Sungmin loved the atmosphere of the house. It was bright and playful. Yunho and Jaejoong were a quietly loving couple, showing their love through small touches and little gestures. Junsu and Yoochun were a fairly exuberant couple, always laughing and joking around. Changmin and Minwoong were probably the closest non-couple but the most different. In fact, they were polar opposites.
Where Changmin was quiet, reserved and calculating, Minwoong was loud, energetic and smart. He was quick to reply, slow to calm down and most of all, he adored “aw-ing” every possible time that one of the couples interacted with each other. Changmin eventually had to smack him over the head when he kept squealing.
Sungmin didn’t mind though. He enjoyed Minwoong’s presence. He was feeling good until the mail came. He really didn’t want to check it.
“Kyu…before you leave…could you do something for me?” Sungmin asked while Kyuhyun was getting ready to leave for work.
“Anything you want,” Kyuhyun replied.
“Will you check the mail for me?” Sungmin asked, looking down. Kyuhyun immediately understood what he was asking.
“Anything for you, Minnie,” Kyuhyun responded, kissing Sungmin on the forehead. The two of them walked into the front hall where there was mail on the ground. Kyuhyun picked the pile up and began to sift through it all.
There was no black letter. Instead, there was another unmarked envelope. Sungmin held his breath as Kyuhyun opened it and read it, not certain of what to expect. Kyuhyun gave him a confused expression and handed the letter to Sungmin for him to read.
Anticipate attorney habu egg arrived mayo dinosaur echo cactus e.
“I guess we have to hand this off to Minwoong. He’ll decode it,” Sungmin replied, folding the letter. He looked at the ground. Kyuhyun sensed that something was troubling his husband.
“Minnie?”
“Do….do you ever regret marrying me? Because of all the stress I put you through and because of all the people wanting to hurt me? Do you regret-” Sungmin began to ask before he was cut off. Kyuhyun had pulled him into a tight hug and was crushing him to his body.
“How could I possibly regret that? I love you so much, Sungmin. Without you in my life, there is no life for me. Don’t ever think that I would regret marrying you,” Kyuhyun whispered. Sungmin nuzzled into Kyuhyun’s embrace.
“It’s just…with everything happening…I wasn’t sure if you knew what you were getting into,” Sungmin murmured. Kyuhyun laughed dryly.
“I never know what I’m getting into. But I still stay with you. I love you, Sungmin. Don’t you dare think otherwise,” Kyuhyun kissed Sungmin’s lips gently.
“I love you too, Kyu,” Sungmin replied. He felt lonely when Kyuhyun drew away from him. He followed Kyuhyun to the door and smiled as his husband stood in the doorway.
“Take care, Min,” Kyuhyun smiled. Sungmin nodded.
“Same to you.”
The door shut and Sungmin felt more alone than he had before. He made his way into the living room and sat down on one of the sofas. He missed Kyuhyun already. It seemed so empty with out him. Sungmin smiled. He felt like a lovesick teenager. His moment was interrupted by two hands covering his eyes.
“GUESS WHO?!” A voice screamed.
“Minwoong,” Sungmin guessed. The hands were removed and Minwoong plopped onto the sofa beside him.
“How did you guess?” Minwoong asked.
“No one is as loud as you,” Sungmin smiled.
“Is this a letter for me to decode?” Minwoong asked, taking the letter from Sungmin.
“Yeah, it is. Have you managed to crack it?”
“I thought I did but I don’t think there’s such a word as beefiver. I was so close! I’ll have to re-arrange my alphabet again,” Minwoong sighed. “It’s harder than I would have expected.”
“You’ll do fine,” Sungmin smiled reassuringly. Minwoong looked at him.
“You sound sad, Sungmin-hyung. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on. Just tell Minwoong-dongsaeng what the matter is,” Minwoong patted Sungmin’s shoulder.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“That. Is. A. LIE,” Minwoong glared at Sungmin.
“It’s just….Kyuhyun does so much for me and I barely do anything for him. He cares so much and I feel that sometimes he should have someone who doesn’t worry him so much,” Sungmin sighed.
“So you’re questioning his love for you?”
