take my hand, don't ever let go

Kang Younghyun has spent a lot of his life alone.

He’s even alone right now, trailing the tips of his fingers along the wall as he walks slowly down the hallway. It’s cool to the touch, his fingers catching on the ridges of the exposed stone. November was almost over, and the cold depths of winter would be upon them soon. He’s not bundled up for the weather at the moment though; he’s in a suit, all dressed up as someone important would be visiting them for dinner.

“Make sure you all look your best,” his mother had said that morning to her five children. They were barely children anymore though, his oldest brother having just turned twenty-seven, soon to be married to the daughter of a billionaire, and his youngest sister, in her final year of high-school at seventeen. And then there was Younghyun, the middle child, twenty-one years old. He frowns as he continues walking. Was twenty-one considered old? In a lot of the books he’d read, people much younger than him had done a lot more with their lives. But most of that was just fiction. Although, Younghyun isn’t really sure how accurate all that is to the real world.

Mrs. Lee, the head housemaid, comes towards him then from around the corner. “The Governor will be here shortly, dear, you should head down to the parlour.”

Younghyun nods. When he reaches the parlour, his siblings are all there, already standing in a row as their mother inspects them one by one to make sure they look presentable. She fixes stray hairs and smiles at each of them one by one. When she reaches Younghyun, all she says is, “You’re late,” before turning away to adjust their father’s tie. Younghyun isn’t bothered though. This is just a regular evening in the Kang household.

The doorbell rings. Younghyun watches as Mr. Kim, the butler, opens it to a tall man who looks to be in his late fifties, with graying hair and piercing eyes. Mr. Kim takes his coat and walks the man into the parlour.

“Welcome, Governor Seo,” Younghyun’s father says with a bow, the rest of the family following suit and bowing deeply.

“Ah, Jinsang, it’s been too long.” Governor Seo shakes his hand firmly, and then he turns to look at the rest of the family, his eyes trailing over them one by one, until he reaches Younghyun. He stares, and Younghyun stares back. This isn’t anything new, being the only hybrid in a seven-member family definitely makes him stand out. But a few seconds pass, and the Governor doesn’t look away, making Younghyun squirm uncomfortably. Younghyun tries giving a small smile, but the man doesn’t return it. He seems to be deep in thought, his eyes trailing over Younghyun from head to toe.

The Governor finally looks away when Jinsang starts introducing his family. His beautiful wife, his handsome eldest son, his lovely eldest daughter, his fourth child, with the highest GPA in his college, his youngest child, on her way to becoming a politician in the making, and finally, Younghyun.

No description required, just Younghyun.

The Governor smiles. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Sunhee,” he says to Younghyun’s mother. He kisses the back of her hand, and then proceeds to go down the line, shaking all of his sibling’s hands. Younghyun notices a tattoo on the back of his hand that looks like a compass.

As the Governor draws nearer, Younghyun fixes a smile on his face. People like it when you smile, dear, his mother would say. And Younghyun would rather please people than not. He’s learned that the hard way.

The Governor reaches Younghyun and shakes his hand, but his fingers are icy cold. Younghyun flinches in surprise and has to force himself to continue smiling. Governor Seo returns the smile, but there’s no warmth in it. His smile is just as cold as his hands.

+++

When Younghyun was a child, he realized he looked different from his siblings pretty early on. It’s obvious, even to a 5-year-old, when you’re the only one with an extra limb attached to your back and an extra pair of ears sticking out of your head. However, the difference between Younghyun and his siblings didn’t end there.

When it came time for Younghyun to start going to school, his parents hired him a tutor to home school him. Younghyun had cried, why couldn’t he go to school with his siblings?

His parents had said, “The world doesn’t treat hybrids kindly, you will be safer at home.” So, for fear of getting hurt in the outside world, Younghyun was kept in an inside one.

He still got hurt regardless.

Younghyun got into trouble easily as a child, but not because of his own doing. Anything his siblings did inevitably got blamed on him. Once, his older brother had pushed Younghyun while they were on a walk in the garden, right in front of their parents. He skinned his knee on the walkway, but all his father had said was, “You should be more careful, Younghyun.”

Then they had all walked away.

A few months later, his older sister was working on an oil painting and had thought it would be a good idea to give Younghyun some new colours in his tail. It had dried into his fur, blue and green clumps in his usually smooth red tail. Younghyun had tried for ages to scrub it out in the shower, his vision blurred by the stream of water and his own tears, but it was hardened to a rock.

The next day his mother said, “All you have is your beauty, and yet you go and ruin that too.” He got sent to his room for the evening as punishment.

Mrs. Lee took pity on Younghyun, and came to his room with a bottle of olive oil and a comb. She soaked the hardened paint in the oil until it softened, and combed it out gently until his tail was paint free. She had patted his tears dry that day, and would do it again many more times in the years to come.

Broken vases. Lost jewellery. Food spilled on expensive clothing. Everything became Younghyun’s fault. Even if his parents weren’t there to witness it, his siblings blamed it all on him. They were just children following the example set by their parents, after all.

Younghyun learned to stay quiet after that, tried to make as little of an impact. He would spend hours in his room alone reading books he borrowed from his father’s library. Reading fascinated him. He could be transported into a different world with just some words on paper. But despite all the possibilities and fantastical places, books set in the real-world intrigued him the most. All he’s ever known is the estate, and despite the sprawling land and forest surrounding it, the only people within its boundaries are his family and the house staff.

So, he learned to like being alone.

Younghyun soaked up all the knowledge he could about the world outside. He read every book in his father’s library over the years, non-fiction and fiction alike. While his siblings were at school, he asked his tutors questions about what the world was like, and they answered easily, happy to have a student who was eager to learn. When his siblings came home from school, he would sit in the midst of them silently with a book, but instead of focusing on the words on the page, he listened to them chat about school. Their friends, their classes, their teachers—it was all interesting to him.

But he would never get to experience it for himself.

Younghyun concludes that this must be what life is like for all hybrids like him.

+++

They’re just finishing up dinner, the maids taking away the empty plates, when Governor Seo leans in to talk to Younghyun’s father. He had taken the seat directly across from Younghyun, and Younghyun felt the Governor’s eyes on him throughout the entire evening. He was uncomfortable with the attention; all he wants to do is run up and hide in his room. But Younghyun can see that everyone is doing their best to make a good impression on the Governor. This man must be a lot more important to his family than the other important people they’ve had as guests in the past. So, to please everyone and to avoid getting in trouble, Younghyun acts like nothing is wrong.

“The fox hybrid grew up well,” Governor Seo says to his father. Younghyun looks up in surprise at the mention of himself and meets the Governor’s gaze

Younghyun’s father hums. “Yes, he has.” He glances at the Governor staring intently at Younghyun. “Do you want something from him?” he asks.

The Governor turns to face the other man, raising his eyebrows, a smirk toying at his lips.

Younghyun’s father shrugs. “Go ahead,” he says.

Younghyun glances between the two men in confusion.

“Everyone, dinner is over, feel free to head back to your rooms,” his mother says abruptly, clapping her hands. Mrs. Lee takes away the remaining food platters from the table, her shoulders tense. Younghyun’s siblings all get up, the older ones glancing at him before they leave, the younger ones not sensing anything wrong. Younghyun slowly gets to his feet too, fear and confusion starting to take over him.

His mother comes around the table to him and grips his chin tightly, forcing him to look at her. “Be a good boy,” she says. There’s a fierceness in her eyes he’s never seen before. Younghyun just nods mutely in response, his heart in his throat.

Governor Seo beckons him over, and Younghyun glances at his father who gives him a nod. Younghyun follows him down the hallways, his heart speeding up, scared to be alone with this strange man. When the Governor leads him up the stairs and turns the hall to where the guest bedrooms are, fear grips Younghyun’s heart as he finally gets an inkling of what’s happening.

He turns abruptly and tries to run, but Governor Seo grabs his arm tight. “You want to be a good boy for your parents, don’t you?” he says, dragging Younghyun down the hall. Younghyun plants his feet into the floor, trying to pull his arm away with all his might, but the Governor’s grip just tightens. He grabs Younghyun’s tail with his other hand, yanking hard, and Younghyun gasps. Tears prick his eyes at the sudden pain, and his body freezes up. He loses whatever momentum he had been gaining. Governor Seo jerks him forward down the hallway at a rapid pace.

“Resistance is futile, pretty fox,” Governor Seo says with a grin, shoving Younghyun into the room. He locks the door behind him. “Sit,” he commands, but Younghyun remains standing as Governor Seo toes off his shoes.

Younghyun’s eyes flick around the room, searching for an escape. The Governor is standing in front of the door, effectively blocking it. The windows in this room are small, but he knows they’re easy to open, as with all the windows in the house. He lunges towards them, but Governor Seo seems to be expecting it. He grabs Younghyun easily, pinning his arms to his sides and pushing him against the wall. “Not so fast little one,” he says.

With the sudden closeness, Younghyun smells the alcohol on the Governor’s breath. He feels sick. He squirms, trying to get to the window, but without his arms free there’s not much he can do. He tries to stomp down on the Governor’s foot with his shoe, but he misses. A helpless sob escapes his lips.

“Don’t cry,” he says, “At least not yet. We haven’t even reached the good part.” Tears blur Younghyun’s vision.

Then, there’s a knock at the door. The Governor stills, slapping a hand over Younghyun’s mouth and squeezing his nose closed with his thumb and forefinger so he can’t make a sound.

Younghyun can’t breathe.

“Do you need anything for the night, sir?” A female voice asks. Younghyun recognizes it to be Mrs. Lee. He tries to make a sound, anything, to let her know that he’s in here, but the Governor’s hand just tightens on his face, pushing his head more firmly into the wall.

Governor Seo takes his sweet time in replying, “No, thank you.” He smiles as he stares into Younghyun’s wide eyes, “I’m fine.”

There’s a pause. “Very well, sir.” Her footsteps can be heard receding down the hallway, but Governor Seo doesn’t move. Younghyun starts to thrash, panic filling every part of his being. His lungs are burning, he needs to breathe.

Governor Seo just watches Younghyun coolly before withdrawing his hand. Younghyun draws in a deep breath, relief filling him. He chokes on his saliva and starts coughing loudly, but the Governor ignores it, pushing Younghyun down onto the bed.

“You’re lucky I like a little fight,” he says, while Younghyun lies gasping for breath.

Younghyun feels drained. The world is spinning around him. Or is he the one spinning? He can’t tell.

He tries to focus on breathing.

Then there’s another knock at the door.

“What now?!” Governor Seo yells loudly. Younghyun winces, lifting his hands to try and cover his ears. He doesn’t make it all the way though, his hands dropping to the bed halfway.

The edges of his vision are starting to go black.

“Sorry for disturbing you, sir. I brought you some whisky, as I was told you would enjoy some,” comes a man’s voice this time.

Younghyun knows the voice but he feels like his brain is wading through mud. He can’t place it for the life of him, but he notes with relief that Governor Seo isn’t standing over him anymore.

His eyes flutter shut.

Younghyun hears the door being opened, and then, a crash of glass. He sits up in surprise and the world spins with renewed vigour due to the sudden change of position.

Younghyun clutches his head as he turns to try and place the source of the noise. There’s a whisky bottle and drinking glasses smashed on the floor. Mr. Kim, the butler, is standing in the doorway apologizing profusely. He makes eye contact with Younghyun. “Run,” he mouths.

Younghyun blinks back at him. Did he say run? Fear clutches at his heart, making him freeze.

The Governor is wiping at his pants where the whisky splashed onto him and he steps back, accidentally stepping on a large shard of glass. He swears loudly, stumbling back to the recliner in the corner to try and pull the glass from his foot. Mr. Kim is now crouched over the mess, trying to clean it up, but he has his eyes on Younghyun. He jerks his head to the door and Younghyun is finally spurred into action, adrenaline taking over.

He stands and runs to the door, fighting the dizziness. Governor Seo gets up with a cry to come after him, but he hasn’t removed the glass from his foot yet so it digs in deeper. He lets out a cry of pain, falling back into the chair. Younghyun thanks the heavens that he’s still wearing his shoes as he runs over the shards of glass, past Mr. Kim, and down the hall.

As he turns the corner to run down the staircase, vertigo hits him and he nearly slides down the entire flight, but he catches himself on the railing, breathing hard. He runs down the stairs as fast he dares, gripping tightly onto the railing so he doesn’t fall. He manages to make it down safely and run to the front door.

Mrs. Lee is standing at the entrance with his winter coat in her hands. “Here,” she says as she hands it to him, wrapping a scarf around his neck. “Don’t look back,” she whispers.

Younghyun nods and throws his arms around her in a tight hug. She hugs him back and Younghyun can feel her shoulders shake as she cries. The Governor bellows Younghyun’s name from upstairs, and they pull apart abruptly. “Go!” she whispers, yanking the door open and pushing Younghyun out.

He hears the lock click in finality after she shuts the door in his face.

+++

Younghyun feels like he’s been running for hours before he starts slowing down, the adrenaline finally wearing off and reality kicking in. He was running away from his home, the only place he’d ever known. He’s never even been outside the estate, let alone tried to survive on his own. But he can’t go back. Ever. Punishment would surely face him for disrespecting someone his parents wanted to please.

Tears prick his eyes at the thought of his parents. They had given him over to the Governor, almost eagerly, and for what? Political power? Money? The tears escape his eyes and he wipes them away angrily.

Had his entire life been a lie? As lonely as he has felt until now, as poorly as his family had ever treated him, he had always believed that they were just protecting him out of love. But what nearly happened today, no one would ever let that happen to someone they loved. Would they?

Had they ever loved him? Younghyun trips on a branch then, falling to his knees. He puts his face in his hands and cries, the frost on the ground melting and soaking into his pants, the wind howling around him. He stays like that for a while, until it gets too cold for him to bear. Younghyun doesn’t have the energy to go any further tonight.

He crawls along the ground until he reaches a large tree, collapsing in the hollow created by its roots. It feels even colder now, as it usually gets in the depths of night, his breath coming out in puffs of white. Younghyun yanks the hood of his coat firmly over his head, pulling his arms from the sleeves and into the body of the coat for warmth. He closes his eyes.

+++

Younghyun has been walking, following the path of a stream the entire day. Now, darkness surrounds him once again. His stomach has been growling incessantly for a while, but he’s not sure where he can find food in the middle of a forest. Would he have to kill a bird and cook it? That’s what the protagonist in an adventure novel would do. Younghyun debates this as he walks, jamming his hands more tightly into his pockets. The only sounds are his own breathing and the crunch of twigs and dead leaves beneath his feet.

He pauses for a second as another sound catches his ears. He frowns, throwing his hood off to be able to hear better, turning his fox ears in every direction.

Younghyun hears it again. The sound of cars driving past. Hope fills his chest; he must be near a road. But his little hope is quickly replaced by fear. Cars must also mean that he’s near other people.

The world doesn’t treat hybrids kindly.

He has the choice to either follow the sounds in search of food and someplace warm to sleep, and risk being caught, or stay out here, try to catch something to eat, and possibly die of hypothermia.

Younghyun squares his shoulders and starts walking in the direction of the sound of cars. If he keeps his coat on, no one will even be able to tell he’s a hybrid with his tail and ears tucked safely inside. Find food, find shelter. He repeats it to himself like a mantra, urging his tired body forwards, even though everything he’s ever known is telling him to turn back and hide.

Younghyun finds himself walking beside the street he had heard earlier, and there are buildings already decorated with Christmas lights lined up on each side. He wants to take his time, look at everything more closely, but he’s starting to feel a bit light headed.

So, Younghyun follows his nose and ends up in an alley beside what he assumes must be a restaurant. Something smells good and his stomach growls again angrily. Younghyun tiptoes down the alley, past a dumpster, and right in front of a door in the wall, there’s a cardboard box of discarded bread rolls. He snatches one up eagerly, inspecting it for a second before taking a bite. He sighs in relief and eats the entire thing in two bites. He’s reaching for another one when the door opens, casting light into the dark alley.

Younghyun drops the roll back into the box, backing away from the door, only stopping when he hits the wall behind him. Standing illuminated by the light behind him is a young man with an apron on, a look of surprise on his face. The man steps forward and Younghyun cowers back. He wants to run but the dumpster is blocking the way.

The man stops and holds up his hands. “Hey, it’s okay,” he says. He glances down at the box of bread at his feet. “Were you looking for food?”

Younghyun doesn’t reply, he just stares at him, trying to read his expression and next moves.

The man looks like he’s considering something, his eyes trailing over Younghyun’s face, the almost knee length parka he’s wearing, and his now dirty dress pants and shoes. He seems to come to a decision.

“Why don’t you come inside? I have some leftovers you can eat, it’s better than just plain bread.”

Younghyun gives a short shake of his head. No. As hungry as he is, he’s not trusting a stranger. Please just go back inside, he begs the man silently. Let me run away.

But he doesn’t leave. The man’s eyebrows just draw together in concern. “Come on, it’s cold, and you look like you’ve been outside for a while.”

Younghyun shakes his head again stubbornly.

“Suit yourself,” he says and shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll leave the door open while I clean up if you change your mind.”

Younghyun watches as he turns, kicking a door stop down to prop open the door. The man walks into the kitchen, and as promised, works on cleaning up. The light and warmth from the kitchen pour out invitingly into the alley, and Younghyun confirms that this was indeed the source of the good smell he had been following. He hears music playing on low volume from a radio, the man humming along at times as he cleans.

As much as Younghyun is scared, he’s curious too. He finds himself leaning forward slightly to get a better view of the kitchen. There are numerous appliances lining the walls, so many that Younghyun isn’t even sure what some of them are for. His eyes flick over them one by one. Oven. Fridge. Toaster? He’s trying to figure out what one large appliance with a metal bar around it is for when he hears a laugh.

“Are you looking at the dishwasher?” the man says, a bemused look on his face. He’s leaning back against the island in the middle of the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest as he watches Younghyun. “If you come in, I can show you how it works?”

Younghyun stares at him, trying to read any bad intent, but all he sees is amusement in the pair of sparkling eyes looking back at him. He seems nice, and so far, he hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to hurt him. Younghyun wonders if he continues to hide that he’s a hybrid, maybe he would be fine?

Younghyun makes sure his hood is firmly on his head, concealing his fox ears, before taking a tentative step forward into the kitchen.

The man grins as he asks, “Food first or the dishwasher?”

Younghyun places a hand on his stomach in surprise, he had nearly forgotten his hunger.

The man follows Younghyun’s hand’s movement with his eyes. “Food it is then!”

“Sit,” he says, pulling out a chair from a tiny table in the corner of the kitchen and filling up a glass of water. “You must be thirsty too,” he says.

Younghyun waits until the man has walked away to go to the table. He gulps down the water fast—he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was. Younghyun watches the man as he moves, heating a pan on the stove and grabbing leftovers from the fridge. Younghyun has never cooked before.

That’s what we hire chefs for, dear, his mother would say.

Younghyun abandons the chair and moves closer to the stove, watching the man curiously. He puts the pasta from the fridge into the heated pan and starts moving it around.

The man glances at Younghyun from the corner of his eye. “What’s your name?” he asks. Younghyun stares at him silently. Would it be safe to reveal his name? He’s not sure.

“Well,” the man continues after a few moments of silence, “If you’re not going to talk, then I will.” He stirs the pasta a few times, and then starts flipping it with flicks of the pan. Younghyun watches with wide eyes as all of the pasta somehow magically lands back in the pan instead of falling onto the counter.

“My name is Park Sungjin, and this is my restaurant. We just opened six months ago.”

Park Sungjin seems proud of this, a bright smile on his face, and Younghyun thinks he should be. He doesn’t know anyone who owns a restaurant, but then again, he doesn’t know all that many people to begin with. Your restaurant seems very nice, he wants to say, but there’s something stopping him.

If he knew that I’m a hybrid, would he still want to talk to me?

Younghyun’s thoughts are interrupted by his stomach grumbling loudly. The food smells amazing.

Sungjin smiles as he continues stirring the pasta, but doesn’t comment on Younghyun’s stomach’s complaints. He starts humming again to the song on the radio and Younghyun likes the sound. It’s nice, warm.

When the food is ready, Younghyun helps Sungjin set out plates and cutlery on the small table. He waits for Sungjin to start eating first before taking a bite himself.

Younghyun’s eyes widen in surprise as he chews. He doesn’t know if it’s just because he’s hungry, but he thinks this might be the best pasta he has ever had.

“Good?” Sungjin asks.

Younghyun nods enthusiastically in response and Sungjin laughs. “I’m glad.”

Sungjin finishes eating first and watches Younghyun, resting his chin in his hand as Younghyun devours his first meal of the day. “Want more?” he asks, and Younghyun shakes his head no.

“You know you can take your coat off, right?” Sungjin asks mildly as he starts gathering the empty dishes. Younghyun is overheating from wearing his coat with the hood up indoors, but he ignores Sungjin’s comment. He knows he probably looks ridiculous, but he’s not risking revealing himself.

Sungjin beckons Younghyun to follow him.

Younghyun goes after him hesitantly, not sure where Sungjin is taking him. They move deeper into the kitchen and further from the door to the alley, further from Younghyun’s escape route.

But then, Sungjin stops in front of the dishwasher that Younghyun had been analyzing earlier.

“Here’s how it works,” he says. He lifts the top and puts the dishes in the rack. So that’s what the bar is for, Younghyun thinks. Sungjin pulls the bar back down, closing the dishes in the dishwasher, and pushes a button. The machine whirs to life, making a loud noise as water starts to fill it, and Younghyun steps back in surprise.

Sungjin smiles as he watches him. “I know, it’s loud right?” He grabs a towel and starts wiping down the edges of the sink, when something catches Younghyun’s eye. There’s a framed picture on the wall, between the entrance to the kitchen and the sink, and what he sees takes his breath away. Younghyun steps closer. He squints to make sure he’s seeing right.

“Oh, that’s from our team party earlier this year,” Sungjin says, coming to stand beside Younghyun.

Younghyun turns his stare from the picture to the man beside him. Team as in they work here?

Sungjin starts pointing out the people in the picture, but Younghyun’s attention is focused on two specific individuals.

There are five people in the picture, and of those, two are hybrids.

And as Sungjin points out the people in the picture, Younghyun finds out the following: the dog hybrid in the picture is a waiter, and the cat hybrid is the co-owner of the restaurant.

Younghyun has a million questions flying through his mind. Mainly, a hybrid could own a restaurant?

It’s possible that customers wouldn’t see someone if they solely worked in the kitchen, so maybe if Sungjin’s co-owner was a chef like him, they would be able to hide. But as a waiter, wouldn’t it be too dangerous to go out and serve customers? Wouldn’t they treat a hybrid waiter poorly? Also, was Sungjin just a kind enough person to co-own a restaurant with a hybrid? And to hire a hybrid as a waiter? Wouldn’t that be bad for business?

Sungjin is telling a story about the party, waving his arms for emphasis, but Younghyun isn’t paying attention. He bites his lip, and then decides he needs to ask something.

“You have hybrids working here? And your co-owner is a hybrid?” Younghyun asks, cutting off Sungjin mid sentence. These are the first words he’s spoken to Sungjin all evening.

Sungjin blinks in surprise. “Well, yeah,” he says. “Is that a problem?”

Younghyun shakes his head, no, it’s not a problem to him. But wasn’t it a problem to the rest of the world?

“They don’t hide that they’re hybrids?”

“No, why would they?”

Younghyun feels like the world is crashing down on him. “I thought—” he trails off, staring at the picture again. This picture, this restaurant, humans and hybrids working together. It’s something he had thought was impossible. Had his parents been lying to him? Could he have been living a normal life this entire time, but was kept inside by his family? But why?

“You thought what?” Sungjin prods gently.

Younghyun considers his words carefully before replying. “I thought that it wasn’t safe for hybrids to be out in the world,” he says.

Sungjin raises his eyebrows. “Well yeah, maybe like hundreds of years ago, but times have changed. Hybrid rights are really strong now. Of course, there are always issues that pop up, but I wouldn’t say it’s unsafe for hybrids to be out in the world.” Both of them fall silent for a few moments, Sungjin seemingly waiting for a reply, which Younghyun wasn’t ready to give at the moment.

“Are you a time traveller from the past or something?” Sungjin asks, a smile now pulling at his lips.

Younghyun frowns. Was that possible? While he was walking in the forest, had he somehow managed to magically bring himself to the future? Younghyun’s mind races with the possibilities. “What year is it?”

Sungjin’s smile disappears upon hearing the utter seriousness in Younghyun’s voice. “It’s 2019,” he says.

“Oh.” It’s 2019 for Younghyun too. He can’t help feeling disappointed.

Sungjin stares at Younghyun, his eyes hovering somewhere above Younghyun’s eyeline.

“Are you a hybrid?” he asks suddenly. “Is that why you’ve had your hood on this entire time?”

Younghyun frowns. He can’t think of any valid excuse for why he still has his hood on.

Maybe I’m just cold. Maybe I’m having a bad hair day. Maybe—

Younghyun sighs. He’s tired of this. He glances at the picture once again. Everyone in it seems happy, they all have their arms around each other and big grins on their faces. Sungjin is there too.

If he’s friends with other hybrids, maybe it would be okay for him to know about Younghyun too.

Younghyun pulls off his hood, his ears popping up after being squashed flat for so long.

Sungjin only spares one glance at Younghyun’s fox ears before looking back down to his face. He seems concerned. “You were hiding that you’re a hybrid because someone told you that the world isn’t safe? Who told you that?”

Younghyun remains stubbornly silent. Sungjin knows that he’s a hybrid now, but Younghyun doesn’t trust him yet. He doesn’t want to reveal anything yet that could tie him back to his family.

Sungjin sighs and runs a hand through his hair. His eyes trail over Younghyun again. “Did you sleep outside?”

Younghyun nods.

Sungjin frowns. “It’s supposed to snow tonight, it won’t be safe to do that again. Can I take you to the police station?”

Younghyun’s eyes widen at that, shaking his head vigorously. No, the police would just take him back home. Going to them would be like walking right back into the estate, into his parents’ hands.

“Okay, no police then,” Sungjin says. “Are you a criminal or something?” he asks, his eyes narrowing.

Younghyun shakes his head no.

“A runaway?”

Younghyun unintentionally takes a step back, the question hitting too close for comfort.

He can’t explain his situation to Sungjin, as kind as he may seem. If people find out, he doesn’t doubt that word would travel back to his parents. They have connections, they’ll surely find him anywhere he goes. Younghyun feels fear fill him at the impossibility of the situation. He knows nothing, no one, how is he ever going to survive out here?

Younghyun starts backing away. He doesn’t care if it’s going to snow, at least he has his winter coat. Maybe he could survive on his own.

“Hey, don’t be scared,” Sungjin says, inching closer as Younghyun backs toward the door to the alley. “It’s okay, I just want to help.”

Younghyun stills at that, a frown tugging at his lips. “Why?” he asks.

Sungjin stops moving too. “Why what?”

“Why do you want to help me?”

Sungjin’s eyebrows draw together. “Because you seem lost and scared, and you shouldn’t have to be.”

Younghyun frowns harder. Could it be pure kindness motivating this man, this stranger he’s known for maybe an hour? Nobody could be that nice, not even the characters in the novels Younghyun has read.

And they were fictional.

“I swear I don’t want to hurt you,” Sungjin says, “And I won't send you back to wherever you came from if you don't want to go.” He’s silent for a few moments, both of them just staring at each other.

“The people you’re running from, they were the ones who told you hybrids can’t go out in the world?”

Tears prick Younghyun’s eyes at the thought of his parents and their lies. He wants to give them the benefit of the doubt—maybe they had a reason for all of this. But a tiny voice in his head is saying that none of this makes sense. Maybe his parents hadn’t cared about what was best for him, but rather, what was best for them?

Younghyun finally gives Sungjin an answer, nodding slowly in response.

“Okay,” Sungjin breathes. He’s silent for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. “If you feel okay with coming to my place, you can sleep on the couch.” He presses his lips together. “Just promise me you're not going to murder me in the middle of the night or something. Or rob me. Or—I don’t know,” Sungjin drags his hands over his face. “Oh my God what am I doing,” he says with a groan.

Younghyun considers it. It was either sleep outside again, in the snow this time if Sungjin was to be trusted, or stay somewhere warm. A place where he wouldn’t have to go rummaging for food. It was tempting.

Was this the heavens offering him a helping hand?

Younghyun bites his lip in thought. This doesn’t seem like an offer he’d ever get again.

He decides he’ll take it.

“I promise,” Younghyun says. “I’m not a murderer, or a robber, or any kind of criminal.”

Sungjin lifts his head from his hands, a surprised look on his face. “I—okay.”

Younghyun gives him a small smile. “Thank you,” he says.

Sungjin just stares at Younghyun with wide eyes for a moment before returning the smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

If you had told college student Park Sungjin that in five years, he would open his own restaurant, he wouldn’t have believed you. And if you had told him that in five years, he would also be letting a stranger he found in an alley stay at his place, he also probably wouldn’t have believed you.

But, if you had told these things to any of his friends, they probably would have accepted with ease. Because that’s just the kind of person Sungjin is.

+++

Sungjin is currently standing with said stranger in his apartment. The drive over from the restaurant had been mostly quiet, save for the music playing on the radio. The young man (or boy?) had stared out the window the entire time, his fox ears twitching in interest, like a child entranced by the lights at a carnival. Sungjin had found himself slowing down so he would be able to see everything better.

When they arrived, Sungjin had run to the apartment next door to get some clothes that would fit a hybrid. Sungjin had also asked Dowoon to call him the next morning, and if he didn’t pick up, to assume the worst and call the police.

As much as Sungjin believes that this stranger is harmless, it’s always good to have a backup plan.

“Here,” Sungjin says, handing over the items he had gathered. One of his own t-shirts, and a pair of sweatpants, boxers, and a brush for fur from Dowoon.

“My neighbour Dowoon assures me that the boxers are brand new.”

The boy lets out a laugh at that and Sungjin is caught off guard.

Every time Sungjin thinks he has him figured out; he surprises him.

After the continued silence earlier, Sungjin had assumed that he couldn’t speak, despite being able to understand what Sungjin said to him. But that had proven false once he asked about the picture hung in the kitchen. And then he had been caught off guard by his smile at the restaurant, and now, his laugh. Maybe you should just stop assuming things about him, Sungjin chides himself.

And now that the boy has taken off his coat, Sungjin notices that he’s wearing an expensive looking tailored suit. Was he at a party when he ran away?

Sungjin wonders again about who would have lied to the boy about the treatment of hybrids in the world. Sungjin wants to ask—maybe he’d be able to help him better if he knew the full story. But so far, asking questions has just gotten him silence and a few nods and shakes of the head in reply. Sungjin figures he’ll let the boy tell him on his own.

Maybe he just needs time.

+++

They’re both done with their showers now, sitting on opposite ends of the sofa. Sungjin had made tea for the two of them, and he sips it slowly, watching the boy as he brushes out the coppery red fur of his tail. Now that he can get a good look at him, Sungjin thinks he looks around the same age as himself, or a bit younger. He has dark hair, his bangs falling into his eyes as he focuses on his task. His fox ears twitch atop his head, picking up on every small noise.

A few moments later, he’s done brushing his tail and flicks it behind him. Sungjin watches as it moves, seemingly with a life of its own. It’s like a flame, the very tip a shade of cream. It’s beautiful.

Sungjin doesn’t realize he’s been staring until he feels the boy’s gaze directed back at him over the rim of his teacup. Sungjin looks away quickly, feeling his face grow warm.

It’s quiet for a while, both of them drinking their tea silently, before Sungjin decides he’ll try one more question.

“Will you tell me your name?” he asks. He’s not surprised when all he gets in response is that pair of angled eyes watching him carefully.

