Kai leaned over the body, his face scrunched up. His partner, D.O, came up from behind him, but kept his distance from the bodies. “Bad, huh? I’ve never seen you with any kind of expression at a crime scene, but now-”

Kai turned away sharply from the bodies, his eyes flickering briefly to the gigantic red smiley face that seemed to be the murderer’s trademark.

Once again there were two bodies, one male, one female. They’d been found in a school laboratory this time – both were popular professors at a university, and they’d been found by a student coming in to retrieve his phone which he’d left behind.

The smiley face had been painted in such a way that anyone opening the door would see it at once – followed by the bodies that had been arranged neatly, seated side by side, under the smiley face. This time both bodies were grotesquely slashed, almost beyond recognition.

D.O rubbed his face hard. “This is getting bad, Kai. Whoever’s doing this – it’s definitely not a once-off case. We have to find out whoever it is quickly.”

Kai just grimaced. Then he glanced about. “Where’s the student who found the bodies?”

D.O’s face changed suddenly, something strange passing in his face. “This way.”

Kai followed his partner to the principal’s office, listening as D.O. spoke. “We got the principal to clear the school premises, and we’ve been holding the student in the principal’s office in the meantime – I figured you would want to question her. I don’t think it’s got to do with her, though – she was probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Kai didn’t hear D.O’s last sentence as the door opened, revealing two familiar silhouettes.

Almost at once, the side of Kai’s lips curved up in a confident smirk. “Well, well, what do we have here? I don’t suppose you’re the perpetrator – you’re probably a little too weak for such viciousness. Pity, though. You would have been doing the world a favour by letting yourself be thrown into jail.”

Krystal Byun scowled at Kai. “Oh, shut up, Kai. You know I had nothing to do with this.”

“Do I?” Kai slid into the chair opposite Krystal, folding his arms. He glanced briefly up at Amber, Krystal’s bodyguard, who was standing stoically by Krystal’s side, her eyes fixed on Kai’s face.

“What were you doing in the laboratory?” Kai assumed a façade of professionalism, flipping over the file regarding this case.

Krystal glared at him. “Are you interrogating me? Who do you think you are?”

“Well, actually, yes. I am. You forget – I’m part of the FBI. And so I’m interrogating you.” Kai couldn’t stop another smirk from making its way across his face.

Krystal folded her arms, scowling even harder than before.

“Well? I’m expecting an answer to that question, you know.”

“I won’t talk to you.” Krystal responded stubbornly, not looking at Kai.

Kai snapped the file shut, shrugging. “Sure. Then you can just stay here for a couple more hours.” He stood to leave, when Krystal looked up, a sudden alarm in her eyes. “Wait! Well…okay fine, I’ll talk.”

Amber couldn’t hide a smile as Kai sat down, smug.

“I study here, okay? You know that – you studied here too, with my brothers.” Krystal explained, shrugging. “I’d left my phone here over the night – I wanted to get it yesterday but my family had some event to attend, that charity ball thing, so I couldn’t. I came in early today cos I was worried that someone would take my phone, and then-” Krystal broke off suddenly, her face turning green. Kai didn’t have to ask to know what she was thinking about.

Krystal’s head suddenly bowed; Kai had the feeling she was blinking back tears. Behind her, Amber stepped forward, putting her hands on Krystal’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Did you know the victims personally?” Kai continued, his tone inflectionless – Krystal was clearly in bad shape, no matter how she tried to hide it, and Kai wasn’t interested in making her cry.

“Yes. Teacher Yoochun was my Literature teacher, and Teacher Kahi gave me dance lessons last year.” Krystal replied, her eyes still moist.

Kai paused; he glanced down at the file again.

Yoochun and Kahi. Kahi had taught Kai too – she’d praised him for his excellent dancing skills, calling him a dancing machine, and had lamented when he chose to enter the FBI instead. Yoochun had never taught Kai, but he was well-known as one of the most supportive teachers on campus – Kai could remember the last time Yoochun had spoken to him, perhaps the one conversation he’d had with a teacher that he would never forget.

It’s not about what others want for you, Kai. It’s about what you want. And whatever you choose, even if you change your mind in your future, I just want you to remember that I’ll be there for you.

There was a sudden lump in Kai’s throat; he swallowed, hard, and forced himself to focus on the file before him. “When-When was the last time you saw either teacher?”

“I had Teacher Yoochun the day before yesterday, during Literature, and I saw Teacher Kahi at lunch yesterday. After that, no.” Krystal replied, shooting Kai a mystified look – she’d noticed his distraction.

