Baekhyun ended up discarding his own gun and handcuffing himself to the radiator next to Chanyeol. After making sure that the lock was secure, Jongdae headed outside, presumably to make a phone call. Either way, Baekhyun was left alone with Chanyeol.

The man’s face was completely trashed, beaten black and blue, and Baekhyun wouldn’t be surprised if his nose were actually broken. There was no blood on his clothing, but the older was sure that Jongdae’s anger was not easily satisfied with just the man’s face. But Baekhyun himself was immobilised and unable to help him in anyway. He could only hope that Yi Fan did not take too long, because if the Chinese rushed here first, Baekhyun was done for.

He knew he should have fought, he would have easily overpowered Jongdae but he could no longer risk Chanyeol’s life. He would get him out of here, even if it meant becoming the other mafia’s prey.

But first of all, it was not like Byun Baekhyun to give up so easily. This strange thing called love might have temporarily weakened him, but did not, thankfully, limit his thinking capacity. He slowly nudged Chanyeol’s side with his foot. After a few attempts, the younger moved, groaning. He coughed and Baekhyun saw blood in the corner of his mouth.

‘W-what..’

‘Chanyeol, don’t move too quickly. You’re going to hurt yourself even further.’ Baekhyun advised quietly. ‘Try pushing himself up to sitting position if you can. It will lessen the pressure on your chest.’

‘Baekhyun?’ Chanyeol murmured, but did as instructed. He hissed, clearly in pain but he managed to sit properly. ‘What are you doing?' He asked weakly.

‘What do you think I’m doing? I’m thinking about how to get us out of here.’ Baekhyun responded impatiently, looking around for any leverage.

‘What are you doing here? Why did you come for me?’ Chanyeol asked again, with a look that Baekhyun could only take as incredulous, because his face was over all, barely recognisable, with his left eyelid that would not open, the eye too swollen to be used properly.

It was Baekhyun’s turn to be surprised.

‘Don’t tell me all those punches turned you stupid. Why wouldn’t I? You must be kidding me.’

‘I thought you stopped caring about me.’

‘For such a tall body, you sure didn’t get enough brains.’ Baekhyun scoffed, like he did every time the mood turned even a little sentimental. ‘If I didn’t, would I be stuck here, handcuffed in this hole?’

‘So you do care about me.’ Baekhyun didn’t like how hopeful his voice sounded, especially considering the circumstances that they were currently in.

‘I don’t think this is appropriate time for such conversations. That asshat stepped out for a moment, but he will be back any moment and he’s already decided to kill you before my eyes. And once the Chinese are here, I will not live much longer.’

‘Did you come here by yourself?’

‘I expect backup to appear soon, but I really don’t know when. Until then, we are on our own.’

They fell silent, Baekhyun still looking around. Finally, his eyes landed on a small tin of oil.

‘I’m gonna try something. You stay still and breathe slowly.’

‘What are you doing? Don’t put yourself in danger.’ Chanyeol pleaded but Baekhyun only chuckled, amused.

‘More than we already are in?’ He frowned and extended his left leg to the side as much as possible. He slid down as far as he could, trying to nudge the tin with his foot, but it was still far away. He gritted his teeth, fending off the sense of pain as he put more strain on his wrist, still trapped in the handcuff. After a few more excruciating moments, he managed to topple it over and it thankfully rolled towards them.

‘I need to get it open. Can you help me first?’

‘I will try, but I can barely move.’ In between them managed to get the tin to roll further towards Baekhyun’s hip. Thankfully, his hands were trapped behind him, rather than above his head, like Chanyeol’s were. Baekhyun grasped the tin and kept forcing the lid to open.

‘Thank you for coming, even though we’re probably not getting out of here alive. And sorry for being so useless. Jongdae knocked me out without me even suspecting.’

‘It’s my fault. I could have warned you about him, if I hadn’t been so busy avoiding you.’

‘So you were avoiding me.’

‘I thought that much was obvious.’

‘I, too, was avoiding you. As much as I could, anyway.’ Chanyeol admitted.

‘You clearly stated that you needed space so I was giving you what you wanted. Judging from how happy you are around everyone but me, I say you’ve got over your crush pretty quickly.’ Baekhyun couldn’t help but let some bitterness resurface between the lines.

