The rain cascaded from the sky like the the heavens were crying, it's icy liquid pooling on the pavement beneath you, creating unwanted mirrors to litter the short walk back to your base. You didn't want to see your face as this was one of the last days you would wear it. One of your last days as Lisa. Tomorrow you would have to dye your hair a new colour, perhaps even cut it, and get a piercing or two just to through them off your scent.
You were certain that the boys had something to do with them, there were too many coincidences. First, your manager who did the interview for the café disappeared with no solid explanation. Second, the men in Hobi's apartment and the hushed whispers you heard both then and in one of the backrooms of the café. Third, Jimin's disappearance today and Jin turning up at the café with an injury. It was all too suspicious to be nothing and the quicker you could get out the better.
Something within you wanted to say goodbye properly though, like you had an invisible tie to the boys that even you couldn't figure out. It wasn't like you owed them anything, you got this job on your own, and you were leaving on your own. Again. Tae was always lovely to you though, apart from the blip today, and Hobi recommended the job to you. The brief encounters you had with the rest of them weren't enough to judge them accurately, apart from Jimin who you knew you didn't like.
You stared down at the puddles now and recognised that a sadness laid across your features. You really wanted this one to work out. Looking down, you noticed the laces to your all black converse were untied so you bent down to tie them up. As your footsteps seized, the only sound that you could hear was the rain pounding down on the pavement around you. You felt completely alone. Despite this, your days as a spy kicked in and you couldn't help but check your surroundings. Everything seemed normal, no cars were driving in the rain and no birds were brave enough to face the conditions. The only thing that put you on edge was the solitary man walking about 30 meters behind you, all in black with a hood up. The heavy rain had masked his footsteps. Through the rain his features were impossible to make out.
Despite you stopping and taking up the whole path, the man didn't slow down to accommodate you, if anything he looked like he was speeding up.
Instinctively, you pulled your keys out your pocket and placed each one between your fingers forming a fist. The unique thing about your keys was that in the longest key a minute needle was enclosed that only showed itself when experiencing direct contact, a punch for example. Then, a liquid form of the gas you lined your windows with at your apartment was administered in to your victims blood stream, knocking them out instantly but not killing them. You didn't want to do that anymore.
You stood up and started walking quicker than you were before. And it seemed the man had too as he was about 20 meters away now.
That's close enough.
You crossed the road, jogging now to gain more distance between you and the man. If he crossed now it was likely he was on your tail and you had to come up with a new plan. Carefully, you glanced past the edge of your hood and your suspicions were confirmed. The man lightly jogged across the road. You didn't want to fight him but you could if it came to it.
Right change of plans
If the man was following you, it was likely that he already knew where you lived, but you knew you couldn't go back to your apartment and reveal your base just incase. You made a new plan to walk the man to somewhere busy, a nearby supermarket a few roads away and loose him in the crowds. Easy, you just had to stay ahead of him.
Your eyes landed on the man's silhouette in the wing mirrors of cars that you walked by, confirming that he was still following you. The grip on your keys got tighter, and the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. Despite your efforts the man was getting closer and closer and you were running out of time. He would have you before you reached the supermarket. Suddenly, you remembered the recording you prepared on your phone incase something like this happened. You didn't like using it, the recording was more of a deterrent than a guarantee to safety and it was not fool proof. But it was your last resource before you'd have to turn and fight the man.
You pulled out your phone and pressed play on the recording, turning the speaker on so if the man got close enough he would hear. Out from your phone spoke your own voice, a filter on it so it didn't necessarily sound like you.
Recording: Hey girl! where are you? You were meant to be here 20 minutes ago is everything alright?
Y/N: Hey yeah, I just left work a little late. I'm almost at yours though, just round the corner.
Recording: Oh nice! I'll meet you outside so you don't go to the wrong house like last time! Stay on the phone until you get here just incase, wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last week!
Y/N: Yeah I'll stay on the phone no problem.
The conversation with your old self carried on as if you were old friends. The only way it could have been more realistic was if you recored someone else voice, but the only friend you had was Sejin and he would have never helped you record it, not before asking a million questions about why you needed one in the first place and you didn't want him to know about your escape plan. He would have tried to stop you. You had practiced your responses so much that you knew the timing well enough to make the conversation sound realistic and you could carry your attention back to the man.
He had his hand pressed to the outside of his hood, a gesture you recognised to be talking into an ear piece.
Hmm, so he's not working alone then...
You turned the corner to the street that the supermarket was on as the lampposts flickered on for the evening, lining the pavement with iridescent pools of orange. The fake conversation was still playing through your phone and your replies grew louder as the man got closer. He was about 10 meters away from you now. He was too close. You could see the supermarket in the distance, but the lights were off and a barrier blocked the entrance to the carpark. It was closed.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Without any other option, you broke into a run, your hood falling down in the rain. The illusion of the phone call had come to an end as you used your arms to gain speed. The jig was up. Predictably, the man started running too, he was faster than you and was getting closer. You'd have to fight. You turned left down an alleyway, this was gonna be messy and the less eye witnesses the better. The alleyway was a dead end, the perfect arena for a show down. You flicked your head backwards to see the man, he had an arm outstretched toward you, about half a meter away from your hood.
Well now or never.
You picked up the speed as you reached the end of the alley to gain power. Pouncing in the air, you kicked off the far wall like a springboard and flipped into the air performing a backflip, landing behind where the man should have been. Without thinking you thrust your fist where his neck should be. Apart from he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere in sight. You lowered into a defensive crouch, your head flicking left and right to look for the man. Your now wet hair whipped with your head, sticking to your face, making you look like some kind of ferrel animal.
What the....
There was no where for the man to hide. No dustbins, no escape routes, no cardboard boxes. Nothing. He was just gone.
He was just here. I saw him. He almost had me. Where did he go.
You didn't want to stick around long enough to find out. Without looking back, you ran all the way back to your apartment and locked the door behind you.
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A/N
I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I LAST UPDATED!
Life has been unexpectedly busy but I'm back at it now dw 😅
If you haven't figured out already, I am in fact British so some terminology in this chapter may be a bit confusing for some people so I'll leave a cheat sheet below 😚
Thank you for sticking with this story, it gets more interesting from here I promise!
Also, who do you think the man was?? let me know you theories!😏
Pavement - Side walk
Lampost - Street light
Supermarket - Superstore
carpark - parking lot
If there are anymore or I've got some wrong do correct me in the comments!
~💜