The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

vi.

"When you live in the dark for so long, you begin to love it. And it loves you back, and isn't that the point? You think, the face turns to the shadows, and just as well. It accepts, it heals, it allows. But it also devours."

― Raymond Carver

--

He shut the door behind himself, locking it. It was pointless since they probably had spare keys, but it made him feel safer to have a barrier between him and the horrible people outside.

Then he proceeded farther into the room.

He passed a bathroom on the right before coming upon the bedroom. As promised, Minhyuk was curled up on the bed, back against the headboard and knees tucked into his chest, left wrist hanging low and handcuffed to the bedpost.

He looked up as Hyunwoo entered, and his face lit up with the barest glimpse of hope before his expression shattered, his eyes guttering out.

"Why?" he asked after a moment, his voice hollow. "Why are you here? Why does it have to be you?"

Hyunwoo quickly realized that Minhyuk had come to the conclusion that he was here to abuse him like everyone else. Only not quite like everyone else because Minhyuk knew Hyunwoo, and being violated by a stranger was altogether more bearable than facing the same treatment from someone of familiarity. "No, no, Minhyuk, I'm not-"

"Don't say my name," Minhyuk snapped, closing his eyes. "Don't say my name like you know me and then tear me apart."

"Minhyuk, I'm not here to- I'm not here to hurt you. I promise," Hyunwoo said. He put his hands up in a defensive position and knelt on the floor to demonstrate his intentions, and Minhyuk opened his eyes and stared at him doubtfully.

"I've been trying to find you," Hyunwoo said, trying to keep his words slow and even and comprehensible whilst they were rushing in his mind like a wildfire eating up the coast. "You and Hyungwon. I've been searching for you, and when I heard you might be...might be here, I had to come and find out."

Minhyuk just stared at him. Finally, "You're here...to find me?" he asked in a small, skeptical voice.

Hyunwoo nodded. "Kihyun has been very worried about you," he said, and Minhyuk's face pinched up, eyes growing wet even as he looked down, rubbing his face against his shirt to hide them. "Your family, too," he added as an afterthought. He hoped it was true. Minhyuk at least deserved to hear it, regardless of the veracity of the statement.

"Kihyun's gonna be pissed at me," Minhyuk said, laughing and crying at the same time. "He told me not to go off with Hendy, but I...I was stupid I didn't listen, and-"

"It's okay," Hyunwoo said after a moment before fumbling with the keys in his hand. "H-Here," he said, getting Minhyuk's attention before tossing the keys onto the bed. Minhyuk stared at them for a moment before grasping them with his right hand and picking out the small silver key. He inserted it into the lock and twisted this way and that for a moment before the cuff clicked free, and he pulled his wrist into his chest, rubbing at the red skin.

"So you're going to take me home?" he asked after a second, and Hyunwoo swallowed.

"I..."

"Oh." Quiet disappointment. Lowered eyes, upturned lips. Hands pulling in tighter around his knees.

"If it's safe," Hyunwoo quickly added. "I have other officers ready to take all of you home, but they need to know that you're all safe first." He paused, biting at his lip. "Is there any reason that wouldn't be true? Any reason to think that you're in danger of physical harm?"