“Did either of them say anything to you, anything about who they may have been meeting yesterday?” Kai pressed.

Krystal just shook her head. “I only briefly said hi to Teacher Kahi. Teacher Yoochun told me to stay back for a while, but that was only to discuss my career choices.”

Krystal’s last words sent a jolt through Kai – before he knew what he was doing, he slammed the file shut and stood abruptly. “Thank you for your time.”

Krystal shot Kai a strange look, but merely nodded and left the room with Amber.

Kai rubbed his hand against his face hard; he tried to ignore the tremor that ran through his hand as he did so.

“Kai? Are you all right?” D.O asked, laying a hand on the small of Kai’s back worriedly.

Kai gave a stiff nod, his face becoming expressionless once again. “I’m fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door was thrown open with a deafening bang; Luhan’s head jerked up, alarmed, only for him to lean back, his expression annoyed. “Jessica. What the hell are you doing here?”

The blonde idol threw herself into the chair opposite Luhan’s, her expression irritated. “What do you think? You were supposed to call me two hours ago!”

Luhan’s eyes flickered toward the clock hanging on the left wall – indeed, he was supposed to have called her two hours prior. He bit back a sigh as he lay his pen down neatly next to the proposal he was drafting up; unlike his esteemed family, Luhan had no interest in politics – instead, he’d joined Empire International, JB’s family company, getting a leg-up simply by virtue of being one of JB’s best friends. To his surprise, he was actually good at business – he wasn’t brilliant like JB was, of course, but he was good enough to have garnered considerable respect from his peers in the company. “I was busy with work, Jessica. I think you should understand that – you’ve blown me off enough times in the past few months for your work.”

He said the words without any inflection, but Jessica seethed. “So this is what it is? Childish payback? Making me wait because I was busy a couple of times?”

Luhan’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not as immature as that, Jessica Jung. I was busy with work, work that may earn or lose the company millions of dollars, so forgive me if I was a little busy and forgot to give you a call.”

“So you’re saying your work is more important than I am?” Jessica leapt to her feet. “Fine! If that’s the way you think, then fine! Don’t bother calling me again!”

Before Luhan could say a word, Jessica stormed out of the room.

“God.” Luhan bowed his head, massaging his temples – he was busy and stressed enough, he didn’t need to deal with this bull too.

As if on cue, there was a knock on his door; Sehun stuck his head in, holding up a letter. “You got mail, and apparently it’s urgent.”

“Who is it from?” Luhan sighed, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes for a few moments’ respite.

“Your brother.”

Luhan stiffened, his fingers curling into the armrest of the chair. “What does my esteemed brother want now?”

“He wants you to call him. At once. It’s urgent, or so it says here on the letter.” Sehun replied, waving the letter.

Luhan pushed himself upright. “Leave me.”

Sehun took his leave, bowing out of the room.

Luhan surveyed the phone that sat on his table, the phone that he’d pulled the plug out of. He was almost always plagued by calls, all professional ones – his friends all had his handphone number, which he gave to no one else – and it was more than enough to drive a man crazy.

Finally, Luhan replugged the phone in.

At once, the phone began to ring; Luhan rolled his eyes. “Bloody hell.” He lifted the phone off the hook, then let it fall back, hanging up on the caller. He was about to lift the phone to dial his brother’s number when it started to ring again, a shrill, siren noise that made Luhan want to plug his ears instead. “Christ! I’m never going to make that call like this!” Luhan snarled in frustration; he wrenched the plug out again, and the room fell into blessed silence.

How was he going to do this? He leaned back, tired, and his eyes fell upon his handphone.

His brother had said it was an emergency, but what constituted as an emergency, anyway? His parents having another blowout argument? His father getting into the bad books of the President of China? His brother losing support of a few other politicians?

Could something have happened to her-

Luhan cut off the thought before it could form, shaking his head hard. “No. This is ridiculous. Who cares about an emergency all the way in China, anyway? It’s none of my business.”

He pushed himself upright, picking up his pen to continue on his draft of a proposal, when his eyes fell upon the paintbrush. The silver grip of the paintbrush gleamed in the dim light, reflecting Luhan’s own face back to him.

Luhan picked up his handphone, and began to dial his brother’s number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jiyeon got out of the car, gaping at the mansion the taxi had stopped in front of – even though this was the second time she was seeing this, it didn’t change the awe she felt.

