.

“Oh good afternoon officer, are you by chance talking about the Claud family murders? I don’t know much about that but—why don’t you guys come in first, I just finished baking cookies” the woman let the officers and Taemin in to her living room then she went to the kitchen to get her fresh baked cookies.

“Oh finally we have one who knows!” Key clapped her hands, happy that someone let them in their home so they can finally sit down and do some talking.

“Let’s hope she really does know something…” Onew muttered as he sat comfortably on the couch.

“Yum! Cookies!” Jonghyun his lips as he smelled the aroma of the cookies being held by the woman on a tray.

“Can you stop thinking about food and focus?” Key rolled her eyes and smacked Jonghyun’s head.

“OW! But…they are cookies! No harm eating them while working!” Jonghyun defended himself and Taemin only chuckled.

“Dig in, I’m alone in the house so I wouldn’t mind sharing these to visitors…” the woman let the officers take cookies from the tray and when Taemin got one she stared at him fondly. “What a beautiful boy, but such a shame that you have such sad eyes” she said and somehow it made Taemin blushed.

“He lived here when he was young, do you by chance know him? He worked as a farm boy for the Clauds when he was a kid,” Onew said and the woman thought for a moment.

“I’m afraid I haven’t seen him, the Clauds never let anyone inside their compound unless they know you quite well, they were proud and snobbish people when they suddenly became rich making their neighbors hate them.” The woman replied and sat on the couch across the officers.

“So they were poor before?” Key asked.

“Hmm yeah, they own the land where their mansion stood but it was a house of wood and straws before that. They had a vast land indeed but they could not just sell it also, they grew few crops and owned few animals and that’s it, their living wasn’t that grand. We were surprised that one day some construction was going on in their farm and that’s when news spread that they became millionaires and was building a mansion, the Clauds were secretive and we never knew why they got rich all of a sudden, well maybe luck was on their side!”

“How come most of the people here don’t know about what happened?” Jonghyun asked a question curious why many people rejected them.

“Well my dear when the Clauds got rich their neighbors started asking for help, and money was involved, they were selfish you see and got annoyed by the poor and so they made a deal with their neighbors that they will buy their lands as long as they don’t live there anymore. Sad as they are to leave their homes but they needed the money and so they agreed to the deal, their original neighbors were gone and few know of them since then. They used to be our neighbor too but we managed to get a house near our old one, which is here, the other families moved far away so you see when the murder happened the news did not spread wide that much since nobody knew them personally. All they knew was that a rich family is living in that elegant mansion and they died, as for me I pity the Clauds’s souls, oh, may God have mercy on them indeed!” the woman did the sign of the cross at the mention of the Claud family, she looked quite honest with her eyes full of pity.

“So if a few people know of them who reported the murder?”

“The records said that a worker reported it” Onew answered his question, “They say an old man who cleans their house and does farm work as well had seen their dead bodies in the morning and came rushing to the local police to report the murder”

Taemin began to feel uncomfortable with the topic, he remembered the dead faces very well, very fresh from his memories as if it all happened yesterday. He shook the thoughts away but it comes back, pale faces on the ground, eyes wide in shock…blood everywhere.

“Want another cookie young man?” the woman gestured him to take another from the tray and Taemin allowed himself to do so, his hands were slightly trembling and Key noticed it.

“Do you by chance know this worker Maam?” Key asked hoping that the woman knows.

“I don’t know his name and I’m not sure if he still lives here or still alive! Well you could try looking for the oldest house in the village; I am sure it is his. And I’m afraid that’s all I have to share with you since I don’t know much of the murder anymore” the woman lifted the empty tray and excused herself to go to the kitchen then came back with water for everyone.

“Well I guess we couldn’t disturb you anymore, we really are grateful to your hospitality Maam and thank you for the information you have given to us” Onew bowed and so does the others, the woman just smiled and led them outside of her house.

“I don’t see the point digging up such an old case, it happened years ago and didn’t the police catch the murderer already?” the woman suddenly asked before they could go away.

“Well the chief wants us to dig more dirt into it Maam, we are just doing our work” Onew smiled brightly, his eye smile made the woman blush at his cuteness.

“Flirting with middle aged women now? Didn’t know they were your type!” Jonghyun nudged him, teasing him as he wriggled his eyebrows. Onew only elbowed him making Jonghyun clutch on his chest, “Jerk!” he muttered and Key only rolled her eyes.

Jonghyun composed himself and breathe in the fresh air, “Okay now to look for the old man! Hmm, the oldest house she says huh?” Jonghyun looked around and a frown stuck on his face, “What the hell? How are we supposed to look for that when every house here looks old?”

Onew had to agree, every house in the village indeed all looked old and if that’s not bad every house were the same in structure as well, dull painted and wooden.

“Let’s just look around some more okay guys?” Key suggested and all of them walked on the rocky road. Key taking the lead while Jonghyun is beside her flirting nonstop, “Key if I spot the old man’s house do I get a kiss?” Jongyun leaned closer to his fiancé’s face. Key only rolled her eyes and pinch his cheeks, “Pretty please?” Jonghyun begged and this time Onew coughed purposely, giving him a signal to focus on work instead of his girlfriend.

Taemin is trailing behind the officers, the little head ache he experienced awhile ago keeps  coming back and with that a couple of memories as well…sounds of a cheek being slapped, iron shackles attached to the large, wooden table shaking to the impact of a body slammed on it…pleading cries of a young child…

“Found it!” Jonghyun shouted with glee once again making Taemin snap out of the flashbacks that keeps disturbing him. The overly excited officer pointed at a lopsided house just by the corner of the village’s exit, it is indeed very old, older than the rest so Jonghyun assumed that this is the house that they have been looking for. He suddenly went in front of Key and lifted her chin, “You owe me a kiss missy!” he demanded and Key gave him a quick peck on the lips that sent him to cloud nine, Onew hopes Jonghyun will  come back to earth sooner.

They were about to knock on the door when an old, frail man opened it instead to let his cat out, then he noticed the officers standing in front of his home and a face that seemed familiar to him as he looked at Taemin. The young boy squinted his eyes at the old man; somehow, a thin smile appeared on his face as he saw him.

“Old man Han…” the boy muttered under his breath.

Onew introduced himself and the others, telling the old man their purpose of visiting his house, the detective thought that he was not listening since the old man was not looking at him straight in the eye but was looking towards Taemin instead.

“T-that boy…” the old man pointed his trembling fingers at Taemin, trembling not because of fear but of old age, the old man steps forward dragging his feet to come to Taemin, but the boy ran to him instead and hugged the old man.

“You have grown Taemin! How have you been all these years?” the old man said as tears of joy trickled down his cheeks, happy to see a friend.

“I’m better now old man Han…better than before.” Taemin replied patting old man Han’s back.

“Oh good…now who are these young people here?”

“They just introduced themselves! Ha-ha!”

“Oh sorry, you know I’m getting old…not getting any younger!”

“They are police officers, they want to ask you about the mass murder that happened here…remember that? You were the one who reported it to the police they said, you know…the murder of the Claud family?”

There was a long pause before old man Han could reply, he looked at Taemin with pitiful eyes and then gave an understanding look to the officers. “Come inside and we’ll talk about it” old man Han pulled away from Taemin and gestured them to go inside his house.