"Many people underestimated love, but fell blindly by its true power. You can't underestimate love; love can be the strongest weapon to survive, or weakest reason to live."
***
1: 34 AM, December 25th
Headache occurred as soon as he sat on his chair. He forgot to drink his medicine, so he has to rub his head to ease the pain that he was feeling.
Detective Zhang Yixing a.k.a Lay was written down on the case file he was holding. He was immediately called at the middle of the night while celebrating his Christmas Eve with his family. He chose to leave his family because he's a passionate man who will do anything for justice, that's why he's one of the best in the field.
The room was certainly small and dark, and the only thing that was lighting up the place was a lampshade sitting on the table. Some mirrors were around the room. Lay knew that those mirrors were two-way, so spectators can watch them.
Lay's sight blurred out when he chose to give his attention to the suspect—Luhan. His daughter adored the star before him. However, he's still a person, and no matter who's in front of him inside the interrogation room shall be seen equally.
Tonight, Luhan was a suspect of a murder.
Luhan has an enigmatic look on his face, he doesn't exactly know what to feel. All he could do was to stare at the detective in front of him.
"Tell me about your co-star, Luhan," Lay asked, leaning his arms onto the table.
"Sehun's my best friend since we're little." Luhan looked at the detective who was frowning in front of him, waiting for him to continue. Luhan felt stuffy, and sort of lost his control. "Believe me, detective! I did not do i—"
Lay slammed the table hard to shut Luhan up. Luhan stuttered from the disturbing sound Lay made. "I don't want to hear that! Heard it many times, we'll get through it."
From what Luhan was seeing, the detective was having a rough time. He gulped, sat properly on his chair. However, he couldn't calm down after everything that happened. "I couldn't, I just can't. I've known him since summer camp when we were grade school. Why would I kill him?" Luhan insisted, looking straight to Lay's eyes.
Intimidation ran through Lay's bones, feeling annoyed towards the man in front of him. Then he remembered, 'He's an actor.'
Lay felt stupid for a second. "You can't fool me," he said, shaking his head with a smirk.
Luhan did not speak a word, he knew the man in front of him was superior and more powerful than him.
"So tell me, what were you doing at his house?"
"To celebrate Christmas," Luhan bluntly said.
Lay cringed a bit. "With him? Not with your family?"
"My family lived in a province; it's 6 hours away from here. Do you think I have the time to travel that far after my work?" Luhan raised his voice.
Feeling disrespected, Lay pointed his finger with grudge, brows furrowed, to Luhan. "Hey! I'm the only one who's allowed to ask questions here, young man." His head started throbbing once more, but he tried to compose himself.
Luhan clenched his jaws, bit his lip to calm himself, and let the detective continue.
His intuition told him that Luhan did it. The way Luhan acted inside the room made his suspicions clearer. Intuition does not lie most of the time.
Lay does not want to be outsmart by an actor—who potentially can be smarter than a detective can. Actors have their ways, so do detectives. And Lay wanted this interrogation to go process by process until Luhan get involve and spill the truth. However he also wanted it not to be long, he does not want Luhan to scheme his crime over the interrogation.
Lay started asking questions like, "What happened before the incident?"
"Uhh... We had a press conference for our latest movie, then uhh, I was at the rooftop, smoking." Luhan looked at the detective who just raised his brow at the sudden surprise. "You smoke, I smoke as well."
9:14PM, December 24th
Thin warm air melted Luhan's frozen face when he lit up his cigarette. The soothing smoke that entered his lungs made him feel calm from all the strain he felt from work and false rumours. He tried to be free, even just for a second, as he respired the smoke out of his mouth and nose.
He was at the rooftop of the building where he and Sehun held their press conference. Luhan was staring at the night sky, letting the cold wind kiss his bare face.
The sound of a door opening from behind distracted Luhan from his lone moment. He turned his head around and saw his friend—Sehun—who just came out from the rooftop door, digging his bare hands onto his pockets.
"I knew you were here." Sehun grinned as soon as he met his eyes with Luhan's.
Luhan scoffed and said, "Where else would I be?"
