Wonwoo is left staring, having a battle with his thoughts. He thinks about Mingyu, how his eyes were so scared despite telling him that he’ll protect Wonwoo; how fear really transcended towards him. It made Wonwoo’s eyes cloud, tears trying to break through. He’s been like that for thirty minutes while Seungcheol and Jeonghan discuss something he doesn’t seem to here despite being in the same room.

He suddenly feels an arm wrap around his waist and a head leaning on his shoulder. “Hey, Wonwoo, can you please drink water. You have to hydrate yourself.”

“I’m okay.” Wonwoo says in a mumble.

“You’re not. Now c’mon, drink the whole bottle.” Jeonghan gives him the bottle of water. “Hydrate yourself while Seungcheol buys us food.”

Wonwoo didn’t even realize that Seungcheol wasn’t in the room anymore. He nods weakly. “Okay, I’ll do that.” He reaches for the bottle, uncaps, and downs it in one go.

“That’s good.” Jeonghan takes the bottle away from him and sits on front of Wonwoo to keep their eyes fixed to each other. “Now, I know this will be hard for you, but tell me what’s wrong.” Wonwoo sits silent, hesitates, his breath hitching to find the words he’s been wanting to release. Jeonghan knew what Wonwoo needs, and he is thankful for having such a friend whom he can rely on to spot whatever ill and depressive feeling his heart bares. “You have to let it out, Wonwoo. I know the feeling is heavy in your chest, so don’t hesitate to cry on front of me.”

And Wonwoo does; his heart opens to his friend. He bursts out crying, saying that he should have been the one to have been kidnapped, how he should be the one in his shoes. He confesses his love just like the first time, and how Mingyu is his forever and his everything. It makes Jeonghan tear up just listening to Wonwoo become the mess he is, not wanting to see his friend be tangled up in his worries and anxieties. Wonwoo doesn’t deserve this pain, neither does Mingyu. No one deserves this pain, and Jeonghan curses fate for putting them into this situation where they’re forced to hang from the silver lining, always in the verge of loosing everything.

Wonwoo feels an anxiety attack crawling through him, his breathing ragged and deep. In moments time, in what felt like an eternity, Seungcheol runs in and tries to calm Wonwoo down, hugging him intently, strong arms holding him in reality.

“Breath with me, Wonwoo.” He hears it as if it’s far away, miles ahead of him. But he tries. He tries to match how Seungcheol’s shoulder under his chin go up and down, trying to soothe himself despite the race between his thoughts and his heart..

Jeonghan was still on front of him with Seungcheol between them, and his hand clasped tight on Wonwoo. “Wonwoo, breath with me.” Jeonghan rubs soothing circles on the back of his palm in the hopes of calming him. “Look at me, baby.” He says and Wonwoo’s eyes shoots open. His eyes meet with Jeonghan, irises so beautiful and calming. “Breath.” And he does, the stale air finally coming through his lungs. He feels nostalgic, the situation familiar to him. “The stars are still shining…” Wonwoo smiles at those words, so weak to the verse he’s being wanting to hear for so long. “And with you in it, the universe is complete.” Wonwoo wonders where Jeonghan learned those words, probably from Mingyu who knows everything that makes Wonwoo.

Seungcheol rubs Wonwoo back under his shirt, smooth fingertips leaving ghostly touches. “You’re going to be okay, Wonwoo.” Seungcheol twists his head so that his nose is touching Wonwoo’s neck. “You have the stars resting on your fingertips.” Wonwoo’s breathing goes quiet. He could finally feel his limbs, his hands finally turning warm. “Let yourself be relaxed by the fact that-”

“The universe is on my side.” Wonwoo finishes the verse, and he finally feels calm enough to release himself from Seungcheol. “Thank you.” He says as he looks at Seungcheol’s worried smile. He is so thankful for having people like Seungcheol and Jeonghan in his life; an anchor he can rely on, to hold on to, people he could turn to.

“Anything for you, Wonwoo.” He places an affectionate hand on his cheek. “Feeling better?”

Wonwoo nods. “Where did you hear that from?”

“Mingyu told me in case something like this happens.” Seungcheol smiles softly, and it makes Wonwoo smile back. “Want to eat? Or do you want to take a nap first?”

Wonwoo smiles softly and closes his eyes. “Nap.”

