"Thatʼs enough, Rachel! I told you, I will never leave until I make sure Auntie Yuri recovers! What can you not understand about that?!" Aguero just barely entered the yard dedicated to the west wing patients, but he could clearly hear the chaos already taking place. He walked closer to see three grown adults in black- if they were armed or not, he was yet to make sure, had their presences hidden behind the posts and trees, and see Bam on a fairly disadvantageous distance, defensively standing in front of an onyx haired child his age, between the latter and a girl inches taller which was undoubtedly a younger but not a better version of Rachel. "Is it not enough for you and your family to destroy my home, that now you resort to harassing the people around me to get the crumbs you left behind?!"

The butter blonde looked around, probably careful in making too much of a scene before crossing her arms haughtily as she answered. "Are you still keeping up that heroic act of yours until now, Bam? Oh come on, youʼre ten- not a child anymore! You should know that as long as you donʼt give your birthright up, life for you and your beloved people will only get harder as time passes! So if you want us to leave you be, come with me right now and give us the password!"

"I told you a long time ago that I do not have it!" The brunet moved closer, yet was stopped by the trembling grip on the hem of his shirt and the emergence of what he supposed was Rachelʼs bodyguards. "Donʼt you think if you did not auction my familyʼs home, you would have had better luck on getting our money?"

The Khun held in a chuckle, thinking that this kidʼs foul mouth would soon bring himself into trouble one day as he prepared to finally interfere.

"S-Shut up!" The girlʼs cheeks flushed in pure embarrassment as she staggered back to find the right comeback. "And I donʼt believe you one bit! Youʼve always acted so arrogant about being greatly spoilt and having everyone deliver all the things you wanted at your doorstep, so Aunt Arlene and Uncle V for sure would have given you a code if you asked!"

"I was loved, Rachel. Oh Iʼm sorry, you couldnʼt have known, because how could you learn about something your parents never taught you!" To the onlookersʼ surprise, Bam started walking without pause, with the intent to corner his childhood friend. "And donʼt you dare utter my parentsʼ name with your filthy mouth! They loved you as a daughter- I loved and treated you as a sister! But all of you killed them! You guys trampled on their memory for money!"

Rachel retaliated with a slap.

"Their deaths were your fault, Bam! If you had never been born, the friendship they shared would have not been torn apart! If only this wimp did not find you on that staircase, my family would have eventually gotten the payment they deserved all this time! If you only died along with your parents, we wouldnʼt have lived this miserably!"

"Shut up..."

"I wish we never met!" The girl in buttery yellow exclaimed, now firmer.

"Shut up..."

Their glares clashed impactfully, and Aguero just knew how much it could have hurt for Bam to hear those words from someone he greatly treasured.

"I wish you were dead, Jue Viole Grace!"

"I said shut up!" The brunet tackled the older girl to the ground, enraged and crying in infuriation as he nimbly avoided her guardsʼ grasp. "You killed them! How dare you act like a victim when you know your parents had gone along this scheme! If you wished we never met, then I wish I never asked to be your friend! I wish I just believed everyone who told me you were bad for me! I wish I didnʼt have the heart to forgive you!"

The children screamed and clawed at each otherʼs faces, and as if on cue, Khun revealed himself out of his hiding place, snapped his fingers, and twice the number of his security tean appeared, pointing their guns at the men in black who had their weapons cocked at Bam and the other kidsʼ direction. The troops gave way for Khun, who was playing with a pistol himself as he slowly approached to where the kids were.

"Now, now. Surely you would not want to encounter a crossfire in the middle of a hospice all for a mere childʼs play, right?" he shot the first oneʼs hand, making him loosen the hold, writhe in pain, and drop his gun which made the bluenet deviously grin. "Step away from the children or all of us shall shoot, and you will lose a whole limb."

The trio glanced at each other before coming to a consensus, surrendering and distanced themselves forty meters away. Before giving his full attention solely to Bam, he stared at them emptily, pulling out a cheque and a pen and throwing it straight at them. "This is triple of the approximate amount the Lights could have given you. Take Rachel Light, silently return, and tell them to heed my warning. If any harm befalls Jue Viole Grace, they will have nowhere to run. Got that?"

"Mr. Khun..." Bam mumbled, rubbing his puffy eyes as they watched his opponent getting dragged away from the scene. It only took a small pat on the incarnateʼs unruly hair and light "You did well." to render him crying again. Aguero lifted him up and laid his head by his shoulder, the child hooking his legs around the formerʼs torso and arms linked around his neck. "I hate her. I hate her so much, I could throw up. I wanted to hurt her more but mommy wonʼt leave me be in my dreams if I did. All the more reason I should because in that way, I get to see them again. Donʼt you think so too, Mr. Khun?"

Aguero let out a pained laughter. At first he thought it was just one of his flares, but it turns out, the black haired kid Bam was protecting earlier was kicking and punching his leg, muttering childlike profanities at him.

"Let go of him! Hyung is a great person, and he doesnʼt deserve to be bullied by people like you!"

