**************************************************

A YEAR AGO

It had been a month, and nothing changed. Hyukjae was still there, in the huge room with only a small window to let the light shine in, trapped in a ‘hell’ created by Siwon. He hadn’t been eating these past few days, because he didn’t want to. He’d rather die than being treated like this by his own fiancé.

Gathering all the strength he had, Hyukjae dragged himself to the end of the bed when he heard footsteps outside, still hoping for someone to come and take him away from this ‘prison.’ But he knew Siwon would kill them all and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. Just then, the door opened, and a man stepped in, carrying a tray of food and drink, placing it on the table beside the bed. He nodded slightly at Hyukjae and went out, closing the door tightly. Hyukjae bit his lip as he slowly climbed off the bed, heading to the door but of course, it was locked again. He turned the doorknob countless times, even if he knew it wouldn’t open. His eyes started to water, and he didn’t even remember now just how many times he had shed tears.

“Hyuk? Hyukjae?”

Hyukjae widened his eyes hearing the voice from outside. It was Sungmin. “H-hyung?”

“Hyuk…”

Sungmin’s voice was trembling. Hyukjae knew the latter was crying.

“Hyuk…I’m so sorry. We’ll save you, no matter what. So please hang in there.”

“Hyung…it’s not your fault…”

“Hyukjae…I promise, I’ll bring you out of here. Leeteuk and Kangin are helping me.”

“But Min-hyung, Siwon will kill you.” Then he heard Sungmin chuckled.

“I’m not afraid. We’ll never abandon you, Hyuk. We’re a family.”

Hyukjae cried even harder hearing Sungmin’s words. He was afraid to lose them, he was afraid Siwon might take them away. And he’d do anything to save his brothers, even if it meant losing his life.

**************************************************

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Sungmin asked as they were walking in the thick bushes, sometimes cursing because of the mosquitoes around him.

“This is the shortcut,” Kyuhyun said, motioning for Leeteuk and Kangin in front of him to move faster.

They were heading to a tunnel leading to the underground section of Kairos’ headquarters. Their men would be waiting outside the headquarters, waiting for instructions while proceeding on hacking their system, destroying every single thing and stealing important files.

“Cho Kyuhyun, you’re so smart. Choosing a perfect place to donate your blood to these stupid mosquitoes,” Donghae who was behind Sungmin spoke, annoyed.

“Aish, just bear with it, this is the safest route.”

It took almost 20 minutes for them to arrive in front of a small tunnel, surrounded by wild trees. And walking in the tunnel wasn’t easy, they had to bend down a little and kept banging their heads because of the low ceiling.

“Did you bring your men too?” Kyuhyun asked Leeteuk, trying to walk hand in hand with the elder but ended up banging his head on the ceiling again. “,” he cursed.

“20,” Leeteuk replied, “Kangin brought 15.”

“Seriously?” Kyuhyun palmed his face, frustrated. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. I thought you brought 50 or something.”

“It can’t be helped. We ran away and lost a lot of connections. How many did you bring then?”

“I have only 19 men with me, Donghae brought 20.”

“We have to fight till the end then,” Sungmin said with confidence as he took out his nunchuck and was about to swing it when Kyuhyun grabbed his hand.

“Yah! Do you want to kill us, bunny?” Kyuhyun glared at the latter. “Why did you bring that crap anyway? Don’t tell me you’re going to fight with that?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course not, this is just an accessory to make me look cool.”

“What a stupid bunny.”

“Shut up, you damn hacker!”

“I can’t imagine a bunny fighting. That’d be so cute.”

“Yah! You little shi-“

“Shut up,” Donghae shot the two a death glare as he walked past them, getting irritated with their nonsense bickering. It didn’t take long before they arrived in front of a ladder leading to the underground part of the building. They stopped for a while, taking a deep breath while looking at each other.

“Okay,” Leeteuk spoke, “We’re gonna do this.”

“They’re in a total chaos right now. This is the perfect time,” Kangin said, smiling slightly. “And I just received a text from my man saying Lee Soo Man had entered the building.”

“Be careful,” Donghae said, “And I won’t hold back, so don’t get in my way if you don’t wanna get killed.”

“I wish us good luck,” Sungmin smiled, showing a ‘thumb up sign.

“Guys,” Kyuhyun started, his face serious, “I just wanna say, if something happens to me, please take a good care of my electronic gadgets.”

They all sighed, not even waiting for the latter to continue and climbed up the ladder, with one goal; to destroy Kairos. And they would make sure to make it happen.

Eunhyuk slowly opened his eyes as he felt something soft on his cheek, only to see Donghae at his side, staring gently into his eyes. Donghae leaned closer, kissing his cheek again, and then his forehead, before moving down to his lips. Eunhyuk buried his face into Donghae’s chest, clutching his shirt with Donghae’s hands around his waist.

“When did you get back, Hae?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Just now.”

“Are you alright? You look pale, Hae.”

Donghae gulped, trying hard to act normal despite the throbbing pain on his shoulder. He got shot, Jin shot him perfectly, though he managed to treat the wound just in time to prevent infection, and he had to thank Kangin because of that. But he knew Eunhyuk could see right through him, and he couldn’t even lie, so in the end he just kept quiet with the blonde in his embrace. He felt the heavy burden on his shoulder was slowly disappearing and he knew it was over. They failed to bring the whole Kairos down, but they managed to destroy the headquarters, leading to a great chaos in the company, and the most important thing, Lee Soo Man was killed. The collapse of Kairos was the beginning of the downfall for the underground societies, and his grandmother.

“Hyukkie…”

“Umm?”

“You know, my mom died when I was 15.”

“Omo, Hae…” Eunhyuk looked up, his face saddened as he caressed Donghae’s cheek gently, “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to. And this is the right time. I loved my mom, so much. But my grandmother didn’t like her.”

“Why?”

“She was a poor girl. My dad was supposed to marry someone else. And then, she died in an accident.”

“What happened?”

“It wasn’t an accident. I knew it all along that it was my grandmother’s plan, without us knowing.”

Eunhyuk widened his eyes, clearly shocked. He held Donghae’s hand tightly, noticing the latter’s trembling voice.

“I didn’t get along with that old woman. She made my mom suffered, and I hate