He couldn’t believe it. Kyuhyun couldn’t believe his own eyes as he watched all of his beloved electronic gadgets including laptops, computers, and iPod being taken away one by one. The thought of not being able to play games anymore really terrified him, and no, there was no way he could let that happen. He knew who was behind this; his grandmother. There was no one else who would do something like that to him. Growling like a mad dog, he ran towards the men who were in the middle of taking away his gadgets and jumped onto them, beating them up mercilessly.

“You useless dogs!” He yelled. “Don’t touch my things!”

“Did you just call me a dog?” One of the men glared at him, ready to pounce on him at any moment.

“Yeah, you stink like a dog poop!” Kyuhyun glared back, not wanting to lose.

“You bastard, you better wake up now.”

“What? Wait, this is weird, your voice sounds like my stupid brother’s voice.”

“Open your eyes, Cho Kyuhyun. I’m gonna kill you for sure.”

Kyuhyun frowned, unable to understand what the man was saying but all of a sudden everything went dark, too dark for him to see anything. He then felt a sharp pain in his left arm, causing him to open his eyes abruptly and the first thing he saw was Donghae’s annoyed face, standing beside the bed where he was lying on, not to mention he was shirtless. He was sure he was in his house before but now he was in a different place. Was he dreaming just now? He tried to move, but the pain in his arm made his body felt numb and weak.

“You look fine,” Donghae spoke, “Since you said I stink like a dog just now.”

Kyuhyun’s jaw dropped. “I…I said that?”

“Yeah, and you even said I’m a useless dog.”

“So that was a dream…” Kyuhyun faked a laugh to hide his embarrassment. He was glad that it was Donghae who heard it instead of someone else who’d probably be laughing right now listening to his hilarious sleep talking. “Where’s Sungmin? This is Teukie-hyung's house isn't it?” He asked Donghae, eyes wandering around to find Sungmin but he was nowhere to be found.

“He’s making porridge for you in the kitchen. You should talk to him later, he seems pretty upset that you’re injured.”

“I…I see…y-yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks, man.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Donghae asked as he took a step closer and sat on the bed, worry could be seen clearly in his eyes.

Kyuhyun slowly nodded, glancing at his bandaged arm with a blood stain on it. He remembered how he got shot while trying to run away from Siwon’s men, and before he knew it he had fallen on the road and lost consciousness. He didn’t know how exactly Donghae and Sungmin could find him, but he was grateful that they came to save him, even though he wouldn’t mind dying to protect the people he cherished.

“I need to go now,” Donghae said and stood up, patting Kyuhyun’s head gently before walking towards the door, “I need to pick Eunhyuk up, he’s with Minho. Sungmin will stay here with you.”

“Minho?” Kyuhyun frowned. “He’s with Minho?”

“Yeah, since someone was trying to be a hero and got injured in the end so I had to help him,” Donghae replied with a playful smile on his lips, earning a glare from the younger.

“It’s just a light injury! If it was a normal person they would’ve died.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Donghae rolled his eyes, knowing exactly that Kyuhyun hated to be called weak especially when he already had someone he wanted to protect. He was glad his brother met Sungmin instead of living alone in this world without a direction in life, because loneliness was something that a human couldn’t survive. And he couldn’t even tell how grateful he was to have Eunhyuk by his side now.

“You shouldn’t have left Eunhyuk,” Kyuhyun said out of the blue, making Donghae frowned at his words.

“Then what do you suggest? Bring him with us? There’s no way I’d do that.”

“I’m just saying,” Kyuhyun took a deep breath and continued, “You should be extra careful at times like this. We can never know what will be waiting for us in the future, brother.”

He didn’t understand what his brother was trying to say, but one thing Donghae was sure of, he needed to get to Eunhyuk as soon as possible before anything would happen. “I’ll remember your advice,” he said to Kyuhyun and stepped out, waving his hand slightly at the younger before walking away in a hurry.

Something is wrong, he thought to himself. The way Kyuhyun said all those things to him made him felt uneasy for some reason, it was as if he was trying to give him a hint about something but he wasn’t sure if he was just imagining it or it was really true. If something would happen to Eunhyuk, he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life. But he wanted to trust his friends. He trusted them, and he believed in them. And if that trust would turn out to be something that could hurt him and the person he loved one day, he’d definitely crumble down, sinking deeper into the darkness after losing his only light.

