Red Strings

Red Strings 3/?

"Well, well, well. Pretty boys are just coming one after another, huh?" The new man said as he made his way over to where Taekwoon stood frozen, legs refusing to listen to his mind as it screamed for him to run.

"Hey, man. Skip out in this one." The familiar rough voice made Taekwoon shiver unpleasantly.

"What do you mean? Look at him! You want me to skip out on that? You're crazy, Junho."

"No, man. You're crazy." Junho retorted, "This kid here came about a week or two ago with Ravi. He was pretty pissed off. Started his whole three count bullshit. Oh, heads up, he dyed his hair again. It's black this time." Junho shook his head, "Almost shit myself when I realized it was him."

"Ravi? He's into guys?" The incredulous and doubtful tone in the man's voice made Taekwoon frown.

Was liking a man wrong?

"Ravi? Who's Ravi?" Taekwoon's soft voice drew the men's attention soon enough, a mysterious glint in the man's eyes. He took a step back as a grin lifted the side of Junho's lips.

"Ravi, the man you were with. Black hair, tattoos?" Junho raised a brow before realization hit him. "Oh." He breathed. "Ohhh." Taekwoon furrowed his brow as the other broke out into fits of laughter.

"What's so funny?" He questioned.

"Sweetheart. Sweetheart." He cooed softly, almost teasingly. "You don't know about him? That man you were with?" He broke out into another fit of laughter before he stopped, eyes analyzing Taekwoon with more confidence than before. "Ravi. He has a pretty big rep around here."

"Rep?"

"Reputation, sweetheart." Taekwoon felt disgusted at what should've been an endearing nickname. "Rumor is, or I guess fact is, he's killed a man. Shouldn't be that big of a deal in a place like this but when the man you managed to kill was double your height and weight, shit gets real."

"W-What?" Taekwoon stuttered, taking a few more steps back. No, no, no. Wonsik wouldn't do something that bad, right?

"Yep, stabbed the guy in the cold blood after giving him a good beating. Left him to bleed out. But we knew. Someone says they saw him in one of the bathrooms washing his hands clean of blood." The other man spoke up. "I saw him. That someone was me."

"But did you see him stab the person?" Taekwoon asked with wide eyes, not realizing that he had taken a couple steps closer to them. "You didn't see him though right? He wouldn't." Taekwoon was trying to convince himself more than anything at this point. Wonsik wouldn't have. He wouldn't stab a man would he? He would have a good reason wouldn't he? What kind of reason was good enough though?

Taekwoon's breathing quickened. He needed to find Wonsik.

"Does it matter if I saw him actually do it? I saw what I saw, and that's that. He looked cold as ice when he was rinsing his hands of sin, blank even. No remorse. Scariest sight I've ever seen and I've seen a helluva lot." The man added on, shivering at the thought. "Now run along little one. Not everyone knows that Ravi has a claim on you. We're not trying to get someone else killed by that man."

"I... Do you know where I can find him?" Taekwoon asked meekly.

"He finds you." Was Junho's simple response.

Taekwoon sat up, kicking the blanket off his body in frustration. He glared at the wall in front of him, fingers digging into his bed sheets.

He finds you.

And if he doesn't? He hasn't for the past two weeks. Does that mean he won't see Wonsik anymore?

Taekwoon flinched, hand coming up to pat his chest softly. Pain etched itself on his face at the thought of never seeing the man again.