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"Where are we going?" Mari asked, tension building up inside of her. She was riding in the back of Hongjoong's motorcycle, her nails practically digging into the leather jacket that laid on his shoulders as they slowly cruised through the broken streets of a dull neighborhood. The trees were bare despite it not being winter, not a single leaf dared to stay attached to its branches. The houses around them looked as though they had been beaten and broken into, its inhabitants abandoning what once held a busy household. "This looks like something straight out of a horror movie."
Hongjoong shrugged his shoulders, not finding the strength to argue with her. He was too focused on watching the scenery they were slowly rolling past with skeptical eyes. "This place has been this way since I was born. I heard from people that live around the area that it got caught in the middle of a turf war between two criminal groups. I have to assume it ended horribly for everyone who got involved, the criminal groups never came back and people feared being involved in another turf war. So they left." Mari nodded, trying to figure out if she knew anything about it.
It definitely sounded like something the Kim and Seo Faction would have done, as they were constantly butting heads years before she came into the picture. But she couldn't exactly pinpoint what would exactly be the cause for a turf war right in the middle of an innocent neighborhood. Maybe it wasn't really a turf war in the first place... an ambush instead maybe? The neighborhood they were in was a little close to the Seo's house of operations so maybe it was infiltration instead. Mari couldn't guess correctly if no one told her what happened in the past.
"We have to go this way though," Hongjoong informed her, revving up the bike to accelerate to faster speeds. "This is the quickest way to get back to that playground we started at without going through this god awful morning traffic. That is where you wanted me to drop you off at... right?" He asked her, the look on his face exposing his displeasure in leaving her somewhere that wasn't the doorstep of her actual home. Mari simply nodded her at his words as they began to zoom down the streets of the neighborhood. There was no way she was going to lead him into the heart of the Seo Faction's business.
Hongjoong would get mauled to death by the soldiers who protected the manor on a daily basis. Not only that, but her father would absolutely slaughter him. One for being a stranger to him, and two for keeping her out of the house for so long. Mari had stayed out the entire night, unlike what she originally planned. She wanted to go home as soon as twelve am had hit, but Hongjoong kept stringing her along elsewhere. In the end, the two of them had pulled an all-nighter, ranting to each other about the little things that bothered them and doing delinquent-esque things. She had completely forgotten about her father in the middle of it all.
That was technically though, to forget all the things that were bothering her and avoid the tragedy that had struck her faction. The mere thought of facing the music of her reality made her shake, so Hongjoong had become her distraction. Too good of a distraction if you asked her though. Mari had done countless things in one night, many of them being illegal and could possibly get her arrested. The obvious ones being stealing and vandalism. She was supposed to keep her public identity on the low, she was a member of the mafia and a high school student at the same time.
That's not the only thing she had done, however. While at the footbridge Mari basically had a mental breakdown on, she had venting as much as her mind would allow her to. Her problems flowing out of her mouth as if it was just a waterfall of worries. She had to be extra careful with everything she was saying as well. Mari couldn't count how many times she had almost said something she wasn't supposed to. Thankfully, her mind liked to double-check itself just before she spoke. Hongjoong was a surprisingly good listener. He'd hum softly to himself before he'd comment on something that seemed out of place in or he'd offer her small tips to help her take control of a situation.
Mari felt slightly uncomfortable just talking about herself though. She had a lot of secrets that were ready to be thrown out there for everyone to see the more comfortable she got with Hongjoong's presence. So she tried to get the boy to talk about himself as well. He kept protesting against it, that he didn't need any consolation since he had Seonghwa by his side. Yet she was very persistent. She didn't want to seem selfish, no matter how annoying Hongjoong proved himself to be. So instead of something person, she asked about the lifestyle he has chosen for himself. The badboy demeanor he tried to uphold whenever she wasn't around. It seemed foolish to her when the attitude was hiding all the actually good things about him.
The answer she had gotten wasn't any good either. He just flashed her a giggly smile while saying the eeriest of responses. "Some people just aren't worth my true self. Not just strangers, but family too." She would have tried to give him any sort of advice afterward, but he had already moved forward from what had been said. Hongjoong quickly progressed to why he and his trio of friends were the only ones deserving of his precious time. He then continued on with the idiotic reasoning behind his quickly formed bonds with the three boys as well. Hongjoong was an odd one, at the very least. So kind to her yet continues to shroud himself in mystery.