“Okay, I’ll have to give you a name then. What about Michael? Like Michael Jackson.”

The boy smiles, putting his now empty teacup on the table and bringing his knees up against his chest.

“Okay no, you don’t seem like a Michael.” Sungjin taps a finger on his cup thoughtfully. “What about Bruno? Or Ed? Justin?”

Sungjin is pleased to see the boy’s smile grow into a genuine grin. He must know Sungjin is just listing names of pop singers off the top of his head.

“None of those fit,” Sungjin says with a laugh. “Maybe not a singer then. What about David? Or Brian?”

The boy lets out a snort at that and starts laughing, hugging his knees tight to his chest. His tail sways behind him in amusement.

“What? It suits you,” Sungjin says with a grin.

Happiness also suits you.

Sungjin gets up to take their cups to the kitchen, but the boy jumps up, grabbing Sungjin’s from his hand along with his own and taking them to the kitchen to be washed. Sungjin shakes his head with a smile as he grabs extra blankets and a pillow, laying them out on the couch.

“Come get me if you need anything, okay?” Sungjin says with a yawn.

The boy nods as he returns from the kitchen, sitting back down on the couch. Sungjin is halfway through his bedroom doorway, when he hears a soft voice.

“My name is Younghyun.”

Younghyun. Sungjin can’t help but give an internal cheer for this breakthrough.

“Much better than Brian,” Sungjin says as he turns to look at him. “Goodnight, Younghyun.”

“Goodnight,” Younghyun replies, mirroring Sungjin’s smile with a tiny one of his own.

+++

Younghyun opens his eyes the next morning and sits up with a start. This isn’t his bedroom.

He looks around with wide eyes, his heart beating fast. Sunlight filters in through grey curtains and a TV is across from the couch he was sleeping on. Wait—

A couch?

Memories from last night come rushing back. He’s at the restaurant guy’s apartment. Park Sungjin.

As if summoned by Younghyun’s thoughts, Sungjin’s bedroom door opens and he walks out, his hair wildly dishevelled. He stops when he notices Younghyun is awake.

“Oh, good morning,” he says with a smile.

Younghyun smiles back, suddenly feeling nervous. He curls his tail around his body. As if that’s going to protect you, he chides himself.

Sungjin continues his course to the kitchen. “Do you want coffee?” he asks, as he starts setting up the machine. Younghyun gets up and follows him, shaking his head no. Younghyun watches as Sungjin makes coffee. It seems complicated.

“Tea, then?” Sungjin asks when he’s done with the coffee machine, and Younghyun nods. Sungjin fills the kettle with water and turns it on.

“Give me five minutes and I’ll make breakfast, okay?” he says as he walks into the bathroom.

Younghyun nods and sits down at the kitchen table. After a few minutes though, there’s a knock at the door. Younghyun’s heart jumps. Had his parents found him somehow? He gets to his feet, glancing between the front door and the bathroom, willing Sungjin to hurry up. He hears the water running and hopes he’s almost done. Should he knock on the bathroom door?

To his relief, Sungjin walks out a few moments later, but stops in his tracks when he sees the look on Younghyun’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone’s at the door,” Younghyun whispers.

Sungjin visibly relaxes. “It’s okay, it’s probably just Dowoon. He always comes around when he wakes up early enough to mooch free breakfast off me.” Sungjin glances through the peephole and nods. “He’s probably curious about you too.”

He turns back to Younghyun, hesitating before he opens the door.

“Do you want me to tell him to leave?”

Younghyun frowns. “Why?”

“Why what?” Sungjin asks. “You mean why would I ask him to leave?”

Younghyun nods.

Sungjin’s eyebrows furrow. “Well, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. He can just go buy breakfast or make something himself. Not a big deal.”

Younghyun considers this. No one has really ever asked him if he was okay with something, except maybe Mrs. Lee. But she had only been there to take care of him after bad things happened, not before. Younghyun has always just followed whatever his family wanted, whether he liked it or not.

This was new.

“He’s your friend?”

Sungjin nods.

“And he’s a hybrid. Like me?”

Sungjin nods again.

Younghyun bites his lip. “I’m okay if he comes in.”

“Are you sure?”

Younghyun nods in response, and Sungjin gives him a reassuring smile. “I think you’ll like him,” he says as he turns to unlock the door. He opens it to a boy with floppy white dog ears atop his head, and an equally white tail wagging happily behind him.

“Good morning!” he says with a grin. “Oh! Hello,” he says, when he notices Younghyun standing behind Sungjin. His eyes travel over Younghyun. “I’ve never met a fox hybrid before!”

Younghyun feels Sungjin’s eyes on him, waiting for his reaction.

“What’s your name?” Dowoon asks.

Younghyun is silent for a moment. Should he reveal his name to a second person?

Not yet.

“It’s Brian,” Younghyun finally says.

“That’s a nice name! I’m Dowoon.”

That makes Younghyun smile at Sungjin and he grins back. As ridiculous of a name Brian is, maybe he could get used to it.

+++

Sungjin decides to make pancakes and Younghyun watches from the side, sipping his tea, as Sungjin mixes the ingredients. Dowoon is sitting at the kitchen table chattering away. They met barely ten minutes ago, but Younghyun already feels like he’s known him for much longer.

“Do you need help?” Younghyun asks Sungjin as he puts an electric beater into the batter. It turns on with a loud noise which makes Younghyun flinch, his ears pinning back to his head in surprise

“Not at the moment,” Sungjin says with a smile. If he had noticed Younghyun getting startled, he doesn’t mention it.

When a few pancakes have been made, Dowoon starts eating, saying he has to leave soon because he has class in an hour. Sungjin tells Younghyun to start eating too but he shakes his head no. He’s hungry, but he doesn’t want to eat before Sungjin does. He’s used to it anyway. Back at home they were only allowed to start eating once their parents took their first bite, even if the food was already sitting on the table in front of them. It’s a sign of respect, his father would say.

Younghyun turns his attention back to the pancakes. There’s one in the pan right now, the batter bubbling slightly. Sungjin turns and holds out the spatula to Younghyun.

“Do you want to try?” he asks with a smile.

He kind of does want to try.

“I’ll ruin it,” Younghyun says.

Sungjin shrugs. “Then we can make another one.”

Younghyun gingerly takes the spatula from Sungjin’s hand, and Dowoon comes up on Younghyun’s other side to observe. Younghyun watches the bubbles rise and pop in the middle of the pancake.

“Do I do it now?” he asks hesitantly, and Sungjin nods.

Younghyun slides the spatula under the pancake, flipping it over the way he saw Sungjin do repeatedly. It lands off centre, threatening to slide out of the pan, but Sungjin tilts the pan so it slides back in.

Dowoon gives a cheer, “It’s perfect!”

His enthusiasm is contagious and Younghyun grins too, his tail swaying behind him. He turns and notices Sungjin watching him with a smile, but he quickly looks away when they make eyes meet.

“Good job,” he says, keeping his eyes down as he moves Younghyun’s pancake onto the top of the growing stack beside the stove. Younghyun cocks his head to the side. Was Sungjin avoiding eye contact? Did he do something wrong?

“You’re lucky, Brian,” Dowoon says, breaking Younghyun away from his thoughts. “Sungjin barely lets anyone help him when he’s cooking.” His eyes glint mischievously. “It was even a struggle for him to let Jaebeom help when the restaurant first opened. And he’s the sous chef!”

Sungjin frowns in response. “Enough talk, go finish your breakfast, Mr. I-have-class-in-an-hour.”

Dowoon shoots Younghyun a grin and a wink, and then obediently starts gobbling down his last pancake. Meanwhile, Sungjin appears to be focused on spooning more batter onto the pan, but Younghyun can see that the tips of his ears have turned pink.

And despite Dowoon’s teasing comments, Sungjin lets Younghyun help him make the rest of the pancakes.

+++

The rest of the day drags on for Younghyun. Sungjin goes to work at the restaurant, so Younghyun is left alone at the apartment. He tries watching TV, but soon gets sick of that, and he finds himself staring out at the street below through the floor to ceiling windows in the living room. Snow falls lightly, sparkling in the sunlight as it passes the windows. Younghyun imagines what it would be like to go outside and be one of those people walking by. And every time Younghyun sees a hybrid, he perks up, watching them until they leave of his line of sight.

He makes up stories for their lives, what they’re doing and where they’re going. He makes one of them a student, like Dowoon, getting a cup of coffee before they have to commute to class. A female cat hybrid pushing a stroller catches his eye, he thinks she’s finishing some errands and taking her baby out for some fresh air. Younghyun muses on the fact that they seem to be equals, no difference between the regular humans outside, and the hybrids. No one seems to bat an eye, just happy to go about their own business.

Younghyun wonders again why his parents would lie to him. Now that he thinks about it, he realizes that his siblings never talked about hybrids being at their schools or work places. He wonders if they had been lying to him too? Or avoiding talking about certain things in front of him?

All the staff who worked at the estate were humans too; there wasn’t a single hybrid. Was that intentional?

He warms up leftovers from the restaurant in the microwave, which Sungjin showed him how to use before he left. After dinner he curls up again in the armchair he had dragged beside the windows earlier, watching the town light up below him. Younghyun rests his elbows on the armrest, his chin in his hands.

He wants to be like them so badly—he wishes he could be free.

Younghyun is startled by a click at the door, a key turning in the lock. He turns to see Sungjin walking in, stomping snow off of his boots. “Hello,” he says with a smile. “You didn’t have to stay up, it’s pretty late.”

Was it late? Younghyun hadn’t noticed. Besides, he doesn’t feel tired at all. He watches Sungjin for a second before turning back to the window and staring blankly. He hears Sungjin come to stand beside him. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

Younghyun turns to him in surprise, eyes travelling over his face. “Aren’t you tired?”

Sungjin shrugs. “Kinda, but a walk would be nice.”

Younghyun smiles slowly. “Okay,” he says, uncurling from armchair.

Sungjin pulls his boots back on and waits at the door as Younghyun pulls on his coat. “We need to get you new shoes,” he muses, as he watches Younghyun tie the laces of his dress shoes.

Most of the shops are closed now as it’s past midnight, but Younghyun doesn’t mind. He admires the different Christmas lights hung on the stores and the way they sparkle in the snow. There are still a few people walking around and laughing as they head home from their nights out. Sungjin is telling him about his day, and about a ridiculous customer they had at the restaurant.

Younghyun sighs in contentment, a smile on his face.

They walk for a few minutes and end up at a playground. Sungjin brushes snow off of the swings and sits down, beckoning Younghyun over to the one beside him.

Younghyun wonders if he can have this everyday. An idea forms in his mind.

“Sungjin?” he starts tentatively.

“Yeah?”

“Do you need help at your restaurant?”

Sungjin turns to him in surprise. “If you’re trying to repay me or something, you don’t have to.”

“I want to help!” Younghyun says quickly, his voice rising louder than he’d intended. “And, I don’t want to stay inside anymore,” he breathes more softly, looking away. He starts swinging slowly, kicking his feet at the frozen ground.

“Were you lonely today?”

Younghyun’s eyebrows furrow. He hadn’t felt lonely. He’s used to being alone, okay with it even. It was just that now that he’d gotten a taste of the outside world, had seen that there’s nothing stopping him from having a normal life, he wants it for himself. Badly.

“Not lonely,” he says slowly.

Sungjin is quiet, waiting for him to continue.

“I want to know what it’s like,” Younghyun says, turning to look at Sungjin. “To live a normal life.”

Sungjin smiles wryly. “Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. But if that’s really what you want, you can come with me tomorrow.”

Younghyun grins.

“We have to figure out a disguise for you though.”

Younghyun glances at him in surprise. He thought hybrids didn’t have to hide?

Sungjin seems to read his thoughts, shaking his head. “Not because you’re a hybrid, but because you’re a fox hybrid. I didn’t even know fox hybrids existed until now, and Dowoon said the same.” Sungjin stares at him for a second. “I assume you can’t have come from too far away if you were on foot. People talk, and word will surely get around that there’s a fox hybrid in town.”

Younghyun’s eyes widen in surprise as he listens to Sungjin. Now that he thinks about it, he had only seen a handful of hybrids when he was people watching earlier, but they had all been either cat or dog hybrids. He frowns, kicking at the ground again.

Maybe the fact that he was a fox hybrid was related to why his parents had kept him hidden? Was being a rare hybrid more dangerous? He desperately wants to just ask them, but going back would mean losing whatever freedom he has gained, and he desperately wants to hold onto this.

And despite the estate being the only home he has ever known; he thinks he’d be okay if he never set foot in that place ever again.

+++

Sungjin watches as Dowoon takes a few steps back to assess their work one last time as they stand in the tiny office at the back of the restaurant.

“Not bad, if I do say so myself,” Dowoon says with a grin.

Sungjin pulls the front of his cap lower over Younghyun’s forehead. It kept lifting out of place. “Don’t move your ears so much,” he says. Younghyun shoots him a glare and Dowoon lets out a burst of laughter.

“He can’t control it!” Dowoon says with a grin.

“Oh, sorry,” Sungjin says sheepishly. They had spent a good part of the morning trying to figure out the best way to disguise that Younghyun was a hybrid, and had settled on a baseball cap, his ears flattened underneath, and his tail wrapped around his torso under his t-shirt. Then they’d thrown a bomber jacket of Sungjin’s on top to hide the way Younghyun’s tail made the shirt puff out. Sungjin had worried at first that Dowoon would want to know why they were trying to hide that Younghyun was a hybrid, but Dowoon being Dowoon had just helped with no questions asked.

“Just make sure you pull it down every so often,” Dowoon says. “It shouldn’t just fall off your head.”

Younghyun nods in response, flattening his hand over the top of the cap.

They all turn when the door opens.

“Sungjin have you seen the—Oh, hello,” the newcomer says, surprise on her face.

“Hey, Sunmi,” Sungjin says, “This is Brian.”

“Nice to meet you, Brian,” she says, extending her hand.

Younghyun shakes it, giving her a small smile. “Dowoon, can you show Brian what we do to prepare for opening?” Sungjin says, giving Dowoon a stare which he hopes conveys, let me explain this to her.

Dowoon catches on, placing a hand on Younghyun’s shoulder and guiding him out the door.

“You hired someone new?” Sunmi asks once they've left, a delicate eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, you said we needed an extra hand.”

Sunmi nods. “We do, but you usually let me handle the hiring.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. He’s a friend who needed a job.”

Sunmi sighs. “Well as long as he does the work, it doesn’t really matter. Have you had him fill in the new hire forms yet?”

Sungjin freezes. He hadn’t thought of the paperwork. He doesn’t think Younghyun has an ID or anything to even fill in the forms. They could always fake it, but making a record of him being here doesn’t seem right.

“He’s a volunteer,” he blurts out.

“A volunteer,” she deadpans.

“Yeah.”

“But you said he needed a job?”

“Yeah. Not for the money. For the experience!” Sungjin winces. They’ve known each other for a long time—Sunmi could probably see straight through his lies. And this was a pretty weak lie at that.

“Okay, I don’t know what you’ve got yourself into Sungjin, but we do need an extra hand—which we also can’t really afford.” Her eyes narrow. “You’re not doing anything illegal right.”

Sungjin shakes his head no. At least he doesn’t think Younghyun’s involved in anything illegal.

Sunmi seems to consider it for a moment before shrugging. “Okay, I’m cool with it then.”

Sungjin relaxes in relief.

But then, Sunmi grins that cat-like smile that matches her ears and tail so well.

Sungjin frowns. He knows that look.

“He’s pretty, where’d you find him?” she says, grin wide, her tail swaying behind her. A cat ready to pounce on her next victim.

Sungjin groans internally. The alley behind our restaurant, he wants to say just to shut her up.

Instead, he rolls his eyes as he walks past her out of the office. Sunmi starts laughing behind him, pleased by the reaction she received. As he enters the kitchen, Sungjin glances at Younghyun who is watching attentively as Dowoon shows him where to stack the clean plates.

Huh.

He has to agree with Sunmi on that, Younghyun is kind of pretty.

Jae frowns as they follow the police dog and handler through the forest, snow crunching beneath their feet. No one would survive out here for long. Winter had come early this year, and every night in the past week had gone below freezing temperatures. He shivers as he pulls his scarf tighter around his neck—he should’ve worn a warmer jacket. But then again, he hadn’t expected that they would be trudging through the forest today.

The Captain had handed them their new case first thing that morning: a missing persons case. The thing was, the subject had already been missing for a week, and the family hadn’t reported them missing until now. Jae shakes his head. He thought it was common knowledge by now that the first 48 hours after someone disappears are the most critical.

He sighs heavily as they trudge through a snow drift.

“There’s something off about this case,” he says to no one in particular.

“You’ve said that like five times now, Jae,” his partner Mark says amiably, “And I’m not disagreeing.”

“It just doesn’t add up! What kind of family doesn’t have a single photo of their child?”

Mark shrugs. “I dunno, rich people are weird,” he says, shoving his hands deep into his pockets to ward off the cold.

All the family had been able to provide was an outdated family portrait made when the subject had been ten years old. Not a picture—a painted portrait. Jae pulls out his phone, opening up the picture he had taken of the painting hung up in a dark corner of the library inside the house. A young boy with serious eyes stares back, red fox ears peeking out from his dark hair.

+++

The detectives had headed home that evening with no further leads, leaving the police dog and handler to follow the trail. The next morning, they received a call—the scent had been lost in Eastcliff.

“The handler estimates it was a sixteen hour walk with no breaks from the Kang estate in Whitebridge, to where the scent was lost in Eastcliff,” Mark says as they drive down the highway.

“Kang Younghyun travelled a long way,” Jae muses. “Let’s try to figure out a timeline.”

Mark thinks about it for a second. “Sixteen hours, and he must have stopped to rest along the way. I’d guess around twenty-four hours in total?” He glances at Jae for confirmation.

Jae nods, chewing on a mouthful of donut. “Since he went missing on Wednesday, we’re probably looking at sometime Thursday night for his arrival in Eastcliff.”

Mark grins, looking pleased with himself.

“And where do you think we should start the search?” Jae asks, scrolling through his phone with his free hand. Mark’s eyebrows furrow at the unexpected question.

Jae isn’t making Mark do all the work. Oh no, he’s just helping him learn.

“Uh, a motel maybe?” Mark asks.

“His parents said he had no money on him, Mark.”

“Right.” Mark side-eyes Jae, who is mid bite into his donut. “Food then?”

Jae rolls his eyes. “Dude, we just stopped for coffee, you can’t seriously be hungry.”

“No, I mean restaurants or convenience stores? Wouldn’t he be hungry after walking that far?”

Bingo. Jae grins, patting Mark on the shoulder, and Mark sits up straighter in his seat proudly.

Maybe all of Jae's teaching was actually working.

+++

They’d been at it for a few hours now, and while Eastcliff wasn’t that big of a town, it was still a lot of ground to cover. Mark lets out a huff of frustration after their thirtieth failed attempt.

“I know,” Jae says in understanding. The majority of police work wasn’t really as exciting as they made it seem on TV—sometimes it was just plain tedious and boring. “This is the only lead we have right now, though. Let’s see it through.”

Mark nods, reluctantly opening the map back up on his phone to find the next restaurant on the list.

As they step inside, Jae looks around in assessment. It’s a small but cozy looking place. There’s only one customer finishing up their dinner in the far corner, but other than that, the rest of the tables are empty. Makes sense since it was pretty late in the evening now. A waiter wiping down tables looks up to smile at them as they walk in—he’s young, a white dog hybrid. There’s one more employee behind the counter, but they have their back to the restaurant entrance, speaking to someone inside the kitchen.

“Sorry, we’re not taking any more seatings at this time,” the waiter says apologetically. “I can get you coffees to go though if you’d like?”

Jae glances at his nametag. Dowoon.

“No, thank you. I’m Detective Lee and this is my partner, Detective Park," Mark says, "We’re currently investigating a missing persons case.”

“Missing person?”

Mark nods. “A fox hybrid.”

Dowoon stiffens at that and Jae narrows his eyes. Interesting.

“Were you working here last Thursday night?” Mark asks.

Dowoon unfreezes. “No," he says with a shake of his head, "I don’t work on Thursdays.”

“Could we speak with anyone who was here that day?”

“Yeah, of course. Have a seat.” Dowoon gestures to a booth by the door before he turns to the kitchen, and when he does, Jae makes eye contact with the employee behind the counter. Serious eyes meet his. He has dark hair peeking out from the baseball cap pulled over his head, and a bomber jacket on top of his shirt. Jae pulls out his phone and glances down at the portrait of the Kang boy again. Of course, age has changed a lot, but those slanted, dark eyes remain the same.

Jae eyes the employee again—the hat and the jacket could easily be hiding hybrid features.

Jae glances at Mark to see if he has noticed too, but he’s busy looking around the restaurant, staring at the autographed pictures of local celebrities hung up on the walls. Jae shakes his head fondly and makes a note to tell him about the importance of observing people.

Jae looks back to the counter and watches as Dowoon drags the other employee into the kitchen behind him.

Mark comes to sit beside him in the booth once he’s done with the pictures, and Jae decides not to voice his suspicions just yet. There’s something strange going on with this case, and Mark, the goody two shoes that he is, would definitely want to go and report everything to the Captain.

Jae has a growing feeling that that may not be such a good idea.

A man comes out of the kitchen then with Dowoon following behind him. The other employee doesn’t reappear. The man introduces himself as Park Sungjin, owner of the restaurant. Dowoon starts wiping down tables again, but Jae can tell he’s listening in on the conversation as he sticks to the tables surrounding their corner booth.

Mark runs through the questions they’ve been asking all day, but Jae isn’t really listening—he’s focused on Sungjin’s reactions. He toys with the piercings in his ears as he waits for Mark to finish taking notes and ask the next question.

A sign of nervousness? Or of hiding something?

Sungjin says he hasn’t seen any fox hybrids and that he’ll let them know if he sees anything, as he takes Mark’s business card. Jae is sure he’s lying, but he wonders why.

Maybe Kang Younghyun doesn’t want to be found?

+++

Younghyun hides under the desk in the office, his knees pulled up against his chest. Dowoon had dragged him in here—telling him to hide in case the detectives wanted to look around—before leaving with Sungjin to see what they wanted.

Younghyun shuts his eyes tight.

As silly as it sounds, the past week has easily been the best of his entire life. Before, Younghyun had always stayed inside the estate, and had thought that that’s where he would always be for the rest of his life. Working at a restaurant—or working anywhere really—was something he had never imagined could be possible. It was tiring, and definitely hard work at times, but having something to do, something with an actual purpose, made him feel proud of himself. Like he was actually making a difference, instead of just watching his family live out their lives from the sidelines.

Everyone at the restaurant had been genuinely kind to him too, and that had been surprising. At first, he had thought it was only because they didn’t know that he was a hybrid. If they knew, it would all change, and he would be treated poorly just like his parents had always said.

But then, Younghyun observed how everyone treated Sunmi and Dowoon, and truthfully, he saw no difference. Hybrids were treated the same as regular humans, and it pained him to think about why he had been bound to the estate when he could have been free.

And now, it would all be over.

Tears fill his eyes, blurring his vision. He sobs, pulling his knees tighter to his chest, letting the pain in his heart take over. He can’t imagine having to go back to the estate now.

He would have to see his parents again, who had lied to him about everything, who had possibly never really cared about him. And who are also probably very angry with him for running away.

Younghyun feels sick.

His heart jumps into his throat when he hears the click of the door opening. Younghyun holds his breath, forcing down the sobs that had been shaking his body moments earlier.

But then he hears a familiar voice.

“Younghyun?”

He doesn’t dare make a sound. He can’t tell if Sungjin is alone.

“The detectives are gone.” Sungjin’s footsteps come around the desk, and then he’s crouching in front of Younghyun.

Gone, and not coming back?

Sungjin squints at him in the darkness of the office, and then his eyes widen when he sees that Younghyun is crying. “Hey, it’s okay,” he says softly.

“Please don’t send me back,” Younghyun says, his words interrupted by a hiccupped sob.

Sungjin’s eyes widen further.

“I promise I’ll be good—I’ll keep helping you here. I’ll clean your apartment. Anything you want!” His entire body is shaking again. “Just please, let me stay.”

Sungjin frowns. “Hey, no, I already told you. You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to. You can stay here.” He reaches out tentatively and rests his hand on Younghyun’s arm.

Younghyun can only stare at him.

“Are the detectives really gone?” he whispers after a moment, disbelievingly.

Sungjin nods. He crawls under the desk beside him when the sobs don’t stop, wrapping an arm around Younghyun’s shoulders. Younghyun rests his head on Sungjin’s shoulder and relaxes into his side.

“I think they bought it, I told them I haven’t seen any fox hybrids.”

Younghyun feels a bit of the weight lifting off his chest.

“Thank you,” he whispers. The tears keep falling though—he can’t help feeling scared. If the detectives came here, that means that they were on his case. If they had figured out that he was in Eastcliff, they could get close again.

Younghyun shuts his eyes tight again, pretending that it’s only him and Sungjin in the world, in this tiny dark space under the desk.

+++

Sungjin watches as Younghyun curls up on the couch later that evening, not bothering to brush out his tail after he dries it from the shower the way he usually does. He pulls the sheets up to his chin, facing the backrest of the couch.

Sungjin crouches beside him. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Younghyun shakes his head, curling into a tighter ball. Sungjin frowns. Even for the week Sungjin has known Younghyun, he was rarely one to skip meals.

“Are you sure? You might get hungry later in the night.”

Younghyun shakes his head again, pulling the sheets up over his head. Sungjin sighs, taking this as a sign that he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Despite being wrapped in the blanket, Younghyun’s tail hangs limply off the side of the couch. It’s been like that since they had gotten home, his tail dropped down, nearly dragging on the floor. If before it was like his tail had a life of his own, the flame of a candle held up at attention, it had now been blown out in one quick breath.

Sungjin frowns further. The way Younghyun is curled up does not seem comfortable.

“I’ll be back,” Sungjin says, not sure if Younghyun is even awake to hear him, but he says it anyway. He runs over to Dowoon’s, and soon they’re pushing the little foldable cot Dowoon has for when his family is in town back to Sungjin’s apartment.

“Why didn’t I think of this?” Dowoon asks as they push the cot into the corner of Sungjin’s living room.

Sungjin shrugs. “I didn’t think of it either until now.” They pull it open, setting the mattress on top, and Dowoon sits down to test it out.

Younghyun sits up on the couch curiously, and Sungjin suppresses a smile. Done with pretending to ignore us, huh? Younghyun watches them over the back of the couch, and Sungjin notes with satisfaction that his ears have perked up, no longer lying back against his head.

Dowoon grins through a yawn when he notices Younghyun peeking over at them. “Keep it as long as you need,” he says as he gets up. “My family isn’t planning on visiting anytime soon because of the snow.”

Sungjin nods, patting him on the back. “Thanks, Dowoon.”

“No problem! See you guys tomorrow,” Dowoon says as he leaves, the apartment door shutting behind him.

Younghyun gets up and watches as Sungjin grabs his now abandoned blanket and pillows and lays them out on the cot. Sungjin turns to him, smiling encouragingly.

“This is for me?” Younghyun asks.

Sungjin nods. “I know it’s kinda small, but I thought it might be better than the couch—”

Sungjin’s words are cut-off by arms thrown around his neck, Younghyun hugging him tight. He tenses in surprise, before tentatively hugging back. Younghyun is warm from being wrapped in the blanket moments earlier, his fox ear brushing lightly against Sungjin's cheek. He smells nice, like something sweet Sungjin can’t place, probably the shampoo Dowoon had given him that was supposedly better for hybrid fur.

“Thank you,” Younghyun whispers. “For everything.”

Sungjin smiles as they pull apart. It’s strange. He doesn’t know why he’s become so invested in helping this stranger—or why he’s starting to care so much about him.

Sungjin watches as Younghyun sits on the edge of the cot hesitantly, as if it might break beneath him. He curls up on his side, the way he had been lying on the couch. Then he spreads out on his back like a starfish with a giggle, making Sungjin laugh too.

“It’s perfect,” Younghyun says, smiling up at Sungjin brightly.

Sungjin grins back. He’s pleased. Pleased that Younghyun is finally smiling, despite his eyes still being rimmed red from all the crying. Pleased that his tail wasn’t lying lifeless anymore, and instead lazily flicking against the mattress.

Pleased that Younghyun was happier—even if just for a little while—and that made Sungjin inexplicably happier too.

A few days later, Jae makes the hour-long drive to Eastcliff again. This time, he goes alone in the hopes that he would actually get a chance to speak with Kang Younghyun. He timed his arrival to get there right as the restaurant opened, and as he expected, the restaurant is empty. It’s only eleven in the morning, too early for most people to be eating lunch. As he walks in, the same waiter from the other evening is there, and his eyes widen when he sees Jae.

Jae holds up his hands to try and show that he comes in peace. “I just want to talk to him.”

“Talk to who?” Dowoon asks, but his voice cracks at the end, revealing that he most likely knows who exactly Jae is referring to.

“Is Park Sungjin here?” Jae asks instead.

Dowoon’s eyes narrow, but he calls Sungjin’s name into the kitchen. His eyes never stray from Jae, watching him carefully as if he expects Jae will try rushing past him into the back of the restaurant. Jae tries to look as innocent as possible, giving a reassuring smile. Dowoon doesn’t return it and instead narrows his eyes further.

Jae sighs. If he were Dowoon, he’d be suspicious too.

“What do you need,” Sungjin asks Dowoon as he comes out of the kitchen, but he freezes in the doorway when he sees Jae. The surprised expression on his face then morphs into careful neutrality.

“Hello, Detective,” he says.

“Hello, Mr. Park. I’d like to speak with Kang Younghyun.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Sungjin says. Jae has to give him props for keeping his voice steady, but he can tell Sungjin is lying from his body language. His hands are gripped into fists at his sides, and his eyes remain unblinkingly staring back at Jae.

“I know he’s here.” Jae does not in fact know that Younghyun is here, but he decides to take his chances.

“Where’s your partner?” Sungjin asks instead, ignoring what Jae had said.

Damn it. Why couldn’t it ever be easy?

“He’s not here, I came alone,” Jae says with a sigh. “Look, I’m not here to take him away. This is a missing persons case, and Kang Younghyun isn’t a criminal from what I can see at least. I just want to speak with him.”

There’s a beat of tense silence.

Then someone comes through the kitchen doorway, pushing past Sungjin, and Jae thinks he was probably listening in the entire time. He has the hat and jacket on again, same as the other night, but in the bright sunlight streaming in from the windows, Jae can’t blame it on the dim restaurant lighting playing with his eyes. His hunch had been right. This is Younghyun, the missing son of the Kang family.

“It’s okay,” Younghyun says to Sungjin and Dowoon, who turn to him with wide eyes. “I want to know what he has to say.”

Jae nods, relieved, and Sungjin jumps into action, gesturing to the empty corner booth furthest from the door. They sit down, Jae on one side, Younghyun on the other. Sungjin stands beside the table, hovering awkwardly, until Younghyun grabs his wrist and pulls him down to sit beside him.

Huh.

“I know you’re Kang Younghyun,” Jae says. “But like I said, I’m not here to take you back if you don’t want to go.”

“Why?” Younghyun asks, distrust clear in his eyes.

“Well, you’re not a minor, so technically you don’t have to go back. And you seem like you’re in the right state of mind, and not being held here unwillingly.” He raises an eyebrow to Sungjin at that.

Sungjin’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. “Younghyun can leave whenever, if he wants to.”

Jae nods decisively. “So, it’s your choice. Do you want to go back?”

Younghyun doesn’t take any time to think about it, replying immediately with a firm shake of his head.

“No.”