"The smoking area," Sehun joked with face shivering because of the weather.
As soon as he stood next to Luhan, he frowned at him with a concern face. "I thought you'd quit."
"Bad habits die hard," Luhan simply answered. He took one deep smoke on his cigarette before he threw it off the building.
Sehun did not respond back. He heard this from Luhan countless times. He did not care that much, he knew the reason why Luhan's having a hard time quitting from smoking. He knew too well. And he respected Luhan with that decision. But, he'd rather drink it off than smoke it off.
"Hey, how's Yoonjin, by the way?" Luhan asked Sehun. The thought was always on the back of his mind.
Sehun froze from his position, felt stabbed right to the heart. He gulped; he does not exactly know what to feel. However, he tried to compose himself and said, "We broke up."
Luhan clenched his jaw, felt a sudden resentment that ran through his body. He bit his lips, annoyed. He wanted to punch Sehun at the face, but he could not. All he did was to ask, "Why?"
Sehun looked at Luhan, feeling enigmatic and all. But Luhan was looking away and has this frown drawn on his face. Sehun knew right away that Luhan was mad.
Kang Yoonjin was Luhan's ex-girlfriend, his greatest love. They dated for almost a year, but they broke up because of Luhan's job—it was too complex for an ordinary girl like Kang Yoonjin. However, few months after the break up, Yoonjin started dating Sehun.
***
"Ahhh, so you were jealous and had some grudge against him," Lay concluded, looking directly through Luhan's eyes.
Luhan's eyes furrowed, feeling offended of some kind. "Shouldn't you be more professional, detective?"
"Don't be so cocky just because you're popular!" Lay raised his voice, pointing his finger to him, trying to threaten him, and feeling provoked.
Luhan couldn't do anything but to stay silent.
"When was the last time you three met?"
Luhan looked above, thinking. "Uhh I can't really remember. I think I was at the café—"
"You have to be precise!" Lay demanded.
"Memory's unreliable," Luhan replied. Lay shut up for a second, calm himself down and let Luhan continue. "Last week, I was on my way on the taping and I bought some coffee. There I saw them."
"You're lying!" The detective slammed his hand on the table, went for his files, and scanned it, which made Luhan confused. "You—It says here," the detective took a paper and showed it to Luhan, "you were with Yoonjin just last three days ago. And according to news," he pointed his finger to one line saying, "Luhan and ex-girlfriend –Kang Yoonjin—caught dating again. Did Yoonjin broke up with Oh Sehun, apparently Luhan's best friend and Yoonjin's current boyfriend?"
"Fuck," Luhan mouthed, looking away. "That's not true. Media can be a total pain in the ass. You just can't believe at anything, detective."
"Then, why was it all over the news and papers?" Lay even showed more of the articles, which for Luhan were just rumours.
Luhan pinched the bridge of his nose that might release some of his frustration. "Rumours run faster than fire," he muttered. Then sarcastically said, "Welcome to showbiz, detective."
The detective felt provoked once more. "Rumours, as you said, said that you and Sehun ignored each other after you and Yoonjin broke. Is this true?"
Luhan did not deny nor agree.
But the detective continued, "It also said here that: one night, at a bar, Yoonjin was caught bruised and harassed because of you. Is this true?"
Luhan gulped, then leaned forward to the detective. "THAT IS ABSURD! I WOULDN'T DO SUCH THING TO HER, ALRIGHT?!"
"Then what happened?"
"BUNCH OF GUYS MADE FUN OF HER! I JUST DEFENDED HER!" Luhan exclaimed.
"But then, it was reported that you don't have a single bruise. Then these guys were all beaten up. How are you able to handle those 3 men at once?"
"I had my training for self-defence," he simply responded.
"Sure, you did not abuse the girl, but you just made my job easier." Lay leaned forward to Luhan, with eyes looking directly to him. And slowly said in a deep low voice, "You have the ability to murder your own friend."
Luhan's eyes widened, astonished. "No—No. I can't do such... inhumanity."
"How come I feel no empathy in you? Your best friend," he emphasized, "just died."
