~_____~

It was night time. Donghae’s head was still not yet clear. There was a war going on inside of him and he didn’t know which side to pick. To chase Eunhyuk or to drop this once and for all?

He was broken, like shards of glass kicked around until the jagged pieces were no longer recognizable to be put back together. Donghae was like that. The pain swelling up inside him hadn’t been able to be treated even after placing ice packs over his wounds. The inside of him was as purple as the bruises that tainted his skin.

Why was Eunhyuk like this? Why was he with them? Why did he have to be on the opposing team!?

Out of frustration Donghae flung his arm out and knocked the few empty beer cans beside him away. Leaning over he wrapped his head inside his hands and cried helplessly.

What was there to do? What could he do? Why wouldn’t Eunhyuk turn around for him? Why wasn’t he the same friend Donghae knew before?

Feeling another headache throb inside his skull he threw himself back onto the concrete floor of the rooftop and closed his eyes. With eyesight smudged from the dense tears he couldn’t make out the burning of the stars overhead. The full moon blurred in his vision and he drowsily shut his eyes.

Too many thoughts pulsated through his veins and coursed through his mind. All of it made his headache even worse and he wished he was someone else. It was so terrible of a world that he didn’t want to deal with anything anymore.

These thoughts sent him into sleep. The continuous ringing of his phone startled him up the next morning. The throbbing in his head started again when he opened his eyes only to be blinded by the greeting sun. Flinching from it he threw his arm up to shield his eyes and slowly pulled his disoriented self up.

Donghae hadn’t felt this awful since the day Eunhyuk went missing. He stared at the littered beer cans by his feet and rubbed the back of his head before the phone called for him again. Letting out a groan of annoyance he reached for his phone and answered.

Half an hour later he arrived on site blockaded by the cops. Yellow lines were drawn around the block refusing to let traffic flow through. The roads surrounding it had been cut off and there were curious civilians gossiping around the guards who were there to hold them back. It was like a crowd watching an animal show, disturbing yet attracting.

After showing his I.D. he was allowed through. The area tainted with grime, a large silver garbage bin full of empty alcohol bottles, and a littered alley made up the backyard of the bar that had closed down a few weeks ago. Waste had accumulated around the bar and Donghae could smell unwanted food and cat droppings further down the lane. It was a dark and gray area with an atmosphere of gloom.

The lights of the ambulance and the firetruck had been left on and even though it was daylight Donghae could see the flashes of red bouncing off the nearby buildings. There were murmurs and loud voices of TV reporters echoing around him as he stepped toward the little black bag on the ground. The forensics team was busy at work brushing the grounds with their utensils when he approached Officer Choi who had called him.

“Who’s the victim?” Donghae asked.

Officer Choi turned around to glance at him before stepping to the side to allow Donghae to see who was lying in the black bag. With a slight turn of his head he stared at the little girl whose eyes were peacefully closed. Blotches of illness and exhaustion were apparent on her face.

“Han Dan Bi, 12 years old,” Officer Choi summarized. “It looks like no harm has been done to her. She was presumed dead before getting dropped off here, but why would a girl who disappeared in Yeongwol end up in Seoul?”

Donghae tightly pursed his lips, his eyes never moving from the little girl’s face.

“Isn’t she one of the missing girls your team was looking into?”

“Who’s the perpetrator?” Donghae asked.

“We don’t know yet.”

“Have you checked the cameras? Any witnesses?”

“No one. We’ve put out a notice. Looks like whoever did this thought everything through and worked in the night. No one watches this area in the night anymore, not since the bar closed down.”

“Well look into it,” Donghae grumbled.

His headache seemed to become greater the more his thoughts got jumbled around. Possibilities, questions, and conclusions were already forming by themselves in his head. They’d lost the little girl they could have saved a few days earlier if they hadn’t split up. If they’d done as Namjoo had said and put the little girls’ lives before their missions, a difference could have been made.

The thought of it made him want to punch the wall.

“Donghae!” a familiar voice shouted and he turned to see Suho running through the yellow tape toward him, Victoria following.

Officer Choi walked away upon the call of another officer as Suho stopped in front of him.

“What’s going on?” Suho asked concerned.

“What are you doing here?” Donghae questioned with an unhappy tone.

“I called him,” Victoria interrupted. “Officer Choi called about the case, but I thought Suho would know more details since I was absent during the time they did the investigation on the girls.”

Donghae’s eyes landed on Suho’s eyes trailing toward the black bag.

“We lost her,” Donghae quietly said. “Han Dan Bi.”

Suho swerved back to look at him with wide eyes. Victoria’s lips seemingly split with shock.

“But how…” Suho started.

“It’s a warning,” Donghae stated, “they know we’re onto them.”

“Is that an assumption?” Victoria asked.

