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As Jisung leaned back against the wall, watching his mysterious colleague plan out tomorrow on the chalkboard they kept in the kitchen, his eyes were seeing one thing while his mind was considering hundreds of possibilities.

The blonde couldn't stop thinking about what Donghyuck had said before, about him loving a person who wasn't Renjun. There was some sort of aloof vibe he got from the brunette, like a mischievous teenager. Jisung himself wasn't hugely interested in love, but the stories were entertaining...

...He just didn't want his friend to get hurt.

"Okay, so I was thinking we could start them on proper puzzles tomorrow," Hyuck drew him from his thoughts, turning from the chalk colour-coded words to view the taller. "Y'know, enough with the ten piece ones and maybe more of the twenty-five to fifty pieces?"

The younger nodded absentmindedly, slowly walking closer to him and proceeding with caution for the questions he wanted to ask. "Hyuck?"

"Mmm? Oh, we got chocolate milk in yesterday, didn't we-"

"Donghyuck, I want to talk to you." Jisung leaned against the chalkboard's supportive wall, facing the older with a serious expression. "You can say 'no' if you feel the need."

"Okay," the brunette placed the stick of white combined powder on the table near him. "Shoot."

"Are you still cheating on Renjun? Like, has this Jaemin person still been coming to see you?"

"How very 'to-the-point' of you," the mafia leader pursed his lips, though was quite happy that his friend was starting to open up to him with closeness such as this. "But yes. Jaemin still comes to see me-"

"But Renjun is so scary-"

"-Because he's my boyfriend now."

Jisung's breath hitched, eyes widening as he felt his muscles constrict from surprise. "Huh?"

"I....I broke up with Renjun because I love someone else. He's really pissed, and no one can get near him right now....but I knew I had to. I'm too honest for my own good, for this life."

"What do you mean 'for this life'? Who is this Jaemin person?" Why did that orange-haired guy threaten me over this?

"He's someone who knows an awful lot more than he lets on," the brunette sighed airily before returning to scrawling various thoughts and ideas onto the murky, black surface. "Even though I love him, I know I can't trust him entirely. Which is fine...I know he doesn't quite trust me either."

"But why? Aren't relationships built on this sort of thing? I don't know, trust and shit? Like....I'm so confused..."

"And so you should be, Ji. I'm telling you now: there is more to me than what meets the eye, okay? Black and white are such idealistic and simplistic colours...but they're so impossible. The grey area is where we're all supposed to look. The area that's quite undefined."

Jisung stared at him with his jaw a little slack and fingers digging into his palms. He wanted to know more, and to learn....but he just knew that by uprooting secrets that were hidden for a reason, he'd be throwing himself into that grey area Hyuck spoke of. "Donghyuck.....is there something about you that I don't know? That I should know?"

The older's shoulders visibly tensed as he turned to look at the boy from over his shoulder. "More to the point, do you want to know? Jisung, I love you dearly as an amazing friend, and I'm trying to protect you here."

"It's Renjun, isn't it? Is he in the mafia or something? He feels dangerous, Hyuck, and I just...." he trailed off before holding his own shoulders defensively, "I really care about you. I've seen people come and go from this place a lot...but you're different. You're my first real friend."

The smaller released a short breath that came out ragged and worn. "If that's how you feel, then know that ignorance is bliss. Please," he almost begged, but that Lee Donghyuck never ever begged. "Please don't ponder on those thoughts. Renjun and I broke up because we didn't match. I love Jaemin because we're a perfect fit. Nothing more, nothing less-"

"But-"

"Nothing more, nothing less."

Jisung sighed, nodding meekly before perching himself onto the table and waiting for the other to finish up.

As many ideas swirled through his constantly busy mind like waves, the concept of Jupiter arose, and how the clutches of the group were tight and suffocating. He knew of stories where once someone was in, they never came out.

Could Donghyuck have had dodgy dealings with a criminalistic organisation like that? Wasn't he a bit too innocent for that? It really was quite hard to tell who people were in this day and age....particularly when a special brunette knew the history of the crime in this city a little too well for someone who'd only arrived a couple of years earlier.

"Okie dokie, I'm gonna' head off," Donghyuck hummed casually, throwing away that thick aura of secrecy that had originally been shrouding the kitchen and pushing on a not forced, but definitely not entirely genuine smile. "Are you all good to lock up?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. Of course."

The older leaned in, placing his hands on the tall boy's cheeks and squishing them annoyingly while cooing. "You're so adorable. Don't wear a sad face, okay? I wanna' see you smile."

He curved his lips up fondly, loving his colleague's jovial expressions as well. "Okay."

Donghyuck pouted, staring at him for a while with this indistinguishable feeling settling over him. Something felt a bit strange in the air tonight, and he wanted to stick around here to see what it possibly could've been. But time wasn't infinite, and he certainly didn't have very much of it, thus stepping away and letting that feeling slide.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yup. See you tomorrow, Hyuck."

The shorter winked cutely before grabbing his bag of personal belongings and scanning his eyes over the play-school room once more to assure himself that everything was fine. His heart skipped a beat as he imagined meeting up with Jaemin tonight.

"Bye bye!"

"See you!"

He dashed out of the room and down the staircase, slamming through the door and out onto the street. Bitter breezes passed through with an unforgiving bite, nipping the mafia leader's ears and cheeks as he pulled his jacket over himself further.

The river was across the way, sloshing up against its confinements, for tonight was a little more stormy than most. His eyes flicked from left to right, half expecting something, half wondering what exactly it was that he'd be expecting.

As his legs started to lead him towards the zebra crossing not too far down, two arms snaked around his waist and gave him a near miniature heart attack. He shrieked, spinning on the spot and raising his hand to smack his attacker, though finding it was caught in an instant and gripped tightly.

"I love how reflexive you are," none other than Na Jaemin winked beautifully, the wind picking up his blonde fringe and making him look even more ethereal than he already was. "How very sexy."

"A bleeding nose isn't very appealing though, now is it?" The older retorted with faux offence. "And good evening to you too."

Jaemin smiled warmly before pulling his love in against his chest and shielding his pretty, tanned face from the unforgiving gales running past them. His eyes darkened as he sensed another pair of curious ones on himself, immediately looking up to a window two stories above in the building they stood in front of.

It was that same blonde kid from before, the one who'd hugged Donghyuck. His teeth involuntarily gritted as he narrowed his gaze menacingly.

He already hated him, and that was a problem.

Jisung, however, innocently assumed that this was Jaemin and scratched the back of his neck as he thought about it. The guy was gorgeous, no doubt about that. But he definitely radiated the same 'danger, danger' vibes that Renjun did. It appeared his friend had a horrible taste in men, if his hunch was correct.

Droplets of rain spat from the threatening sky above, splashing against the window as they continued to stare without hesitation.

When Hyuck pulled away from his boyfriend and insisted that they run to his house, Jisung watched from afar and pressed his hand to the glass, deciding that he'd need to stay here until the oncoming storm would pass.

A storm he was sure meant nothing at all.

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