Ri is a girl fated for greatness who's biggest dream is a simple life. After years of one tragedy after another, everything finally seems to fall into place. There are pitfalls and some people will always be assholes, but things start going well.
Un...
'don't dwell in your disasters. sometimes the most beautiful creatures are born during a storm'
— wilder (insta: @wilderpoetry)
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THE SMOOTH METAL NEXT to their heads was marred by a large bullet hole. The noise of its impact was so sudden and so loud that both of them flinched. A scream caught in Ri's throat. The doors closed quickly but the men didn't stop shooting until the very last second.
"Minhyuk?" was the first thing out of her mouth when the elevator finally started to move.
All she got as a reply was a whispered curse. Minhyuk staggered back until he was leaning on the adjacent wall. Blood quickly blossomed on his white dress shirt, staining it with blotches of crimson.
Ri watched with wide-eyed horror as he slumped against the wall and slid down, leaving a streak of red against the metal. His breaths came out as laboured wheezes and his pale lips were stained with blood.
Three. From where she stood, she could count three bullet wounds. One through his thigh, another above his left collarbone - a few inches down and it would've hit his heart - and the last one right below his ribs.
Ri ripped off her cardigan and dropped to her knees besides him. With violently shaking hands, she pressed it against the wound near his ribs. It was the deadliest. He was losing too much blood.
Minhyuk groaned in pain and tightly closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell with erratic breaths. A hand fell on top of Ri's. She gasped at how much cooler it was.
No, no, no. Please, not him too. I can't-
"H-hey, no, look. It's not-" he coughed, his face screwing up in a pained grimace when the action jolted his injuries. He swore lowly. Taking a deep breath, he said, "It's not that bad. And we have paramedics in the parking lot, remember?"
She did remember, but it didn't make the panic go away. Ri was sure that this image of Minhyuk, slumped over and bleeding onto the metal floor, would feature heavily in her nightmares. She wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth all that came out was a pained sob. Still, she tried again and said, "I'm sorry."
Which was funny, because usually Minhyuk would apologize. For arriving late to their study dates. For the mess that was this whole LuNa situation. For things that weren't even his fault. But now the tables had been flipped and Ri felt like no matter how many times she repeated it, it would never be enough.
"You shouldn't have- Why, Minhyuk?" Blood was starting to seep through her cardigan and stain her fingers red. It was wet and warm. Ri shuddered and pressed harder. "I could've taken it, but even if worse came to worse and I died, I don't have any family who would miss me-"
"Pepper, Monday and I. Don't we count?" The sudden ice in Minhyuk's voice caught her off guard. "And I'm fine, Ri-" the way his face screwed up in pain was not comforting at all, "so don't start talking like you don't matter. Because you do."
"I'm sorry," she said again. A rush of guilt washed over her and Ri suddenly felt nauseous. "You're right, but what am I going to do if you-" die. The word got stuck in her throat, so she choked out, "leave." instead.
"I'm right here," Minhyuk took a deep, shaky breath and said, "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."
The elevator slowed down and she let out a sigh of relief. Only, it was quickly replaced by cold terror when the doors didn't slide open and the lights flickered off, leaving them in nothing but the glare of Ri's phone.
"What's going on?" Ri could no longer hold back the way her voice wavered with fear. In that moment, it felt like the whole world was conspiring against her, like she would fail no matter what. Like she would end up losing Minhyuk in some way or the other. Only now, she would give anything to lose him in any way but this. Never seeing him again would be infinitely better than watching him die in front of her.
"They must've cut the power," Minhyuk's voice pulled her back from the vicious downward spiral of her thoughts. He looked as pale as the moon under the glow of the screen. "Monday?"
"Yes, Mister Kim?"
"Drop the formalities, yeah? I need you to give us some good news." He was starting to slur his words and Ri couldn't do anything more than press her bloodsoaked cardigan into his side.
"The gunmen are quickly being apprehended and all hostages, including Mister James, will soon receive medical attention. Miss Ingrid is...nowhere to be found. I believe she left after shooting the leader of the group in the testicles," Monday's voice was calming and Ri felt Minhyuk's heart rate grow steady under her hands. "The power should be back in-"
The lights flickered and the elevator chimed loudly.
"-just a moment. Please head to the closest medical professional, Mister- Minhyuk. You have lost a frightening amount of blood."
Ri watched the metal doors slide open to the chaos that was the parking lot. The cacophony of voices and sirens and engines filled her ears. She stepped back as paramedics rushed to Minhyuk's side. It felt like she'd been in an airtight bubble of tense quiet. But now, every bit of noise that had been missing was coming back at full force. It sounded like another chance.
It sounded like hope.
a.n. hey pals! thank you so much for being patient with me and i'm sorry this update took so long. life's been a bit insane lately and there's still a lot of huge things on my to-do list, but i've been determined to try and finish this story before the year ends. there's only roughly two more chapters and an epilogue left, so we're nearly done!
how have you all been? if you've noticed, i might've stopped updating on here but i've been updating my poetry book 'Moon Madness' a lot. i've also been active on insta and twitter (both of them are @maoiell, so take a peek!).
i can't promise when i'll be back with regular updates, but i can say that i haven't stopped writing. it's my getaway from reality and something i'm honestly passionate about improving on (along with drawing!) so i hope i never stop.
let me know what you thought of this update and leave a vote if you enjoyed it~
