I could see Changmin fitting in really well. So well, in fact, that I decided to end things with Mir because let’s face it, he was getting too clingy. Damn, I swore that I couldn’t take a breath without him watching me do it.

There were a ing ton of tears on his part, but I didn’t really see the end of them. I left. Mir should’ve known that I wasn’t serious – scratch that, I would’ve been pissed if he didn’t think I was serious. My whole purpose of dating him was to test the waters of my acting abilities. Apparently, I was better than I ever thought, or maybe I had chosen too gullible of a person.

As I was saying though, Changmin’s appearance threw a wrench into the whole good-guy persona I had been trying out. He could be fun, almost as much fun as Ryeowook.

Kicking off from the swing, I let myself fly back and forth lazily. The sun was setting behind me, drawing long shadows across the mostly empty park. There were some kids here and there, but it seemed like the darkness shooed off the younger ones. I yawned, dropping my head back. Warmth spread across my face for the briefest of moments before I was swinging back into the shade.

“Enjoying yourself?”

I pulled forward, squinting at the figure approaching me. Changmin was grinning and I couldn’t stop myself from returning it. Lord, I loved that guy. He had the makings of a real mess, you know, if he wasn’t so straight-laced. “Sure as ,” I drawled, digging my heels into the woodchips to slow down.

He took the swing next to me. “That’s a lot of assurance,” he remarked.

“Why should I be anything less?”

“I checked out your background the other day,” Changmin looked at me, but I didn’t expect him to still be smiling.

Cocking an eyebrow, I wrapped my arms around the swing chains, leaning forward. “And you still came to hang out, stiff?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back and kicking. “You’re not a wanted criminal, Kyuhyun,” he snorted, “you haven’t done since your parole hearing a year ago.”

“I’m just good at evading the cops,” I smirked, “don’t belittle me.”

“How much could you have possibly done without getting caught?” he mused.

I took the bait. “Plenty, but most of it was under the supervision of my guard dog.”

Changmin’s brow furrowed. “Guard dog?”

“Ryeowook,” I stated, “he’s the son of my parole officer.” I paused, adding, “And he’s ing adorable, just so you know.”

When I checked his face for some sort of amusement, I didn’t find any. Surprised, it took me a second to remember that Changmin hadn’t exactly been welcoming to Ryeowook. More than that, I still had no idea why. “Hey, I forgot to ask, what’s your deal with him? He’s not exactly a threat to anyone,” I stared at him, waiting.

Changmin sighed, eyes guarded. “I just hate people like him.”

“Like him?” I laughed, “What do you mean? Cute, quiet, goodie-two-shoes—”

 “—acts like a goodie-two-shoes,” he interrupted irritably, “He’s such a fake. I could tell from the moment I first saw him.”

“What? You got a sixth sense for evil or something?” Maybe I was a little offended for Ryeowook – just a little though. After all, Changmin was spouting some serious stuff about someone I thought about quite a bit. Whether or not I cared about Ryeowook, he was a part of my life and insulting him was insulting my choices.

Stopping the idle swinging, Changmin set his gaze on me. “Something like that. I’ve been trained by my father since I could crawl. I know when someone’s bad news and Ryeowook is.”

“You sure you’re not getting mixed signals, because I’m pretty positive that if he’s bad news, I’m Satan.”

He cracked a small smile, but it disappeared quickly. “I see people like you all the time,” Changmin stopped himself there, coughing and saying, “Not like you specifically. I’ve never met someone as strange as you, Cho Kyuhyun,” he shook his head as if in disbelief, “anyway, what I mean is that there’s a system and there are also levels of criminals.”

Lifting his hand up, Changmin raised a finger, “I won’t go into detail, but I will tell you about the three types of criminals. There’s the ‘Rebel’ who has their illegal adventures during adolescence, but despite the they get into, they grow up and move on.” He nodded his chin at me, “That’s what you are. You’re too smart to fall into high stakes crime – anyone can see that. What you like to do is play power games and show-off your ability to win in any situation. The crazier the game, the more fun you have. Am I right?”

“And if I said you were wrong?”

Changmin smiled. “But I know I’m not.”

He wasn’t. I hated that he wasn’t wrong. Despite all my conquests, I had never gone too deep. It wasn’t a permanent settlement and when he put that label on me, I could actually see myself fitting in piece by piece. Power games were my hobby. Anything would do, just give me a chance to rule and I would take it, so long as I always had an escape route.

If that’s where I fit in though, what did he think of Ryeowook? As much as I disliked the idea of Changmin being right about his gut feeling, he had defined me as if it was child’s play. We had known each other for maybe a week – how could he know that much? A background search wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything that psychologically in-depth.

“What’s the next one?” I asked, shifting my eyes away.

“There’s the ‘Dealers’ who are big-time criminals controlling all matter of assets. They come in all different shapes and sizes. Furthermore, they emerge from every walk of life and rise to the top through a pure desire for bettering their situation and a mislead notion about what success and living a fulfilling life means.”

Siwon. Yesung.

Changmin took a breath, going on, “Then the final type is the ‘Potential’. These people are predecessors to Dealers. They have an opposing view about how things should be run, which eventually leads to that mislead notion of what a fulfilling life means. Ryeowook,” my eyes naturally flitted at the name and when I saw Changmin, I was stuck, “is definitely Potential, whether you think so or not. I can see it when I look at him.”

“But—”

“—what you told me earlier solidified my instincts about him,” he interrupted.

I didn’t say anything this time, too curious about what he would say next. A part of me thought it was pure crap, but the other part thought that there was a chance. My idea of corrupting Ryeowook was making him loosen up: maybe go a little crazy and get party-addicted, but never a full-fledged badass-mother-er.

Changmin took the silence for all that it was worth. “He’s empty in his gaze and his posture. Everything about him is cold – indifferent. For someone that should’ve been bred with laws, order, and morals, you can’t see anything of the sort in his eyes.”

“Ryeowook isn’t emotional. It’s just how he is.” Why was I defending him so much?

“Kyuhyun,” he closed his eyes patiently, “there’s a difference between being unemotional and being vacant. Someone who’s unemotional just has an objective view on feelings and can therefore manipulate their reactions. Someone who’s vacant doesn’t care about feelings or actions.” Changmin leaned back in the swing. “That’s what I meant earlier. He has so much potential that he can’t even see it himself and I’ll admit to that innocence. But…you were wrong earlier. Kim Ryeowook wasn’t being played by you, as much as you want to believe so. He supervised you as instructed, probably, but he never stopped you. He lets you do whatever you want because he doesn’t have any sense of right and wrong. Or more likely, he’s struggling with concepts of right and wrong.”

“You know what; scratch what I said earlier about hating people like him.” Changmin shook his head, “I’m afraid of people like him. He doesn’t care about anything from the bottom of his heart. It’s not a kid with abandonment issues. He honestly lacks the ability to be concerned about another thing.”

“You’re saying a lot of stuff about someone you don’t even know,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.

Changmin simply shrugged. “I don’t know criminals personally either. That doesn’t make my profiling skills any less accurate.”

“If you’re so certain about Ryeowook’s potential, then why don’t you stop it, Mr. Justice?” I watched surprise flicker across his features. “Make sure he doesn’t become a Dealer. That should’ve been your reaction instead of hating him, I would think.”

A smirk faintly touched his lips. “You don’t want to lose him, do you?” Changmin didn’t let an awkward silence rise, saying, “Fine, I’ll play along.”

Bastard.