nytis
"ji.. put the knife down," jeonghan whispered urgently in his ear. but it was clear from looking at jihoon's white grip that he had no intention of putting down the tool. sighing jeonghan quickly turned to minghao who was walking up to the counter. "sorry sir, i'm have to ask you to leave." he said curtly.
paying no mind to jeonghan, minghao's smile continued to widen. "you heard the man, put the knife down lee jihoon." right when the man said jihoon's full name, alarms blared in soonyoung's head. he pushed jihoon back and growled at minghao.
"who the fuck are you and how do you know his name?"
after hearing his harshly said words and looking at soonyoung's tense posture, minghao's smile dropped. "hey there's no need to get all defensive, you're no fun. i'm only here to pay jihoon a visit," his eyes dropped down to the red bag in his head and a smile appeared on his face once again. "and i even brought a gift for him!" he said excitedly.
minghao held out the paper bag and looked at jihoon. the boy was a lot less shaken than before and his grip on the knife wasn't as tight but it was clear that he was still very wary of minghao. rattling the bag, minghao continued to stare at jihoon, "come on, everyone likes gifts. come on, take it." jihoon didn't move forward to grab the bag and minghao's eye twitched, his face visibly darkening. "fucking-
the male paused and took a deep breath. "why won't you take it? i'm just trying to do something nice," his voice wavered and it sounded as if he was going to burst into tears. soonyoung snatched the red bag from minghao's outstretched hand and looked at jihoon.
"jihoon, i don't want you to open it. i'll do it for you." soonyoung said, ignoring minghao's comments saying that it was for jihoon and not him. he didn't trust this man at all, who knows what he could've stuffed in the bag?
narrowing his eyes at the bag, jihoon placed the knife down and pulled the package away from soonyoung. "no soonyoung, i'll open it. it's for me anyways." soonyoung's protesting was cut off by happy laughter coming from minghao.
"open it quickly! quickly!" the man's eyes shined with excitement as if he was the one who received a gift.
"ji.. maybe you should throw it out." jeonghan said, eyeing the trash can not too far away.
"it's fine." although he knew that this man in front of him was anything but safe, jihoon had a feeling that whatever was in the red bag would be harmless. he opened up the top and pulled out what was inside. it was something soft and folded.. it was soonyoung's jacket? after a moment of pause, jihoon finally decided to talk. "thank.. you for returning this." he was surprised at how stable his voice sounded.
minghao chuckled. "ah, of course! i even washed it! i didn't think you would've wanted a dirty, bloody jacket back."
"you are the killer?" soonyoung asked out slowly. jeonghan's eyes widened, not believing that this strange man was the one in charge of all the chaos going on in nytis. minghao tilted his head as if he was confused.
"killer?" he paused to think, "oh! yes! but.. is that seriously what everyone calls me?" he sighed, "that's a pretty lame name.. so boring, so drab. not even something like... red? even red riding hood would be cooler.." soonyoung gritted his teeth at the casually talking man. the killer was sitting right there! if the guards weren't going to do any he might as well...
"what are you doing?"
minghao's voice, void of any emotion cut through the air. the man stared at soonyoung who was reaching for the side door as if he was planning to face minghao without a barrier between them. soonyoung paused and glanced at the man. it was scary how quick he could change from carefree to dead serious.
"soonyoung. what is it you were planning to do? perhaps catch me off guard and then hand me over to the royals?" soonyoung said nothing and allowed jihoon to pull him back. "you wanted to pull off something like that, when i was the one who saved your jihoonie?" minghao hissed out. the tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. "well, it's not like you could catch me anyways." minghao said giggling.
everyone blinked at the sudden change in mood. "y'know soonyoung, i watched your whole little sword fight with that stupid noble and i gotta say, your skills are quite commendable! it's too bad you didn't use a real sword, then you could've ended that rat on the spot! ah, pardon me, probably shouldn't have said that."
minghao then suddenly turned his attention to jeonghan, "yoon jeonghan, the walking angel of nytis. i think that applies to your looks only though... you're a funny man."
"this is my first time talking to you though?" jeonghan said, confused once again by minghao's words. the man only hummed.
"i don't have to talk to you to know that you're funny. but i'm sure that we'll have plenty of time in the future to talk." the three boys watched quietly as minghao headed back to his table to grab the bag that once held his strawberry strudel.
"you're just gonna leave?" jihoon said out to the man who was headed towards the door. minghao chuckled and turned around.
"can't stay here forever, can i?"
"but i still have-
"unanswered questions?" minghao said, finishing jihoon's sentence. "don't worry, like i said before we'll have plenty of time to talk about those later. i don't plan on disappearing anytime soon."
minghao shoved his hand into his pant pocket and pulled out a small familiar bag. he eyed jihoon and smiled before tossing it to jeonghan. "you're a strange one for not taking the money i left for you, jihoon."
the jangling of bells filled the bakery once more before falling back into silence,
