This Friend | Yeonbin

55

Soobin P.O.V

The bar is on fire.

Everything caught so fast, and now the whole place is burning. It’s like something out of a nightmare. Huge orange flames snake up the walls. People are screaming. Smoke is already pooling at the ceiling.

It’s chaos.

I’m frozen. It’s like my feet are stuck to the floor. All I can do is watch as it all unfolds. I can barely even breathe.

I feel scorching heat.

People are shouting, but I can see only dark shapes.

Another Molotov flies in through the shattered window. It hits the far wall, crunches, and explodes in a huge orange fireball. Through the flames and smoke, I can just see the wall of glass bottles behind the bar. It’s all alcohol.

If that gets hit-

Something pulls on my wrist, yanking me to the ground.

It’s Cassidy.

“What are you doing?” she shouts. “Move!”

She army-crawls along the ground, cutting a path through the bar, dodging anything that’s aflame. The ground is hot, and I think I’m starting to breathe in smoke. I’m coughing, and feel light-headed. I know that’s bad.

Up ahead, I see the back door.

Someone is standing in front of it, holding it open, shepherding people out.

I’m nearly there.

Once I get outside, I’ll be safe.

We go around a burning table and then finally reach the exit. Cassidy sprints out. I follow her and make it outside, into the cool night air. I cough, hacking up my lungs. Through watering eyes I check and see that she’s fine. Thank God.

I’m safe.

Then it hits me.

Taehyun. And Dad.

I rush around, checking all the people who are huddled outside. I spot Cassidy talking to her mum, along with Vince and his family. I see Tony and Grandma and almost everyone else in my family.

But Taehyun and Dad aren’t here.

My stomach plummets.

They’re still in there.

I need to go back. I have to.

I can’t lose them.

I move toward the door. It’s like I’m on autopilot. Someone grabs me and pulls me back. They hold me so tight I can’t move.

“What are you doing?”

I turn and see that it’s Vince, holding me.

“They’re still in there!” My throat hurts, and my voice sounds hoarse. “They didn’t get out!”

“Soobin, if you go in, you’ll die, too. Do you think they want that?”

But I can’t just stand here. So I fight against him as hard as I can. He manages to hold me tight.

I wish I were stronger.

We watch the bar burn. The flames are towering, and a pillar of thick black smoke is rising up into the sky. Please, I think. I’m not religious, but I pray sometimes.

I think it’s a leftover from the Catholic masses Dad used to make us go to before he gave up on trying to make Taehyun and me religious. So I don’t know if anyone is listening, but now feels like the right time to pray.

Smoke is billowing out of the doorway. I think it’s getting thicker. As a group, we move down the alley, away from the burning building.

I can’t lose my family tonight. I just can’t.

Two figures appear in the doorway.

It’s Taehyun. And Dad.

Taehyun dragging Dad out. He’s limp. They reach safety, and both of them collapse against the alley wall. I run over to them. Taehyun clothes are steaming, and he’s coughing a lot. But I check his body, and he seems uninjured.

Dad’s mostly okay, too. He looks like he might be in shock, as he’s not moving much, and his stare is fixed on a single point on the ground.

I’ve never seen him look like this.

I wonder if he got hit by the same shock that I did, before Cassidy pulled me out of it.

“Dad, are you okay?” I ask.

“He got trapped in the bathroom,” says Taehyun. “I had to put out a fire by the door. There was an extinguisher under the bar.”

Taehyun an actual hero.

I turn my focus back to Dad. He still looks out of it.

“Just breathe,” I say, trying to keep my voice as even as possible.

He takes in a few deep breaths. That seems to break him out of his daze, and he faces me. I’m expecting him to be mad, but honestly, it’s relief I can see in his features.

He waves a hand. “Stop crowding me.”

He’s going to be fine.

We got so lucky.

And then it hits me. The Chois. They’re the reason I almost lost my father and my brother. Now that I know Yeonjun isn’t a member of the family, I have no sympathy left for them.

I think I might hate them.

“Everybody down!” shouts Vince.

Just as he says that, I notice headlights at the end of the alley farthest from us. It’s a sleek silver car, blocking our path.

The headlights turn off.

What are they doing?

Has someone come to help us? If so, why are they blocking the alleyway? And why would Vince tell us to get down?

“Run!” shouts Vince.

Everything goes still.

The window lowers. It happens in slow motion.

Other people figure it out a second before I do.

Everyone around us scatters. I see the nozzle of a gun poke out of the window.

Taehyun grabs my wrist and pulls me into a stumbling run toward the other end of the alley. We go as fast as we can, running close to the wall. I turn back and see Dad right behind us.

I hear the gun first.

Then I feel it.