Ignoring her Donghae ordered, “Call Chorong and Lay. We’re meeting up at headquarters.”

“What?” Suho asked surprised with the demand.

“You want me to repeat myself?” Donghae turned to look at Suho with sneering eyes.

Suho looked back with hesitation before nodding and walked away. As he made his way back to his car Victoria followed.

“What’s going on, Donghae?” Victoria interrogated. “We’re supposed to be on break.”

“Well I’m cutting it short,” Donghae stated unlocking his car, but when he opened it Victoria pushed it closed.

“Have you been drinking?” Victoria frowned from behind.

Donghae twisted around to face her and said through gritted teeth, “Headquarters, Victoria.”

Then with no more words opened the door and got into his car. On the drive to headquarters he felt hot with the conclusion that Eunhyuk had purposely done this as a threat. Eunhyuk was telling him to back off and if he didn’t Eunhyuk and his people would come after Namjoo or Suho. Eunhyuk was going to make sure he regretted going after him, he knew it.

Why…did Eunhyuk want to start an all out war with him!?

Pulling over to the side of the road Donghae slammed his hands against the wheel. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be…

Why of all people did it have to be Eunhyuk!?

~_____~

Victoria bit her lip and watched Donghe rudely drive off before walking to her car. What had gotten into him that he was acting so agitated and angry? And it was then that she was confident that something had happened to Donghae in Daegu he wasn’t talking about. He’d been weird ever since they left the alleys.

Problem was, how was she going to pry anything out of his hot head?

Chorong and Lay arrived at headquarters approximatey 15 minutes after her and they met in the same meeting room.

“I want you three stationed in Yeongwol,” Donghae explained. “Suspicious activity goes on down there, I’m sure of it. I want you three to keep a watch out. You’re not to go after them or try to capture them, but watch.”

“What do you mean watch?” Lay wondered.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Suho commented. “How do you expect us to just watch?”

“You do as I say,” Donghae put emphasis into his deep tone. “Don’t interfere with their work, do you hear me?”

Suho nearly let out a gasp and a snort, “Are you crazy? You want us to just watch and walk away from a crime committed and not do anything about it?”

Victoria turned from them to Donghae, “What’s gotten into you, Donghae?”

“Is there a point to this?” Chorong spoke up. “What exactly do you expect us to observe? Why Yeongwol?”

“There was an attempt to kidnap you in Yeongwol, wasn’t there?” Donghae turned to Victoria then to the others. “You caught Eunhyuk in Yeongwol. Han Dan Bi was kidnapped in Yeongwol. We know there’s something suspicious about that brothel in Yeongwol. What more do you want me to say?”

Victoria pressed her lips together and silently debated before saying, “You’re hiding something.”

Donghae eyed her out of the corner of his eye apparently unhappy with what she’d said, but turned away so that she wasn’t in his view.

“So I want you to watch, don’t you dare interfere with their work,” Donghae heavily emphasized, “we’re going to catch them and put an end to their play. Don’t you dare mess this up, do you hear me?”

Victoria watched Chorong’s eyes waver to the tabletop. Lay and Suho didn’t move either.

“You’re moving out tonight.” Donghae finished.

“What about Namjoo, Kris, and Tao?” Suho spoke up before Donghae could even take a step toward the door.

“Namjoo and Kris are still recovering,” Donghae further explained, “Tao will stay behind in case anything is to happen. Victoria will monitor you three as well as current events. End of meeting.”

Victoria watched Donghae walk out. Once the door closed she heard Suho let out a huge sigh of predicament.

“We’re in trouble,” Suho muttered then turned to look at her.

“What do we do?” Lay asked.

Victoria stared at the door, “Follow his orders.”

“What?” Chorong asked astounded, her brows crossing into disbelief at her.

Victoria turned to the three, “I said follow his orders and don’t screw up. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

~_____~

Kris slowed in his steps when he spotted Namjoo sitting alone on the bench just a few yards away. She was dressed formally for the musical, a skirt and a blouse. It was something out of the norm for her that he wasn’t used to seeing.

The large Oak tree next to her gave her shade from the hot sun, but even if Namjoo was feeling hot she still drank out of the warm cup of coffee beside her. Kris glanced down at the ground and pushed himself to walk forward. As he neared Namjoo didn’t notice, but kept watching the kids at play in front of her. She only turned when he sat beside her.

Namjoo seemed to stare at him, as if surprised by his appearance. Kris wished she’d say something instead of look at him as if he was at the wrong place.

“What are you doing here?” Namjoo finally wondered.

Would she be angry Suho had set her up? Then he glanced at her ankle and thought that she wouldn’t even be able to walk away properly.