“Okay, that’s what I thought.” Jae toys with the napkin on the table. When he had debated coming to the restaurant, his instinct that something was off about this case was what had finally convinced him to try talking to Younghyun. But why was he so adamant about not going back? What was Jae missing?

Sungjin interrupts Jae’s thoughts with a question. “If you recognized him the other night, why didn’t you say anything?”

Jae smiles wryly. “As good of a detective my partner Mark is, he’s a really by the book kinda guy. Even though he would’ve agreed that you don’t have to go back, he would’ve filed a report to close the case on where we found you. And I don’t think that’s what you want.”

Younghyun’s eyes are wide.

“Look, I’ve been with the ACPD long enough to understand the politics of this place, okay? I know if the Kangs really wanted to find you, all they’d have to do is pull some strings at the station, and that report would magically drop into their hands. If you don’t want them to find you, I won’t file a report.”

Younghyun nods, hope shining bright in his eyes, and Jae feels like he’s making the right decision. For whatever reason, Younghyun doesn’t want to go back to his family, and Jae would rather go against the rules and red tape than let the people in power win once again. Especially when it seems like there’s an innocent life at stake here, caught in the balance.

“Don’t you have to close the case though?” Sungjin asks, his mouth twisted into a distrustful frown.

Jae shakes his head. “You’d be surprised how easy it is for a missing persons case to go cold. Especially for hybrids, I’ve seen it happen too many times.” He turns to Younghyun as he continues, “Plus, your parents only reported you missing a week after you disappeared. No one’s going to be surprised if we don’t solve the case.”

There’s a beat of silence and Jae glances between the two of them. Younghyun worries at his bottom lip, while Sungjin’s frown is now less intense as he mulls over Jae’s response.

“Why did they only report me missing after a week?” Younghyun asks, breaking the silence.

Jae shakes his head ruefully. “I wondered that too, and I honestly have no idea. Your parents said it was because you’d run away before and they thought you would come back, but a week seems way too long to me.”

“I’ve never run away before,” Younghyun says.

“I’m sorry,” Jae says gently. He can see the pain clearly in Younghyun’s eyes. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

They all go silent again and Jae watches them until his curiosity gets the best of him.

“Why did you run?” he asks.

Younghyun frowns, staring down at the table as if it holds the answers to the universe. He doesn’t reply. As the silence stretches on, Sungjin shakes his head slowly at Jae.

“Coffee?” he asks.

Jae nods, following as Sungjin beckons him over to the counter. “He doesn’t talk about it,” Sungjin says softly.

Jae raises an eyebrow. “You don’t know what happened either?”

“No,” Sungjin says with a shake of his head. He grabs a to go cup and starts filling it with coffee.

“Are you guys friends or something?” Jae asks.

Sungjin blinks in surprise. “I guess we are?”

Jae’s other eyebrow rises in disbelief. “So you only met him after he ran?”

“Yeah, found him in the alley by the restaurant.”

“You, sir,” Jae says, shaking his head slowly, “Are either a saint or a crazy person.”

Sungjin laughs, handing Jae the coffee. His eyes sparkle as they catch the light, and Jae is struck by the genuineness of his smile. Maybe a saint then.

“How much for the coffee?” Jae asks.

Sungjin shakes his head. “Take it, it’s on me.”

Jae slides his hand into his pocket, with Sungjin still shaking his head profusely, and drops the five-dollar bill he fishes out into the tip jar. “Here, take this too,” he says as he hands Sungjin his business card. “If you ever need anything, call me.”

 “Thank you,” Sungjin says with a nod. He bites his lip, his eyes flicking to the booth they had been sitting in. “And I know Younghyun is thankful too.”

Jae glances back at the booth at the mention of Younghyun’s name to see him with his head pillowed in his arms on the table, watching their conversation intently. Jae gives him a little wave as he turns to leave, and the corners of Younghyun’s lips tick up ever so slightly.

Not a full smile, but he’ll take it.

+++

A few days later, Jae looks up at a knock at his office door and his entire mood sours.

Jae frowns, hoping the disdain is clear on his face as he says, “Kim Wonpil.”

Wonpil seems undeterred by the not-so-welcoming greeting and grins brightly. “Good morning to you too, Detective!”

If Jae were to describe Kim Wonpil, annoying would be an understatement. He would show up at the station, regardless of whether they were even having a press conference, always asking questions the detectives couldn’t answer. Mark was now banned from even attending press conferences because one time, he had spilled pertinent case information under Wonpil’s questioning and they had lost their suspect because of it.

Wonpil leans against the doorframe, coffee in hand. Jae frowns. The cup he’s holding is the same as the ones they use in the police station’s kitchen. Now he’s a coffee thief too?

“What do you want?” Jae asks.

“The missing hybrid case, I’m interested.”

Jae tenses in surprise. How does Wonpil know about the Kang case? The Captain had given them strict instructions that only those involved in the investigation should know about it, especially not the media. Jae decides to play dumb.

“What missing hybrid?”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. “Come on, I have my sources. The Kang family’s missing hybrid son. Got any info you can share?”

Jae shakes his head. “I never have any info to share with you.”

“Tsk, can’t we let bygones be bygones, Detective?”

Jae sits back in his chair, feigning an air of nonchalance.

“How did you hear about the case?” he asks.

Wonpil grins, taking this as an invitation to take a seat in the chair on the other side of Jae’s desk. “If I tell you, will you let me in on it?”

Jae gives him a deadpan look. He shrugs in response.

“I can’t tell if that’s a yes or a no,” Wonpil says narrowing his eyes.

“Whatever, I change my mind, I don’t care how you found out about the case.” Jae sits up straight, pretending to go back to his emails.

Wonpil’s eyes widen and Jae has to suppress a grin. Gotcha.

“Okay, okay, I know about it because of Detective Lee,” Wonpil finally says.

Jae frowns—clearly Mark hadn’t learned his lesson about talking to Kim Wonpil.

“Now don’t go yelling at him or anything, he went to get me a cup of coffee, and perhaps I just happened to see the file sitting on his desk.”

“I could arrest you right now.”

“It’s not a crime to observe, Detective,” Wonpil says, eyeing Jae as he sips his coffee. “Besides, he wouldn’t say anything about the case, told me to come talk to you.”

Jae sighs. At least Mark had that much sense.

“Why are you so interested?” Jae asks.

Wonpil is quiet for a moment, eyeing Jae as if assessing him. “I think this case may be bigger than it appears,” he says eventually.

Jae frowns. What was that supposed to mean?

He could worry about that later though. If Wonpil were to write an article on this case, someone would surely find Younghyun. Or, Jae would get fired once someone discovered that he had already found Younghyun and didn’t file a report. Whichever came first. It’s only a matter of time once the media gets involved.

“At this point, we have nothing to share with you,” Jae says firmly.

Wonpil purses his lips. “Very well.” He stands up and digs in his pocket before dropping a business card onto Jae’s desk. “Call me if you change your mind.” He grabs one of Jae’s business cards from the holder on his desk. “And I’ll call you if I get any other information,” he says as he walks out of Jae’s office.

Jae stares at Wonpil’s receding figure down the hallway, wishing he could just read his mind. What other information?

As Jae goes about the rest of his day, he finds himself unable to concentrate, mulling over the conversation he’d just had. Despite the case being practically (but not technically) closed—the missing person had been found safe and sound—Jae has a growing feeling that they’re just scratching the surface of this mystery.

But then, as the days go by and there are no further leads, the case slowly gets pushed to the bottom of their pile. A robbery, a drug bust, a shooting. Somehow, they all end up taking priority. And no one ever comes asking about Kang Younghyun.

And as Jae expected, the case goes cold.

+++

As the days pass with no further contact from Detective Park, Sungjin finds himself relieved beyond measure. Not only on Younghyun’s behalf, but also, unexpectedly, for himself.

At first, Sungjin had been surprised by how easily Younghyun fit into his life. At the restaurant, Younghyun had easily picked up different tasks, and he could now even wait tables when they needed an extra person. He did whatever was asked with a quiet enthusiasm which Sungjin had expected would die down after the realities of working in a restaurant kicked in, but no, so far, Younghyun’s excitement over living a normal life was still going strong.

And despite how quiet he was, the rest of the team seemed to like him too, easily accepting him into their little family. They caught on pretty quickly that Younghyun didn’t talk much, so eventually, they just stopped asking him questions, waiting for Younghyun to share whenever he was ready.

And he actually did, with Sungjin at least. Younghyun would tell him about the books he had read and little things from his childhood. Sungjin found out that he had been homeschooled and had gotten his degree in literature from home as well. That seemed strange to Sungjin—it seemed like Younghyun’s family were dead set against him interacting with the outside world.

Even the apartment felt a little warmer by having another person there. Sungjin hadn’t thought of himself as a lonely person, but having someone to share even the most mundane things with somehow everything just a tiny bit brighter.

And suddenly, Sungjin can’t imagine his life without him.

+++

After Younghyun reads every book Sungjin owns (mostly cookbooks and biographies of chefs that people had gifted him), Sungjin asks Younghyun on one of their days off if he’d like to go to the library. Sungjin can’t say he’s much of a reader—he only flicks through the cookbooks when he wants to try something new, and he’s never even touched the biographies—but seeing Younghyun’s surprise and excitement at the offer was enough for him.

The local library is small, really just an old house with the interior walls knocked down and bookshelves put up. Despite this, Younghyun’s eyes widen when they walk through the doors.

“It’s not as big as some of the others in the county, but I thought it would be safer to stay in Eastcliff,” Sungjin says.

Younghyun nods, trailing his fingers along the spines of the children’s books by the door.

“Anything specific you want to read?” Sungjin asks.

“Anything I haven’t read before,” Younghyun says, walking further into the library. The librarian at the front desk glances up as they pass by and gives them a smile before going back to what she was doing.

They roam the library for a while, sharing things that look interesting and laughing over funny children’s books. Younghyun’s eyes shine in a way Sungjin hasn’t seen before; it’s fascinating to see a person’s passion written out so clearly on their face. Sure, while working in the food industry, Sungjin had met a lot of people who were crazy about food, but that joy was usually dampened by the realities of actually working in the industry. Younghyun has this unrestrained happiness by just being at the library, and it has Sungjin feeling an ache, like he wants to find his own passion again.

When Sungjin tells Younghyun he doesn’t read much, Younghyun recommends him a book of short mystery stories he had read before. Meanwhile, Younghyun ends up finding a book he’s interested in.

“My father didn’t have any books where the characters are hybrids,” Younghyun says, staring at the cover with wide eyes—it features a drawing of a wolf hybrid.

Sungjin frowns. He remembers reading books with hybrid characters for school when he was younger, and even some written by hybrid authors. They weren’t rare by any account—whatever books Younghyun had access to before had purposely excluded anything about hybrids. It made sense, in a convoluted way. If Younghyun’s family was hiding the fact that hybrids could live out in the world freely, they wouldn’t want him to learn the truth from a book.

“Come on,” Sungjin says, walking back to the front desk.

Younghyun follows, holding the book to his chest tightly.

“Hello,” Sungjin says to the librarian. “Would you happen to have any recommendations of books written by hybrid authors?”

The librarian smiles at them. “Of course! Follow me,” she says, and leads them to the fiction section. “Any genre you prefer?”

Sungjin glances at Younghyun.

“Anything,” Younghyun says. “Whatever you recommend.”

“Well, my favourite is romance,” she says with a teasing smile. “But I don’t think you boys would be interested in that.”

Sungjin finds his cheeks warming up. He glances at Younghyun from the corner of his eye, but he’s just smiling, seemingly unaffected.

Younghyun shrugs, the smile still on his face. “Anything you think I’d like then,” he says.

“Okay,” the librarian says as she pulls two books off the shelf. “This one’s a mystery, and this is one of my favourite romances. Give them a try.”

Younghyun nods, thanking her. She coos over how nice it is to see young people at the library, and the two of them end up in an animated conversation about the benefits of reading. Sungjin trails behind with an amused smile on his lips. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Younghyun talk this much with someone he just met. Hell, Younghyun has only recently started saying more than a few words to Dowoon, and they’ve known each other for weeks now.

As they checkout, the librarian says, “Let me know what you think of the books, dear!”

Younghyun nods, a bright smile on his face. Sungjin feels like he could come to this place everyday, if it makes Younghyun this happy. Once they get outside Sungjin notices a new dessert place he had been meaning to try across the street.

“Wanna get dessert?” he asks on a whim. Despite the snow, he could go for some ice cream.

Younghyun wrinkles his nose. “My mother would say you shouldn’t ruin your appetite before dinner.”

“I didn’t ask what your mother would say,” Sungjin says, rolling his eyes. “I asked if you wanted dessert.”

Younghyun looks surprised for a second, and he pauses on the sidewalk. He stares at Sungjin as he thinks. “Okay,” he says finally, a smile slowly growing on his lips. “Let’s get dessert.”

Sungjin grins, pulling Younghyun across the street.

And so, Sungjin’s now much less lonely life rolls on. The two of them go to the library every week, and Younghyun becomes Sungjin’s trying-new-restaurants buddy (for research purposes of course, definitely not because Sungjin wants Younghyun to try all the foods he’s never gotten to eat before), and Sungjin surprisingly finds that reading is not so bad.

And with every smile or laugh Sungjin gets from Younghyun, he swears his heart beats just a tiny bit faster.

A month passes in the blink of an eye, and Younghyun realizes that at some point, home in his mind is no longer his bedroom or the library back at the estate. Before, those places had been his place of solitude, his safe haven. He would spend hours on end there reading or daydreaming, imagining he went to school with his siblings, or imagining what kind of job he could have.

His life has changed in such a short period of time, a complete 180 from before, and Younghyun’s mind still reels sometimes when he thinks about it. He has settled into his new routine now: working at the restaurant, going to the library on days off, and spending most of the time in between with Sungjin and Dowoon, and the rest of the team at the restaurant.

His friends.

Home is no longer the estate—home is Sungjin, the apartment, Dowoon, and the restaurant.

Younghyun smiles as he wipes down glasses at the counter, preparing for the dinner rush, wondering what restaurant Sungjin would want to visit on their next day off. Younghyun hadn’t even heard of some of the foods Sungjin had gotten him to try before. He makes a mental note to ask Sungjin if they can go back to the burger place they went to weeks ago. He’s in a burger and fries kind of mood this week.

The bell rings, announcing the arrival of new customers, and Younghyun looks up to see someone enter that makes him rush away from the counter, his heart jumping into overdrive. He freezes as he enters the kitchen, unsure of what to do. Should he run outside? Or hide here? He hesitates long enough that Sungjin glances up at him and stops what he’s doing, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

“I’ll be back,” he tells Jaebeom, who nods, glancing between them for a second before turning back to his work. Younghyun is pulled back into reality by Sungjin’s arm on his, guiding him into the office, and sitting him down in the armchair in the corner.

“Breathe, Younghyun,” Sungjin says, kneeling in front of him.

Younghyun focuses in on Sungjin’s face. Was he not breathing properly? He follows Sungjin’s deep breaths and it helps, his mind clearing enough to warn Sungjin about who had come in.

“Governor Seo is here,” Younghyun whispers urgently. He needs to get out of here, who knows when the Governor would figure out that he was hiding in the back of the restaurant.

Sungjin blinks in surprise. “Oh, is he here again?”

Younghyun feels like he had been in a speeding car and the driver just hit the breaks, his racing thoughts screeching to a halt.

“Again?” he asks.

Sungjin nods. “He’s been here a few times before you came. He told Sunmi last time that he likes our food and that he’s been recommending our place to his friends.”

Younghyun blinks, the words taking a while to sink in. So it was possible that Governor Seo wasn’t here to take him away. He was just here for dinner?

Sungjin watches Younghyun, his eyes searching. “Did you know him?” he asks tentatively. “From before?”

Younghyun nods.

“Did he see you?” Sungjin asks, his eyes widening.

“I don’t think so,” Younghyun says. His voice shakes but he forces it to be steady. Calm down, he’s not here for you. “I saw him as soon as he walked in and ran back into the kitchen.” Younghyun feels a bead of sweat drip down his forehead and wipes it away quickly, but Sungjin notices, frowning in concern. He reaches up to pull off Younghyun’s hat and Younghyun makes a noise of protest, ducking his head away.

“It’s okay, I locked the door,” Sungjin says. He moves for the hat again, hesitating for a moment before Younghyun lets him ease it off his head. Younghyun runs a hand through his sweaty hair, letting out a relieved breath as he pushes it off his forehead. Sungjin goes to crack open the window, and Younghyun lays his head back against the chair, blinking up at the ceiling. His mind starts to clear, his heart rate easing as the cool breeze blows against his cheek, ruffling the fur of his ears. Younghyun lets out a frustrated breath. He doesn’t know whether he should laugh for assuming that the Governor was here for him, or cry in relief that he wasn’t. Either way, he feels stupid. Of course, it was possible that Governor Seo was just a customer at the restaurant. He was the Governor of this area, so he would probably pass through Eastcliff for work regularly.

“I’ll make sure he leaves, okay?” Sungjin says as he walks over to the door. “Stay in here, Sunmi is off today so no one should come in.”

Younghyun nods slowly. He feels useless—all he can do is watch while Sungjin tries to help him.

“I’ll take you home as soon as I can, okay?” Sungjin says.

Younghyun nods again, gazing up at him. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“For what?” Sungjin asks, turning back in surprise.

“For causing you trouble.”

Sungjin comes back to kneel in front of Younghyun again. “Listen, I made the choice to help you, okay? You never have to apologize for that.” He smiles. “Besides, I think the trouble’s kinda worth it.”

That makes Younghyun smile back, even though his eyes sting with tears.

+++

Younghyun thinks as he brushes out his tail later that evening—his mind has been cycling through thoughts ever since he was in the restaurant’s office. Sungjin had come and checked on him a few times, but Younghyun had pretended to be asleep, curled up on his side in the armchair. Afterwards, on their drive home, Sungjin had seemed to notice that he didn’t want to talk, and instead turned up the radio and hummed along to the music.

He realizes that he's lucky that he met Sungjin, of all people, when he had run away. It could have easily been anyone, and he doubts that anyone else would have shown him the same kindness, at least not on the first meeting. Younghyun glances over at Sungjin; he’s sitting on the couch, watching something on TV. When they had gotten home, Sungjin had let Younghyun shower first, and after Younghyun had finished, there had been a cup of tea waiting for him on the table.

Sungjin was always offering him something, and Younghyun feels like all he ever does is take.

Younghyun decides he owes him this much. Sungjin has given him everything—a home, food, a job. He has even spent his free time with Younghyun for more than a month now, and has never asked for anything in return. The least Younghyun can give him is an explanation for all of this. And of all the people Younghyun has met so far in his life away from the estate, Sungjin is the one he trusts the most to keep his secret.

“Sungjin?”

“Yeah?” Sungjin replies, turning away from the TV.

“Can we talk?” Younghyun asks.

“Okay.” Sungjin gets up with wide eyes as Younghyun walks past him to the kitchen, sitting down at the table.

Younghyun takes a deep breath, steeling himself for what he’s about to say. After keeping everything a secret for so long and keeping his mouth shut whenever anyone asked about his past, it felt wrong to be letting it out without prompt now—but he knows he can trust Sungjin with this.

“Have you ever heard of Kang Jinsang?” he asks, hedging around revealing everything in one go.

“Yeah, he’s that big lawyer, right?” Sungjin says, looking confused by the unexpected question. “I saw on the news that he’s running for mayor.”

Younghyun nods. You can still stop now, his mind screams at him. Younghyun grips the armrests of his chair tightly, searching Sungjin’s face for any sign that he shouldn’t continue.

But all he sees is Sungjin—the person who saved him from the alley, the person he’s come to know so well. The person he has come to trust completely.

“He’s my father.”

Sungjin’s eyes widen in surprise and he sets his cup of tea down on the table. Younghyun goes on to tell him everything—about how he was raised separately from his siblings, kept inside at all times, his only friends his tutors and the books in his father’s library.

“But why?” Sungjin asks, his forehead wrinkling. “There’s no reason for hybrids to have to hide.”

Younghyun shakes his head ruefully. “I’ve been wondering the same thing.”

Sungjin looks pensive, worrying at his lip. “So that’s why you ran?” he asks. “To be free?”

Younghyun laughs shakily. “That was just a side benefit I guess.” He runs his finger along the side of the table, not sure if he can go any further. The lump in his throat has grown—he might just choke on his words if he continues. Sungjin doesn’t press further upon the extended silence. Instead, he gets up and shifts his chair so he’s sitting beside Younghyun instead of across from him, holding out his hand on top of the table. Younghyun takes it gratefully, holding on tight as if it’s his lifeline.

Younghyun finally looks up from the table after holding onto Sungjin’s hand for what seems like an eternity. His hand is sweating, it must be uncomfortable, but Sungjin doesn’t let go. And Younghyun doesn’t think he can let go yet either.

He has to continue—he’s gotten this far.

He takes another steadying breath and starts recounting what had happened on the night he ran away. He can’t look at Sungjin beside him, so he stares at their joined hands instead. Younghyun tells him that they’d had a visitor for dinner that evening, and what had nearly happened after that.

Sungjin swears softly.

Younghyun continues with how he had escaped, walked through the forest until he reached Eastcliff, and finally arrived at the restaurant. After he’s done speaking, Younghyun continues staring at their hands in a daze. Now that the words are out, he can’t take them back. But then Sungjin tugs on Younghyun’s hand to get him to turn and look at him, and Younghyun blinks in surprise at the look on his face. Sungjin’s eyebrows are drawn together, his lips pressed into a line. He looks angry.

“Who was it?” he asks, a dangerous tone in his voice. “Who hurt you?”

Younghyun shakes his head, looking away again. He had purposely avoided mentioning Governor Seo’s name. If the Governor was a regular at the restaurant, Sungjin couldn’t know about this. It would just put Sungjin in danger.

Sungjin’s hand tightens around his. “Was it him? Is that why you were so scared today?” His voice cracks as he makes the connection. “Governor Seo?”

The look on Younghyun’s face must be enough confirmation because Sungjin swears again. He lets go of Younghyun’s hand and instead drags him in for a hug, holding him tight. Younghyun holds him back, and that’s when the tears start. It’s like the floodgates have been lifted, and there was no closing them now.

“I’m sorry,” Sungjin says. “I’m so sorry. I should have sent you home with someone right away after what happened earlier.”

Younghyun shakes his head into his neck. “It’s okay,” he breathes. “You didn’t know. I really was okay with waiting in the office.”

Younghyun had never expected that there would be a time where he would feel safer being around people, after spending so much of his life alone. But today, being in the restaurant’s office and hearing the familiar voices of Sungjin and Jaebeom on the other side of the door, had been strangely comforting.  He wouldn’t have wanted to wait at the apartment alone.

Younghyun pulls away once he stops crying, but Sungjin doesn’t let go, keeping one arm around him. Younghyun drops his head onto Sungjin’s shoulder. It’s as if all of his energy had drained away with every word he spoke, completely exhausting him. Younghyun closes his eyes. He’s not sad, which is surprising. He thought he would be, but he’s more relieved. After keeping the secret for so long and pretending not to be affected whenever his father appeared on the news or someone mentioned the Kang family, he could finally just stop and be open. No more secrets, at least around Sungjin. A weight he didn’t known he was even carrying has lifted from his shoulders.

“Do you want to go to bed?” Sungjin asks after they sat there for a while in comfortable silence.

“Not yet,” Younghyun says. “Tell me something funny?”

Sungjin lets out a surprised laugh and his breath tickles Younghyun’s fox ears, making them twitch.

“Okay. You want ice-cream?” Sungjin asks, and Younghyun nods, a smile pulling at his lips. It’s past midnight; was there any time Sungjin wasn’t ready for dessert?

And so, it’s while eating ice-cream at midnight at the kitchen table, with Sungjin telling Younghyun the story of how he nearly blew up the kitchen at culinary school, that Younghyun concludes that he wants to stay by Park Sungjin’s side forever.

+++

Wonpil frowns, tapping his finger against his desk as he stares at his phone. It’s been a month since he went to the police station and saw the case file on Detective Lee’s desk, and nothing. Not a call, or an email—nothing. Maybe they had found the Kang boy and Detective Park had decided not to let him know?

He frowns. He thought he’d finally had a lead in this case, the one that’s been occupying a space in his mind for years. He has his theories in place, he just needs some proof.

After Wonpil had gone to the police station that day, he had come back to the newspaper office and gone all the way down to the archives in the basement. He searched old articles, birth announcements, anything that would help develop a family tree for the Kang family. What he found was that there wasn’t a single hybrid in their bloodline, at least not in the last four generations. Just like the other powerful family he had researched in the past. It just wasn’t biologically possible for a hybrid to be born into the Kang family.

But this wasn’t definitive enough. They could always say that there had been an affair in the past, anything that would introduce hybrid genes into the line. To prove it, he would need to get a paternity test, and no one would agree to that—especially not these families that prided themselves in their secrecy.

Wonpil sighs and turns back to the article he had been working on about the number of potholes in Whitebridge. He rolls his eyes. He’s desperate to report on something important, something that would make a difference. So much for Investigative Reporter, Kim Wonpil. All he ever gets to investigate and report on are so inconsequential it hurts.

Leave the investigating to the police, his boss would say.

Then why’d you give me this title? Wonpil screams internally in reply.

Wonpil tries to reread the paragraph he had been writing earlier, but he finds himself going over the same sentence on repeat. He groans, leaning back in his chair. An idea was forming in his mind, but he wasn’t sure if anything would come of it. And when he’d seen the case file on Detective Lee’s desk, the red “CONFIDENTIAL” stamp had blazed loud and clear. He bites his lip, opening up the forum he had found years ago. Missing Hybrids.

Before he can rethink it, he types a post which reads:

*NOT A MISSING CHILD* 21-year-old male fox hybrid reported missing in Acton County.

That’s it. He decides not to add any other information in case the detectives find out he leaked information about the case. He crosses his fingers as he hits post.

Please let this lead to something. Anything.

The new year rolls around, and with it the Winter Fair in town. Sunmi insisted that they all make a trip out of it and open the restaurant for dinner only that day so that the entire team could go together. Sungjin had begrudgingly agreed—it wasn’t normal to just not open the restaurant for lunch and they’d be losing customers—but Sunmi insisted that team building was important. So, Sungjin bundles Younghyun up in a toque and scarf so that only his eyes and nose peek out, just in case someone happens to recognize him, and they all head to the centre of town for the fair.

When they get there, everyone splits up to go to the various games and food stalls. Sungjin shakes his head with a smile. So much for team building. The fair is buzzing with people despite it being a weekday, and the air is filled with laughter and excited voices. Dowoon links arms with Younghyun, pulling him to the games to try and win some prizes. Sungjin frowns slightly—he can’t help feeling a twinge of something at the ease with which Dowoon gets close with Younghyun.

“Ooh, someone’s jealous,” Sunmi says, a teasing grin on her face.

Sungjin spares her a glance before walking towards the drinks stall to buy some hot chocolate. It’s cold.

“Come on, don’t ignore me,” Sunmi says in a sing song voice. “You know it’s true.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sungjin says, but his eyes betray him as he finds himself scanning the game stalls for Younghyun and Dowoon. He finds them at the ring toss, Younghyun concentrating on throwing the rings while Dowoon bounces excitedly beside him. He gets one of the rings over the bottles and they hi-five in excitement. Sungjin can’t help but smile too.

Sunmi rolls her eyes. “You,” she says, “Are hopeless.” She pulls Sungjin along—in his distraction he hadn’t realized that the line had moved up considerably.

“Not just you, the both of you,” she says. Sungjin raises his eyebrows. “I mean you already live together, just kiss already and make it official.”

Sungjin’s eyes widen and Sunmi laughs, pulling him along again as the line moves up. They make it to the front and Sungjin orders hot chocolate for the four of them. He adds extra marshmallows for Younghyun’s.

“Come on Sungjin, I’ve known you long enough to know when something is up. Heck, everyone at the restaurant has you two figured out.”

Sungjin ignores her. For as long as the two of them have been friends, Sunmi has always been persistent—but that has only made Sungjin an expert at pretending he doesn’t hear it. He focuses on walking steadily so that the hot chocolate doesn’t spill.

“Dowoon told me that you and Brian go to the library every week.” She twists to try and catch Sungjin’s eye. “I think I’ve only seen you pick up a book that wasn’t for school once—and it was a cook book!”

Sungjin sets the tray down on a nearby picnic table, sitting down. Sunmi plops down across from him eyeing him carefully.

“I also heard that you two go out for dinner regularly,” she says. “Now if all this isn’t the definition of dating, I don’t know what is.” Sungjin doesn't respond, and she lets out a huff when the silence stretches on.

“Are you just gonna stay silent? Hello, earth to Sungjin,” she says, waving a hand in front of Sungjin’s face.

“I can hear you.”

“Then say something!” She takes her hot chocolate from the tray, taking a sip.

He sighs, stirring his own drink. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“You have feelings for Brian.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Oh, come on, it can’t be that complicated. It’s obvious you both have feelings for each other.”

Sungjin looks up abruptly at that.

“What, don’t look at me like that,” she says. “You’d have to be dense not to notice the way he looks at you.”

Sungjin’s eyebrows furrow. Was that true? How exactly did Younghyun look at him? Sungjin’s eyes stray from Sunmi to look for Younghyun again, but it has become too crowded. Sungjin feels a pang of fear and has to tell himself to relax. Younghyun was with Dowoon; he’d be fine.

And that’s why it was complicated. As much as Sungjin has slowly realized over the past few months that he maybe-possibly-very-much has feelings for Younghyun, he was on the run, hiding from his family. And Sungjin couldn’t help feeling that acting on his feelings would be wrong.

But if Younghyun has feelings for him too?

Sungjin brings himself back from that train of thought. There was no sense in hoping for the impossible.

Dowoon comes running up to the table soon after, pulling Younghyun along with one hand and a big pink teddy bear in the other.

“Look what we won,” he says with a grin, setting the bear down on the table. The boys sit down, breathless from running through the crowds. Sungjin passes them their hot chocolate, making sure Younghyun gets the one with the extra marshmallows.

“Let’s ride the chairlift after this,” Dowoon says, sipping on the hot chocolate with a relieved sigh at the warmth.

“Oh yes, good idea! I’ll text the others to meet us there,” Sunmi says as she picks up her phone. “This is excellent team building material.”

Sungjin rolls his eyes fondly.

“What’s a chairlift?” Younghyun asks.

Dowoon points upward in response, and Younghyun’s eyes widen when he sees the wires overhead with a chairlift sliding past slowly.

“But how is it team building if we can only ride in pairs?” Younghyun asks, his head tilted upward to watch as people rode by overhead.

“Shh, just trust me,” Sunmi says as she types out a message on her phone. She glances up to see Younghyun still staring up at the chairlift. “It’s fun! I promise.”

“If you’re scared you don’t have to,” Dowoon says.

Sunmi gets up, sliding her phone into her pocket. “Come on, you’ll be fine, Brian.” She grins, tossing her empty cup in the trash. “Sungjin will hold your hand.”

Sungjin freezes and Dowoon laughs silently from behind Younghyun, his shoulders shaking. Younghyun looks surprised for a moment too, but then he gives Sungjin a small smile as Sunmi drags them all towards the line for the chairlift ride. When they arrive, the rest of the team is already there, handing out the tickets they had bought for everyone. When they make it to the front of the line, Sunmi shoves Sungjin and Younghyun to the front.

“These two together, please,” Sunmi says to the employee.

Sungjin turns to glare at her and notices not only Dowoon, but Jaebeom snickering too behind his hand. He frowns, making a note to have a word with them later. Younghyun, thankfully, seems unfazed, looking more nervous about going on the ride than anything.

“We can still make a run for it,” Sungjin whispers.

