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Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Seungkwan rushed to the hospital upon seeing the news that a detective had been shot near Park Otaek's home.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Joshua Hong!" Jeonghan spoke quickly as he reached the hospital, running to the front desk.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch-"

"I need to know if Joshua Hong was admitted here!" He hit his fists on the desk, his breathing was uneven and came out in gasps and sharp inhales.

Seungcheol tried to calm Jeonghan down, patting gently on his shoulders while Seungkwan moved forward.

"Sorry, we're looking for a detective named Hong Joshua, we think he was admitted here, we're his friends and colleague." Seungkwan explained thoroughly and the lady checked her system before pointing to the hallway on the left.

"He's in the operating room currently so you'll have to wait until he's successfully out of surgery."

As the words went out of her mouth, Jeonghan felt his heart crumbling into tiny pieces with each new piece of information.

Yes, he was upset with Joshua and yes they hadn't talked in a while but Joshua was still his best friend, Joshua was still someone he loved and trusted and Joshua was still someone whose life he wanted to be in.

Even if Joshua didn't want him to be.

He felt himself slowly getting destroyed by each second he spent waiting for the lady to say something good. To lift his spirits.

He was also getting flashbacks from the night his mother died. The night his whole world was taken from him. Joshua was the only one who had been able to fill the void or even wanted to fill the void.

Before Seungcheol came in.

Maybe others would have said he was overreacting or would have questioned why he wasn't dating Joshua but it went beyond platonic and romantic relationships. It was a soulmate bond.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Seungcheol asked, his voice not too sweet and also not too cold. It was as concerned and calming as it needed to be. Jeonghan turned to Seungcheol, his eyes glistening, filled to the brim with stubborn tears.

As Seungcheol gave him a reassuring look, Jeonghan shook his head, laying it on Seungcheol's chest and letting himself cry which was something he never did in public.

Yet, somehow, he didn't care right now. He didn't care about the judging eyes of the people in the hospital and the annoyed or disgusted looks. He was safe in Seungcheol's arms. That was all that mattered.

They gave him reassurance, reassurance that Joshua was alive. Joshua would survive it. He was a strong man and Jeonghan trusted him to push through so that was what he was going to do.

Jeonghan tried to be confident. Tried to convince himself but at the back of his mind, the bad thoughts crept in and usually, his brain was fond of the bad ones.

"It's okay baby, I'm here, it's okay. He'll be okay." Seungcheol caressed Jeonghan's hair gently, instilling a sense of calm in the man.

Seungkwan helped by patting Jeonghan's back and the two, in a joint effort to soothe Jeonghan, managed to get him out of his panic attack.

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Seokmin waited by the operating room, desperate for Joshua to come out and be alive. All he wanted was for Joshua to be alive.

He couldn't lose another person. He couldn't have other people lose their person.

"Sorry, who are you?" A voice called out to Seokmin who turned rapidly, almost as if he'd heard Joshua's voice.

In front of him stood three men, all close together with their faces contorted and confusion written all over them.

Seokmin's brows clenched as he looked up to the men. "Sorry... who are you guys?" He returned the question and the three looked at themselves before turning back to him.

"We're Joshua's friends." Seungcheol answered and the man gave a subtle nod. "I'm also his friend... well... kind of anyways." Seokmin clarified and the three nodded.

The man on the left gestured to the seat beside Seokmin before facing the man in the middle. "Do you want to sit here baby?" Seungcheol asked and the man nodded before taking a seat beside Seokmin.

Oh, they're a couple. Seokmin assumed, all of a sudden feeling a bit too single. After all, the person who he had started feeling things for was in the operating room right now.

Seokmin felt someone tap him so he turned to face the man beside him who passed him a small smile. "Hi, I'm Jeonghan."

He introduced himself but it was obvious he had been crying, his eyes were puffy and slightly red and his voice was a bit croaked.

Seokmin smiled back, giving him a small wave. "Hi, I'm Seokmin."

He nodded before pointing to the two men who were still standing, "That's Seungcheol and that's Seungkwan." He introduced them as well and Seokmin nodded, although he wasn't really interested in knowing their names.

"I'm Joshua's best friend, Seungcheol's his colleague and Seungkwan is also his friend a bit, could you please tell us what happened to Joshua?" Jeonghan requested in a soft, gentle tone although Seokmin knew how desperate he was to know, considering his facial expression.

With every word that left his mouth, it seemed like a part of him was dying.

Seokmin's mind flashed back to the sight of Joshua on the floor, bleeding with his eyes shut, his mouth shut and tear stains on his cheek. He hated seeing Joshua like that, he hated seeing Joshua in pain.

It hurt even more because the reason Joshua was in pain was partially because of him. He was fighting for Soomin's justice, for the justice of all the Menacing Murderer's victims and now he was fighting for his life.

"I...I'm sorry. I need a moment." Seokmin informed them, hanging his head back as he tried to keep the tears in his eyes and stop them from falling.

He blinked a few times before looking down at Jeonghan again. "He... he wanted to catch the murderer, the man... or boy anyways who killed my sister and he got shot."

Seokmin watched as the expressions on the men's faces changed completely, becoming distraught and horrified.

He felt horrible, the guilt had started to eat him alive and he wasn't even the one who had shot Joshua. "I'm so sorry." He turned away, ashamed to even look into the eyes of the people in front of him.

"Hey, hey hey." Jeonghan tapped him lightly, his voice still laced with sadness. Seokmin refused to turn, shaking his head, still feeling ashamed with himself.

"It's not your fault, you didn't shoot him, it's not your fault." Jeonghan's voice cracked and his eyes watered but he was determined to let Seokmin know that it wasn't his fault. He knew how dangerous it was to carry guilt that wasn't meant for you and he didn't want Seokmin to go through that.

