Sungmin opened his eyes blearily. It was morning. His arms were deep blues, purples and black. His chest was covered with marks. He looked to the side and noticed that Jiwon’s side was empty. To say that he was elated was a sad understatement.
He tried to get up off the bed and cried out in pain. His backside burned. Sungmin bit his lip and pulled himself up, trying to ignore the throbbing of his body. He felt as though he had just been hit by five boulders.
He made his way slowly into the washroom and turned on the shower. He scrubbed at his body hard, ignoring the ache, trying, just trying to get rid of Jiwon. He felt like the most pathetically disgusting creature. His back, he knew, was lacerated with scratches from Jiwon’s nails.
He stayed underneath until the water turned cold and remained there until the water became ice cold. He still felt unclean. He pulled on fresh clothes and still felt the essence of Jiwon all over him. He walked into the kitchen, cowering slightly and expecting to be hit. Instead, he was met with silence.
He moved father into the kitchen and spotted a note trapped under the fruit bowl. Sungmin walked towards it and picked it up.
Good morning, Sungminnie,
I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up. Business is urgent and of course, I must earn a living for us. I expect the house to be spotless by the time I get home and I want dinner on the table for me. I have not forgotten your punishment. That will come in time. If you didn’t behave in such a fashion, this wouldn’t happen all the time. Remember, this is for your own good. I will be home at 7 tonight. There is a little get together happening after work and you will not be attending because I do not want a repeat of what happened with Jiyong. I love you, Sungmin.
Jiwonnie
Sungmin felt tears drip from his eyes. What had he done this time? He had been punished enough. Sungmin was tired. Even so, he sighed in resignation. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was 9:37. There was time enough for him to do what he needed to.
He cleaned the house as quickly as he could, thankful that it was a one story house. Sungmin debated on dinner, deciding to cook him rice and chicken. After he placed Jiwon’s meal on the table, he walked to the closet and pulled out his jacket.
Sungmin went back into the kitchen and picked up Jiwon’s letter. He ripped the letter into shreds and dumped them onto the floor of Jiwon’s kitchen. He grabbed his shoes and walked out of Jiwon’s house.
He knew where he was going. He walked three blocks, cut through the park and walked across the street. He walked into the grocery store. He felt the pain of last night catch up with him. He started walking through the store, looking for the one person he knew that he could trust.
Just as Sungmin was about to give up, he spotted him stacking bread. Sungmin walked up to him. He had always been quiet but this time he purposely used his silence to his advantage.
“Kyuhyun,” Sungmin whispered. Kyuhyun turned around and his eyes widened in surprise as he gazed at Sungmin.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” Kyuhyun asked, sounding more concerned than anything else. Sungmin opened his mouth to answer but the pain of last night hit him full force. He felt his legs weaken as he slid down beside Kyuhyun and pressed his face to the cold floor. The last thing he remembered was the gentle touch of Kyuhyun’s hands as he picked him up.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
Eunhyuk marched into the room.
“There’s been another Sungmin sighting!” he announced, waving his hand around, trying to attract people’s attention. Donghae, who had been listening to the others recount the search of their friend, looked up quickly.
“By who?” Donghae asked.
“Kibum saw him near Youngmin Park. He talked to him and then Sungmin ran off. He gave Kibum the same answer he gave to everyone else who saw him. He was gone because he was busy,” Eunhyuk said.
“Youngmin Park? What was Kibum doing there?” Yesung asked.
“He was going to his favourite bookstore.”
“And this sighting of Sungmin took place in the park or beside it?”
“Beside it on Kyoungmi Street. Kibum was really surprised to see him there. None of us live in that part of the city and ,” Eunhyuk explained. Hankyung frowned in thought.
“How large is this park?” Heechul asked.
“There are three roads on either side of it. It’s kind of like an island. Toki Crescent and Kyoungmi Street are the three roads. Toki curves around two sides and Kyoungmi is the other side. I guess that means it’s pretty large. It’s a really wealthy part of town,” Eunhyuk said.
“Does that mean Sungmin is really rich?” Ryeowook asked. Everyone turned to look at him.
