Bet On Me Part 1
Title: Bet On Me
Pairing: HaeHyuk
Minor Pairings: MinKyu, YeWook
Part: 1
Rating: R
Genre: romance, drama, angst
Disclaimer: I wish
Warnings: more than implied sex, language
Summary: It's been years and Donghae is still struggling with the ghosts of his past.
A/N: Sequel to Bet On It
“Call.”
Donghae allowed himself a satisfied smirk as the cards were revealed. He had won again, as expected. Gathering the chips into his already large pile, Donghae’s eyes flickered to his wristwatch. It was time. Rising from his seat, he acknowledged everyone at the table.
“Ladies, gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure, but I must take my leave now.” The other players were more than happy to let the stranger who had been winning game after game for the past hour go.
Donghae cashed in his chips, barely giving his phenomenal winnings a second thought. Money didn’t mean much to him anymore, but it was nice to have a lot of it anyways.
Undoing the buttons of his suit, Donghae touched his cleverly hidden earpiece. “Now.”
On cue, the doors opened and numerous police officers poured in. There was immediate chaos as the room’s occupants struggled to figure out what was happening and escape at the same time.
“What’s going on?” shouted a man.
“Why are the police here?” demanded a lady.
Donghae cleared his throat. “Silence!” he yelled. Everyone turned to look at him. Almost lazily, Donghae took out his badge. “Don’t move. Everyone here is under arrest on the grounds of running an illegal gambling ring.”
-
“Congrats on your…what number would this be?”
Donghae shrugged. “Ninth?”
“Your ninth bust.”
“Our,” corrected Donghae.
“Our,” agreed Kyuhyun, giving his partner a once over.
“What?” asked Donghae wearily, noticing the look.
“I know you’ve liked busting gambling rings ever since that first case four years ago…” Donghae flinched, but Kyuhyun didn’t notice. “But don’t you think we should ask Chief for a different kind of case? Expand our horizon a bit?”
“No,” Donghae spat out, much harsher than he intended.
“Okay,” said Kyuhyun, hands raised. “It’s just…why do you like this particular field so much? Murder cases are much more interesting.”
Donghae whirled around and stalked off, leaving a confused but not surprised Kyuhyun at their desk.
-
Donghae quickly scanned the newly detained suspects. None looked familiar. He lost interest immediately.
But of course, Donghae told himself with a wry smile. He wouldn’t let himself get caught that easily.
But it didn’t make the familiar disappointment hurt any less.
-
Sometimes Lee Donghae felt like he was chasing phantoms.
It had been four years since he felt concrete about something, four years since this emptiness, four years since he last saw him…
Initially, Donghae had tried hard not to think about it, tried to move on with his life. But one day, he realized with a panic that his memory was starting to fail him. The mental picture was still there, but was his skin that white? Was his hair that shade of red? Did his skin feel like that? Did those eyes…really look at him like that? What if…?
Donghae knew it was silly to question whether or not such a thing ever happened. After all, even though there was no hard evidence of the events on any police files, the twin scars that circled both of his wrists, though faded through the years, were still visible.
Even so, Donghae wondered, and the picture faded just a bit more.
-
“We’re here.”
Donghae sighed, not getting out of the car or looking at Kyuhyun. “You don’t need to drive me home everyday,” he stated monotonously. “It’s not like I’m going to go to some bar and get drunk.”
“I don’t know that.”
“I haven’t had any alcohol in the past year,” Donghae insisted. “I won’t relapse again, so you don’t have to waste your time. Don’t keep Sungmin waiting longer than necessary.”
“Sungmin doesn’t mind. He worries about you too, you know.” Donghae finally turned to face his partner. Kyuhyun looked much older than his twenty five years. How had he aged so much over the span of four years? Too much stress, Donghae thought with more than a little guilt.
“Kyuhyun, I’m not going to drink,” Donghae promised. “You know me; I won’t go back on my word.”
Kyuhyun sucked in a breath, hands tightening on the steering wheel. “I don’t know if I know you anymore,” he said so quietly Donghae nearly missed it.
-
Donghae wasn’t lying about not drinking alcohol though. He had given up alcohol a long time ago, but not because Kyuhyun got tired of dragging him home from bars every night or because Sungmin forced him to go to awful Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or even because Leeteuk threatened to suspend him if he didn’t clean up his act. No, he gave up alcohol because it just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Once he was sure Kyuhyun was out of sight, Donghae quickly changed into casual clothes and stepped out of his apartment building. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Donghae followed a well-memorized path until he reached an obscure door in an alleyway. Taking one last breath of the cold night air, Donghae entered.
The room was dark and very crowded, but everyone recognized Donghae and parted to let him through as he made his way towards the center.
“Hey, you’re here,” said a husky voice.
Donghae turned to the speaker. “I come here every night, why do you always sound surprised?”
The man shrugged, kohl-lined gaze impassive. “I’m waiting for you to quit.”
Donghae chuckled. “Am I causing you to lose money, Yesung-hyung?”
“You win every fight,” Yesung sighed. “No one wants to bet against you, so yes, the house is losing some money, but that’s not why.” He handed Donghae a roll of bandages.
“Really?” Donghae took proffered roll and expertly wrapped it around his knuckles, making sure it was neither too tight nor too loose. “Enlighten me.”