Frown built in Luhan's face. "Empathy? You don't know how much miserable I am right now. But you!" Luhan stood up from his seat, pushing his chair away. "You're the one who's making my empathy fade away! How dare you accused me of Sehun's death?! I'm innocent! I have done nothing!"
Lay also stood up . As much as he wanted to pinned the latter on the wall and punch him — he can't. Officers that was behind the door , watching would accuse him of an assault . He must do his job properly and decently
"Then, tell me. Who did it?" he said like he was demanding.
"I don't know." That was all Luhan could say.
"You don't know? You don't know?! HA!" Lay laughed. "You two were alone in his house, for fuck's sake! Who else would do it?"
Luhan's face softened, looking down, and feeling a sudden weakness. "I don't know."
"Look at me! Say that again," Lay ordered.
"I don't know." Luhan shook his head, looking at the detective in front of him with furrowed brows. "I don't know, alright! He just died in front of me!"
"But you didn't call the police nor the ambulance," the detective stated. "It was your neighbour who called."
Luhan froze.
"Why didn't you call 911 at the first place?"
Luhan sat again on the chair to calm down, so did the detective. "I-I I don't know. I was scared, I don't know what to do." The detective was about to speak, but the actor spoke first. "There... There was a boy."
"Boy? What boy?" The detective's headache became worse from the sudden confusion. Besides, it was almost 2 AM. He scanned the pages again to look at the crime scene photos. "I was informed that it was only you two inside the house."
"I know, but he vanished."
"Do you know this boy?" Lay suddenly felt alarmed.
"No, but we met him before the incident."
"We? You meant you and Sehun?" Lay assured, Luhan nodded. "What happened?"
9:32 PM, December 24th
Luhan went out first from the rooftop.
After some few minutes of thinking, Sehun walked down the hallway on the floor before the rooftop, he saw Luhan was crouching with a smile on his face, talking to a young boy who was wearing a worn out coat—which was too big for him, and has a very messy hair. However, he could see through the young boy's eyes that he was too happy talking to Luhan. Sehun figured it out right away that the boy was Luhan's fan.
"What are you doing up here alone, young man?" Luhan calmly asked the boy.
"I was looking for you!" he said, almost jumping on his place. "I knew I'd find you here!" Luhan smiled softly. It was heart-warming for Luhan when he could see through a fan's eyes that they appreciate their work. "I watched all your movies with Sehun at the windows of a TV shop!" He said, gritting his teeth. He was also holding a DVD copy that Luhan just signed.
But the boy's story made Luhan frown and suspicious. "Did you come here alone?"
"Yes, just by myself," the boy said with an enthusiastic nod.
"How did you get in?" Luhan stood up properly.
"I sneaked in," he bluntly said. "I'm really a big fan of yours—"
Footsteps distracted the two from their conversation; they turned their heads to that certain direction and saw Sehun standing at the middle of the hallway, watching them.
The boy's eyes widened from excitement, and jumped from his position then ran to Sehun. His excitement controlled him from speaking; all he could do was to hand out his DVD copy of Sehun and Luhan's movie with a grin and sparkling eyes. Sehun did not hesitate and signed the copy for the kid. Sehun signed the happy boy's copy.
"Merry Christmas," Sehun said with a soft smile.
The boy was stuttering, too star struck after seeing Sehun. "Y-you're the best!"
Sehun just gave a forced smile at the boy, patted his head, not in the mood to entertain fans unlike Luhan.
The boy stared at Sehun too long from being star stuck, Sehun felt uncomfortable. "Can I have your necklace? That looks really awesome!"
Sehun ignored the kid and gave his attention back to Luhan. "Hey, let's go."
Luhan kept pace with Sehun, but he took one last peek at the boy they left behind.
The boy just stood there, grinning at his signed copy of his favourite movie.
***
"So, he was a fan," the detective concluded as he jot down notes on his notepad. "Then what happened?"
"We went to his house," Luhan said, referring to Sehun's house. "I prepared the drinks, he lit up the fireplace. We drank and rela—"
"You drink whiskey?" Lay assured, since he saw a picture of whiskey glass on his documents.
