"Such hypocrites!" (1/1)

“Oi! Whachoo two think yer doin’? A rough, heavily accented voice called out suddenly, breaking the monotony of silence and making the two of them jump in astonishment. It seemed like ages had elapsed since they had heard another human voice apart from each other and in the deathliness of a canal, another human voice was far from expected. Even so, there it was, striking through the silence as clear as water and as human as any of them. The two of them squinted into the darkness, clutching at each other, ready to break into an uncomfortable sprint if it happened to be someone undesirable. But for the life of them, they could barely conceive how another human could land up in the same place as them.           As their tired eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they saw a short, stocky figure emerge from the darkness, walking with long, impatient strides. As he came forward, Taemin grip on his lover’s arms grew tighter, tighter until the white of his veins were visible on his bony fingers while bruises were evident on Minho’s arms. Minho grimly placed Taemin behind him and waited for the other to attack them or worse. They waited with bated breath as the others footsteps became louder, stronger. His dim outline turned clearer and with a sudden movement, almost as though he were a conjurer, the short man materialized in front of Minho, revealing his rugged exterior.            Minho tightened his hold on Taemin who was shivering behind the protection of Minho’s broad shoulders, whether out of fear or cold could not be conceived. Minho raised his free hand threateningly, seemingly warning the short man before him that he wouldn’t hesitate to strike if he was about to begin the conversation with hostility. But the man before them barked out a gruff laugh before saying lightly, “Din’t expect no others humans ’ere. Bit o’ a shock to meself. Naw, ya can put tha’ hand down, Mister; I ain’t ’bout to hit ya or yar pretty boyfrien’ behin’ choo.”             Minho relaxed his grip on Taemin and went a little closer to the stocky man. He noticed a rather handsome face beneath the tired lines of evident loneliness. He took in the lithe stance and the arrogant strut that the man walked with and noticed that although his mannerisms and behaviour seemed to highlight uncouth upbringing, an unmistakable air of refinery clung to the man as closely as did the dirt and grime. Minho supposed this was the result of living in total seclusion for what might seem like an eternity. He sighed mechanically, as he realised the life before him was probably just as dark as the tunnel before them.               Meanwhile, Taemin revelling in the presence of another had struck up a conversation with the man before them. He was a Mr. Kim Jonghyun and had gone into hiding a couple of months ago.“Me case was jus’ like yars,” He nodded vigorously, “’Scept I din’t have no one to come with me down ‘ere. Ya’ll are lucky ta have each other. ‘Tis hell down ’ere when yar ’lone. Hell, I tell ya.” He said darkly, while picking out remains of leftover food from his teeth. Minho seemed a little revolted by his sight, possibly because he recognised that this was probably the life in store for them. Minho swallowed hard and asked Jonghyun, “What did you do that made them come after you?”“Me did the cop’s son, yessir, the cop’s ’nly kid.” Jonghyun said, grinning reminiscently, “’Onestly, he wa’ so feminine, I thought I wer doin’ a gal. Pity tha’ argument din’t work on no cop.” There was an animalistic kind of pain in the way he was talking. Although he grinned and spoke as roughly and as nonchalantly as he could, somehow, Taemin and Minho could see through his facade. For a facade it was; he was pining away for humanity, for pity, for kindness and Minho realised that in a few months perhaps they would be pining away too.“H-how did you survive here? Haven’t you been outside?” Minho asked suddenly.“Naw sir, the firs’ few days wer’ torture, I tell ya, torture! I had nothin’ ta eat, nothin’ ta drin’. I had no nothin’! Aye, it was bad, tha’ days was.” Jonghyun nodded seriously, even as a spasm of pain crossed his marred features. “Me went out at nigh’ sometime, tried ta steal some bread off a pore soul. But, me survived! Yer goin’ ta too. Dontcha worry, it ain’t so bad after awhile.”        There was something pathetic in the way he spoke, it was so poignant. He spoke with the ready bravado of a victorious soldier, but beneath the external nonchalance, he was a mere animal, a hunted poor animal suffering terribly at the hands of the cruelty of humanity. Taemin shuddered, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why homosexuality should attract an existence so miserable. Was it really all that huge a crime? It made him want to scream out suddenly; against all those level-headed, sensible people who could not tolerate love. He wished he could enter their minds and make them look at things from a different perspective; show them that it wasn’t wrong to do as they had done; show them that they weren’t committing a crime. They were merely in love; love.