Younghyun turns to him with a determined look on his face. “No, I can do this,” he says, squaring his shoulders.

Sungjin smiles. That’s one thing he’s come to admire about Younghyun: his determination to try new things, even if it’s only once, just to experience them for the first time. Even if he was scared.

They sit down in the chairlift, the employee pulling the bar down over their laps and giving the safety instructions. She steps away and the lift jerks into movement, and Younghyun lets out a squeak of surprise, gripping onto the bar tightly. Sungjin imagines that if he didn’t have a hat on, his fox ears would probably be flat against his head right now.

Sungjin nudges Younghyun’s shoulder with his own and holds his hand out, palm up. Younghyun glances at him with wide eyes and Sungjin’s heart thuds in his chest. He curses Sunmi internally—he was totally going to be rejected on this stupid chairlift. But before Sungjin can take back his hand, Younghyun smiles and threads their fingers together. Sungjin grins back slowly, relief filling him. Even through their gloves, he swears he can feel the warmth of their joined hands, and it spreads quickly until even his face feels warm in the chilly air.

The lift moves higher, approaching the point where they would start passing over the rest of the fair. “Don’t let go,” Younghyun whispers earnestly, his grip on Sungjin’s hand tight.

“I won’t,” Sungjin promises. He squeezes Younghyun’s hand in reassurance.

The ride is nice. Sungjin has been on it every year because of Sunmi, so he can’t say the view in itself is anything new for him. But this, riding it with Younghyun, was different. He finds himself glancing at Younghyun instead of watching the view, as he looks over everything with wide eyes. Younghyun smiles partway through the ride, turning to face Sungjin.

“I’m not scared anymore,” Younghyun says, his cheeks flushed pink from the cold. Despite this, he doesn’t let go of Sungjin’s hand, and Sungjin isn’t complaining. He isn’t going to be the one to let go either—Sungjin has never been one to go back on his word, and he had made a promise not to let go.

And somehow, they end up holding hands for most of the morning. Even when they’d let go to eat, or play a game, they would always find each other again. Somehow, it just felt like it was meant to be.

Sungjin wonders if it was possible to be addicted to holding someone’s hand, because he thinks he is—to holding Younghyun’s hand specifically. And even though Sunmi and the others shoot them teasing glances every so often, Sungjin is too happy to care.

+++

Younghyun watches Sungjin silently later that day at the restaurant. Thinking.

He leans his chin on his hand, his elbow resting on the table. Holding hands with Sungjin had felt nice, he has to admit. Everything about Sungjin made him feel nice. He was warm and safe, always kind and considerate. Younghyun wants to be around Sungjin at all times, if he could. Was that normal for friends? He frowns in frustration. He has nothing to compare this feeling to—all he had before was his family and the staff at the estate, and he could safely say what he felt now was different from how he had felt towards each of them. Younghyun looks up, distracted for a second as Dowoon walks into the kitchen.

Younghyun would definitely say Dowoon is his friend. Sure, Dowoon would sometimes take Younghyun’s hand to drag him someplace, or rest his head on Younghyun’s shoulder, but it was different with Sungjin.

Younghyun just doesn’t know if he can explain how it was different.

Sungjin looks up then, meeting Younghyun’s eyes, and he smiles, his eyes crinkling into crescents. Younghyun can’t help but smile back, butterflies fluttering inexplicably in his stomach.

Younghyun thinks about it late into the night as he curls up on the cot, unable to fall asleep. Sungjin was definitely his friend, in a way. A friend like Dowoon and Sunmi and all the others, but somehow, Sungjin was more than that. Sungjin with his warm smile and gentle teasing. Sungjin who always knew how to make him laugh.

Younghyun likes Sungjin, a lot. Maybe, more than a friend a lot.

A smile spreads across his face slowly, and Younghyun buries his face in the pillow. Was this really what it was like to have a crush? The books had it right, but experiencing it for himself was different.

And so much better.

+++

After the success of the Winter Fair trip, Sunmi decided that team building was great for morale and that it would be a good idea for the team to have more meetings offsite, somewhere outside of the restaurant. Sungjin had suggested that they could all go to the movies and have their meeting afterwards during dinner.

Sunmi seemed to have other ideas though.

And that’s how they find themselves trudging through the park in a deep layer of snow. They had all received a message from Sunmi the night before to meet at the park at 9 a.m. for an urgent meeting. Well, it didn’t explicitly say urgent, but she had used twelve exclamation marks (Younghyun had counted) so they were pretty sure it was something important.

“You know, when she said offsite this isn’t exactly what I expected,” Dowoon grumbles, trying his best not to let the snow get into his boots.

Sungjin nods with a sigh. “She’s up to something, I can feel it.”

Younghyun finds he doesn’t mind it though. He likes the snow, and the trees look pretty with the layer of snow and ice coating them. Younghyun breathes in deeply, the crisp air filling his lungs, and can’t help but smile. Sungjin nudges him then, interrupting his thoughts, and Younghyun’s heart does an involuntary stutter.

“This is where we came that first evening, remember?” Sungjin says. “When you asked me if you could work at the restaurant.”

Younghyun grins. “I remember,” he says, and it makes him happy that Sungjin remembers too. A rush of confidence fills him and he nudges Sungjin back gently. Sungjin’s eyes sparkle in the sunlight as he smiles, and Younghyun can’t help but stare. Dowoon says something then, and Younghyun looks away quickly, realizing he had been looking at Sungjin for too long. Act normal, he berates himself. Just because you realized you have a crush—it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t mean you can turn into a character from a romance novel.

They make it to the playground, and Sungjin takes Younghyun’s arm, pulling him to the swings. It’s strangely nostalgic, being here again. The last time, they had been strangers. And now—

Now, Younghyun doesn’t know what he’d do without Sungjin.

They sit down on the swings and Dowoon settles down on a bench nearby. “No one’s even here yet,” Dowoon says with a sigh.

“We live the closest, Dowoon,” Sungjin says as he starts to swing slowly. “They should be here soon.”

Jackson and Jaebeom arrive a few minutes later, followed by Sunmi, and then they wait a few minutes for a few other stragglers.

“Okay!” Sunmi says with a clap of her hands once everyone arrives. “Thank you all for coming here today.”

She goes on to talk about the schedule for the next month, new additions to the menu for Valentine’s Day, and the promotions they were planning on offering. Once she finished, Dowoon yells out from his spot on the bench, “Why’d we have to have this meeting in the park though? It’s freezing, and we could’ve done all this indoors.”

“Ah, excellent question, Dowoon,” Sunmi says, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. “Now that business is out of the way, I can let you know the real reason we’re in the park.”

Younghyun glances at Sungjin to see if he knows anything, but he just shrugs in response, looking as confused as everyone else.

“Jackson?” Sunmi calls. “Since it’s the end of January, the snow will be melting soon. Don’t you all think it would be a shame to let that go to waste?” Jackson runs over and places something white in her hands.

“What—” Sungjin starts asking, but is cut-off by something hitting his chest.

A snowball.

Everyone goes silent and then Dowoon jumps up from the bench hollering: “Snowball fight!” and then all hell breaks loose. The team must decide that this is a once in a lifetime chance to get to attack Sungjin, and start lobbing snowballs in their direction. That, or Sunmi told them all to go for Sungjin first. Either is possible, but by sitting next to Sungjin, Younghyun inevitably gets hit by all the snowballs that miss their mark. He stands up, lifting his arms up to cover his face and laughing as numerous snowballs are pelted towards them. They don’t even have a chance to make any of their own and defend themselves through the continuous onslaught of snow. Sungjin turns around so that the snowballs are hitting his back instead of his face, trying to gather enough snow to retaliate. He lets out a huff when a snowball hits him in the back of the neck and turns to grab Younghyun’s hand.

“Come on,” Sungjin says, running in the direction of the slide, and crouching under it for cover. Sungjin’s eyes are crinkled in amusement, his cheeks and nose a rosy shade of red. “I should have seen that coming,” he says with a grin.

Younghyun grins back. But then he notices that Sungjin is close—really close. The slide isn’t very big, and only a few centimetres separate them. Younghyun finds himself frozen, staring into Sungjin’s eyes. Somehow, they’re even prettier like this.

Younghyun wants to close the distance between them.

Wait—

What?

Get a hold of yourself, he tells himself. He had always been fine with being close to Sungjin—they had held hands for hours just the other day at the fair. He could do this.

“Have you ever made a snowball before?” Sungjin asks, interrupting his thoughts.

Younghyun shakes his head, all words still gone from his mind.

“This is how you do it.” Sungjin gathers snow between his gloved hands, squeezing it into a ball until it stays together. “Don’t make it too tight though, because it’ll turn into ice, and getting hit with that would hurt.”

Younghyun nods, and Sungjin places the snowball in his hands, peeking around the side of the slide. “There she is,” Sungjin says, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Wanna get revenge?”

Younghyun smiles slowly, finally broken from his strange urge to—he doesn’t even know what to Sungjin. He watches from around the side of the slide, waiting for Sunmi to stop walking. Once she does, Younghyun throws the snowball as hard as he can, and Sungjin lets out a whispered cheer as it hits her in the arm. Sunmi whirls around in surprise and Younghyun's eyes widen—he'd been caught. He ducks back behind the slide, his heart racing.

“Brian!” she calls. “I know it was you! I recognized the hat—you know I’m the one who gave that to Sungjin.” Her voice gets louder as she stalks closer to the slide.

Sungjin winces. “Stay here.”

Younghyun goes to grab him, but Sungjin walks out from under the slide. “It was me,” Sungjin says. “Brian was just watching.”

Sunmi rolls her eyes. “It’s only a snowball fight, Sungjin. You don’t have to protect your boyfriend.”

Younghyun freezes.

Did she say boyfriend?

Suddenly, the way Sunmi had offered up Sungjin to hold his hand at the fair made a lot more sense. But did she just think that they were dating, or did she know something Younghyun didn’t? He chews on his lip as Sungjin turns to meet his eyes. He doesn’t look annoyed at Sunmi like Younghyun had expected. Instead, he seems nervous, his eyes wide.

Why would he be nervous?

Was this why Dowoon was always complaining about Sungjin being extra nice to Younghyun? Did he get special treatment?

Did Sungjin like him too?

They stare at each other for a few moments, neither of them daring to speak a word, the sounds of laughter and shouting of the snowball fight still going on in the background. But then, Younghyun notices Sunmi creeping up behind Sungjin, and before he can give a shout of warning, Sunmi shoves a snowball down the back of Sungjin’s coat. He yelps in surprise, whirling and trying to get the snow out, but it must have gone inside his shirt because he winces and squirms as it slides down his back.

Everyone else has given up on the snowball fight now, and have gathered around to laugh over Sungjin and Sunmi’s antics—Younghyun is pretty sure he sees Jackson recording a video on his phone. It is kind of funny, but Younghyun imagines how it would feel to have snow down his back, and that has him jumping up to help Sungjin unzip his coat so he can get the snow out.

Then Younghyun puts a snowball in Sunmi’s hood and lifts it over her head. Sunmi shrieks with laughter, shaking the snow out of her hair and cat ears as she runs after Younghyun.

What was that saying again? Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Younghyun stands in the kitchen, whisking together eggs and milk as Sungjin had instructed him. They were making French toast that morning—to fight the winter blues, Sungjin had said. Younghyun eyes Sungjin from the corner of his vision as he cuts the toast into even slices.

Younghyun had been observing Sungjin closely over the last few weeks ever since the snowball fight. Did he really treat Younghyun special? Or was it all in his head? Had that look during the snowball fight meant anything? But nothing had seemed to change between them since then—they still worked together at the restaurant, went to the library every week, tried out different restaurants together—the same as always.

But there were some things Younghyun found that Sungjin did for only for him—buying new hats so he didn’t have to wear the same one all the time, making breakfast every morning without fail (even if Dowoon did show up half the time to steal some), and he even got Younghyun a phone just in case they ever got separated. Was all of this enough proof? Sungjin was a nice person to everyone though, so Younghyun couldn’t tell if this was all just normal Sungjin nice, or I like you nice.

Should he just ask?

But what if Sungjin only thought of him as a friend and he ruined everything?

“That’s good,” Sungjin says, interrupting Younghyun’s thoughts. He takes the bowl and dips a slice of toast in it, placing it on the pan. He has one piece made when Dowoon comes by.

Dowoon tries to go for the first piece of French toast, and Sungjin slaps his hand away. “First come, first serve,” Sungjin says. “That one’s for Brian.”

Dowoon frowns and goes to make coffee instead. “First come first serve my ass,” he grumbles. “Just admit he’s your favourite.”

Younghyun glances up from his cup of tea—there it was again. Dowoon was always saying things like that lately, that Younghyun was Sungjin’s favourite, that Sungjin liked Younghyun the best. Younghyun watches Sungjin for his reaction, but he just ignores Dowoon and keeps cooking. His reaction was the same as usual, too. Sungjin never agreed to it—but he didn’t deny it either. Younghyun bites his lip.

Was he really Sungjin’s favourite? And if so, did that mean anything?

Dowoon sits down at the kitchen table and pouts, his dog ears drooping down against his head. Younghyun takes pity on him and gives him the piece of toast. It’s fine, Younghyun was planning to wait for Sungjin to be done cooking before eating anyway.

The French toast is good—of course it is, everything Sungjin makes is good. Younghyun pushes his hair out of his face in annoyance as it falls into his eyes for the millionth time.

“You need a haircut,” Dowoon says.

Sungjin nods in agreement. “But he can’t exactly get a haircut while hiding his ears.”

“Hm, that’s true.”

Younghyun blows his bangs out of his eyes.

“Hey, I can do it!” Dowoon says, his face brightening. “I have a pair of clippers and hair-cutting scissors that I bought ages ago.”

Sungjin raises his eyebrows, sipping on his coffee. “Have you ever cut hair before?”

“No, but I’ve been meaning to!” Dowoon says with a grin. “I’ve watched a lot of tutorials online. Let me go get my stuff.” He runs off before Younghyun can even get a word in.

“Do you trust him to cut your hair?” Sungjin asks, a doubtful look on his face.

“It is annoying when it gets in my eyes,” Younghyun says with a shrug, finishing the last bite of his breakfast. “And it’s not like anyone sees my hair except you two.”

Sungjin frowns at that, a frustrated look in his eyes.

“It’s okay, though,” Younghyun adds on hastily. “I don’t mind that.”

“You still shouldn’t have to hide that you’re a hybrid,” Sungjin says, his frown deepening. “You deserve better than this.”

Younghyun’s heart warms, and he can’t help but smile. “It’s okay,” he says. “I’m happy.”

Sungjin’s face softens. “I’m glad,” he says, slowly returning Younghyun’s smile.

Those damned butterflies are back, fluttering around Younghyun’s stomach. This has been happening increasingly often lately—anytime Sungjin said something nice or did something sweet, the butterflies would decide that it was time to have a party. Younghyun is glad he just finished eating, as he doesn’t think he has an appetite anymore. They stare at each other, and Younghyun wills Sungjin to say something that would prove that he wasn’t imagining it, that Sungjin liked him more than a friend. But then the tension is broken by Dowoon rushing back into the apartment, and Sungjin looks away, his cheeks flushing.

Younghyun lets out a breath of frustration as Dowoon pushes him into the bathroom and instructs him to sit on the edge of the bath tub. Sungjin raises his eyebrows when Dowoon has to read the instructions to get the clippers to turn on, but he doesn’t say anything. Younghyun doesn’t think he cares at this point if Dowoon messes up his hair, blowing at his bangs again. Now that he has the idea of short hair in his mind, he just wants it gone.

Dowoon goes at it for a few minutes—Younghyun can’t see the results, but it must be bad because Sungjin keeps making faces.

“I’m sorry but I can’t watch this anymore,” Sungjin says, pushing Dowoon aside and taking the clippers from his hand.

“What?” Dowoon says defensively. He looks back to Younghyun with an assessing gaze. “It looks fine.”

“It looks like you took a lawn mower to his head.”

Younghyun laughs. He kind of wants to see it now.

“Can I try?” Sungjin asks, and Younghyun nods. It can’t get any worse, right?

He soon realizes that he should have said no—not because Sungjin is bad at cutting hair, but because he stands really close, staring down at Younghyun’s hair in a way that makes him feel self conscious. Had Dowoon stood this close too? Younghyun can’t remember. And with the way Younghyun is sitting on the tub, he’s left staring straight at Sungjin’s stomach, so Younghyun looks up instead. Big mistake. His heart picks up when his eyes land on Sungjin’s mouth as he chews on his lip, trying to figure out how to fix whatever mess Dowoon made of his hair. Younghyun wonders what it would be like to just—

“Have you ever cut hair before?” Dowoon asks, sounding bitter about getting his job taken away. Younghyun lifts his gaze from Sungjin’s lips guiltily and looks at his eyes instead. No more fantasizing.

“Yeah,” Sungjin says absently, his eyebrows furrowed as he starts clipping the hair on the side of Younghyun’s head. “Shaved all my hair off when I was in culinary school.” He has one hand on Younghyun’s chin to guide his head in the right direction, and Younghyun feels like his heart might beat right out of his chest.

“You had a buzzcut?” Dowoon asks incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“But why?” Dowoon stares at Sungjin’s head as if trying to imagine it without his head of fluffy hair.

Sungjin shrugs. “It was annoying when it got long, and I had to keep it up for classes anyway so it wouldn’t end up in the food.”

Dowoon squints, and then he closes one eye as if that will help him visualize it better. “Nope,” he says after a moment. “Can’t see it. Got any pictures?”

Sungjin snorts. “Ask Sunmi, she has plenty. I think she thought she could blackmail me with them or something, but I really don’t care. Sometimes I even miss it.”

Younghyun wonders if he’ll be the one with the buzzcut at the end of all this.

But if Sungjin is the one who cuts it, he doesn’t think he’d mind.

Sungjin steps back after what feels like an impossibly long time to Younghyun, but was probably only several minutes of alternating between clipping, changing the settings on the clipper, and using scissors to carefully get around Younghyun’s fox ears. Dowoon nods begrudgingly.

“Okay, you did make it better,” Dowoon says. “But it’s only because you have experience!”

“Uh huh, sure,” Sungjin says.

Younghyun gets up to look in the mirror and has to smile. There are some spots where Dowoon clearly went too short and Sungjin wasn’t able to fix it, but it actually looks good. It’s kind of sad that no one else would get to see it. “Thank you,” he says, turning to Sungjin and meeting his eyes. Sungjin grins back, and Younghyun blinks a few times as they end up staring at each other again, feeling his face flushing with warmth.

Dowoon leaves the room with a huff muttering something about people being impossible.

+++

With February comes that strange transition period in the air. White pristine snow changes to muddy slush as if the weather can’t decide whether it wants to let spring take over, or maintain the cold of winter.

Younghyun had been waiting for something—a sign, a word from Sungjin, something to prove completely and without a doubt how Sungjin really felt. But nothing was really conclusive. And Younghyun was getting sick of waiting.

Younghyun chews on the inside of his cheek. It’s just him and Sungjin in the kitchen at the moment—the restaurant had closed an hour ago, and everyone else had already left. Something that Sunmi said earlier that day has also been echoing through his mind, and along with the fact that she called them boyfriends that day at the park, Younghyun is itching to get to the bottom of this.

He’s not sure whether it’s the tiredness of working all day, or the fact that Sunmi kept calling February “the month of love” that pushes him past the line of no return.

“Sunmi asked me what we’re doing for Valentine’s Day,” he says as nonchalantly as he can manage, despite the butterflies’ return to flying around his stomach. Younghyun watches carefully for Sungjin’s reaction.

Sungjin freezes mid wipe of the counter and clears his throat. He doesn’t turn to face Younghyun, but his eyes shift to look at him from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah?”

Younghyun nods and stands up from the table, moving to stand beside Sungjin. He starts wiping down the counter again, this time with a seeming vengeance.

“I said we’re not doing anything, and she said she thought making us go on the ride together at the fair would work.”

Sungjin still doesn’t look at him. “She should mind her own business,” he says.

Younghyun bites his lip. Was he wrong? He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this. He puts his hand over Sungjin’s, stopping him from his furious scrubbing of the counter.

Sungjin finally turns to look at him. “But what if I do want to do something?” Younghyun asks hesitantly.

Sungjin’s eyebrows fly up. “For Valentine’s Day?”

Younghyun nods. “Yeah,” he says, tugging on Sungjin’s hand nervously. “Well, not necessarily Valentine’s day specifically. But any day.” The cleaning cloth lies forgotten on the counter, although the counter was already spotless ages ago.

Younghyun stares into Sungjin’s eyes, his heart beating so fast that he doesn’t know how he’s even getting the words out anymore. “I think—” Younghyun pauses to take a steadying breath. “No, I know I like you a lot, Sungjin. More than a friend a lot.”

Sungjin is quiet, staring at Younghyun with wide eyes.

“And I think you like me too,” Younghyun says. He bites his lip when Sungjin doesn’t reply right away, but he doesn’t take his hand away either, so that’s (hopefully) a good sign. “Am I right?” Younghyun asks softly, his voice weak now that he’s made his confession.

He hopes he’s right. He hopes Sunmi knew something he didn’t. He hopes he hasn’t ruined everything.

Sungjin smiles then, the bright one that reaches his eyes, and Younghyun’s heart stutters. Sungjin nods, ducking his head down.

“Was it obvious?” he asks.

Younghyun lets out a laugh, throwing his arms around Sungjin’s neck in a tight hug. He thinks he might cry out of relief as he presses his face into Sungjin’s shoulder. For a moment there, he had thought he had ruined everything. All those weeks of worrying and all he had to do was ask. He probably has to thank Sunmi after this. And Dowoon.

“I only really figured it out after Dowoon kept complaining that I’m your favourite.”

Sungjin pulls away with a smile. “Well, that is true. You are my favourite,” he says.

Younghyun feels giddy with relief—he wants to laugh, no, he still wants to cry. Or maybe both at once. They stand there smiling at each other, and Younghyun feels like he’s floating on the clouds. But there’s something niggling at the corner of his mind, that other thing he’s still curious about. Something he’s never done before. Something he’s been imagining at inopportune moments since that moment under the slide when Sungjin was so close and he just wanted to close the distance—

“Kiss me?” he asks, pulling on Sungjin’s hand again so he’s forced to step closer.

Sungjin laughs in surprise, he’s eyes sparkling with amusement.

“I want to know what it’s like,” Younghyun says. “Only if you want it too, of course,” he adds hastily, feeling his cheeks heat up. Sungjin has probably kissed tons of people before.

Sungjin’s eyes widen when he realizes that Younghyun is serious. “Would this be your first kiss?” he asks.

“Well, I haven’t really had anyone I wanted to kiss before, so yes.”

“Okay,” Sungjin says with a huff of laughter. “No pressure then.” He stares at Younghyun for a moment longer as if waiting for him to change his mind, but Younghyun just smiles, tugging on his hand again. Sungjin smiles back and leans closer slowly. Younghyun’s curiosity gets the better of him and he’s about to surge forward to meet Sungjin halfway, when Sungjin lets out a pained noise—Younghyun’s cap had hit him square in the forehead.

Younghyun laughs, rubbing at Sungjin’s forehead as he turns the cap backwards on Younghyun’s head.

Sungjin’s eyes are crinkled with amusement, a smile on his lips. “Do I get a second chance?” he asks.

Younghyun grins back and nods. Sungjin leans forward again, his hands resting on the counter on either side of Younghyun. Younghyun watches as he tilts his head to the side, so he follows, tilting his head the other way, his eyes fluttering shut.

It’s just a light brush against his mouth, really, and Younghyun thinks he likes the feeling. But then it’s over way too quickly.

“Again?” Younghyun breathes before Sungjin can pull away too far.

Sungjin grins and kisses him again, his hand coming up to cup Younghyun’s cheek. He pulls Younghyun closer with his other hand, making their bodies bump together, and Younghyun wraps his arms tightly around Sungjin’s neck. He feels warm all over, altogether maybe even too hot, but he presses closer anyway. The feeling of Sungjin against him, solid, real, and his, has him feeling dizzy, but he doesn’t want it to stop.

+++

Things change after that, but not really. Their routine stays the same—life continues, weeks fly by, but now the days are peppered with soft kisses, whispered words of affection, hands locked.

The others at the restaurant figured them out pretty quickly. Sunmi walked into the restaurant kitchen one day just as Younghyun’s was giving Sungjin a kiss on the cheek. She let out a yell, making the entire team gather in the kitchen for what was, as she called it, a momentous occasion.

Sungjin had turned as red as a tomato but Younghyun had just grinned the entire time, he had Sungjin, his friends, this place, how could he ever complain?

The first time they walked into the library with their fingers loosely twined together, the librarian gave a squeal of excitement, making Younghyun jump in surprise and the other patrons look over in concern. She said it was about time and Younghyun had just looked at Sungjin, a grin spreading across his face. He liked that everyone else seemed to know from the beginning, even if it had taken Younghyun and Sungjin some time to figure it out themselves.

+++

His family appears on the news a few weeks later, and Younghyun frowns. He realizes he hadn’t thought about them in a while—it’s been what, five months now? Five months since he left, five months since his life changed completely. Sungjin glances at him when he leans forward in his seat, listening carefully.

“Your family?” he asks, more for confirmation really. They’ve talked about Younghyun’s family a lot now, ever since Younghyun told Sungjin about everything that had happened.

Younghyun nods. As per the reporter, April meant it was time for the elections, and his father was running for mayor of Acton County. His mother and siblings all stand by, smiles plastered onto their faces. Not long ago, he had been a part of that—however small of a part he played. Sungjin’s hand comes to rest on his back reassuringly.

“You look nothing like them,” Sungjin muses after a few moments.

“Of course, because they’re all regular humans, and I’m a hybrid.”

Sungjin frowns, shaking his head. “No, I mean, even your face.”

Younghyun is about to reply when Governor Seo appears on screen, encouraging everyone to vote. His eyes widen, and Sungjin reacts fast, switching off the TV.

“I think that’s enough of the news for today,” he says, drawing Younghyun gently back against him.

+++

Wonpil glances at his phone when a notification of an email pops up. His eyes widen when he reads where it was from: the missing hybrids forum. Someone had replied to his post.

Truthfully, he had forgotten about even making the post. He logs in with shaky fingers and sure enough, there’s one comment under his post:

Sorry, I know this post is months old, but I am just seeing it now. I was wondering if there have been any updates on the missing fox hybrid?

Wonpil frantically types up a reply. No updates, he’s still missing. Do you have any information?

A few hours later he receives a reply that makes him jump up from his seat and start pacing his office.

My son was a fox hybrid. He disappeared not too long after he was born, 21 years ago.

Wonpil’s heart pounds as he types up a reply. It doesn’t feel right to be talking about this for anyone to see on a public forum. Please email me. He writes, putting in an email address he rarely uses.

The commenter emails soon after.

Jae startles awake at the sound of his phone ringing. He grabs it, squinting through the brightness. Who could be calling me at, he glances at the time, six freaking a.m.? And on his day off at that. He tries to see if he recognizes the number, but he can’t place it.

“Hello?”

“Morning, Detective! This is Kim Wonpil.”

Jae groans internally, falling back onto the bed. “What do you want?”

“Tsk, Detective, why do you always think I want something?”

“Well, it’s true isn’t it?”

Wonpil sighs and goes silent for a moment—Jae can tell he’s stalling.

“Okay, don’t get mad at me, but I need you to check your emails,” he says finally.

Jae blinks a few times in confusion. It’s way too early in the morning to be dealing with Wonpil’s nonsense. “You emailed me something? Then why’d you have to wake me?”

“I didn’t email you.”

“Then who?”

“Please, can you just check for me?”

Jae groans, out loud this time, and rolls out of bed. Clearly Wonpil wasn’t going to leave him alone until he checked his emails. Jae holds his phone between his cheek and shoulder and grabs his police department issued laptop, booting it up. Sure enough, there’s a new email at the top of his inbox, received just a few minutes ago.

“Yeah, I got one.” He reads the sender’s name and frowns. “Port Union Police Department? What is this?”

“I’ll explain everything, can you just check if there’s a video file attached?”

Jae opens up the email.

Hello Detective Park,

Here is the video, as discussed on the phone. I hope it helps with your investigation.

Jae narrows his eyes at the screen. “What the hell is this, Wonpil? Did you impersonate me to obtain evidence?”

“I’m sorry, Detective! I had no choice; they wouldn’t give it to me otherwise!”

Jae shakes his head, dropping his laptop onto the bed to run a hand over his face. Was this really happening right now? This was a new low, even for Kim Wonpil standards. “I honestly should arrest you right now, you’re a menace to this police force—"

“No! Please, let me explain,” Wonpil says, cutting Jae off. “It’s related to the Kang case!”

Jae freezes—now that’s got his attention. How could this have any relation to the Kangs? Port Union was on the other side of the country.

“This is important, I swear. Come to my place and I can explain everything,” Wonpil says, sounding desperate. Jae’s eyes narrow, staring down at the email still open on his laptop. Wonpil was invested in this for some reason—and he won’t deny that he’s curious about how this could be related to Kang Younghyun.

“You can’t tell me over the phone?” Jae asks.

“It’s too complicated, it’d be better if I showed you.”

“Fine, this had better be good.”

+++

A few hours later, Jae knocks on Wonpil’s apartment door. He doesn’t have to wait very long—it swings opens a few moments later, and Wonpil stands there with that stupid mischievous grin on his face.

“Hello, Detective! Come in,” Wonpil steps to the side and Jae walks in with a sigh. Why was he doing this again?

“Can you make this fast? I’m wasting my day off for this,” Jae grumbles.

“Trust me, Detective, this won’t be a waste of your time.” Wonpil gestures to the kitchen table and Jae takes a seat, glancing around the one-room apartment. It’s smaller than he had expected.

“Surprisingly,” Wonpil says, setting a mug of coffee in front of Jae, “Working for the biggest newspaper in Acton County doesn’t pay very much.”

Jae nods in understanding. Being a reporter might seem like an exciting job on the surface—following leads and trying to be the first at the next big story. But truthfully, in Acton County, in a city like Whitebridge, the newsworthy events were few and far between—leaving reporters like Wonpil lucky to even keep their jobs.

Jae picks up the coffee in front of him gratefully, taking a slow sip.

“So,” Wonpil says, sitting down across from Jae.

“So?”

“Can I see the video?” Wonpil asks, bouncing his leg impatiently.

“No way, you’re explaining yourself first. I’m not sharing confidential evidence for nothing.”

Wonpil sighs. “Fine. Let me start from the beginning.”

+++

Wonpil had just gotten his job at the Acton County Post, fresh out of university, when he had been sent out to investigate his first story. To be fair, it was regarding a series of car robberies in one of the upscale neighbourhoods of Whitebridge—and not the theft of actual cars, but of the items inside them. Someone was breaking in and stealing GPS devices, sunglasses, iPods—whatever items people had innocently left in their vehicles overnight—truly not an important case in the grand scheme of things, but it was a big deal to Wonpil. His first story, and it was an actual crime. How intriguing.

Wonpil had gone door to door, asking people if they had any experience with their valuables being stolen from their cars, jotting everything down in his notebook. And then, as he walked up to the biggest house on the street, he squared his shoulders before knocking. This house belonged to one of his old friends from high school, Park Jinyoung, and his father also happened to be the chief at the biggest hospital in Acton County. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

He had always known he would need to speak with powerful people as a reporter, but that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.

They’re normal people, just like you, he told himself, just as the door opened to reveal Mrs. Park, Jinyoung’s mother.

“Hello, Mrs. Park!” Wonpil said cheerfully. His tension eased a bit—Mrs. Park had always been kind. He wasn’t sure if she would actually remember him, but that wasn’t going to curb his enthusiasm. “My name is Kim Wonpil.”

