XIV.

Kibum’s face paled as he clutched the handles of his bag, tightly to stop his hands from trembling. He was hoping it wasn’t the same car following them. It couldn’t be could it? Because they had lost the car. They did, didn’t they? He takes a deep breathe to calm his panicking heart as he makes his way to the front door with quick steps.

“Mom…?” He calls out as he enters his house. It was loud and it was probably due to the workers taking apart the living room.

“Welcome home, Kibum-ssi.” A maid greets. “Your mother is in the kitchen.”

Kibum nods and makes his way to the said room. “Mom, there’s some black BMW…” An unknown woman with dark brown hair that fell a little over her shoulders sat at the island with her chin resting on her hands as she watched his mother prepare their dinner.

“Oh, hey sweetheart… that car belongs to Bom-ssi,” His mother explains, she gestures towards her. “Since you ran out this morning so quick your father and I didn’t get to tell you that she’d be joining us for dinner.”

 “Oh, so it’s like that…?” So he had been being a bit paranoid. Silly me. He lets out a content sigh and smiles. “Well, hello  Miss Bom.” He nods politely because he can feel his mother’s stare that is urging him to greet her. “I’m Kim Kibum.”

“I’ve heard,” she smiles, her eyes looking him up and down. “You’re mother told me plenty about you.”

He’s sure his mother probably shared more information than necessary. Kibum’s cheeks turn pink, feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable.

“Is Dad home?” he questions his mother, quickly changing the subject.

“Not yet,” she answers as she adds salt into one of the pots. “He’ll return soon though; just had to take care of something at the office. You should go wash up now. Dinner should be ready in about thirty or so minutes…”

“Alright.” As he exits the kitchen, he pulls out his cellphone from a small pocket of his backpack. It’s been off ever since he wasn’t successful in calling Minho last night and he felt like it would be better if the device was just completely off so he could try and sleep. He sighs as he waits for it to turn on and simultaneously enters his room. He tosses his backpack near the end of his bed and falls back into it, holding the phone above his face with both hands.

“(1 New Voicemail(s)” shined brightly on his lock screen (which was an overly sharpened photo he had taken with Jinki in the summer). It was a rare thing in getting voicemails; majority of his friend hated talking on the phone and would often leave text messages. He put in his password and quickly went to listen to the messages.

“Um, hi, Kibum…” As soon as he hears that to-die-for deep voice, a smile creeps on his face and his heart starts pounding nonstop. “I’m sorry I missed your call… or calls for that matter… my phone was dead. Don’t think I was ignoring you, alright?” He grabs his pillow and squeezes it tightly. “Uh, call me when you get this okay. Please… I… Uh – I want to hear your voice. Bye.” If it were possible, his smile widened. It was just so adorable how he stuttered since it was out of his character.

Kibum replays the message a few more times and flails about on his bed. When he’s done his smile is as bright as ever as he calls Minho back.

“Hello?”

“He-” he could feel his voice about to crack so he quickly clears his throat. “Hey… Minho…”

“Kibum? Did you just now get my voicemail because I can understand why you’d want to ignore me… Listen, I’m really sorry…”

“Slow down, I just got it. My phone has been off all day.” He explains. “I just got home a few hours ago.”

“You’re not mad?” Minho asks slowly.

“No.” Not anymore, how could I even stay mad though?

Kibum can hear Minho’s background sounds as he falls silent and immediately picks up that he’s in his car. “Are you driving? Do you know it’s not safe to talk on the phone and drive simultaneously?”

Minho chuckles and Kibum swears he wants to melt. “Would you have preferred me to ignore your call, then?”

“Of course not…” He answers. “I was just saying.”

“Thanks for worrying though,” Kibum could just picture him smirking right about now.

“I want to see you,” he finds himself saying, unconsciously. Minho was probably going to reject the idea anyways.

“I want to see you too,” Minho’s answer catches him by surprise. “But I’m a little busy this week.”

“Ah…” Kibum hides his disappointment. He stands from his bed and grabs some clothing from his drawer with his free hand.  “Of course you have much better things to do.”

Minho sighs. “Why must you say it like that?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Kibum responds. “I have to wash up now. My mom has some lady over for dinner tonight.”

“Some lady?”

“Yeah, their new stock marketer she said.”

“Oh, I see.” Minho says simply. “I’ll talk to you later tonight, Kibum. Bye.”

“Bye,” Kibum whispers. There’s a pause and he still hears Minho’s soft breaths. “Why aren’t you hanging up?”

“I thought you’d hang up first,” Kibum can feel Minho holding back a laugh on the other end. “I’m hanging up for real this time.”

“Okay.” Kibum smiles and Minho kept his word and hung up. He tosses his phone on his bed and grabs some clothes to change into for after he takes his shower. As he saunters down the hall he hears something crash followed by a scream. He drops the clothes immediately and rushes downstairs.

The scene is quite horrific. His mother was collapsed in one of the maids’ arms who were desperately trying to shake the woman awake and Park Bom was on the phone frantically trying to explain to a 911 operator what had happened.

Kibum doesn’t know how to react; he stands there - mouth agape.

