Chapter Text
> Birds were chirping in a nearby tree, but Cale couldn’t make out in which since the playground he was at was surrounded by many trees, which were currently blooming with soft pink and white flowers. It was a serene atmosphere, and even the soft breeze that was carrying some petals around made it look even more peaceful.
Ignoring the chirping birds Cale focused on the slow and melodic humming of the black-haired boy on the swing that was hanging on a sturdy tree branch. He loved the tunes that the young man would hum sometimes when he was relaxed. It made him happy that his friend could relax even though his family business was stressing him.
The young Cale watched the stoic-handsome face of his slightly older friend, his friends' eyes who also shared the reddish colour of his own were hidden behind their lids. The black hair framing his head slowly swayed as the swing moved, slowly forward and backward matching the rhythm of the humming. Cale slowly walked towards the swing, carefully trying not to disturb the idyllic atmosphere the other created.
Just as he reached his friend, the humming stopped and one of the closed eyes opened to look at him “Oh, Cale sorry for spacing off again it’s just so relaxing to just sit here and swing slowly.”
Cale huffed slightly to stop the laugh from escaping his mouth “No worries, Kim Rok Soo, I know you are busy. I am just happy you still make time for our weekly meetings. I do not mind spending them with listening to your humming. It is always very relaxing.”
The older teen smiled a bit hiding his slight bashfulness at the honest compliment of his friend by ruffling the smaller one's hair “If you say so.”
The young Cale pouted slightly and challenged “Just you wait when we are both adults, I will be bigger than you and then I can ruffle your hair.”
The older teen chuckled lightly “Then we will have this conversation again in around four years then you will be 18 and I will be 20.”
“You can bet on it. And I will bother you every year with it to see if I can ruffle your hair and if I need to step on a chair to do it so be it.”
The black-haired boy smiled at his friend and was just about to answerer when the sound of a horn interrupted the peaceful atmosphere between the two. With a sigh the black-haired youth pulled himself up and landed with his feet on the ground “It seems like your driver is here. Time to say goodbye for now huh.”
The younger waved his hand dismissively “No not at all, well kind of but at the same time not yet. We can drive you where you need to go. So, we can still spend some time talking to each other.”
Reddish eyes met reddish eyes in a stare off.
“I do not think I should.”
The younger one asked “Why not? It is not like something will happen if you do drive with us and we could spend some more time like that.”
The older only shook his head and offered “Next time, come on Cale I do not want to hold you up too much. Let us part ways here for today.”
The younger teen offered the older male a pout, letting out some of his childishness which he usually kept under wraps as to not bother others and also decided to throw in some puppy dog eyes “Aww come on Kim Rok Soo, my driver will just drive you wherever you want to go.”
Offering a groan in defeat the older male accepted the younger ones wish “I just cannot say no to you, god you will be the death of me.”
Cale cheered slightly and held the car door open for his long-time friend “Ladies first.”
“You know what, I thought it over I might as well walk home today. See you Cale, till next time,” the black haired one said to his redheaded friend in a joking matter while sliding along the seat to make room for said friend to enter the car without needing to walk around it.
The red head slid into the car taking the seat his friend opened, listening to his friend as he told the driver the place he needed to go.
“So why did you nearly force me to take the car with you? I might call it a kidnapping if you won't tell me why.”
Cale scoffed slightly amused “I might as well kidnap you the next time we met, but no I just wanted to ask about next month, since we both share our birthday on the 8th and we won't have time to meet at that day I wanted to ask if we maybe should meet two days after and have our own little party with some of our close friends or something like that. Because Eric, Gil and Amiru are going to skin me alive if I do not introduce you to them soon. Especially Amiru, god it’s not like I started a romantic relationship with you, and they need to do the shovel talk but that girl is grilling me for information left and right.”
The black-haired youth hid a smile as he answered, “They are just protective.”