Kris reached into his pocket and pulled out the ticket Suho had handed him yesterday. Namjoo looked at him before her eyes moved down toward the ticket. As expected she laughed out of spite and turned away. He powerlessly watched her reach a hand up to rub her forehead, feeling tinier and tinier.

Getting to her feet she said, “There’s no point in going to watch the musical then. Since Suho’s not here to waste his own money, it doesn’t matter.”

Grabbing her cup of coffee she hobbled over to a garbage bin and tossed it. Kris got up to follow and reached out to take her arm, but hesitated and withdrew his hand. He was afraid to touch her after the incident in Daegu. Most of all, he was scared of how she felt about him.

“We can do something else, can’t we?” Kris asked quietly, anxiety building up in his system.

Namjoo first turned to look at him before he raised his eyes up to meet hers.

“I mean,” he began, “we’re both out here anyway.”

Namjoo’s eyes hovered over the ground and he became nervous about rejection.

“Where do you want to go?” Namjoo asked.

Kris found himself trailing after Namjoo as they walked into the aquarium. There were other singles walking around in groups, but his eyes glued to Namjoo as they walked along. He watched that raspy smile climb onto her face as she walked up to the glass to better peer at the fishes and water creatures.

It was like watching a child having gone out into the world for the first time. The glow radiating off her face made him feel cheerful too. Namjoo was like the sunset shading his world, lighting his world with new lights every time she appeared to him. She was the one person who had the ability to make his bones feel like they were trembling, who made him feel scared at all times. And he wanted to appease her so that the light would never fade, but he didn’t know how to.

Namjoo wouldn’t pay attention to him, she normally wouldn’t pay attention to him, and he didn’t know what to do to catch her eye. Kris only knew how to play roughly with her. Maybe, he guessed, maybe he was just as bad as her at expressing himself.

As Namjoo’s eyes lit up he wondered how she managed to grow up so lonesome in that shell of hers. Had she been so busy trying to protect herself she rarely knew how to enjoy the presence of another? Or had she hurt that much that she closed up?

Why couldn’t he reach her the way Suho could?

“Are you hungry? Should we get something to eat?” he asked after they walked out and made sure to slow his pace so that he would be at her pace. “Your ankle looks better.”

“You can’t even see it,” she said motioning to the small cast around her ankle.

Kris awkwardly laughed.

“Actually I’m tired. I just want go back home and sit.”

“Then…should I send you back?” he hoped she’d say yes.

Namjoo seemed to ponder for a second , “Sure.”

Kris had meant to talk during the ride to her place, but he didn’t know where to start from so majority of the time was spent in silence.

“Did you meet up with anyone?” Kris asked when he turned into the lot of her apartment building.

“Suho visited,” Namjoo replied unbuckling herself. “I’m taking he stopped by your place too.”

He smiled, “Yea.”

“Thank you,” Namjoo thanked, “for the ride.”

“Oh…yea…” he nodded and blinked a few times before turning off the engine, “I should at least walk you inside, right?”

“You don’t have to.”

Pulling the seatbelt off him he got out anyway. Putting a smile onto his face he hoped she wouldn’t turn him down. Namjoo looked at him before slowly looking away and turned toward the doors.

As Kris followed her in he felt his insides poke at him to say something. He continuously peered at her in front of him and repeatedly hesitated until they were already at her door.

“You didn’t have to walk me up here,” Namjoo turned around, “thanks anyway.”

He nodded and lied with a smile only to watch her turn around. Not wanting to leave it as it was he called out, “Namjoo.”   

Spinning back around, he felt her eyes land on him. His lips suddenly tightened and his throat constricted. The words he’d been wanting to say since Daegu was nowhere to be found in his head. Namjoo waited, but he couldn’t muster up the courage to apologize or tell her of his feelings. So instead he slowly reached his hand out to grasp onto hers.

He was barely an inch away from touching her when her phone went off. Kris quickly pulled his hand back, the spell of the moment was already ruined for him to do anything else.

Namjoo pulled her phone out and stared at the name flashing across the screen before looking up at him. Kris’ eyes darted toward her phone, but Namjoo turned it away from him and he felt his heart sink. He had a strong feeling he knew who it was that had called.

“Get back safe,” Namjoo smiled before opening her door and walked inside to leave him staring at the wall separating him from her. 

***Han Dan Bi is dead and vacation gets cut for Lay, Chorong, and Suho. And they're having the worst of it from Donghae and Victoria ;A; But at least the three are together. Chorong with two guys huhuhu~~

***Donghae's on a silent rampage and his lips are shut tight. Will Victoria get anything out of him? 

***Kris is in a turmoil about approaching Namjoo like he used to, this calls for time to change his ways ^^ And maybe some TaoJoo since Tao is still practically still on his break. 

***Anyway, surprise udpate! Now back to City Blues