Sungmin coughed, blood spilling from his mouth. Kyuhyun gripped the steering wheel tighter and pressed harder on the gas pedal. He had to get home quickly. He screeched into the apartment garage and parked in his spot.
“Can you walk?” Kyuhyun asked. Sungmin blinked tiredly at him, trying to process the question.
“I think so…ah!” Sungmin gasped as he stepped out of the car and his pain ridden body protested violently. His right leg buckled and Sungmin collapsed towards the ground. Kyuhyun caught the smaller man and held him close, wondering at the sparks that flew through his body.
“I’ll carry you. Hold on,” Kyuhyun picked Sungmin up bridal style, surprised at how light he was. He carried his hyung to the elevators and walked inside carefully, not wanting to add more injury to his precious load. Sungmin was breathing slightly harder than normal and his slim hand grasped Kyuhyun’s shirt in a steadying manner.
“You can let me down now,” Sungmin breathed, pushing weakly against Kyuhyun’s chest. Kyuhyun glanced doubtfully at his hyung. He slowly let Sungmin down but kept a steadying hand on his waist, making sure that he was stable. The doors of the elevator opened and the two of them walked out slowly.
They made their way down the hallway and Kyuhyun cursed the fact that his apartment was the last one. They walked slowly; Kyuhyun tried not to let Sungmin work too hard. There was one point where Sungmin tripped and Kyuhyun caught him. As a result, Sungmin’s lips touched the side of his neck, resulting in an explosive, fiery feeling.
At last, they reached the door of Kyuhyun’s apartment. Sungmin was whimpering slightly and holding his arm which seemed to be gushing blood. He felt like a huge burden to Kyuhyun and wondered if it would be so terrible if he died and gave everyone peace instead of making them angry, or worried.
He moved painfully inside and waited as Kyuhyun turned on the lights. He was beginning to feel a little lightheaded because of blood loss.
“Sit there, okay? I’ll get bandages and antiseptic for you.” Kyuhyun lay Sungmin gently on the sofa and disappeared into a different part of the apartment.
Sungmin sank gratefully into the soft sofa in the living room. It was funny how he remembered every part of the apartment so clearly. As he sat there, he realized with twinge of a feeling he couldn’t quiet place that he felt at home here.
He gazed around at the comforting colours and feel of Kyuhyun’s home and began to calm down. He breathed in sharply when he bent his arm and the gash made by Jiwon’s rings stung like hell. He took away his hand and looked disinterestedly at the blood flowing from the wound.
This was nothing new. In fact, it was actually minor compared to some of the other injuries he had received. The only reason this looked so terrible was because of the blood that was smeared around the outside of the cut. Sungmin knew his face must look terrible thanks to the cut on his forehead that was dribbling blood all over his face.
Kyuhyun returned with bandages and a first aid kit. Sungmin watched as he opened the kit and took out what he needed. As Kyuhyun moved towards him, Sungmin flinched and moved away. Kyuhyun saw this but did not stop. He had to tend to the wounds and get them cleaned before they were infected.
Despite this, he moved slowly. Rushing forwards and grabbing Sungmin would only serve to terrify his hyung and cause great anguish. So he moved slowly, gently taking Sungmin’s arm and pulling it close to him.
Sungmin, knowing that gentle touches could turn harsh, immediately tried to pull back. Kyuhyun caught his wrist and held him there. Sungmin struggled, now afraid of what might happen next. Kyuhyun didn’t let go. Terror surged through the elder man. Had he left one beating only to endure another?
“Let me go. Please, let me go!” Sungmin pleaded, tears starting to spill from his eyes. Kyuhyun looked at him and stared straight into his eyes.
“Sungmin, listen to me. I won’t hurt you. You have to trust me because I need to clean your wounds and I can’t do that if you keep shying away. Look at me, Sungmin. I will never ever hurt you. Hurting you would be like hurting my soul. Something that I could never do,” Kyuhyun spoke in calming tones, staring at Sungmin, willing him to believe what he had said. He had no idea where the words had come from but he knew they were real.
Sungmin stared deep into the beautiful black eyes of Kyuhyun. Those eyes captivated him and calmed him. He felt Kyuhyun’s grip on his wrist and instead of feeling fear, he felt protected. Sungmin hesitantly let his arm go limp and allowed Kyuhyun to take control.