Seungcheol nods at how Wonwoo finally looks sated. “Okay. I’ll wake you up in 30 minutes.”

Wonwoo takes out one of Mingyu’s jackets and lies down with it, hugging it tightly. Seungcheol tucks him in, feeling like a child, taking care of him. But he doesn’t retaliate because sometimes humans deserve to be treated like a child; so loved and so cared for.

__

When he wakes up, his stomach rumbles. Jeonghan and Seungcheol were cuddling on their bed, watching an anime on Jeonghan’s phone. The hunger resonates through his body that Jeonghan turns to him.

“Rise and shine.” Jeonghan says as he puts the phone down to walk towards the food placed inside a plastic bag on a side table.

“Was that your stomach?” Seungcheol asks, and Wonwoo nods shyly. He chuckles. “Okay. You better get up and eat.”

Wonwoo stands while Jeonghan brings out his container. He notices that it’s Mingyu’s favorite mild spicy ramen and smiles at the thought. “I’ll be right back. I’ll head to the reception and ask for hot water.” Jeonghan says, and when he comes back, Wonwoo quickly eats the ramen to satisfy his hunger.

He suddenly notices the usb hard drive on the table, and looks at it intently. He notices something sticking out from the inside the cap. He reaches for it and opens the cap, a strip of paper coming out. Wonwoo opens the paper properly and sees a number.

“Hey, what’s that?” Jeonghan asks from behind him.

“I think this is the paper Chanyeol gave to Mingyu. He said to call this number if everything goes to shit.”

“Everything is going to shit. Maybe we should call it.” Jeonghan says.

Wonwoo feels Seungcheol’s presence beside him, looking at him with curiosity. “Should we call it?”

“How desperate are we?” Seungcheol asks.

“Very.” Wonwoo answers back, looking back at the paper and bringing out his phone from his pocket.

He types the number down and quickly calls it. It took 4 rings until the phone gets picked up, letting the phone be in speaker phone so that Seungcheol and Jeonghan could hear the exchange. “ Thank you for calling Park Law Firms. This is Park Sooyoung, secretary of the company, how may I help you? ”

WWonwoo feels discouraged at the sound of her voice but he tries, obvious desperation in his chest. “Uh hello… Do any of you know Park Chanyeol? He said to call this number if anything bad happens and-”

“ I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t have a Park Chanyeol in our database. You may have called the wrong number. If that is all- ” The woman quickly says, and Wonwoo heart races. He suddenly sees a quote written at the bottom of the paper in small text.

“Wait!” The line goes silent. Wonwoo reads the text inside his head, leaving himself confused. But they’re desperate, and anything, with their current situation, is a chance of survival. “The eagle strides in the clouds…” Wonwoo swallows a breath and continues. “Free.”

There was silence between them, and Wonwoo is so close to putting down the phone. But suddenly Sooyoung speaks up. “ Thank you for calling us. We will serve you accordingly. Please stay at your current location; help will be on their way. Please expect them to arrive within six to twelve hours. Thank you again, Mr. Jeon Wonwoo. We hope to see you soon. ” And the line goes dead.

Wonwoo stays there looking back and forth between Seungcheol and Jeonghan, confused faces shared between them. “How did she know your name? You never mentioned it.” Seungcheol says.

Wonwoo looks at his phone, questions running through his head. “I don’t know. But with the people we’re involved with, it’s not a surprise that they know me already.”

__

They wait for hours. The three of them are left waiting, doing nothing and everything they could do. They try playing cards, but after an hour, they grew tired. They tried having an anime marathon on Seungcheol’s laptop, but a whole anime can only last for three hours or so. They tried sleeping, most especially Wonwoo, but his thoughts swim through his mind, the image of Mingyu in situations he never thought could be real. He thinks of Mingyu and how he craves for him now that he’s gone, his warmth gone with him. He wants to break down, but Wonwoo knows that his lover wouldn’t want to see him cry. ‘Be strong’ is what he’ll probably say to keep Wonwoo going.

It takes five hours before a knock comes at their motel door; they’re in the middle of eating their lunch on the floor, the space on the table too small for all of them. They look at each other with hesitance.

“Should we?” Jeonghan says, but Seungcheol shakes his head a no.

“What if it’s Jaehyung’s minions again? We can’t afford losing one of us again.” Wonwoo just looks at the door as he slowly stands. “No, Wonwoo.” But he doesn’t listen, walking towards the door quietly. He tries to listen carefully, finding any signs of someone at the other side of the door.

