Midnight arrived so quickly, like a thief in the night. The full moon was hanging high above the city and its supposedly sleeping residents.
I was alone in the room. Since Jay had called, the house had taken on an eerie atmosphere, and everyone appeared to be so preoccupied with other tasks that not even a man was dispatched to watch after me in my room. There was something off, and it killed me not to know what the matter in question was. I had to know what was going on right here in this very house. To whom was it all related?
I still couldn't make any connections. If Ateez truly knew nothing about Jay, why didn't they manage to do something the moment they knew something was off at the party? How did they permit those men to carry me away when they had the opportunity to stop it? Guess it was too late for everything after all.
And Felix? I did believe he knew more than I thought, but was that what disappointed me the most? Knowing he had far more potential than any other man I'd ever met to do something.
No, there was no intentional need to engage in a mental conflict.
But I couldn't help allowing my thoughts to wander there.
Yet he injured me by failing to disclose his motives for doing all of this from the beginning. What went through his mind the moment he outlined his dull plan? Had he noticed that I was edging closer and closer to liking him? Or did he truly intend to leave me there in the midst, being foolish? Stupid. And from every perspective, it was.
I resented myself for allowing a man to influence my emotions in that way. I made a commitment to discipline myself when it came to these types of things, but I kept breaking that pledge. Couldn't I just learn from my prior errors? Were my family and Wooyoung not sufficient examples? It seemed as if it was something I truthfully and urgently needed to change. And therefore, I was unable to do so because it was already too late once I discovered what the genuine issue was.
Wooyoung, were you right about him, or did you just want to make me yours in that way?
For a brief period, my heart stopped pounding when the door burst open. Heesung came in with Sunoo. He rushed toward me and grabbed me by my arm in order to make me stand, and I found it difficult to find my balance. Not so surprisingly, my vision went black for a second because of the lack of food. Since my body had not received enough calories to carry out its usual life-supporting functions, it had begun to convert glycogen from my liver and muscles into glucose. That clarified why I had an urge to vomit out of the blue. Anyway, it wasn't really the right time to explain the incident to myself.
"You stay very still and behave." He harshly turned me around and checked if the ropes were still tight around my wrists in case I would get the opportunity to flee.
"Good. Sunoo take her to the car. I need to check something."
"Where are we going?" I questioned, with a perplexed frown on my face as the boy kept pushing me from behind towards the door.
"It's time for action, quite exciting." Heesung replied from the back of the chamber without glancing at me.
"They've found us." Sunoo whispered right behind me. Now, this could not get any more intriguing, could it?
They had found the location. They finally knew where I was held hostage. I kept telling myself the same thing, brushing off the fact that I was about to trip over the object that was impeding the path leading us out of here. The most essential information to discover was actually who had found me. There was more than one opportunity; note that.
"Isn't it foolish?" I asked, watching him in pure amusement as he stuck his head next to mine and gave me a quick glance.
"Isn't it a bit too early for you to get excited like this?" A puzzled expression donned my face because I knew he was correct, but my pride just wouldn't let me admit anything right now.
He kept on pushing me into the dark residence. It was quite hard for me to notice any characteristics of the place. Not certain whether I really needed to do it.
We stepped out of the house anyway. The familiar black car in the parking lot on the opposite street was waiting for us, and I was unable to acknowledge who was in it. We stopped as he got a call on his phone.
"What's the matter, Heesung?"
"I just checked their location. You need to leave right now, I'm not coming with you. It seems like they'll need some distraction." The phone had been put on speaker, so he could still hold me tight.
"But-" The boy holding me tried to cut him off.
"No time for that, Sunoo, just do what I say." He sighed, and I felt him place his phone in his buttpocket.
Then he shoved me forward while a fellow member exited the car and approached the back door to open it. If asked, I wouldn't deny that I made an effort to slow the pace, making sure I was gaining a bit of time in order for their rivals to arrive in time and rescue me, even if my force couldn't be compared to a man's. Therefore, the plan wasn't as easy as thought.
I was right about to be shoved into the car when a sound stopped the actions of the enemies. It sounded like a car drifting. I turned my head to the side and immediately recognized the car that snapped into my frame of vision. I had anticipated experiencing relief when I finally saw the people who had saved me. So why wasn't I relieved yet? Why did I think the boy stepping out of the car would be him when, in reality, I exactly knew who it would be? I should have felt reassured by now, but instead I was disappointed. There was the truth, and it was a shame.
With weapons in their hands, they approached cautiously, avoiding any potentially dangerous moves from the boys near me. Sunoo appeared to be nervous; I could feel him tense. Nevertheless, he perfectly hid it as soon as he was able to.
"The show's now going to be quite entertaining." Heesung stepped out of the residence with a gun in his hand, followed by two guys.
"If you keep on obeying us, then yes." Mingi replied calmly.
"Mhhm. Did you hear that, Aeri? Quite funny, right?" I completely ignored Sunoo's words as I focused on Wooyoung's panicked stare.
I could tell how fearful he seemed at this very moment. Not only that, the fatigue painted on his face said a lot about his state as well. I could only imagine how these past few days had been for him. Foolish and pitiful of me to think I would find Felix standing in front of me. I should be happy that it was my friend. Why was my heart betraying me like this? It should not make me feel this way when I exactly knew what his real intentions were all this time...
"Hand us the girl and we'll let your dear boss expand his empire as it is his precious wish." The boy took his eyes off me to speak. That was the real matter then? My father must be the cause it didn't work out the way they had planned.
"Tsk..." Heesung glanced swiftly at Sunoo, and I frowned as they both lightly started to giggle.
"We know. We know very well your motives. But do you really think this is how he's going to let you enter the elite level of gang membership?" San retorted this time, carefully taking a step forward.
"Just to make it clear. We don't owe you any explanation." Heesung replied.
Just at that very moment, I felt something chilly being placed on the right side of my skull. Sunoo had pointed his gun at me. I felt my heartbeat go wild. I gasp and my blood runs cold when my eyes are pulled to the side, trying to figure out the object. My entire body stiffens beneath his grip.
"This is not how we all want it to end. It would be too bad, wouldn't it?"
"No! Don't..." He immediately regretted the tone he had unnaturally adopted. My other friends were just as frightened as I was. Nonetheless, they were able to restrain themselves.
"I don't even exist in this whole problem, so please don't do this; let me go and pretend nothing has happened like in recent years. Please, Heesung, Sunoo..." I whispered cautiously.
Begging was the only option now. Wrong, it wasn't. I could stand still, but I wouldn't be sure what would happen in that case. Maybe I stood a chance this way. In spite of that, I had to keep in mind that if one wrong move was made, it was game over.
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Heyyy you guys!
Ugh... new chapter out and I'm back :)
It was quite interesting to write this chapter since you can sense that there's a bit more description when it comes to the characters' feelings. That's something I wanted to work on and I think I did a pretty good job.
As always, show me your support, vote, and comment! It makes me happy whenever I read your comments and see that you appreciate my work :)