Luhan nodded and continued, "And he had too much whiskey."
"And you?"
"So do I," Luhan admitted. "But he had more. We felt tipsy and heavy on the process, and we came to the point talking about Yoonjin."
11:38 PM, December 24th
"How was she?" Luhan asked. Luhan could not easily get rid Yoonjin off his mind, especially now that she broke up with Sehun.
It took a while before Sehun could think of an answer. "Doing fine, I guess." He filled his glass again with whiskey. He even scoffed for a little because he was out of his mind.
"Aren't you concerned at all?" Even Luhan's eyes were a bit heavy his feelings overpowered his consciousness.
Sehun spilled his drink from his mouth and hissed, "Fuck." He wiped his mouth with his heavy hand, completely ignoring Luhan.
Luhan immediately hit his temper. He was annoyed with Sehun unreasonable attitude that Sehun was giving to him. "Are you mocking me?" He said in a cold monotone, glaring at the fireplace.
"Mocking you? Pft. What are you talking about?" Sehun said mockingly. Luhan have had enough of this shit. He stood up, collared Sehun up from his seat, dropping the whiskey away from his grip. "Look what have you done," Sehun uttered, eyeing on the carpet where the glass dropped.
"Look at me!" Luhan tightened his grip to Sehun's collar. Sehun looked at Luhan seriously. "You...I trusted you to do what I couldn't do! And now, you act like you didn't even love her at all!"
Luhan fell down on the floor after receiving a hard punch from Sehun right on the face. "Fuck you! First of all, you said you were now cool with our relationship! And now, you act like you were never cool at all!"
Luhan stood up, wiping his bleeding lips. He punched back twice, and collared him once more. "And you actually believed that?!"
"OF COURSE, I DID! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?!"
Feeling stupid for Sehun, Luhan punched Sehun once more. "FOR FUCK'S SAKE, SEHUN! You know how much I love Yoonjin. And you—YOU'RE MY FUCKING BESTFRIEND AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME? DID YOU EVEN REALLY THINK I WOULD BE COOL WITH YOUR RELATIONSHIP! HA! NEWS FLASH: YOU'RE WRONG!"
Sehun pushed Luhan away from him. "Why you put the blame on me, huh? You were the one who FUCKED UP YOUR RELATIONSHIP! Not me, not her," then he pointed to Luhan, "BUT YOU!"
Luhan had his jaws and fists clenched. "You. Don't talk to me." He walked out of the room with eyes on Sehun, bringing his glass of whiskey.
Luhan stayed at the balcony near the staircase to catch some fresh air. He looked at what-supposed-to-be a happy scene where all Christmas decoration from houses were lightened up, however, his feelings made the view felt bland. He was too angry.
Sehun's main door caught his attention when he saw that it was completely open from the view above at the balcony. He was certain he closed the door. 'Why is it open?' he thought.
He drank the last drop of his whiskey then he turned his back to go to Sehun.
To his surprise, Sehun was behind him, staring so coldly.
"Shit," he mouthed. Luhan's heart sank immediately, surprised seeing Sehun looking like a zombie. "Why's your—"
Few seconds later, Sehun kneeled heavily with his heavy body until he was completely lying on the floor.
Luhan was completely confused. Sehun was not moving. But his eyes were wide open.
"Sehun?"
Luhan suddenly felt sobered. He slowly crouched down to his knees. He shook Sehun's shoulders.
"Sehun."
Sehun was not moving an inch, nor blinking.
"SEHUN!"
His eyes widened, terrified. He crawled back away from Sehun.
Sehun just died before his eyes.
While rubbing his hand to his forehead from the mixed emotions he was feeling, he heard a sudden human movement.
He panicked and looked where the sound came from.
He saw the boy from earlier, standing behind the pillar, shocked, and holding a necklace and a phone.
***
"So it was the boy who called!" Lay concluded.
"I don't really know," Luhan responded.