“Yes, of course,” she said with a smile. “I remember you, dear.”

Wonpil grinned, pleased. “I’m a reporter for the Acton County Post now, and I’m investigating the car robberies in this neighbourhood. Have you heard anything about them?”

“Actually, yes, my car was broken into last week!”

“Can you tell me what you remember about it?”

“Well, I’ve already told everything to the police, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get it out on the news so other people can be warned,” she said. “Please come in! Have a seat.”

Wonpil went inside, glad to get out of the scorching heat. While Mrs. Park left him in the sitting room to get him a drink, Wonpil’s eyes roamed around the large sitting room. For as long as he’d been friends with Jinyoung, Wonpil had never actually stepped foot inside his house. When his gaze reached the wide staircase leading up to the second floor, he jumped in surprise when he met someone else’s eyes: a girl, her face peeking at him from between the bars of the railing on the staircase.

She sat on the stairs, brown ears atop her head.

Wonpil waved at her after his initial surprise faded away and beckoned her over, but she shook her head no, staying firmly put. He squinted to see better at the staircase shrouded in shadows. The shape of her ears wasn’t like those of a cat or a dog, but definitely something familiar. Mrs. Park’s footsteps echoed from down the hallway and the girl’s eyes widened. She got up and ran up the stairs and Wonpil was able to catch a glimpse of her tail: it was short, the top brown, and the bottom pure white.

A deer hybrid? Did such a thing even exist?

Wonpil’s musings were interrupted by Mrs. Park returning to the living room with a glass of lemonade. They discussed the case, and right before Wonpil was about to leave, his friend Jinyoung came through the front door. They chatted for a few minutes, catching up on how they were doing. When there was a lull in the conversation, Wonpil asked, as casually as he could, “Hey, I saw a girl earlier, who was that?”

“Oh, just my sister,” Jinyoung said, waving his hand dismissively and changing the topic back to how his job at a big law firm was going.

Wonpil had frowned all the way back to the newspaper office. He had been friends with Jinyoung for years. And he had never once mentioned having a sister.

+++

Jae blinks, a frown pulling at his lips. “I really thought something more interesting was going to come of that story.”

“That was interesting!”

“You saw a deer hybrid and your friend lied to you. So what?”

Wonpil rolls his eyes. “I’m getting there, okay?”

+++

After that, Wonpil found himself thinking about the girl often. He searched the internet for hours for anything about deer hybrids but came up empty handed.

And then, during a shower one day (where the greatest ideas are usually born) he wondered whether this was even biologically possible—for a hybrid to be born to non-hybrid parents. He conducted more research. Apparently, it was rare but not impossible for it to happen, if there had been another hybrid in the last three generations. After that, hybrid genes were lost among human genes.

So, he looked into Jinyoung’s family tree. It wasn’t very hard because the Park family had lived in Whitebridge for years, and were one of the founding families of the city. But Wonpil was puzzled again when he found not a single hybrid in their bloodline.

Maybe the girl was adopted? Or there had been an affair in the Park family with a hybrid in the last three generations?

Wonpil’s curiosity was so strong that one day he sneaked over to their house and kept watch from his car. He rationalized it as research for the car robbery article, but truthfully, he didn’t look at any cars at all. Instead, he watched the Park’s front door.

Everyone came and went, except the girl.

After a few days of this, he changed his tactics. She had to go outside sometime.

So, he sneaked through the ravine behind the houses, and peered through the fence.

+++

“I’m sorry, but that is beyond creepy,” Jae interrupts, a deadpan look on his face.

“Okay, I’ll admit I’m not proud of myself. But past me was obsessed with this case!”

“Seems like you still are,” he says with a quirk of his brow.

Wonpil’s mouth snaps shut, he has no witty reply for that—it is kind of true. So, he continues his story.

+++

Wonpil waited behind the house for hours, and nothing. He came back on his next day off, and after hours of the same, he was about to give up. But then, in the afternoon sunlight, she came outside. Wonpil watched through the gaps between the slats of the fence as the girl walked through the garden, raising her hand to brush against the rose bushes.

“Hey,” he called as loud as he dared. The girl turned in the direction of his voice in surprise.

Wonpil stood on his toes and waved his hand frantically, and to his relief, she noticed, her eyes widening upon seeing the tips of Wonpil’s fingers over the top of the high fence. She glanced back at the house before walking over and sitting down cross legged in front of the fence.

“What’s your name?” Wonpil asked.

“Sooyoung,” she said.

“Nice to meet you, Sooyoung. I’m Wonpil.”

“I know. I remember,” she said. “The reporter.” From this close, Wonpil could just see a narrow line of her through the fence, a sliver of her face.

“Are you really Jinyoung’s sister?” he asked, and he could see her nod in response.

“Have you—” Wonpil paused, considering how to word this. “Have you always been his sister?”

Sooyoung looked confused, but she nodded again.

“You’ve always lived here?” he tried again. Maybe she had lived somewhere else before, and that’s why Jinyoung had never mentioned her?

But Sooyoung nodded once more.

Huh. If she had been here all along, why had he never known?

Time for his next question. How was it possible for a hybrid to be born to the Park family?

“Were you adopted?” he asked, and Sooyoung’s eyes widened in surprise. She shook her head slowly, and Wonpil sat back on the ground, leaning on his hands. He was out of ideas.

“Are you writing another article?” Sooyoung asked.

This time Wonpil shook his head. “No,” he said ruefully, “Sometimes I’m just too curious for my own good.”

She smiled at that. “Curious about me?”

“Jinyoung and I are friends from school,” Wonpil said with a nod. “He never mentioned you though.”

Sooyoung didn’t seem surprised. “That’s just how it is,” she said softly.

“How what is?”

Wonpil didn’t get to hear the answer to that though, as a voice interrupted them, calling out into the backyard.

“Sooyoung! Dinner is ready.”

Sooyoung jumped up to leave.

“Nice meeting you, Wonpil,” she said with a smile, before running back to the house.

Wonpil sat there bewildered. Somehow, he now had more questions now than when he’d started.

+++

“Huh,” Jae says.

“Sound familiar?” Wonpil says, nodding slowly. “The Kangs are on the news all the time, the entire family at times, and never once has Kang Younghyun been there. It’s like he never even existed until he went missing.”

Jae purses his lips in thought. It’s true, everything Wonpil said about this girl, Sooyoung, lines up eerily well with Younghyun. Rich family, neither of the parent’s hybrids, kept hidden from the world. If Younghyun was a secret like Sooyoung, that would explain why there were no pictures of him, why they waited a week to report him missing, and why the Captain had been adamant that the case remain confidential.

“If he’s a secret though, why even come to the police?” Jae asks.

Wonpil shrugs. “I was wondering that too. The only thing I could think of is that maybe they tried finding him themselves and failed, so they had to get the police involved because they wanted to find Younghyun before their dirty little secret got out.”

Jae nods slowly—he has to agree that Wonpil’s reasoning makes sense.

“I looked into the Kang family tree too, and it’s the same situation. Not a single hybrid in the line. It’s simply not biologically possible for him to have been born into that family,” Wonpil says. “So, I started thinking, if Sooyoung and Younghyun weren’t born into these families, they had to come from somewhere, right?” Wonpil’s voice speeds up in excitement. “And that’s how I found this forum.” He turns his laptop to face Jae.

“Dozens of posts about missing hybrid babies and children in the country, almost always a rare type.”

Jae’s eyebrows rise as he scrolls through the page. “You think there’s some kind of black market for rare hybrid children?”

“That’s exactly what I think. And it gets better,” Wonpil says, practically vibrating in his seat now to get all the words out. “Don’t get mad at me, I know the case is confidential, but I made a post on the forum.”

Jae’s heart sinks. “About Kang Younghyun?” Had someone found him?

Wonpil nods. “I got a response from someone who said their son was a fox hybrid, and that they disappeared 21 years ago.”

Jae’s eyes widen in surprise. That’s not what he had been expecting.

“I can’t show you the post because it got taken down now, violated the rules of the forum or something,” Wonpil says. “But her name is Lee Hwayoung. She said that after her son went missing, the police weren’t able to find much and the case went cold. Ever since then, she’s been a regular to the forum, providing solidarity to those going through the same thing, and keeping an eye out for anything about her son.”

Jae sits back in his chair, taking it all in.

“She sent me this too,” Wonpil sets his phone down on the table and pulls up a photo.

“That baby has a lot of hair.”

Wonpil snorts. “Is that really the first thing you notice.”

Jae shakes his head with a smile. Of course, he noticed the fox ears atop the baby’s head. They were kind of hard to ignore—but without the hybrid ears, all babies kind of looked the same to him.

Wait. Jae pulls out his phone and opens up the picture he had taken of Younghyun from the family portrait at the Kang estate.

“You have a picture of him?” Wonpil asks, indignation clear in his voice. “Why wasn’t this in the file?!”

Jae grins. “Confidential case, remember?”

He sets his phone down beside Wonpil’s, glancing between the two pictures. As expected, it’s hard to pick out the features of a newborn baby. But there was one glaring similarity—the fox ears were the exact same colouring, coppery red on the edges, the insides a shade of cream, a bit of black on the tips.

“It’s possible,” Jae says.

Wonpil nods, his eyes flicking between the two phones. He looks up at Jae abruptly. “So, the video?”

Jae sighs. Wonpil has held up his end of the deal—and it does seem like they may have a real case here.

“You’re still in the wrong for impersonating me, don’t think I forgot about that,” Jae says as he pulls out his laptop. “How did you even get them to send this?”

“I told the truth mostly,” Wonpil says with a shrug. “That we have a missing fox hybrid case and found out they’d had one in Port Union, and could they please send any evidence they had from back then.”

Jae shakes his head. “I can’t believe they just agreed.”

“What can I say,” Wonpil says with a grin, “I am an excellent sweet talker.”

Jae huffs and decides to ignore that. He opens up the email again and clicks on the attachment, hitting play. It’s a grainy black and white video and they both squint to understand what they’re seeing. The camera shows the parking lot of a hospital, and a woman walks into view, holding a baby. Jae moves closer to see, but the baby has a hat on—they can’t see whether it has fox ears.

Two men walk up, and one of them takes the baby. He lifts the hat off the baby’s head, and it’s unmistakable, the tiny ears peaking out of the baby’s hair.

“It’s him!” Wonpil says excitedly.

Jae chews on his lip in thought. While this video could be helpful, he doesn’t think they’d have any luck identifying the kidnappers either. The woman and two men all have their hoods up, and it’s hard to catch any identifying features. The black and white graininess of the video doesn’t help.

Wonpil sighs dejectedly, sitting back in his chair after the video loops a few times. “I thought we were getting somewhere with this video, but we still have zero real proof.”

The gears turn in Jae’s mind.

“What if we get a paternity test done?”

Wonpil blinks in confusion. “That would prove who the biological parents are, yeah.”

Jae nods. “If the results are positive, and Lee Hwayoung is the biological mother, it should be enough to open up an investigation.”

“But how would we get a DNA sample from Kang Younghyun? Isn’t he still missing?”

Jae smiles. “Leave that to me.”

+++

Jae sits in a booth at Sungjin’s restaurant a few hours later, watching as Sungjin returns from the kitchen with Younghyun in tow. He’s still covering up his fox features—a baseball cap on his head, and this time a loose plaid shirt over his t-shirt.

“Hello, Detective,” Younghyun says, sliding into the booth.

“Hello again.” Jae smiles slowly as he reads Younghyun’s nametag. “Brian, huh? It suits you.”

Sungjin laughs. “That’s what I said too!”

Younghyun just smiles, shaking his head. “Sungjin said you had something to ask me?”

Jae nods. “It’s nothing to worry about,” he says, noting Sungjin and Younghyun exchanging a worried glance. Jae pauses, unsure of how to word this. “Have you ever had any reason to believe that the Kangs aren’t your biological parents?” he asks cautiously.

Younghyun’s eyes widen in surprise.

Okay, apparently not then.

“Someone came forward saying that their child, a fox hybrid, went missing twenty-one years ago,” Jae says. He pulls out his phone and shows them the picture of Lee Hwayoung’s baby.

“You think that’s me?” Younghyun asks quietly. Sungjin glances between the picture and Younghyun.

“Possibly. But that’s what I came here to ask you.” Jae pulls out the DNA swab from his bag, laying it on the table.

Sungjin stares at it, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “You’re gonna get a DNA test done?”

Jae nods. “Only if you want to, of course.”

Younghyun is silent, but Jae can practically see the gears turning in his head.

“If you’re right, it would explain a lot,” Sungjin muses. He glances at Younghyun and rests a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Jae glances between the two of them—the action seems strangely intimate.

“If you need time, I can come back another day—” he starts.

“No, I’ll do it,” Younghyun says, cutting Jae off. There’s a determined set to his jaw, his back held straight. “I want to know if it’s true.”

Jae is strangely impressed—this Younghyun is very different from the nervous and fearful boy he met months ago. After Younghyun swabs his cheek, they sit there talking for a few minutes, and Jae can’t help but smile. It seems like Younghyun has been able to move on from whatever made him run away and has created a better life for himself. Jae feels even more strongly now that he made the right decision by letting him remain missing.

“Do you really think it’s possible?” Younghyun asks with wide eyes. “That my family… isn’t my real family?”

Jae purses his lips. “At this point, we can’t be sure,” he says. “But it seems likely.” Jae doesn’t know how much he should share. While this isn’t an official investigation, he doesn’t want to give Younghyun any false hope either. “I’ll let you know when we get the results," he says finally. "It should take one to two weeks.”

Younghyun nods in response.

“Coffee?” Sungjin asks, already getting up from the booth.

Jae accepts gratefully. It’s nearly midnight, but he still has an hour’s drive back to Whitebridge. Unlike last time, Younghyun makes the coffee, and Sungjin goes back to the kitchen, returning with a cookie in a paper bag.

“Hope you like chocolate chips,” he says.

Jae takes a bite of the cookie. “Oh, what the hell,” he groans out. “This is so good.”

Sungjin grins and Younghyun slides in next to Sungjin, handing Jae his coffee.

“He likes feeding people,” Younghyun says.

Sungjin and Younghyun’s eyes meet for a second and they exchange a fond smile. Jae glances between them, his eyes narrowing. A smile of his own curves up his lips.

Gotcha.

“You two make a good couple,” he says.

“Thank you,” Younghyun says almost immediately, looking pleased. Meanwhile, Sungjin’s eyes go wide and a pink flush steals over his cheeks.

“Are we that obvious?” Sungjin asks with a sheepish smile.

“No, but you are talking to one of the best detectives in Acton County here,” Jae says, puffing out his chest.

Younghyun laughs at that, while Sungjin just rolls his eyes.

“Next time you come here, you should actually stay for dinner,” Sungjin says. Jae can tell he’s changing the subject, but he goes with it anyway.

“For sure,” he says. “I’d love to. Have a good night.” Jae is still smiling on the way out the door when he notices a car parked on the other side of the road. Huh. He could have sworn it had been there when he’d first arrived as well, and it had been nearly an hour since then.

Jae shakes it off. Probably just someone who ran out of parking spots in the lot. Jae jumps into his car and sets off on his drive back home, mission accomplished.

+++

Later that night, Younghyun sits down beside Sungjin on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. Sungjin reflexively puts an arm around him—this has been their regular spot after work lately, watching whatever is on TV and unwinding before it was time for bed. Younghyun curls into Sungjin’s side, resting his head on Sungjin’s shoulder.

“Want some?” Sungjin asks, pressing a piece of popcorn against Younghyun’s lips.

Younghyun opens his mouth with a huff. No, he hadn’t really wanted some, but he takes it anyway since he’s basically being force fed. Younghyun stares up at Sungjin, watching him and waiting to get his attention.

“Why are you staring?” Sungjin asks after a moment, looking down at him with a frown. “Do I have something on my face?”

Younghyun smiles slowly. “No.”

“You have something you wanna say?”

Younghyun’s smile grows—Sungjin knows him too well now. He sits up properly. “What if these people actually are my parents?” he asks.

Sungjin blinks in surprise but doesn’t respond, waiting for Younghyun to continue.

“What should I do?”

“Whatever you want to do,” Sungjin says, tossing some more popcorn into his mouth.

Younghyun bites his lip. “What if they want me to come live near them? Detective Park said they’re from Port Union, that’s really far.”

Sungjin puts the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table, his expression going serious. “Like I said, you can do whatever you want, Hyun. Whatever will make you happy.”

Younghyun chews on his lip. “Okay,” he says, wrapping his arms around Sungjin’s torso and resting his head on his chest. This is hard, he doesn’t know what he wants.

“What would you do if I left?” he asks softly. Sungjin’s fingers card through Younghyun's hair and stroke the backs of his fox ears.

“Guess I’d spend all my vacation time coming to visit you.”

Younghyun smiles burrowing into him further. “Really?”

“Yeah, really,” he says with finality. “I want you to be happy, Younghyun, and if Detective Park is right and that’s with your birth parents, then you should do it.”

“Okay,” Younghyun says, mulling on it.

The drama on the TV continues, and Younghyun’s eyes start to fall shut, lulled by the background noise and Sungjin’s fingers stroking his ears. Whoever these people were, they would be strangers. They knew nothing about him—all they had would be shared DNA.

Whatever will make you happy.

But what if he already is happy?

“If they ask me to move there, I won't,” Younghyun murmurs. “I’ll stay here.”

Sungjin’s hand stills in his hair. “Are you sure? You don’t have to decide now.”

Younghyun pulls away again and turns to face Sungjin. “I have a few reasons to stay.”

Sungjin eyebrows rise in surprise. “Oh, really?”

Younghyun nods. “The place I work at is pretty nice.”

“Uh huh.”

“And my coworkers are nice as well.”

The corners of Sungjin’s mouth tick up slightly.

“I like the place I live too.” Younghyun taps a finger to his chin in thought, a mischievous smile on his lips. “Now, the person I live with could use some work—”

Sungjin bursts out in laughter, tackling Younghyun down onto the sofa.

“I’m kidding,” Younghyun says, laughing breathlessly, as Sungjin tickles him. He tries to squirm away, but Sungjin has the size advantage, easily keeping Younghyun trapped on the sofa.

“You better be,” Sungjin growls playfully. “I give you all my love and affection and this is what I get in return.”

Younghyun laughs until tears stream from his eyes, and when Sungjin lets up on the tickling, Younghyun pulls him down for a kiss.

“Did you say love and affection?” Younghyun whispers as they break apart. Sungjin starts to pull away, his eyes widening.

“I—”

Younghyun laughs, tugging him back down by the front of his t-shirt.

“I think, maybe, I love you too,” he says, pressing a kiss to Sungjin’s lips again. Sungjin smiles into it, and their teeth clack together as they both grin, making them break out in laughter again.

Sungjin rolls off to lie beside Younghyun on the couch, the drama long forgotten.

“Thank you for making this my home,” Younghyun whispers.

Sungjin smiles and kisses the tip of Younghyun’s nose.

“You make it more like home for me too.”

Younghyun starts as another flash of lightning fills the living room and he burrows further into the blankets. He had been trying to distract himself by thinking of good thoughts—that’s what Mrs. Lee would always tell him to do when he was scared. But it didn’t seem to be working.

Even though he knows it’s irrational—the thunder and lightning can’t actually hurt him—he curls in on himself tighter, his heart pounding in his chest. He lets out a cry of surprise when the crack of thunder follows a few seconds later and curses himself internally for getting startled. Thunder always follows lightning, you know that.

“Younghyun?” comes Sungjin’s sleepy voice.

Younghyun peeks out from the under covers, and through the darkness, he can see the outline of Sungjin standing in his bedroom doorway. He stumbles through the living room in the dark and Younghyun sits up.

“Did you get scared by the storm?” Sungjin asks, rubbing at his face tiredly. Younghyun’s eyes adjust to the darkness and he can see Sungjin more clearly with the light that leaks in through the curtains from the streetlights outside. He sits on the edge of the cot, his hair a mess from sleep and pillow marks on his cheek. Younghyun’s heart swells in affection.

He nods in response, wrapping his arms around Sungjin and burying his face in his neck. “I’m sorry for waking you,” he murmurs.

“It’s okay.” Sungjin’s arms come around him, rubbing circles into Younghyun’s back. He’s warm from sleep, and his skin smells like soap from the shower, so distinctly Sungjin. Younghyun relaxes into his arms for a few moments before pulling away and tugging Sungjin down onto the cot with him.

“I don’t think this thing is meant for two people, Hyun,” Sungjin says, but he still moves as Younghyun pulls him.

“Don’t care,” Younghyun says, once again pressed into Sungjin. He wraps his arms tightly around Sungjin’s torso so he can’t get up. “Stay with me. Please?”

Sungjin hums, and Younghyun can feel the vibrations where his cheek is pressed against his chest. “Okay, I’ll stay,” he says, pressing a kiss to the top of Younghyun’s head, between his fox ears.

There’s another flash of lightning and Younghyun presses closer into Sungjin, cautiously listening to the patter of the rain against the windows and bracing himself for the clap of thunder to follow. As much as he prepares himself though, he still flinches when it comes, gripping tight to Sungjin’s t-shirt.

“It’s okay,” Sungjin murmurs, his hand rubbing up and down Younghyun’s back. “It’ll be over soon.”

Younghyun is lulled to sleep by the movement and Sungjin’s steady heartbeat against his cheek.

+++

The next morning Sungjin sits up with a groan, swinging his legs off the side of the cot. He stretches his arms over his head and his back pops loudly. Younghyun winces.

“Just come sleep in my bed next time, Hyun,” he says as he starts stretching his neck, “I don’t know how you’ve slept on this thing for so long.”

Younghyun’s eyes widen in surprise. Sungjin was never usually the one to initiate things between them—instead he would let Younghyun set the pace based on what he was comfortable with. This time though, Sungjin was the one expanding the boundaries of their relationship, and Younghyun thinks he likes it.

Younghyun places a hand on Sungjin’s shoulder and pulls him back down onto the cot. Sungjin falls back easily, letting out a grunt of surprise. Younghyun crawls on top of him.

“What—” Sungjin starts, but he’s cut-off by Younghyun peppering kisses all over his face.

Sungjin laughs. “That tickles,” he says, as Younghyun brushes his lips along the side of his neck.

Younghyun sits up with a grin on his face, his tail waving behind him happily. Sungjin smiles back, looking a bit dazed by being ambushed by kisses first thing in the morning.

“What was that for?” he asks, and Younghyun smiles, leaning down and kissing him on the lips.

“Nothing, I’m just happy.”

Sungjin taps Younghyun’s nose with his finger, smiling back slowly. “I’m glad,” he says softly, pulling Younghyun down for another kiss.

+++

That evening, Sungjin looks up from the vegetables he’s chopping to the clock. It’s nearly closing time, he notes with relief. Just a few more orders to make and they’d be free. He runs a hand through his hair to push it out of his face. Dammit, now he’d have to wash his hands again. He sighs and leans back against the counter, watching everyone bustle around the kitchen around him. He’s tired, but he’s not even mad about his sore body from sleeping on the cot last night, because how could he be? Younghyun had never been good with loud noises. Sungjin should’ve seen that coming, from the first rainstorm of the spring.

He shakes his head, a small smile on his lips, about to go wash his hands so he could go back to the vegetables, when Jackson walks into the kitchen.

Sungjin frowns, he can already tell something’s wrong from the look on Jackson’s face.

“Sungjin, there are some people here who want to talk to the manager,” Jackson says.

Sungjin sighs. “What is it this time? The soup too cold?” he asks. This was one part of owning a restaurant he could do without.

Jackson shakes his head. “No, nothing about the food,” he says. Sungjin frowns further, what else could it be about? “They’re looking for someone named Younghyun?”

Sungjin’s heart drops and Younghyun’s head snaps up from where he had been rinsing off dishes.

“I just told them that I don’t know any Younghyun,” Jackson says with a frown as he notices their reactions. “Should I know a Younghyun?” he asks, glancing between them.

“Who’s asking?” Sungjin asks as he strides over to where Younghyun is standing frozen at the sink. Sungjin grabs his hand, tugging him to the back door of the kitchen.

“I dunno,” Jackson says. “Two older guys and a woman,” he says, “They looked kinda familiar now that I think about it.”

Younghyun gives Sungjin a wide-eyed look as Sungjin pulls him through the kitchen. “My parents,” he whispers.

Sunmi peeks out from the office then. “Did you say someone’s asking for the manager?” she asks. “What’s going on?”

Sungjin ignores her, chewing on his lip in thought. Why now? After all this time? And they had been so careful too. He pushes his questions to the back of his mind once they reach the back door—they could worry about all that later. Sungjin grabs his phone from his pocket, sliding out the business card he has kept in the back of the case for the past few months.

“Here,” he says, slipping it into Younghyun’s hand. “Call Detective Park, he’ll help you.”

“But—”

“Younghyun, you have to run,” Sungjin says urgently. He glances back at the entrance to the kitchen, praying that they were would wait a bit longer. He pushes open the back door and nudges Younghyun outside. He goes easily but doesn’t leave—instead he turns back to face Sungjin.

Younghyun’s eyes are wide. “I don’t want to leave you,” he says.

Sungjin tries to hold in his fear, to maintain a brave face for Younghyun’s sake. “I know, but you can’t stay here.” He has a sudden wave of déjà vu, looking down into the alley at Younghyun from the raised entrance to the kitchen. Sungjin bends down and presses a quick kiss to Younghyun’s lips. “You have to run one more time, okay? We’ll find each other again.”

Younghyun nods, determination setting onto his face, he turns and dashes down the alley. He turns back halfway to the road, and Sungjin tries to memorize his face.

Then Younghyun pulls up his hood and runs.

Someone starts yelling from just outside the kitchen, and Sungjin slams the back door shut quickly, moving away from it just as a man rushes in.

Sunmi cries out, “You can’t be back here, sir!” She tries to grab the intruder’s arm but he rushes past her, his eyes flicking around the kitchen and then looking around the office. He then strides towards the back door.

Please, please, let Younghyun be long gone. Sungjin tries to control his breathing, to pretend like everything is fine, when it really wasn’t.

The man sticks his head out into the alley and checks both ways, before stalking back out to the restaurant. Relief floods through Sungjin, and he follows the man out of the kitchen with Sunmi close on his heels.

“He’s not here,” the man says to a couple standing at the counter. Sungjin recognizes them from the news and all the posters plastered around town reminding people to vote.

Younghyun’s parents.

“Where is he?” Mr. Kang spits out.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about, sir,” Sungjin says, controlling his voice, trying to hold in his anger. What right did they have to come for Younghyun like this?

Mr. Kang frowns angrily. “We know you know Younghyun,” he says, slapping a photo onto the table. It’s of the two of them, Sungjin and Younghyun holding hands outside the restaurant. Sungjin’s eyebrows furrow—it looks recent. “That’s you, and that’s Younghyun,” Mr. Kang says, pointing them out as if it wasn’t clear as day.

Sungjin doesn’t know what to say anymore. They have proof. His brain can’t process a reasonable explanation. The silence drags on, and Sungjin feels like all the air has been sucked out of the restaurant.

Sunmi cuts in once it becomes clear that no one else was going to speak. “Sorry sir, but I don’t know what you mean. That’s one of our part-timers, Brian.”

“Brian?” Younghyun’s mother finally speaks, raising an eyebrow. She steps closer to the counter, as if she finally decided to get involved in the conversation. “Tell me, where is Brian today?” she asks.

“He wasn’t on schedule to work today,” Sungjin says, his mouth finally deciding to work again. He begs Sunmi mentally to play along.

And she does.

Sunmi nods along as if Younghyun hadn’t just been in the kitchen five minutes ago.

“Why are you looking for him?” Sungjin asks. He raises his eyebrows and tries his best to act clueless.

“He’s our son,” Mr. Kang says.

Sungjin blinks in surprise. He hadn’t expected them to admit that.

“Well, your son isn’t working today, and I’m afraid you’re causing a bit of a scene here,” Sunmi says, gesturing to the rest of the restaurant. “If you don’t leave, we will be forced to call the police for disrupting our business.”

The Kangs look around, finally noticing the other customers and staff watching them with wide eyes. Mrs. Kang frowns before turning on her heel and striding to the door, her heels clacking loudly. Mr. Kang snatches up the picture from the counter and leaves too, along with their henchman, or assistant, or whoever he was.

The atmosphere lifts in the restaurant, everyone looking at each other disbelievingly.

Sunmi turns to Sungjin, her eyes narrowed. “You,” she whispers, “Have got a lot of explaining to do.”

+++

Jae stretches his arms above his head as he gets up from his desk. Another long day finally over. He slings his bag over his shoulder and stops by Mark’s office on his way out.

“Hey,” Jae says, eyeing the piles of case files surrounding Mark. “Staying late?” he asks, his eyebrows pinched in sympathy. Paperwork sucks.

“Not too much later,” Mark says with a smile.

“Good, have a nice evening Mark,” Jae says, resolving to help Mark with the paperwork tomorrow. But for now, he was ready to go home.

“Oh, one sec Jae, I had something to tell you but I kept forgetting.”

Jae pauses in the doorway, his eyebrows raised in expectation.

“You’ll never believe who came by while you were out investigating that break and enter the other day,” Mark says, his eyes shining bright with excitement.

“Who?”

“The Kangs!”

Jae’s blood runs cold.

“Jae, Kang Jinsang is running for mayor now, he’s basically a celebrity! And I got to meet him! In person! It was so—”

“What did they want?” Jae asks, striding the few steps to Mark’s desk and leaning on it. If the Kangs were onto Younghyun, they didn’t have time for this.

Mark blinks up at Jae with wide eyes. “Oh, they just asked if we had made any progress on their son’s case.”

“Now?” Jae asks, his brows furrowing, “Months later?”

Mark shrugs. “I dunno man, I just told them about how we were able to follow until Eastcliff, scoped out the restaurants there, and then we lost the trail.”

Jae presses his lips together. This was bad. Eastcliff was a small town—if he had been able to find Younghyun, the Kangs probably could too. “When was this exactly? When I was at the break and enter scene?”

Mark nods, a bewildered look on his face. “Sometime Monday evening.”

“Okay,” Jae says as he turns to leave. “Thanks.”

“Is something wrong?” Mark calls out as Jae steps out of his office.

“I really hope not,” Jae says grimly, already striding down the hallway. “I’ll explain it all later,” he yells over his shoulder. He hasn’t even left the precinct before he’s calling Wonpil—the timing seems off; something must have triggered them to look for Younghyun again.

“Detective?” Wonpil says when he picks up.

“Wonpil, did anything happen on Monday night?” Jae asks breathlessly, rushing out the doors of the precinct and into the cool spring air.

“Monday? Like related to the Kang case?”

“Yeah.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Think hard Wonpil,” Jae grits out, “Check your emails, your call history, everything. Something must have happened.”

“Okay, okay, checking now. What’s going on?”

“The Kangs are looking for Younghyun again.”

“Shit.” Wonpil goes silent for a few moments and then he sucks in a breath. “Monday evening was when my post on the forum got taken down. I have the email.”

Right, the post.

“But it just says it got taken down for violating the rules of the forum,” he continues. “I don’t see how that could be related.”

“Which rules exactly did you break?”

There’s a beat of silence. “It doesn’t say.”

Jae grimaces. “I don’t think your post broke any rules at all, Wonpil.” Jae fishes for his keys in his bag when he reaches his car, his phone held to his ear with his shoulder. “In the comments, did you guys mention anything about fox hybrids?”

“You think they checked for any activity online about Younghyun? But why take it down now?” Wonpil asks. “My post was there for months.”

“Yeah, but before it didn’t have any comments, no traction. For all they knew it was some crazy person posting about fox hybrids. Taking it down then would’ve been more suspicious than just letting it be.”