“Have you always spoken like that?” Taemin asked suddenly, looking on at Jonghyun with a childlike interest.             Jonghyun shook his head and laughed. He cleared his throat and then spoke in clearest manner one could ever imagine. “No, my man, I haven’t. Living in the midst of rats doesn’t really entertain you much, so I had to convince myself of my beggary to amuse my idle mind.” He enunciated each word perfectly, his accent was exquisite. His words were gentle, soft and none of that ruggedness it held before was visible. There was a soft sophistication in his voice, pride too. He spoke with the tongue of a man accustomed to class, conferences and humanity. And despite the torn, ragged clothes and the griminess of the man, a thorough gentleman looked Taemin and Minho straight in the eye.“What were you before you had to come down here?” Minho asked with a sudden show of curiosity.“I don’t sound too poorly now do I?” He asked with a sudden, strange sad smile, “I was the son of perhaps the largest hypocrite in the world; Kim Jungmin. Heard of him?”“The one who heads that multinational company?” Taemin couldn’t keep the astonishment out of his quivering voice. Everything seemed to be explained just then; how Jonghyun’s bearing had that slight aristocracy to it, how he seemed upright even clad in a ragged pair of jeans and a torn shirt.“You’ve heard of him, I see.” The sad smile played around his bleeding lips and he continued, “I was his son, until he disowned me and handed me over to the cops for giving into my craving and sexuality. Oh, that bastard gave me over with such quickness, I’d think he was almost happy to let me rot in a jail or perhaps even be hanged. I remember still how my mother begged and pleaded with him to let me be. She was such a sweet creature, my mother was. She didn’t deserve to be saddled with man as cruel as my father. But, I shouldn’t dwell on past bitterness, should I? To cut a long story short, I managed a roaring escape from that fat filth of the police force and managed a neat escape, not unlike yours. Am I right in assuming you two are on the run from the police too?”            Taemin nodded, while Minho came forward and clasped Taemin’s hand tightly in his own. “Our neighbour found us out.” Minho said suddenly in a low tone, “It’s funny how everyone you thought liked you and would try to shield you, turn out to be just the opposite when confronted with the fear of law and constabulary.“Such hypocrites!” Taemin spat out suddenly, an almost ugly, wrathful expression came over his otherwise beautiful features. It contorted his beauty and made his almost horrifying for a moment. But that was just how he felt. His anger, his indignation was bottled up within him and it seemed so wrong that they had to be hunted like animals. It seemed cruel that one human could turn against the other so quickly with not a moment’s hesitation. It’s true sometimes, that no one really is yours in this world. However close they may be to you, in the end, it’s yourself you have to look out for. No one else will. Sometimes, being selfish is the only way to survive.       “Funny how life turns out, eh?” Jonghyun mused out loud, chewing over his words as though trying to feed his empty stomach. “When I was young, I always thought I’d take over the business from my Father and perhaps be known worldwide. My dreams were always filled with parties, yachts, women, conferences, business dealings; instead I wound up in a canal, with rats to party with and insects to deal with. It’s only then that you begin doubting and hating yourself, you know. You begin kicking yourself for having done what you had done; for perhaps giving in to homosexuality. Even if I firmly know that I have done nothing wrong in showing the true side of me to the world, when you live alone with only your deranged thoughts for a year or two, you begin hating yourself and wondering if it really was worth it. I’ve experienced it all. But I’ve come out of it. So don’t you two ever give into your doubts.”         A sort of strained silence met this almost heroic, pathetic speech of this sought after criminal. It had the sort of bravery only a soldier wounded in battle could have, it had the air of a person who had lived and seen the world as the cold, dark place it was. The words seem to bounce off the slimy walls and echo in the ears of the two boys standing close together. It seemed like a harsh glimpse of the life they had to expect in the months that followed. “You should know that you’re right and someday the world will see it and we’ll be heroes, I tell you. Heroes!” Jonghyun said suddenly with a fierce determination blazing in his eyes.But somehow, Minho couldn’t help asking, “That’s only if we survive till that day, right?”__________________________________________________________________________Thank you all so much for subbing. I expect everyone's forgotten about this story, eh? But I still hold this story really dear to my heart so if you do read, let me know what you think about it okay?