"You're a fucking liar! Everything makes sense now." Lay slammed the table. "You said you're the one who made the drinks. And guess what, my team saw pills on the kitchen. I say, to your grudge against Sehun, you put those pills only to his drink."
Luhan's breath became heavier. He slammed the table and defended himself, "No... No. That's absurd!"
"And, why would a boy call the police? I say he witnessed everything, and that's enough a reason for him to call."
Luhan couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Why would the boy vanish just like that? I say he was scared that he might be your next victim."
"That's not true, detective!"
Lay smirked. "I know I shouldn't consider that you're an actor. But I can't help it. You're one of the best these days. So, it's perfectly possible that everything you just said was an act."
"THIS IS HOSTILE!" Luhan stood up, slamming the table. "You're not even there! The boy should be here to testify!"
Lay faced Luhan as he stood up. "Do you know the boy?"
Luhan shamefully shook his head.
"The team will search for him first thing tomorrow. But for now," Lay uttered. But his head pounded once more. Still, he continued, "You will be under our custody."
"NO! This is not possible! I did not do anything! I'm innocent."
"Officers, take him!" Lay shouted somewhere at the door, ordering his fellow officers to handcuff Luhan.
Four officials went into the room, opened the lights, and took him, Lay.
Lay was confused.
"What?" Lay tried to jerk himself away from them. "Not me! Wait, what—why are you wearing white clothes?"
Lay was utterly confused.
Lay was still trying to get away from them. But their grip was too tight. "Get away from me! Get Luhan!"
"Luhan, calm down," one said to him.
"What? I'm not Luhan. I'm Detective Zhang Yixing. He's Luhan!" He pointed the person in front of him.
The officials looked at the direction. The officials looked to each other with a despise look on their faces.
Lay glared at Luhan who has a triumphant look on his face.
"Call the doctor!" One ordered to the other. The other ran as fast as he could out of the room.
"What doctor?!" Lay pushed everyone away, still jumbled from everything that was happening. "Can't you see," he walked towards Luhan, "He's the one you should capture. Not me! I'm the detective. Arrest this man!" Lay was about to take Luhan's hand aggressively, but he hurt himself instead when his hand met a cold glass.
Lay look at his hand, thinking, 'What the hell is happening?'
Lay looked once more at Luhan—who was just standing in front of Lay. Lay felt daunted, he punched Luhan.
Luhan was still standing.
Lay's fist was bleeding. He groaned from the pain he felt.
He looked at Luhan, all shattered. But Luhan was still standing.
He frowned from the confusion. He looked at the officers. "Are you seeing this?"
"It's a mirror, Luhan," one said.
It did not sink in at first. Lay refused to swallow what the officer just said. "No. No, YOU'RE LYING! Can't you see? He's standing just right there!" Lay pointed at Luhan.
Two people came into the room in haste.
"Who are you?!" Lay stood back after he saw a man in white lab gown nearing to him.
"I'm your doctor, Luhan," the said-doctor calmly said. "Why haven't you drinking your medicines?"
"I TOLD YOU THAT I'M NOT LUHAN! I'M ZHANG. YI. XING! HE'S LUHAN!" Lay pointed again at Luhan.
"His delusions became more severe," the said-doctor informed his colleagues.
"Come here, now." The doctor carefully went to Luhan.
"What?! What delusions? What the fuck are you talking about?" Lay was sweating from where he was standing. He was staying away from the people around him. He stared at the so-called doctor, his face softened as soon as he realized the doctor was serious. "Are you saying I'm crazy?!"
The doctor cornered Lay. "STAY AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWA—" Lay's sight blurred out when he felt a thick needle pinched his arm.
11:44 pm, December 24th
"You. Don't talk to me." Luhan was about to walkout from the room, but Sehun spoke.
"Do you know why she broke up with me?" A sense of sobbing can be heard on Sehun's tone for he was drunk.
The question was a reason enough why Luhan stopped. He did not turn around, and waited Sehun to continue.
Feeling regretful, Sehun said, "She still loves you."
Luhan froze. He may be drunk, but it entered Luhan's mind clearly. He had a sense of doubt.