Cale huffed and rolled his eyes “I know that, I do and I do love them too, but we have been friends for four years now Kim Rok Soo and you all haven’t met yet just because I fear you guys will team up against me. I mean even Basen is getting slightly overprotective in the last few years and that boy is 8. I am the older one here I should be protective of him.” The red head ruffles his own hair in despair “What am I doing wrong? I just want my cute little brother to let me protect him and not the other way around.”
His rant was interrupted by the heartfelt laughter of his friend ringing clear in his ears, but instead of being offended that his misery is the cause of his friend’s amusement the redhead was just happy, not even attempting to hide the small smile the laughter put on his face. The black-haired menace hadn't truly laughed like that in over a month, so Cale was just happy to listen to the uninhibited laughter of his friend.
After the menace calmed down the two started a friendly banter causing the driver in front to smile fondly. It was a happy moment. A happy atmosphere on a good day. Suddenly the warm feeling in the air was eradicated by an icy cold feeling which washed over the red head as if foretelling him the happenings of the next few seconds.
Because not a second later a car crashed into the side of their car with unfathomable speed and intent. Glass splinters flew through the air as the shock hit the red head his head hit the seat in front and then the door to his side causing him to be dizzy and causing his view to blur. The driver must have hit the breaks or something he couldn’t tell; he only heard screeching and felt a burning pain in his legs. He tried his best to move his head to the side to see if his friend was alright, but he could only see red. His friends' side was red, the dark locks were swaying back and forth, or his view was blurring even more he couldn’t tell. It all turned darker by the second, his consciousness trying to escape the sea of pain, noise and the smell of something … he couldn’t place it, but it smelled bad. He tried forced himself to move his head to take a look at the driver's seat wanting to check on him, but he just couldn’t move. He tried to call for help but nothing more than a strained sound left his mouth. He tried again as the black neared him even more he could hear his own strained voice rasp “Help” before the darkness engulfed him.
The next thing he knew was that there was a static rhythm of beeping in his head.
He tried to move but his whole body felt heavy like he was in a sleep induced haze, even his eyes would not open.
The rhythmic beeping changed. He heard a female voice say “Oh no. The other one?”
Then there was nothing, no sound, no feeling nothing.
The next time he came to he could open his eyes and was assaulted by far too bright light. Cales eyes scrunched up in displeasure and irritation at the bright light. His ears could perceive the beeping sound again, this time it was a bit faster. Trying to move he realized that while he could move it was harder than usual and a soreness overcame him. Or was it a numb pain he felt? Cale wasn’t sure.
As he contemplated this his eyes slowly adapted to the light. Once he could see clearly, he scanned the room he was in, well at least as far as he could without moving much. What he found first was the source of the beeping, which seemed to be a heart monitor at his bedside, behind it white curtains framed windows that showed the sky and some trees outside.
His observations were interrupted by the opening of a door and the sound of a surprised voice stating “Oh my, you’re awake. Good I will call a doctor and inform your family.”
The nurse then checked Cale and asked him a few questions after she offered him some water, before she left to do what she mentioned beforehand.
Things started to swim and blur as if someone took the remote control of a movies and fast forwarded a part of the video. This blurring stooped when Violan and his father visited, well it stopped halfway into said visit.
Cale looked at his parents and once again apologized "It wasn't my intention to worry you. And I am not that badly hurt." He carked a small smile and tried to joke “I mean I know I am smart but even I cannot predict the future…”
Violan sent him a stern glare which made him keep his mouth shut and stopped any attempt he was about to make in lightening the mood and telling them that 'yes he was fine, no they didn't need to come over every day, yes he would heal, no they didn't need to worry'.
His father ruffled his hair softly and offered something akin to a peace offering "Be happy we will not let Amiru visit you till you are awake for at least 3 whole days."
Cale looked at his father in fear "Do you want me to get scolded to death? If you want to see me dead just tell me so. I am sure I can arrange a better way for me to die than by Amirus hand."
