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Sanha’s apartment was the closest place Myungjun could think of.
He didn’t want to stop. He didn’t want to look back. While Bin had released him, it was possible the robot would follow him. Perhaps the orders he had been given were too strong to actually let Myungjun go. Or, perhaps, he was so blinded by love that he would desire Myungjun by his side again.
Either way, Myungjun didn’t stop.
He wanted to. God , how he longed to stop by a store and beg to use a phone. He wanted to call Jinwoo and cry for a while.
He couldn’t. Not until he was safe. And with Sanha, he would be safe.
Once he was with Sanha, though, he would call Jinwoo. He could cry then. He could relax then. Sanha worked with Jinwoo and was part of the government. Sanha wouldn’t hesitate to protect him.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he neared Sanha’s apartment, and his heart pounded with adrenaline as he knocked on the door.
Sanha was quick to answer, eyes wide with surprise. “Myungjun?” he gasped. “What...what happened?”
Myungjun thought he might keep his composure until he spoke to Jinwoo. Myungjun thought that he wouldn’t break down with Sanha. But he did. As the adrenaline crashed around him, so did his composure, and he shook with sobs.
Sanha led him inside, closing and locking the door behind him. “Myungjun,” he murmured, sitting Myungjun down on the couch. “Jinwoo said...Jinwoo said you were kidnapped.”
Myungjun cried harder at that, at hearing Jinwoo’s name. Poor Jinwoo, living with that knowledge while abroad. Poor Jinwoo, frantically searching for him. Myungjun felt guilt, though he knew it wasn’t his fault.
“Were you kidnapped, Myungjun?”
Myungjun, through his tears, nodded his head. He glanced up at Sanha and choked out, “It wa-was terrifying! Oh, god, I-I’m so glad I’m safe!” He wiped at his eyes and stammered, “Can-Can I use your phone to call Jinnie? I want t-to tell him I’m okay.”
Sanha’s lips tightened and he sat beside Myungjun. “Not now,” he muttered. “Jinwoo is on his way back to Korea.”
“A-All the more reason for me to call!” Myungjun exclaimed. He could tell Jinwoo where he was and they would both be safe and happy. They could see each other hopefully by the next day; China wasn’t a far journey by plane.
Sanha shook his head, and Myungjun stared at him in confusion. “Why...why not?” he questioned. “He’d come over in an instant if I called, and…” He trailed off, realizing that Sanha’s apartment was only sparsely furnished. Gone were his cute collectibles and posters. Gone were his family portraits that once hung on the wall. Gone, too, were the other two chairs that used to be in the living room.
Instead of furniture, a few boxes and traveling bags were scattered about.
“Sanha?” Myungjun started, eyeing the room suspiciously. “Are you moving?”
Sanha tightened his lips. “Some...circumstances have forced me to leave,” he replied. “With the government. Mission gone wrong. You know.”
Myungjun didn’t know. Jinwoo hadn’t ever needed to leave, and he was the one involved more heavily in dangerous missions. Before he could say anything, though, Sanha spoke again. “How did you escape? You don’t look like you’ve been hurt that much, either.”
Myungjun stared at Sanha for a few seconds, then glanced again at the mess in Sanha’s living room. It didn’t make sense. If the mission hadn’t failed for Jinwoo, if he was still allowed to come home, then why was Sanha leaving?
“What mission were you and...and Jinwoo working on?” he asked. “Does my kidnapping have anything to do with the mission?”
Sanha took a deep breath. “Yes,” he confirmed. “Jinwoo managed to mess a few things up, and the result of that was your kidnapping.”
Jinwoo never messed things up when it came to his job. He was one of the best agents the government had. If Jinwoo had messed things up, then it was likely he had also gotten himself hurt. “Is Jinwoo okay?” Myungjun asked, breathless as he thought of his poor boyfriend in pain.
“He’s fine,” Sanha replied with a small smile. “I think he got a little beat up, but nothing he couldn’t handle. You have a tough boyfriend, you know.”
That helped to alleviate some of the worry that was building up in Myungjun’s chest. He sighed in relief and sat back, though as soon as he felt ready to relax, there came a knocking at the door.
Sanha cursed lightly as he stood up; Myungjun didn’t even know the man had it in him to curse. It was interesting, and he wondered what had annoyed Sanha so much.
“Who is it?” Sanha called, keeping close to the door without yet touching it.
A familiar voice responded, and Myungjun froze.
“It’s me. It’s B-1N.”
Sanha glanced back at Myungjun and pursed his lips before opening the door.
Bin stepped into the house, already talking. “I apologize, Sanha. I have allowed Myungjun to escape. I did not like keeping him hostage, and I thought—”
He trailed off the moment he caught sight of Myungjun. His eyes widened and he swiveled his head back to look at Sanha. “You caught him?” he asked.
Myungjun felt like he was suffocating. Bin had always mentioned a human owner, though he was never given a name or description. The human owner had ordered Bin to capture him. The human owner had ordered Bin to keep him hostage.
The human owner was Sanha the entire time.
“ You? ” Myungjun gasped out, scrambling from his seat. Sanha shut and locked the door. “ You were Bin’s owner? Y-You made him do that to me?”
