More Short Stories!- Kai Ships Only

Tyunning- Raising Suspicions

Yesterday.

"TAEHYUN? BABY!" There he was. Limping across the street. His lip was busted. His left eye was swollen shut. He was missing a shoe on the leg that was dragging. His foot appeared broken in several places. Kai ran like hell towards him. "BABY!"

Taehyun collapsed onto the pavement. Total darkness was all he saw. His psyche appreciated the chance to rest itself. An opportunity he hadn't had in over a month.

Kai called for an ambulance while gently holding his head. His boyfriend looked so fragile. "Hello?! Yes-yes? Yes! My boyfriend, Taehyun Kang, has been tortured or something and he's passed out! He's breathing but I think his leg is broken! He has a lot of injuries of his face too!" As Kai grabbed his hand, he noticed all of the scars on his knuckles. "Stay with me! You're going to be okay!"

Medical services arrived to the scene. They gently lifted Taehyun's body onto the stretcher then wheeled him off. Kai wasn't allowed to ride with them. An EMT gave him the address of the hospital. The police wanted to question him first. They brought him to the station and offered a glass of water or a bag of chips. Kai didn't want any of that. He just wanted to go to the hospital.

An officer walked in. He introduced himself as "Officer Choi" but insisted that Kai called him "Soobin". In his hands was a stack of files from what little they had on Taehyun's disappearance.

Kai stared at them and then realized what was happening. "Excuse me? Am I a suspect?"

Officer Soobin politely smiled. "This is just standard procedure. We have to do this with everyone he was close to. We don't believe you did it but we would like to ask you a few questions."

Now he was pissed off. "I told you guys everything I knew a month ago. Isn't that in your file?" The sheer idea of having to do this again, irritated him.

"Remind me. You didn't have a clear alibi last time. We just want to narrow down our search. Perhaps you remembered something you didn't before?"

"Fine. But I'm leaving after! You have no right to detain me!"

"If that's what you want."

Kai stared at the table, trying to remember what happened the day Taehyun went missing. "We just got back from an ice cream date. It was around 7:00. I remember because I wanted to watch my TV show but my boyfriend insisted we do something else."

"And your boyfriend meaning-"

"Taehyun, you idiot."

Soobin wasn't pleased with the name calling as he wrote everything down. "So, after 7:00...?"

"We went onto the rooftop of our apartment building. We people watched and just talked." Kai sunk into his chair. He loved that memory. He remembered laughing with his boyfriend over the dumb shit New Yorkers were doing. Like the kid who cried when he lost his ball, just to watch it get run over by a taxi. Or the couple who were having a very loud argument in the building next door. Their open window ensured the whole block could hear them. "We went inside of our apartment when it got dark."

Soobin scribbled more notes. Kai hated the sound of that pen scratching against the cheap white paper. "And after?"

"We started to watch a movie. I wanted some snacks but we were out of my favorite candies. Taehyun said he could just get some at the corner store down the street. He didn't come back."

The officer compared his notes with the previous version from last month. They matched almost perfectly. It was too perfect. Every word was practically the same in the exact same sequence. They haven't been able to find anything promising. This story was clearly too rehearsed.

Kai announced "I'm leaving now."

To Soobin's disappointment, he let him go.

Today.

Taehyun stirred in the hospital bed as he woke up. He wanted to throw something at the lightswitch. Darkness was all he experienced. The light hurt. He muttered "turn it off..."

Kai lifted his head when he woke up. "What?"

"Turn it off please." Taehyun relaxed when the lights shut off. Someone crawled in next to him. "Baby?"

"It's me!"

"I've missed you so much Kai..." Taehyun snuggled into his arms. The sunlight was hitting his face. It hurt. "Can you face me please?"

Kai flipped over so his back blocked the window. His arm securely held his boyfriend. "I've missed you too. Where have you been baby?"

"I-"

Soobin knocked on the door frame. "May I speak to him alone?"

Taehyun nuzzled his face futher into his chest. "NO!" That voice was all he heard in his nightmares. "I DON'T WANNA FIGHT AGAIN! IT HASN'T BEEN ENOUGH TIME!"

Kai held him tighter. "Shh. I'm here. Listen to my voice." He glared at the officer in the doorway. "We will NOT be talking to you!"

"I'll stop by later then. It's crucial that I speak to him in private. YOU understand that don't you? We both want justice."

Taehyun was grabbing onto Kai's shirt so tightly, the threads were starting to rip. The tension in the room was high. He only relaxed when he heard those heavy footsteps walk away. "Please don't let him talk to me... it was him. I've never forgotten that voice. I'm scared to sleep because of him. He's tortured me!"

"I'm going to request another person on the case okay? I'll hire a private investigator if I need to."

"Don't leave me now!"

Kai kissed the tip of his nose. "Just let me make a call okay?"

Taehyun sadly let go of him. The bed felt cold again. He curled into a ball for warmth. A nurse walked in with a tray of food. It was a cup of chicken noodle soup, a ham sandwich, a carton on milk and some fruit snacks. The sandwich was eaten first. He ripped off a piece of the bread to dip it into the broth. It was delightfully salty. Flavor. Any flavor beyond rat meat and oatmeal was appreciated.

Everything was eaten but the fruit snacks. He giggled like a child when he opened it. His favorites were always the red ones. Cherry, strawberry, raspberry, doesn't matter. He saved all of the yellow ones for Kai. His favorites.

The TV show he was watching was over. It flipped to their next scheduled program. Kai still wasn't back. Taehyun stood up with the yellow fruit snacks in his hand. He limped over to the door and heard his boyfriend talking.

"You're going to fuck this up. You already have. I'm not arguing with you anymore! Get someone else on the case before you ruin this for both of us Soobin! I need to go. I've been gone for too long. He's going to get suspicious."

The fruit snacks dropped to the ground. Taehyun quickly picked them up then limped back over to the bed. There was no way his boyfriend was responsible for what happened to him. Right? He didn't know as he sat in bed. Hell, Taehyun wasn't even sure if he should mention it. Fear gripped him when he saw Kai walk through the door. His boyfriend took his place at his side then wrapped him in his arms. He no longer felt safe. He felt danger.