Violan made a clicking sound with her tongue "Wrong time for that kind of Joke, Cale darling."
Cale hid his smile slightly behind his hand but then he asked what he asked the doctor, who evaded answering him "Sorry for abruptly changing the topic but do you know what happened to Kim Rok Soo?"
He could see the facial expression of his parents change slightly to discomfort and then turn into a placating fake smile, he cringed internally knowing already something was wrong and that he would get either no answer or a lie.
His father answered "No, we have no idea how your friend is doing. Since we are not close family of his we are not privy to any information regarding him."
Violan nodded along with her husband's fairly reasonable lie and added softly "We have not heard from him or his family either."
Cale offered them an equally fake smile as he replied "I see. Well then I guess I will have to wait and find out myself when I am allowed and well enough to move."
He could see both of his parents resolve falter for a brief moment before they both smiled at him and his father reassuringly said "It does seem so. But do not worry we too shall try to get more information about your friend."
The suspicion that arose didn't dim when Hans, who came to visit him the next day, too did not provide an ounce of information regarding his friend. But interestingly enough Hans could tell him that while the driver was in critical condition, he did in fact survived. Cale let out a relived breath at that. At least one of his worries was put to rest. He asked Hans to buy the driver a get-well basket and to make sure he was given the best treatment possible.
Beside that his days passed slowly with people visiting him, wishing him well or scolding him followed by tearful hugs. He was thankful for all the visitors but his unrest grew when not even the last one of the nurses would tell him what happened to the friend that should have been sent to the hospital with him.
So, when he was able to leave his room alone he started to investigate. Which didn't prove to be as hard as he imagined since he overheard some nurses talking in the wards staff room.
"I pity that poor boy."
"The one in room 108?" Another voice questioned.
Cale stopped close by to eavesdrop since the room they mentioned was his.
The first voice answered "Yes, his parents did not want to emotionally stress him while he is recovering so they want it to be kept a secret for a while."
"A secret?" The second voice asked.
"Ah, I forgot you were on leave. As you know that poor boy was involved in a car crash. Luckily, he and the driver made it out alive and both are on the way of recovery. But it sadly the third person in their car did not share their luck. As it is he did not survive."
A small gasp escaped the red heads lips as he thought 'No, that is impossible. It can’t be...'.
The second voice asked "And the boy in room 108 wasn't informed of that yet?"
The first responded "Exactly. And the hospital received a more than generous donation to make sure he is not told till he is fully recovered."
Cale couldn't listen any longer, he turned around with tears slowly gathering in his eyes and ran back to his room as fast as he could, trying hard to deny what he just heard 'they must be talking about someone else in a room with the same number in a similar situation with a rich family, or … yes they must have wrong information, they …'
When he reached his room, tears were already streaming down his face because as much as he tried to deny the obvious it all made sense and it was undoubtedly the truth. His friend was dead. Kim Rok Soo died because of him. Because he persuaded him to step into the car. A hic up left his mouth and more followed. It did not take long and Cale was crying into the pillow he picked up to muffle the sounds he made. He pushed his head into the pillow as sobs and sometimes even screams of sadness and guilt escaped his mouth muffled only by the pillow.>
“Cale, please wake up.” Clopeh was softly shaking his best friend to wake him up. While he was driving them, his boss had fallen asleep and normally Clopeh would let him rest as long as he wants but an hour into his rest Cale started to whimper slightly so Clopeh pulled the car over to stop for a moment to wake up his boss.
The red head slowly opened his eyes to meet concerned green ones. He softly petted the white-haired males head for a moment before he offered his thanks “Thank you for waking me up Clopeh, I appreciate it. As you might have guessed since you woke me up, I did not have the most pleasant dream. To be honest it was not really a bad dream but more of a bad memory that always appears around this time of the year.”
Clopeh moving back to sit normally again questioned his friend “Does it have anything to do with the trip you make every year? The one I am allowed to accompany you on today?”