“The eagle has arrived…” Wonwoo feels his heart race. He looks at the peephole to see a woman in business attire and an expensive bag over her shoulder, edgefully beautiful - hair gracefully resting on her shoulders, expression powerful, and eyes familiar. “Free.” The woman finishes and Wonwoo doesn’t hesitate to swing the door open. “Good afternoon, Mr. Jeon.” The woman smiles and it leaves Wonwoo feel a familiar tug to his heart. “I am Park Gyuri, sister of Kim Hyesung, and aunt of Kim Mingyu.”

Wonwoo then realizes why he feels so woven to those eyes; it’s because it’s the same beautiful eyes his lover has.

“Uh…” Wonwoo hesitates, not knowing what to do with the current situation he is experiencing.

“May I come in, Wonwoo?” She asks, and Wonwoo scrambles away from the door to let her in their room. When Wonwoo turns, Seungcheol is already bringing out the chair from the corner of the room for her and Jeonghan is setting all their containers aside to the table. “Thank you, Seungcheol.” She says, and Wonwoo only notices now that Jeonghan has her mouth agape and confused. “If you were wondering, yes Mr. Yoon, I know all of your names; it comes with the job.” They all sit on the edge of the beds, backs straight from anxiousness. “Again, I am Gyuri, sister of Hyesung, and Co-founder of Park Law Firms.” She pauses, causing suspense in the air. “But there is no point lying knowing the current situation the three of you are facing.” She takes out a tablet from her bag and faces it to them, opening it for them to look into. “Let me introduce you to the firm.”

They were faced with various pictures of people with different ethnicity. She scrolls through the pictures until Mingyu’s mother pops up, her face placed in a scanned file of an application form of some-sorts. “I think you already know that my sister is my cousin’s right hand man in his fraction; a skillful assassin and a better liar.” She swipes the picture and a family portrait comes up. “In reality, my whole family is one big mafia company distributed within the siblings of my father. In the situation of Chanyeol, my uncle died of alcohol poisoning and he was forced into the position. But his fraction failed a few years ago following my sister’s death.” She swipes again and shows them a picture of a room filled with bloody bodies on the floor, all scattered, sometimes spotting separated limbs in random places. “This is the reason why his fraction failed; he was forced to surrender - Chanyeol is a pure hearted man who cared for his servants, and finding his people like this in his mansion somewhere in Italy made him step down.” She swipes again and they are faced with a newspaper article of their company. “And because of that, our family income dropped significantly, and my father had to fix it. But we had to find a way on how to build the family up again without the authorities noticing. So we opened up the firm; to seem like we are of the authority. My family was an intelligent bunch of people and are able to gain the title tremendously. We are also able to mask our own underground jobs with our title of lawyers, freely going about our business as the mafia.” She then closes the tablet and places it on her lap.

Wonwoo stares at her with an overwhelming feeling in his chest. “I know this is a lot to take in, but my family wants to let our clients know what they are about to dive into before we address your problem.”

Wonwoo breaths in. “Okay…” He finally relaxes, his shoulders sore from the stiffness of his position. “I get it. So basically… Mingyu’s whole family is the mafia.”

“Yes.” She said, no hesitation in her voice.

“Okay... “

“And if he is up to it, he can be a head of his own fraction. But the last I heard of him was that he wants to be an astronomer.” She smiles.

“Yeah.” Wonwoo smiles shyly in the small thought.

“Now… Since you are accustomed to Mingyu’s family, we are going to bring you to my father. It is the family’s obligation to help whoever is in trouble even if you were sent by my cousin; family is loyal to family, and we trust whoever Chanyeol sends is of importance.” She smiles wider, eye smile showing, endearing.

Seungcheol stands from the side, ready to leave. “Okay… Uh… I’ll go and pay for the room-”

“There is no need to do that, Seungcheol. All of this is already paid for alongside all the expenses you will be having after this conversation; gas, food, accommodation, necessities, and whatever will be paid full by my family.”

Jeonghan is still shaken up with the information given to him, his mouth agape and still sitting down on the bed. Wonwoo chuckles and places a hand on his back, making Jeonghan turn to him. “Jeonghan, snap out of it.”

“Shit.” Jeonghan says, and Gyuri laughs.