There’s another beat of silence. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we did mention fox hybrid in the comments. How would they even get a forum to delete a post though? What happened to freedom of—I don’t know, the internet?”

“I have no idea,” Jae says, “But what I know is that with the right amount of money; you could do anything.”

Wonpil lets out a huff and falls silent at the other end of the line.

Jae groans in annoyance—he still hasn’t been able to find his keys. Where the hell were they? He glances up absently at the billboard across the road as he feels through the pockets of his bag.

He freezes.

Kang Jinsang smiles back at him—and it slowly clicks into place.

Vote Kang for mayor of Acton County. A leader you can trust.

“Wonpil, Kang Jinsang is running for mayor.”

“Yeah, I know—”

“They’d want everything clean; they’d want to remove anything even slightly controversial to avoid ruining his chances at becoming mayor,” Jae says in a rush. “That’s why they got your post deleted, and that’s why they want to get Younghyun back.” Jae frowns grimly. Things never went well once politics were involved. “And now they know you possibly found Younghyun’s birth parents too.”

“Oh my god,” Wonpil whispers.

“Warn Lee Hwayoung in case they go after her too, okay? I’m gonna drive to the restaurant now,” Jae says, finally grabbing hold of his keys at the very bottom of his bag. “I just hope it’s not too late”

+++

Sungjin sighs as he walks to his car. They had just closed up the restaurant and Sungjin had promised Sunmi that he would explain everything to her the next day. He just didn’t have the energy for it right now. He pauses on the sidewalk and bites his lip, his thumb hovering over Younghyun’s name in his phone. Would Younghyun be with Detective Park now? Would it be safe to call him? Could the Kangs track the number somehow?

He doesn’t get a chance to find about.

Sungjin is about to hit the call button, when an arm comes around him from behind.

His phone falls to the ground. Sungjin lets out a gasp and tries to elbow the attacker, but they see it coming, quickly pinning his arms to his sides. Then a cloth is pressed to Sungjin’s face, a sickeningly strong chemical scent hitting his nostrils. Sungjin twists his body, trying to stomp on the person’s foot, anything to move his head away.

But then everything fades to black.

Jae heads down the highway, hovering as high above the speed limit as he dared, before he gave up and just slapped the siren on top of his car so everyone would get out of the way. So what if this wasn’t an official investigation, Younghyun could be in danger.

He gets Wonpil to try calling the restaurant but there’s no answer. Not surprising, it was already past midnight now—they were probably already closed and everyone gone home for the night. Jae hits his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. He should have gotten Sungjin’s number. Stupid.

He’s twenty minutes out from Eastcliff when his phone rings. Jae picks it up on speaker, hope rising in his chest that someone had picked up Wonpil’s calls.

“Did you get an answer from the restaurant?” he asks in a rush.

Silence.

“Wonpil?” Jae glances at his phone—but what he sees isn’t Wonpil’s name. It’s an unsaved number. “Sorry, who is this?” he asks, his eyebrows crinkling in confusion.

“Detective Park?” comes a soft voice from the other end of the line.

“Speaking.”

“This is Younghyun. Kang Younghyun.”

+++

Sungjin opens his eyes slowly. Everything feels strange, stiff. He tries to move but he quickly realizes he can’t—he’s tied to a chair.

He looks around with wide eyes. He’s in a library, numerous shelves of books to his right, and a comfortable looking seating area in front of him. Everything looks old and expensive, dark wood and black leather. But despite the comfortable looking sofas and armchairs around him, he’s sitting in a hard wooden chair, his arms tied behind him and his calves secured to the legs of the chair. He tries moving again but it’s no use—the restraints are tight, and what he thinks are zip ties dig into his wrists.

“Hello?” he calls out and winces. His voice sounds strange even to himself, crackly and weak. His throat is parched, and he hasn’t eaten anything since lunch the day Younghyun’s parents came to the restaurant. How long has it been since then? He frowns, twisting to look at the grandfather clock by the wall—it’s ten in the morning. Sungjin calls out again, but his attempt to get someone’s attention—anyone’s attention—is met with silence.

He tries again, taking a deep breath and calling out louder this time.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

The door cracks open and an older woman peeks in, her eyes widening in surprise. She’s wearing a black dress, a frilly white apron on top.

Sungjin squirms in the chair. “Hey, can you help me?” But to his dismay, she turns on her heel and leaves, shutting the door behind her. Sungjin sags against the restraints.

A few minutes later, he perks up again when footsteps and voices resound from outside the door.

“He’s awake,” someone says.

The door opens again and Sungjin frowns upon seeing who it is.

Younghyun’s parents walk in, along with the henchman type person who had stormed their kitchen, and the woman who had opened the door earlier. A maid? They sit down in the armchairs across from him—Younghyun’s mother, Mrs. Kang, elegantly folds her legs to the side. The henchman and maid remain standing stiffly behind the Kangs, their hands folded in front of them.

Mr. Kang smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Good morning.”

Sungjin narrows his eyes. Good morning? Is that really what you say to the person you’re holding hostage? Sungjin keeps his mouth shut—he doesn’t think that deserves a response.

The silence drags on, the ticking of the grandfather clock the only sound in the room, but Sungjin won’t cave in. He stares back defiantly. If they want him to reveal where Younghyun is, he won’t. The ridiculous extents they’re going to, searching the restaurant without permission, and even kidnapping him, already proves that they have bad intentions.

And Sungjin would never let Younghyun be taken back to the people who kept him trapped for years. The people who would let Governor Seo hurt him just to gain the his favour.

It’s disgusting.

And now that Sungjin has actually met them, he feels even angrier. Having them in front of him, seeing them in the flesh, makes everything Younghyun has ever told him about his family a million times worse.

“Where’s our son,” Mrs. Kang finally breaks the silence.

“You don’t deserve to call him your son,” Sungjin spits out, unable to hold in his anger any longer. “He’s much better off without you.”

Mr. Kang raises his eyebrows, leaning back in the chair. “Look around, Mr. Park. When he lived here, with us, his family, he had all this.” He raises his arms, gesturing to the vast library. “What could you ever give him that would make him happier?”

Oh, please. Sungjin wants to roll his eyes at that. What about the freedom to do what he wants instead of hiding all the time? The freedom to have friends?

“You never cared about him,” Sungjin says. “Having a big house and money doesn’t mean anything.”

“Ah, but money makes the world go ‘round,” Mr. Kang says with a grin, leaning forward. His hair is styled perfectly, his suit tailored to a precise fit. But Sungjin can see the cracks—the sheen of sweat on his forehead, the slight tremble of his fingers as he folds them together.

Kang Jinsang is nervous.

Sungjin’s eyes narrow. Why would he be nervous? Maybe Detective Park had been right—had the Kangs taken Younghyun as a baby from his birth family? Would the secret getting out ruin their reputation?

“We’ll pay you,” Mr. Kang says, “Surely, running a restaurant can’t be cheap. We’ll pay you, and you will tell us where Younghyun is. Name your price.”

Sungjin scoffs. All the money in the world wouldn’t be enough to make him betray Younghyun. He stares back at them in silence.

When it’s clear that Sungjin isn’t going to answer, Mr. Kang sits forward even further. “Fifty thousand dollars,” he says. “You tell us where he is, and then you shut your mouth.”

Sungjin raises his eyebrows as he shakes his head. They’re that desperate—fifty grand desperate—to save their reputations? As much as the money would help the restaurant, he doesn’t want to go back, he can’t go back, knowing that Younghyun would be stuck here with these horrible people.

Mrs. Kang gets up, and slaps Sungjin across the face.

“We’ve gotten this close,” she hisses. “Only for you to be uncooperative?”

Sungjin stares back at her, his cheek stinging. He decides to play along, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“How did you find the restaurant?” he asks.

Mrs. Kang smiles, her lips twisting coldly. She’s beautiful, that’s for sure. But with that smile, she looks like a monster. She steps back, the smile still painted on her face. “Easy, we asked the sweet little Detective. He was so excited to meet us.”

Sungjin frowns. She must be talking about Detective Park’s partner.

“All we had to do was ask around Eastcliff if people knew of anyone new in town, so we could introduce ourselves to them for the elections,” Mr. Kang smiles, “Need to get all the votes we can, right?”

Sungjin clenches his jaw. Even the way they searched for Younghyun was related to the election. All these people cared about was politics.

“What a pleasant surprise when multiple people said that there was a handsome new boy working at a restaurant downtown,” Mrs. Kang says, her smile finally reaching her eyes. “Our son.”

Sungjin recoils—she sounds proud.

“You can’t even brag about that, you aren’t even his biological parents,” Sungjin spits out, pulling against the restraints.

Mr. and Mrs. Kang glance at each other in surprise.

Sungjin stops squirming in his seat when he sees their reactions. He hadn’t meant to say that, but Detective Park must have been right. On top of being terrible parents to Younghyun, the Kangs had taken him from someone else. Someone who might have raised Younghyun well and given him the love he deserved.

Sungjin doesn’t know how they could live with themselves after doing such a thing.

“Oh dear,” Mr. Kang says, his polite smile returning, the surprise wiped from his face. “It seems like Mr. Park is going delusional, he’s spouting nonsense.”

“We’ll give you some time to think about it,” Mrs. Kang says as they head to the door. “Tell us where Younghyun is, or you’re never leaving here.” Sungjin watches as they all file out. The maid turns back for a moment, locking eyes with Sungjin, before she leaves too.

And Sungjin is left alone.

+++

Sungjin wakes up later to someone shaking his shoulder.

The sun isn’t as bright now, just a warm glow. It must be nearing the evening.

The maid from earlier gives him a sad smile, her eyebrows drawn together. “I convinced them that it would only be humane to let you use the bathroom.”

“Oh,” is all Sungjin can say, as he blinks the sleepiness from his eyes. He had sat there after the Kangs left. And then he’d fallen asleep because there was nothing else to do.

The henchman walks up then, knife in hand, and Sungjin’s heart jumps into his throat. He shuts his eyes tight.

But the pain he had been expected doesn’t come. The man cuts through the zip-ties around his legs and hands, and Sungjin rubs at his wrists in relief. The man drags him up to his feet, and Sungjin nearly topples over, his legs have gone so weak. Then he feels something hard press into his side.

“Any quick movements, and I shoot,” he growls.

Sungjin nods.

His heart races and his palms sweat as they walk down the halls. Was he really being taken to the washroom, or was there some kind of torture room awaiting him? He doesn’t know whether it’s the thirst, the hunger, or the fear, but he feels sick.

To his surprise though, they do stop outside a bathroom.

“There are no windows, so don’t even bother trying anything,” the man says, waving his gun for emphasis.

Sungjin nods again. He doesn’t think disagreeing with this man would result in anything good.

“The towels are on the shelf beside the sink, dear,” the maid says.

Sungjin nods and steps inside. For a second, Sungjin thinks the henchman is going to follow him inside, but then he moves to stand beside the door and Sungjin locks it behind him. Afterwards, Sungjin washes his hands, and drinks water from the tap. He glances to the shelf, and as the maid mentioned, there are the towels. As he grabs the one on top, he notices something underneath.

A grilled cheese sandwich in a plastic bag.

Sungjin almost snorts out a laugh before he remembers he has an audience right outside the door. It just looks so ridiculous, a sandwich in a bathroom. He wonders why the maid is helping him, why such a nice person even works here for these horrible people. But then, those thoughts are replaced with complete relief as he bites into the sandwich, chewing as quietly as he can.

Sungjin usually doesn’t make it a point to eat in bathrooms, but as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. When he’s done, he makes sure all traces of the sandwich are gone—he doesn’t want the maid to get into any trouble because of him. As Sungjin pushes the door open, the henchman grabs him and restrains his wrists again with new zip ties. While the henchman is distracted, Sungjin sends the maid a smile.

“Thank you,” he mouths.

She smiles back.

+++

Sungjin loses track of how much time passes.

Sometimes he’s awoken by the maid and the henchman, and they take him to the bathroom. He perks up those times, with the promise sating his thirst and hunger with water from the tap and a grilled cheese sandwich hidden between the towels.

Sometimes the Kangs come and try to ask him about Younghyun. These times make him want to just go back to sleep and never wake up again.

This time though, Mrs. Kang is mad. She has slapped him three times already in the ten minutes she’s been in the room, and doesn’t look like she’ll be stopping anytime soon.

“The election is in a week,” she says, her voice rising high. “Where is he.”

Sungjin stares at her. He feels sluggish. He can hear her words but can’t put together why she’s so worried about an election. His mind wanders to the restaurant, all the food there, and his stomach squeezes in hunger. He doesn’t think he can survive on a sandwich a day and a few gulps of water.

Mrs. Kang steps close, screaming something in his face. Her face goes in and out of focus.

“Why are you protecting him?” she says, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

Mr. Kang walks into the library. “My dear, the Governor has arrived,” he says, pulling her away. He shoots Sungjin a dirty look.

Sungjin’s eyebrows rise in surprise. Now that his brain could comprehend. Why was Governor Seo here?

Mrs. Kang nods, fixing her hair, before they leave together.

And Sungjin shuts his eyes again because he has nothing else to do.

+++

It’s been five days.

Five days since his parents came to the restaurant. Five days since Detective Park, or Jae, as he asked Younghyun to call him, picked him up from a bus stop on the outskirts of Eastcliff. Five days since he’d last seen or heard from Sungjin.

Jae thought it was safer that Younghyun use his phone to try calling Sungjin—as if maybe his parents could track Younghyun’s. So, whenever Jae was home from work, Younghyun would dial Sungjin’s number. At first it had gone through, ringing, but Sungjin never picked up. And after a while, it didn’t ring anymore—it just went straight to voicemail.

Younghyun had tried calling Dowoon too. He had been relieved to hear from Younghyun, but he hadn’t seen Sungjin either since that night. He hadn’t gone into the restaurant since then, and he hadn’t come home either. According to Dowoon, Sunmi had even filed a missing persons report.

Younghyun is worried sick.

He knows his parents have something to do with this and he begs Jae to just go search the estate, but he says that they can’t do anything without evidence. They would need a warrant to be able to check the house, and Jae says he’s working on it, but Younghyun’s patience is wearing thin.

Sungjin will be fine. It’s you they want, not him, everyone keeps saying.

But if it’s Younghyun they want, why would they take Sungjin?

So Younghyun mopes around Jae’s house while he’s at work. He feels useless.

The reporter, Wonpil, comes and stays with him while Jae is gone. To keep him company, says Jae. But Younghyun knows it’s to keep an eye on him too. So, he doesn’t do anything stupid.

It wouldn’t be stupid if he was helping Sungjin though, would it?

Younghyun stops pacing and turns to stare sullenly at the TV. Wonpil has it on at all times, always on the news. Must be some kind of reporter thing. Younghyun’s only half paying attention at first. But then, something the reporter says has him falling to his knees in the middle of the living room.

Eastcliff restaurant owner, Park Sungjin, found dead late last night in Whitebridge.

Younghyun sits there on his knees. This must be a dream, right? No—

A nightmare?

But then they flash a picture of Sungjin on screen and Younghyun’s vision blurs. There was no way this was unrelated to his parents finding him. Sungjin was dead, and it was all his fault.

He gets to his feet unsteadily just as Wonpil walks into the living room then. He’s asking what’s wrong, but Younghyun barely registers it, stumbling to the door. They couldn’t get away with this, not now. Not after all this time. His family had never cared for him, possibly taken him from his birth parents, and now they had taken away Sungjin too.

No—he couldn’t let this pass.

Wonpil grabs Younghyun’s arm before he could get to the door, twisting to try and look him in the eyes. “Younghyun? What’s wrong, tell me what happened.”

Younghyun tries to pull away, but Wonpil drags him back into the living room

“What’s wrong?” Wonpil asks again, shaking his arm.

Younghyun snatches his arm back and points at the TV where the reporter is still discussing where the body had been found. When he turns to look at it himself though, he forgets that he had been trying to leave, unable to look away from the news report.

“No, that’s not possible,” Wonpil whispers. He grabs his laptop, typing something furiously. Younghyun stands in the middle of the living room frozen, feeling like the floor had opened up beneath him.

“They have an article online too,” Wonpil breathes.

That does it. Younghyun rushes to the door again, but Wonpil is faster than he anticipated. Wonpil pushes Younghyun down and he falls to the ground easily, like a playing card tower knocked down by a gust of wind. Wonpil straddles him so he can’t get up, babbling on about something, but Younghyun can’t hear it anymore. He needs to go—and whoever did this needs to pay. Younghyun struggles against Wonpil’s weight on top of him, pushing at him to get up, but he feels weaker than usual. He frowns in frustration, dropping his head to the carpeted floor. He should be able to get up, Wonpil is so much smaller than him—but a part of him is so filled with dread that he’s finding it hard to gather any strength within himself.

Your fault, this is all your fault, it screams.

After Wonpil doesn’t budge for a while, Younghyun gives up, going limp on the floor. He doesn’t have the energy anymore. And now he can finally hear what Wonpil is saying.

“I’m sorry,” Wonpil whispers into Younghyun’s ear, stroking his hair gently. “I’m so sorry.”

And that’s when it finally registers. Sungjin was gone. Forever.

+++

Jae rushes into the apartment. Wonpil had called him frantically, telling him that he needed to get home as soon as possible—but what he sees when he walks in isn’t what he had expected.

Younghyun is lying on the ground, tears streaking down the sides of his face and into his hair. Wonpil sits on top of him, as if holding him down, whispering repeatedly, like a mantra, that he’s sorry. Jae holds his breath, scared to break the strange calm in the room, but he has to if he wants to find out what’s going on.

“What happened?” he asks.

Wonpil points at his laptop and goes back to whispering to Younghyun. Jae frowns and goes to grab it from the couch, pressing a few keys to wake it up.  An article is open on screen—it’s short, just one line really, but it has Jae feeling sick regardless. He puts the laptop back on the couch and stumbles numbly to the kitchen, sitting down at the table heavily. How could Sungjin be dead?

Jae had been trying, they all had, for the last few days. He and Mark had been ignoring all their other cases, trying to find leads, anything to tie the Kangs to Sungjin’s disappearance. They had searched Sungjin’s apartment and the restaurant for any evidence the kidnappers may have left behind, and had even gone to the estate, but the Kangs had been uncooperative, not letting them search the house. Jae and Mark had concluded that they were clearly up to something, but they had never expected something like this.

Jae’s eyebrows furrow, trying to make sense of it. Why would they kill Sungjin? What motive did they have? Sungjin was the only lead the Kangs had on Younghyun’s whereabouts, and there was no way they’d be able to find him now without starting from scratch. They had more to gain from keeping Sungjin alive than by killing him.

Jae frowns.

What if—?

Wonpil stumbles into the kitchen then, tears in his eyes. “Jae—Detective, this is all my fault,” he whispers pulling at his hair.

Jae’s eyes widen, and he grasps Wonpil’s wrist, pulling him down to sit in the chair beside him.

“It’s okay, you can call me Jae,” he says gently. “And it’s not your fault.”

“But it is! If I hadn’t made that post, if me and Lee Hwayoung hadn’t talked in the comments, the Kangs would never have started looking for Younghyun again.”

Jae shakes his head. “You don’t know that. The post may have increased their urgency, but they could’ve talked to Mark anytime and gotten the same information from him.”

“But Sungjin,” Wonpil whispers. He looks haunted, his eyes wide and rimmed red. “Younghyun was crying so hard and he was trying to leave. That’s why I had to hold him down.”

Jae purses his lips, wondering if he should reveal his theory. But if he was wrong, he’d just be creating false hope. And he didn’t want to do that. He bites his lip, glancing at the entrance to the living room. Jae couldn’t see Younghyun from here since he was lying on the floor, but he couldn’t hear any crying either. That was a good thing, right?

“I think—there’s a chance he’s not dead,” Jae murmurs.

“What?”

“Think about it, Wonpil. Sungjin was the only lead they had. Why would they just kill him?”

Wonpil’s eyebrows furrow in thought.

“This makes no sense, right?” Jae asks, sitting forward. He needed to know if this was a valid theory, if it made sense to Wonpil too, or if he was just pulling at straws in the hopes that Sungjin was still alive. “They would never straight up report the identity of a body on the news. Its always, ‘Dead body found, investigations in progress’ until the investigations are over. And I haven’t heard a single thing about a dead body at the precinct.”

“But what if this is a cover up for a murder?” Wonpil asks with wide eyes. “What if they tortured Sungjin to get information and then they accidentally killed him?” His voice drops into a whisper at the end.

Jae frowns. He hadn’t thought of that. “If that’s true, it still doesn’t explain why they’d put it on the news.”

Wonpil chews on his lip. “What are you thinking?”

“I think it’s fake—a trap, to get Younghyun to come to them.”

Wonpil’s eyes widen in surprise. “Would they really have that power though?” he asks, “To get the news to report a lie?”

Jae grimaces. “I have a feeling this is way over our heads, Wonpil. There’s someone, someone bigger than the Kangs, pulling the strings on all this.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know yet, but so help me, we are going to figure this out,” Jae says.

Jae stands up and walks to the living room, Wonpil following behind him. Jae stills as he looks around, his heart dropping to his stomach.

“Are you going to tell Younghyun your theory?” Wonpil whispers from behind him.

“I would,” Jae says grimly, “If he were here.”

Wonpil peeks around Jae’s shoulder and his jaw drops. Jae eyes the open balcony door, the fire escape pushed down to the sidewalk.

“Call Younghyun,” Jae says as he turns to grab his keys. “Warn him that it could be a trap.” He pats down his pockets and holsters, making sure he has everything. Jae turns to tell Wonpil to stay put, but he has his backpack slung over his shoulder, his phone open and ringing Younghyun’s number.

“I’m coming,” Wonpil says resolutely.

“Like hell you are,” Jae says, striding to the front door. “You’re staying right here. It’s too dangerous.”

“No, I’m coming. If you leave me, I’ll just call a cab to bring me there.”

Jae huffs. They don’t have time for this. “Fine, but you’re staying behind me at all times, got it?”

Wonpil nods, and Jae turns to the door, dialling Mark’s number. They’re going to need all the help they could get.

“Hey, Jae, what’s up?” Mark says when he picks up.

“You still at the station?” Jae asks, running down the hallway to the elevator.

“Yeah, why?”

“I’ll be there in ten, need backup. I’ll explain in the car.”

“Got it, I’ll wait outside.”

Jae feels a bit of relief as he hangs up, slamming the door close button on the elevator after Wonpil gets in. At least they won’t be alone in this. Who knows what kind of fire power the Kangs would have? They could be walking into a very dangerous situation.

“Younghyun isn’t picking up,” Wonpil says as they run out of the elevator and into the parking lot. As they slide into the car, he starts typing up a text, and Jae reads it over his shoulder.

“You’re telling him to make a recording?” Jae asks incredulously, “What the hell Wonpil, you’re supposed to be telling him not to go, not telling him to go and gather evidence.” Jae tries to grab Wonpil’s phone but he swerves away.

Wonpil looks up at Jae as he hits send, a hard look on his face. “If Younghyun is going to go anyway, the least we can do is gather evidence of what’s happening. You’ve seen yourself how hard it was to get proof that the Kangs took Sungjin in the first place. We need everything we can get.”

Jae grits his teeth. Wonpil is stubborn as hell, but he’s also right. “Fine,” he says. “Keep calling him though. Maybe he’ll pick up if you keep being your annoying self.”

Wonpil gives Jae a steely look, but hits dial on Younghyun’s number again anyway.

+++

Younghyun gets out of the cab in front of the estate, paying the driver with money Sungjin had made sure Younghyun always had on him for emergencies. Tears fill his eyes at the thought of Sungjin, and he stalks up to the front door. He bangs on it angrily, ready to yell at whoever opened the door—but no one comes. He waits a minute, and then bangs again. Still nothing. Younghyun frowns and tries to push the door open instead, and to his surprise, it swings open smoothly.

Strange. The door was never left unlocked.

Younghyun steps tentatively into the darkened entryway. All of the lights were turned off. Was no one home? He bites his lip, a bad feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. He walks through the main floor of the house, looking for any sign of his family. The parlour is empty, along with the dining room and the sitting room. He pauses outside the door to the library. Would anyone be inside? He pushes the door open slowly, peeking inside. The lights are turned off here too, just like every other room in the house, but moonlight streams in from the tall windows. As Younghyun scans the room, his eyes widen when he sees a figure slumped over in a chair.

Younghyun rushes over. “Are you okay?” he asks in a hushed voice, afraid to speak too loudly.

The person doesn’t respond. As Younghyun gets closer, he recognizes the jacket, the shoes, the overall figure of the person.

Impossible.

“Sungjin?” he whispers. Younghyun lifts the person’s head gently, and their eyes flutter open.

“Younghyun?” Sungjin asks, his voice raspy from disuse. “What are you doing here?”

Younghyun stares at him with wide eyes, his heart racing, his breaths coming out fast.

“Are you a ghost?” he asks.

Ghost Sungjin blinks up at him a few times. “No, last time I checked I was still alive,” he says, his mouth curling up ever so slightly.

Younghyun throws his arms around Sungjin’s neck, practically falling into his lap. Sungjin lets out a tired laugh. Younghyun takes Sungjin’s face in his hands, inspecting it in the dim moonlight from the window. His eyebrows furrow in concern—dark circles curve under Sungjin’s eyes, his face looking gaunter than Younghyun had ever seen. Even though their faces are close together, Sungjin’s eyes seem unfocused. His skin looks pale in the moonlight, but there’s a red patch of skin on the side of his face.

“Did someone hit you?” Younghyun asks with wide eyes, running his thumb over Sungjin’s reddened cheek.

Sungjin winces. “Your mom.” He snaps up abruptly, the dazed look disappearing from his face. “Younghyun, they could come back any moment, you need to leave,” he says urgently.

“No, I’m not leaving you so they can kill you for real,” Younghyun says. He goes over to the desk where his father used to open the mail and grabs a pair of scissors from the drawer.

“Kill me? It’s you they want,” Sungjin says, trying to catch Younghyun’s eye.

“They put it on the news, Sungjin,” Younghyun says as cuts through the ties on Sungjin’s legs and wrists. “They said you were dead.” He’s come this far, he’s not leaving Sungjin now. Not again.

Sungjin blinks up at him in surprise. “But why?”

Younghyun bites his lip. He had been wondering that too, and he has a growing feeling that maybe, they did it to get Younghyun to come here. Back to the estate. But why was the house all dark? Younghyun glances at the door, about to help Sungjin up, when it swings open. His heart jumps up into his throat.

It was a trap.

“Well, what do you know,” his mother’s voice says, “It actually worked.” She walks in, heels clipping on the hardwood floor. His father follows, along with Mr. Cho, the estate’s head of security.

Younghyun goes to stalk up to his parents, about to tell them what he really thinks about them kidnapping Sungjin, and faking his death, when a final person walks in. Younghyun freezes in place. Governor Seo. Sungjin grabs Younghyun’s hand, twining their fingers together, holding on tight.

“What are you doing here?” Younghyun asks, intending to sound accusatory, but his voice ends up coming out shaky.

“Tsk,” his father says. “That’s no way to speak to your superiors, Younghyun. We taught you better than that.”

Sungjin sucks in a breath and squeezes Younghyun’s hand tightly, using it as leverage to get up from the chair. He stands beside Younghyun, swaying in place for a moment, and Younghyun turns to him in concern. “I’m fine,” Sungjin whispers, a hard look on his face as he stares at the group in front of them.

Younghyun glances between his parents, Mr. Cho, and the Governor, dread growing in his heart. There was no way they were getting out now. Four against two was already terrible odds, even if you didn’t take into account that Mr. Cho was a trained fighter and owned a gun.

His mother smiles, eyeing their joined hands. “How sweet,” she says. “If we had known it would be this easy to get you back, we would have done this in the first place.”

“We needed the Governor’s brain for that, dear.”

Younghyun’s lips part in surprise, his eyes flicking to look at Governor Seo. “Faking Sungjin’s death was your idea?” he asks.

The Governor just smiles, walking up to the two of them. Sungjin takes a step forward and the Governor raises an eyebrow.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Park,” he says. “I’d like to have a word with Younghyun.”

“No.”

“Very well,” Governor Seo says. “Mr. Cho?”

Mr. Cho walks towards them then, pulling his gun from the holster. Younghyun’s heart stutters at the sight of it.

“Now, will you sit down, Mr. Park?” Governor Seo asks, a smile on his face.

Sungjin sits back down slowly in the chair he had been tied to, as Mr. Cho trains the gun at his head.

“Please don’t shoot him,” Younghyun begs. He’s known Mr. Cho all his life, all he ever did in the past as head of security was make sure that no one would break into the house—surely, he couldn’t be so terrible that he would kill Sungjin.

“If the two of you behave, no one will be shot,” the Governor says, in a voice that sounds like its trying to be soothing, but sends chills up Younghyun’s spine instead. This is the first time he has seen the Governor this close up since the night he ran away, and Younghyun shudders as the man grabs his arm. He forces himself not to pull back—he can’t risk angering him and getting Sungjin shot.

Governor Seo tilts Younghyun’s chin up with his other hand, forcing Younghyun to look at him in the face. From this close, Younghyun can see every grey hair on his head, the stubble on his face, and he focuses on these things so he doesn’t have to look into the man’s eyes.

The Governor stares down at him for what seems like an uncomfortably long time, everyone else in the room dead silent.

“I should have kept you for myself, all those years ago,” the Governor breathes, so softly that Younghyun wonders if he heard correctly. His eyebrows furrow in confusion—all those years ago? What was that supposed to mean?

The Governor pulls away before Younghyun could ask what he meant, the strange moment ending. “Stay here, and we’ll let your precious Sungjin live,” he says.

“No,” Sungjin says, going to get up but Mr. Cho steps closer, reminding Sungjin of the gun trained to his head. He sits back down slowly, eyes wide.

“Come on, dear,” his mother says, “Don’t you want your father to succeed?”

“But why?” Younghyun asks, desperation in his voice. “Why do you need me?”

“Does it matter?” his father asks. “Stay here, and Sungjin lives.”

Younghyun tries to steady his beathing, his heart pounding in his ears. Throughout his time away from the estate, he had come to realize that his parents probably weren’t good people. But this—them threatening to kill someone, to kill Sungjin—he had never expected. His parents would become murderers, and for what?

Younghyun bites his lip as he considers his options. Going back to his family and never seeing Sungjin or his friends again seemed to be the only valid option. Younghyun can’t see his parents letting either of them live if he doesn’t go along with what they want.

“Fine,” he says softly, “I’ll stay.” Sungjin sucks in a breath in surprise and Younghyun forces himself to maintain his gaze on his parents—he knows that if he looks at Sungjin now he’ll cry. It would be okay; Younghyun would always have the memories and no one could take those away. And Sungjin would be able to keep living his life—he wouldn’t even have gotten into all of this mess if he had never met Younghyun.

“Good boy,” his mother says. His parents both come closer, and his mother hugs Younghyun as if she’s missed him, as if she’s happy he’s back. But it’s the stiffest hug Younghyun has ever felt, and all he wants to do is push her away.

After she steps back, she pats him on the cheek. “I knew you would make the right choice, dear.” But then, the Governor grabs his arm, turning him to face Mr. Cho and Sungjin in the chair.

“Shoot him,” Governor Seo says.

“What?” Younghyun tries to jerk away but the Governor is strong, holding onto him tightly. “You said you’d let him live! You promised!” Sungjin looks resigned, as if he knew this was going to happen all along. Mr. Cho steps closer to Sungjin.

“He knows too much,” his mother says, her lips pursed. If Younghyun is seeing right, she seems reluctant to do it too. “We can’t have him walking free with this knowledge.”

“You lied!” Younghyun wails.

“People always lie, Younghyun,” his father says almost, gently. “It would be good to remember that.”