‘You might be the brightest cookie in the basket, hyung, but you obviously have no idea about feelings. Having harboured this love for almost ten years, do you honestly believe that one can get over something like this in a day or two? It will take me years to forget about you, if ever.’

Baekhyun said nothing to that. It was easier to concentrate on the task at hand.

‘I really thought I would be that person you would regret letting go. I distanced myself from you, but you never even fought for us – never mind lovers, you never even tried to fix the relationship we used to have. I’d come to the conclusion that you were just waiting for the right moment to get rid of me.’

‘Chanyeol.’ Baekhyun interrupted harshly. ‘Be quiet. This is not the time for such conversations.’

‘And why not?’ The younger raised his voice, demanding to know. ‘For all I know, I’m gonna be dead in the next 20 minutes. Just answer me so I can at least die in peace.’ Baekhyun looked at him, scoffing.

‘You owe me your life, kid. Only I have the right to kill you, nobody else. Jongdae will get you over my dead body. Do you hear me? I own you. You’re mine.’

Chanyeol was stunned into silence.

‘And when we get out of here, I swear I’ll never let you out of the house again. I’ll lock you up in the apartment forever, if it means I don’t have to go through all of this anymore. It’s ing unfair.’ He kept murmuring more to himself, still trying to open the tin’s lid with one hand. ‘I don’t need this. You’re a ing grown up and you should be responsible for your own life. I can’t watch your every move, getting all worked up about every single thing...’

‘Hey.’

‘..Right now, I’m feeling scared because they kidnapped you, what if tomorrow I’ll be scared because you want to go out and grab food from the restaurant around the corner? I have so many enemies, I can no longer trust you with handling yourself…’

‘Hey!’ Chanyeol finally stopped Baekhyun’s rant. The two looked at each other. ‘Now you understand what I feel every time you disappear into the night, except that I don’t even have the power to stop you. But you learn to live with it.’

‘I don’t want to! I want to stop caring about you, I don’t need it. I want my peaceful life back.’ Baekhyun was still in denial. Amidst all of this, he finally heard the lid pop open. He released the breath he didn’t realise he was holding.

‘Not caring indeed sounds better.’ Chanyeol mused. ‘But it must be horribly lonely.’

Baekhyun, who dipped his whole hand in the oil, froze in his spot. He, then, suddenly understood what it was that he was experiencing the past few weeks. Loneliness. It was loneliness, the feeling of not belonging anywhere. All these years he’d favoured accidental ual encounters over emotional bonds, congratulating himself how well detached he was from the burdens of love and caring, when in reality, he was always on the receiving end of this affection. And he himself was giving just as much.

Chanyeol was there as his protégée, his companion, his younger brother. Becoming lovers would merely advance their relationship and sate their carnal desires, but the bond he was so adamant about avoiding, was right there.

As usual, Chanyeol was right. After the night they spent together, when Chanyeol temporarily stopped being a constant at his side, Baekhyun felt empty. He was completely and utterly alone.

And it felt horrible.

He cleared his throat, realising he’d fallen silent for too long.

‘I’m gonna try and slide my hand through the handcuff.’ Chanyeol said nothing, opting to lean his head back and breath slowly.

The plan was good, but even with Baekhyun’s child-like hands, it was simply not possible. Except that Jongdae was going to come back any moment now and he was going to shoot Chanyeol before Baekhyun’s eyes. That was not an option. Clenching his teeth on the loose collar of his coat, the older made a quick decision. He used all his strength and jerk his hand forward. He groaned in agony.

‘What’s going on?!’ Chanyeol asked, panicked. Baekhyun only shook his hand, still chewing on the hem of the clothing. He tried to calm his mind. It was this or getting tortured and killed by the other gang.

‘I managed to get my hand out.’ He only said.

‘But..?’

‘I think I broke my little finger in the process.’ Chanyeol hissed but knew better than to scold him. ‘When he comes back, I’m gonna pretend that I’m still trapped. Just play along, I’ll strike when I’m ready.’

