Hi, my lovelies! Here is a chapter (it took so long). I recently started a new sport and our first game is Tuesday and it's also an away game.... We have another away game the following Wednesday. Aigoo... And plus my son is being really silly and hyper lately. Two year olds are absolutely adorable and fun when they're not screaming about their toy cars. I love the kid, though ^^ So, please read!

All the sarangs,

Drg-lee

            Fastening his rust coloured blazer around his waist, Key glanced back at the clock on the centre of his bathroom wall. His bathroom was spacious yet simple. A porcelain bathtub lay on the floor and Key’s favourite scent of bubble bath solution stood proudly on the corner farthest from him. The solution was a light magenta and smelled of red berries and a hint of citrus. A faded lime green rug was sprawled on the floor, and although he always made an effort to straighten it out, he found that the rug was always askew to the lined tile on the ground.
            Key his lips, tasting the chapstick, inspecting himself once more in the large mirror. He brushed a stray hair from his forehead and applied more mousse to the left side of his head. He had a plethora of hair products. Because he had dyed his hair so much, most of the products were designed to style and reduce the damage to his most prized possession.
            Finally satisfied with his look, he tucked his spare comb into his back pocket and headed to the front door.
            “Bummie?” His father called. Key hesitated, his left foot still in the air. “Kibum, come here, please.” He said again.
            Key groaned inside and reluctantly dragged his feet until he stood in front of his father. “Yes, Dad?”
            “How are you feeling? I mean,” his father leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You know now.”
            Key balled his fist. “How could you do that, Dad? Why couldn’t you just accept it? Nobody knows what happened to that person, and you won’t even offer the family consolation.”
            His father sighed. “Because I had you. Did you want me to rot in prison?”
            Key bit his lip. “Of course not. But because of you...” He hesitated, looking into his father’s dark eyes. “Because of you, someone else is suffering. Is it fair to have the falsely accused family and the mourning family hurt because you couldn’t be courageous?”
            His father sighed again, and ran his hand through his perfectly combed hair. “None are more important than family,” he quoted.
            Key retorted quickly. “If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.”
            “Listen, Kibum” his father said harshly, causing his son to blink suddenly. “Family are more important than friends. You and your mother are more important than they were.”
            “‘Friends’?” Key gasped. “Your friend, Dad?”
            His dad shook his head sadly. “I won’t say anymore. Run along, Bum.”
            Key rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Bye, Dad.” He meandered away.
            Once outside, Key pursed his lips. His father had wronged a friend so severely. It was a crime, a highly illegal crime. Key only knew one police officer, Taemin’s father. Would Taemin’s father know of the crime? How would Key get information without revealing his father’s secret? Without realising it, he had arrived at Taemin’s front door and had already knocked four times before he snapped into conscious thought.
            Taemin answered the door, confused. “Key? I didn’t know you were coming over.” Taemin sulked.
            “Neither did I,” Key said, letting himself in. “I just kind of ended up here.”
            Taemin followed him, locking the door behind them. “What’s up? You look... sad.”
            Key nodded. “I feel disconsolate.”
            Taemin raised an eyebrow. “Dis-what?”
            Key suppressed laughter. “It means sad, sort of. I’m hopelessly unhappy. You need to read more books, Taeminnie.”
            He shrugged. “You read too much. Why’re you ‘disconsolate’?”
            “I found things out that I didn’t what to know.”
            “What was it?”
            “I can’t just tell people, Minnie.”
            “Not even me? I swear, I won’t tell a soul.” He pleaded.
            “Your dad’s a police officer. Swear not to tell him, too.”
            “Dad has a soul and I promise I won’t tell him, too. Or hyungs or Mom.”
            Key sighed. “My dad killed someone once. Many years ago, but he got away. He was able to side-step the law, letting someone else take the blame. I swear, Taemin, don’t tell.”
            Taemin’s jaw hung open. “Who? Who did he...?”
            Key shrugged. “He said friend, but I don’t know if that’s who he killed or who he blamed.”
            Taemin bit the inside of his cheek. “That’s really serious hyung... and I promised not to tell... and I promise that the promise is valid.”
            Key smiled uneasily. “Good. I just needed to tell someone, you know?” Taemin nodded.
            “I wonder who it was...” He left his voice trail as he locked eye contact with Key.
            “I sort of wanted to ask your father. Without hinting anything, right? But I don’t know how to research that kind of thing without putting the spotlight on my family. I can’t exactly search ‘Who did Kim kill and who did he blame for the crime?’”.
            Taemin giggled. “You can’t do that. Maybe I can ask about various cases and have one of them be that.”
            Key agreed. “Okay, but be inconspicuous about it.”
            “What?”
            “Not obvious.” Key defined.
            “Okay, hyung.” Taemin agreed. The boys hooked pinkies as a sign of their promises. They agreed not to discuss this via texts or phone calls. They would only talk of Key’s father’s crime in person. Taemin would ask a bit, Key would ask a bit. They would figure it out.
            “What will we do if we find out?” Taemin asked.
            “I don’t know.” Said Key. “I just want to know.”