“Why does he have all the luck? A boyfriend at the largest film company in the world and he lives in the richest part of the city,” Heechul grumbled. “Hannie, why aren’t you like Sungmin?”
“Do you want me to disappear from your life for three years?” Hankyung asked, breaking from his train of thought. Heechul looked horrified at the thought shook his head violently.
“Eunhyuk, did Kibum say if Sungmin looked all right?” Donghae asked. Eeteuk sat up straight and Kangin put a calming hand on his arm.
“He said he looked distracted. But he looked healthy,” Eunhyuk replied.
“My umma senses tell me differently,” Eeteuk whispered to himself.
“Well then, Kibum has just found Sungmin,” Hankyung said. Seven pairs of eyes turned to look at him. Hankyung didn’t notice and lapsed back into thought.
“What do you mean, he just found Sungmin?” Yesung asked, “He onlysaw Sungmin.”
“No, he found him.”
“Could you explain that?” Ryeowook asked.
“Well, he talked to Sungmin on Kyoungmi Street right? There was no reason for him to be there if he didn’t live around the area. Why would you go to the richest part of town unless you lived there? So he either lives on Kyoungmi Street or Toki Crescent. All we have to do it knock on a few doors in the area and ask if a Jiwon and Sungmin live nearby,” Hankyung explained.
“You are brilliant,” Eeteuk exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. Heechul kissed Hankyung full on the mouth and hugged him. Yesung’s mouth dropped into an ‘O’ shape and Ryeowook smiled happily.
“We’ve found our Minnie!” Kangin cheered. He jumped up and did his wavy arm dance. Eeteuk joined him and the rest of them laughed in enjoyment as they watched their ‘umma and appa’ dance around the living room.
“You guys wanna go check now? We have the entire day to go looking! Maybe we can visit with Sungmin for a while,” Ryeowook suggested.
“Okay. I’ll get changed out of my pyjamas and we’ll drive over, okay?” Eeteuk said before running up the stairs.
A few minutes later, they were all in Eeteuk’s car, heading towards Youngmin Park. The mood in the car was great. Yesung and Ryeowook were singing at the top of their lungs. Heechul was yelling at them good naturedly to shut up.
Hankyung was looking pleased at the thought of seeing their long lost friend again and was holding Heechul’s hand excitedly. Eunhyuk and Donghae were tickling and teasing each other. Eeteuk was trying to concentrate on driving but kept getting distracted by Kangin’s cheering.
Eeteuk parked the car on the curb of Kyoungmi Street. The eight of them spilled out of the car and into the bright sunlight.
“Okay, Heechul, Hankyung, Donghae and Eunhyuk, you’re going to check Kyoungmi and Yesung, Ryeowook, Kangin and I will check Toki. We’ll meet back in front of the car after half an hour. Are there any issues?” Eeteuk asked. They all shook their heads. “Let’s find Minnie!”
For the next half hour, the two groups split up and then split up into pairs as they went from house to house on their streets. They all returned to the car, eager to spill their findings.
“Okay, Teukie and I discovered that a couple moved into this area two years ago. The woman who told us didn’t know the address but she said that one of them was extremely cute and the other was handsome,” Kangin said.
“Eunhyuk and I found out that one of them leaves the house often while the other does not. The guy we talked to isn’t sure where they live but he knows that their house is white because they borrowed a paint sprayer from him, saying they wanted to repaint their house and when he got it back, he found traces of white paint on the rim,” Donghae revealed.
“Hannie and I got it out of one old lady that a Chung Jiwon lives half an hour away from the grocery store. She doesn’t know the exact address because she couldn’t find it but she’s certain that they live on Toki because she sends a supply of herbal medicines there,” Heechul stated.
“Wookie and I learned that a Chung Jiwon lives with someone on Toki Crescent! The man says that he talks to Jiwon regularly but rarely ever sees the other one. Apparently there’s a statue of an apple on their porch,” Yesung said excitedly.
