The Seven

Chapter 16: Do You Remember?

"Did they listen?" Ryung peered.

"No... Yet, I was the eldest in our group, but I'm not being highly entitled to the 'respect the older people' thing," Joon-wo pointed out.

"Look, I understand what you've been through. We all have. They don't listen to you, they don't listen to us, then that means they have a hard time accepting defeat," Ryung said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"That is true. I guess they're not used to giving up on the things when they should," Hwan noted.

"But why are you always involved with them?" Min-Jun's expression turned into a peculiar look.

"Because they gave me trust since they were the ones with secrets," Joon-wo answered quietly, much to their puzzlement.

Then, Ryung's phone rang in which he instantly started answering.

"Hello?" He greeted her.

"Hey, it's me. Valerie," she said.

"Val? What's up?" Ryung asked happily.

"I just want to know if you're available today because there is something I want to tell you," she informed him shortly.

"Absolutely. Come to Hwan's place. Half of us are here right now. I'll send you the address through text," Ryung said.

"Okay. No problem. We'll be on our way," Valerie reminded hurriedly.

"See you soon!" Ryung said in surprise as he ended the call.

"Is she coming?" Hwan asked, grinning.

"Yep. She wants to briefly notify us about something," Ryung said.

"Awesome because I want to invite her to my tennis tournament," Hwan giggled eagerly.

"Heh..." Joon-wo scoffed lightly and said. "Perfect."

"Was that sarcasm I heard?" Min-Jun snorted.

"It's not. I was actually looking forward to this day to..." Joon-wo lowered his head shyly as he trailed off of his words.

"Eat humble pie?" Min-Jun pinpointed correctly with an amused smirk.

"Ooh. Joon-wo's going softie?" Hwan teased slowly.

"Shut up," Joon-wo rolled his eyes and chuckled a little, then became sincere. "Honestly, I'm willing to give her an apology because I know she didn't mean to crash those plates on the kitchen floor."

"It was an accident and I'm sure she'll forgive you for your madness. You have extra hundreds of them, so you're good," Hwan said.

"Valerie is a nice girl, so once she gets here, you'll owe her your explanations," Ryung nodded curtly.

"Right," Joon-wo sighed dully and looked up at the ceiling as the other three began to talk about a different subject of race cars.

Concurrently back to where Valerie and Bryan are, they were crossing down the streets and sprinted at a moderate pace. As soon as they reached the other side of the buildings, they checked google maps to see where they were at while Valerie received Ryung's text of Hwan's address, ignoring the traffic.

"We are halfway there," Bryan said.

"You're kidding me? You could've driven the rented car if only you were responsible enough to refill up the gas tank," Valerie scoffed and said. "It doesn't matter. We'll take an exercise from here."

The two of them had been non-stop running until Bryan came to a halt and stood frozen. He carefully glanced over his shoulder when he noticed that it was bleeding and cried out in pain. The gunshot echoed through their surroundings, making the others scream fearfully as they rapidly shuffled out of the harm's way.

Valerie, on the other hand, dodged the bullets as she and Bryan were ducking. Then, she peeked her head a bit and narrowed her eyes sharply towards the suspects. She straightened her posture and looked down on Bryan, saying. "You stay here!"

"Wait, Val! It's too dangerous!" He warned, panting breathlessly. He groaned at the discomfort that was occurring on his left arm, which he gripped tightly.

However, Valerie didn't hesitate and decided to go on further to chase them. She wasn't a fast runner for nothing, so she made a few turns. When she came to the empty alley, she made a high jump on the outdoor garbage bin and tackled one of the guys, but was kicked on the side of her head.

The guy bolted upright and escaped along with his friend, whereas Valerie quickly got up and attempted to grab onto their back shirts. They were nowhere to be seen.

"Shit..." She brushed her hair with her fingers in frustration.

Though, the last thing she saw on the guy's ankle was the serpent tattoo.