Instead of another confirmation, Baekhyun suddenly felt their lips connecting in a brief kiss. It did not last more than a few seconds, Chanyeol leaning towards him barely enough to touch. This, however, stunned the older into silence. He his lips, out of habit, and tasted Chanyeol’s blood.

‘Do it again and I’ll punch you, regardless of your injuries.’ He threatened weakly. Chanyeol stretched his mouth in something that was presumably a grin.

‘Whatever happens next, it was nice knowing you, Byun Baekhyun.’ He closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall.

‘Get used to it because I’m getting you out of here, no matter what.’ It was meant as another threat but Baekhyun became flustered, seeing how Chanyeol’s grin only widened.

‘ing adorable.’ He murmured to himself, looking exceptionally pleased with himself. Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed.

‘Say that one more time and I swear I’ll cut your d-‘

‘Looks like somebody has finally woken up.’ Jongdae’s entrance interrupted whatever words would have followed after their exchange. Both trapped man looked up at the newcomer.

‘Why don’t you just go and die in some rat hole, Jongdae? That’s where you belong, after all.’ Baekhyun spited.

‘Thank you for the offer but I’ll just stick to my original plans. Speaking of which, the Chinese will be here any moment and I better get going. That leaves me with only one task. Any last words?’ Jongdae turned to Chanyeol, voice still indifferent.

‘Just that I know what you’re feeling right now because I’ve been experiencing it almost half of my life. I pity you, Jongdae.’

Jongdae tilted his head, eyes lighting up for the first time in the long while. He looked at Chanyeol for the longest while before his expression twisted into one of tired amusement.

‘That’s an odd thing to say, considering the fact that your lover is sitting right in front of you. Or are you trying to tell me that an unrequited love is equally painful as the death of your beloved?’ They looked at each other again before Jongdae finished his thought. ‘You know what, change of plans. I’ve just decided that I don’t hate you nearly half as much as I hate Byun.’

Before Baekhyun had any time to react, he felt an immense pain in his stomach. It all happened so fast: Chanyeol’s screams and him jerking against his handcuffs, door opening abruptly and Jongdae falling to the floor. Then everything turned black and Baekhyun lost consciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

‘Can you, please, sit down?’ Yi Fan motioned at the chair, exasperated. Chanyeol was supposed to be laying in his own bed, but instead, he was pacing around the short corridor. ‘You’re driving my insane.’

‘Why can’t we see him?’

‘Because he’s tired after the surgery.’ The older responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. ‘I’m going to use violence if you don’t sit your down right this moment.’ They locked gazes and Chanyeol finally relented. But before his had a chance to touch the seat, he jumped back up, because the doctor left Baekhyun’s room.

‘The bullet missed all the vital organs so it wasn’t very difficult to remove it. He’s stable and conscious but I would appreciate somebody telling him that he can’t get out of here just yet. He was ready to march off the moment he woke up.’

‘Can we…’ Yi Fan meant to ask but did not get to finish as Chanyeol already strolled past the two of them and entered the room ‘…see him?’ The older finished, exasperated. The doctor smiled lightly.

‘Just not for too long. He really needs to sleep.’

If Yi Fan feared that he would interrupt something between the two men in the patient’s room, his fears were unfounded. When he entered, Chanyeol was standing a few metres away, quiet, merely staring at his boss. Baekhyun raised his eyebrow, impatiently.

‘I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. Me getting that bullet is all your fault.’ Chanyeol grimaced, pain adoring his expression. ‘But then again, you looking all black and blue is my fault so I guess we can call it even.’ He turned to the man at the door. ‘Yi Fan.’ He greeted.

Yi Fan had to give him that – his boss did not at all look like somebody who had just been shot. He was as stubborn and his tongue as sharp as ever.

‘I’m sure you’re fine and all but you need to stay here. Believe it or not, you’re only human.’

‘You’re breaking my heart, Yi Fan.’ Baekhyun scoffed. ‘Business won’t run itself.’

‘That’s what you have me for.’

‘The doctor is creepy.’ Baekhyun was running out of arguments.

‘Doctor Do is the best choice, considering the fact that he never asks where all our injuries come from.’

‘I just want to get out. I’m your boss. I’m ordering you to take me out of here.’

