Wooyoung has made several bad decisions during his life. Such as when they stole the solution sheet from the desk of his teacher at high school with Yeosang, then put the video they made about it on social media, or when he asked a girl to prom but forgot her name mid confession. But out of all of his bad decisions, the worst was trusting San.
Cold water hit him in the face as if he just smashed into concrete from a 10 story height. The air was suddenly pushed out of his lungs and he could feel water rush into his mouth, eyes and ears, and no matter how hysterically he trashed around to get air there was no oxygen around. He was slowly suffocating as the heavy current of the river pushed his body left to right. He tried to swim to the surface but nature always won in the end. In his last struggle to stay in life despite what he endured so far this morning, he waved around his limbs for something solid to grab onto when a hand latched onto his wrist.
As if being pulled out of a cocoon, he reached the surface and gasped for air, trying to blink away the drops of water from his eyes to be able to see better. However, no matter how much he had hoped that maybe San wasn't that bad, that he would save him, the person he saw as he regained his sight was an unfamiliar gangster.
In the next second, something cold and hard pressed against his stomach and before he could register it the object had already breached past the tissue of his abdomen, shooting sharp pain across his body. Tears filled his eyes as a warm substance surrounded him in the water, whilst they were still going downward with the current.
That's it. This is the end.
Wooyoung was more than certain he would meet his end in such a pathetic way, as if he was playing the role of a loser in an action movie.
The river took a turn and their legs were able to reach the bottom. Wooyoung was barely breathing. The river threw him on the shore, and the gangster a few meters below him. Wooyoung just laid there looking at the blue sky trough the tree branches above him and awaited the man to go up to him and finish the job. But instead of the man, a gunshot came first, and a loud thud was heard right after.
The gangster hit the ground.
Swift footsteps approached from the left that Wooyoung had failed to even notice as he just allowed his salty tears to hit the ground. The person crouched down next to him, visible shock and anguish on his face. It was San. He was wet from head to toes, water dripping onto Wooyoung's face from his hair.
"Fuck! No no no no no no no no no! This can't be happening this really can't" he spoke, the panic evident in his voice. He looked Wooyoung's body up and down, trying to figure out how to solve this situation. "Fuck no, baby, baby, doll look at me okay? Just look at my face don't look anywhere else okay? I'm gonna help just let me figure out how to do this okay? Hey hey hey don't cry hey, hey hey!" He blabbered on in complete shock and one of his hands circled around the knife while the other tore a part off from Wooyoung's dress shirt.
Wooyoung already started looking like a ghost. He was pale, lips dry and colorless. He was loosing blood way too fast. The pain was so excruciating but he failed to register it anymore, senses dulling.
"Hey listen, I'm gonna pull this out, it's going to hurt but I'm here, I'm holding you okay? I'm here, I'm here, please don't be scared love, please!"
San was practically begging him at this point.
Wooyoung's lips curled upward. He felt disgusting and miserable. He could feel the cold object being retrieved from his body and the irony taste of blood filling up his mouth but his eyes were closing and he was just so tired to keep them open. He just wanted to rest a little, really, only just a little.
As his vision went black he could still register San's voice but not what he was saying.
And just like that, the world closed in on him.
---
"Why the fuck did you bring him here?"
"What did you expect me to do? Leave him there?"
"Yes!"
"He was stabbed."
"Too bad."
"We fell into a river and almost drowned!"
"Why did you even take him with you? You should've left him on the train if he was stupid enough to board it."
"We hijacked the train and made it explode into the capitol building. You mean I should've just let him blow up together with that fucking piece of metal?"
"Yes! He's none of our concern!"
"Well he is now."
The distant sounds of a conversation made their way inside Wooyoung's ears as he started waking up. He hoped all of what happened was just a terrible dream. His eyes blinked open groggily, but he was unable to move a muscle. Intense pain shot trough all over his body, making his face contort from the feeling. He wanted to scream and curl up into a ball, but he couldn't even lift his arms.
"What--" he managed to say, but his throat was dry and swollen and the sudden struggle to start speaking awoke his coughing stimulus.
"Ah great he's awake. You better explain yourself well or you're done for." Wooyoung heard and then someone approached him.
Trough lidded eyes he was able to recognize the person and when he did, the realization hit him so hard he shot up from the bed to back away. His hands instinctively grabbed for a weapon, which turned out to be a scalpel. He held to tool up pointing it towards San with a shaking hand. There was so much adrenaline in his body it overshadowed the pain.
"Whoa whoa! Easy with that, doll." San spoke, his lips curling up at the sight of Wooyoung. The voice he used to talk to Wooyoung was different than the one he used before.
"He's a fierce one." Added a man sitting on a coach on the side.
"I told you so" San replied, taking a step closer, but raised his hands in the air as Wooyoung waved the small knife around.
"I like what I'm seeing."
"He's pretty cute."
"Sannie is so whipped for him."
"Oh come on, is he?"
Wooyoung heard several voices reach him from all sides of the building they were in. The place was run-down, worn out pieces and fragments of furniture everywhere. It seemed to be some sort of warehouse turned into a base for those who were now staring him down. A door on the side opened and someone eerily familiar walked in.