Joshua was alive. Joshua... was... alive.

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Mingyu and Wonwoo walked into the hospital. It was finally the day for Hyein to be discharged. She had requested to stay in the hospital for longer because the pair had asked her to give them some more time.

Over the past few days, they had collected and stocked up on their evidence. Enough evidence to prohibit Hyein from going home with her parents. Although Hyein's testimony was already enough to keep her out of their care at least for a little while.

They had officially alerted the CPS and today, they were going to officially arrest the vile humans who had the audacity to abuse their daughter, force a fellow child to abuse her, force a kidnapping and ask for ransom as well.

They were evil masterminds although Mingyu refused to admit it. He couldn't believe such inhumane parents existed. He didn't know why the couple had been given such a nice, strong, smart and beautiful daughter to take care of.

They deserved nothing.

"Good day Ma'am. Good day Sir. We'd like to talk to your daughter in private, once again." Mingyu bowed as he reached the couple who stood outside their daughter's room, apparently engaged in some sort of serious conversation.

As they recognized Mingyu and Wonwoo, they fake smiled and opened the door to her room. "You've been talking in private a lot recently." The mother voiced her complaints while the father lightly tapped her on the arm like he didn't want her to blow their cover.

Mingyu let out a rehearsed chuckle, putting his arm around Wonwoo's shoulder. "It's just a lot about the case that has to remain confidential, thank you though for giving us permission."

He gave another brief bow before walking into the hospital room with Wonwoo by his side and closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Mingyu ran up to Hyein, giving her a warm hug. In these hard times, the two men had become her source of everything good. Happiness, laughter, reassurance, warmth.

Everything her parents failed to offer her.

She also couldn't see her friends because they were all too scared or too guilty to visit so truly, all she had was them yet strangely enough, they were all she needed.

More than enough.

"Hello." She waved with a smile on her face which instantly downturned as she moved on to a question, "If my parents do get arrested..." She whispered, careful not to let them hear her, "Where will I end up?"

Her question managed to make the pair speechless as none of them had anything to say and even if they did, they weren't sure it was exactly good news.

"Do you have any family members to-"

She shook her head immediately. "My parents aren't close to their families, I've never met any of them... I doubt they'd take me in."

Mingyu nodded in understanding, rocking back and forth as he thought of something else.

"How about your friends?" Wonwoo asked and Hyein sighed, shaking her head once again. "Their parents most likely won't agree and honestly... neither would they."

Wonwoo shut his mouth, gulping down his suggestion. It was stupid to even suggest that anyways. None of her "friends" had even come to see her.

After that followed a long moment of silence which Hyein broke with a single plea. "Please, don't put me in foster care." She put her hands together, rubbing them lightly.

"Please." She breathed, her voice a bit shakey as she begged, tugging at the heart strings of the two men in front of her. They didn't want to send her to a foster system. Not when there was a high chance she would end up suffering there as well.

But those were the rules. That was the law.

Unless.

"Would you like me to adopt you?" Mingyu inquired and Hyein's downcast expression morphed into one of pure joy. Her frown upturned into a big smile and her eyes grew wider with both delight and disbelief.

"Really? You would do that?" She asked, her voice louder than she had intended. Mingyu nodded as soon as she asked. He cared a lot about Hyein and wanted to make sure she was alright, forever and what better way to do that than to adopt her and rid her of her abusive parents.

Wonwoo's brows shuffled as he turned to Mingyu, dragging him to a corner. "It's not as easy as it seems, you know that right?" He queried and Mingyu smiled faintly, not really wanting to answer Wonwoo's question.

"I'll adopt her and when we get married, she'll be our daughter. How cute!" Mingyu exclaimed, already daydreaming.

Wonwoo just shook his head and folded his arms. "This isn't a joke, Mingyu, you're sure you're ready for a child right now? Are you sure you can take care of her as well as she needs to be?"

Mingyu's smile loosened, a sigh fading out of his mouth as the excitement in him dimmed. "I'm not stupid, Wonwoo. I've actually been wanting to adopt her for a while. I'll never have kids of my own anyways and I admire this girl so much. She's so amazing so of course I want her ad my daughter."

Wonwoo opened his mouth to say something but Mingyu interrupted him. "And I know, you're just being cautious, thorough, rational, I know, okay? And I love it just like I love you but I need you to trust me, just trust me."

Wonwoo remained at a loss of words, only able to nod his head in response as the sweetness of Mingyu's words made his heart beat faster than he could run.

Mingyu turned back to Hyein, walking over to her again before he said, "I'd love for you to be my daughter, Hyein, so... what do you say?"

Without a single second wasted, Hyein jumped out of her hospital bed, running to give Mingyu a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won't let you down!" She promised and Mingyu smiled, his eyes naturally ending up on Wonwoo who smiled back.

He wasn't too sure before but Mingyu looked like a good dad and with how sweet and caring he was, he'd make a good dad too.

His eyes flickered to the door which opened as Hyein and Mingyu let go and Hyein returned to her bed. The door opened wider, to the extreme before the parents walked in, bowing gently to the two Detectives.

"Come on Hyein, it's time to go." The mother dragged Hyein out of her bed and then out of the room. As they left, Mingyu turned to Wonwoo, extending his fist.

Wonwoo gave him a sharp and quick fist bump as their hands came into contact. "Let's put those aholes in jail." Mingyu proposed, a confident smirk on his face and Wonwoo nodded, his aura emitting both confidence and logic and his voice gentle but also driven as he replied.

"Let's do it."

Ⓒ︎OHWAYOHWAYOH
𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖉 - 11/11/2024
𝕰𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖉 - N/A

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