She’d barely turned around when she registered that all her luggage had already been retrieved. A man was standing in front of her, slightly taller than she was, with dark eye-bags and jet-black hair, his hands full with her luggage. He gave her a polite smile. “Miss Jiyeon, if you would follow me.”

Wordlessly, Jiyeon followed him as he led her into the mansion. He kept utterly silent as he carried her luggage into a dark room in the left wing of the house. The room was dark, the light off, creating an atmosphere so dim Jiyeon could barely see where she was going.

The man flicked the light on, speaking for the first time since they entered the mansion. “This is the left wing of the mansion, where both you and the Young Master will be staying. The Young Master’s room is further down, the room right at the end of the corridor.”

Jiyeon looked up, startled. “We’re staying in different rooms?”

The man gave a slight smile. “Yes. Your room is actually the closest to the Young Master’s – nevertheless, there is a distance between the two rooms. My room, and Kris’s is on the other end of the corridor.”

Jiyeon supposed she should have been glad for this of good fortune – she’d half-expected JB to force her to live in the same room as him.

For the first time, Jiyeon looked around at her room carefully; it was arranged perfectly, with a well-made bed, neatly arranged closets and wardrobes and a polished floor. The room was about three times the size of her own room back in the T-ara dorm.

Jiyeon glanced at the man. “Was there someone staying in this room already?”

The man looked startled by her words. “No, not at all. This room has been unoccupied for, well, a rather long time already.”

“It must have been quite a hassle for you guys, then, to prepare this room so well in such a short time.” Jiyeon mused. She could see fresh towels, slippers, and other necessities.

“No, it wasn’t much trouble. This room is always made – the Young Master never says anything, but we know this is the way he wants it.” The man explained.

Jiyeon shot him a look, frowning. “Why do you keep the room like this if no one lives here?”

Before the man could say a word, the door was flung open, crashing into the wall with a deafening slam. Im Jaebum stood at the doorway, his face flushed with a mottled rage, his hands clenched so hard that for a moment, Jiyeon feared that his nails would draw blood from his own hands.

“Who said you could give her this room?” JB’s voice was a guttural snarl as he took one step forward, his eyes burning.

The man took a step back. “I…I just thought…”

The bodyguard named Kris suddenly appeared behind JB; he grabbed JB’s hand, pulling him back. “JB, calm down – it was an honest mistake.”

“An honest-” JB broke off abruptly, turning to Jiyeon.

Jiyeon was shocked. She’d never seen JB so furious, so filled with emotion before.

He took one step forward, and Jiyeon was suddenly struck by fear – what would he do in this state.

But then he stopped, closing his eyes – he seemed to rein himself in, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Without opening his eyes he spoke again, in a voice so terrifying Jiyeon did not dare to disobey him. “Get out of this room.”  

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Hey guys, here's the next chapter!

So this chapter was mostly Kaistal/Luhan, and I hope you EXO/Arcadian fans enjoyed it! This chapter also mostly contained revelations on the personalities and pasts of the male leads.

First off, Kai. Kai isn't the emotionless guy he was portrayed as at first - as I mentioned in the previous chapter, he does get emotional when Krystal is involved, and he can also be affected by people in his past, such as Yoochun. But he hides it all under a facade of nonchalance and coldness - which begs the question of when he really is unaffected and when he IS affected. At the same time, he's although he seems to dislike Krystal a lot, he doesn't actually go out of his way to upset her. And Yoochun- he's dead, but he still plays a pretty big role, especially in relation to Kai. Can any of you guess?

Secondly, Luhan. He has obvious relationship problems - and he clearly doesn't care much about Jessica. On the other hand, his family seems to affect him much more, especially his "brother", whom, from the character descriptions, you guys should know is Yixing. Yoona still hasn't made an appearance - but don't worry, Luyoon fans, she'll be in by the next chapter!

Lastly, JB - he was the least developed out of the three this time, and the clearest thing is that that room affects him - badly. And although he usually maintains a facade of nonchalance, it's clear he's actually a very wild, hot-tempered person, who actually has to fight to control himself.

The character quirks of all three characters are developed from their pasts, of course, which have been vaguely elaborated on and will be explained in greater detail in the latest chapters, but can any of the readers guess their backgrounds yet?

I'll try and update the next chapter asap, but I'll be working on the next chapter of Where the Wild Things Are (my Kris/OC/Lay story, please support!) so it might take a while...

And remember guys, comment and subscribe!