“No, I’m questioning whether or not he should have married me.”
“Well of course he should have!”
“Why?” Sungmin asked.
“Kyuhyun loves you a lot. And it hurts him when you draw away or doubt yourself. He’ll give anything to keep you happy, Sungmin-hyung. He just loves you that much. That’s why I’m so glad I’m protecting you guys. You both belong to each other. It’s like you were made for each other,” Minwoong smiled.
“I know. I love him so much. That’s why I want him to be happy. Not concerned every minute,” Sungmin replied.
“He needs to be. It’s in his nature to be that way. When I see you together it’s like actually seeing love itself. Why do you think I like being around you? I’m drawn to positive emotion. And part of that reason for the pure love radiating from you is because of Kyuhyun’s protective nature. He’s the protector, you’re the protected.”
“I wish I wasn’t so much of a burden to him,” Sungmin answered.
“You aren’t. Trust me. He needs you around. He loves you with such intensity, you can practically hear it. And the way you two look at each other. Honestly, you’re like lovesick teens. It’s ridiculously adorable,” Minwoong poked Sungmin lightly.
“Thanks Minwoong. I needed that,” Sungmin smiled.
“Anytime. Now I have a code to crack. Oh, someone called D-Dragon called and said that he and Seunghyun would be coming for dinner tomorrow. I said it was fine. Is that okay?” Minwoong asked, his large brown eyes looking up innocently at Sungmin. The elder male resisted the urge to go “awww” and hug Minwoong to death.
“You mean G-Dragon? Yeah it’s fine. I’ll just prepare a whole lot of food for them to eat. I’ll get Jaejoong to help me,” Sungmin smiled. Minwoong nodded.
“That’s a good idea. Jaejoong won’t be going anywhere because you aren’t going anywhere. He’d be delighted to help you!” Minwoong grinned before bounding in the direction of the basement stairs.
Sungmin heard a loud “Changminnieeeeeeeee!” as Minwoong slid down the stair banister. Sungmin shook his head and went in search of Jaejoong.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
The next day, Jiyong and Seunghyun came over for dinner and the house was in shambles. Sungmin knew they were screwed the minute he heard Jiyong’s voice ask loudly why the iron gates took so long to open. The reason the house was a mess was because Minwoong wanted to help with the dinner and instead of making cake like he planned, he actually created what he now called a “cake bomb”.
Said cake bomb was a regular looking cake but when dropped, the gelatine inside exploded everywhere. The gelatine stains were extremely hard to get out and thus, Minwoong was banished from the kitchen.
He tried to help Junsu with the cleaning and ended creating a bubble explosion that had Junsu absolutely covered in the bubbly white foam of Minwoong’s creation. Yoochun blatantly refused any help from Minwoong while dusting the dining room.
So when Jiyong and Seunghyun arrived, they found Junsu covered in bubbles, Sungmin and Changmin setting the dinner table, Yoochun trying to clean both Junsu and the kitchen, Jaejoong with little gelatine bits on him, Kyuhyun confused because he got home five minutes before they did and Yunho laughing himself silly. Luckily, all the food had been made beforehand.
Jiyong took an immediate liking to Minwoong who was delighted that he found someone on the same mind length as he was. The rest of them feared for their lives. So when Sungmin sat down to dinner, he made sure that Minwoong had lightweight chopsticks so he wouldn’t accidentally kill anyone.
“So what do you guys do?” Jiyong asked, putting a piece of chicken into his mouth. Minwoong sneakily managed to get a piece of chicken from Jiyong’s plate without his knowing while the question was being asked.
“Well, Yunho and I are what we like to call shadow guards. We follow Kyuhyun and Sungmin whenever they step out of the house. We follow them to make sure that nobody tries to kidnap them, kill them etc. I tail Sungmin and Yunho tracks Kyuhyun,” Jaejoong explained.
“We take the night shift. We watch the security cameras and we keep an eye on everything at night,” Junsu told Jiyong who caught Minwoong stealing his food and was now taking back everything.
