Stockholm Syndrome (MewGulf AU)

Chapter 12

Tong had just came home from work and was slumping down on his couch, relaxing his own body after continously running around the restaurant taking orders and cleaning tables. He never thought working at a restaurant would tire him out like this but he had no other choice. He had to come back here and find out the truth and clear his name. Even if Mew would never forgive him again he wanted to clear the water at least.

He was about to drift into a deep sleep when he heard a knock at the door. He looked at the time on his phone and frowned. It was almost 10 PM, who could it be at this time of night? He was hesitant to open it at first because he was afraid it was the person who had been following him all this while but if so he wouldn't even care to knock. As the second knock sounded on the door, he got up from the couch and started towards it. When he opened it, he was quite surprised to see the person standing at his doorstep as he wasn't expecting him so soon.

"You came," he blurted. He then peeked his head out and looked cautiously from left to right and left again to make sure no one was there before pulling Gulf in.

"I wasn't expecting you to come this late," Tong said as he closed the door.

"I wasn't either but this better be worth my time," Gulf replied with a cold tone and a tight face. He just wanted to get straight to the point and not for casual chit-chatting and he wasn't going to let his guard down at a stranger's house at this time of night. "You said you wanted to tell me about Type's killer so I came."

Tong nodded and beckoned Gulf to follow him to his living room. He didn't even bother to apologize for his messy house because he knew Gulf could care less. They sat on the couch as Tong pondered over where he should start to tell Gulf.

"How much did you know?" Tong asked, just to get a clear start.

"Not much. Mew just told me that he saw you murdered Type and ran away with it," Gulf replied and Tong couldn't hide his hurtful expression at those words. He could only imagine how horrible the scene must've looked like in Mew's eyes.

"Mew was just there at the wrong place and the wrong time. I didn't mean to run away," Tong replied, closing his eyes as he rubbed his temple, feeling the inevitable disappointment he felt towards himself. "The police came at that time because I think they too heard the gunshot so I had to run away. I had a gun in my hand and a dead body in front of me so I knew they would misunderstood the situation as well."

"The police? But Mew was there, how did he..."

"Yes he was there and he was the one to call them. He has an ally with one of the police officers to keep his name clear from any crime and sometimes for backup," Tong explained. "How do you think he was able to maintain this illegal shit if no police are involved?"

Gulf's face scrunched in confusion. Maybe there was more to Mew that he still didn't know about.

"But he's not what you think he is." Tong reassured Gulf when he saw how his face had changed. "He always keep it clean whenever he does a heist. He will always try not to get any innocent person involved, let alone killed. And he always steal from the bad guys only. The money was never meant to be with them in the first place."

And with those words, Gulf was able to reassure himself again. He was a bit mad at himself to have the slightest doubt towards Mew for a second there.

"All I want you to know is that Type was killed by one of us that night."

"What?"

"We were at this abandoned factory trying to investigate our next heist when I heard a gunshot and followed the sound. That was when I saw a bleeding Type on the ground and the culprit had ran off before I could get to him. I couldn't believe my eyes because Type wasn't even supposed to be there. I pulled him onto my lap but I was too late I guess and the last thing he showed me before his last breath was this mark on my hand," Tong pulled up his sleeve and showed Gulf a small tattoo of the calligraphed 'M' on the inside of his right arm. Gulf moved closer towards Tong to get a better look. "All of us who is under Mew's wings are supposed to have this tattoo but it depends on where you want to embed them. When Type pointed me this, I know he was trying to tell me that whoever had shot him was one of us."

Gulf was silent as he was trying to process the information being fed to him. Yes, he was glad that his instinct was right about Tong being framed as the killer but the truth shocked him to his core. He never thought it was someone from the inside. Thoughts came running through his mind like a bullet train, faces of all the members of Mew's gang flashed through, it almost made him dizzy.

Who could it have been? He thought. And most importantly, why?

"I haven't got enough evidence to proove who it was so that's why I came back here, disguised as a different person to stay low," Tong said breaking Gulf's train of thoughts. "So when I knew you're living with Mew I knew I had to tell you. I need someone from the inside."

"How much have you figured out?"

"Not much. All I knew is thatー"

A knock sounded at the door and both of them turned their heads towards it. Tong frowned as he wasn't expecting anyone else and he had never had anyone over. Both of them went quiet for a long few seconds before the knocking came again.

Gulf looked at Tong. "You expecting someone?" And Tong shook his head as a reply.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tong said under his breath as if the person on the other side of the door could hear him. When no one answered, the person started banging at the door, startling them both. In a swift, Tong grabbed Gulf's hand and pulled him towards his bedroom, ushering Gulf inside.

"Stay here," Tong directed and Gulf nodded vigorously, obeying him like a child. He closed the bedroom door and hurried towards his front door, grabbing a baseball bat on the way. Gulf peeked through the small opening of the door to see who it was.

Tong opened the door to a man in all black with a hoodie pulled over his head, obscuring his face. He tried to close back the door but he barged in and pushed the door back open. The man pulled out a gun and aimed it at Tong but he was quick to swing his bat and knocked the gun off of his hand. Tong swung again aiming for the man's head but he ducked and lunged forward, taking them both to the ground with Tong under him. He pulled out a knife and tried to stab Tong but he grabbed his hand, stopping it. Tong pushed him off with all his strength and sprinted towards the gun but the man grabbed his leg and he fell just a few inches away from it. The man then stabbed his leg and jumped towards the gun, reaching for it. He aimed again at Tong and fired but missed just slightly. Tong pulled the knife off and grabbed his bat, lunging towards the man. He managed to hit his abdomen and he fell but when Tong lunged forward once again and was aiming to hit his head, the man pulled the trigger and it went through his chest.

Gulf was still hiding inside the bedroom as told, covering his mouth with his hands to stop himself from making any sound. His body was shaking uncontrollably, scared to his bones as he could clearly hear the fight that was going on outside and the fired gunshots. Once the last gunshot was heard and everything went quiet, he mustered up his courage to peeked through the door's small opening. He couldn't see anyone as both of them were still sprawled on the ground but when the man in black stood up, his heart dropped to his stomach because it could only meant one thing.

The shot was fired at Tong.

Gulf then saw the man was struggling to pull Tong's body towards the back door. A few moments later he heard the back door closed, car trunks being slammed shut, engine started and the car being driven away. Once he was sure he was safe, he came out of the room tentatively and saw how much of a wreck the house had become into.

"Oh my God," he whispered, still afraid to make any sound. As he walked towards the door to leave he felt his foot stepped on something. He picked it up and saw that it was a shirt button. As he couldn't think straight anymore at that time, he just shoved the button into his pocket and went out of the house, just wanting to go back home, safe and sound.