DEADLY ENTANGLEMENT ⋮ markhyuck

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈

It was late in the evening, and Mark planned to leave. He knew the visiting hours would end soon, and Nurse Moon would do his job by asking him out. On top of that, the inspector got no updates from his team, and he was getting worried something happened and he wasn't informed. He stood up from the chair and gave one last glance to Donghyuck to confirm that was asleep, which happened most of the time because he was nauseous and couldn't really talk. He was resting, so Mark wore his coat and headed to the door when suddenly the younger woke up.

"You're leaving..." he said, but more lively now.

"Yeah, it's late," Mark mumbled, but then said softly. "I'll return tomorrow, and we'll talk, okay? Until that, rest well because we'll need a few things to examine, too."

The inspector reached for the door handle, but Donghyuck kept talking.

"What's with the tone, DI Lee?" he chuckled. "Do I look that bad?"

Mark could just slowly shake his head. He had no answer prepared. Especially when Donghyuck looked like nothing but an angel to him.

"Is there a mirror somewhere? Gosh, I must look horribly," Donghyuck whined and then tried to get up.

Mark panicked, remembering the younger had a broken rib, and rushed to the bed to keep him in place. He put his palms on Donghyuck's chest and softly pushed him back to the mattress.

"Rest," he said. "There's no beauty competition here. You're in a hospital."

Donghyuck glanced at Mark's hands. He slowly lifted his arm to gather one of the inspector's hands into his. Although they didn't feel much as Inspector Lee wore gloves, for some reason, the touch was comforting.

"I'm glad there's someone at my side, at least for once. The whole team is, but you, especially," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Doing nasty things for money does have something good about them. Sometimes, it tears the truth out of someone, and I'm glad it was you who heard it. I'd be somewhere in the cold if you hadn't picked me up that night..."

"That was a perfect coincidence," Mark replied in the same volume. "It makes me think how many opportunities I've missed."

Donghyuck chuckled and opened his eyes. In them, the inspector saw the opposite of the laugh that just left the younger's lips.

"Take care of your reputation, Detective Inspector Lee. Don't go anywhere that could ruin it," he said, gazing intensely into the older's eyes. "Sangwoo wanted to blackmail you. He doesn't like it when police get involved."

Mark raised a brow.

"In his place, he had two pictures which may compromise your image. One was seven years ago, not that valid. The one I told you about. The other wasn't taken that long ago... Actually, about a... a..." the younger frowned as he seemingly had problems with his memory. Mark wanted to tell him not to bother, but Donghyuck was determined to finish. "He followed us to the love motel and took pictures of us getting inside... Everyone knows what happened after."

"No..." Mark shook his head in disbelief. "He followed me and you?"

"Yeah," Donghyuck scoffed. "And it pains me when I can't figure out which one of us was his target. Though, that explains why he knew where I was staying."

"Shit..." Inspector Lee drew back, suddenly terrified by the thought that Sangwoo had material to blackmail him and control the case.

But then his memory picked up the past sense in Donghyuck's story.

"Wait, you said he had... Does that mean—"

"Those pictures were made by a Polaroid camera and hung right above my head. When I had the chance, I took them, chewed them, and swallowed them. In other words, I ate them. They're still in my fucking stomach," Donghyuck scoffed, making fun of himself. "I got abused because of that, so you better not step into a gay club and give your best to solve the case."