"You're lying! She hates me!"
"FUCK!" Sehun felt furious, he threw away the bottle beside him to the wall. "HOW I WISH SHE HATES YOU!"
Luhan was confused what were his feelings.
"I thought, too, she moved on because she said so. BUT THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FROM BELIEVING TOO MUCH!" Sehun kicked the side table away furiously.
Luhan still could not move. He doubted Sehun.
Sehun sat on a corner, pulling his hair, sweating, and feeling so hopeless. He was crying. He, too, loved Yoonjin like the way Luhan did.
Luhan was just lucky enough to get first in line.
"I need some fresh air." That was all Luhan could say.
***
The light struck directly to Luhan's eyes, and made him flinched a little bit. White ceiling was the first thing Luhan saw. His head felt heavy, but better. He tried to sit from his bed.
He was alone in the room. He stood up, and slowly walked to his table. His heart pounded fast as soon as he saw a hundred of himself in front of the shattered mirror.
He looked at his fist, it was all wrapped up with a bandage. And he did feel pain as he tried to move it. However, he was still feeling doubtful. He removed the bandage and saw his bruised hand.
"Not again," he muttered to himself.
As he was staring to his fist, he had a glimpse of the papers just underneath his hands. He scanned the papers. There were no photos, no documents, no records, but it was all full of drawings.
The twist of a knob surprised Luhan and made him stood back.
It was the doctor.
Luhan remembered the doctor.
"How are you? Are you feeling better?" The doctor asked, closing the door. But Luhan did not respond.
Feeling curious and confused about everything, all he asked was, "What's the date today, doc?"
"It's Thursday, March 31." The doctor observed Luhan's actions. It was obvious that Luhan was lost. "You can sit down."
Luhan sat down on the chair, feeling lost, feeling confused. He wanted to break down from tears. "Can you—Can you tell me how long I've been here?" He looked at the doctor, hoping for hope. He was feeling helpless.
"More than a year."
Luhan was speechless. He don't want to believe what he was hearing. "No more lies, doc. How long have I been staying here?" he repeated himself.
The doctor felt grief and sympathy within his bones. "How are you able to recover, Luhan, when you can't accept the reality in front of you?"
"BECAUSE YOU'RE LYING! THE REALITY IS THAT I KILLED SEHUN! THAT'S WHY I'M HERE! YOU THINK I'M CRAZY FR—"
"But you did not kill Sehun."
"What?" His tone lowered down. "You're lying again?"
The doctor seriously looked at Luhan. "He killed himself."
"I don't understand."
"Sehun has been suffering from depression those days. It started when he and Yoonjin broke up." The doctor took a pause, looking at the confused Luhan. "He put the pills on his own drink. And he exactly died in front of you, just like he planned."
"Planned? How do you know this?"
"You told on the interrogation the night he died. Do you not remember?"
"No, I was proven guilty. And I admitted my crime," Luhan bluntly insisted.
"We thought you were, but the boy testified saying he saw everything. And evidences were compatible."
"The boy? You mean 'the kid'?" The image immediately appeared on Luhan's head.
"Yes, Zhang Yixing. He was the kid. You pretended all this time to be that kid, who happens to be, in your world, a detective." The doctor came nearer to Luhan. "You can't accept the fact that Sehun died. You cannot blame anyone because he did that to himself. You became paranoid, Luhan, until you created your own reality where you have to blame somebody— which happens to be you."
Luhan reflected from all he did. It was hard to remember everything—the truth.
"And in your world, you don't want to be you—the one who killed his best friend. You tried to become someone else, someone innocent. And he was Lay."
Luhan's mind was still processing from everything the doctor said. "Where's—Where's the kid?"
"He's safe with the orphanage. And you're lucky enough he testified to prove your innocence."
"Where's Yoonjin?"
"As far as I'm concerned, she's at the West. She could not accept that you've gone insane. It was too hard for her. Sehun, being dead. And you, being crazy. She could not watch your career fail, especially you."
Feeling tormented, the doctor sighed. "I've been telling you the exact same story over and over again. You just can't get out from your own world."