Younghyun glances between his parents, wanting to appeal to their seeming reluctance to kill Sungjin, but he knows it’s hopeless. They cared more about pleasing Governor Seo and following along with his twisted plans, than in doing what was right. Younghyun blinks through his tears, as he finally looks over at Sungjin. He tries to jerk around harder, to get out of the Governor’s grip and try to help Sungjin somehow, but his father joins in, holding tight onto Younghyun’s other arm.

Mr. Cho presses the gun again the side of Sungjin’s head, and his eyes close tightly, bracing for the pain that was sure to follow.

Jae pulls up in front of the Kang estate, a foreboding feeling in his heart as he stares up at the big house. What exactly would be waiting for them inside?

He lets out a breath. Only one way to find out.

“You,” he says, shooting a meaningful look at Wonpil, “Stay here.”

“No,” Wonpil says, “I’m coming.” He’s already opening the car door and stepping out, his backpack slung over his shoulder.

“It’s too dangerous for civilians,” Mark says, his eyebrows raised.

Wonpil pulls out a can of pepper spray from his backpack and a smile twitches at Jae’s lips. Trust Wonpil to bring pepper spray to a gun fight.

“I’ll stay behind you guys, I swear. I just have a feeling we’re gonna need proof of what happens tonight.” Wonpil pats the chest pocket of his jacket, and Jae eyes the camera of his phone peeking out.

“You and your obsession with proof,” he mutters, but he can’t help the small fond smile trying to break through. “Fine, let’s go.” He points a finger at Wonpil, trying to look stern. “Be careful, that pepper spray isn’t going to be much if shots are fired.”

Wonpil nods, his grip on the pepper spray so tight that his knuckles have turned white.

They walk up to the front door and Mark lifts his fist to knock but Jae shakes his head, raising a finger to his lips—they would need as much of the element of surprise as possible. Jae turns the doorknob, crossing his fingers in his head, and to his relief, he meets no resistance. The door is unlocked. As they creep through the house, a maid glances up in surprise from where she’s listening in at a pair of tall doors. That’s the library, from what Jae remembers of the last time they were here. He raises a finger to his lips again, signalling her to keep quiet, and the maid nods with wide eyes. He points at the library doors, gesturing with his gun, and she nods again, her face as pale as a sheet.

That must be where Younghyun is—and hopefully Sungjin too.

As they step closer, they hear voices coming from the library, but Jae is unable to make out the words no matter how hard he concentrates. He signals Mark to enter from the other door so they could split up and go around the room.

He counts down silently, mouthing the numbers.

3, 2, 1.

They push the doors open simultaneously, and Jae looks around, cataloguing the people in the room. One gun, pointed at Sungjin—Jae lets out a breath in relief that he’s still alive. The Kangs, along with a man Jae vaguely recognizes, hold onto Younghyun. Five on their side, four on the other. It could go either way at this point.

“Acton County Police Department,” Mark says. “Put the gun down and raise your hands.”

The man with the gun turns in surprise, swinging to point it at Jae instead.

“Put the gun down,” Jae repeats, slowly stepping forward into the library. The Kangs and the older man let go of Younghyun, raising their hands in the air, but the older man has a smile on his face. It clicks in Jae’s mind once he sees that smile—that’s Governor Seo. Jae frowns as he walks further into the library. Why would the Governor be here?

Governor Seo doesn’t seem worried at all, which puts a bad taste in his mouth. Jae frowns further, hoping that Wonpil’s camera was capturing all of this—maybe he was right to be obsessed with obtaining evidence, if someone so high up in the government seemed to be involved.

The man with the gun glances towards the Kangs for directions, his gun still trained on Jae. Governor Seo gives him a nod and he slowly puts the gun down on the ground, raising his hands as well.

Interesting. Seems like Governor Seo was the one calling the shots here, not the Kangs.

“Detectives,” Mr. Kang says. “How nice to see you again. Thank you for your help by the way,” he says in a casual tone, turning to Mark. “We were able to find our son!”

“Yes, I can see that,” Mark says dryly, glancing between them.

“I wonder, do you have a warrant to be here?” Governor Seo asks as Mark starts cuffing the Kangs for the kidnapping of Sungjin and stating their right.

Jae frowns. “We had reason to believe that someone was going to be injured here. A warrant wasn’t required.”

The Governor just hums response, letting Jae handcuff him and lead him out the doors.

+++

“Is it just me, or was that way too easy?” Jae murmurs half an hour later as he and Wonpil stand outside the estate. They watch as the Kangs, Governor Seo, and the gunman get into the squad cars Mark had called to take them back to the station. His eyebrows furrow in frustration. They should be celebrating right now—Sungjin was alive, the bad guys were arrested, but why did it feel so wrong?

Wonpil nods. “They don’t seem to care,” he says, his mouth twisting into a frown of his own. “And we caught them red handed with Sungjin tied to a chair and a gun pointed to his head! There’s no way they could manipulate their way out of this.”

Jae nods, hoping Wonpil was right. “Come on,” he says with a sigh. “I’ll drop you off at the hospital on my way to the station.”

+++

Sungjin and Younghyun hover over the phone set on speaker between them.

“So, you ran away from home,” Sunmi says on the other end of the line.

“Yeah,” Younghyun says.

“And Sungjin let you stay at his place.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” she says with a sigh. “I’d ask why you ran away, but I have met your parents so I think I get it. They seem terrible.”

“Yeah,” Younghyun replies, softer this time. Sungjin glances over at him in concern, and Younghyun tries to send him a reassuring smile. It doesn’t seem to work though, because Sungjin frowns in response and tries to take Younghyun’s hand in his, but that only draws Younghyun’s attention to the IV line connected to him. Younghyun presses Sungjin’s hand down onto the bed as gently as he can, trying to communicate with his eyes that he was okay, that Sungjin should worry about getting better first.

“Are you sure I can’t just come visit?” Sunmi asks, interrupting Sungjin and Younghyun’s silent conversation.

“I’m fine, Sunmi,” Sungjin says with a sigh, relaxing back into the hospital bed and giving up on fighting against Younghyun’s hand over his. “I’ll be out of here soon; they just want to keep an eye on me overnight.”

“Uh huh,” she says. “I knew it was fishy though, I mean I had even filed a missing person’s report. The police surely would have called me instead of just putting it on the news.”

Sungjin smiles. “Were you worried about me?”

“Of course, I was, you idiot,” she says. “Just hurry up and get better, okay? And talk to your mom, she called me all freaked out because she saw the news too.”

Sungjin winces, and this time when he twists his hand, Younghyun lets him twine their fingers together—maybe Sungjin needed the reassurance as much as Younghyun did.

“Yeah, I’ll call her,” Sungjin says.

+++

Wonpil bites his lip, watching from his spot in the corner of the hospital room as Sungjin eats jello and talks with Younghyun, the two of them filling each other in on what had happened during their last few days apart. Wonpil had joined in on the conversation at first, but had gradually gone silent after Sungjin made phone calls to his friends and family, making sure everyone knew that he wasn’t in fact dead. The one with his mother had been the worst to listen in on—she had sobbed and cried and made Sungjin get on a video call just so she could see for herself that he was okay.

Wonpil frowns. It was somewhat his fault. He knew that—but it was difficult to admit. He had always been on the pursuit of truth, but had never thought that by doing so, he could inadvertently hurt innocent people in the process.

Wonpil takes a deep breath. “I have something to say,” he announces.

Younghyun and Sungjin turn to him in surprise.

“It was my fault.”

“What was?” Sungjin asks, sticking the plastic spoon into his jello, his eyebrows furrowed.

“This whole thing,” Wonpil says, waving his hands around. “You wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped if the Kangs hadn’t found the post I made on the forum. I should have never made it.”

Sungjin blinks at him with a frown on his face. “But if you had never made it, you never would have found Younghyun’s birth parents.” He says it like it was a fact, as if they already knew that the Kangs weren’t Younghyun’s parents. But they didn’t have proof of that, not yet.

“I know, but I just—” Wonpil trails off. The truth was important to him, he was a reporter after all. But not at the expense of others. “I just feel like I need to apologize. I know I get intense when I’m trying to obtain evidence, and it’s gotten me in trouble before.” He bites his lip as he thinks back to when he’d gotten Detective Lee in hot water for answering his questions. The Captain had nearly even banned Wonpil from attending press conferences after that.

“But before,” Wonpil continues slowly, “It never got to the point of someone else getting hurt. I just—” He cuts off with a sigh, looking down at his hands. He doesn’t even know what he’s trying to say anymore. “I just need to say sorry.”

When Sungjin doesn’t reply, Wonpil looks up fearing the worst—but he’s surprised to see Sungjin nodding.

“It’s okay,” Sungjin says with a lopsided smile. “Everything is okay now, right?”

Wonpil smiles back weakly.

No, everything did not look like it was going to be okay at all—Wonpil had watched the video he had taken when they went into the estate, and he had caught the Governor’s look of surprise when they entered, which had morphed into a confident smile all too soon.

Everything was probably not okay. But Wonpil doesn’t have the heart to tell them that.

+++

“What are you doing?” Younghyun asks, sitting down in the chair beside Wonpil.

Wonpil looks around the room, his eyes widening in surprise. Sungjin was asleep in the bed, and even the hallway outside the hospital room was dark—he hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.

“Just watching the video I took at the estate,” Wonpil says. “Maybe I missed something that could help.”

“Oh yeah!” Younghyun says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I did what you asked.”

Wonpil blinks at him in confusion. “You mean my texts?”

Younghyun nods. “Yeah, I started a voice recording before I went in,” he says as he opens up a file on his phone. “Like you asked.”

“So you were reading my texts, huh? And you ignored the one where I said not to go because it was probably a trap,” Wonpil says, taking the phone from Younghyun.

“Yeah,” Younghyun says sheepishly. “And you were right in the end.”

Wonpil shakes his head, a small smile on his face. He can’t hold it against Younghyun for trying to save Sungjin—Wonpil thinks he probably would have done the same if it were one of his friends. He hits play on the voice memo, and sure enough, around a minute in, they could hear voices.

“This is perfect,” Wonpil says, his smile growing into a full out grin. “I could kiss you!”

Younghyun crinkles his nose. “Please don’t.”

Wonpil laughs as he connects the phone to his laptop, collecting all the evidence they had so far. Maybe there was some hope to be had after all.

+++

Jae stalks through the hallways of the hospital, a dark air surrounding him. This was ridiculous, just so mind-blowingly unbelievable. He pushes open the door to Sungjin’s hospital room, and Wonpil looks up with wide eyes from his laptop, Younghyun stirring awake in the seat beside him.

“Hey,” Wonpil says, surprise colouring his voice. “What are you doing back here?”

“I’ve been suspended.”

Wonpil’s jaw drops and his laptop nearly slides off of his lap and onto the floor before he catches it.

“What?” Younghyun asks, blinking drowsily.

Jae glances at Sungjin fast asleep in the bed. “Let’s talk outside?”

Wonpil nods, and pulls Younghyun along to the waiting area just outside the room.

“I don’t think they’re going to investigate,” Jae says softly, glancing around to make sure no one was listening in. “The Captain told me to drop the case for my own good. Whatever that means. And I’m suspended for pursuing an unauthorized investigation and entering the Kang estate without a warrant, even though we had reason to believe Younghyun was in danger.”

He feels anger rising in him just thinking about what had happened in the Captain’s office. Jae had even tried showing the Captain the video Wonpil had taken, but he had just waved Jae away, saying any evidence obtained was inadmissible because Jae trespassed on private property.

Wonpil shakes his head slowly, his eyes wide. “So, we’re on our own then.”

Jae runs a hand through his hair, letting out a huff of breath. “Without a case we can’t get them to courts. They’ll go unpunished.”

Wonpil frowns, looking down at his laptop again. Jae settles in the chair beside him, crossing his arms over his chest. He feels so completely, and utterly useless. The police were supposed to be upholders of the law, or so he thought. But here he was sitting around in a hospital waiting room, suspended for trying to stop a kidnapping-turned-attempted murder. He clenches his teeth, dropping his head back against the wall.

“Relax,” Wonpil says softly, patting Jae’s knee. “It’s gonna be okay. We can figure this out.”

Jae sighs and closes his eyes—he doesn’t think relaxing is an option at this point. But soon, he finds himself drifting off, lulled to sleep by the sound of Wonpil’s typing.

+++

Wonpil frowns as he squints down at his laptop—they had all this evidence, was there really nothing useful? The hospital waiting area is silent, and Younghyun had fallen asleep beside him hours ago, his head a reassuring weight on Wonpil’s shoulder. Wonpil yawns, his eyelids starting to feel heavy too, but he continues staring at his screen stubbornly. What were they missing?

Wonpil looks up at the sound of footsteps to see Jae coming over, handing Wonpil a cup of tea from the hospital coffee shop. Wonpil takes it, blinking up at him in surprise—he hadn’t even noticed him leaving.

“You should sleep too,” Jae says.

“No, not yet. I need to solve this,” Wonpil replies. “I know there’s just something we’re missing.”

Jae sighs as he puts the other drinks down on the table, coming to sit down on Wonpil’s other side. “Let’s review everything again?”

Wonpil nods. He’s been doing just that the entire time he’s been here, but maybe having another pair of eyes would help. He opens up the first video, of the baby being taken from the hospital.

“What’s that?” Younghyun asks, voice thick with sleep as he stirs from Wonpil’s shoulder.

“It’s a video of Lee Hwayoung’s baby, who we think could be you, being taken from the hospital.”

“Oh,” he says softly.

Jae hands Younghyun his tea, and he takes it gratefully, sipping it as the video loops for a third time. Wonpil squints at the laptop screen, focusing on a different section of it on every loop. He silently curses the video quality—it was impossible to differentiate between what could be an important clue, and what was just the pixilation of a twenty-year-old video.

He narrows his eyes at the screen.

“Wait,” Wonpil says, pausing the video as one of the men takes the baby from the woman’s hands. “What is that?” he asks, pointing at a dark area on the man’s hand.

Jae shakes his head. “I noticed that before too,” he says. “It’s just a shadow.”

“No, watch,” Wonpil says, his heart pounding. As he presses play again, the dark spot moves along with the man’s hand, and Wonpil follows it on the screen with his finger. “It looks like a scar, or a tattoo.”

Jae hums, staring closely at the screen. “You might be right,” he says after a moment. “A tattoo on the back of the hand, not too common.”

Wonpil chews on his lip. Would this be enough to identify the culprits? How does one even find someone by a tattoo? His mind runs through possible next steps—perhaps contacting tattoo parlours in the area of the hospital, and then asking if they had records or recollections of a hand tattoo which would have been done more than twenty years ago.

Yeah, it was a long shot.

“Governor Seo has a tattoo on his hand,” Younghyun says absently, interrupting Wonpil’s thoughts. He’s not even watching the video anymore, instead staring out the window as the sky starts to lighten outside.

Jae and Wonpil exchange a glance. Wonpil opens up the video he took at the Kang estate, playing the two side by side. Jae lets out a huff of frustration as the video never catches a good glimpse of Governor Seo’s hand. Wonpil bites his lip. The Governor had given enough speeches, was famous enough, surely—

He opens up a browser, searching for a picture of the Governor’s tattoo.

“There,” Jae says, pointing one of them out. Wonpil sets them up side by side, the video from the hospital, and the picture they had found.

Jae’s eyebrows rise as they glance between the two.

“It’s possible,” he says slowly. “The video is pretty pixelated, but the location of the tattoo and the general shape is the same.”

Wonpil nods—Governor Seo’s compass tattoo could definitely be the dark spot on the man’s hand in the video. Wonpil jumps up abruptly and places his laptop on the side table, making Younghyun glance up at him in surprise. Wonpil starts to pace in front of the row of chairs—he just needs to think. There was something else. There had to be something else.

A hand tattoo. But why Younghyun?

Wait—

“In the audio recording,” Wonpil says, turning to Younghyun. “There was something the Governor said to you that was weird. What was it again?” he asks, pulling up the audio recording with shaky fingers and trying to find the spot in the file.

Younghyun blinks at him. “You mean when he said ‘I should have kept you for myself—’”

“—All those years ago,” Wonpil finishes in a hushed tone. He finally finds the spot in the audio recording, and Governor Seo’s voice plays into the silence of the waiting room.

I should have kept you for myself, all those years ago.

Younghyun’s eyes are wide. “You think—?”

“You said you had never met the Governor before that night when you ran away, right?”

Younghyun nods with wide eyes, his fingers wrapped tightly around the cup of tea in his hands.

“What if he’s the man in the video then, the one who took you from the hospital,” Wonpil says, starting to pace again.

“But why?” Younghyun asks, his voice rising in distress. “He’s the Governor, why would he take me?”

“If he started all this before you were born, that would have been more than twenty years ago—before he became Governor,” Jae says slowly, as he comes to the same conclusion as Wonpil. He places a hand on Younghyun’s shoulder, rubbing it gently.

Wonpil nods, an uncontrollable smile spreading across his face, feeling the giddy rise of emotions when he finally knows he’s got something figured out. “He must be the one, the one behind it all. Younghyun, Sooyoung, and who knows how many others,” Wonpil says. He stops pacing to look at Jae with wide eyes. “He probably used all the money he made through trafficking rare hybrids to fund his political agenda.”

“That makes sense,” Jae says, nodding back slowly. “That would also explain why he was there, at the estate, involved in getting Younghyun back. If we proved that the Kangs weren’t his birth parents, he had everything to lose.”

“And if we proved Younghyun’s case, it would be easy to link back to other missing hybrids too,” Wonpil says. “If any of it got out, he would lose his job, his reputation, his power—everything.”

They all fall silent, the implications of their theory lying heavy in the air.

Jae presses his lips together, letting out a slow breath. “I think we’re onto something here, but the evidence is circumstantial at best,” he says. “The video is way too blurry, it’s never gonna pass in court.”

Wonpil’s grin only grows further. Jae wasn’t going to like this. “If they’re not playing by the rules, then we won’t either,” he says.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll gather our evidence and go straight to the media. Create a scandal—then they’ll have to investigate.”

Jae’s eyes widen.

Wonpil turns to Younghyun. “Only if you’d be okay with that, of course.”

Younghyun bites his lip for a moment before nodding, a determined look on his face. “It seems like our only choice now.”

Wonpil turns to Jae. Technically, he doesn’t need Jae’s approval to write an article, but somehow, it feels important.

“You in?”

Jae smiles, shaking his head slowly. “Okay,” he says, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let’s do it.”

Wonpil grins. And then he does what he does best—he writes.

Younghyun glances to the side as he hears a buzzing noise, but it’s just Wonpil’s phone vibrating with a notification on the side table. He turns his attention back to the doctor.

“I recommend at least two days of rest, stay hydrated, and you should be good as new,” she says. “No working, okay? Come back if you have any further dizziness or pain.”

Sungjin nods.

“Good, you’re free to leave.” She turns to Younghyun and Wonpil. “Make sure he behaves,” she says with an amused look in her eyes as she turns to leave the room. A smile pulls at Younghyun’s lips—even the doctor must have realized how much Sungjin was itching to get back to his restaurant.

Sungjin grins back at Younghyun and Wonpil as the door closes behind the doctor. “Looks like I’m perfectly healthy,” he says. Younghyun shakes his head with a laugh and starts handing Sungjin his clothes so he could change out of the hospital gown. They were going to head back to Jae’s apartment after this, at least until Wonpil finished his article and sent it out—the more people who knew about everything, the less likely it would be that Governor Seo would be able to silence them.

“Younghyun—” Wonpil starts, and Younghyun turns to him questioningly, but he gets cut off by the door being thrown open. Sungjin freezes with one leg in his pants.

“We have to go, now,” Jae says, holding the door open with one hand and his phone in the other. “Mark just called me. Younghyun’s parents and Governor Seo have been released.”

Younghyun’s eyes widen, his heart sinking like a stone—they had expected more time, that his parents and the Governor would be stuck in police custody for longer. He pushes the rest of the clothes at Sungjin and Sungjin shoves his other leg into his pants.

“Released, like on bail?” Wonpil asks, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

“No,” Jae says with a frown. “Released as in the case got dropped.”

“What?” Wonpil asks, freezing in place. “Surely we had them for the crime of kidnapping Sungjin at least?”

Jae shakes his head. “Mark said the Captain hasn’t even opened a case. They must have pulled some strings.” He sighs, slumping slightly in defeat. “This is just, insane.”

Wonpil nods grimly and comes over to help Sungjin to his feet, Younghyun on his other side.

“Wait,” Younghyun says. He frowns, a bad feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as his fox ears pick up familiar voices coming from the hallway. “When did Detective Lee say they were released?”

Jae’s eyebrows furrow. “He didn’t say,” he replies. Jae turns in the doorway just as Governor Seo, Younghyun’s parents, and Mr. Cho turn the corner, striding straight towards Sungjin’s hospital room.

Younghyun’s eyes widen—why did they always seem to be one step ahead?

Jae swears under his breath. He backs into the room and tries to push the door closed before they can enter, but Mr. Cho easily sticks his foot in between, forcing it open again. They all stride into the room, and Jae retreats back until he’s standing beside Wonpil.

“So,” Governor Seo says with the most fake, politician-like smile on his face, “We meet again.”

Younghyun feels sick. They had been so, so, close to getting away, but now this. And now that they had a better idea of everything Governor Seo had done, seeing him in person was a million times worse.

Younghyun’s father steps forward further into the room, reaching his arm out as if to grab Younghyun, but Jae and Wonpil move to form a barrier between them. Sungjin’s hand grips Younghyun’s tightly.

His father stops in his tracks, his eyes narrowing at them. “Son, if you don’t come with us now, we will be forced to use more extreme methods again.” He gives a meaningful look towards Mr. Cho and Younghyun frowns.

“You can’t shoot someone in the middle of a hospital,” Younghyun says.

“Oh, can’t we?”

He beckons over his shoulder with two fingers, and Mr. Cho moves to the front, handing Governor Seo his gun. Younghyun’s eyes widen—seeing the gun in the bright hospital room is somehow so much worse than it was in the moonlit library. Black, and dark, and only guaranteed to bring pain. Governor Seo clicks off the safety on the gun, and Mr. Cho reaches back inside his jacket and then he pulls out a wicked looking knife.

Jae tenses in front of Younghyun, his hand reflexively ghosting over his empty holster. He swears again, closing his eyes for a second. “Put the weapons down,” he says as he reopens his eyes.

“Oh, that’s right,” Governor Seo says, his eyebrows rising, his smile growing even further. “You’re suspended, aren’t you, Detective. Or perhaps I should call you Mr. Park instead?”

Jae’s jaw clenches but he doesn’t respond to the taunt.

Younghyun bites his lip. The tension in the air is so strong, he can almost taste it. There had to be a way out of this—they couldn’t just shoot someone in the middle of the hospital and expect to get away with it. Someone would definitely hear it—but the knife, it would be silent. His eyes flick around the room—there must be some way to get someone to come and see what was happening.

He tries to slow his breathing as an inkling of an idea starts to form in his mind. Maybe if he could stall a bit longer—

“We know everything,” Younghyun says, hoping his voice doesn’t waver. He knows they don’t have enough proof, not really, but he can’t let his friends get hurt. Not after all this, not after they were so close.

Governor Seo raises an eyebrow in question.

Younghyun steps back slightly, praying they would think he was just scared, and manages to reach the railing of the hospital bed. He lets out a breath, running his hand along the cool metal. Sungjin glances at him from the corner of his eye, but follows his lead, stepping to the side so that Younghyun could reach further up the bed without anyone seeing.

“Know what, dear?” his mother asks.

Younghyun’s heart beats in his throat—sooner or later they were going to notice what he was trying to do.

“That hybrids were kidnapped and sold to rich families,” Younghyun says. His searching fingers reach what he was looking for, and he pushes down, hoping he got the right one. “Including me.”

His parents don’t react, but a look flickers over Governor Seo’s face, and then it’s gone.

“And you’re the one behind it all,” he says, giving a pointed look to Governor Seo.

“It’s not wise to spread lies,” his father says with a frown.

“Why not?” Younghyun asks. “You guys do it all the time.”

“Why you insolent little—” Governor Seo snaps, lunging forward, his face contorting in anger. Wonpil flinches away, breaking the human barrier in front of Younghyun, and then Sungjin is pushing in front, staring Governor Seo down. Younghyun places his hand on Sungjin’s back, gripping tight onto the fabric of his shirt. He wants Sungjin to step aside, this is too dangerous, and it’s not his fight to fight—but at the same time, he’s grateful for Sungjin’s reassuring presence. Younghyun eyes flick to the door. Come on, any time now.

“Move,” the Governor hisses.

But Sungjin stands his ground. Younghyun’s brain is telling him to move, to stand beside Sungjin again and face this head on, but his feet refuse to cooperate. The world feels like its crashing down around him—until he sees something that makes his breath catch in his throat. The door cracks open, and then a nurse peeks her head in. Younghyun’s grip on Sungjin’s shirt loosens in relief—it worked—but then his heart drops again when the nurse runs off down the hallway, the door shutting silently behind her. None of the others seemed to notice.

Please, come back, he begs silently, blinking back tears as hopelessness seizes him again.

Governor Seo narrows his eyes at Younghyun over Sungjin’s shoulder. “That’s a big claim,” he says. “I wonder if you have a single shred of proof.”

Oh, they have shreds alright, but it’s not strong enough. Younghyun bites his lip—he had just been saying those things to stall for time until someone could come find them. But now that that had failed, he had no response.

The Governor smiles slowly, knowing he’s won.

“I don’t know, a DNA test would be pretty conclusive, wouldn’t it?” Wonpil cuts in.

The smile drops off of the Governor’s face.

Younghyun tenses. What was Wonpil doing? They didn’t have the results of the DNA test; Governor Seo would surely see through that bluff.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Governor Seo says coolly.

“Oh? Then let me explain it to you,” Wonpil says. “I was able to get into contact with Lee Hwayoung, a woman from Port Union. I wonder if that name rings any bells?”

Governor Seo frowns, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Well, she told me an interesting story, and it turns out that she’s actually the biological mother of Younghyun. We’ve already sent all the evidence off to the media—it’s just a matter of time now until the truth is out.”

Governor Seo narrows his eyes, taking in Wonpil’s words. Younghyun’s heart thunders in his chest and he wonders if anyone else can hear it. The last thing Wonpil had told him was that he was waiting for the results of the test to finalize the article—he would have said something if he had got them back, right?

Wonpil was just bluffing—he had to be.

“Come with us, dear, forget all of this nonsense,” his mother says, frowning at Wonpil. “Come back home. These people,” she spits out, “Are just putting lies in your head. We would never do such a thing.”

Younghyun’s eyes sting with tears at his mother’s words and he grips tighter onto the back of Sungjin’s shirt. All he wants to do is bury his face in Sungjin’s shoulder and pretend this was all over—but he needed to face this, and it was now or never. Younghyun steps around Sungjin so he could speak to his parents properly.

“That’s not true,” he says, his voice shaking despite his attempts to control it. “You never cared about me, not really.”

“Of course, we care about you, dear, everything we did was to protect you.”

“What do you mean? Keeping me hidden?”

A look passes over his mother’s face, and Younghyun doesn’t know if it’s just wishful thinking that makes him think it’s regret. “We had to do that, or they would have taken you away.”

“The way you took me away from my real family?”

She goes quiet.

“We love you,” his father finally says, his eyebrows drawing together, “You’re our son,”

The look on his face is so sincere that Younghyun almost wants to believe him.

“No,” Younghyun breathes. “If you loved me, you never would have allowed what happened on the night I ran away. All you care about is money, and politics, and your reputations—” he trails off as his voice shakes, trying to hold back the tears stinging his eyes. No, he wouldn’t cry, not now.

“I just don’t understand why you would do all this?” he asks, steadying his voice again. “Was it just—a novelty? To have a hybrid as a child?”

His mother bites her lip, and exchanges looks with his father. Younghyun’s heart squeezes, and a few tears finally escape his eyes. That look was confirmation enough.

He had been bought like an object for them to show off.

“We weren’t the only ones,” his mother whispers, “Everyone was doing it.”

“Shut up,” Governor Seo hisses, and his mother’s mouth snap shuts.

Tears streak down Younghyun’s cheeks. So, he was just a status symbol in the end, along however many other hybrids Governor Seo had taken. He feels sick—how could money and power ever justify doing such a thing?

His mother reaches out for him, as if to hug him, but Younghyun steps back to stand beside Sungjin again, taking his hand. Her arms drop back to her sides and she lets out a resigned sigh.

Governor Seo glances between them with raised eyebrows. “I see we aren’t getting anywhere here,” he says with a frown. “We had hoped it wouldn’t come to this—but I see we have no choice now.”

He gestures to Mr. Cho, who grabs the closest person to him—Wonpil. Jae swears and tries to catch Wonpil’s arm, but Mr. Cho was too fast, holding Wonpil in front of him and pressing the knife to his back, hidden under Wonpil’s jacket. Wonpil stands stock still, his eyes wide.

“You’re all coming with us,” the Governor says. “Or the reporter dies.”

The entire situation was spiralling so fast that Younghyun feels dizzy, his heart speeding up again.

“Please,” he gasps out, “Just take me, you don’t need them.”                                                                                                                                       

The Governor raises his eyebrows. “We already gave you that chance, and you didn’t take it. But now we see that everyone here knows too much.”

Fresh tears streak down Younghyun’s cheeks. They had gotten away from the estate, for what? Just to be taken again—and this time it wasn’t just him and Sungjin, but Jae and Wonpil too. They were all going to die now, because they all knew too much, because they were trying to protect him. Younghyun turns to his parents pleadingly, but they look away, glancing down at the floor instead.

In the end, they still wouldn’t do what was right.

Mr. Cho nudges Wonpil with the knife, and he flinches before starting to move to the door. A tiny flare of hope rises in Younghyun’s chest—maybe if they could get someone’s attention on the way out of the hospital, they could get help.

“If anyone causes a scene, it will not end well,” Governor Seo says, raising the gun and waving it around loosely.

Younghyun’s bottom lip quivers. So much for that idea.

Jae takes Younghyun’s arm, pulling him to follow behind Governor Seo.

“There’s no way they’ll get us out with no one noticing,” Jae whispers in Younghyun’s ear, squeezing his arm. “Don’t worry.”

But before they could even make it out of the room and see if Jae is right, the door swings open.

“Is there a problem here?” a man says as he stands in the doorway. Younghyun’s eyes widen, noting his uniform and bullet proof vest—a security guard. Younghyun lets out breath of relief, leaning against Jae’s side, Sungjin gripping tight onto his other hand. Everyone else freezes in their tracks.

“They have a knife and a gun,” Jae says, pointing out Mr. Cho and Governor Seo.

The security guard’s eyes widen, and he slowly pulls Wonpil behind him and away from Mr. Cho. “Put the weapons down,” he says. “We’ve already called the police.”

Jae let’s out a breath of relief when they cooperate, placing the knife and gun on the floor.

Everything that happens afterwards is a blur to Younghyun.

Jae pushes him back to the hospital bed. “Sit,” he says, “You look kinda pale.”

Younghyun tries to pay attention at first, but when the security guard leads his parents, Governor Seo, and Mr. Cho out of the hospital room, he gives up, the relief inside him almost overwhelming. He waits for the door to shut behind them before falling back onto the bed, his legs still hanging off the side, staring up at the ceiling.

Was it really over this time?

Would they ever be free?

He squeezes his eyes shut as he hears Jae, Wonpil, and Sungjin recounting everything that had happened to another security guard, and then a police officer who arrived soon after. Younghyun tries to block out their voices, thinking of good things, pretending he was somewhere far, far, away from here. And after a while, Younghyun is aware of Sungjin lying beside him, holding onto his hand tightly. Younghyun opens his eyes and turns his head to look at Sungjin.

