Mild had run into the guys on their way out and they had made their way to his place. Gulf shouldn't be alone right now, even if he wanted to.
"Here" Mild said handing Gulf the towel and soap bottle "Go, take a relaxing bath, it's your favorite lavender soap relax a little it's late, we'll wait for you here"
Gulf nodded absentmindedly, he was still spiraling thoughts around in his mind.
Mild waited for him to go in and after hearing the bath water running he went to the living room. Saint was sitting on the couch already in his pjs, the spare he left here just in case, drinking a glass of wine.
"So?"
"He told him he loved him" Saint said staring at the liquid in the glass "and Gulf got scared" he looked up at Mild.
They understood, they knew the fear Gulf carried, they had felt it when he had tried to push them away relentlessly for months when he woke up. First avoiding them, then ignoring them all together, than he had escalated into insulting them, telling them they annoyed him. But they knew the truth and when he had finally cracked he had told them how scared he was that because of their love for him they would die. But the group had stayed by his side assuring him loving him wasn't a mistake. It had taken them a long time and now here was Mew blurting it out after letting him know he knew all about him. Gulf was shutting himself down quickly.
"We just have to give him time" Saint said taking another sip.
"Saint.." Mild said softly, Saint looked at him and noticed how anxious he was.
"What is it?" He asked concerned
"Tul was at the crime scene today" he looked back making sure Gulf was still in the bath "he appeared suddenly from the opposite side of where we entered, according to Gulf right when he was chasing the killer"
Saint looked at him wide eyed "You don't think..?"
"I don't know anymore" he replied honestly
"I mean yes there's is something wrong with the guy but murder? Plus the killer is meticulous, almost perfectly, well till now" he placed the glass on the table "Tul is clumsy always dropping things, spilling stuff on himself"
"That's just it! I saw him move swiftly twice already once with Gulf and the second when he caught a box mid air, when he realized I saw him he let it drop" he bit his thumb nail and shook his leg nervously "what if he's pretending?"
Saint thought about it. A killer? Could Tul be a killer?
"We have to go inside his house" Mild said anxiously "the faster the better I have a really bad feeling Saint"
Saint nodded "Okay, we'll go together again Monday okay?" Mild looked displeased but agreed.
They heard Kana get out of the bathroom and dropped the subject, it was almost 3 am and Mild was sure he wouldn't get a wink of sleep.
———
Later that day
"We're listening" Saint said staring at Gulf who had told them he needed to speak with them.
Gulf bit his lip he had been thinking about the case a lot to keep his mind off Mew and his dark thoughts. He had decided to tell the guys after he had gotten a notification on his phone this morning when he woke up, from his security system.
He placed the phone on the table and showed them the video he had watched over and over again. They looked down at the phone confused, they thought this was a Mew thing.
"What's going on?" Mild asked confused.
"I've been keeping this a secret because I don't want to worry you guys, but after watching this video in the morning a lot of things came back to mind, things I didn't pay attention to till now"
Mild felt the knot in his stomach turn, increasing his bad feeling. Both him and Saint leaned in and watched the video. A dark figured appeared at Gulf's door, no face could be seen, completely covered by a cap and what seemed to be a mask. The stranger pulled something out of his pocket and walked into his house opening the door quietly. Mild felt his hair stand on end, the video shifted to inside footage, the perpetrator closed the door slowly and put away whatever he used to open the door back in his pocket. He looked around cautiously.
"Someone broke into your place?" Saint asked, yes it was creepy but nothing shocking, Mild didn't say a word.
The stranger walked over to the room and the video shifted to Gulf's bedroom.
"Really Kana even the room?" Saint said teasingly but stopped smiling when he watched the stranger pick up his pillow and sniff it.
"What the Fuck?" Saint said feeling nauseous, the guy walked over to his hamper and took out a shirt bringing it close to his face, he folded it tightly into a tube shape and put it in his pocket. He then walked back to the bed and laid down. Smelling the sheets hugging them, after a while he stood up and walked out he looked around the room once more and left.
"What the fuck is this? Why didn't you tell us you had a stalker?"
