Chapter Seven:

“Morning,” Minwoo nodded towards the cashier and walked proudly towards the shelves. Dongwan reluctantly followed his husband and tried to not look at anyone in the eyes as he was very ashamed of himself. “Yeobo, come here,” the older guy commanded.

Dongwan glared at the other criminal and gritted his teeth, as he slowly started swaying his hips and walked towards the other guy like some cheap women did in their part of the town and held the little “baby” bump like he was pregnant. If gaze could kill, Minwoo would have died in the middle of a supermarket. But he would have died happy.

“What…do…you…want…?” Dongwan spoke sharply.

Minwoo leaned closer, holding a bunch of things on his arms and crooned, “Put these in your stomach.”

“What? Are you nuts?” the younger man mumbled back and frowned. “You want me to walk even more difficultly with these shoes, huh?”

The more stylish criminal chuckled and began to fill the fake baby bump with more and more food. Of course he didn’t listen to the other guy and for the first time he was allowed to use the ‘I’m older’ card. Dongwan hated that he was born after Minwoo. He was the leader of this couple, and he would not tolerate treatment such as this.

“Stop complaining baby,” Minwoo smirked. “I think you look cute with blonde hair and high heels.”

“Really?” Dongwan blushed and seemed sincerely honoured, but as soon as he realised that he was in a girl’s clothes, he scoffed, “Stop flattering me.”

The shorter guy pecked the lips, and when he was done with filling the belly, he grabbed a hold on the hand of his husband, laced the other arm behind the back and started leading him towards the fruit section. Dongwan did not question Minwoo anymore, and just defeated let the other one be in charge, when he saw the big green fruit in a big basket and glanced at Minwoo angrily.

“No…way.”

“Yes, way.” Minwoo grinned. “You need to look believable.”

“Yah, dude…” Dongwan pointed his finger at the other guy. “I came to this shop having almost nothing and now they must believe I’ve grown to the size of a watermelon!?”

“Exactly,” Minwoo smiled and tapped one. “This is good – slip it under your shirt.”

Dongwan was speechless, and ridiculed by his very dumb husband. But he ended up heaving a sigh and raising his shirt just enough to slip a mother ing watermelon underneath. He then glowered at Minwoo and muttered, “If we get caught, I’ll say you kidnapped me.”

“We won’t get caught,” Minwoo assured.

                ***

Regardless of being shot, Minwoo kept running. The tears had stopped rolling down his cheeks minutes ago, but they were threatening to start again. He saw the look on Eric’s face in his mind. He saw the arm up, the eyes cold as ice, the love he had sworn to feel already gone. Minwoo could not believe that Eric had betrayed him. He could not believe his father was alive and giving orders to Eric.

Minwoo was glad to know his father was still alive, but the other side of his ice cold heart wanted him to be killed and destroyed as painfully as possible. Eric had been easy to allure to the bad guy’s side. He didn’t need much to be brainwashed.

“Water…water…” Minwoo’s lips were pale as he plodded in the forest.

The feet kept stumbling on rocks and branches, and at one point they almost entangled to one another. The bullet hole on the shoulder hurt and the pain went through the whole short body. Minwoo winced in pain, feeling cramps and desire to just give up and die. But that was what Eric and his father wanted. They wanted him dead.

“Water…water…” Minwoo stopped onto his tracks.

His face was wet from sweat, his head was pounding and the wound on his shoulder kept aching. It was cold and almost raining when the short guy let the weakness overtake him. He kneeled down to the frigid, green ground and swore to himself that he would only sleep for couple of minutes.

He heard voices in his head, yelling at him, but he was too exhausted to care. Just couple of minutes of rest didn’t sound that bad at all.

                ***

Dongwan sat on a rock and looked at the rings he had stolen from the jewelry shop. If Eric had known he had stolen those as well, he would no longer have them. When Hyesung had found out that Dongwan had also taken something else besides some money and some unnecessary bracelets and necklaces, he had asked him why risk everything due to some random rings.

Dongwan didn’t know.

He had just wanted them.

He stared at them for couple of minutes, feeling delighted he still had them – he could have sold them for some food but they were too valuable for that – when he heard branches crackling and someone chanting something. Dongwan raised his head and saw a figure walking couple metres away from him. He frowned, knowing there was nothing near them right now.

“Water…wa…ter…” he heard the guy whispering, eyes squinted and arms extended in front of him.

The white shirt he was wearing was red from the other shoulder and Dongwan could guess what had happened. He stood up from the rock and was about to yell at the guy, when the short figure kneeled down and eventually collapsed to the cold ground. The raindrops were already dancing on the face of the criminal, as he put the rings inside his pocket and strode to the stranger.

“Hey…” he poked the body with his toes. “Yah…” he tried again.

Dongwan thought the guy had died, when he crouched down beside him and heard a growl. He was somewhat happy that the gorgeous, yet dirty, looking guy made a sound. It meant he was still conscious. However, when Dongwan commenced rummaging his backpack, the sounds the guy was letting out ended and the body turned lifeless.

