Not Against You (1/1)

Wen Junhui thought he had a relatively normal life.That is, before he was kidnapped.And now, stuck in the basement of an abandoned office building, bound and gagged, he has a fleeting vision of death.Death by pain and bleeding out.Just that moment, a figure enters, shattering the reverie.“What is your name?” the figure inquires.Junhui cannot stop himself from laughing in scorn.“You kidnapped me,” he says incredulously. “And you don’t know my name?”In fact, the kidnapper does indeed know.He is all too aware.And yet he waits.Finally, the boy grudgingly opens his mouth.“Jun.”It is not the truth, but it is not a lie either.The kidnapper knows it is not his full name, but does not press further.Instead, he loosens the bonds and leaves.Jun is utterly shocked, more so than when he was brought to this place.But of course, there are no escape routes, and the door is locked.What he does not know is that the door is also barred from the outside.---“Why did you do that??” a blond-haired boy bursts out angrily.“We need him!” Another boy, with black hair, kicks a chair out of anger.“He can’t escape,” he says calmly, shedding the beekeeper’s outfit.“Maybe he will,” suggests the black-haired boy.“Shut up, Dokyum,” the blond-haired boy snaps. “Jeonghan, tie him up again and don’t let it happen another time.”“Hoshi,” Jeonghan retorts quietly. “He needs to look presentable.”“Well, then make him look ‘presentable’!” Hoshi snarls.Jeonghan, despite being the senior, simply smiles and turns out of the room.“He forgot the suit,” Dokyum remarks.“Who the fuck cares?” growls Hoshi. “Certainly not me.”---Jun is sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring off into space.He does not stir as Jeonghan enters, but his eyes focus.Jeonghan, staying in the darkness, calls out quietly.“Jun.”Jun stays still.“Jun.”No movement.“Jun.”It is obvious that Jeonghan is not going to move.“Jun.”But Jun is just as stubborn.“Jun.”They stay like that, silent, motionless.Finally, Jeonghan smiles and moves out of the shadows.Jun looks to him and involuntarily sucks in a breath.Jeonghan is young, as young as he himself, with clear, milky skin and silky shoulder-length chestnut hair.He walks closer, and Jun finds himself staring into liquid brown eyes.Soft brown eyes, holding his gaze steadily.“Eyes are the windows to the soul, Junhui,” he says softly.And for some reason, Jun does not mind.“Yes, and so are yours,” he whispers back.Jeonghan smiles, softly, swiftly, and touches his cheek.Swift things are beautiful, and beautiful things are all too often swift.Jun does not pull away.“You are so beautiful, and I am so sorry…”Jun shakes his head, eyes filling with crystal tears.“It was my fault… I wasn’t careful enough. My father warned me.”“Not against us, though,” Jeonghan laughs gently.“Not against…” Jun repeats, so desperately wanting to say those words, oh, so badly.“Not against what?” Jeonghan asks, eyes half-lidded, as if he knows.“Not against, against…” Jun whispers. “Not against you.”There is a silence.Jun lowers his head, only to find a hand on his chin, lifting it.“Not against me, huh?” Jeonghan says tenderly, and Jun sees his eyes smiling.“No.” Jun smiles back, just as softly. “Not against you.”---“What the fuck is he doing?” Hoshi snarls.Dokyum snickers, earning a glare from his elder.“They gonna kiss, Soonyoung be jealous ‘cuz he cain’t do shit ‘bout it!”“Shut the fuck up, Seokmin!!”Dokyum’s face morphs into all seriousness.“Really, what are you going to do?”Hoshi’s eyes are hard chips of ice as he glares at the screen.“Nothing. Not yet.”---Jeonghan makes the days less boring, and Jun even laughs once.He feels guilty and immediately stops.Jeonghan does not know, but he can guess.And he stays silent.Jun’s quiet sniffles shatter the fragile silence, and Jeonghan moves closer to put an arm around him, not bearing to see him cry.