It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t make sense. Sanha was his friend. Sanha had Jinwoo’s trust. Why was he doing this?
Instead of answering, Sanha turned to Bin and snapped, “You allowed him to escape? I thought I told you to keep him held hostage until I came back.”
Myungjun could hardly believe what he was hearing. Sanha was admitting to kidnapping him? He stepped backwards, unsure of what else to do and who else to trust. “Sanha,” he started, his voice shaking, but Sanha continued to ignore him.
Bin glanced over at Myungjun. “I cannot keep him hostage,” he explained. “I love him. I gave him the choice to leave.”
Sanha released his breath, loudly, in exasperation. He stared at the android for a second or two before gesturing to the small hole in his arm. “What happened?”
Bin examined the wound. “Myungjun tried to escape. He bit me. He’s very strong. I love him a lot, Sanha.”
“You can’t love anyone. You’re just a robot.”
As they spoke, Myungjun desperately looked around for a weapon. He refused to be taken again. He would fight this time, harder than he had before. He would die before he allowed himself to be used for whatever nefarious purposes Sanha had planned.
Sanha’s laptop rested on top of a suitcase. Laptops were hard, weren’t they? Myungjun could use that. He picked it up, readying to slam it into Sanha’s head, but then the man turned around and sighed. “Myungjun, put that down.”
“Why? So you can kidnap me again? So you can make Bin hold me hostage?” Myungjun swallowed back his tears. “Why the fuck are you doing this to me? We’re friends!”
“I have my reasons,” Sanha told him. It was a stupid explanation. Myungjun had seen characters in dramas use that exact same explanation. He remembered being holed up in that abandoned hotel watching those dramas. I have my reasons , a character would say when confronted with a bad decision they were making. There was never a reason they discussed, though, and Myungjun had learned from those dramas that communication was vital.
A lack of communication caused all of the problems.
Bin, standing beside Sanha, seemed to recognize those words, too. He looked conflicted, one hand up to protect Sanha and the other loosely held by his side, twitching as if it was unsure of what to do.
“What reasons? ” Myungjun snapped.
“To save a friend of mine. Now, put that laptop down. I really didn’t mean to hurt you, if I did, and...look, Myungjun, I’m sorry. Truly, I am sorry. Things haven’t been going well.”
“Things haven’t been going well for me, either,” Myungjun growled.
Sanha nodded his head in understanding. He looked sympathetic. He looked guilty . “I know,” he muttered. “And I know it’s my fault. I’m...I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done. And I’m not going to...I’ll stop. You just need to let me go. I’ll have B-1N watch after you here. Jinwoo will show up. Then, things will be fine. You’ll be safe and I’ll be gone, but you can’t hit me with that laptop. And you can’t throw a fuss.”
“What happens if I do?” Myungjun had always been one for testing his limits and toeing the line. He wanted to try it here, too.
Sanha didn’t answer. Instead, he gestured for Bin, who cautiously stepped forward. “B-1N says he loves you. What happened?”
“I do love him,” Bin blurted out. He smiled at Myungjun. “But he says we’re friends. That’s fine. Platonic is fine. It means I can still love him. I’ve kissed his cheek. He allows me — Sanha, he kissed my cheek!”
Sanha raised his eyebrows but said nothing more on the subject. “B-1N, keep him here.”
Bin’s smile fell. “But—”
“Don’t disobey me again. I don’t want to be mean, since Dongmin sees something special in the androids he’s devised and you’ve done nothing wrong necessarily, but you have to listen to me this time, okay?”
Bin shook his head. “I cannot keep Myungjun hostage. It is not love to keep someone hostage. I know that now. I wish I knew earlier.”
Sanha ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not...it’s not keeping him hostage. You’re just keeping him here until his boyfriend comes. I just need to make sure that he doesn’t go after me at all, and that he doesn’t say anything to anyone.”
“That’s keeping me hostage,” Myungjun snapped. He threw Sanha’s laptop to the floor. He hoped it would break. He hoped Sanha would lose precious files. “You’re lucky I’m not an awful person like you, or else I’d smash that into your disgusting head.”
There was that guilt again, that regret. Sanha, at times like that, looked too innocent to have concocted a kidnapping and hostage situation.
“When Jinwoo finds you,” Sanha muttered, grabbing a few bags, “tell him whatever you want. He already knows I’m behind it. He can send people after me when you tell him, but I plan on staying hidden. Just know...it’s not really my fault.” Sanha glanced at Bin and said, “It’s Minhyuk’s fault. He’s the reason behind all of this. It’s really not mine at all. If they hadn’t decided to make stupid war machines, and if Dongmin hadn’t fallen in love with that stupid war machine, I wouldn’t have…” Sanha shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Just know I’m...I’m really sorry.”
Myungjun grit his teeth down and chose not to respond. Sanha didn’t deserve anything from him, least of all his forgiveness.
Realizing he was faced with silence, Sanha instead turned to Bin. “Keep him here. It’s for his own safety.”
He left, closing and locking the door behind him.
And then Myungjun allowed himself to cry again, sinking to the ground and pulling his knees up close to him.