ENG - Fractured Fates ʰʸᵘⁿˡᶦˣ

27

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He let go of me, which made me let go of him again. He sighed deeply and sat back down on the coffee table in front of them. „I'll think of something and no one will be killed here until then," he said, and I could only let out a contemptuous snort.
I stood behind the two of them and leaned against the back of the couch. My eyes fell on my best friend, who was sitting opposite me. „And what are you going to do in the meantime until you come up with a brilliant plan?" I asked, annoyed.

I saw him first look at the boys and then back at me. „We'll hardly be able to keep them prisoner here," he said in a serious voice. „I'm sure these idiots have friends and family who will call the cops because they've disappeared."
I put my hands on each of the prisoners' heads and felt them flinch, as if an electric shock went through their bodies. „If we kill them, the cops will be notified too," I said in a cold, empty voice. „So it makes no difference whether they live or die." I saw the way Minho looked at me, and I knew he knew I was right.

Minho stroked his eyes tiredly and the dark circles underneath them were evidence of sleepless nights. A deep sigh escaped his throat as he looked at the two in front of him. Minho's expression was grim as he said, „We'll only kill them if we really can't think of anything else."
I let go of the two of them and stood in front of them. My gaze bored into their wet, desperate eyes. They were still howling, their bodies trembling with fear and despair. The air in the room was stifling as Minho continued, „We'll keep an eye on them until then." His voice was frighteningly calm, almost too calm that even I was almost afraid of him.
But only because I knew him - knew him too well.

„We really won't tell," the black-haired man said, his voice just a breath, a desperate plea. He looked at us, his eyes full of tears and fear. His face was pale and his hands clutched the blond's arm. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead and his breathing was intermittent. „Shut up," I growled in his direction, my voice cold and full of contempt. He fell silent immediately and his lips trembled slightly.
„I'm in absolutely no mood to babysit," I said, annoyed. I dropped onto the couch next to the dark-haired man, as there was still room. He immediately moved further to the left to get away from me. His movements were frantic, almost panicked. „We would have nothing at all to gain from betraying you," the boy next to me continued to whisper, his voice full of desperation and fear.

With a suppressed sigh, I grabbed the back of his neck. My fingers dug into his tender skin as I pulled him closer to me. A pained hiss escaped his lips, but he did not remain silent. „We both don't want to die, so we'd only be killing ourselves with the betrayal, we're more than aware of that," he continued, his voice now little more than a breath.
„Besides," he continued, his tongue running over his dry lips, „we never betrayed you either. We could have called the police at any time, all those nights you came, despite the ban. We both broke the rules, for you, and I..." his voice broke and he swallowed hard, 'I broke them more times than I helped you every time you showed up bleeding and hurt.'
His fingers clawed at his top as he continued to speak, his words dripping with desperation. „I could have called the police, so many times. Even after I took the bullet out of your shoulder, but I didn't."

With every word he uttered, I tightened my grip on his neck. His eyes filled with tears that shone like diamonds as I applied my pressure around his neck with each word he spat out more. „You're like an annoying little mutt who doesn't know when to shut up," I growled, annoyed. With a rough jerk, I let go of him again. He fell slightly to the side and bounced against the blond while his hand went to his neck to rub over it.
He looked at the black-haired man and a deep sigh escaped his chest. „He's right," he said harshly.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and then silence spread. „Chan will have them watched," I finally interjected into the stifling silence as I too began to think about it.
„If you really want to protect those two, they'll have to stick to us like annoying flies so his spies will report it," I continued, my eyes fixed on him the whole time. „And I have absolutely no desire to take them everywhere or accompany them, it would be like having to be in a troublesome relationship."
A contemptuous snort escaped Minho and a grim grin spread across his face. „That's what it is. Let's have a relationship with them. It just has to look that way to Chan," he said, his eyes glittering dangerously.

I just raised an eyebrow skeptically and looked at him like he'd gone completely insane. „We move in with Blondie and Ex-Blondie respectively, that way we can keep an eye on them and we don't have to watch them all the time because they'll be too scared that we'll hurt them," he explained calmly, his voice dangerously soft. „We sneak into their lives, get to know their friends and family. It also gives us leverage and they keep in mind that we know their families and can kill them at any time," he continued, his voice becoming harsher and more aggressive, yet calm.
„Besides, they overheard what happened to their colleague and they know the same thing will happen to them," he finished his statement, his eyes glittering with malice. I snorted contemptuously and waved my hand away. „That's far too much trouble, let's just kill them directly," I grumbled.

The grin on Minho's lips widened and became even more dangerous as he challenged me with his dark, penetrating eyes. „What are you afraid of?" he asked in a voice as soft as poison. „Afraid of falling in love?" I raised my eyebrow even higher and looked at him even more skeptically.
I rolled my eyes and tried to suppress my anger. „That has nothing to do with it, I just don't fancy having to deal with those two and having to watch them all the time," I grumbled.
My fingers clutched at my arm, which I still held crossed in front of my torso as I glared at him angrily. Minho's grin widened, his eyes twinkling with amusement when he saw my skeptical reaction. „Come on, what's so hard about a little relationship simulation? It could be fun," he teased me and raised an eyebrow. „Or are you afraid that you might really fall in love? That you might develop a weakness that Chan could exploit?"

