Hyukjae clung to my arm as I stared at Seungri, who looked a little beaten up, but still in good shape. My wrist was already restrained with the set of handcuffs, and honestly I hadn’t even seen it coming.

That’s it. After all we’ve been through, all I’ve strived for, that’s it. It’s all over.

I stood there, with a totally blank expression.

He got me. After everything we just did, he got me. There’s no escape, I’m exhausted and in a crowded hospital.

“H-H…” I couldn’t find the words, I was totally speechless.

“If you’re wondering how I found you here, it was by pure coincidence.” Seungri explained, his jaw tensing up. “That gangster took a pretty nasty fall off the edge of a rock, and fractured one of his wrists. I called for an ambulance and they brought us here. I never expected to see you two.”

“He’s here?!” Hyukjae flinched.

“Three police officers are with him.” Seungri said passively. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Seungri nodded to the both of us, moving on with my capture, which I didn’t resist. He tried to grab my other arm, which Hyukjae refused to let go.

“No!” He wailed, turning more than  few heads in the quiet corridor. “No you can’t take him!”

“Sir,” Seungri begged. “Mr. Lee is under arrest whether you like it or not. Now seeing as we’ve been through a lot, I would have liked to not have used force, but if you don’t give me a choice-.”

With that, I tugged my arm away from Hyukjae, who’s eyes were welling with tears. I set my free hand down in front of Seungri. I sent Hyukjae a reassuring look as my other wrist was restrained.

For the first time, I felt powerless. One hundred percent powerless. It wasn’t like me to accept defeat so easily, but after everything that had happened, I knew I didn’t have a chance of escaping.

Seungri pulled my arm painfully behind me, fastening my other hand behind my back. Hyukjae stood there, looking absolutely horrified as Seungri held onto my elbow and the back of my neck. I squirmed slightly, but didn’t resist in any way.

I was not going to make things worse for myself.

“Hyukjae,” I said, looking at him reassuringly. “Listen to me, everything will be okay.”

Seungri began to direct me down the corridor, which Hyukjae followed along nervously.

“No! Donghae!” He wailed. “You can’t let them do this! Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after what happened with Seunghyun-.”

“Seunghyun?!” Seungri asked, breaking his cool-cop appearance and stopping dead in his tracks. “What happened to Seunghyun, oh my god is he okay?!”

“H-he was shot.” Hyukjae said, biting his lip. “He was hit pretty badly.”

“But is he okay?! Where is he?!” Seungri asked, loosening the grip on my arm.

“He lost a lot of blood,” Hyukjae said. “He’s in surgery right now. We brought him here as quick as we could.”

“You brought him here?” Seungri asked in a state of panic. “How long ago?”

“About half an hour ago.” He explained.

Seungri dropped my arm, as I turned around to face him. He pulled his hand through his hair, nervously tapping his foot on the floor. It was as though arresting me completely slipped from his mind at that moment.

Suddenly, he didn’t seem like a cop anymore, but someone who was very worried about Seunghyun.

“Can you take me to him?!” Seungri asked, turning to Hyukjae as if I didn’t exist. I strained against my handcuffs, still knowing escape was futile in my physical condition. I was too fatigued to even think straight.

“He’s in surgery, but I can take you to the waiting bay.” Hyukjae said, glancing at me momentarily.

For a second, I expected Seungri to forget all about me and leave me standing in the hallway, but then, he turned and grabbed my elbow as Hyukjae lead the way back down the corridor.

“This changes absolutely nothing.” He muttered to me. “You’re still under arrest.”

Seungri had talked to both nurses and doctors about the condition on Seunghyun, but at that point in time, nobody knew anything. Seungri had very kindly handcuffed me to one of the little plastic chairs in the waiting area, and sat next to Hyukjae in a nervous wreck. Hyukjae consoled him by assuring him everything would be okay because Seunghyun had an extremely strong willpower.

I sat there, still confused and restricted. It was like ‘hello?! I’m in handcuffs here?!’.

I knew that no matter what happened, whether Seunghyun lived or died, I was ed. I knew I would be going to prison.  My trial would determine for how long exactly, but I knew the minimum I was facing was thirty years, or maybe even more.