*****

It’s around eleven o’ clock at night and Kibum sits in a hospital waiting room alone with his knees pulled up to his chest. His cheeks were wet with tears as he waits for a doctor or a nurse or somebody to tell him the reason why his mother collapsed out of nowhere. He still didn’t understand why it happened. His mother was a healthy woman. She exercised daily, she ate right... she didn’t everything she needed to do. So why did this occur? More tears form in Kibum’s eyes as he began feeling lonelier and lonelier as time went on.  Why wasn’t his father here yet anyways? He was called as soon as the incident happened!

“Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m sure your mother is fine.” A cold hand plants itself on his shoulder and he flinches at the touch. He looks up to see Park Bom sending a small smile towards him as well as a steaming cup of coffee.

Kibum shakes his head. “I don’t want it, thanks.”

“It’ll warm you up,” she insists.

“It’s okay,” Kibum waves his hand. “I don’t really like coffee anyways.”

Park Bom shoots him a “suit-yourself” look and plops herself in the seat next to him. Kibum’s face is emotionless but on the inside he’s really sneering. Who the hell is this woman in the first place and since when did the company need a new stock marketer anyways? He’s never heard the name Park Bom before in his life to begin with. Was she an old friend of his parents? Kibum doubted it.

Another couple of minutes pass and soon a doctor approaches them with a brown clipboard in hand. “You must be Kim Kibum, Kim Ahreum’s son, correct?”

Kibum stands and bows in respect. “Yes, I am. How is my mother? What is the reason for her collapsing…?”

“Potassium cyanide,” The doctor responds as he adjusts his glasses. Kibum raises an eyebrow; he doesn’t know what the hell that is. Park Bom’s reaction is neutral. “It must’ve been from something she drank. People who drink this often are suicidal and are looking for a quick way to die. A curious question, has your mother ever shown signs of depression?”

Kibum shakes his head. “My mother is a very proud, confident woman… i-is she… d-did she…?” Kibum can feel his stomach drop. Did his mother commit suicide? What a horrible son he was for not knowing his mother’s true feelings…

The doctor quickly shakes head. “She’s not dead, which is a good surprise; however she’s not in the best state. She’ll need to stay in the hospital for a while.”

Kibum lets out a relieved sigh. At least she’s alive.

“How long will she need to stay?” Bom asks.

“A month… or two… maybe even more… can’t be sure yet. Potassium cyanide isn’t a joke, which explains why it took so long for me to get back to you. And I’m sure you would like to go see her but unfortunately you cannot because she is still undergoing treatment at the moment.”

Kibum nods, understanding. “Please take care of her, doctor.” The doctor smiles and nods, whilst patting his shoulder: “Get home safely.” He retreats back down the hall and that’s when Bom turns to him and says, “You need a ride back home, sweetie?”

“No, thank you,” he answers. “I’d rather stay.”

“You have school in the morning…” she reminds.

“Just go.” Kibum says. “You’re a woman. You need your beauty sleep.”

Park Bom hesitates before leaving. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” He softly pushes her towards the door. Bom shoots him one last worried glance before departing.

Thank god she’s gone! Kibum thinks to himself letting out a stressed sigh. He whips out his phone. He knew exactly who he wanted to call.

*****

“This is getting old, Nichkun,” Minho sighs as he settles his metal bat on the back of his shoulders. “I wouldn’t have to do this if you’d just cough up the money. Truthfully, I shouldn’t be doing this. I should actually put a bullet in your brains like I’m supposed to, but I’m giving you chances.”

Nickhun’s on the ground before him, beaten and bruised. He spits blood onto the floor. They’re inside of his old and raggedy-looking apartment.

“That sappy little story about you getting mugged wasn’t true now, was it?” Nichkun stares blankly at him causing Minho to roll his eyes. “Of course it wasn’t.” He sends a powerful kick towards Nichkun’s stomach, causing the latter to curl up in pain. “What’d you do with In Guk’s money?”

“What’s the point in telling you?” Nichkun coughs, spitting more blood onto the ground. “You’re going to kill me in the end.”

Minho laughs as if the most hilarious joke had been told and then abruptly stops. “You’re right.” He raises his bat to strike a final blow to the head to end the man before him’s life. Nickhun shuts his eyes, preparing himself but the hit never came. Instead, a ringing of a cellphone could be heard. He opens his eyes and sees Minho staring at the ringing device.

He smirks at Nichkun saying “I’ll be back. Don’t try to run because I’ll find you regardless.” He picks up the phone and exits the apartment building.  Once he’s gone Nichkun lets out the breath that he’d been holding.

“Kibum? What’s up?” Minho questions as he climbs into his car. “Why are you calling me so late?”

Minho listens closely and he could hear the younger sniffling on the other end. “I-I’m at the hospital, Minho.”

The older man’s eyes widen. He was in the middle of pulling on his seatbelt; “What? Why? What happened? Are you alright?”

“I’ll explain later, just please come get me.” Another sniff could be heard.

“Okay, I’ll be there.” Minho starts up the car quickly and completely disregards the speed limit sigh as he races down the road.

Sorry for not updating in so long. School takes up a lot of time ya feel me?
my birthday's next week tho(October 3) yaaay.