“Okay, we’re looking for a white bungalow with an apple statue on the porch on Toki,” Eeteuk summarized. The eight of them set off along Toki Crescent, looking carefully at each house. They walked down the first road and then down the other side, searching for the bungalow.
“Are you sure we haven’t passed it?” Yesung said as they came to the end of the crescent. Kangin shrugged.
“We’ll just have to check harder,” Kangin announced determinedly. They were about to turn around when they heard a voice calling.
“Heechul! Heechul!” They turned around to see a tiny old woman walking quickly towards them.
“Oh hello, Mrs. Jeong. What brings you here?” Heechul asked, his tone perfectly pleasant.
“I found the address! Would you believe it? It was in my cookie tin! I don’t understand how it ended up in such a place. How terribly simple minded of me. I don’t know if it spoiled the cookies but they probably-”
“What is the address, Mrs. Jeong?” Heechul asked politely, cutting the woman off.
“Address? Oh right, well, Chung Jiwon lives at 132 Toki Crescent. Was that of some assistance to you?”
“Yes it was. Thank you very much,” Heechul thanked her and then walked down the street. The rest of them followed.
“138, 136, 134….this one right here,” Heechul pointed.
“No wonder we couldn’t find it. It’s practically covered by trees,” Yesung stated. The eight of them walked up to the front, anticipation tingling through them.
“This is a statue?” Heechul asked incredulously, “It’s as big as my hand.” He held the apple in his palm. Eeteuk ignored him and walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He rang it again and again. No one came to the door.
“I think nobody’s home,” Eunhyuk whispered. Donghae nodded in agreement.
“Of course nobody’s home! It’s Thursday, Jiwon’s going to be at work and we have no idea where Sungmin is but Jiwon probably knows where he works. Come on, we have to get to KP Productions,” Hankyung motioned for the others to follow.
An hour later, they pulled into the parking lot of a tall office building. The eight of them walked up to the glass doors of the building. The minute they walked through, they stopped in their tracks.
White, polished marble with streaks of black made up the walls and a brass fountain stood in the middle of the lobby, lights underneath the water changing the liquid different colours. Polished stone lined the floors which gleamed importantly. They had to tilt their heads back to see the ceiling that was dotted with chandeliers made of tiger’s eye stone.
A staircase of ten steps led towards the elevators. Massive pillars made of rose quartz held up the ceiling. The desk at the front was made up of mahogany and the top was lined with gold plating. The group made their way towards the front desk where a pretty young girl was working.
“Hello, we’ve come to see Chung Jiwon,” Eeteuk said, slightly nervously. The girl smiled at him and nodded.
“His office is number 347 on floor-”
“Why does this place look like a business man’s home?” Heechul demanded.
“This is nothing. The offices are much more luxurious. And according to rumours, President Choi’s estate rivals it all,” the girl answered.
“Yes, well thank you!” Eeteuk pushed the group past the front desk and up the stairs. They got into the elevator which was rather spacious. It gave them a view of the world beneath them as it rose fluidly up.
Yesung was looking at everything in the elevator and was suitably impressed with the quality of the carpet that lined the bottom of the elevator. He was so interested in the interior of the machine that he tripped and nearly snapped the small pot plant that stood in the corner in half. He was saved by Ryeowook who steadied him before he broke the small tree.
“Will you try to act as though you’ve seen this all before?” Heechul asked impatiently.
“It’s not like you have,” Yesung retorted.
“At least I can act rich.”
“And bitchy,” Yesung muttered. Heechul opened his mouth to deliver some choice words but the lift opened and they walked into the hallway. For the second time, they stopped and stared. Jade lamps rested on decorative tables that lined the enormous hallways. The walls were made of a red wood that was embossed with a silver ‘K’ and ‘P’ intertwined and decorated with paintings.
“This is definitely someone’s home,” Donghae said. The group made their way down the hall, looking at the numbers.
“I think we’re on the wrong level. Look, this office says 606,” Eunhyuk pointed at door.
“But this one says 350,” Ryeowook argued.
“I think we’re lost,” Kangin stated. Just then, a door opened and a man walked out.