Suddenly the motorcycles began to slow down, but not because they were at their destination. In fact, Mari was almost one hundred percent they weren't even close to the playground set yet. They had suddenly stopped in the middle of the abandoned neighborhood as it began to be illuminated by the sun's light. "Shit," Hongjoong cursed, involuntarily parking his motorcycle on the sidewalk. "I guess I wasn't paying attention... I must have started running out of gas maybe an hour or so from now."
"Ha, stupid." Mari mocked, earning an annoyed smile from the biker. Though it's not like it didn't leave her worried. Not only did they run out of fuel in a creepy abandoned neighborhood, but they were also in mafia territory and Mari didn't know what mafia it belonged to. If it belonged to the Seo Faction Mari would be perfectly fine by the end of the day, though she couldn't say the same for Hongjoong. If it belonged to the Kim Faction, then they'd both be dead where they stood in a matter of hours. "No but seriously, what now?"
"We keep going while walking on foot," Hongjoong shrugged, not thinking much of the situation they were in. He slid off of the motorcycle with else, urging Mari to follow suit as he continued. "I'm pretty you want to go home now, right princess? I'll just leave my bike here and I'll take you back to the playground as we planned. And then I'll come right back and make the trek back home. It's as simple as that really." Mari's eyes widened at his solution, immediately thinking about all the bad things that could happen with his quick plan.
"You're just going to leave your bike here? In the middle of what feels like nowhere?" she asked him, her eyes darting from the boy to motorcycle several times over. Hongjoong thought about for a second before giving her a vigorous head nod, which clearly meant he was thinking at all. "Why don't you just... take the bike with you, even if the walk will be a little slower than you'd like. Normal people with common sense take their personal belongings with them when they're stuck somewhere. You know that, right?"
"I know. They do," Hongjoong replied as he shooed Mari off the bike. She scurried off the bike with a confused expression as he parked it against the curb, not even questioning his actions. "It doesn't really matter to me anyway. My parents don't like the fact that I have a motorcycle, I bring it to their house they'll probably throw it out whenever they get the chance. I usually leave it over Mingi's house since he's got such a big garage, but we're a little too far from his home to be doing that right now. I'm pretty sure our walk won't be that long, so leaving it here should be fine."
It sounded like this quick fix of his could fail at any moment. The streets they were on may look deserted, but it might not be the case. There could be people who were still around that didn't care whether they lived in the city or a rundown neighborhood. No matter where they went they were always looking for something to steal and sell for their own profit. Something like Hongjoong's shiny black motorcycle would definitely attract those who wanted to steal it. Yet when Mari gave him a clearly nervous look and hoping that he'd rethink his actions, nothing changed. He seemed confident that everything would be alright.
"Hongjoong you're a little too confident about leaving your motorcycle here," She began, all the possible bad consequences running through her mind. Though all those possibilities all ended with her promptly laughing at Hongjoong when she got the chance. "I mean, just actually use your brain for a second. You may think this place is completely abandoned but you don't know that! Anyone could be out here and leaving this expensive motorcycle would be a very, very bad idea. If something bad happens just know that I'll be—" Mari stopped in the middle of her sentence to find that, he wasn't with her anymore.
She turned around several times in search of Hongjoong, but he wasn't there. He literally just left her because she was taking too long talking. But that wasn't enough time for him to get completely out of her sight. Yet Hongjoong was nowhere to be found. He was gone. "This is not funny asshole," Mari fumed, crossing her arms in frustration. "I get it, I was talking too much. But now is not the time to be making stupid jokes like these. Especially not in this neighborhood." The girl complained.
Yet when no response came, she realized that it wasn't some sort of joke Hongjoong was trying to pull. Instinct and habit told her to reach for a weapon, to arm herself in case the worse was about to don upon her. But Mari didn't just carry around guns like a maniac! She had tried to separate her daily life from her life in the Seo Faction. Why would she ever need to carry a weapon on her if she was going to hang out with a friend? "Ah fuck it," She mumbled, ditching her spot by the motorcycle.
"Hey, lover boy! Scream in agony if you're near me!" She yelled as she began to dash down the street in search of him. Mari had begun searching her immediate surroundings like the abandoned houses and overgrown greenery that covered them. Hongjoong couldn't have gone too far, after all, she doesn't talk for that long. She hopped over shards of broken glass that stood in her way as she ran up to one of the doors, trying her best to swing it open with all her might. Though it seemed locked by its past owner, refusing to budge.