“YAH!” Dongwan panicked, turned the guy onto his back and slapped the face. “YAH! WAKE UP!”

The rain was angry, but Dongwan hoped the drops would wake the man up from the eternal sleep. He kept shaking him too, to just force his eyes open (“Yah! You are too gorgeous to die!). “YAH!” Dongwan kept yelling, slapping the face harder, and harder, noticing that the lips were as white as snow.

He fished out a water bottle and forced the liquid down the throat. It felt like a miracle, when the small eyes cracked open, and the black eyebags decorated the cheeks. The guys’ eyes met, Dongwan feeling nothing else but relief. He helped the surprised and ghostly looking man up and seated him down to a cut tree.

“Just sit there,” Dongwan told. “I will help you.”

The guy stared at him for couple of seconds, before he pushed him away, swiped his hand through the pocket and managed to steal the wallet. “HEY!” Dongwan yelled back at him and clumsily stood up, when the stranger feebly fell back down and the wallet flew out of his hand.

The stranger gasped terrified when Dongwan marched towards him, pouted at him, and grabbed the wallet from the puddle. He wiped it couple of times and then put it back to his pocket. He then squatted down the guy, grasped his arm and pulled him towards the cut tree.

“There is nothing in my wallet,” Dongwan commented, cleaning up the gorgeous man’s clothes. “But if there was something, you’d be dead by now.”

The adorable small eyes glanced at him shyly, when the shirt was ripped by the shoulder and the wound was revealed. Dongwan looked at it focused, feeling the orbs drilling to his skin, and touched the thing carefully. The shorter guy winced and bit his cheeks.

“Sorry, sorry…Sit down,” Dongwan commanded. “I will clean that wound,”

The other man looked up at him scared.

“Here.” Dongwan gave him a cloth. “Bite on that when I pull the bullet out.”

The look on the brown eyes was lost as the man took the cloth and held it carefully. Then he squeaked, “I am Minwoo…”

                ***

Dongwan had found an alley for the two to sleep in. It was not Andy’s bar, or it was not the house they used to have, but it was still a place for both of them. Dongwan placed a weird looking blanket on the ground and let Minwoo sit on it before he did – Dongwan was acting weirdly. They used the disguises as comforters and pillows and ate the food they had successfully stolen. The younger man pretended to be fine, but Minwoo could see he was trembling.

“I promise this is the only night we’ll sleep here, ok?” Dongwan said.

Minwoo nodded, hands between his thighs.

“You deserve the best.”

“Wan ah…”

“We can always go back to Andy’s bar. I think he finally likes me.”

Minwoo chuckled and kissed the other man long. It warmed them up a bit, and they snuggled with one another to survive the chilly night. Dongwan pulled the jacket over him properly and stared at Minwoo in the darkness. He smiled foolishly, eyes small and tired.

“What?” Minwoo asked, rubbing the upper arms of Dongwan. “Are you happy to be freezing?”

Dongwan laughed.

“No,” He responded. “I am just thinking about how lucky we are.”

“How so?”

“Well, we’ve been running away from police since the day we met, and we haven’t been caught even once.” Dongwan replied. “And I am just wondering how long we will be free.”

Minwoo looked at him.

“What are you talking about?” he scowled. “Dongwan?”

The other guy’s eyes were half-lidded, and when Minwoo lifted his hand to touch the forehead, he gasped and quickly put everything on Dongwan. He had never felt such warmth on the other one’s forehead and he didn’t know what to do.

“I want to get caught Minwoo…someday…”

“Yah…don’t…don’t talk nonsense…Dongwan,” Minwoo crooned panicked. “You won’t get caught.”

“I want to get caught…and shot…just like you…when that douche…” Dongwan was slurring. “Minwoo ya, my head hurts…I’m cold…”

The older guy stood up fast, threw everything warming on the guy, and hurried towards the exit of the alley. He saw a phone booth, entered it and hit the box. Money started pushing out,  and he took couple and inserted them to the coin hole. The long bleeps entered his ears, as the tears began to well, and when the woman voice responded, Minwoo hung up.

He was not ready to talk to his nuna or his mother yet.

Minwoo was about to take more coins, when someone knocked the window and startled him. His heart leaped to his throat, as he opened the door and was pulled out of the booth forcefully.

“You’re under arrest.” the guy wearing a police uniform said.

“Why…?” the short man asked.

“Vandalising, and you must be the other wanted criminal. Where is your partner?” the police grabbed the wrist.

Minwoo tried to pry himself free – his thoughts were at feverish Dongwan - but the guy’s grip was strong. Minwoo was fighting frantically until the officer kicked him to his diaphragm and caused Minwoo to fall down to the asphalt and gasp for air. The police put the arms behind the back and locked them into handcuffs.

“Do…Dong…Dongwan…” Minwoo growled, leering at the alley, and let the tears flow.