My fingernails dug further and further into my arm as I got angrier and angrier. I knew he was just trying to provoke me, and unfortunately, it was working. This guy was the only one who could provoke me far too easily. „Or are you just scared?" he teased me, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
That was too much. I stood up with a jerk, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up to me. „I'm not afraid of anything, you bastard," I growled, glaring at him angrily. „I'll just play your fucking game," I added, letting go of him again as I ran my hands through my hair in annoyance and looked at the two crying.
„I'll even let you choose between blondie and ex-blondie," Minho said with a grin that grew wider and wider. The black-haired one of the two sighed in annoyance and looked at Minho angrily. „My name is Jisung, damn it, remember that," he growled. „It can't be that hard to get that into your head!"

My best friend burst out laughing gleefully, while I shook my head, completely stunned. Either this guy was so incredibly stupid that he didn't even realize what was going on, or he was actually brave.
Stupid, but brave.
„I'm certainly not going to take that yappy Chihuahua, you can have him," I growled through clenched teeth, my voice dripping with contempt. I cast a disdainful glance at the small, black-haired boy sitting in front of us, his eyes glittering with fear and despair. I added in a gloomy voice: „If I had to put up with that annoying whining every day, he'd be dead by the second day."

A broad, amused grin flitted across his face as he slowly stood up and put his right arm around my shoulders. With his left hand, he began to lightly peck my cheek as if I were a small child. „Well, that settles it then. We'll just move in with them each and add a little more excitement to their boring, monotonous lives," he said in a voice dripping with arrogance and self-confidence.
I then looked at Minho with a cold stare. „I'll give you a month to come up with a solution. If you don't have anything useful by then, I'll shoot them," I threatened him in a voice that brooked no argument. „That's all right, my darling," he said, and his words made me shudder inside.
I felt my anger rise even more and I pushed him away from me with a strong shove, while I eyed him from the side with an angry, hateful look. „Fuck off."

With a laugh, Minho lowered himself onto the couch and put his arm around the shoulders of the dark-haired boy next to him. He pulled him close as if they were good friends. „I hope you can cook, ex-blondie," he said with a slight smirk in his voice.
The boy let out a frustrated sigh and pushed Minho away from him. His eyebrows drew together and his dark eyes sparkled with annoyance. „Jisung," he repeated slowly, emphasizing each letter as if to burn it into Minho's memory. „And yes, I can cook," he added proudly.

„I..." the blonde next to them began quietly, his voice little more than a croak, broken and tearful. He lifted his eyes and looked at all of us once, his gaze lingering on me at the end. His eyes shone with tears. „I don't want anyone to move in with me." His voice was shaky and unsure, as if he was afraid of how we would react.
„And what about you, ex-Blondie?" asked Minho, looking at the boy with his arm still around him. „Don't you want me to move in with you either?" The boy shook his head and looked down. His voice was quiet and resigned, as if he was resigning himself to his fate. „You're not going to kill me like this. So it's all right. Even if what you're doing isn't okay... but that's easier to accept than dying or being tortured."

A slight smirk flitted across my lips as I looked at the boy. He was annoying, but seemed to understand the situation quicker than Felix did. Then I turned directly to the blond, who was still staring at me with his dull, hopeful eyes, as if he was hoping I would take pity on him. „I don't feel like it any more than you do," I said in a harsh, cold voice and looked at Minho, whose grin was frozen in place. „Just keep quiet and I will too."
For the life of me, I didn't understand why he wanted to protect these two meaningless boys. They looked like they were going to burst into tears or shit their pants at any moment. Playing babysitter was a waste of time and unnecessary work that he was asking me to do.

„Just so we're clear: I'm certainly not going to play happy family with him, so don't ask me to do that shit in the first place," I grumbled annoyed and kicked him in the shin to knock the stupid grin off his face. With a quiet „Ouch", he rubbed his leg and gave me a pissed off look.
„Now don't be like that. This change will be funny, maybe we can learn something from the normal people," he said with a laugh, unable to take himself seriously. I raised an eyebrow and gave him a disdainful look before kicking him in the shin again, this time harder and with full force. „What the hell do you want to learn from them? How to lead a boring, pointless life?" I asked him in a voice dripping with contempt and anger.
But he just shrugged his shoulders. „A boring life is relaxing now and again. We don't have to kill people all the time," he grumbled quietly and looked at the two boys who were still sitting next to him, trembling and with tears in their eyes.

I clicked my tongue and turned away from them and just left. Reluctantly, I started packing a bag with some of my clothes, sighing in annoyance at the shit I was doing here. If it wasn't for Minho wanting them to stay alive, they would have died long ago. But no, I couldn't refuse this idiot anything.
I just hoped he knew exactly what he was doing.
When I came back into the living room with my packed bag, I stopped in front of the blond and looked down at him. My eyes glittered with contempt. „Get up," I ordered, my voice rough and cold. „We're leaving."
A brief silence filled the room before Minho broke it. „Oh yes, I'll get the tracking sensors we're going to implant in them," Minho said, causing me to look at him and nod. „Tracking sensors? Like what dogs and cats get?" the annoying boy asked, looking at my best friend in bewilderment. He nodded in confirmation with a simple: „Yep, that's right."

When Felix made no move to get up, I grabbed his arm in annoyance and dragged him upstairs. „I said we're leaving," I repeated sharply, looking at my best friend again. „I really hope you know what you're doing," I growled and pulled the blond behind me through the door, which closed behind us and made a loud noise.

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