Cale showed a sad smile as he slowly moved his head up and down, ”Yes. You might not know this but today is the death anniversary of a dear friend of mine who died when I was fourteen. Truth be told, for a long time I blamed myself for his death.”
Clopeh was surprised he would have never guessed that this was the reason for today's trip “Firstly I want to offer my condolences, I am deeply sorry for your loss boss, any friend of yours must have been a wonderful person-“
He was cut off by a slight chuckle from Cale “Oh he was wonderful, albeit I am not sure if you two would have gotten along. The two of you would either have a friendship like we two have or you would be at each other’s throat all day long.”
Clopeh smiled slightly, happy that even on such a sad occasion his friend could still smile a bit and stated the car engine again “As I was about to say before you interrupted me, while I do not know why you think his death may have been your fault, boss, no Cale I want you to understand that whatever happened was inevitable and that useless you put a knife in his heart directly or pulled the trigger it is in no way your fault that it happened.”
Cale heard the worried tone of his friend and looked out of the window and the passing scenery of the now moving car “I know, thank you for your kind words but you do not need to worry, while I did blame myself in the beginning, and the refusal of my friends family to tell me the date of the funeral did not help over time I did accept that it was not my fault. I still sometimes feel very sad a bit guilty but time made me come to accept that I could neither change it nor take the blame. So, while time did not heal anything it taught me how to live with the pain and accept that some things just happen.”
Clopeh really wanted to hug Cale, because he could feel the sadness the other emanated, he wished Taylor was here because even he himself could admit he was not suited for moments like these. Let him fight to protect his friends, be an evil mastermind in the background or create a safe place for his boss where no one can harm him like he did with the bar. He could do all that no problem, but he is bad at consoling people a weak point he never cared to address before, but right now it troubled him to not be able to truly offer any words to Cake that could help his boss.
“It might not be my place to say this but I think as long as you remember the fun, the beautiful, heck even the sad times you two shared and remember him sometimes he will live on. Because as long as we remember people as long as we think of them and love them they are alive within us…”
Cale said “That is very sweet of you to say thank you, I do feel better.” The red head truly did, because he appreciated his friend trying his best to help him, Clopeh was always a bit bad at dealing with situations where someone needed to be consoled so for him to say this to Cale was showing how much he tried to be empathetic.
Cale smiled slightly at how kind his friend was and then decided to lighten the topic a bit “You know, from today one you belong to one of the few that actually know were and why I always drive out today. Even Taylor and Cage do not know of this.”
Clopeh looked taken aback before he tried to hide the happiness that overcame him at being told he was one of the selected few the red head trusted with this, it was an honour to the white-haired male to be trusted like this. Nothing could make him happier. He was short of ecstatic. But he did not want to seem overly happy, because it felt unfitting of the occasion and he did not want to hurt Cale with his happiness on such a sad day for his dear friend.
Cale could see the imaginary dog ears and tail swing in happiness, before they wilted on Clopeh into a more silent happiness and he once again was thankful to have such a great friend “You know I am very happy to finally introduce you to him.”
Clopeh answered truthfully “I too am very happy that you introduce me to him, thought I only heard of him today. Will you tell me a bit about your friend?”
Cale nodded his head and began to told Clopeh more about his deceased friend, he told him about the time they would met on the playground simply to bask in the other presence, about the silent understandings they shared, about the fact that Cale feared his friend would team up with Amiru to baby him and at the when the closer they got to their destination the closer Cale got to telling Clopeh about the last meeting they had. When they arrived and got out of the car he reached the part where he dreamed about “At that time I was so made at my parents. You might not believe it but I was pretty mean to my parents for a while after that. I did hurt me deeply that they tried to keep the truth from me, thought I do know it was well intended, I simply did could not deal with it at that time. What made the situation even worse was that the parent of my friend did not inform me of anything regarding the funeral. To this day I do not know when and where my friend was buried. It hurt a lot, which caused me to lash out at my parents even more since they were close by and it was easier to blame them than it was to deal with the guilt and self-hatred I felt at that time.”