Wooyoung's blood froze and he dropped the scalpel to the ground.
"Yeosang?"
"Oh for fuck's sake you could've at least put a shirt on the poor dude" his friend said closing in on them.
At his words, Wooyoung looked down and realized he was bare chested. Yeosang took off his jacked and put it over his shocked friend's shoulders. San grimaced.
"Wait, the two of you know each other?" Asked a short guy who stepped next to Yeosang. He wore skinny jeans, an oversized hoodie and a jean-jacket over it. His hair was simple, dark brown and falling smoothly onto his round face. His features were softer than Yeosang's striking visuals and blonde hair but they looked great together nevertheless. They seemed to be a comfortable duo. Friends who had been by each other's side trough thick and thin.
As Wooyoung looked at them, he failed to recognize the Yeosang he knew. It was as if his childhood friend was just a fake persona, a comfortable lie made up for him while this was the real him. It was as if all those years spent together were not even real, just a false fragment of reality.
"They do."
A voice replied from the back, and the person finally stepped out of the shadows. It was the same man San was talking to as Wooyoung was waking up. He was about the same height as he himself, but was thinner. He had blue hair braided into cornrows, his face was strict and emotionless.
"That's Jung Wooyoung. Yeosang's gay little outsider bestie."
If that wasn't the case before, now definitely all eyes were on Wooyoung. He felt like the prey in a den of wild animals. So many questions circled in his brain but they were overshadowed by the throbbing pain in his abdomen. Just what was going on.
"Are you for real?"
"Nice meeting you."
"Oh he's a pretty one."
"Yeosang wasn't lying."
All of them kept adding to the topic, only San, Yeosang and the utterly confused Wooyoung stayed silent. The blonde's original smile faded as he eyed his best friend, worry hiding on his face masked by so many other things Wooyoung couldn't recognize.
"I mean" started a tall guy with ashy blonde hair who stood behind the person who revealed Wooyoung's identity. "how did he even end up here?"
"Ask San."
"San already told us."
"A refresher might be good" Yeosang hissed into their direction, eyes darkening as he watched San put his hands on his waist.
"The plan failed."
"The plan didn't fail, you did."
"Oh come on Hongjoong!" San snapped at him and everyone went silent.
The one in blue raised his left brow. He unfolded his arms and took a gun from the desk next to him.
"Here we go."
"One question" Hongjoong spoke with a scary expression. "Do I shoot you or him?" He uttered, holding the weapon up.
The men broke out in a commotion.
"Hey Hongjoong hold up!"
"Yeah, are you crazy?"
"San just revealed my identity to a complete stranger and you ask if I'm crazy?" He spoke up menacingly.
"I mean he's not a complete stranger, clearly Yeosang knows him."
"Shut up Jongho, San butchered today's job" a man with deep voice added. Wooyoung recognized his tone from earlier today. He was the one who spoke into the announcer on the train. So they all worked together.
"Wonderful! Now that the cat's out of the bag let us all tell him our name's since he's going to die anyway!" The person behind Yeosang added. "Highly appreciated guest Wooyoung, I'm Jongho, the architect of our gears. You already know Yeosang and San. They are the troops together with Mingi who just revealed my identity. Over there on the couch is Yunho. The two on the front are our captain Hongjoong and his right hand man Seonghwa. Satisfied?" Jongho uttered annoyed.
He barely finished when two gunshots were fired at Wooyoung's feet. He jumped up in the air from his left leg to his right, flapping his hands around like a duck and pulling his head low.
"Fucking fuck!" Escaped his mouth once he stood still again, head snapping back at Hongjoong.
"Oh so he can speak."
"Fucking hell man, what are you doing?" Mingi asked standing up. The mood was dead now, if it was alive before.
"Why the fuck did you shoot at Wooyoung?" Yeosang stepped closer to check if he was alright. He seemed okay, excluding the stab would and huge bruise around it, and his obviously shocked face.
"Our identities were revealed, in detail at that. It's only natural that we kill him."
"Okay now back the fuck off!" San walked up to him quickly, snatching the gun from his hand with ease. Hongjoong raised his eyebrows.
"Are you disobeying me?"
"Yes."
"Over an outsider?"
"Yes."
San replied without hesitation to all of the questions. By now it was more than suspicious to them.
"San what are you doing?"
He didn't reply. He stood still staring Hongjoong down.
Wooyoung was lost, not being able to put two and two together. They were terrorists. Yeosang was one of them. He has to be killed, because he knows their identity, and the person who endangered his life in the first place is now risking everything to stand of for him and protect him? The ends didn't connect.
"Stop it everyone."
Wooyoung's voice sent a freezing quiet over the men scattered in the area. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look at him. His eyes were baggy and tired, his form slumping forward but still managing to stand.
"I will just walk away and pretend that none of this happened. My life was turning for the better, I don't need it becoming a mess now. Just keep doing whatever you are doing as an organization and let me go. I will go on my way, forget your faces and voices and we'll pretend none of this happened, none of you met me" he said quietly, eyes finding those of Hongjoong.
