After spending the night at Sung's house for his night shift as a bodyguard, Saint decides to go back home and make himself a nice breakfast. It was his day off and he was going to take advantage of it to go to the gym. He decides to make something tasty: a bowl of Thai basil fried rice, with a spicy note but not too intense. He sautés garlic and chili pepper in a pan, adding ground chicken, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. At the end, he adds some fresh basil leaves to enhance the aroma. He finishes the dish with a fried egg with a soft yolk, delicately placed on top of the rice. He eats it with gusto and immediately takes a backpack that he used to use when going to the gym and puts everything he needs in it. He sends a message to Ken, with whom he had arranged to go there, and leaves the house to reach the facility on his scooter. Up until that moment he hadn't bought a car because his scooter was like a part of his family, since he had it for many years now, even though a car would have been safer, he is aware of that. However, he was alone, so he didn't care, if he had someone by his side he would have bought it with his savings from work, but since that wasn't the case, he preferred to save for his future projects. After all, the only people he had a slightly closer relationship with were Ken and Sung.

When he arrives in front of the gym, which is already quite full at ten in the morning, he waves to Ken and they enter the gym.

The gym is located on the ground floor of a modern multifunctional complex, with large transparent glass windows that offer a breathtaking view of the city. At the entrance, a black marble reception with chrome details welcomes customers, manned by smiling and professional staff. The space is illuminated by warm white LED lights, which create a nice atmosphere.

"I thought you wanted to rest today, I didn't think you would accept the invitation." Saint tells him as they walk towards the treadmill.

"I come to the gym when I can, I want to stay in shape." his friend replies.

"At least we can take our minds off this situation a little." adds Saint.

"Are you worried?" Ken asks, as they both start jogging on the treadmill.

"A little, after what happened in the hotel I can't stay completely calm." Saint confesses.

"The important thing is that nothing happened to Sung and Shin." Ken replies.

"Yeah, I'm glad I was able to help them." he says with a smile.

"I believe it, after taking that wound you should be proud of it." Ken jokes, nodding at his arm bandage. He was going to skip doing arm exercises that day because he needed to rest his wound.

"We still haven't figured out who sent that man, or rather, those two men, I'm surprised they even tried to kill Jeng." Saint continues.

"I think a lot of people don't like him, I mean, he's a politician after all, who likes politicians?" his friend adds as he continues his jog.

Saint chuckles when he suddenly sees someone who obviously knows him enter the gym: Shin. Since the gym, even if it's big, was unique, Shin can't help but see him, and when he notices his presence he rolls his eyes and goes off with another boy to another part of the gym. He had seen him at Jeng's house, he was also a bodyguard.

"He doesn't seem very happy to know you're here." Ken tells him, finishing his jog and getting off the treadmill to crack his back and arms a bit.

"He's not." Saint confirms, also getting off the treadmill.

"Do you want to go talk to him?" Ken suggests.

"Should I?" asks Saint.

"Don't tell me you're not curious to see his reaction, because I do, I really want to meet this Shin guy." Ken teases him.

"Really?" Saint asks.

"Of course." Ken nods.

At that point Saint decides to do as he says, and they head towards Shin and his friend. As soon as Shin sees them, he looks Saint up and down and looks at him with an annoyed look.

"I didn't think you liked coming to the gym, you've never been that type." Saint teases him.

Shin, already annoyed by his presence, answers him dryly, looking him in the eyes: "People change, Saint. They grow up and mature, but I certainly don't expect a person like you to understand that."

He didn't expect such a harsh response, so he makes an offended face and turns to the boy who came with him.

"Hello, I'm Saint." he says.

"Hello, First. Are you and Shin friends?" First asks and then introduces himself to Ken.

"Friends? Believe me, a person like him doesn't know the meaning of this word." Shin replies for Saint.

At that point First just nods, Saint doesn't say anything else because Shin doesn't give him a chance to reply, he's so cold towards him. He really doesn't know where to start to try to make him loosen up a bit. The four of them continue to do the exercises, some for the legs, some for the back and some for the arms. Saint limits himself to doing the latter because he still has a bit of pain from the wound, and the doctor had told him not to push himself.