“You’re not like the other fighters,” replied Yesung, heading to the ring in the middle of the room.
Donghae frowned, following him. “That was in no way cryptic.”
Yesung gave him a half smile. “You’re up next. Don’t disappoint.”
Donghae shrugged off his jacket and took off his white wife beater, handing the garments to Yesung. “Do I ever?” Yesung just shook his head.
A cheer went up as Donghae stepped into the ring. Bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, Donghae eyed his opponent. Big, probably strong, but not that fast. And if the leer he was giving Donghae any indication, he was also stupid. Perhaps he had too many blows to the head.
“Ready?” he heard Yesung shout. Donghae’s head buzzed with anticipation as he drew back into a comfortable fighting stance. “Fight, start!”
-
Donghae breathed heavily as he stood triumphantly over his felled opponent. With a shaky hand, he wiped his sweaty hair out of his eyes. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, making him feel much better than any drink ever had. Donghae closed his eyes, savoring the feeling.
“Good job,” said Yesung when Donghae climbed out of the ring.
Donghae accepted the towel Yesung was holding, rubbing his face. “Did you expect anything less?”
Yesung chuckled. “I think we all await the day when someone gets the best of you.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” muttered Donghae, ignoring the pang in his heart.
-
“We have a new case.”
Donghae set Kyuhyun’s pink mug in front of the computer specialist before pulling up a chair next to him. “Already? It’s only been one week since we wrapped up the last one.”
Kyuhyun nodded. “How many gambling rings does Korea have exactly?” he grumbled.
Donghae tuned out his partner’s complaints as he felt the familiar anticipation tinged with hope bubble to the surface.
-
Hope is a funny thing.
Hope can get you through hard times with promises of a better future. Hope can be the thing you hold onto when there’s nothing left to cling to. Hope can give you a reason to live.
But the opposite can also be true. What if promises of a better future are left unfulfilled? What if you cling to hope only to find you’ve been grasping for thin air all this time? What if hope just isn’t enough anymore?
Donghae knew he was reaching his limit when his hopes were completely crushed for the tenth time as none of the detained people caught his attention. The months of infiltration and careful planning were completely worthless to him now.
“Good job,” Leeteuk told him as he walked back to his desk. “Your work for these last few months has been wonderful.”
Donghae barely managed to choke out a quick ‘thanks’ before hurrying away.
“Don’t ask me what’s wrong,” Donghae warned Kyuhyun when he got back to their desk. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Kyuhyun took in Donghae’s desperate expression, his own neutral as he turned away. “You haven’t for the past few years.”
-
Donghae almost felt sorry for his opponent as he delivered the knock out blow, much harder than necessary.
There was a low whistle when Donghae seated himself at the bar counter after cleaning up. “I’d say you’re a little stressed today.”
Donghae ignored him. “Ryeowook, a glass of water,” he said instead to the bartender.
“You didn’t have to go so hard on the poor guy,” Yesung continued when the bartender went off. “That last blow was really harsh.”
“Says he who runs a fight club that encourages violence,” Donghae shot back sarcastically.
“Can’t argue against that,” Yesung admitted. He continued staring at Donghae.
“What?” snapped Donghae, feeling on the edge.
“I know who you are.”
Alarm bells went off in Donghae’s head. Body reacting before mind, he reached out and grabbed Yesung’s shirt front, yanking him forward harshly as his other hand curled into a fist. Almost immediately, a glass of icy water was dumped over his head.
“Fighting is restricted to the ring,” said the bartender, tone as cold as the water Donghae was drenched in. “And no one touches Yesung.” Donghae wondered how someone half his size could look so intimidating. He reluctantly released his grip.
“Good timing as always, Ryeowook,” said Yesung, giving his bartender a smile that made Donghae’s heart ache. Ryeowook nodded curtly and reached over the counter to straighten Yesung’s shirt, fingers lingering on the older’s skin.
Donghae bit his lip and looked away. “Sorry,” he muttered.
“It’s alright. I guess I shouldn’t have sprung that upon you so suddenly.” Yesung handed Donghae a fresh towel. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that you’re a police officer.”
“What are you going to do about it?” asked Donghae tensely, pausing in the middle of drying his hair.
“Nothing,” was the casual reply.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Yesung repeated. “I know you’re not going to turn us in because if you do, I have enough evidence to incriminate you too. So if we go down, you’re going with us.”
“Oh.” Donghae frowned. “How did you find out who I was?”
“Through the grapevine. Some grapes can be very talkative.”
Donghae snorted. “And what grapevine would that be?”
Yesung regarded Donghae for a moment. “The underground gambling grapevine. You’re quite a Batman figure in our community.”
“I’m famous?” asked Donghae, mouth going dry.
Yesung nodded. “Every major gambler has heard of you and your activities for the past few years. Don’t worry, I won’t release your picture to the black list,” he added, misinterpreting the look on Donghae’s face.
Every major gambler, huh? Maybe even…?
-
A/N: First off, apologies for ignoring all comments concerning a sequel. It was because, well, I had already written this long before I even posted Bet On It. And the reason I took so long to post this was because I was actually debating whether or not to even post this since I loved the ending of Bet On It that much. But I decided, why waste 28 pages worth of hard work, so here it is. Oh, and interesting note: Yesung's character was originally a drug dealer. I don't know what happened...