nytis
jihoon's throat seized up at the thought.
jeonghan. not jeonghan.
grabbing the handle of the front door, which was already quite heated, he pulled and shook it. to his surprise, the door opened easily and the boy was blasted in the face by a wave of dry heat and smoke from the flames.
it was so unbearably hot. even at the doorway, facing the inside of the shop for too long made jihoon turn his face to the side. the air inside was barely breathable, it was impossible not to take in a lungful of smoke each breath. "jeonghan, jeonghan!" he blinked away the tears from the smoke and staggered inside.
"jeong-" jihoon let out a hard coughed. everything from the tables and chairs to boxes behind the counter was on fire. nothing had fallen yet but jihoon had a feeling it wouldn't be long before something did. he gave behind the counter a half assed look before stumbling out.
it was too hot and suffocating inside. any longer and he would've passed out. from the short amount of time that jihoon spent inside, the good news was that he didn't see jeonghan anywhere. but then again, the chances of him missing the man was quite high due to all the smoke and heat.
as badly as jihoon wanted to dunk himself in a bucket of ice water and stay there unmoving forever, he needed to find water to put out the fire first. he wrung his hands anxiously. it seems like him plans on leaving weren't going to happen any time soon.
"oh, don't bother lee jihoon," a voice from the side snickered. "you won't be able to put out that fire. no one's going to help you. trust me."
"poor jeonghan.. he was really such a talented man.." another voice chimed in.
never noticing people before, jihoon flinched and whipped his head to the direction of the voices. "well, well... jihoon, the boy who escaped from the dungeons. what a pleasant surprise it is meeting you here?" the voice leered.
never in his life has jihoon ever hated a single human being as much as he hated the man standing in front of him. "you.. you're the one who started the fire! a fire like this would never start by accident." he seethed.
dongyun tilted his head to the side and flashed jihoon a charming smile as if there wasn't a building on fire right beside him. "oh no, i would never do such a thing." he said, amusant clear in his words. dojin stood behind the man and nodded along.
"there was someone inside! that someone might be dead now!" jihoon yelled, not wanting to say that jeonghan truly was gone.
smirking at how devastated jihoon was, dongyun laughed, "sometimes accidents happen. it's sad but you have to learn how to move on and accept because what's happened already happened and it's not going to change."
"you have the audacity to call this an accident?!" the boy hissed, taking a step closer. "this was not a fucking accident."
dropping his smile, dongyun leaned down and whispered, "you're right it isn't an accident. we saw that man in there and you know what we did? dojin tied him up and threw him in the back room and that's where we started the fire first. he's long gone now. just a shrivelled up, dried human corpse." dongyun said, emphasizing every word in the last sentence.
"h-he's not. y-you didn't do that." jihoon looked at the building and heard a loud crash as something inside fell over. jeonghan. in the back. now nothing but dried skin and bones. all because he agreed-
"jihoon! don't listen to that walking pile of shit! i'm completely fine. a few singed hairs but- " there was a yelp of pain. dongyun rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.
"messing with you was fun while it lasted," he sighed, "oh well.. you can come out now.."
stunned, jihoon looked around dongyun and spotted a dozen guards standing stiff and emotionless as a board . his eyes flickered over all of them except one. familiar yet a stranger at the same time.
wen junhui stood beside a smiling and handcuffed jeonghan. the bakery didn't matter to jihoon at all anymore. the small building could be rebuilt along with the memories but jeonghan was one of a kind. the man's hair looked a little devilish like someone had been yanking on it but aside from that and the bruise on his face, jeonghan was alive and in one piece.
the guard on the other hand, looked as if he hadn't slept for an entire week. his expressionless face looked haggard and his dull eyes looked at nothing in particular and just stared straight ahead. for once, the man wasn't fidgeting around or slouching. he looked like a professional royal guard but for some reason that made jihoon feel uncomfortable. the look didn't suit junhui.
"i guess you'd better thank wen over there. he was the one who talked me out of leaving your noisy friend in there." dongyun shot junhui a dirty look, "i told you to keep him quiet you incompetent guard."
junhui spoke up for the first time that night, "my deepest apologies, your majesty." that's it. that's all he said. it was almost like junhui turned into a lifeless doll.
"i do suppose keeping him alive will be more beneficial to me..." dongyun dragged his eyes back to jihoon, "now honey, it's time for me to get to work. the real work." he smiled but it was far from kind. "i know that it was mr killer helping you escape. where is he?"