“Hey, can you tell us where to find office 347?” Eeteuk asked.
“Are you new employees here? I haven’t seen you around before. I’m Jiyong but you can call me G-Dragon,” the man said.
“Kwon Jiyong?” Yesung asked, pushing his way to the front.
“Yes, I’m the Vice President but you can call me G-” Jiyong was cut off.
“I’m Yesung! I talked to you on the phone. These are the others who were with us. We’re Sungmin’s friends!”
“What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to look for Jiwon because he would know where Sungmin works. We’re looking for his office, number 347,” Yesung explained.
“You’re three flights higher than you should be, thanks to Seunghyun’s weird numbering system. But Jiwon’s in a meeting with the treasurer and accountants right now,” Jiyong said, his face falling slightly. Yesung noticed this and wondered why he looked so disappointed.
“Oh, that’s okay. We’ll just leave a note for Sungmin at his house then. Thanks G-Dragon. See you around!” Yesung bid him farewell while the rest of the group waved. Jiyong watched them leave.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
Seunghyun poked his head out of their office door.
“GD? Who was there?” Seunghyun asked. Jiyong turned to look at him.
“Sungmin’s friends,” Jiyong answered quietly. Seunghyun walked out of their office and led Jiyong gently back inside.
“Did you tell them about Sungmin?”
“No, how could I? They would definitely mention something around Jiwon and he would take it out on Sungmin later. I could tell Kyuhyun because he would keep quiet and help Sungmin silently. Do you know how much I wish you could fire that jerk right now?” Jiyong said frustratedly.
“Yes, but you know we can’t do that. He would probably blame Sungmin for his loss. Especially because he thinks you were seduced by Sungmin and probably would assume we remembered that. He doesn’t like his reputation tainted,” Seunghyun sighed.
“That is a fucked up reason for getting angry. Sometimes I think he just makes up reasons so he can feel powerful,” Jiyong responded irritably. Seunghyun sighed.
“I know. But we have to trust Kyuhyun. I know he’ll help Sungmin.”
“Yeah. At least we’ll see him at the party tonight. We can see how he’s doing,” Jiyong smiled happily. Seunghyun grinned back.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
On the doorstep of 132 Toki Crescent, a bouquet of flowers and a card with ‘LEE SUNGMIN’ written on it, lay quietly, left by eight of Sungmin’s friends.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
Sungmin woke up with a cold cloth on his forehead. He blinked and a room filled with plants came into view. He was lying on Kyuhyun’s bed. He turned to see Kyuhyun looking at him anxiously. He smiled slightly.
“Oh good, you’re awake. I was worried there, for a second,” Kyuhyun smiled but it looked forced.
“You shouldn’t worry about me,” Sungmin whispered. His body was still aching slightly.
“I should. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with you,” Kyuhyun replied softly. He reached out and placed his hand on the side of Sungmin’s face. “You scared me so much.”
Sungmin’s face burned where Kyuhyun touched it. Sungmin swore that Kyuhyun could hear his heart beat faster. His skin tingled from Kyuhyun’s touch.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” Sungmin stammered, slightly breathless from what he was feeling.
“Don’t be. You need to be taken care of now. Lie still for a moment, I’ll be back,” Kyuhyun took the cloth off of Sungmin’s forehead. Then, with no reason as to why but wondering why not, Kyuhyun bent down and kissed Sungmin softly on the forehead.
Sungmin felt his heart start beating erratically and swallowed. Kyuhyun smiled at him before he turned and left. Sungmin brought his hand to his forehead. His skin tingle prickled where Kyuhyun had pressed his lips. Unbeknownst to Sungmin, a faint blush was spreading across his cheeks.
Kyuhyun returned and placed the cloth back against Sungmin’s forehead. He accidentally pushed against Sungmin’s arm. Sungmin breathed in sharply. Kyuhyun was surprised by this but his eyes narrowed. He picked up Sungmin’s arm gently and pulled back the sleeve of his jacket. A large, dark purple bruise covered Sungmin’s wrist and part of his forearm.
“Where did you get this?” Kyuhyun asked. Sungmin pulled his arm away and tugged his sleeve down.