“Are you scared?” he whispers.

Sungjin nods, looking up at the ceiling, and Younghyun’s heart aches. Sungjin never asked for any of this, and now he was stuck in the middle of this mess.

“I’m sorry.”

Sungjin frowns, turning to face Younghyun. “It’s not your fault that they’re horrible people.”

Younghyun blinks back tears for what feels like the millionth time that day. “But you wouldn’t be in this situation if not for me.”

Younghyun tries to pull his hand out of Sungjin’s grip, but Sungjin holds on even tighter. His face softens, a small smile curving up his lips.

“I could never take back meeting you though.”

+++

An hour later, they’re all at Jae’s apartment again. They sit around the kitchen table—Younghyun with his head on Sungjin’s shoulder, Wonpil typing away at his laptop, Jae sipping a cup of coffee.

“Governor Seo told Mark during the interrogation that he’d be calling his lawyers,” Jae says, exchanging smiles with Wonpil.

Younghyun’s brows furrow, glancing between the two of them. “Why are you smiling?” he asks. “Isn’t that bad?”

Jae’s only smiles further.

“Well, kinda,” Wonpil says. “But it also means we have something on them, and they know it. I suspect they’ll be laying low for a while since I lied and said I already gave everything to the media.”

“You didn’t actually get the test results back though, right?” Sungjin asks. Younghyun sits up slightly. He’d forgotten all about that until now.

“Oh yeah,” Wonpil says, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. “I did get the results, but I received the email when the doctor was in the room. I was waiting for her to leave so that Younghyun could be the one to open it.”

Younghyun raises his head from Sungjin’s shoulder, his eyes wide. Wonpil had the results—that meant they would find out the truth.

Jae’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was going to,” Wonpil says with a frown towards Jae. “But Younghyun was understandably upset. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

Younghyun rests his head back on Sungjin’s shoulder with a sigh. He knows he looks terrible—he saw in the bathroom mirror a few minutes earlier. His hair is wild from sleeping on Wonpil’s shoulder last night, his eyes red from crying. His tail looks permanently electrocuted, the way it gets when he’s startled and the hairs stand on end. But he was too exhausted to care.

“Do you want to see it now?” Wonpil asks gently.

Younghyun bites his lip as all of them stare back at him, waiting for his response. Now that it’s come to it, he feels nervous, unsure if he actually wants to know. What if the results were the opposite of what they wanted?

Sungjin rubs his back reassuringly. “It’s just DNA, right? It doesn’t change anything,” he says softly.

Younghyun nods, chewing on his lip. He reaches out for Wonpil’s phone, and Jae and Wonpil get up to crowd around Younghyun and see the phone screen. Younghyun taps on the pdf file attached with shaky fingers as Sungjin wraps an arm around him, squeezing Younghyun to his side. He stares down at the screen, eyebrows furrowing—there are two columns, labeled CHILD and Alleged MOTHER. Younghyun scans over the file, trying to make sense of the seemingly random letters and numbers.

“Scroll down,” Wonpil says, bouncing on his toes impatiently from where he had come to stand beside Younghyun’s chair.

As Younghyun slides to the bottom of the first page, they all twist their heads to see the results.

“Probability of maternity, 99.98%,” Sungjin reads off of the screen. Jae lets out a cheer, throwing his arms around their shoulders. Younghyun lets out a laugh of relief around the lump in his throat. He scrolls to the second page, and this one reads CHILD and Alleged FATHER. He moves to the bottom quickly this time.

“Probability of paternity, 99.97%,” Younghyun whispers. He turns to look up at Wonpil with shining eyes.

“Congratulations,” Wonpil says with a grin, squeezing Younghyun’s shoulder. “You are officially not related to the Kangs.”

“Thank you for this,” he says. “Thank you, all of you.” He twists around to look each of them in the eye, and Jae makes it a real hug, his arms somehow managing to wrap around all of them at once, squeezing tight. Sungjin huffs out a laugh, but his arms come around them too, regardless.

+++

Wonpil had just finished his article, adding in a section on the results of the DNA test, and was just sending it off to every editor he knew, every paper and online news source he thought would publish an article—no, an exposé—like this. He feels a weight lift off his chest once he’s done—now, the Governor really couldn’t hurt them. If he wanted to keep this covered up, he would have to go after dozens and dozens of editors and writers now, not just the four of them.

But Wonpil knew he wouldn’t be completely relieved until the article was posted somewhere—then the whole world would know. And hopefully, justice would be served.

There’s a knock at the entrance to the kitchen, and Wonpil looks up as Younghyun walks in and comes to sit beside him at the table.

“I have a question,” he says softly.

“Okay,” Wonpil says, “Ask away.”

“You’ve spoken to them, right? My real parents?”

Wonpil blinks in surprise, he hadn’t been expecting that to be the question—and he wonders where Younghyun could be going with this. “Yeah, I spoke with your mom.”

“Is she nice?” he asks with wide eyes.

Wonpil feels a pang to his heart, and he takes Younghyun’s hand, squeezing it tight. “Yeah,” he says, with a gentle smile. “From the calls I’ve had with her, she seems really nice.”

Younghyun returns a small smile then, sweet and hopeful, and Wonpil’s heart aches even more, a lump rising in his throat. He can’t even imagine what it must be like, living your entire life and finding out a lot of it was based on a lie. That the people you had thought were your parents had made terrible decisions, and weren’t even your real parents after all. He’s filled with a determination to obtain justice for Younghyun, who never deserved any of this, a child taken away from the life he should have had.

Wonpil turns back to his laptop, sending emails out to a few more people. This would work. It had to.

Younghyun wakes up the next morning alone.

His heart jumps into his throat and he sits up with a start, confusion filling him. He wasn’t on his cot in the living room at home—everything looked different. He looks around with wide eyes, but then his heart finally settles as he recognizes the furniture around him—he’s in Jae’s apartment, on the air mattress they had set out on the floor the night before. He hears voices coming from the kitchen so he heads there to find Sungjin sitting at the kitchen table, multiple mugs of coffee in front of him, and Jae and Wonpil making breakfast.

“Good morning,” Younghyun says.

Wonpil looks up from the eggs he’s frying on the pan. “Good morning,” he says. He turns and points at Sungjin with the spatula, “This one keeps trying to cook. You’re supposed to be resting,” he says turning to Sungjin with a frown.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sungjin says with a sigh. “I get it. I’m resting now!”

Wonpil narrows his eyes as if he expects Sungjin to jump up and try helping again, but when he remains sitting, Wonpil turns back to Younghyun.

“I got some responses about the article,” Wonpil says. “Some of them are surprisingly really interested in posting it, but I’m trying to make sure we get it onto the most reputable source.”

Younghyun gives him a grateful smile. Wonpil had been working late into the night—emailing and speaking on the phone with editors. As much as Wonpil was helping Younghyun, he could tell that Wonpil was invested in this too somehow, that he really did care about the truth—and for other people to know about it too.

Younghyun sits down beside Sungjin at the table and places a kiss on his cheek.

“Morning,” Younghyun says. “How do you feel?”

“I feel perfectly fine,” Sungjin says with a huff, making Younghyun grin.

Sungjin smiles back and pushes one of the mugs towards Younghyun across the table. “Tea,” he says, when Younghyun raises his eyebrows, “For you.”

“Good,” Younghyun says as he eyes the remaining full mugs in front of Sungjin. “I thought you were suddenly drinking four cups of coffee by yourself.”

“No,” Sungjin says, shaking his head with a frown. “Drinks were just the only things these two would let me make.”

Younghyun imagines Sungjin making coffee grumpily in the corner while the others cooked and he can’t help but laugh.

“You’ll be back to cooking soon enough,” Jae says with a grin, setting down toast and eggs in front of them. “But in la casa de Jae, you are my esteemed guests. Breakfast is served.”

Sungjin rolls his eyes and Younghyun laughs even harder.

+++

Sungjin pulls Younghyun back down to the table after breakfast is finished and all the plates have been cleared away, a serious look on his face.

“Jae thinks we shouldn’t go back to Eastcliff,” Sungjin says, “At least until your parents and Governor Seo have been arrested for real.”

Younghyun nods. Even though they expected them to lay low, it would be better not to take any chances since Governor Seo had practically threatened to kill them all.

“My mom wants us to come stay with her. It’s far enough away, and she’s kinda still freaking out about the whole kidnapping thing,” Sungjin says with a wince.

Younghyun nods again. Sungjin’s mom had been extremely upset over the phone the other day at the hospital, Sungjin should go see her. But then, another part of what Sungjin said sinks in, and wait—did he say, us?

“You don’t have to come, if you don’t want to,” Sungjin continues in a rush, his cheeks flushing. “I already asked Jae and he said he’d be okay with you staying here. Wonpil is staying here too.”

“Your mom wants me to come?” Younghyun asks. He knew Sungjin’s family was close, but they lived hours away so Sungjin didn’t get to see them as often anymore. Younghyun had overheard Sungjin speaking on the phone with his parents many times before at the apartment, but it had felt wrong to listen in, so he would always bury himself in a book or tune out whatever they were saying with the TV.

“Yeah, of course. She really wants to meet you.”

“She knows about me?”

Sungjin blinks. “Well, yeah,” he pauses, seeming confused about Younghyun’s questions. “She knows you as Brian, and I never told her about how we actually met, so that will take some explaining.”

A smile breaks out across Younghyun’s face. “You told her?”

Sungjin nods like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I told her about you. About us.”

Us. Younghyun decides he really likes that word. For some reason, he had never considered getting to meet Sungjin’s family, about them even knowing about him. That Sungjin would even choose to share this with them.

“I’ll come,” he says.

Sungjin blinks in surprise. “You will?”

Younghyun grins and throws his arms around Sungjin’s neck. He laughs, hugging Younghyun back.

“Of course,” Younghyun murmurs against Sungjin’s shoulder. “If your family wants me to come, I will.”

+++

A few days later, after Sungjin had recovered enough to drive, they’re all standing in the parking lot of Jae’s apartment. Jae had gotten a rental car, and Wonpil had loaded it with all the things he deemed necessary for a four-hour drive.

Younghyun feels a lick of fear up his spine looking at his new friends, the apartment standing tall behind them. Staying here had felt safe—while Jae was still suspended and didn’t have his gun back, at least they had all been together. But leaving was the best option—who knew how long it would take for an arrest to happen, and they couldn’t all live cramped in Jae’s tiny apartment for very long. Younghyun hugs them both tight, whispering thank you, before getting into the passenger seat of the car, his stomach tying up in knots.

“Ready?” Sungjin asks.

Younghyun nods. He waves out the window to the two and then twists in his seat to watch as Jae’s apartment building disappears into the distance the further they drive away. He finally turns back to the front with a sigh, dropping his head back against the headrest.

When they stop at the next red light, Sungjin turns to look at him, but Younghyun keeps his gaze firmly forward. They haven’t even made it out of Whitebridge yet—he’s not starting this car ride in tears.

“Do you want to talk?” Sungjin asks.

Younghyun shakes his head no.

“Okay,” Sungjin says. He goes quiet for a moment, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel. “Do you want to play some music?” he asks finally, grabbing the aux chord Wonpil had made sure was in the car. 

Younghyun smiles despite the lump in his throat. “Only if you sing along.”

Sungjin grins. “Deal.”

+++

The rest of the trip goes better, after Sungjin starts singing as if he’s in an opera and Younghyun laughs so hard the tears actually do escape his eyes—for a much better reason of course. But once the GPS announces that there are ten minutes until they reach their destination, the worries start bubbling up again. What if Sungjin’s parents don’t like him? What if they don’t think Younghyun is good enough for their son? Younghyun chews on his lip. Maybe he should have stayed with Jae and Wonpil after all.

But when they arrive and the front door swings open, Sungjin’s mom says, “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” and hugs Younghyun tight. “Sungjin has told us so much about you.”

And some of Younghyun’s doubts melt way.

As the days pass, they get into a routine. The two of them help Sungjin’s parents with the cooking and in the garden behind the house instead of exploring around town—just in case anyone was looking for them. Despite that, it was nice. Nicer than being cooped up in Jae’s apartment at least.

And as Younghyun spends more time with Sungjin’s parents, it’s not hard to see where Sungjin gets his kindness from.

Sungjin’s mom tears up when they finally tell her everything that had happened over the past few months, and then she tears up again when they all read Wonpil’s article after it gets posted. She squeezes Younghyun in a tight hug, and that makes him cry too. Soon the waterworks are flowing from everyone’s eyes, even Sungjin’s, and Sungjin’s dad pats them all on the back to try and stop the tears.

“You don’t have to worry, dear,” Sungjin’s mom says, wiping away his tears with her fingers. “You’re part of our family now,” she says with a watery smile, and Sungjin’s dad nods in agreement.

Younghyun cries even harder.

During the evenings, Sungjin and Younghyun curl up in Sungjin’s childhood bed, cocooned in the blankets. They talk in hushed voices late into the night about what life would be like, after they get back, after this was all over. How people would react to Younghyun being a hybrid, and the different things they would be able to do now, like going to the beach, something Younghyun had thought was impossible while simultaneously hiding that he was a hybrid. Or, getting a real hair cut at a salon (suggested by Sungjin)—but Younghyun isn’t really excited for this one—he’d be happy if Sungjin kept cutting his hair forever.

They wake up in the mornings tangled up in the bedsheets and each other.

+++

Wonpil and Jae sit in the car on the driveway of the Kang estate, at a distance where they could still see the front door but not look suspicious. They watch as the Kangs come out of the house, led by the two FBI agents heading up the case, followed by Governor Seo. Jae pulls out his phone, training it on the front door.

“What are you doing?” Wonpil asks.

“Sending pictures to Younghyun and Sungjin,” he says. “They can come back home now.”

A smile curves up Wonpil’s lips. The past few weeks had been a blur of working with editors—a well known online news site had wanted to post the article, and they had gone with that instead of the actual newspapers who had wanted it too. The article detailed the life story of Younghyun, and Wonpil didn’t want some sleazy gossip tabloids to get a hold of it—it didn’t seem right. Then—to everyone’s surprise except Wonpil’s—it had gone viral. Wonpil felt a strong sense of vindication. People he hadn’t talked to in years were messaging him, trying to find out more about the story and get some insider information. TV news stations even picked up the story, broadcasting it nation-wide.

They’d then gotten a call from the FBI—they were taking on the case considering its high-profile nature and the failure of the police to handle it properly. And to Jae’s delight—he got his job back, and now the Captain was the one suspended and under review.

After that, once the FBI agents took a closer look into the governor’s affairs, it was like opening a can of worms. They found off-shore bank accounts linked back to Governor Seo, with payments made to people who they learned were doctors and nurses who would kidnap rare hybrid babies from the hospitals they worked at.

But there were also some mysterious large donations—and the Kangs had made such a donation more than twenty years ago, along with the Parks. The dates of the donations lined up, almost eerily well, with the dates when the two babies had gone missing.

All of this was proof that the families had bought Younghyun and Sooyoung, and that Governor Seo had been the one selling them. The money had then been used to fund his political campaigns, to first become mayor of a small town twenty years ago, and then work his way up to governor.

Even though this was exactly what Wonpil had theorized, it still felt horrible to see the proof laid out before them.

“They found Sooyoung’s birth parents too,” Wonpil says, satisfaction washing over him as he watches Governor Seo being taken into the FBI squad car.

Jae’s eyes widen in surprise. “Your friend’s sister? The deer hybrid girl?”

Wonpil nods. “The agents have been looking into all of the posts on the missing hybrids forum and trying to match them with donations to Governor Seo’s accounts. They’ve already identified five others so far.”

“Five other hybrids taken from their families?” Jae asks, his eyes somehow getting even wider.

“Yeah,” Wonpil says. “That makes seven in total, if you include Younghyun and Sooyoung.”

Jae lets out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “I hope all those families can find closure.”

Wonpil hums in agreement and then lets out a sigh. As much as he had wanted to find the truth, he hadn’t expected it to be this bad, that the governor had been able to do all this for years and never get caught. “I spoke with Sooyoung and she said the FBI was helping to arrange a meeting with her birth parents.”

“Did she tell you this while you creepily peeked into her backyard?”

Wonpil lets out a surprised laugh and smacks Jae on the arm. “No,” he says, “I’ll have you know, I went in through the front door this time.”

Jae shakes his head with a grin as he rubs his arm, a witty retort probably on the tip of his tongue, but he’s interrupted by the sound of cars starting. They both turn to watch as the FBI cars pull out of the driveway, taking the Kangs and Governor Seo away and into custody.

Jae turns back to Wonpil once they’re gone and sticks out his hand as if offering a handshake.

Wonpil raises an eyebrow. “What’s this for?” he asks as he tentatively takes Jae’s hand, and Jae shakes it firmly.

“We made a good team in the end, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Wonpil says with a grin. “We did.”

“No more pursuing investigations blindly?”

Wonpil snorts. “Oh, trust me, I’ve learned my lesson about my investigating getting people hurt. I’m gonna be more careful now.”

Jae nods, giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. “You can give me a call anytime, you know,” he says.

Anytime, huh?

“Hey, I have an idea,” Wonpil says slowly. He doesn’t think Jae would agree to this. At all. But it was worth a shot. Time to see if he could bring down the mighty Detective Park Jaehyung with his sweet talking.

Jae eyes him with a slight frown. “I already don’t like the sound of this.”

“Why don’t we help each other out?” Wonpil says. “I let you know what I’m investigating, and you let me in on your cases.”

“Nope. No way.”

“Oh, come on!” Wonpil says, giving his best wide-eyed pleading look. “You said yourself that we make a good team!”

“And I regret it already,” Jae says with a huff, turning the key in the ignition.

“Please?” Wonpil asks, drawing it out for effect.

Jae turns to him with a deadpan look on his face. “I’ll let you in on my cases the day you become a detective.”

Wonpil blinks in surprise. Could that work? But no, becoming a detective would mean more studying and probably some kind of fitness test, and Wonpil shudders at the thought. Also, he’s pretty sure detectives couldn’t be reporters at the same time.

Yeah, that wouldn’t work.

“You’re actually considering it, aren’t you?” Jae says, throwing his arms up incredulously. “I was joking!”

Wonpil pouts. Maybe he’s not that good of a sweet talker after all.

“I’m gonna drive you home now,” Jae says, as he starts the car, changing the gear to drive.

“Yeah, you do that, Detective.”

Jae just shakes his head with a smile as he pulls out of the Kang’s driveway.

And Wonpil can’t help but smile too.

+++

Younghyun had been drifting off to sleep when his wandering mind made its way back to something he had forgotten about. He startles awake and turns to check whether Sungjin is sleeping, but he could barely see his outline in the darkness of the bedroom. They were back at the apartment now, just having returned earlier that day. After spending weeks with Sungjin’s parents, Younghyun had been surprised to find that he didn’t want to leave—but they had to come back to regular life sometime.

Younghyun reaches to the lamp by the bed, flicking it on.

He squints through the brightness of the light to the other side of the bed. Sungjin is stirring now, his arms stretching lazily over his head as he lays on his back, his eyes still closed.

“Sungjin?” Younghyun whispers, “Are you awake?”

Sungjin rolls onto his side toward Younghyun and wraps warm arms around him.

“I am now,” he breathes, his voice thick with sleep. He kisses Younghyun’s cheek lightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just remembered something I had to tell you.”

Sungjin hums signalling that he’s listening. His breath is warm on Younghyun’s skin and Younghyun feels the pull of comfort, to just let sleep take him.

But this is important—he needs to tell Sungjin now. He turns his head to look at Sungjin, their noses almost touching.

“I love you,” Younghyun says.

Sungjin’s lips curve into a smile. “You already told me that,” he says.

Younghyun frowns squirming in Sungjin’s arms to try and turn onto his side and look at Sungjin properly. “No, I said I think I love you before. But now, I’m sure.”

Sungjin releases Younghyun from his embrace, propping himself up on an elbow. He smiles down at Younghyun sleepily.

“I love you, I’m a hundred percent sure, and I want you to know that,” Younghyun says, running a finger along the edge of Sungjin’s t-shirt sleeve. He bites his lip before continuing, “I regretted that I didn’t get to tell you before, when you got taken.”

Sungjin’s eyes widen in surprise, and he shifts to hover over Younghyun, leaning his weight on his forearms. Younghyun stares up at him for a moment before wrapping his arms around Sungjin’s neck, pulling him down into a soft kiss.

“I love you too,” Sungjin murmurs, “And I’m here now, you don’t need to worry.” He starts to pull away but Younghyun drags him back down, and Sungjin lets out a huff of laughter, pressing a kiss to Younghyun’s mouth, and then his jaw. His lips travel down to Younghyun’s neck, kissing down the column of his throat. Younghyun sighs, his fingers threading through Sungjin’s hair.

“Besides, I’m two-hundred percent sure that I love you, so you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Sungjin says, continuing his trail of kisses. Sweetness tinged with something else, something more, that has Younghyun gripping tightly onto Sungjin’s shoulders, his heart rate picking up.

Once his brain catches up enough with Sungjin’s words though, he lets out a huff. “Well, I love you, and I’m a thousand percent sure.”

Sungjin grins, nipping at Younghyun’s skin lightly.

“A million percent, then,” Sungjin says, his lips travelling lower still. Younghyun lets out a gasp when Sungjin’s dips his tongue into the hollow of his collarbone.

“This could go on forever,” Younghyun breathes.

Sungjin hums in thought. “I’d be okay with that,” he says, coming back up to kiss him on the lips, slow and sweet. Younghyun thinks he’d be okay with having this forever, all of his sleepiness long forgotten.

“Stop distracting me, I can’t think of the next number,” Younghyun says against Sungjin’s lips when they finally break apart, breathless.

Sungjin laughs. He pulls away, hovering over Younghyun on his forearms again. Younghyun blinks up at him dazedly.

He hadn’t actually wanted Sungjin to stop.

“A billion? Trillion?” Sungjin offers, his eyes twinkling with amusement in the glow of the lamp.

“Right,” Younghyun says after a beat. What had they been talking about again? His eyes flick down to Sungjin’s mouth and Sungjin’s smile grows into a teasing grin.

“Still want me to stop distracting you?” he asks.

Younghyun twines his arms around Sungjin’s neck, pulling him back down again.

“No,” Younghyun murmurs, “Don’t stop.”

+++

“You don’t have to do this today if you don’t want to,” Sungjin says. He lifts the cap he was wearing off his own head, offering it to Younghyun with a quirk to his lips.

Younghyun shakes his head, taking Sungjin’s hand and squeezing it tight. “No, it’s okay,” he says. He’s not even sure what he feels right now. It’s not fear—more like nervousness, but he’s not sure why. He looks over at the entrance to the restaurant, biting his lip. Maybe he still hasn’t gotten over all those years of his parents telling him that it wasn’t safe for hybrids to be out in the world. He takes a breath. These are his friends, the people he’s worked with for months now—he has to believe that they would accept him the way he was. Most of them had probably read or at least heard of Wonpil’s article by now too—but whether they realized the Kang Younghyun in the story was their Brian was a whole different question.

“Let’s go,” Younghyun says, and Sungjin nods, putting his hat back on.

As soon as they push the door open and the bell rings to announce their entrance, Sunmi runs out from behind the counter and throws her arms around Sungjin.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she says.

Sungjin laughs as he hugs her back. “What, get kidnapped? Wasn’t planning on it.”

She steps back to assess Sungjin, a broad grin on her face, and then her eyes widen when she notices Younghyun standing behind Sungjin.

“Welcome back, Brian,” she says, giving him a hug too. “Or should I say, Younghyun.”

Younghyun laughs. “Brian is okay, too.”

“You know,” Sunmi says, eyeing Younghyun, “I read that article and I knew it was about you. But I still didn’t expect this,” she says, waving her arm to gesture at Younghyun’s body and giving him a once over.

Younghyun blinks and looks down at himself.

“What’s that supposed to mean,” he asks mildly.

“You’re even prettier as a fox,” she says, her tail swaying like the cat part of her just found its next prey and Sungjin lets out a huff of surprise. “Don’t worry,” she says, patting Sungjin on the shoulder. “I’m not after your man.” She winks at Younghyun over Sungjin’s shoulder. “I’m allowed to admire pretty people, aren’t I?”

Sungjin narrows his eyes as Sunmi starts leading them further into the restaurant.

Younghyun shakes his head with a fond smile, and he’s about to reassure Sungjin that he wasn’t planning on running off with anyone else, no matter how pretty they thought he was, when he hears a familiar hiccup-y laugh coming from the kitchen.

“What—” he starts, but then Sunmi is pushing them through the doors and into the back of the restaurant.

They’re met with a loud cheer, and Younghyun flinches back, gripping onto Sungjin’s arm. His eyes widen as he looks around the kitchen. It’s decorated with streamers, snacks laid out on all the counters—and the familiar laugh had been Wonpil, covering his mouth with a sheepish smile on his face for almost ruining the surprise. All the employees of the restaurant are there too, and even Jae, holding up his phone.

“The looks on your faces right now are priceless,” Jae says as he laughs, video recording clearly in process.

“What’s all this for?” Sungjin asks, looking just as bewildered as Younghyun feels. Their friends crowd around them, offering hugs and pats on the back and a chorus of welcome backs.

Dowoon grins. “It’s a welcome back slash congrats for staying alive slash Brian is finally free to not hide that he’s a hybrid party.”

Younghyun’s surprise turns into a smile at that. He really didn’t have any reason to be nervous.

“I knew it was suspicious when you didn’t come steal breakfast this morning,” Sungjin says with a wry smile.

Dowoon laughs. “We got you didn’t we.”

Sungjin shakes his head fondly, “Yeah, you did,” he says. He turns to look back at Younghyun with a raised brow, and goes to loosen Younghyun’s death grip on his arm.

Younghyun smiles sheepishly. “Sorry,” he whispers.

Sungjin grins and takes his hand, twining their fingers together instead.

+++

Younghyun is wiping down glasses at the counter, when two familiar people walk into the restaurant, holding a few cardboard boxes between them. He nearly drops the glass he’s holding as he rushes to the other side of the counter, not even giving them a chance to speak before he’s taking the boxes from them and putting them on an empty table before wrapping them both in a tight hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” he says, squeezing his eyes shut, the familiar scent of Mrs. Lee enveloping him, the same comfort it used to give him when he was a child rushing through him.

“And you,” she says when they pull apart, placing a hand on Younghyun’s cheek. “You look happy,” she says with tears in her eyes, and Mr. Kim nods, patting Younghyun on the shoulder.

Younghyun can only nod back, a lump growing in his throat.

“I never got to thank you both,” he whispers, “For helping me escape.”

Mrs. Lee shakes her head slowly.

“Of course,” Mr. Kim says rubbing Younghyun’s shoulder. “We couldn’t let such a terrible thing happen.”

Younghyun bites his lip and averts his gaze, taking a deep breath to steady himself. He frowns when he remembers the boxes on the table. “What is all this?” he asks.

Mrs. Lee smiles, opening up one of the boxes. Younghyun looks in to see some familiar books and clothes. His eyebrows furrow.

“Now that your parents have been taken into custody, your siblings decided to move out of the estate.”

Younghyun’s eyes widen in surprise.

“All of them?”

Mrs. Lee nods. “None of them want to live there anymore. We put in our resignation already, but they asked us to bring you your things in case you wanted to keep any of it.”

Younghyun smiles a little. He had spoken with his siblings once since everything happened—they had offered to help him get a lawyer if he needed one once the case was taken to courts. He wasn’t sure if he had forgiven them, not yet at least, but it was a step in the right direction.

And then he remembers something.

“Mrs. Lee, you were the one who gave Sungjin the sandwiches, weren’t you? When he was kidnapped?”

Her eyes sparkle, a smile curving up her lips as she nods.

Younghyun lets out a laugh. “I knew it,” he says, “As soon as Sungjin told me about that, I knew it had to be you.” He takes Mrs. Lee’s hand, pulling her to the back of the restaurant.

“Sungjin,” he says when they enter the kitchen, “There’s someone you have to meet.”

Sungjin turns from the counter and his eyes widen in surprise when he sees Mrs. Lee—and then he grins as he picks up a menu, opening it up to a specific section. Sunmi had said it was too simple to add to the menu; Sungjin said it was symbolic—and of course, Sungjin won in the end.

Mrs. Lee’s Grilled Cheese

Mrs. Lee gets teary eyed again and she pulls Sungjin into a hug. And then for lunch, Sungjin makes them all grilled cheese sandwiches on the house.

+++

Younghyun takes a deep breath, enjoying the warm spring weather. They were at the park again for team building—soccer this time, but they had split off for a snack break. Younghyun sits on the low brick wall surrounding the park, waiting for Sungjin.

He thinks of the conversation he had had the other day with Wonpil. The investigation was going well, and it was looking probable that Governor Seo would face a prison sentence once it was all over. His parents were cooperating, so they would probably get out with a fine. Wonpil seemed mad about it, but Younghyun thinks he could live with that—he hadn’t expected anything to begin with, so the fact that they would receive any kind of punishment was better than nothing.

He just hopes his parents wouldn’t make the same mistakes again, that they would learn that striving for power and reputation above all else could never end well.

Younghyun sighs, kicking at the stone wall he’s sitting on. He wonders if Wonpil would have any more updates the next time he comes to the restaurant—Jae and Wonpil were regular customers now—they came that first time because of the party, and then they kept coming for the food. Sungjin was ridiculously happy about that.

He chews on his lip, another thought niggling at his brain, one he had been trying to ignore the entire day—his parents, his biological parents, were coming to town that evening. It had taken them some time to be able to arrange the flight over, but Sungjin and Younghyun would be picking them up from the airport later that evening. And afterwards, they were going to have dinner together. Just Younghyun and his parents.

Sungjin walks over, interrupting Younghyun from his thoughts as he hands him a popsicle he had bought from the truck nearby. He searches Younghyun’s face carefully. “You know I can stay with you tonight, if you want.”

Younghyun smiles. Of course Sungjin would figure out exactly what he was worrying about. “I know,” he says. “But I think I have to do this alone, at least for the first meeting.”

“Okay. I’m sure they’re gonna love you though,” Sungjin says. “I mean they already do.” He pauses to lick at his ice cream cone and hops up to sit on the wall beside Younghyun.

Younghyun nods. From the phone calls he’s had with his parents, they did seem nice, like Wonpil said, and really did want to meet him. They had had two children after Younghyun, but they had never forgotten about their first born. His mother told him about how she had used that forum almost daily back then, when Younghyun had first gone missing, to see if anyone could find traces of him—and over the years she had stopped using it as often, but always checked in once in a while. That’s how she had found Wonpil’s post—and they were all glad she did.

Younghyun sighs again and rests his head on Sungjin’s shoulder.

“Whatever happens, it’s just DNA, right?” Younghyun whispers, a lump in his throat for some reason.

Sungjin nods.

And then he sticks his ice-cream cone in Younghyun’s face.

“Wanna try?” he asks, and Younghyun flinches back when the coldness touches his face.

Younghyun lets out a surprised laugh, wiping at the ice-cream that ended up on his nose. Sungjin grins back, amusement shining in his eyes as he offers Younghyun the napkin conveniently held in his other hand.

Younghyun’s eyes widen. “You did that on purpose!” he exclaims, shoving at Sungjin’s side.

Sungjin lets out a non-committal hum and drapes his free arm over Younghyun’s shoulders. “I was trying to make you laugh,” he says. The cheeky smile drops from his face after a moment, his eyebrows drawing together. “Whatever happens though, you know you’ll always have us, right?”

Younghyun looks out at the park where his friends run around, kicking around a soccer ball.

“Yeah,” he says, a smile spreading across his face, “I know.”