"Why should we trust your word."
"Oh come on, I'd give up everything so that none of this happened in the first place and for my life to become normal. I don't want to be involved in this chaos anyway. I just wanna do my job and get my fucking promotion and move on." He said. His voice was honest and sincere, full of pent up frustration.
The room fell silent. Everyone kept staring at Hongjoong, waiting for him to make the verdict. His face remained emotionless until he broke the tension with a roll of his eyes.
"Sure. Whatever. If only so I don't loose my best soldier."
An enormous sigh left Wooyoung's chest. He nodded and took off Yeosang's jacket.
"Keep it" he said "you can't possibly go home naked."
"It's better than to go home in the clothes of someone I don't even know." Wooyoung answered with a glare. Yeosang's mouth fell open. He then turned back to the others. "Do you know how to grab a cab around here?"
The boys fell silent then laughed in unison, except the captain and his right hand man, but there still lingered a smile on Seonghwa's face he just wanted to remain stoic to match Hongjoong.
"Don't even think about that. Cab's don't go around here."
"Then how do I get home?"
"Walk."
"With an obvious stab wound across my belly, in the middle of the night? No thanks sir smartass." Wooyoung snapped back at Mingi who was about to jump up to pick a fight but San pushed him back down.
"Don't sweat it. I'll drive you." He added and handed a T-shirt to him.
Wooyoung gave him a questioning face.
"What? You said you felt naked, then wear it." San added and swirled his car keys on his index finger.
They must have stared at each other for an awful long time because Hongjoong's voice rang out alarmingly.
"Make it fast San, I still have some talking to do with you" he said, already sitting on the couch with legs spread.
San nodded and went toward the door, Wooyoung hot on his step.
San's car parked outside of the warehouse, matte black with tinted windows. In such visibility conditions it was barely noticeable. He walked around to open the door for Wooyoung who sat in the front with a hiss. He had no idea at which side of the city they were, but he knew they'd be far off when he saw the ocean out of the window.
They spent the way mostly in quiet, only the distorted humming coming from the radio breaking the silence, mixed with the rhythmic tapping of San's finger's on the wheel.
"I should've covered your eyes you know." He finally spoke, making Wooyoung jump a little.
"Yeah? Why? Part of the procedure of being a gangster and killing people?" He clapped back.
"Wooyoung."
"Oh so we're on first name basis now? Soooo glad you spared my eyes from being covered and wonderful to finally hear you say my name after shooting two dudes in the face in front of me, kidnapping me, injecting me with drugs, endangering my life several times in the span of like an hour, and fucking throwing us off of a bridge!"
"I saved your life!"
"You call jumping off of a moving train after strapping me to your ridiculously muscular chest saving my life?"
San averted his gaze from the road to look at Wooyoung.
"You think my chest is muscular?"
"Watch the fucking road you idiot!" Wooyoung screamed at him and he turned his head back.
"Wooyoung, believe it or not, I really just tried to get your ass out from that fucked up place, but the odds were against us. We were outnumbered by the enemy and the only way for us to get away was to jump."
"I almost drowned, and then bled to death. All thanks to your fantastic escape plan. How did you even get me patched up in that dog cage of a warehouse?"
"..."
"Okay I don't actually want to get an answer for that."
There was nothing to do. Wooyoung kept staring out the window, watching the lights of the city get closer to them with each mile the car rolled further. His wound was hurting like a bitch. The pain was strong, making his limbs weak.
"I didn't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry."
Wooyoung snapped his head to look at San, whose eyes followed the road. His features were chiseled. Toned body, narrow eyes, glossy lips. He looked nothing like a gangster, not as if the other were any different.
"Forget it. I'll wake up tomorrow and pretend none of this happened. None of you exist."
San clicked his tongue but refrained from saying a word. Wooyoung was right after all. Their operation failed the moment a civilian got involved to this extent. They could've chosen to not save him, to just let him bleed out, but somehow all of them approached the topic differently this time, when before, in a similar case, the civilian would've been long dead. Maybe the fact that Yeosang deemed him his friend, and told the others about him, or San's persistence, but somehow, Wooyoung managed to leave the scene in one piece. However, it was uncertain if he would be able to recover from it.
The remaining of the journey they spent in silence. Wooyoung picked at his nails and San rested his hand on the gear shift. In less than 5 minutes they parked in front of Wooyoung's apartment building. When he saw that they arrived he got out without a word, planning to get away but he wasn't fast enough and got cornered between the car and San.
"What?"
"Not going to say thanks for the ride?"
"As if" Wooyoung snorted. "Don't get your hopes up."
"A man can only dream" San laughed.
Wooyoung pushed him away and stepped forward but was pulled back by his hand and turned around to face San again. But this time, they were really close. He could feel San's breath on the side of his neck as he leaned close.
Wooyoung's voice got weak from the sudden gesture, he couldn't help his body getting stiff. "What- what do you want?"
"Go and get the stiches checked at the hospital for me" San whispered into his ear.
By the time Wooyoung came to his senses, the car was already gone together with that nightmare of a person, and only the lingering feeling of impending doom remained.