Ken performs a series of pull-ups on the incline bench, his regular breathing and the metallic sound of the weights being attached to the rack fill the air around him. Next to him, Saint, enthusiastically encourages him. What Ken realizes shortly after, is that Shin, a little distant from them, is throwing him glances. He doesn't understand the meaning but tries not to pay attention.

Saint instead starts doing leg presses, pushing the weights with his legs. In the meantime, he watches Shin who, followed by his friend, picks up the weights with his arms, Ken realizes this and would like to say something to him, because he is looking at him really intensely, but he prefers not to say anything and let him do it, after all he wasn't doing anything wrong. Saint didn't think he had become more muscular, but he was happy that he also went to the gym, when they were younger he always tried to convince him, but he always answered no and that the only exercises he would do would be those in preparation for a soccer match, which was his greatest hobby.

When he realizes that Shin has noticed him, rather than look away he continues to look at him to see Shin's reaction, who immediately looks away and goes back to talking to his friend. Saint then looks away too and focuses his gaze outside. From the gym he could see the street, accompanied by several cars passing both from the right and the left, and the various skyscrapers that decorated the city of Bangkok. It's when he sees someone dressed in black sitting on a scooter that he starts to worry a little. He was standing near a street lamp, on the sidewalk of the street in front of the gym, and he seemed to be looking right in there. After a while he leaves but Saint is still not sure.

At that point he gets up and goes towards Shin, who he grabs by the wrist and drags him aside with him, and this leaves Shin in disbelief.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Shin asks him.

"I think someone is following either me or you, I saw a guy dressed in black with a motorcycle on the other side of the street looking right here. When you leave please be careful." Saint tells him still holding him by the wrist.

When Shin realizes this he frees himself and replies: "I can take care of myself." and then goes back to his friend.

Saint does nothing else and goes back to Ken, to whom he explains what had just happened, since he had not seen that man on the other side of the street. At noon they leave the gym, Shin and First had left half an hour before, and decide to go for a light lunch of vegetables, in a place nearby. When they arrive and sit at the table they start talking animatedly, waiting to order something to eat.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ken asks.

Saint nods.

"Why is Shin so mad at you?" he asks.

Saint sighs and then says, "I've been a real asshole to him in the past, he has every right to be mad."

"Why have you never talked to me about him before? I mean, I never heard you mention him until this year after you found out he's a bodyguard too." Ken asks him.

"I never talked to you about him because I've been trying to forget about Shin and erase him from my life." he confesses.

Ken doesn't feel like asking why, so he just answers: "and you succeeded?"

Saint smiles wistfully, "I thought I had succeeded, but maybe I was just trying to convince myself. When I saw him again after seven years I realized that I hadn't actually forgotten him for a single moment of my life."

"He was your best friend for a long time and I'm sure things will go back to the way they were before." Ken encourages him.

"Shin is very stubborn, he is not a person who forgives easily." Saint tells him.

"Never say never, today I saw him always looking at your wound." Ken says.

"Really?" asks Saint, surprised and not a little.

"I'm sure he worries about you too." adds his friend.

"It's enough for me to know that he's okay." Saint replies.

Ken rolls his eyes: "Look, if you want to regain his trust and become friends again, you can't start out saying these things."

"What did I say wrong?" asks Saint.

"You didn't say anything wrong, but if you want to be his friend again, knowing that he's okay shouldn't be enough." Ken specifies.

"It's a bigger situation than you think." Saint replies simply.

"Whatever it is, it'll be okay." Ken concludes.

At that point Saint nods and they order food. They don't have a particularly substantial lunch, they eat a salad and some chicken to stay a little lighter. At the end of lunch they say goodbye and each one heads home. When Saint arrives, however, he finds a rather frightening scene. The window that was in the kitchen is completely broken. As soon as he enters he finds a rock on the floor, in the kitchen, with all the glass. He immediately goes to his room and notices that it is completely in disarray. He checks among his valuables and realizes that he has everything, his mother's old jewelry, which he kept on the nightstand, hasn't been stolen. So he goes to look on the desk and notices that his computer is no longer there. He pulls his hair out as soon as he realizes that someone has stolen it, and that someone is definitely connected to Jeng. He immediately calls the police to report the incident and ask for an inspection, then he calls Sung to give him the unpleasant news.

Who broke into Saint's house?