“Nowhere,” Sungmin replied quietly. He sat up and turned away from Kyuhyun. He couldn’t let anyone know about this. Jiwon would kill him for tainting his reputation. He remained silent. Kyuhyun pulled his sleeve back.
“You couldn’t have gotten this from nowhere, Sungmin. Where did you get it?”
“I have to go,” Sungmin whispered. He got up and walked out the bedroom door.
“Who gave it to you, Sungmin? Was it Jiwon?” Kyuhyun called from the bedroom. Sungmin turned in shock to see Kyuhyun walking towards him.
“How….how did….how do you know about him?” Sungmin stuttered.Kyuhyun knows. Jiwon is going to kill me for this. Kyuhyun walked towards him and picked something up from a shelf. He stopped in front of Sungmin and held out a small diamond.
“I found this in the collar of your shirt. I wondered what it was doing there and how it got there. When Jiwon came to Seunghyun and Jiyong’s house to pick you up, he placed his hand on your shoulder. He has a lot of rings on his hand. One of those rings was missing a diamond. Like this,” Kyuhyun pointed to the diamond in his palm.
“S-s-so?” Sungmin murmured shakily.
“You said that the three cuts you got on your neck were because of a ring. And this diamond was found in your shirt collar. I can add two and two,” Kyuhyun said, his body shaking in anger. The fury he felt was not because of Sungmin, it was because of Jiwon.
“You can’t prove that,” Sungmin breathed.
“That’s where Jiyong comes in. He told me what was happening to you. And that’s how I know it was because of Jiwon. I hate that this is happening to you, Sungmin. I just hate it,” Kyuhyun threw the diamond from his hand as if the stone contained the essence of Jiwon.
“Jiyong?” Sungmin whispered, his stunned mind trying to remember who Jiyong was. “He told you about this?”
“He wanted someone who could help you get out of the cycle you were in. How long has this been going on?” Kyuhyun asked, placing a hand on Sungmin’s shoulder. Sungmin’s eyes started to shine with tears.
“I…I can’t tell you,” Sungmin finally mumbled.
“Please tell me. Please tell me so I can heal you. I cannot leave this alone. You mean too much to me,” Kyuhyun brushed Sungmin’s hair off of his forehead. Sungmin couldn’t look away from Kyuhyun’s soft, caring eyes. He swallowed.
“I haven’t talked about this to anyone.”
“Let me be the first.”
“I….I trust you,” Sungmin whispered. Kyuhyun felt so happy with those words that he brought Sungmin into a gentle hug. As Sungmin buried his face in Kyuhyun’s shoulder, he let his tears truly fall.
Kyuhyun felt something connect inside of him and he felt his heart ache for Sungmin. Pain washed through him slowly and then vanished. And Kyuhyun understood what happened to him the other night. He released Sungmin who wiped away his tears.
“About three years ago,” Sungmin began, “I met this guy at the bakery, Chung Jiwon. He was really nice to me and I really, really liked him. We started dating a few weeks after that. I never introduced him to my friends, I don’t know why. I never did.
“Four months after we had been dating, he asked me to move in with him. I was living with my friends at that time. Two of them, Heechul and Hankyung, had just left for China and I didn’t want to move in because I knew my ‘umma’, Eeteuk, wouldn’t take losing three of us very well. But he convinced me to sneak out and I agreed.
“Three days after Heechul and Hankyung went to China, I left the house where we were all living. I moved in with him. For a year we lived happily together. I felt like I had made a good choice.
“There was only one incident that didn’t involve me getting hit. We were out together and Jiwon asked someone to get him a drink. It didn’t happen quickly enough and Jiwon immediately beat him up.
“At the time, I thought it was because he was in a bad mood and this guy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now I realize he just wasn’t being quick enough for him. I saw part of his true self that day but didn’t realize it.
“A year after, we moved to the house we’re in now. Things began to go downhill from there. One night he got home drunk. I accidentally knocked over a vase and he hit me for that. I thought it was just because he was drunk and brushed it off. He hit me sometimes afterward but always apologized. Two years after I had left, I called one of my friends to talk. Jiwon caught me and gave me the worst beating I ever had.