“My family…” Jun whimpers, hand over his mouth, trying so desperately not to break.Jeonghan’s heart breaks, because he knows that the family is nothing more but a mere duty.He has seen the mother glare with such hatred.He has seen the father hit with such strength.He has seen the girl sob with such sorrow.And he has watched the boy retreat farther and farther into himself.Because the children of the richest man in town must be disciplined.Wen Junhui…This name, this boy, evokes such feeling in him…“Jun-ah…” he murmurs. “Junhui…”Jun only sobs harder and buries his face in Jeonghan’s shoulder.Jeonghan knows Jun is taller than him, despite being a year younger, but now…He seems so small, the boy who had been weighed down by overwhelming work and harsh words and cruel actions.The humble son of an arrogant businessman.“Shh…” Jeonghan strokes Jun’s hair. “You’ll be alright…”“No!” Jun cries. “No, I won’t!”“Yes,” Jeonghan says. “You will.”“I have a plan.”---All Hoshi can see is the boy crying and Jeonghan’s mouth moving, supposedly comforting him.He curses himself for not stealing a set of cameras that allows audio.“Are you really not going to do anything about it?” Dokyum asks, seemingly disinterested.“I am,” Hoshi replies calmly. “Go get Jisoo.”“Jisoo??” Dokyum chokes on his bread. “What the fuck do you want with him??”“Just go,” Hoshi snaps, and Dokyum goes.Hoshi leans back in his creaking chair, strangely passive.True, he had long been in love with Jeonghan, and still is.True, he had been jealous of this boy, Junhui, and still is.True, he had thought long and hard about this decision.The lady or the tiger? Ah, yes. Now I see what she chose, and why.And indeed, with perfect clarity, he does.---They had spent forever preparing to escape.It was mostly Jeonghan, though, as he had started long before he told Jun, who can only stare.“What will we do?” he asks dumbly, brain refusing to process. “Where will we go?”Jeonghan smiles, and the entire room lights up.“We’ll have to disguise ourselves in a hotel room or something,” he says casually. “Even if it means cutting off our hair.”“But clothes…” Jun protests. “Money…”"That's not a problem. See, we got some skills, Hoshi, DK, and I,” Jeonghan smirks, wiggling his fingers. “Picked it up on the streets.”“…stealing?”“Yes, if you want to survive out there.”Jeonghan’s expression is serious; Jun’s mouth is agape.“Don’t look so shocked,” Jeonghan laughs, reaching over to tap Jun’s chin.“Well, I…” Jun starts, before realizing that he has absolutely nothing to say.Jeonghan dissolves in laughter and kisses Jun on the cheek.Jun blushes furiously, but returns it.On the lips.Far away, Hoshi clenches his fists, locks his jaw, but cannot tear his gaze away from the screen.When Dokyum comes back, he finds the room in chaos, with Hoshi in the center of it all, sobbing agonizingly, uncontrollably.---“Today’s the day,” Jeonghan says heavily. “I’ve disabled the cameras.”Jun nods and stands, a full seven centimeters taller than Jeonghan.“There’s a risk,” he says quietly. Jeonghan does not deny it.“There is always a risk,” he says, and kisses him.But it’s over all too quickly.Jeonghan grabs Jun and runs, dashes out of the room.But Hoshi is there, and so is Dokyum.And one other person.“Jisoo,” Jeonghan hisses, pushing Jun in the opposite direction.“Jeonghan,” Jisoo replies, voice cold.“Get out of here,” Jeonghan snarls, to both Jisoo and Jun.Jisoo does not get a chance to respond, because Jun, despite all his time in the cell, had bowled over the guy, grabbed Jeonghan, and ran.They can hear the three sets of footsteps behind them, chasing.Jisoo, heavy and pounding.Dokyum, light and deliberate.Hoshi, angry and desperate.As they turn a sharp corner, Jeonghan shoves Jun into a nearby utility closet and slams the door.Jun wants to pound on the door, scream to be let out, be there with him, but the others are already there, so he keeps silent.