As Kyuhyun poured some antiseptic onto a cloth and cleaned his cut, Sungmin felt a strange sense of security. He wondered why. He felt a smile curve his lips as he watched Kyuhyun bandage the long gash down his arm.
The younger male looked up and smiled. Sungmin felt warmth spread from his heart into the rest of his body. What was this? How could he have feelings like this when he loved Jiwon? Sungmin felt utterly disloyal. Still, Jiwon cheated on him regularly. But he knew that he would never be able to do something like that.
Sungmin felt his face grow warm when Kyuhyun gently wiped the cloth of antiseptic across his forehead. He squeaked slightly when Kyuhyun applied pressure to stop the bleeding. Kyuhyun looked down at him and smiled. And Sungmin felt safe.
Kyuhyun had no idea why he felt like taking Sungmin in his arms and never letting go. He had looked down at Sungmin when he had squeaked and was met with large, adorable eyes and a cute, confused expression. Maybe that was why he had those feelings now. A slight blush came to his cheeks as he thought of these things.
He put a Band-Aid over the cut on Sungmin’s face and took a washcloth from his side. He washed away all the dried blood that covered Sungmin’s forehead and arm. Despite that, he still looked rather beaten up. Kyuhyun sighed and then backed up a bit to see what other damage had been done. What he saw shocked him.
There were multiple cuts everywhere. Some were rather large and others were small. It was apparent that Sungmin had no idea he had half of these cuts. Kyuhyun swallowed and blinked rapidly, hoping that at least some of these would disappear. They didn’t. Somehow, Kyuhyun found his voice again.
“Sungmin……I need you to tell me where you got these injuries,” Kyuhyun said, trying not to let his voice break. Sungmin’s face suddenly grew apprehensive. He wasn’t sure if he should tell the truth or not. Jiwon’s reputation, after all, was everything to him and Jiwon.
“Why do you want to know that?” Sungmin asked quietly, stalling.
“Because if you got a cut from a nail or something, I want to be sure you don’t have tetanus. If you got that cut there from glass, I have to check that there isn’t glass inside of it,” Kyuhyun explained. Sungmin nodded.
“I think I got these from a ring,” Sungmin murmured, pointing at three long, deep scratches running from his jawline down to the base of his neck, deciding to tell the partial truth.
“And I skinned my elbow when I fell on the floor,” he said softly, touching the red area on his elbow. “This I got from a shoe,” Sungmin showed a scratch on his stomach. Kyuhyun felt angrier with every scar and scratch that he was seeing. He didn’t understand why. Sungmin could have gotten these from falling in his house. So why was he so suspicious of these injuries?
What Sungmin didn’t realize was that when he pointed out cuts that he had, Kyuhyun also saw others, older injuries. Kyuhyun vowed to find out what happened to his Sungmin. He stopped his hyung in mid sentence and cleaned the cuts and bandaged them.
“Listen, it is three o’clock in the morning. Sleep helps revive you so your body heals faster. I’ll help you,” Kyuhyun said softly, brushing a strand of hair out of Sungmin’s eyes without realizing he was doing it.He’s really cute. I wonder what it would be like to be loved by him?Kyuhyun blushed a faint shade of pink. What am I thinking?!
Sungmin felt extremely loved for some reason. The way that Kyuhyun had brushed the hair off his face made him feel so emotional that it hurt. His heart pounded and he could only stare up at the younger male with a slightly open mouth.
He did not shy away when Kyuhyun unexpectedly put his hand on his hip and helped him to stand. With an arm slung around Kyuhyun’s shoulders, Sungmin let him become his support. He leaned on Kyuhyun comfortably, feeling no more fear at contact with the younger man.
The two of them made it to the office. Sungmin smiled at the familiarity of the place. It felt so much like home. He still had no idea why. The feeling of warmth exploded in him as he was tenderly placed in the bed. The emotion he felt was so overwhelming, it was almost painful.
It had been a long time since he had been affected this way; he no longer recognized the tender love that was being shown to him. Of course, it might have been helpful if Kyuhyun knew he was showing this love to Sungmin. Then he might have made it more obvious.
As a result, neither knew that the emotion flowing between them was, in fact, love and both thought themselves crazy for feeling this way. Even so, Kyuhyun touched Sungmin’s face briefly before standing and tucking Sungmin in gently. Sungmin felt his face burn at Kyuhyun’s touch. He wanted to know why he was so affected by this one person.