“Then he began beating me more often even if he wasn’t drunk. He said it was because he loved me and he didn’t want me to make the same mistake again. And I haven’t so it was good in a way. I was never good enough and I so badly want to be, to make him happy, but it’s never enough. He always punishes me for mistakes.
“He got a job with KP Productions last year and his reputation meant everything to him. If anyone was to find out about anything he did that was wrong, he would take it out on me. So I was careful not to let anything slip. I wanted to be perfect for him. He just hit me more and whenever things got bad, let it out by hurting me. He still does and that’s really how I got this bruise. If I refuse him anything then he hits me. If I do anything wrong, he hits me,” Sungmin trailed off. Kyuhyun swallowed. Jiyong had told him that Sungmin was being abused but hearing it from Sungmin turned it into reality.
“What did you do this time to make him do such a terrible thing to you?” Kyuhyun asked.
“I wouldn’t let him have his way with me,” Sungmin answered. It felt good to let all this out. He felt lighter and for some reason, more attached to Kyuhyun.
“So he beat you for it?”
“He hit me and raped me,” Sungmin answered as if it was a perfectly normal part of every day life. Kyuhyun felt anger burn inside of him. He hated Jiwon. He wanted to murder him for doing this to Sungmin.
He didn’t think twice. He hugged Sungmin tightly, wanting to take away all that Jiwon had made him feel. Sungmin could feel the protectiveness behind the hug. For the first time, he wrapped his arms around Kyuhyun and held him.
“I don’t want you to go back there. Stay, just stay here with me,” Kyuhyun pleaded into the crook of Sungmin’s neck. “I don’t want to see you hurt again. I don’t want you to be hurt again.”
“If I stay, he will find me. And he’ll hurt you too. I don’t want that. He asked me if you knew me and I know he would have attacked you if I had said you did. But I lied for you. I told him I didn’t know you. I want you to be safe, Kyuhyun, even at the expense of myself. I care about you too and I don’t want Jiwon to find you,” Sungmin whispered. “I need to go back to him. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“Sungmin, stay,” Kyuhyun murmured. “I never want to feel you so hurt again.”
“What do you mean?” Sungmin asked, confused. He drew back from Kyuhyun’s embrace and looked at him. Kyuhyun raised his eyes and Sungmin was stunned to see that Kyuhyun was crying. He wiped the younger male’s tears away with his thumb. Then he rose onto his tiptoes and placed a kiss on Kyuhyun’s forehead.
“I mean I can feel you when you break emotionally,” Kyuhyun answered softly.
“What?”
“Last night, when Jiwon raped you, did you feel like breaking? Did you feel completely violated?”
“Yes,” Sungmin answered, not entirely certain where this was going.
“I felt it. I could feel your pain all over my body. It was excruciating. You were so broken and so ravaged that it somehow connected with me and I experienced it too,” Kyuhyun described. Sungmin looked shocked.
“How….how could you feel something like that?” Sungmin swallowed. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. Kyuhyun mumbled something incoherent. “Pardon?”
“Red thread. It’s just a theory so please don’t take it literally.”
“You’re my soulmate?” Sungmin asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. This time, he went to Kyuhyun and wrapped his arms around the younger. He didn’t bother to try and stop his tears. He had finally found someone he could completely trust.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
“Where’s Sungmin?” Jiyong asked, looking around for the younger man. Jiwon smiled and shook his head.
“He wasn’t feeling well so he decided not to join us this evening,” Jiwon said smoothly. Jiyong’s eyes narrowed.
“I see,” he replied and moved off to find Seunghyun.
“What excuse did he give?” Seunghyun asked.
“Apparently, Sungmin is sick. I’m worried Seunghyun. I want to know what Jiwon did.”
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
That night, a card was read and then placed into a safe. A bouquet of flowers was chopped up and thrown into the garbage.
“You will pay for this, Sungmin. You will never know why because you will never know that your friends contacted you.”
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
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