Crimson || GyuRicky

5. Keepsake

Someone kept freezing Hanbin's laptop. It had been going on since the previous night. First, someone tried hacking into his system, which they probably failed, hence, to disturb his work flow, kept freezing his system every ten minutes. Hanbin grew frustrated. He needed to access the files, use some software but his laptop had been acting up, so he needed to call his boyfriend for help. Late at night, he went to Hao's place to finish the rest of the work using Hao's laptop. They fell asleep a while after midnight, tangled on the bed together. In distress, they found solace in each other's kisses, warmth in those hugs and certainty in each 'I love you's. It kept giving them hope- like they'd be able to find the truth, together.

The next morning, Hao went to make breakfast. Since Ricky had classes, he wasn't there. Only Hanbin and Hao was there in the house. Right after waking up and brushing his teeth, Hanbin went to check his work, to see if any damage was done to Hao's laptop as well. Luckily, he found everything as normal as possible. The tabs he had opened, the sites he visted last night, everything was as it had been. Kinda suspicious, because whoever was trying to disturb him last night had every reason to target Hao's laptop as well, but, seemed like they could not.

As he was revising his work from last night, he suddenly noticed an extra tab opened in his browser. It was about a murder in China. Frowning, Hanbin clicked that page, wondering when he had searched it up. The case didn't look anything serious. A local felon known for his sex offenses had been found dead, the method of murder- stabbing a ballpoint pen tip down his throat- gruesome. Some schoolboy had done it in self protection, identity hidden. Hanbin was about to close the tab, but he found a link to a local newspaper article last moment. Curious, he clicked it, and the first person who came in sight fell upon him like thunder.

The school boy was none other than Zhnag Hao. His boyfriend. Back in China, he was once cornered by that very sex offender. To save himself, therefore, young Hao used a pen from his backpack and killed the man. Since he was a juvenile and acted upon self defense, no charges were made against him. However, that didn't change the fact that he had killed someone in the past.

In a cruel way.

And he had been keeping it from everyone ever since.

Hanbin saved the link on his phone, then closed the tab and cleared the browsing history. His heart was beating fast, mouth dry. All this time, had he been trusting the wrong person? Was Hao the one who grew fond of betraying and murdering people because of his past? Is that why his targets are all males? Cause clearly, Gunwook was close to him. And he was the one who brought up the extra clue. Was it a lie? But why would he do it?

Also, one thing didn't add up. Why was the tab open in Hao's laptop? Obviously, if he's the killer, he wouldn't do something like this. So is someone else trying to distract his course of work? Trying to make Hao look like the suspect? Someone who clearly knew about this past murder done by him, was he trying to shield himself by placing Hao as a bait?

Hanbin walked out, his boyfriend greeted him with a smile. "Babe, breakfast's ready."

Hanbin only skipped a beat. He was sweating. Gosh! He was suddenly so nervous! If Hao's the actual killer, then all these times..

"What's wrong?" Hao asked, concerned.

"Uh.. nothing. Where's.. uh- where's Ricky?"

"In his uni?" Hao blinked, "Why?"

Because Ricky's the only person who should be knowing Hao's case all the way back in China.

"Nothing, I needed something from him.." Hanbin said, "I'll go look for it in his room."

"Okay." Hao said. The younger didn't stay there anymore. With his heart beating from excitement and fear, he walked into Ricky's room. He didn't even know what he was looking for. But his mind told him that something must definitely be weird. Ricky'd always been weird. There's no doubt or even judgement about it. But if anyone knew about Hao's past, had access to his laptop and had wanted to distract Hanbin from going in the right direction, Ricky was the first suspect. So, he needed to find something to actually solidify his doubts. Therefore, Hanbin kept rummaging through his table.