“Yoon Jeonghan,” Hoshi sneers. “Poor, homeless criminal Yoon Jeonghan, who fell in love with the eldest child, the only son, of the richest man in town.”Jun can hear Jeonghan’s soft scoff, but it is drowned out by Dokyum’s pleading.“Jeonghan, please… we’ve been through so much together…”“And he’s only a rich kid. He’ll leave once he gets tired of you.”Jun can picture Jeonghan’s soft smile as he shakes his head.But his voice is not smiling at all.“Kwon Soonyoung, I expected better from you. And you too, Kim Seokmin.”He is interrupted by a quiet cough.“Tell him,” Jisoo says.Silence, tense.“Soonyoung loves you,” Dokyum says in a small voice. “But you... you love…”They all know who Jeonghan loves.Jun closes his eyes in agony.Jeonghan inhales sharply.“Why is Jisoo here??” he demands, anger and pain tinging his voice.Jun can almost see Hoshi’s smug smirk.“Why, don’t you know, Jeonghan?”Footsteps, deliberate and angry, close in.Silence, horrified with realization.“Where is he?!” Hoshi screams horribly. “WHERE IS HE???”Dull thuds, grunts of pain.Jun tries desperately to block out the sounds.But Jeonghan does not waver.“He… went ahead…” he manages. “I made him.”“YOU LIE!!”Crash, bang, gasp.“Tell, me, where, he, is,” Hoshi growls deliberately.Jun is shaking his head, hands over his ears, trembling like a falling leaf in autumn.“Never.”Jun can hear the ironic smile in Jeonghan’s steady voice.Hoshi screams, a shrill screech taken directly from Hell.Gunshots.A slither of clothing on metal.Blood seeps into the closet through the crack at the bottom of the door.Jun is frozen, horrified, unable to move, unable to think.Jeonghan…He refuses to believe it, not until he sees it.It could be Jisoo, it could be Hoshi, it could be Dokyum…No.He can hear Hoshi’s heavy breathing, Dokyum’s quiet crying, Jisoo’s stealthy footsteps.“I know where he is,” Hoshi gulps between breaths.The closet door flies open.Jun had not known he was screaming.Jisoo’s gun faces him.Bang.And he falls.But he does not die.Not yet.Bang, bang.Jisoo is purposely torturing him.Bang.He will bleed to death.Bang, crack.Jisoo steps on his ankle, splintering the fragile bones.Whack, thud, snap.Right broken arm, logic chaos, cannot think.And so on, in a haze of pain, until Jisoo has had enough of this spoiled rich kid who does not know pain and yet sheds not one tear, spares not one sound.The three turn on their heels and leave.At least he can die in peace.Then, abruptly, he sees him.Jeonghan, sprawled in an ocean of red, hair stained with blood, eyes wide open and unseeing.Slightly smiling.Because he thought that Jun would be safe.He thought he had saved him.He had died for him.But now Jun is dying too.Slowly dying.Life draining out, drop by drop.Gush by gush.Trickle by trickle.It was useless.Jeonghan had sacrificed himself for nothing.Jun collapses, unable to hold his ruined body up any longer.But Jeonghan… is still… so… far… away…Jun reaches out, straining through the burning pain, with his fractured left arm.So… close…And delicate fingers entwine with his.Above him, in a halo of warm golden light, smiling softly, is Jeonghan.Jun smiles, linking their fingers tighter.And he lets go.---Hoshi and DK have moved on.Jisoo is gone.No one knows what really happened.Who really killed those two boys.Yoon Jeonghan, an orphan living on the streets.Wen Junhui, the son of the richest man in town.They can guess, but they won’t know.And they cannot know.It is all here.These few words, these few pages.Please, keep it safe, keep it close.The true story of what happened.Kwon Soonyoung and Kim Seokmin.Hong Jisoo.Yoon Jeonghan and Wen Junhui.