“Changminnie and I are the hackers or decoders. I’m decoding the letters that they’re getting and Changmin’s…..doing something that I guess is important,” Minwoong grinned. Changmin took that opportunity to smack him with the chopsticks.
“I’m currently getting more information on the gang that’s doing this and I stop people from trying to hack into our database,” Changmin elaborated. Jiyong nodded.
“So any luck so far with the decoding?” Seunghyun asked, getting Sungmin to pass him the sauce.
“Well, no luck so far. I thought I got it once but beefiver isn’t a word. I have to rearrange the alphabet again. These guys are good but I’ll crack the code eventually!” Minwoong pumped his fist in the air. If he could have, Changmin would have sweatdropped then and there.
“Well at least he isn’t saying ‘Minwoong fighting’ anymore,” Changmin consoled himself. The rest of the dinner passed somewhat uneventfully except when Changmin took a drink of water and spat it out all over the table. Minwoong burst into a fit of laughter. Apparently, Minwoong had dumped salt into his hyung’s drink when no one was looking as punishment for hitting him with the chopsticks.
“That was good,” Jiyong yawned, rubbing his stomach. “We should come visit more often so I don’t have to cook so much.”
“And that would be a blessing,” Seunghyun muttered. Jiyong smacked him on the arm.
“Hey!” Jiyong protested good-naturedly. Seunghyun grinned.
“Come on, Jiyong. Let’s go. We’ll visit again soon,” Seunghyun waved. He guided Jiyong out the door and Minwoong waved at them happily.
“I like them,” the decoder announced as the door shut. Sungmin was about to reply when a huge bang sounded from outside. There was a scream and then a cry for help. Sungmin was about to run outside when Jaejoong stopped him.
“Don’t. It could be one of the gang members. Let me and Yunho go out. If it’s okay we’ll tell you. Come on, Yunho,” Jaejoong motioned for the elder man to come. Sungmin backed away slightly and as the door opened again, he caught sight of a silver handgun in Jaejoong’s coat.
His throat went dry as Jaejoong walked out of the house and Yunho followed him. Kyuhyun came to him and wrapped his arms around Sungmin’s waist in hopes of comforting his husband. There was a moment of silence and Minwoong said nothing for once.
Then the door opened again and Jaejoong rushed in.
“Call an ambulance. Seunghyun’s been shot,” Jaejoong directed. Minwoong rushed for the phone. Sungmin ran outside and looked around. Just beyond the iron gate he could see two figures on the ground. Sungmin rushed towards them. He stopped as he got closer.
Seunghyun was holding his shoulder and red liquid was staining the ground around him. He was lying on the ground, a somewhat calm expression on his face. Jiyong was on his knees beside him, tears streaming down his face and he was holding Seunghyun’s hand.
“What happened?” Sungmin asked as he dropped down beside Jiyong.
“We….we came out of the gates….Seunghyun thought he heard something….there was a loud gunshot……he pushed me out of the way. When I looked up….there was blood everywhere….he was on the ground….” Jiyong’s voice broke. Sungmin couldn’t look at Seunghyun anymore.
“We called an ambulance,” Sungmin whispered. Jiyong didn’t appear to have heard him. He was stroking Seunghyun’s hair and whispering to him softly.
“Seunghyunnie…please don’t leave me. You’re strong, you can make it. Please, do it for me. I can’t do it without you, TOP. Don’t leave me. I love you so goddamn much, TOP. Don’t die on me,” Jiyong cried. Sirens sounded in the distance.
“Put pressure on the injury. The bleeding won’t be as hard,” Sungmin said, feeling tears of his own start. If he wasn’t being targeted by a gang, Seunghyun might not have been shot. If he had told Jiyong and Seunghyun the intentions of the gang, they might have stayed away and Seunghyun wouldn’t have been injured. It was his fault that this had happened.
“The ambulance is here,” a voice said from overhead. Sungmin looked up to see Jaejoong standing over them. Yunho was looking around at the area surrounding them. Sungmin knew he was looking for hints of where they might be hiding and if there were any gang members there now.
Kyuhyun picked Sungmin up gently and carried him into the house, away from Seunghyun being put on a stretcher and Jiyong following him. Sungmin’s body shook as he began to cry. Kyuhyun held him tightly as he sat down on the sofa.