Clopeh listened silently to the red head knowing his friend just wanted to tell him what had happened at that time, he did find the matters regarding the funeral strange, especially since they were currently walking along a path on a cemetery “If you do not know where he was buried why do you visit this cemetery every year?”
Cale smiled sadly “Because I paid to create an empty grave here, simply so that I could have a place I could visit and where I could talk to and pray for my friend…” He finished the sentence by ending it with a long pause because they where getting closer to the grave. He stopped in front of it and mumbled “Here we are…”
Clopeh politely bowed in front of the grave and then kneeled down to light a candle and put it on top of the grave. While he was doing so Cale began to talk “Hello, Kim Rok Soo. It has been a year again. I still cannot believe I was never able to find out which of us was the taller one after becoming an adult. And I wish I could have introduced you to my friends. I have told you about some of them already but it seems like some more people wormed their way into my life. I wish I could introduce you to Rosalyn, you would have appreciated her character and manner of speaking quite a bit I am sure. I would also love to see how a meeting between you and Alberu would go… I cannot even imagine how fun that would be.”
Cale clapped his hands as if to end this topic and the continued “Well maybe another time. Today I am here to introduce you to one of my dearest friends, whom I mentioned the last few times I visited. This Clopeh. I wish you tow could truly met each other,” his voice broke slightly and he stopped talking.
Clopeh decided to take over the one-sided conversation so that his friend could gather his emotions again “Hello, I am Clopeh. I truly wish I could have met you in person because Cale cares for you a lot and I care a lot for him. From what I heard today you also cared a lot four our mutual friend so I shall make this promise to you: I shall do everything in my abilities to make sure Cale can be happy. I thank you for being such a great friend for Cale and I promise me and his other friends will take care of him.”
Cale was shaking his head in a mix between fondness and sadness. He talked a bit more to the grave and also to Clopeh. The two only left the cemetery after an hour.
Cale said “Let me show you a nice Café & Bar, it is just a twenty-minute walk from here. I visit it every year after visiting the grave.”
Clopeh would go to a literal minefield if Cale asked him to go there so he obviously agreed to follow the red head to said place. The two spent the twenty-minute walk in a comfortable if a bit sullen silence.
Clopeh observed the surroundings and noted that the area was pretty remote, it seemed peaceful and there weren’t many streets and houses around. He noted that the area seemed kind of idyllic. Like it was cut right out of a picture book. They stopped their walk infront of a sweet little house with a sign that read `Narus Inn`.
Cale opened the door and walked in, he ten held the door open for Clopeh who followed him in.
The barkeeper looked up “Hello Cale, is it this time of the year again? I see you brought a friend.”
Cale returned the greeting completely focused on the barkeeper and said “Hello Gersey. Yes, it is and yes I did. This is my friend Clopeh. Is the boss not in today?”
The barkeeper answered truthfully “Fredo is away on business today. He did try his best to move it to another day but it simply was not possible.”
While the two of them did not notice the gaze of reddish-brown eyes that focused on them since the name Cale was mentioned, it did not escape Clopehs attention who was starting to find the attention the stranger payed his friend to be worrying especially since the gaze grew more intense when Cale started to talk. And while he did not know the identity of the stranger watching his friend he definitely recognized the other man on the table. It was Choi Han a high-ranking member of the Soo-clan. He was so engrossed in observing the stranger that he missed the end of Cales conversation with the bartender.
The red head grabbed his friends elbow and pulled him slightly so that the other would follow him towards the place where he usually sat. Just as he was about to start walking he took notice of two males sitting near his usual place. One of the stared at him with very familiar reddish eyes, that mirrored his own in the reddish tint they possessed. He could not hide the small gasp that escaped him. Those eyes, that face, that black hair it all seemed so familiar. He had to make sure. He slowly let do of Clopehs arm and stepped forward, one step at a time, slowly shaking slightly as he softly uttered “Excuse me Sir. This might sound strange but are you Kim Rok Soo?”
