8.

Was it irony or was it luck?

An angry voice terrorized the insides of the apartment, and shook both males that had stubbornly decided to stay outside.

Sungmin had seemed too paralyzed to move, and Kyuhyun had been too anxious to do anything. But the sudden noise startled them both.

Sungmin pressed his ear against the door, and the other did the same. Because both of them had understood by that moment that there was a terrifying truth hiding behind that door, behind the door Sungmin had grown up, and was supposed to find as escape and trust.

But trust can’t be defined by truth.

And the moment a yelp and a thud could be caught from the other side of the door, they both realized the very value of that difference.

Because truth will never remain hidden.

“Oh my god. Oh god oh my ing god!”

It was a queue. The queue. Sungmin jumped back and threw the door open, running over the threshold with a flaming Kyuhyun right behind his heels. They ran over a carpet that crumpled below their feet and it didn’t take long before the source of noise fell evident to their sights.

Among bottles and dust in an old-fashioned living room lay the aged woman who had given birth to Sungmin. Her black hair was a fuzzy ball on her head and her eyes were half closed in a manner that told she had given up.

What she seemed to have given up to, was visible on the male standing just above her.

There was no time to think. There was no time to evaluate which tactic would be better to solve this. Sungmin jumped to the side and crouched beside his mother – disregarding his stepfather’s angry move towards his back – and started pulling her by her arms; wanting to pull her away from misery; protect her and take her away. Kyuhyun tripped over green bottles to throw himself over the mad stepfather who groaned in frustration, soon losing his balance.

There was no time to think.

“Oh my god oh my god MOM!”

The 25-year old raven head hit his pockets to find the cell phone. He observed the fight that had erupted between his stepfather and Kyuhyun. He saw his mother – his oh-so weak, dear mother – plead and pray under her breath.

He screamed for help.

Kyuhyun put all his weight to keep the man down on the floor; his hands and legs were all over the place, hitting and kicking. With every attempted punch that flew towards his face, Kyuhyun had to close his eyes and momentarily lost his guard. With every try to twist the younger off him, Kyuhyun struggled to keep his balance.

He could soon hear Sungmin talking through the phone.

The terror wasn’t even a little hidden.

The two celebrities received rather questioning looks by the police. To them the phenomenon of an idol getting into a physical fight seemed out of this world.

Even as Kyuhyun pleaded for them to not talk to the media, the officer wrinkled his brow.

He took notes while Kyuhyun described the series of events, and Sungmin stayed with his mother while calling the manager, not scrupling to tell exactly what the case was.

And the manager, who couldn’t care too much about the danger or Kyuhyun’s possible injuries, picked them up.

Sungmin held Kyuhyun’s hand in the dark throughout the ride.

The manager took use of the dorm filled with tired members.

While Kyuhyun and Sungmin were taking of their shoes, the manager had already stomped into the living room.

“It will be okay.”

Kyuhyun meant it all, from the future scolding of the manager to the media and to the imprisonment of Sungmin’s stepfather. And they both hoped so.

Kyuhyun lifted his hand to play with his boyfriend’s hair, calmed by closeness for a little while. Sungmin leaned against the other’s body and breathed slowly.  A hand came to Kyuhyun’s back.

Just for a moment, the commotion was gone.

Just for a moment, Kyuhyun felt released.

Just for a little moment

“Kyuhyun, Sungmin! Get in here!”

The two flinched and started moving. In the living room stood the majority of the members, all of them wearing confused expressions.

Kyuhyun knew he hadn’t done anything straight of the bat wrong, but it still felt as if he was going to be scolded. He remained still as the managed explained simply what was going on.

“Our Kyuhyun got into a physical fight just now at Sungmin’s home”, the manager said, glancing from member to member. “It’s highly important that you don’t talk to the media about it.”

The maknae watched everyone’s expressions turn from confused to flustered, and he lowered his gaze, feeling how everyone was basically staring at him at that point.

“What happened?”

He looked up again, immediately meeting with Leeteuk’s worried glance.

“I’ll… Let Sungmin tell you if he wants to...”

Kyuhyun glanced at the manager, as if waiting for disapproval, like Sungmin was obligated to tell everything. But the manager merely threw a look of understanding below a frown towards Sungmin.

“The media is not going to be involved; we don’t want any stories and rumors to be spread. So remember to not take this anywhere.”

Everyone was still looking at Sungmin and Kyuhyun, who didn’t seem interested in the surrounding world at all.

The manager walked over to Sungmin and stood in front of him, putting his hands on his shoulders.

“It will be okay.” He assured him before giving him an encouraging pat and walking off, dismissing the group. But no one moved away.

“Are you okay?”

Leeteuk spoke up again as he walked passed all the members to reach Sungmin and the maknae. They nodded in synch.

They guessed so.

There was a silence that swept between them. Kyuhyun brushed his teeth while peeking out from the bathroom, gaze set on Sungmin.

Sungmin sat on his bed, staring before his feet in the dark.

“Kyuhyun-ah.”

The maknae, who had thought he was unnoticed, flinched.

He couldn’t hide.

He couldn’t keep himself in.

Kyuhyun spat out the sticky toothpaste and cleansed his mouth before walking out of the toilet, hand ruffling his own hair. Unlike him, Sungmin hadn’t changed at all, and didn’t seem interested in it either.

There was clearly something on his mind.

Kyuhyun had a bad feeling about it.

He took a seat beside his boyfriend and slowly put a hand on his thigh.

Like couples did. Like they were allowed to.

Kyuhyun watched Sungmin’s expression tense up.

He stared at the hand.

“I want to say something…”

When Sungmin covered Kyuhyun’s hand with his own and pulled it away from his leg, Kyuhyun couldn’t even compromise with himself anymore.

Sungmin’s saddened glance was digging into his. There was no doubt about what would come.

Kyuhyun wasn’t even going to fight it.