Escape is an Excuse

Minho had been at Jaeshin’s for all of three nights when Wookyung found him. In retrospect, Minho should have told Jaeshin what was going on. But he’d only spoken about his crazy flatmate, like anyone might have – not about the insane bastard who was in love with him and had chained him up to keep him from running away.

So really, he couldn’t blame Jaeshin for opening the door. If Minho hadn’t been in the kitchen with the rangehood on, he might have been able to step him; instead, the first thing he knew was Jaeshin calling out, ‘Byun Minho, your friend’s here!’

Minho’s hand tightened on the knife he was using. He went cold. For a moment, he had the wild thought that he should escape out the kitchen window, never mind that they were five storeys up.

Instead, he came out of the kitchen with the knife still in his hand, his whole body too tense to let go.

‘Isn’t this a domestic sight?’ Wookyung said, his voice smooth as butter. No wonder Jaeshin had let him in when he looked like that, with his nice clothes, put together and smelling like wealth.

‘Sunbae, you should go in the bedroom and call the police,’ Minho said. ‘Tell them there’s a psycho turned up at your house.’

Wookyung laughed, the fucker, and Jaeshin took it as his cue to laugh too.

‘You guys know each other well, huh?’ Jaeshin said. He looked Wookyung up and down and said, ‘Can I get you a drink? I’m sure Minho can stretch dinner to three.’

Wookyung met Minho’s eyes, his smile fucking twinkling.

‘I wasn’t kidding,’ Minho said. He put out an arm to stop Jaeshin from entering the kitchen. ‘He’s not my friend.’

‘What?’

Wookyung sighed. ‘Ah, hyung. You don’t have to be so serious about it.’

‘Minho, what’s going on?’ Jaeshin’s voice had lost its confidence.

Minho felt bad for getting him involved in this – he should have known Wookyung would have vetted all his workmates before letting him take the job. That he would know where they lived, should Minho ever try to bum a couch to sleep on.

‘How about it?’ Wookyung said, only looking at Minho. ‘We can have a nice dinner, and then you can come home and we pretend none of this ever happened.’

Minho still had the knife in his hand. ‘Call the police,’ he said again.

Jaeshin hesitated. Minho could see it in his eyes – he was still too unsure. Wookyung didn’t look like what he was, any more than Minho looked like someone’s kept pet.

Before Jaeshin could make a move, Wookyung shoved him back against the wall, slamming his head against the plaster. When Wookyung let go, Jaeshin crumpled to the floor. There was a dent on the wall, where his head had hit it. A smear of blood. And Minho standing, unmoving, with the knife still clutched in his hand.

Wookyung looked back over his shoulder at him. Minho had the sudden urge to lift the knife to his own throat – but when he raised his arm, Wookyung was beside him, putting his hand over Minho’s. When Minho tried to yank his hand away, Wookyung slammed his wrist against the door frame.

Minho cried out, and he let go.

‘You bastard,’ he said. He looked past Wookyung to where Jaeshin was still on the floor. ‘Sunbae –’ He couldn’t see if he was moving.

‘Forget about him,’ Wookyung said. He tightened his grip on Minho’s wrist, so that Minho cried out and his eyes watered. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t come for you? After everything?’

Wookyung’s eyes were wide and wild. And there was that dark interior of Minho’s soul, that raw and tender part of him that couldn’t help but be moved by Wookyung’s sincerity.

Suddenly, Jaeshin groaned. The sound was a relief, because it meant Wookyung hadn’t killed him – Minho wouldn’t be responsible for that. But the sound drew Wookyung’s eyes like a knife.

‘Leave him alone,’ Minho said weakly. ‘He doesn’t know anything about this.’

Jaeshin lifted his head, looking dazed; Minho stepped closer to Wookyung.

‘Cha Wookyung, leave him alone, okay? He was just doing a colleague a favour.’

‘Did you sleep with him?’ Wookyung demanded.

‘No!’ Minho didn’t want to see Jaeshin’s expression when he registered the question, so he looked only at Wookyung. ‘I was stupid,’ he said. ‘I’ll come nicely now.’

‘You were stupid,’ Wookyung agreed. He let go of Minho’s wrist, which made it ache almost as much as when he’d squeezed it. ‘So I won’t make it nice for you.’

He pulled Minho in by the waist, and kissed him – moving his mouth to Minho’s neck when Minho wouldn’t meet his lips. He slipped his hands down to cup Minho’s ass.

‘Not here –’ Minho said, and tried to get his hands between them; Wookyung drew back, but only so that he could slap Minho hard across the face.

’If you try to run away with another guy, of course I’m going to have to claim you in front of him,’ Wookyung said.

‘He needs a hospital –’

Minho was ashamed of it, but even as he tried to talk Wookyung out of this, tried to stick up for Jaeshin – his body was already getting excited. Even with the ache in his wrist and his check stinging. Or maybe because of that.

It had been a while, since Wookyung has hurt him like this. Since he had needed to.

Was that what made Minho think he could get away with this?

‘You don’t really care about that,’ Wookyung said. ‘Your body doesn’t lie.’ He grabbed Minho’s uninjured hand and pulled it downward, forced it against Minho’s own crotch. And Minho wished he wouldn’t have gotten hard in this situation, but he had.

When Jaeshin pulled himself upright against the wall, it startled them both. Jaeshin had to lean against the surface, as if standing took effort. Minho met his eyes and found there what he had feared from the start: not horror, but disgust.

‘Whatever the two of you have got going on,’ Jaeshin said, ‘leave me out of it.’ He stumbled away toward the bedroom, presumably to shut them out and call the cops. Or an ambulance. Both.

For a moment, Minho thought Wookyung might go after him. To finish him off? Force him to watch after all? He pulled away from Minho, and Minho grabbed his hand without thinking.

‘Leave it,’ Minho said. ‘I’m sorry. I – I’ll make it up to you. Let’s just go home. Please.’

He wasn’t sure if he was crying or not – he thought there might be tears in his eyes. Wookyung looked down at their joined hands together, and, for the moment, he was gentled.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘As long as you make it up to me.’

Minho nodded. And then, to sell it, he pressed his lips to Wookyung’s – only briefly, because if he let Wookyung kiss him open-mouthed, there was no way he was getting out of here with his ass intact. But the brief kiss was enough that Wookyung’s eyes turned fond.

The trouble was, no-one else would ever look at Minho with the affection that Wookyung did, then.

Minho had known Wookyung would come after him, after all. Perhaps he’d even been counting on it.

He left quietly with Wookyung, after that. And if Jaeshin ever did called the police to report Wookyung’s assault – well, Minho never heard about it.

Better, in some ways, not to have too much freedom.