Gulf looked at Saint "I didn't know I did until recently, when I woke up as he was leaving my house" Saint's eyes widened "he tackled me to the floor and choked me till I almost passed out but ran before I did"
"You should've told us about this" Mild said standing up quickly, visibly upset.
"I'm sorry, I thought I could catch whoever it was"
"CATCH WHOEVER IT WAS!!! WHAT IF HE KILLED YOU!THAT PERSON SAUNTERED INTO YOUR HOUSE LIKE HE LIVED THERE!!" Mild yelled, he couldn't stop himself his head was ringing.
Gulf knew he would be upset it's why he had kept it to himself for so long, he lowered his head "I'm sorry... I just didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of me..."
Mild anger dissipated just as quickly as it came, he still felt it was his fault his parents died. He sat down and grabbed his hand "I'm sorry I yelled I just worry for you okay?" Gulf nodded.
"Okay , you said a lot of things came back, like what?" Saint asked
"Shirts, boxers, towels that I usually use are missing" he sighed he really didn't want to say this part but he had to "i"ve woken groggily and thought I imagined someone at my bedroom door" both Saint and Mild widened their eyes "I thought it was my paranoia so I dismissed it, also the smell of coffee lingered in the air sometimes in the morning or when I woke up suddenly"
Mild shot up at that he looked at Saint who looked at him confused "What ? What's going on?"
Mild turned grabbed his keys and rushed out.
"Is he that mad at me for not telling him?" Gulf asked.
"I don't know Kana. I don't know"
——
Mild rushed out of the apartment, he walked to the elevators and frowned when he saw the maintenance sign, he quickly took the stairs and ran down the 4 flight of stairs. He was sure, he was so sure that it was Tul in the video and he needed to confirm it.
He jumped in his car and headed for the cafe, he needed to make sure he was at work to make his plan happen. He pulled up near by and got down, he walked over and glanced inside, he saw Tul placing the coffee cup on the table of a pretty girl, smiling shyly at her. He felt his stomach churn. Okay he was here so, this was his chance.
He drove over to the seedy neighborhood ignoring Saint's and Gulf's calls he knew that if they found out what he was doing they would try to stop him, but he had to confirm, his bad feeling was increasing rapidly. He pulled up to the neighborhood and got down swiftly the same lady as before was sitting at her porch.
"Came to waste mo-"
He showed her a 100 dollar bill cutting her off "Tell me where he lives" the lady eyed him and pointed, he gave her the bill and kept walking with a bag in his hand. He made it to the shabby house she had pointed at and knocked, his phone vibrated again and he looked at the screen, he had multiple missed calls and now Boat was included in those as well, he switched the phone to silent and cursed at the 5% battery icon.
The door swung open and a haggard women reeking of booze stood there looking at him "What the fuck do you want?" She croaked out.
He pulled out the bottle of Jack he had bought on the way here and she smiled licking her lips, she reached for it "It's yours if you answer some questions, I have two more bottles as well" she smiled moving aside letting him in.
"What do you want make it quick" she asked.
"Tell me about you son" her eyes went wide and she began trembling, she shook her head.
He grabbed the bottle and opened it handing it over to her, she hesitated but took it anyway, he wasn't proud of this, taking advantage of someone's addiction wasn't good but he needed answers "Well?"
"He's a killer.." she whispered
Mild felt his blood go cold, but she was also a drunk so she needed to elaborate "What do you mean?"
"He's tried to kill me multiple times but stops because he knows he will go to jail" she took another gulp of the bottle "he chokes me till I can't breathe no matter how much I cry and scratch at him" she began crying "that stupid bastard I only had him to get out of this hell whole and here I am still" she whined. So she was a horrible mother. Okay. Noted.
"Can you show me his room"
Her eyes went wide instantly "No, no, no, no, no" she said voice trembling "he'll kill me he promised he would" she looked at one of the doors near by "he said no one is allowed in his sanctuary and if I ever went in I would die, that he didn't care if he went to jail"
Mild glanced at the door and then back at the drunk woman in front of him, he sighed and pulled out another bottle opening it and placing it in front of her, she snatched it quickly and began gulping it down.
