N0 B0DY, N0 CRIM3 | Bang Chan

Liability

At some point, after being bandaged by Lee Know, Kiera had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Her body had finally warmed up from the cold. The soft murmuring of Lee Know and Han, the warmth of Felix's hand; it was all comforting.  

She briefly asked about the cop before she fell asleep. Lee Know shrugged off her question and told her that the cop was being a dick. She had been sure there was more to the story, but she didn't bother to ask. She had decided it was better if she didn't know. 

After she fell asleep, Lee Know scooped her up and placed her back into her room. He made Han untuck her blankets and he placed her down gently. He covered her up and left the room with Han. Felix had wanted to stay behind, but Lee Know kicked him out. 

Chan was sure she was going to be fine as long as she took it easy. Lee Know had disinfected the lower half of her legs, applied an antibacterial ointment, wrapped them in gauze, and secured the black elastic bandage around them via safety pins. Her head might hurt for a while, but Chan insisted with some pain relief pills, proper rest, and food, she'd be back to normal. 

Seungmin and I.N had eventually returned from the disposing of the cop car and the cop's body. When Chan asked what they did, Seungmin looked at I.N, and the two of them giggled. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, but eventually dropped the topic. Knowing I.N, he probably blew up the body with one of his homemade fire bombs. 

Seungmin likely spray painted the cop car, switched the wheels with different ones, scratched out the car's identification number, and removed the license plate before dumping it somewhere like a junkyard. Chan trusted that the two of them got it done. 

"Channie?" Felix placed his head on Chan's lap from the floor. 

Chan had his laptop open and was sending out an email to someone. He never took his eyes off the screen. "What is it, Pup?" 

"Can we take Kiera to the Bella-Nova?" 

"Absolutely not." 

"But why?" 

"Because she can stay here." 

"But she's going to be bored!" 

"You don't know that." 

"Yes, I do. It's boring here, Channie. At least, the Bella-Nova has a TV and a good selection of food! I don't have anything to do here and neither does she. Besides, she needs to take a shower," he wrinkled his nose. "She's starting to stink!" 

Chan let out a chuckle. "She can take a shower here. You know that we have one here. Why are you bored? What happened to your Nintendo Switch and your games?" 

"She doesn't have clean clothes here," Felix pointed out. He glanced down at the floor and scratched the back of his neck. "I forgot them back at the Bella-Nova. If we were there, we'd have things to do, and it'd kind of be like home." 

"You're asking an awful lot, don't you think, Pup?" 

"Why is it such a bad thing to want to be nice to her, Channie? I know you have a hard time being nice, but she's been nice to us this whole time." 

"Well..." 

"If she's been an asshole to you, I think you probably deserved it. She's been so nice to me, Channie. When I made her pancakes earlier, we talked and laughed. The two of us had some nice bonding time. I think she deserves some kindness, Channie. Her parents were assholes. Her dad is kind of like how yours was." 

Chan sucked in a deep breath at the mention of his father. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to remember his father. His father had died when he was nineteen. He had spent eight years with his father. Each one was more devastating than the last. 

As Chan grew, so did his father's malicious intentions. He knew his father was an asshole before he murdered his mother. He didn't know how cruel his father could truly be until after his mother was dead. 

After he shot and killed her, he forced Chan to help him dismember his mother. They had dragged her out into the living room and placed her on a dark blue tarp. His father had handed him a bone saw and instructed him on how to saw through her bones. 

When he closed his eyes and thought back to it, he could remember everything. The way the saw vibrated in his hand as he ripped it back and forth across his mother's corpse. The luke-warmth of her blood as it gushed out and spread on the tarp. He could even remember the heavy weight of her limbs as he passed them off to his father. 

No matter how much he cried and begged, his father wouldn't have any of it. He spent the time scoffing and sighing. He spent those few hours telling Chan to grow up and get over it. He insisted that Chan would eventually learn to enjoy it. 

He wasn't sure if his father had been born twisted or if the world had molded him that way. It was the one question that he had never found the answer to. He had learned to do whatever his father asked. Chan had traded his bone marrow for malice. 

The empathy had been sucked out of him. The things his father made him do to destroy it. He shattered his son and didn't care when all that was left behind was a hollow shell of who he once was. No matter what had happened, Chan had promised himself he wouldn't treat anyone the way that his father had treated him. 

"Channie?" Felix poked one of his dimples. "Channie, are you home?" He leaned forward with wide eyes and stared directly into Chan's zoned out face. His forehead pressed up against Chan's and only then did Chan finally blink. 

Felix laughed as he pulled away. He placed his hands on Chan's knees. "So please? Can we please go to the Bella-Nova?" He squeezed his knees slightly and shook them. He pushed his lips out into a pout. 

"Pup," Chan warned. 

Felix placed his chin back on his knees and refused to remove his pout. 

"Fine! Fine! We can go back to the Bella-Nova tomorrow, just stop making that face!" 

"Hooray!" Felix grinned. 

He was finally one step closer to putting his plan into action.