Everything was unreal to Luhan. He needed some time to think. "I need a moment, doc."
"But please, before you go out, drink your medicine." The doctor offered the tray with two capsule and a glass of water on it to Luhan.
Luhan just nodded, and drank the medicine that was offered. He left the doctor on the room alone.
***
It was late at night but everyone on the station was busy from the latest murder case.
Luhan just finished his interrogation and he was not yet proven innocent until the boy testified for the investigation.
Luhan was digging his face to his palms, he still couldn't believe what just happened. His chest throbbed hard, feeling so messed up.
"What happened, Sehun?" He asked himself.
Pair of heels made Luhan lift his head, he easily recognized who it was from the way she walked—the way it sounded. He was right, he saw Yoonjin.
"Yoonjin." His heart sank.
"Luhan," she said, catching her breath.
"Yoonjin." Before he could go to Yoonjin, she went to hug and comfort him.
He needed it—her comfort. Yoonjin rubbed Luhan's shoulders as he lend his head to her chest. He missed it—the comfort of her hug. He missed her.
However, everything was in bad timing. Sehun died—that was the bottom line.
"What happened?" she asked, still trying to comfort Luhan.
"I don't know," Luhan grieved. "Everything just happened in a blink of an eye."
"There must be a reason."
"Don't be scared, kid."
Yoonjin and Luhan looked to each other when they heard a voice that came from the speaker. They figured that the interrogation for the boy has started.
They both took a deep breath and went to the spectator's room.
They saw a kid facing a detective. The boy was scared. His eyes were trembling; he couldn't sit still from what he saw.
"So, what's your name, kid?" The detective tried to sound gentle for the suspect was just a boy.
"I'm—I'm Zhang Yixing, b-but my pals call me Lay."
"Ok, Lay. So, why are you at Sehun's house at the middle of the night? Where are your parents?"
The boy, Lay, cringed a bit. "I-I have no parents. I live with my pals at the alley, downtown."
"Your pals?" The detective coughed, but he never really care about his friends. "And?"
"And Sehun dropped this." He dig his hands onto his pocket, sticking his tongue out. "This." Then he showed to the detective the necklace Sehun dropped.
Behind the mirrors, Yoonjin felt pain as she saw the necklace she gave to Sehun. "No."
She could not take it, that even the smallest things can be the reason to make her feel distressed.
Luhan could feel tears that was about to roll to her cheeks, all he could do was to hug and comfort her, even he was, too, distressed.
"I-I," the boy's voice started to feel shaky. "I forgot to close the door because I heard people arguing, so I try to find somewhere to hide—it was under the dinner table." He couldn't speak for a moment, trying to recall that has happened. "I-I was so afraid. I heard the sound of broken glasses, furniture being thrown, and loud voices. I thought I was on the wrong house. My idols won't be fighting like this, right? I mean, I always see them smiling on TV, very friendly. I was so scared, I thought the men fighting would punish me and send me to orphanage again, I don't want there."
"And then?"
The boy sniffed, he was having a cold. "I was about to go, because I was sure then that I was on the wrong house, but I heard silence. I couldn't move, of course—they might hear me. And I hear footsteps nearing me. I was so scared—the people in the house might kill me. I almost crack my voice." He gulped. "And to my surprise, I saw Sehun's shoes. I've always wanted those shiny black shoes. So I thought I was in the right house. I don't know whether should I give him the necklace or not when I smelled him drunk. I couldn't see him because of the table cloth, only I saw was his shadow and his shoes. I heard him sniffed for a couple of times, and heard a familiar sound that I always hear from the teenage boys who lives on downtown as well. I knew it was cocaine—he was on drugs."
"Oh, my god," Yoonjin gasped from what she has heard. Luhan was surprised as well.
"He laughed, and he was high already, I think he already had some earlier. He dropped something—I saw it was a pill, but I never really care what it was until I heard him said, 'Let me share you my misery' And I heard him drink."
---
It took months before the case was solved. And everything the boy said was true. The whole nation paid attention to their case, because Sehun was a very influential actor to the industry.