He stood up and made his way to the door, the lady began trembling and murmuring no's but he didn't care. He opened the room door slowly at first, the first thing he noticed was the smell of lavender, just like Kana. He felt his hair stand up and pushed the door open. He stood frozen in place. He couldn't believe his eyes.
There were pictures of Gulf everywhere, plastered all around the walls some big, poster sized and some small, in some of them he was sleeping in what was clearly his room, others he was walking or mid sentence they were everywhere, there was a huge banner size picture of Gulf in Tul's arms asleep on the ceiling and he felt like he would puke. He was insane, completely insane. He took a step back, he needed to leave he couldn't stand being here any longer but that's when he noticed them. There was a bucket of roses , some white but others had a pale tint to them. He took a step in the room and walked up to them. He saw them sitting in a bucket of black water, the roses were in the process of being tinted black.
"Oh my God. He's the killer." He whispered.He looked up at the pictures above the roses, they were polaroid's of each victim with an envelope in the frame. The envelope only had the victims initial, he recognized them as the ones Gulf kept as evidence. They were the "body notice" envelopes,he saw the message they were creating and took a step back.
"He wants Kana.." he said in an inaudible whisper, he took another step back finally exiting the room "He's going after Kana, the killer and the stalker are the same person.."
He turned and rushed out of the house leaving the door open, he ran as fast as he could and got in his car, as he drove back he took out his phone and frowned at the 1% warning, he decided a text would take less battery.
'I found the killer 'he clicked send and began to write the second message 'It's Tul!He's the stalker and the kill- ' but before he could finish his phone died. He cursed out loud and stepped on the gas. He needed to tell Gulf!He needed to protect him.
——
"Okay yeah I got them , I'm on my way" Zee said into his phone.
He picked up the take out and placed it in his car. Saint had called him asking him to stop by Mild's place to bring them food cause he didn't want to leave Gulf alone. He obliged. He was near the restaurant anyways, he put his seatbelt on and calculated he was only 15 mins away.
——-
Mild pulled up to his apartments and practically jumped out of the car and ran inside, the elevator still had the maintenance sign up and he growled running to the stairs. He began taking them two by two, sweat running down his face.
He was gasping for air when he finally made it to his floor, he took a breather and walked the last steps slowly he heard footsteps from above but ignored them figuring it was someone coming down, he reached for the door and suddenly felt someone pull him forcefully and then smashing him up against the wall. His eyes widened in shock "T-Tul" he stuttered.
Tul smiled at him behind his mask. He lowered it with one hand while keeping his other hand around his neck tightly to keep him from screaming "You got me!" He said mockingly "Surprised?" He chuckled "I was too when I pulled up to my house and saw your car"
Mild felt his blood run cold.
"I didn't want to kill you" he said smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes, they were cold and detached of any emotion "But by the looks of it, you know everything and I can't have you spoiling my surprise for Kana"
Mild eyes widened at the nickname
"So I guess you won't get to be my brother in law after all" he pulled out a blade and put it near his neck "Guess this is the end of the road for you Mild" suddenly he heard footsteps approaching he cursed under his breath , Mild struggled and tried to scream but he quickly covered his mouth, he thought about it quickly and he picked Mild up slightly and shuffled him in front of the stairs shoving him hard, Mild flew back screaming and landed with a thud against the cement floor. He saw the blood begin to slowly pull around him and smiled.
"Hello?" Was heard from a floor below and Tul quietly made his way back up a floor.
He watched as Zee came into view dropping the food he was carrying "Mild!!Mild!!" He screamed as he ran up the last few steps he crouched down beside him feeling for a pulse.
Zee scrambled for his phone and called Saint "Come on Mild stay with me, stay with me"
"SAINT! CALL AN AMBULANCE I FOUND MILD ON THE STAIRWELL HE'S BLEEDING!" He yelled into the phone suddenly moments later the door burst open and Saint stood there frozen a frantic Gulf followed.
"M-Mild" Gulf said collapsing to the floor. He heard, Saint yelling into his phone but it sounded really far away, his eyes were glued on Mild, how pale he looked, how the blood pooled around him, how he wasn't moving.