"Kid, calm down. You both are safe now, we drove them out." The Khun knelt to his level and noticed a familiar mark near his right eye. "Whatʼs your name?"

"Hatz."

"Hatz, huh?" 'Oh, so this time itʼs you two who found each other, huh? Iʼm quite envious,' the bluenet thought, before shrugging it off to the back of his mind. "Well, thatʼs a peculiar name."

"Whatʼs it to you?"

"You cannot protect everyone you love if you cannot even defend yourself. If you want to have something, improve yourself. Itʼs not everytime that somebody is going to be there to stand up for you. There will come a time where you have to do things on your own, okay?" Soon, he smiled genuinely before leaving the ravenet with two of his lieutenants to escort him wherever he wanted, while he and Bam walked off to the hidden exit of the hospiceʼs garden.

ー

On a sudden whim, both found themselves stepping inside an amusement park. Maybe it was an unconscious decision, or a distant memory of a conversation where Bam told him he missed their familyʼs trivial traditions like, strolling down the park, or eating food at the city plaza, or perhaps, visiting a carnival. Whichever it is, it had to be done to lift the childʼs spirits up.

To his utter dread, the brunetʼs first pick had to be the swinging viking ride where they literally had just witnessed a phone falling from the sky although, it was fairly mild compared to the shuttle drop where he felt like his soul was being sucked out from his body. The brat teased him for his expression turning grim and pale as he almost stumbled running towards a nearby bin to vomit whatever content was left inside his stomach, and he almost cursed him out if not for the beaming smile he showed each time they completed a ride.

And then the little devil called Bam decided to consecutively try out the teacup and jungle rapids rides he said all the children he met and hyped about. He swore he saw his lifespan continuously decreasing with every toss and turn, and heʼd honestly prefer to die over a gunshot rather than pathetically inducing a heart attack inside an amusement park. His pride couldnʼt take that critical hit. But, the final straw was when Bam invited him for the last ride would be a roller-coaster which seemingly had endless loops that he got dizzy counting it off.

Never again will he take the risk and invite an energetic child to a venue inappropriate for an unhealthy fifty-year-old multi-billionaire. Yet, it also got him thinking- since when did he last enjoy a whole day with Bam? Without all the wars and violence, and the constant guard for pursuers? Without having to worry about getting back alive or immediately sleeping in after a long day of hard work to watch over a diversity of species? Just thinking about what the future had for the both of them, if there was any future at all.

"Mr. Khun, are you okay? You look a little off-colored."

The elder stared at him passively before ruffling through his brown locks. He had always thought about the things he would do and say the moment heʼll meet his lover again, so he was not prepared for a completely different scenario. It hurt like needles pricked his heart from the front and back, or the worst of his flare-ups. But maybe in this way, it would not hurt as much as it would if one day heʼll pass away and move on towards another uncertain life.

"I am. Itʼs you that I should be worried about. How are you feeling, Bam?"

"Everything hurt." Aguero felt a light squeeze on the hand that clasped Bamʼs small ones. "But I feel lighter than when Rachel and I fought. I want to hate her, but the fact that I hate her proved how much I treasured our friendship and I do not want to prove it to her. She doesnʼt deserve the sincerity I could have offered, nor the love she received from my parents. Should I cut her off, Mr. Khun?"

"Itʼs your decision to make, Bam. It will be hard, but maybe itʼs for the best if you two would have some distance." 'I will make sure to spend every waking moment trying to protect you from the danger that is the people you once called your family.'

After a few minutes of waiting for the Khunʼs chauffeur, the latter felt his phone vibrating. It seems to be Hansung based on the designated pattern, and he could only laugh anticipating the barrage of sermons the doctor would attack him with for leaving the hospital grounds without permission. The brunetʼs head fell to his lap, and he took this moment to take a closer look at him. Unlike the first time they met, this Bam had a more luminescent glow to his skin. A light tan and a healthy layer of fat on his cheekbones and limbs, as well as a complexion that showed how their quality of life improved.

He pushed stray strands of chestnut brown away from his face and kissed Bamʼs forehead. This would be the last time Aguero would indulge on himself. After this, heʼll finally treat the other as a successor rather than a younger clone of his lost lover. It wouldnʼt be fair if he would continue looking at the child, showing a different demeanor- as if he was staring past him and towards someone else. The Bam on his first and original timeline would always stay in his heart and memory, but this one, who like him, had lost everything, was someone he owed his sanity to.

He wouldnʼt ever forget him. The bluenet would never stop remembering him. But for now, this was enough. Such were Agueroʼs last thoughts before he felt the vehicle swerve from side to side and its speed accelerated. Incoherent screams that warned him about the situation from his driver alerted him, but everything was spinning too fast.

"Mr. Khun," he heard the child whisper amidst the disaster. "Please hold my hand, Iʼm scared."

The car flew, and they could only imagine the damage it will bring as Aguero did nothing else but hold Bamʼs head against his chest, protectively covering the childʼs head with his own arm, bracing for the impact that was yet to come.

"Donʼt be scared, Bam. I will always keep you safe."