Sweetheart (Minsung)

16. Missing Evil

Eun's cold hands on his shoulders guide him out the building and into the car. Jisung sits in the passenger seat buckling the seatbelt and looking out the window as his boyfriend does the same and starts up the car. They start to drive in silence, but the questions are inevitable.

"What happened?" The elder asks him, still looking out at the road.

Jisung opens his mouth to speak but closes it when he realizes he doesn't know what to say. He definitely can't tell him that he was saved by the guy they are chasing and shared a cigarette with him. What could he tell him? 

"I was patrolling the deck area upstairs when I walked in a room, and he was there." 

He saved me falling off the banister.

"He held me at gunpoint."

He asked about my injuries.

"He threatened me."

He cared.

"He asked me questions about you, but I didn't answer."

He offered me a cigarette and we smoked together.

"When you contacted me, he took the earpiece and smashed it after speaking to you."

He comforted me when I cried.

"Then you turned up."

He kissed my hand and jumped out the window. 

Jisung finished explaining the story, slowly speaking as he thought over what would be the best lie. He caressed the part of his hand where he was kissed, fondly remembering the fire that ignited on his skin at any touch from Minho.

Eun nodded while listening to the story, thinking about it as the car fell into silence again. The younger cleared his throat.

"Did you find anything?" He asked, glancing at his boyfriend whose hands tightened on the steering wheel.

"No, there were some random documents around, but it was really messy. A second door led to a hallway with more doors that I had to shoot the locks off, but I think they were decoys." Jisung rested his head on his arm against the door.

He couldn't help thinking that it might've been on purpose.

It was weird that the doors that Eun went inside were all locked and useless, and that he happened to stop outside the exact right room when something caught his eye.

They fell back into silence for the rest of the drive, soon pulling up at the house. The elder leaves first, opening the door and disappearing inside as Jisung follows slowly. He steps through the threshold, seeing Eun in the kitchen, making a coffee.

The boy enters as well, now seeing him leaning against the counter, sipping from a hot cup.

"Did you make one for me?" He asked, shuffling tentatively towards the machine. The other looked angry, stuck in his thoughts with a scowl frozen to his face. The man didn't reply, instead taking another drink as Jisung started making his own.

The boy wasn't sure what was up with his boyfriend as it was a sudden switch from caring for him to being cold and ignoring him. While thinking about this he didn't notice that Eun had left and sat on the couch, starting to watch the news.

Jisung sighed, deciding to take residence in his room for now. He padded towards it, closing the room when he entered and carefully placing his cup on the desk. He quickly got changed into a shirt and sweatpants prior to curling up on his bed, cocooned in blankets with his drink.

The old Eun would have found him adorable, even come and joined him to watch their favourite show together.

The old Eun disappeared a long time ago.

The boy started to miss Minho. He craved his warm touch, how the pads of his fingers felt on his skin. He missed the other's gaze, caring and intrigued. He actually cared about him, something so rare from his boyfriend.

Jisung missed his comfort, how he wanted to know the reason for his injuries but wouldn't push for it. He felt grateful that he was saved by him, flustered at the hand on his waist. Eun had never saved him from anything, never even tried.

The boy started to realize his feelings, slowly unpacking how he now looked at his boyfriend with fear and resentment. He had hurt him again and again, but he stayed, because it was all he'd known. But now there was someone else.

Minho made him feel feelings he hadn't in ages. He made him excited, happy, safe. The man was supposed to be his enemy, the villain in there little storybook world. But life isn't a fairytale, and the heroes aren't always as good as everyone thinks they are.

Sometimes, they're more fucked up than the villain.

But nobody would ever believe that. They all wanted to believe in the person who promised great things, who tricked them into seeing a world without the harshness of reality. They were getting tricked and manipulated but didn't care or notice. Jisung was just caught in the middle of this endless tornado of blaming and putting down others, the strongest thinking their right and everyone just going along with it.

The boy smiled fondly, remembering the dead body of his psychiatrist on the news. He had lied to him, tricked him into taking those stupid pills that gave him horrible nightmares. Jisung hated him. But he didn't have to worry about that anymore. It was a weird thing to be happy about, seeing a dead body was never really something he thought would fill him with joy, but here he is.

He put down his mug, having finished it and laid down, wanting to sleep away the reality he had suddenly been slapped in the face with. He didn't know exactly what was happening in his heart, but each passing day his feelings for Eun were slipping.

The empty void in his heart from those feelings were being replaced. Replaced by something new, a fire, ignited by the one he was supposed to hate most. The one he was supposed to hate with all his heart. The one he was supposed to find, to fight, to kill. The one who comforted him, who cared. The one whose touch ignited a fire beneath his skin, who when he caressed his injures it left small fires in its wake. The one who called him sweetheart, a name that made his heart flutter. The one who made him feel happy and safe, something his own boyfriend never did.

The one whose name is Minho.