FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Outlaws

In the soft beams of sun her face looks peaceful. So allows his eyes a moment longer to linger, committing each little detail to his memory, her lashes curved up, their shadows dusting her cheeks and her plump lips turned slightly up in corners. He nips away the urge to feel her skin under his fingers for he does not want to wake her up. Some goodbyes are better said in silence.

Suddenly it feels as if they do not have thousand years between them and it is still the crack of dawn back at the palace. A fleeting moment that he holds on to before the reality announces themselves at his door. Her face is still as dear to him, walking away still as hard.

He inhales deep thinking of the day ahead. Yo has turned up with information, a lead if any, as to where they could start looking. His eyes dart towards the clock, heart sinking with the realization that he did not have much time left. Yo had to keep up his act of being disinterested in his situation at the risk of vacating his office - even he could not antagonize Haes out in open.

The search was a ruse to get him ample time to go on his own hunt and back again without the hunt dogs of Hong Ha Jin reporting back to Wook. It took them enough time to realize where his adopted brother found himself a pack of henchmen but now that they were aware, with a basic idea of origins of such loyalties none of them wanted to take any chances.

Ha Jin shifts, gravitating in her sleep towards the traces of warmth still left beside her, where he had been sleeping. He would have liked nothing better than to gather her in his arms and go back to sleep, lulled by her heart beating in sync with his. The mobile vibrates just once against his thigh, half of a ring - but enough to wake him up from his fantasies.

So lets his fingers tangle up in her hair, tracing their way out before getting to his feet heavily. A sense of foreboding pulls him back, but he exhales and carries on, gathering up things he might need on his way. It is until he bumps into Jung and finds his younger brother equally attired.

“What are you up to?” He cannot help but ask, watching him fish out a cap from the debris of left over food cartons on the sofa.

“What do you think?” He has the nerve to lift a brow, before wearing the cap and snatching up his car keys.

“You are not coming with me.” So makes sure that his voice invites no arguments, still Jung ignores him pointedly. Trailing him down the dilapidated stairs. The wooden planks squeak under his careless shoes and So curses under his breath. “Stay back -” he hisses, as they emerge from the mouth of the run-down building blinking dazedly at the sun.

“As if…” Jung mumbles. “Noona would wake up and kill me if I let you go on alone. Just bear with it huh Hyung? It’s not like either of us have a choice.”

“My way of transport doesn’t support sidekicks -” So settles into his last resort. Jung’s knuckles bunch around his keys.

“Well - if you hang around with me more, you’ll realize I know more detours than a rat in the suburb.” Jung shrugs. “Plus knowing our history, I’d be surprised if anyone imagines us to be together.”

The shadows lift as the clouds move, a weather wane somewhere cracks in the wind as So allows the pause to stretch, pondering his words. Jung knows his brother enough to see through the cracks in his resolve, in the half dozen years of no contact only a little has changed about So.

“Where are you planing to go?” He asks just at the right moment, burying his hand in his pocket before crossing his fingers, hoping he would get this chance to make amends.

“Omoni’s welfare shelter.” So replies after a while and Jung heaves the breath he had been holding.

“The orphanage - why would that be?”