She pulled on the doorknob one last time, which was a bad decision on her part. The doorknob came clean off and sent her flying back due to her own force being used against her. Mari landed on the ground with a thud, scratching her forearm and hand on the glass pieces that were left behind. "Oh, you're kidding me right now." Mari frowned as she forced herself up, wincing as she stepped away from the glasses and proceeding to try and pick the shards out of her skin, she was definitely getting some sort of infection from it.
Mari repeated the same process at least four more times, minus the hurting herself part. Though she only got the same result each time. She couldn't get inside to even check. All the doors were locked and there wasn't going to be anyone to open them. A few times she has thought about just breaking in since no one would really be there to stop her, but she would achieve nothing from that. "Dammit Hongjoong, what the hell have you done?" Mari mumbled as she looked around the street for any more ideas.
Thought just when she thought about giving up and leaving her newfound friend to die on his own, she heard a heavy thud on the ground and the rustling of bushes. It came from one of the houses that were basically engulfed with untended nature, becoming a literal greenhouse. Mari cursed under her breath as she stomped over to it. She had just come to the conclusion of helping with and attending Hongjoong's soon to be funeral. Why would she have to get a sign just before she decided to call it quits?
"If Hongjoong himself isn't dead by the time I find him, then he might have to go through hell twice." She said to herself, gathering enough courage to brave it through the nature taken house. Mari didn't think she had any known allergies to nature as a whole, but if she did this was not the way she wanted to find out. The girl squinted her eyes as she pushed the first layer of greenery away, only to be greeted my even more of it. She concealed an annoyed groan that wanted to escape her mouth as she whispered into the house, "Loverboy? You here?"
She got no response and continued to tread through the plants, shoving them out her way as she tried to make out as much as possible. The greenery wasn't as thick as it looked from the outside, it was quite dense once she reached the inside of the house. The inside was rather big even, just littered with destruction and trash. She could barely tell whether the room she was in was supposed to be the living room or what once was a kitchen. The only thing that truly bothered her was how quiet it had gotten ever since she entered. Mari wasn't a child, she wasn't easily fooled by the horror movie tricks people try to play.
A gunshot went off in the abandoned building, the ringing of the shot lingering in her ears. As soon as the bullet had been fired she dashed towards an open door near the back, the only thing in the room that hadn't been destroyed. Mari nearly crashed straight into the wall as she skidded to a sudden stop, her body tensing up at the thought of a worse case scenario. "Hongjoong!" She practically screeched, remembering the fact that she didn't have a weapon on her. If she got jumped she was completely done for. She can fight one person at a time, not six.
"Mari?!" Was the two responses she received upon screaming her lungs out, which took her by complete surprise. On the ground was Wooyoung, with a bloody lip and bruised cheek, his hands tightly gripped onto the shirt of his attacker. He looked like he was going to explode at any given second, his unfortunate dagger-like state now being directed at her. His attacker was even Hongjoong, who had him pinned to the ground and seemed as though he was just getting started with his ambush on her childhood friend. "Mari, what are you doing here?"
"Hongjoong, what the hell?" Mari hissed, quickly making her way towards the two. She immediately grabbed the biker and tugged him off of Wooyoung, no matter how hard he tried to resist. Her childhood friend snickered at the situation as she began to lecture him without any mercy. "Hongjoong you can't go around punching people you don't know! Especially if they're my friends. That's illegal you know! You've violated my friendship laws and we haven't even been friends for twenty-four hours."
"That's your friend?!" He fussed, shrugging her off as he stood up off the ground. Wooyoung followed after, wiping the blood off his face with a smug expression. "Do your friends usually carry around guns like it's a toy? He could have killed me!" Wooyoung's expression quickly died into shock, getting exposed quicker than he had anticipated. Mari shot him an angered glare, wishing she could go off on him at that very second.
"I'm sorry, he's..." Mari mumbled, her eyes lingering on her friend as she gave him a hard stare. Wooyoung gave her a puppy-like smile, as if he was silently begging her not to explode. The girl took a deep breath, trying to control the festering frustrations inside her as she turned back to Hongjoong. "Unique. But now is a great time to introduce you to each other, right? Wooyoung, this is Hongjoong. You know... the motorcycle boy I talked about every so often? Hongjoong this is Wooyoung... my childhood friend."
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sorry for this rushed
ass chapter I've been
sleeping all winter break
and now it's about to end