CRIMINAL // minsung

chapter 32

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"You knew, Han. You knew about Chan, and Hyunjin too." Felix mutters.

It's true, and Han doesn't know how to answer. Felix is leaning against one of the cold counters in the lab, crying still, and the glass of water Han has fetched for him as a desperate attempt at comfort is sitting next to him untouched.

Seungmin is sitting in a lab chair in the corner, analyzing the situation carefully, quietly, as if something could explode if he makes too sudden of a move.
His glasses are sitting atop his head, tangled in his brown hair, which is a sign he hadn't been working too diligently to begin with.
When the other two had come in, he had looked at Han with a million questions filling his puppy-like eyes. Han had just shaken his head as a subtle answer: 'Later, we'll talk later.'

"Why-… why didn't you tell me?" Felix's voice breaks a little as he continues.

Han looks down. "I'm sorry, Felix."

"That's not an answer, Jisung, goddamnit!"
He stands up straight and takes a step towards the other.

"…Sorry."

Felix lets out a frustrated sound that’s somewhere between a hiccupy sob and a sigh, baring his teeth like he's in pain.
Then he closes his eyes and asks:

"…He was there? Hyunjin?"

Han nods. "I'm sorry."
It's like all he can do is keep apologizing.
Like it's is fault, everything that's happened.

"Did he… what did he do?" Felix asks although he looks like he's terrified of an answer.

Han thinks of the time Hyunjin had smashed his head on concrete so hard he passed out and woke up much later in a dark basement. He thinks of the body that had been drilled full of holes on that alley and the screams on the playground when sand was kicked into fresh wounds. 
 
"You don't want to know, Lix."

"Why does everybody keep telling me that?"
Felix replies, still frustrated, tears glistening in his eyes.
"You don't get to keep things from me anymore!" He pushes Han's shoulder and the other falters a step back.
"Just tell me!"

"alright, Lix, that's enough." Seungmin gets up and walks over to Felix to place his hand on his shoulder gently.

Han half expects Felix to push the hand away, but he just lets it sit there. Seungmin does have a weirdly calming aura when he's not rolling his eyes at something or shooting jokes you're not quite sure if you're allowed to laugh at. Felix wipes off a stray tear on the sleeve of his white lab jacket.

"They kill bad people." Han says quietly after a few moments of silence.

"what?"

"Minho, Hyunjin. The two others. They only kill bad people."

Felix lets out a sad, weak laugh.
"So? They're still killers. torturers…"
His voice breaks again and his eyes are teary with the truth.
Seungmin hugs him from the side, a little clumsy, but it's still nice.

Han frowns. "Hyunjin's not… Minho's the crazy one."

He wants to cry as well, but it's not just empathy, or guilt, it's longing too. Freshly engraved in his body, it's a dull ache in his muscles, a hum that travels around in his veins and through his heart sometimes.