Wildfire And Rain

Chapter Thirty-Four

He sees police cars.

He and Soobin rush out of the car, and he runs to the broken front door, tip-toeing around the mess. He hears talking from inside and his gut turns and churns. The house is a complete wreck, from the turned-over and flipped outside down couch to the kitchen. Every cabinet has been emptied and the contents lay on the floor in a messy pile.

The chatter comes from the second floor. Beomgyu races up the stairs only to be pulled back by Soobin. "Let them finish what they are doing," he says. "They should have a warrant. You can't stop them." he tries to be the voice of reason, but Beomgyu is too far gone to listen. He yanks his arm from Soobin's fingers and finds 3 cops going through Kai's room.

The always too neat room turns into something Beomgyu cannot recognize. The always-made bed is now stripped from its sheets and dragged to the very middle of the room revealing the floor underneath it.

There are clothes thrown everywhere, the windows are opened and rain is pouring in. The three cops are huddled over a wooden box on the floor. It's wide open.

"Hey! That's my brother's" Beomgyu yells before he can control his mouth. He does not even know what is in the box but when an officer turns around to look at him, he can see a brown book peeking from the box. he gulps. "Do you have a warrant?"

The officer blinks and pulls something out of his pocket. "Are you Mr. Choi?" he asks and Beomgyu nods. "This is my brother's," he repeats, taking the piece of paper.

"It's the procedure. "The man says. "I know us being here may feel intrusive-"

"May feel?!" Beomgyu discards the warrant on the floor. He huffs. "May feel... "he says quietly. Behind him, Soobin enters the room and puts a supportive hand on his shoulder.

The office truly looks apologetic, but it's his job. "We'll be out of here as soon as we can, you have my word."

"Thanks, that helps a lot." Beomgyu rolls his eyes and grits his teeth. "This is unnecessary, you are barking at the wrong tree," he says. Downstairs, they hear footsteps. Yeonjun calls Beomgyu from the first floor.

He skips the stairs in twos, his makeup is smudged, and he has not gotten the chance to take it off just yet. The outfit he had on also stayed on him; glitter from his makeup adorns the sleeves of his shirt showing his attempts to wipe off his eyeshadow on the way to Beomgyu's house.

He immediately goes to hug his boyfriend. "Hey, what is going on?" he asks in a worried tone. "I saw Soobin's message and-" he stops to breathe. "I came as fast as I could..." he trails off as he notes the situation in hand. His eyes squint and the corners of his mouth tug down in concern mixed with confusion.

A few thoughts then enter his mind but he does not speak them out loud. "How long until you are done?" he stops a police officer who roams the place as if it is his own. He has to physically stop him by standing in front of him for the officer to pay him any attention.

He looks at the three of them as if they are the gum stop to his shoe. "When we are done, we will let you know," he says and walks away holding a big black bag only God knows what they took and stuffed in there.

And Beomgyu can do nothing but look as they invade Kai and his privacy in such a vulgar manner.

...........................

Taehyun is unable to fall asleep. Maybe it's the fact that it's not even midnight, but he sort of thinks it's because he just saw potentially someone he loves get arrested for murder.

Murder.

God, the more he thinks of it the more it makes sense but also doesn't at the very same time. The more he replays those words in his head. The more the words suspect and murder start sounding wrong.

Murder.

Ending of another one's life. That is... can Kai even do that? Can anyone? He knows people can, it is the kind of crime that happens every day. Every hour... maybe. Is it far-fetched to believe Kai contributed to those statistics? If he did, why?

That is the most baffling part. Why would Kai hurt Mr. Harrison let alone kill him? If anything can stray Taehyun from thinking the police could be wrong is having to find a reason for Kai to want to kill Mr. Harrison. Not to offend the dead but Mr. Harrison was a side character in Taehyun's life and he is sure in most of his students' lives.

He is a good, perhaps even brilliant professor but he is not someone Taehyun thinks of too often. Why him? Of all people?

And if Kai did kill Mr. Harrison why did he look surprised when Taehyun told him about the canceled lecture? He seems mad Mr. Harrison did not show up even though he was not going to come to the lecture either way.

Was it all an act? Was Kai really that good of a liar to fake his reaction?

Why did he sound shocked and confused only when the cops told him the reason for his arrest? He looked blank when they took him but his expression changed once they told him Mr. Harrison was dead.

Could it have all been an act?

Those reoccurring thoughts keep Taehyun awake. He still tries to fall asleep but around 2 he realizes it's a lost battle and he sits up in his bed. In the empty room.

He wants to ask Soobin how they are doing but he stops himself. He almost sends him a message anyway but the black golden bullet still sitting on the top of his drawer convinces him not to.

Why?

Why did Kai look taken aback? Why did he react the way that he did? So authentically him but also the most expressive Taehyun had seen him. Like he expected the police to say anything but that.

His saddened eyes never leave Taehyun's mind, it's like the image of the blood trickling and coating his lashes is tattooed on his front lobe. Always there. And then there is the bullet.

A real bullet.

Evidence that Taehyun is most likely hiding from the police. He wonders just how illegal it is if he never tells anyone about it. He won't give the one thing he has of Kai even if it is evidence.

No one has to know.

.........................