Clopehs eyes widened as he realised what his friend just uttered and he gave the two men a once over before readying himself for whatever might happen next.
The black-haired male with reddish brown eyes hesitated for but a second before nodding his head ever so slightly uttering softly “It has been a while Cale.”
Cale runs a hand through his hair chuckling madly before repeating “It has been a while…” before once again repeating the sentence but this time his voice cracked and he became louder “It has been a while… fuck.” He takes a deep breath before holding his hand out to Clopeh “Gimme your gun. And don’t even start I know you carry one.”
Clopeh did not even hesitate a second and handed Cale his gun “Here you go Boss.”
Cale ignored Clopeh calling him boss for now and removed the safety faster than anyone thought he could before pointting the gun at his not-so-dead-dead-friend “I would like for you to follow me. Without resistance if possible”
Kim Rok Soo held both his hand up in the air in surrender as he threw a look at Choi Han that told him not to do anything, his friend and bodyguard of the day was already tense and just one second from cutting the red head with his short sword. The look Kim Rok Soo threw at him stopped this motion and he tensely observed the situation. On the other hand, Clopeh noticed Choi Hans movement and was ready to counter if needed.
“I hope you wont mind following me Kim Rok Soo, because it will not matter either way. You are coming with me.”
The barkeeper ignored the whole commotion and continued cleaning some glasses, he ignored how Cale threatened someone with a gun. He ignored how he led their guest outside under said thread, literally kidnapping him from the café and only thought ´Fredo will be even sadder that he missed today if I tell him what just happened. Who knew the leader of the Alliance and one of the leaders of the Soo-Clan knew each other`.
Cale led the group away from the establishment and towards a small forest “So Kim Rok Soo, my long lost dead best friend may I ask how come you are not quite as dead as I was led to believe?” The hand holding the gun gripped said weapon more tightly and a while a smile adorned the read heads face his forehead was scrunched up and his eyes betrayed too many emotions at one to properly filter one out” Because believe me right now I am very torn between hugging you in happiness and murdering you myself. Because yes seeing you alive and well does make me happier than you could imagine and I am so happy I am now able to find out that you were right I would still be the smaller one when we grew upright but at the same time I am so mad at you that I am not above putting a damn bullet into you. So you better have a damn good answer as to why you made me believe you were dead for over ten fucking years.”
“At first it was for your safety,” the other started to explain “The car crash happened because of me. Because a rival was trying to weaken my family by killing you. Faking my death was used to make sure you would stay safe by not being associated with me any more and to make them think they succeeded.”
“Normally I would probably say some flowery shit about understanding your motives and that you meant well but to be honest fuck that. If that was the only reason you could have left me a ducking letter explaining the situation-“tears gathered in the red head's eyes “You knew I would have understood, and even kept it a secret. Give me something better…” His voice cracked “Give me a reason to not feel so utterly betrayed right now. Give me a reason to not feel so torn just give me something…”
Tears were now slowly running down Cales cheeks, and it physically hurt Clopeh to see Cale torn like this, his friend looked sadder than he did when he told him about his friends’ death. He truly did hope the other had a damn good reason, because Clopeh knew that Cale would never shoot the gun. At the end of the day everyone would leave her alive, but he could not bear the thought that whatever Kim Rok Soo might say next will hurt his friend even more than he already is.
He noted an expression on Cales face that he never wanted to see, and that he swore right then and there he would make sure the other would never wear again. The betrayal and hurt reflected on his face felt like a well-placed punch in the gut to Clopeh, who knew that his friend must feel a thousand times worse. So he held his breath hoping that whatever leaves the mouth of the bastard, that hurt his friend so, will lessen his friends pain.
Kim Rok Soo looked pained as he noted the emotional wounds he caused his old friend he slowly opened his mouth to reply…