What I’d done was like fraud, embezzlement and theft on steroids.

I sighed, trying to lean my head on the back of my seat and adjust my arms around the armrest of the plastic chair. It was beyond uncomfortable.

Seungri excused himself to go to the bathroom, although I expected he was going outside for a cigarette, and told the woman at the desk that he was an FBI agent, and to call the police if I tried to escape or got violent. I rolled my eyes, sinking lower into my seat.

I’m totally screwed. I thought. I’m going to prison. There’s no stopping it.

Hyukjae immediately scooted over to sit next to me.

“What are we going to do?!” Hyukjae said, resting his hands on mine. “How do we escape-.”

“We can’t.” I said, my voice hitching slightly in my throat. I knew it. There was no getaway, there was no resistance. They had me, that was it for me.

“D-Donghae…” Hyukjae said, running his fingers over the grooves the handcuffs had indented into my skin. Tears formed in his eyes, quivering and daring to fall down his bloodied face. I nudged his nose with mine, resting my forehead against his.

“Shh… Don’t cry baby, please.” I begged him, feeling his breath against my face. “I’ll be okay. We can get through this.”

“B-but they’re going to take you away…” Hyukjae said, gripping my hands with his. “I won’t let them take you away.”

“Hyukjae,” I replied sternly. “I got myself into this mess, it’s time I paid the price. It’s only fair.”

“Nothing about this is fair.” He whispered against my lips. “Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.”

I closed my eyes.

The idea of going back to prison for the rest of my life made me feel physically sick. Not seeing Hyukjae everyday, stuck in the same place I had longed for two whole years to be free from. And most of all, I felt as though I had let Hyukjae down. He doesn’t deserve this. He deserves to be loved by someone who can love him back, and hold his hand and kiss him without prison guards watching his every move during visiting hours.

I pressed my nose against his, visioning everything I was going to miss out on. I honestly didn’t know how I was going to survive in there again. I had tried to kill myself last time I was in prison, and even though I had Hyukjae, it was still just the same.

“Please Hyukjae.” I whispered, wishing I could move my hands to hold him. “Be strong. Everything will be okay.”

I didn’t really believe that. I really didn’t know just how much more our everlasting love could take. I thought maybe if Hyukjae was strong, I could be too. Right now, I felt utterly defeated.  I was just so overwhelmed with relief that Hyukjae was still here right now, everything else seemed irrelevant.

“I thought you were dead.” I whispered, almost feeling tears in my eyes, but I guess I just couldn’t shed any more. “I thought I had lost you Hyukjae…”

Hyukjae breathed softly, moving his lips closer, just barely brushing against my own. We shared a light, delicate kiss.

“I love you Donghae.” Hyukjae whimpered, and I could tell he was trying to be strong, even though right now, he was still covered in blood and had virtually just come back from the dead, I expected him to be anything but that.

“Hyukjae, I love you too.” I sighed, keeping my face close to his. “And nothing, not even imprisonment will change that.”

Hyukjae sniffled, and I know I was essentially telling him I wouldn’t be around anymore. Instead, I was to be locked away, doing time for the crimes I had selfishly committed when I was young, naïve and had nothing to lose.

Now I did have something to lose, and I had lost it again, for the second time this evening. It was him.

Hyukjae’s hand held my knee, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

How long has it been since I last slept… Two, three days?

It really didn’t seem like twenty five hours since we had left Miami.

“You need sleep Donghae.” Hyukjae said, nuzzling his cheek against my hair. “Close your eyes. I’m here, everything will be okay. I won‘t let them take you…”

Hyukjae wrapped his arm around me, shifting back so I could lean on the non-injured part of his chest. I twisted my hands, awkwardly clinging to the chain confining me. I closed my eyes, and quickly fell asleep to the beeping hospital noises around me and the sound of Hyukjae’s heartbeat.

I hadn’t even realised it had been almost three hours until I awoke to the sound of a doctor’s voice.

“The surgery was a success.” He said, as I wrenched my tired eyes open, looking up at Hyukjae in confusion. “He’s awake, but drowsy. He wants to see all three of you.”

