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15. Did I Just Almost Die?

She struggled to keep her balance while she was being pulled roughly as they darted across the street. She was having trouble comprehending the current situation. He was here. Taeyong was in front of her, desperately and tightly holding her hand. They were running. Other men were running. More men were chasing. A gleam caught her eye from Taeyong's other hand. The shiny metal reflected the sun, throwing light in the shadows as they passed.

Taeyong. Loud noises. Yelling. Running. Breaking. Chasing. A gun. Many guns. The pieces swirled together and her heart felt as if it had stopped.

He glanced around quickly, looking for a place to hide. More than dealing with his enemies, more than the set up, his only concern now was to get her out of sight. He spotted a parking garage a short way away and they ducked inside. He pulled her along and shoved her against the wall behind a concrete pillar. He covered her with his body, pressing her tightly against the cold wall, trying to conceal them as best as he could.

His head moved in every direction and his eyes darted around, searching for anyone that might have followed them. Though their chests heaved from trying to catch their breaths, they tried to keep as quiet as possible.

At least five minutes had passed like this. In that time Yuna's thought process and emotions had flared and settled, exploded and imploded, trailed circles and drew obscurities, fizzled and finally flatlined. She blankly stared ahead, not focusing on anything. He finally pulled away from her, put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the face.

"Are you ok?"

She blinked.

"Are you hurt?" He felt a sense of dread flow over him from the lack of response. He frantically held her face with both hands and moved it side to side to check for any wounds. He hurriedly lifted each arm and inspected the bare flesh, patted her torso and her legs and turned her around to inspect her back. He breathed a sigh of relief at the absence of blood and spun her back around. She moved easily and didn't make a sound, like a lifeless ragdoll.

He knew she must be shocked and scared. Though the look on her face was a blank and empty palette, the glossiness of her eyes conveyed all. He slowly brought his hands up to her cheeks and angled her head up to face him.

"Yuna." He whispered.

The sound of his voice calling her name was like opening the floodgates. She focused her eyes on his, that looked at her sad and apologetically. Her body vibrated with violent shivering and as her lip quivered, she bit down on it trying to hold back the tears. Even still, the droplets refused to be contained and streamed down her cheeks and overflowed onto his fingers.

"T-taeyong..." She answered back weakly. "Did I just almost die?"

His heart cracked, splintered and then completely disintegrated. She did almost die. She was literally in the middle of a shower of gunfire. Not only that, but they probably saw him pull her away too, giving them ammunition to find a connection between them, which will put her in more danger. He faced these situations many times, so to him this was just luck that allowed him to see another day. To her, who has always been safe and blind to the ugliness of the world, this was a devastating and unimaginable scenario.

He had no words that would comfort her. He could only pull her in and wrap his arms around her tightly. He stroked her hair and rocked her side to side as he hushed her and whispered in her ear, telling her that she was ok. He repeated the words like a mantra as she clung to him with her face buried in his chest until her tears stopped and her breath steadied.

"Well this is a surprise." A familiar voice echoed inside the hollow enclosure. "Who would have guessed this is what you would be doing after what just happened?"

Taeyong's head shot up. He spun around, pushing Yuna behind him.

"What are you doing here, Mark?" Taeyong asked as he felt Yuna latch on to the back of his shirt and press her forehead against his back.

"Me? I'm just enjoying this touching spectacle.

"What kind of guys are you setting loose these days, Mark? They're very unprofessional. I was quite disappointed."

"Ah, those guys. Don't embarrass me by associating me with them. They're not mine and I must say, I'm disappointed too. I just came to see what they were up to."

"How could you not have known? You're your family's number two, aren't you?"

"Every family has their problems." He smirked. "Anyway, let's meet up soon."

Yuna peeked her head around Taeyong's arm, confused by the exchange. Taeyong acted like he was an enemy, but they had an odd way of speaking, almost as if they were friends. Mark smiled as he looked her up and down.

"You can bring your girl, too." He winked slyly at her before walking away.

Taeyong clenched his jaw and looked down at her in irritation. Her eyes were anxious and confused.

"You shouldn't be showing your face to these bastards so easily. It's dangerous." He said as he pulled out his phone and put it to his ear.

"Where are you? And the others? Come to the parking garage." He snapped at the person on the phone, then hung up.

"What just happened?" She asked nervously.

"For now, we just need to go to a safe place. We'll talk about the rest later." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along again, this time back out into the street that they just took cover from. A car pulled up in front of them almost instantly. Taeyong opened the passenger door and waited for her to get in. She stood a few steps back and looked between him and the vehicle and then to the man in the driver's seat.

"Get in." He ordered, firmly

"Where are we going?"

He stepped away from the door and stood in front of her.

"We need to get somewhere safe before the other guys, that I'm certain they have called by now, find us. I'm sorry you are involved in this, but they've seen your face. We don't have a choice now. I promise you I will get it taken care of, but for now please just trust me and get in the car."

She hesitated, but finally agreed and got in. He shut the door behind her and he hung his head and shoulders in through the window. Ten looked at him in complete confusion.

"Yuna, this is Ten. He's my most trusted friend and I promise he will take care of you until we meet up later."

"You're not coming?" She asked in a panic.

"Not now, but I will see you soon." He looked past her at Ten, who still looked like he had no idea what was going on. "Ten, take her to the house. I'm going to go separately in case they're still watching and I will meet you all back there later. If anything happens to her, no one will ever find your body." Both Ten and Yuna gulped after hearing his warning.

"Yes, hyung."

Taeyong nodded and left. Ten and Yuna looked at one another as Ten chuckled awkwardly and drove off.