“Goodnight, Sungmin. Sleep well,” Kyuhyun whispered. Sungmin looked at him from behind his black bangs and nodded before closing his eyes, his long lashes touching his cheek. Kyuhyun smiled at him before walking out of the room and closing the door.
“Goodnight, Kyuhyun,” Sungmin breathed. He didn’t know about the small smile that spread across his face at the mention of Kyuhyun’s name. Then darkness claimed his world as he fell asleep.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
Kyuhyun stared at the door in a decisive manner before turning and walking into his room. He grabbed a watering can and filled it with water. He walked around his room, watering the plants. This was how Kyuhyun sorted out his thoughts. He would water the flowers and admire their beauty and clear away broken leaves.
He did this now while he thought about the person sleeping in his office. The plants gleamed beautifully in the moonlight. Who was Sungmin exactly? Where did he come from? Why did he feel compelled to help Sungmin and keep him safe from the world? Why was he covered in cuts and bruises? What gave him those injuries?
Kyuhyun didn’t know. He had no idea who Sungmin was exactly and he didn’t know where he came from. He skipped over the third question, something inside of him telling him to save it for later. Kyuhyun frowned as he cleared away some dead leaves of a papaver croceum, an Iceland poppy. The whiteness of the poppy gleamed in the moonlight.
Was Sungmin timid by nature or by force? This question disturbed Kyuhyun the most. From the outside, Sungmin looked timidly cute but also happy. His personality clashed with that. It was almost like he was afraid of everything, Kyuhyun mused.
He moved to the window box filled with lobelia erinus, Lobelias. The pink flowers were getting rather crowded in the box. Kyuhyun made a mental note to go buy another window box. Where he would put it was beyond him but he would find room. He always did.
If Sungmin was timid by force, he would most likely remain that way for life. Kyuhyun could tell that he was someone who could be easily broken if one went about it in the right way. If he was timid by nature it was a different story. Kyuhyun’s skilled hands now cleared the dying buds of his antirrhinum majus, otherwise known as snapdragons.
Kyuhyun stopped tending his flowers, his mind made up. He would do some detective work and discover exactly what was going on with his Sungmin. That decision made, he grabbed the fish food off the night table and walked out on the balcony.
He loved the sound the running water made in the fountain. Kneeling by the fountain’s wide base, he sprinkled in a handful of fish food for his koi fish. He always did this after thinking. It was like the closing of a ceremony.
Walking back inside, he grabbed his laptop and sprawled on his bed. He turned the computer on and waited while everything loaded. He would find out what he could about Sungmin. The rest, he would just ask for. The computer finished loading and Kyuhyun immediately clicked on the internet. He typed ‘Sungmin’ in the search box and immediately got no less than 3 562 results.
Any other person would have given up then and there. But not Kyuhyun. He was good with computers and he patiently clicked on each link. About half an hour later, Kyuhyun stumbled onto something completely by accident.
He had clicked on a link for a toy company picture that was titled “The Three Minnie’s”. A picture had popped up with three men sitting around a table, all of them holding different toys. The caption underneath the picture said, The employees of the month of April are none other than “The Three Minnie’s”, Kim Jaemin, Han Youngmin, and Lee Sungmin. These three have shown outstanding work and are all very kind, extremely happy workers. We here atFuntoys Inc. thank them for being so dedicated.
The picture showed three employees holding toys and grinning widely at the camera. Kyuhyun enlarged the picture and took a close look at them. The first worker was holding an action figure and looked nothing like Sungmin. So Kyuhyun assumed that this was Jaemin.
The second held a train and at first glance was not the one he was looking for. Kyuhyun looked at the last one and found him. Lee Sungmin was holding a stuffed pink bunny and smiling in a carefree manner at the camera.
Kyuhyun stared at the image of Sungmin. He looked so happy here. He was hugging the bunny and making the cutest expression possible. It took all Kyuhyun had not to squeal. How could he not? But the effect of the picture died away when Kyuhyun realized something. Sungmin looked really happy in this picture, a huge contrast to what he was now. So that meant….he wasn’t timid by nature.
He looked at the date. This picture was from three years ago. He scrolled down, hoping to find more information. He found nothing. He scrolled back up to the picture and noticed that Jaemin’s, Youngmin’s and Sungmin’s names were all tagged.
He clicked on Sungmin’s names and a page came up with a picture of him smiling and waving at the camera. His eyes were so full of life and his face was so happy. Kyuhyun smiled at this. He scrolled down and looked at the page.
