HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIFFERENTACCENT!  (This is up several hours/a day early because I need an early night.)

“Would you like to explain why you got mobbed yesterday?” Siwon demanded once everybody besides Tiffany and Kyungsoo had been dismissed.

Xiumin crossed his arms.  “You already know,” he said.  “Or, at least, he does.”  He gestured dismissively at Kyungsoo.

“I saw you take on eight armed men; I didn’t hear what you said to provoke the first one into trying to knock you out with a baseball bat,” Kyungsoo snapped.

“I told them to come at me,” Xiumin replied, bored.  “They were the ones making threats they couldn’t carry out.”

Siwon and Tiffany exchanged glances, but just as Tiffany was opening to speak, Xiumin carried on.

“There are all sorts of rumours about what I’m doing out of prison, by the way.”  He started picking at dirt under one of his fingernails on his right hand.  “Most of which are true, in some capacity.  I hope Semi’s being stalked like I am, because if the wrong person snatches her in a dark alleyway, God only knows what’ll happen.  I gave them a misleading description of her, by the way.  As far as the guys I almost killed yesterday are concerned, she’s a twelve-foot ogre who could compete with Shrek.  Absolutely no need for them to know she more or less meets the country’s beauty standards.  Or that her name is Semi rather than Jiyeon.  Luhan’s managed to keep any connection to him hushed up so he doesn’t lose street cred, so now they all think she’s the daughter of some drug baron from Miami or something that the FBI are trying to bring down.  It’s kind of spectacular.”

“I thought you said some of the rumours are true,” Tiffany managed after a moment or two.

“Well, I’m out of prison because you sprang me,” Xiumin began counting off on his fingers, “and I’m married to a girl you want to keep safe for some reason; killing her would invoke Luhan’s wrath via me – if it happens before he finds out where that iPhone is, but nobody really knows about that – I’m helping you all out because I have to… what else was there?  Oh yeah, the girl pissed off a major gangster and having her allied to Luhan will save her life.”  He grinned.  “Not totally sure where the drug baron’s daughter started, but Luhan seems to find it as amusing as I do.”

Siwon’s jaw tightened, and Xiumin’s eyes danced gleefully.

“Oh, whoops,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.  “Should I not flaunt the fact it’s not hard for me to contact him, even though you know exactly how I’m doing it?”

Siwon beckoned Tiffany over to murmur in her ear.  “Can we please get Lay in here?” he asked.  “He’s every bit as bad as Chen said he would be.”

It was up to Kyungsoo to manage damage control.  “You wouldn’t be allowed out of the apartment if we weren’t happy with it,” he pointed out.

“No, you need me to get out of the apartment from time to time so that I can help you out and also so that my psyche isn’t damaged any further,” said Xiumin.  “Caged wolves are dangerous, after all.  Much better to have them on a leash.  They don’t feel as trapped.  And within reason, you can probably have a decent stab at what I’m telling Luhan anyway because of the circumstances under which I ring him.  And let’s face it: you kind of need that, because it’s about the only information you’re going to get on what he knows or might be planning.”  He shrugged.  “In fact, it’s probably the only information you have on him at all, besides what’s commonly known.”

Kyungsoo and Siwon were both beginning to look a little jaded.

“Oh!”  Xiumin snapped his fingers.  “I almost forgot.  The guy we all thought was the leader of the Topp Dogg ring is in fact not in charge.  Topp Dogg and their associates are only subsidiaries and underlings.  They’re the muscle attached to the brains.”

“Are you referring to the man whose nose you broke yesterday?” Kyungsoo asked.

“I’m pretty sure I knocked a few of his teeth out too, but yes: he’s not the leader of that gang.”

“Dammit,” muttered Siwon.  “Who is?”

Xiumin shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I have a description of a face, but not a name.  He uses Park Sehyuk as a front, which probably means he’s sneaky and cautious and will totally you up if you don’t manage a clean sweep the first time around.”  He paused.  “And he may or may not target Semi if he thinks I’ve been involved in giving you all information, and after what happened yesterday, that’s probably a conclusion he’ll come to.”

Siwon closed his eyes, seemingly pained.  “Was there a particular reason for you to aggravate them so much yesterday?”

Xiumin laughed.  “They were the ones who found and cornered me.  I pissed them off severely about a month or two before I landed in jail, and they never had a chance to get back at me.”

“Why do you have so many enemies?” Siwon asked tiredly.  “Tiffany, call off the raid.  I don’t care if they’re in the middle of it: we clearly need more information before going in.”

Semi had insisted on going to the dance studio with Junhong that evening, even though she didn’t feel she’d be up to much that involved being energetic.  It was, after all, the last day or so before the end of term, and Semi wanted to know where the place was so that she could go there over the two weeks they had off for Christmas if she felt in the mood to.

The walk had been a pretty quiet one, especially since it took them through a few streets bordering what Junhong said was a fairly dodgy area of town.  Dance had been much rowdier – the two male instructors, who went by Hoya and Dongwoo, were recent university graduates and goofed off just as much as everybody in the room did, but it made for a good laugh and Semi found herself popping a few painkillers to keep the aches in her chest dull.

About ten minutes into the lesson, Dongwoo pulled her off the bench at the side – Junhong nearly freaked out that the dance instructor was actually touching Semi, but since it was only her arm, Semi wasn’t too bothered by it (Dongwoo seemed pretty harmless, anyway) – and tried to insist she join in.  Semi ended up explaining she had a fractured rib, which led to Dongwoo and Hoya conferring conspiratorially before deciding to teach everybody a routine that Semi would be able to cope with.  She felt oddly touched, and after the distinct lack of intensive exercise she’d been having over the past few weeks, she was exhausted when she left the building.

Outside, it was dark and a frost was already beginning to settle.  Semi paused on the threshold for several long moments, swallowing hard.

Eventually, Junhong came up behind her.

“Wanna walk back to the metro together?” he suggested.  Semi nodded gratefully.  She didn’t think being on her own was too good an idea.

The walk back was almost as silent, beyond Junhong commenting that it was supposed t