Eunhyuk stared at the luxurious mansion in front of him with his jaw dropped and eyes wide open. He had never seen a huge place like this before, located on a hill, surrounded by a beautiful garden and greeneries. It was calming and beautiful but somehow it gave him a feeling of loneliness, solitude and cold, though he didn’t know what exactly the reason was.

He looked at Minho beside him who was just smiling all the time without saying anything, wondering why exactly he brought him to this place. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but Minho had already pulled him towards the mansion and they were greeted by a few men wearing suits, bowing to them before opening the main door to let them in.

“Minho, is this your house?”

“Well, you can say that. But I rarely come here. I don’t really…like this place.”

“But it’s beautiful!”

“Eunhyuk,” Minho wrapped his arm around the blonde’s shoulder and dragged him along the quiet hallway, “Do you want to play with Choco?”

Eunhyuk’s eyes widened at the mention of the familiar name. “Choco? But Choco is with her papa, right?”

“I’ll let you see her papa then.”

Eunhyuk could just scratch his head in confusion and let Minho pulled him, unable to close his mouth properly as they walked upstairs, completely awed by the luxurious furniture in the mansion.  This must be a palace. Then Hae should be the prince. He giggled at his own thought.

As they walked along the dim hallway, a few men wearing black suits sometimes passed by and bowed to Minho, though Eunhyuk had no idea why the latter was being respected in this house. He wanted to ask so badly, but then again, he had no courage to do so. Minho’s emotionless face sometimes made him feel unable to speak, it was like he had this ability to make people fear him without even doing anything. Minho then stopped in front of a sculptured door at the end of the hallway, and Eunhyuk swore he felt a sudden chill when he looked at the door. It was as if he had been here before, but he couldn’t remember anything.

Noticing how Eunhyuk suddenly tensed up the moment they arrived there, a small smile etched on Minho’s lips. This is going to be fun, he thought and knocked the door twice, before pulling Eunhyuk inside. The first thing that Eunhyuk saw when he came in was a familiar face sitting on a four pillars king-sized bed, reading a newspaper. It was Siwon. He felt dizzy all of a sudden, his legs weakened as he stepped closer towards Siwon without him knowing the reason.

“Bonjour, big brother,” Minho greeted with a huge grin on his face, “I brought you a present. Aren’t you happy?”

Siwon calmly looked up, not even shocked to see Eunhyuk in front of him. Minho had always been doing things without asking him first but this time was an exception because he had been longing to see his fiance anyway. And Minho came at the right time. But he felt uneasy when he saw a slight fear in Eunhyuk’s eyes, the same expression that he always saw long ago when they were still together.

“So Eunhyuk,” Minho said, “I think you’ve met Siwon before. He’s my brother.”

“Really?” Eunhyuk was too surprised with this newfound knowledge about them, that he even forgot the fear he felt before.

“And he wants to be friends with you, if you don’t mind.”

Eunhyuk turned to look at Siwon, and when he saw the dazzling smile the man gave him, he let his guard down completely. Siwon seemed to be a nice person and he had liked him ever since they first met at the restaurant, though he still couldn’t be compared to his handsome Donghae. He smiled back at Siwon, waving his hand enthusiastically as he said, “I want to be friends with Siwon and Choco too.”

Siwon chuckled. He missed seeing Eunhyuk’s cuteness and adorable smile.  That smile belonged to him long ago, and now he’d do anything to make him stay by his side. He didn’t want anyone else to see that gorgeous smile, he wanted to keep Eunhyuk to himself. Losing the blonde once was enough to ruin his life, so he wouldn’t let him go this time, no matter what was going to happen.

“So, I’ll leave now.” Minho said, giving Siwon a meaningful look before walking leisurely to the door.

Eunhyuk wanted to tell the younger to stay with him, but before he could say it, Minho was already out of the room, leaving only the two of them there. Then, he felt it again; the uneasiness in his heart. But he tried hard to look calm and smiled when his eyes met with Siwon’s.

“So,” Siwon put the newspaper he was holding aside and stood up, “What do you want to do to celebrate our first day of being friends?” His words managed to make Eunhyuk laughed, and Siwon was glad. It had been a long time since he heard that sweet voice. “Are you hungry? I have strawberries and-“

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