With the truth told, that Luhan learned that Yoonjin still loves him. He chose not to be with her again. If he did so, it would be a sin against Sehun.
And Yoonjin's concern was all on Luhan. Luhan has always been drinking ever since and smoked frequently. He even turned down big projects for his career.
The effect of Sehun's death to Luhan was a catastrophe.
He was the last person who couldn't understand why Sehun do such thing.
For Lay, he was unhappy with orphanage. He wasn't free there, he could not enjoy doing the chores ordered to him. All he wanted to do was to play around. Now, he couldn't. And from his observations, the orphanage never really cared about their orphans.
Luhan was at the orphanage, took Yixing a visit, because he was bored. He also brought another kid.
He waited for the boy at the playground. Lay was excited to hear that his idol, Luhan, paid him a visit.
"Hey." Luhan smiled at the boy. "Do you like it here?"
Lay was unsure what to say. He doesn't want to tell a lie nor tell the truth.
Luhan immediately knew what his answer was. "Do you want to get away from here?"
Lay's face lightened.
Luhan brought Lay on his unit. And left the other kid at the orphanage. Lay was now free, and not to mention happy that he's under the roof of his greatest idol.
Luhan just watched and adored the kid play around his house. But he was drunk. And Lay did not bother because Luhan seemed harmless.
"You seem so smart," Luhan praised the kid.
Lay grinned. "I'm the smartest among my friends."
Luhan smiled, he patted the boy's head. "It's late, you better go get some sleep."
"Okay." He smiled.
He watched Lay jumped to his bed without even grooming up.
Luhan drank whiskey while listening to orchestral music on his living room. And he was laughing.
He laughed how love fucked up their lives. He underestimated love a hundred times; yet, love always seemed to prove its worth—its purpose.
He let an hour passed before he checked on Lay. The room was dark, but the little light from the window lightened Lay's face. He could see how happy his sleep was.
He was jealous.
He wanted to sleep the way this innocent kid was sleeping.
He despised it.
"Shameful," he muttered. He took one last sip on his glass and placed it on the side table.
He took the pillow beside the kid. He slowly covered the pillow to the boy's face. But then he saw Lay cringed, and opened his eyes.
Lay screamed for his life.
'There's no turning back,' Luhan thought. He pushed the pillow to Lay's face.
Lay fought for his life.
Lay struggled for his life.
Lay tried to breathe for his life.
Luhan took Lay's life within seconds.
Luhan did not know this would turn his life upside down forever.
***
It was certainly late at night, but staffs he passed by were busy. Some nurses greeted Luhan a, "Good evening, sir."
Luhan just gave a half smile, not in the mood of greeting back. He wanted some fresh air, so he went to the balcony.
He turned his head from left to right to check if there were people around. He waited for one doctor to fade out from his sight. Then, he spit the two capsules he was holding for a couple of minutes on his mouth. He made a bitter face from the unlikely taste of the medicine.
He observed the dark surrounding around him. It was beautiful, for him, to see nothing but black and a moon. Perfect enough to think and process everything the doctor said to him.
"I don't believe a word he said," Luhan muttered to himself, shaking his head full of bitterness. "And Sehun planned this?" He questioned himself, and then he chuckled. "Impossible. If he planned turning me into a crazy man, so I can feel his depression. He failed. I'm not crazy because everything is a lie. Only I know the truth."
He took a deep breath, letting the wind enter him. Then, he sighed. He looked at his left wrist, he thought he was wearing his watch, but he was not. He looked back at the hallway and saw a nurse.
"Hey miss," he called the nurse.
"Yes?"
"Do you mind telling me what the time is?" Luhan kindly said.
The nurse looked to her wristwatch and said, "It's almost 1:34 AM."
Smiling, he asked, "Oh. Can you tell me where the interrogation room is? I seem to be lost."
** end* *
"Believing is a choice. You either live peacefully based on a lie or live miserably from the truth."
***
FUN FACT: "Yoon Jin" literally means believe truth (or vise versa. i forgot lol)
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