Page 18 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 5-8 (The Residency Boys #7)

“Mr. Bak.” Someone else pushed forward. “Mr. Gang appears to have a very good reason for not being present lately. And he was with authorities yesterday. We know he’s in contact with authorities here in Seoul.

In fact, Judge Su just confirmed thirty minutes ago that he spoke with Mr. Gang yesterday and that Mr. Gang was cooperating with officials.

That doesn’t seem like a mental break to us at my news organization. ”

Bak held up his hands. “I’m not a judge or a police officer. I can only tell you what I’ve been told by the detectives that have spoken to me, and honestly, I can’t tell you most of that. If Mr. Gang is speaking with authorities, I can only hope that means he’s becoming willing to get help.”

“Mr. Bak, Mr. Gang is still in contact with his fans. And so are the rest of 5N. None of them have expressed worry for Jun’s mental health, only his physical injuries. Can you address those?”

“While we’re concerned for Mr. Gang’s physical health, we’re more concerned for his mental well-being.

I’m not going to go into details that aren’t already public knowledge, but we have reason to believe Mr. Gang did not suffer an external attack.

Those injuries we all saw on camera—they were likely self-inflicted. ”

There was a collective moment of surprise, punctuated by gasps or silence. One reporter found her voice first. “Mr. Bak, can you explain why JunJun would be with Damian Sathers and Richard Reevesworth? He’s been photographed with both of them, both here in Seoul and in Chicago.”

“I can’t say I understand that, no.”

“And what about the rumors that Mr. Gang may have taken one or more of them as lovers? They’re both openly gay men.”

Bak raised an eyebrow and shifted uncomfortably.

“Again, I would just repeat what I said earlier. A week ago, Mr. Gang was a model idol. His music and his fans were his entire life. He was a pleasure to work with. I’d never known him to have a romantic relationship, not even privately.

Music and dance were his life. I can’t speculate at this time. ”

There were a few more questions. Mi Hi let it play to the end but scrolled away to read the comments.

A photograph of Richard sitting in the lobby of the hotel in Seoul appeared in one of the comments, followed by a note: Are we sure Mr. Reevesworth is gay?

Mi Hi made the photo larger. Sitting on Richard’s lap was Jun in his skirt and boots.

“Well.” Mi Hi shook her head, smiling, looking both pleased and miffed.

Jun put a hand over his face. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Damian put his arms around Jun, hugging him from behind. “émeric is going to be amused.”

“I give it one hour to three days before someone runs facial recognition on the photograph.” Mi Hi made a face. “Not quite sure what to do with that one.”

“Just be honest. Jun was trying to travel without being noticed. Something happened, and Richard was helping him.”

“By letting me sit on his lap?” Jun peeked out from behind his fingers.

“Let’s be honest, half your fans are just going to be jealous that the skirt looks better on you than it does them.”

Damian

Damian left for the city after breakfast. Before he went, though, he unlocked another bedroom for Jun.

It didn’t have its own bathroom, but it was close to Richard and émeric’s room and shared a bathroom in the hall with the room Geun and Su-jin had chosen.

And if that bathroom was full, there were always more bathrooms elsewhere.

The bed needed making. They found sheets in the mostly empty dresser.

He left Bear with Téméraire on the bed for Jun.

Artemis followed Jun around until they were done and jumped up on the bed, claiming the entire thing for herself.

Jun laughed and stroked her ears. She allowed it with one soft flick of her tail.

Downstairs, everyone was hanging around to see him off. Su-jin gave Damian a hug. Yohei offered a handshake, and Geun and Jaewoong waved. Gigi fist-bumped him.

He made it back to the city a little after noon.

Zia drove him straight to his office. Eleanor wouldn’t be back until the next day.

He did a sweep, checking on his associates.

There were a few messages he hadn’t been able to handle in the car where he’d sorted most of his morning business.

Alice was in his office with Dana. Dana had her own laptop open in front of her.

Damian chuckled. “Are you teaching Dana to be a super sleuth?”

Alice grinned mischievously. “Don’t knock kids. She’s tagging photos.”

Damian looked over the girls’ shoulders. Dana was indeed sorting through photos on two screens. The photo program had made suggestions based on a list of who was in each photo; Dana was checking and correcting it against known photos.

“I think you’re using child labor, Alice.”