On June 15th, Lee Sungmin left Funtoys Inc. Our company has lost a great employee and a cheerful worker. We will miss him greatly and hope he enjoys his other endeavours. We shall never forget his love of pink bunnies which caused our rise in the toy industry. Funytoys Inc. will miss his enthusiasm and his love for our company. Thank you Sungmin!
Kyuhyun was glad to know that Sungmin had been well liked. He was also thankful to learn that Sungmin liked pink bunnies. He checked the date of the post and found it to be the same year that the employee of the month picture was taken. He stored the knowledge away in his mind and leaned back.
What happened three years ago that caused him to leave the company? Was there someone involved in this decision? If he loved the company so much, why did he leave to begin with? Sungmin, what happened to you?
Kyuhyun sighed and shut off his laptop. Whatever happened, he wouldn’t find out today. He didn’t have enough information to know what was going on in Sungmin’s life but he would find out. And something told him that he might not like what he would find out.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
“Hankyung, what exactly are you talking about?” Eeteuk questioned. The Chinese man rolled his eyes.
“Listen, we’ve all wanted to know why Sungmin left so abruptly three years ago. So I propose that we do a little detective work and find out exactly why Sungmin left us. We called his parents when he went missing but they had no idea where he went and haven’t heard from him at all,” Hankyung said. Ryeowook looked confused.
“But we have nothing to go on. No evidence, no trail, no lead! How do you expect to find out anything?” The magnae questioned. Heechul flicked Ryeowook’s forehead. Yesung sent a glare Heechul’s way which he ignored.
“He’s going to explain that Ryeowook-sshi!” Heechul said, somewhat irritably. Ryeowook clung to Yesung.
“Actually, Ryeowook, we do have something to go on. Remember how I told you that I ran into him at the wedding venue? Well there was a business party going on there. Some company was having a get together. I don’t remember the name but they’re all accountants or something. The name will be listed in the registry.”
“What does that have to do with Sungmin?” Ryeowook asked.
“He wouldn’t be there if he wasn’t associated with the company in some way,” Hankyung explained. “We can ask them if they know him. Umma also met him at the grocery store.”
“So?”
“So he obviously has someone to feed. There’s someone else in his life. He gave you guys the name of someone he was dating right?”
“His name was Jisong,” Eeteuk said.
“Jisong? Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“They might not be together anymore,” Ryeowook pointed out. Hankyung nodded.
“I’ve taken that into consideration. Even if they’re not, we can find Jisong and ask him what he’s last heard of Sungmin. If he’s still with Sungmin, we can check that they’re fine together.”
“He didn’t look fine. He looked nervous, scared and extremely worn down. What if he has some deadly disease and he left to spare us the pain of losing him?” Eeteuk fretted. Kangin wrapped his arms around Eeteuk’s body.
“We won’t know until we find him. So don’t get worried over nothing,” Kangin said gently. Their umma nodded and snuggled into Kangin.
“Also,” Hankyung continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “Eunhyuk got a call from Sungmin a year after he left. He says that Sungmin sounded rushed and apprehensive. He had to hang up quickly when someone told him to get off the phone. So he’s got someone controlling him.”
There was silence in the room after the passing of this information. Hankyung looked slightly put out as though he expected a huge round of applause for his theories. The others were silent, however, absorbing the information.
“How come he never contacted me?” Was all Yesung could think of saying. This earned him about four different hits on the head.
“That isn’t the point of this discussion. What he have to do now is look up Jisung in the phone book and I’ll check the registry for the company name. If any of you see Sungmin, try and talk to him to get more information. This is the third year that we’ve been without him. That’s three years too many. We’ll get him back to us!” Hankyung cheered.
“What if he isn’t listed in the phone book?” Ryeowook worried. Heechul glared at him.
“Stop being a pessimist, Wookie! We’ll look up the Jisungs and ask if any of them know Sungmin and if they don’t we’ll ask if they know a Jisung who knows a Sungmin!” Heechul snapped.
“And we can always ask the company about Sungmin,” Hankyung added.
“He’s amazing to get all of this information from those little things,” Yesung commented in awe. Ryeowook nodded in agreement. Kangin was trying to calm down an anxious Eeteuk while congratulating Hankyung for his smarts.
“That’s my Hannie!” Heechul stated proudly.
The group set off on their missions. There were only a few minor problems. But a few minor problems usually made one or two major problems.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
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