‘Look at you, big baby.’ Yi Fan remained unimpressed. ‘All the more reason why you should remain here. You sound so ridiculous right now, we don’t want you to lose your authority in the family. I’ll get going, you two stay here and get better.’ He left without a word. Baekhyun scoffed, but he leaned back on the pillow, unable to take the pain in his abdomen for much longer. His head was spinning.

‘What did you do with Jongdae?’ He asked instead. As far as he knew, Yi Fan easily regained control over the shipment at the harbour and reached the old factory just in time for Baekhyun to not completely bleed out on the floor. He knew he owed the older his life, but it was not in his nature to coddle anyone. He trusted that the other knew him enough to understand his thankfulness anyway.

Chanyeol sighed.

‘Yi Fan left it up to me so I gave him a gun. I told him that he had 12 hours to either shoot himself in the mouth or somebody would come to finish the job for him. It was as much mercy as I could muster. I don’t know what happened afterwards, but either way, he is already dead. I saw them carrying his body out of the cell.’ The younger looked genuinely sad. ‘I know, it had to be done. He’d betrayed us and tried to steal from us, and we can’t have rats running around but… I can’t help but think that he was not completely rotten. He’s made some bad choice because we had pushed him to it.’

‘That’s why I always wanted you out of here, Chanyeol. You’ve been around for so long and you’ve probably already seen it all – yet you can still afford to think positively about people like Jongdae. Some people know how we work when they decide to join us. They know it’s all or nothing. They are conscious of the consequences when they make their decisions and Jongdae made his.’ Baekhyun raised one eyebrow, expression unreadable. ‘I can still send you far away, give you a new identity and erase you from here like you never existed.'

‘Is that what you want? Do you really wish for me to just disappear from your life?’ Chanyeol asked quietly, looking him in the eye. ‘This time, I’ll do as you order. You own me, after all.’ Baekhyun winced at that. He had said it in the heat of the moment but he didn’t really mean it.

‘Tell me one more time that you want to stay. That despite all of this mess, you want to stay.’ Baekhyun asked, instead. His eyes moved from Chanyeol to the nearest window. ‘You know, this thing of ours… it might not even work out in the end. If I start loving you as strongly as I had always pushed you away, I will end up breaking you. I care for you and I know I want you, but I don’t know how to love.’

‘Good thing that you’re not in this alone, then. Any kind of relationship requires work from both sides.’ Chanyeol smiled tiredly. He, too, had had a long night behind him.

‘I might be annoying and overbearing and unnecessarily cold.’

‘Aren’t you already?’

‘And unfair. I can’t treat you any differently just because you warm my bed at night.’ He didn’t care how crass he sounded. He gulped – he realised that he was still scared to make that one final move. He felt Chanyeol approach him and that forced him to look back at the younger.

‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’ He chuckled shortly. ‘I want to stay and give this a try. Details like that… they don’t really matter. We already know each other like the back of our hands. You’ve already put me through hell and back, so nothing you do can faze me anymore. But with time, I will make you see me as an equal and when that time comes, I want you to acknowledge it. The rest we can work out with time.’

Chanyeol kissed him lightly on the forehead but Baekhyun grasped the collar of his hospital gown and dragged him all the way down to his lips. They shared a short but heated kiss.

‘That’s a promise.’ He whispered, their foreheads still touching.

‘You better keep it.’

‘A man is worth nothing if not his word.’ Baekhyun replied with a trace of playfulness. Chanyeol gave him a lopsided smile.

‘You better go to sleep now. I’ll come by later. Sehun is outside if you need anything. See you later.’ He gave him one more peck and then he was gone.

Baekhyun’s eyes followed the other until he disappeared behind the door. He closed his eyes but doubted he would get any sleep. He knew it was not as easy as it sounded. They would probably fight a lot in the future. Baekhyun was probably going to go insane every time he saw Chanyeol leave by himself. Something also told him that he would get childishly jealous of everyone who as much as looked at his younger lover.

But on the outside, he would have to be as unfazed as ever and that was bound to hurt both of them. He trusted Chanyeol, his did, but it would not be easy to give him space necessary to do his job. Not anymore.

As he fell into slumber, he tried to push those negative thoughts away. He had no choice but to let time solve these problems as they came.