“Same, Jeonghan. If I were a normal person, I would have reacted the same.” She stands and puts the tablet inside her bag. “I will wait for all of you outside. There is a white Fortuner waiting for you.” She walks towards the door, but before stepping out, she turns back to them. “Be out in ten minutes.”

When she leaves, the three of them are left looking at each other.

“What the fuck is up with your boyfriend’s family?” Seungcheol says. “This is fucking unbelievable.”

“I fucking agree with Seungcheol here.” Jeonghan runs his hands through his hair. “This is some fanfic shit here, Wonwoo. This can’t be real.”

Wonwoo starts to pack up his belongings. “I wish it wasn’t, but it is. Mingyu’s family is the mafia.” Wonwoo shoves his extra clothes into his bag with force. “They’re our only way out of this mess, guys. We have to do something before Jaehyung does something to us. We have to be miles ahead of him if we want to live.”

Jeonghan and Seungcheol watches Wonwoo as he fixes his things. “Okay… You’re right.” Jeonghan says, starting to reach for their bags and fix their things.

“Just take it easy, okay?” Seungcheol places a hand at Wonwoo’s back. “I know you’re hiding your fear right now, but as you said, this is his family, and they’re our only hope now.” Wonwoo nods.

“Yeah, I am hiding my fear. But I want to be strong for Mingyu.”

__

The ride was long enough to energize all three of them again after days of running and avoiding death. Wonwoo and Jeonghan are cuddled up at the back seat, while Seungcheol is sitting on the front seat, mouth open and obviously sleeping.

They arrive a few hours later somewhere Wonwoo doesn’t entirely know where. They see trees, but in the distance, he could see city buildings, so the location is just probably at the outskirts of a town or a city for privacy but also near to civilization to blend in. Wonwoo spots “fences” but is actually cemented walls that is a floor high with a white gate in the middle. Wonwoo see Gyuri press a button on the dashboard and the gate on front of them starts to open. The car drives in and he sees armed men waving and saluting at them with a smile on their faces. She parks the car under a shade.

“Good sleep, Wonwoo?” Gyuri says as she twists her body to look at him.

Wonwoo stretches. “Yeah. Where are we?” Wonwoo asks as he pat Jeonghan on the thigh to wake him up. Jeonghan bolts awake, a soft ‘wah’ coming out from his mouth as his friend looks around him.

“We’re at the safe house.” Wonwoo pats Seungcheol’s shoulders and his older friend wakes up slowly. “It’s actually where the facade starts and all our men hides underground whenever we have a normal clients coming in. But if there are no clients, then it is a safe house.” Seungcheol rubs his eyes to wipe away the sleep, and Jeonghan does the same. “Let’s go inside. My father is waiting.” She says with a smile and steps out of the car.

They follow out, and when Wonwoo was about to open the back of the car to get their bags, someone else was already doing it for them. “Do not worry, sir. We will bring these to the rooms for you.” They say as they bow before leaving.

Wonwoo looks around the and at the corner, just against the fence, was a pond with a soothing waterfall in the middle and a tree covering it. It had nice flowers decorating the edges of the pond and stepping stones leading towards it. Wonwoo then looks at the house and it looked like those houses you see in magazines that are depicted as modern and minimalist. It had bare cemented walls but it looked welcoming with wide windows covering majority of it, as if the windows were the walls itself. There were white curtains at each corner of the windows, and he doesn’t seem to see what is inside the house because of the light from the sun.

He steps inside the house after observing the outside and the inside is as pristine is the outside. White walls and white marbled floors leading to the living room. The living room had a lowered ground serving as a place for the couches and the television, and at one corner had a modern fireplace with a fur carpet placed on front of it. There were various paintings in the room, all looking like they costs Wonwoo’s four-year college tuition fee each frame.

When they step in the kitchen, it still had a modern design, fitting the aesthetic of the living room. At the island counter was a man who looked like he was in his early sixties, reading a newspaper with a glass of what looked like lemonade. The man takes a sip from his glass, then he notices their presence. “Ah!” He says, a smile forming.

Gyuri emerges from behind them with a bag of groceries and pecks the man’s cheek. “Dad, these are the boys who called me a few hours ago.” She says, and the man stands to walk towards them.

He offers to hug them, a warm smile in his face. “Welcome, welcome! Have some snacks with us.” He says