The doctor eyed me suspiciously, and I figured it was because of the handcuffs on my wrist, but as I went to strain against the chains, my hand slipped through air, as I realised they were no longer there.  

“W-what?” I garbled, sitting up from Hyukjae’s lap and blinking at the smooth pink ridges marked into my wrist from the metal.

“Seungri took them off.” Hyukjae whispered, trying not to draw attention to it. “Don’t push your luck and run though. He knows neither of us are fit enough to go anywhere. You‘re still under arrest.”

Every joint in my body ached, and I rolled my neck painfully, recalling everything that had happened.

I noticed Hyukjae’s face was wiped clean of the blood, and his hands were cleaned too.

He must have gotten washed up while I was asleep.

The torn remains of his shirt had also been removed, and he was wearing a plain white hospital t-shirt. I figured he must have gotten a nurse to look at his chest.

He beckoned me to stand up as I was sent a warning look by Seungri. Ever since he’d found out about Seunghyun, he’d completely dropped his police act, and had even kept me by Hyukjae’s side at the hospital, instead of calling another officer to me away in the back of a police car.

What the hell is going on? I thought. Is he dragging out the process or…

Then I remembered his words: This changes absolutely nothing. You’re still under arrest.

It sure didn’t seem like it as I held Hyukjae’s hand for comfort, following the doctor and the cop down to a recovery room.

“Are you cold?” I whispered to Hyukjae, who shrugged.

“Here,” I said, removing my jacket. “Put this on. I’m too hot anyway.”

Hyukjae laughed slightly, thanking me and pulling on the thick, black jacket.

“He’s just in here.” The doctor said, leading us into a plain white room. “I’ll give you ten minutes before he needs to rest.”

When I saw Seunghyun, breathing steadily, lying underneath white hospital sheets with an IV drip connected to his forearm, I couldn’t help but squeeze Hyukjae’s hand a little tighter. I felt slightly safer feeling Hyukjae squeeze back.

“Sir,” Seungri gasped, rushing over to his side. “Are you going to be okay? I’m so sorry sir I wasn’t there-.”

“Shut up.” Seunghyun groaned, shifting his back against his pillow to face his employee. “I’m going to be fine, but you’re right, it’s no thanks to you. Did you end up restraining our criminal?”

“The suspect is being treated here at this very hospital.” Seungri informed him. “He has two police escorts watching him at the moment. The other gang member in question, Jaejoong, is being searched for as we speak. We have all his details on file and expect an arrest by tomorrow morning.”

“Excellent.” Seunghyun said, weakly, still cradling his wounded stomach. “And as for…”

Seungri looked nervously at me, and I knew what I was about to hear.

“M-Mr. Lee has been placed under arrest,” Seungri stuttered, my lack of restraints said otherwise as Seunghyun raised a sceptical eyebrow. “But for physical reasons, he can not be officially detained at the moment until his body recovers. We have a police unit on standby to take him back to the station. He’s not going to resist.”

I swallowed, slightly unsure about that last part. Hyukjae nodded slightly, making me wonder what exactly he had told Seungri.

“Hyukjae.” Seunghyun said, although not finished his conversation with Seungri. “In the future, would like to formally thank you on another occasion for saving my life, and you will be given full recognition.”

Hyukjae nodded shyly, gripping my hand as though refusing to let go.

“However,” Seunghyun said. “Although I am in no shape to give proper thanks at the moment, Seungri, would you be so kind as to Mr. Hyukjae outside.”

My heart suddenly began to thump.

“But sir-.”

“I would like to have a word to our criminal in private.” Seunghyun said, narrowing his eyes at this situation.

What am I supposed to do in this situation?

Hyukjae clung to my arm, unwilling to leave me alone with the man set on my capture, and Seungri made no attempt to move.

“Donghae,” Seunghyun said, addressing me by my name. “If you do not grant me this interrogation, I will simply have Seungri you to the station sooner rather than later.”

Hyukjae’s eyes grew wide, clutching me tighter but I stopped him.

I nodded to Hyukjae, giving him a reassuring look and pried him off my