It’s my fault. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. Sungmin sobbed into Kyuhyun’s shirt.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
Seunghyun was fine. The bullet had entered a critical area but the doctors managed to save him. Jiyong was ecstatic. Sungmin was glad but hated himself for being the cause of the injury. Kyuhyun didn’t tell him that Seunghyun flatlined three times. He knew that Sungmin was already blaming himself and he didn’t think that letting Sungmin know Seunghyun died three times was all that helpful.
Yunho discovered tire marks on the road three houses down. By seeing this he discovered that the shooting of Seunghyun was by complete accident. He suspected that they were waiting for Sungmin but got the two of them mixed up. He also reported that a black handgun had been left behind and that it fit the 0.23 calibre bullet that was taken out of Seunghyun’s shoulder.
Jiyong was entirely grateful to Sungmin. According to the doctors, the order of putting pressure on Seunghyun’s shoulder slowed the bleeding and probably saved his life. Seunghyun had to stay in the hospital for a while so the doctors could check that there would be no deadly blood clots that might form.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
A few days after the incident, Eeteuk came to visit them. He noticed that Sungmin was quieter and more timid than before. Kyuhyun told him of what happened and Eeteuk looked extremely grave at the news.
“Shouldn’t you be worried that they know where you live?” Eeteuk asked.
“We thought of that. Jaejoong and Yunho say that we shouldn’t move immediately. That would make them suspicious and they wouldinstantly follow us. We’re going to wait for a while,” Kyuhyun answered. “Sungmin, would you mind getting me a drink?”
“Not at all. Do you want anything umma?” Sungmin asked. Eeteuk shook his head. Sungmin left the room.
“I want to send him away from here, somewhere where he’ll be safe. I’ll stay here to keep the mobsters from finding him,” Kyuhyun told Eeteuk, keeping his voice low.
“Are you sure? They might follow him and then he won’t be safe at all,” Eeteuk pointed out.
“I’ll get Jaejoong and Yunho to go with him. Changmin can go as well, that way he’ll have half of the protection that he had so he’ll be in good hands.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“I’ve been looking for houses in the country. I want him to be somewhere peaceful and quiet.”
“When are you planning to send him there?”
“As soon as I can get a house. I want him to be away from all this.”
“What if he doesn’t want to go?”
“Yeah, what if he doesn’t want to go?” A voice asked. Kyuhyun and Eeteuk turned to see Sungmin standing there, a drink in hand and looking at Kyuhyun.
“Sungmin…” Kyuhyun stood up.
“What if I don’t want to go?” Sungmin asked.
“I want you to be safe. If you stay here your life will be in danger,” Kyuhyun tried to explain.
“Don’t you care for me anymore? Is that why you’re sending me away?!” Sungmin shouted, tears starting to fall from his eyes. Kyuhyun felt as though he had been punched. He could never not feel anything for Sungmin.
“It’s because I care for you so much that I want you to be safe! It hurts me to think about you leaving me but if it’s for your own good I’ll do it because I want you to be alive!” Kyuhyun retorted.
“You’re in just as much danger as I am! I won’t go if you don’t come with me,” Sungmin crossed his arms.
“They aren’t trying their hardest to get me.”
“They will find you and torture you until you tell them where I am or die.”
“Then I’ll die. I will never let them have you.”
“I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE FOR ME! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running away! I’d rather face them with you. I love you too much to let you become vulnerable like this. Either we both go or nobody goes,” Sungmin wiped away his tears. Kyuhyun bit his lip.
“Well, the gang knows where you live so you’re both going to have to move anyways. Why not just wait until you both need to move and leave together?” Eeteuk suggested, not wanting to be in the middle of the Kyumin fight.
“Fine. But promise me that you’ll be careful when you go to the flower shop from now on,” Kyuhyun walked across the room and held Sungmin gently.
“If you promise me to be careful everywhere,” Sungmin answered.
“I promise.”
“I promise too.”
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
That night, under the cover of darkness, an envelope was pushed through the mail slot and it fell softly to the ground.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
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