Alice chuckled. “Well, she was doing her matching game while I did this myself, but she liked my game better.”

“Is Ash at Richard’s office?”

“He got up earlier and went in with Collin. Chinese lessons started again today. He’s going to work from home on this once he’s done there.”

“Tell me if he’s running himself thin.”

Alice shook her head. “I think he’s enjoying it.”

“You don’t have to work here, you know.”

“It’s good for Dana and I to get out of the condo. Dana’s therapist says she needs to be comfortable leaving home and being around people. Hopefully next year, she’ll be comfortable being in school.”

“This one’s not English, is it?” Dana pointed to a name on her reverse image search. Alice leaned down. “No, that’s not English.”

“That’s Bak Gyeong.” Damian leaned down. “Where you’d get that photo?”

“Bak Sahyuk’s wife posted wedding photos on their tenth anniversary. Pearsen asked me to document everyone who was there.”

“What’s he looking for?”

“Probably this.” Alice pressed her lips together in a grimace. “If that’s BBB3 Bak, then this shows that Jun’s father and Bak are still close. But Jun isn’t in any of these photos.”

Dana looked up at Damian, her eyes wide. “Is that the bad man who tried to sell Uncle Jun?”

“One of them.” Damian nodded. “Thank you for helping me fight him, Dana.”

Dana smiled from ear to ear. “I want to be like Alice.”

Alice kissed the top of her head. “You already are. We’re going to teach you all the tools, just like I learned them. Oh, Damian, I’ll be heading out around three. Dana and I have self-defense at three thirty.”

“I should get back into that.”

“It’s our first lesson,” Alice said. “Ellisandre set it up.”

Considering how strong Jun was, lessons might be necessary. Jun would be disappointed if Damian couldn’t hold him once he caught him. Something with lots of pins and locks. Maybe Aikido. He’d had a few lessons in that before.

“I’m taking Collin and émeric down to see the church today. Call me if you need anything.”

“On it. I’m going to call this one into Pearsen now.”

Damian leaned down and whispered in Dana’s ear. “There’re snacks in the bottom drawer of the table against the window.”

She giggled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Damian wrapped up what he needed to do and headed downstairs to jump back in the car.

It would be nice when he could stroll over to a train or a bus instead, but for the moment, his old neighborhood wasn’t near a station nor had The Residency security team deemed public transportation acceptably safe.

With everything going down around Jun, that wasn’t likely to change.

Richard and Collin met him outside the church, trailed by their own security. Damian led them to the front doors of the main building and unlocked one of them. “Be careful. It’s been a while since I had the last structural integrity inspection.”

“Can we have a copy of that report?” Collin asked. He stepped into the atrium as he spoke.

“I’ll have it forwarded.” Damian made a note on his phone and set a reminder. Collin got ahead of him while he was typing. Holden stayed on his six, but Richard hung back, standing next to Damian.

“You don’t have to go in.”

Damian gave Richard a tired smile. “It’s all right. I need to get used to being here. It’s different, experiencing it from Collin’s and Jun’s perspectives. They don’t see it the way I do.”

Richard nodded. “I came here once when it was still operational.”

“Oh, why?”

“Long before I met you—before I ran my own crew—I was sent out on a job repairing the roof on one of the other buildings. I didn’t remember it was the same place until we drove up. There was a different pastor at the time.”

“Sometimes when you say crew, it sounds like you miss it.”

Richard grinned as if someone had caught him with his hand on the last profiterole. “Sometimes I do.” Richard rubbed his chest. “It’s been stronger since the hospital. An urge to work with my hands.” He flexed his fingers.

“Do you want to run anything here?” It was an impulse, words rushing out of Damian’s mouth before he thought them over.

Richard wandered into the sanctuary, looking up at the roof. “Run a crew here?”

“Anything you want.”

Richard grinned, mischief and longing in his eyes. He ran his hands over the back of one of the pews. “I’d like that.”

“Do you have time?”

Richard nodded toward Collin, far ahead of them, his security keeping pace with him. “I’ll make time.” He looked down, caressing the back of the pew again. “Make sure they save these pews. There’s a lot of good wood here, and you’re going to need it.”

“What do you see?”

Richard gave Damian a contemplative look as if he were reading him down to his soul. Then he turned back, hooking his thumbs in his belt and pacing down the nave. Damian trailed after him.