Mark woke up by the harsh voice in front of him.

“Hey, hey, wake up!”

He opened his eyes slowly and found 3 unfamiliar men. All grown up. All well-built. All with scary looking tattoo in their arms. All gangster.

He found himself in a dusty room with dim red lights. He was sitting in the middle of the room where the dull yellow lights shone on him. His hand was tied with thick rope to the back of the chair. There was a lot of shadows but he could picture the room was not so big and probably never cleaned since a century ago. It smelled like blood and dust. There was a wooden door that was slightly broken, probably the one that could lead to his exit too.

“Hey, give us some money.”

“No.”

“Oh come on, I know you got some in there.”

Mark looked away, “No.”

Their face grew harder.

“Do you think this is funny?” asked one of the men, “give us money you punk if you want to survive!”

They started to punch him, on the face for starters. He could feel the bruise started to form on his cheeks. As time passed, they started to punch him all over his body. One holding him in place and the rest either punching his face or his stomach. However Mark remained silent. It felt like forever for Mark until the three men decided to stop and left him alone.

He looked down to his lap which was stained with beer. He still could taste the blood inside his mouth and bruises around his body.

Probably, the first time after few years, he cried.

His eyes started to be cloud with his tears, blurring his own sight. To think about the situation he was in right now made him, terrified. What would happen to him in the future? Spending the rest of his time stealing and being their slave. He could imagine the worried face of his mother. His poor mother would be worried sick. He started to sob. Hot tears pouring down from his eyes. He was hopeless. ( Mark, you need J-hope )

However, there was a clanging sound that interrupted his mind. He could tell that it was not far from him but he couldn’t picture it between the dark shadows. He remained quiet as he waited what would happen to him. However, not long after, there was an image of a young boy. For sure, he didn’t came in from the door.

“Ugh, that place really need to be cleaned up. Not even a bug want to live in there!”

As the dim lights hit the boy’s face, Mark was stunned on what he saw. He was a young boy who was not from Korea. He was wearing all black and wore black earing. His hair was messy and his height was not much less than him.

The boy walked to him, his shoes echoed softly in the room. As he walked closer, the more he could see his face. The boy was simply, attractive.

“Hello there,” said the young boy with a calm voice like he wasn’t so bad. There was still tears in Mark’s face. He looked around to check whether he was talking to him. “Yes, I am talking to you.”

“Who are you?” asked Mark, realizing his sense after his sadness.

“Oh, sorry. My name is BamBam. I am the leader’s son unfortunately, adopted from Thailand. You?”

“Mark,” Mark replied simply.

BamBam walked closer to him and moved Mark’s face to him. “Wow, dad finally got some sense. He finally catch someone attractive.” Mark had his confused face on. “Yeah, I know I just say you cute.”

“Ok but I have a question for you emm..  Mr. BamBam, I..”

“Please, Just BamBam.” BamBam Eyed him, “dude don’t be afraid of me. I am nothing like my father. I am not you enemy. I am here to keep you company.”

“But why?”

“Because I don’t want to be like my father. I don’t spend my childhood stealing or breaking into things. Every day I just, go out or play in the dirt. Sometimes I come here if I heard that Dad catch someone. And if I do come here, you must consider yourself lucky.”

“Why?”

Not long after, they heard footsteps coming their way. BamBam widen his eyes.

“Oh no! They are coming!”

“Really? Oh no.” Mark felt his terror came back.

“Hey, I will help you to get out of here, ok? However I have one condition.”

“What?”

“You need to be my boyfriend.”

You need to be my boyfriend

You need to be my boyfriend

You need to be my boyfriend

You need to be my boyfriend

I want to live

“Yeah, sure.”

There was a smile appeared on BamBam’s face and he quickly put on a black mask that covered his face. He quickly untied the rope and help Mark stand up.

“Follow me.” He gestured towards Mark.

BamBam led them inside an air vent. That is where BamBam used to come inside. Mark stepped inside the air vent just enough time to hear the men being shocked that Mark had just disappeared. He followed BamBam inside the air vent. It was true, the air vent was dirtier than the room he was kept in. The dust was much thicker and a lot of cob webs was formed in almost every corner of the air vent.

Finally, Mark could see the end of the air vent that lead them outside the building. However, there was a tall height between the ground and the air vent. BamBam must have been a really good climber. BamBam jumped bravely and landed safely to the ground. He gestured Mark to follow him and to be quiet. Mark did jump from there but there was a problem, his feet hurt and he let out a scream. Since that time, Mark learnt that making sounds when you are escaping something wasn’t the best idea.

“Ouch!”

“Who is that?” a sound came from a room and opened the door from inside and saw them, “there he is!”

“Oh no, are you okay? I can carry you,” asked BamBam worried.

“No, I’m fine.” Mark replied as they quickly dashed off somewhere as Mark bared with his pain.

The place was had no street lights and many trees surrounded the area. Only a few abandoned houses was seen and the ground was not even streets. It was wet ground, perfect for plants.

Not long after, they heard shouting from behind. They were following them.

“Run fast?”

“Yes.” Mark answered.

“Good. These people can’t run as fast as I do. They are way slower.”

Just as BamBam finished his sentence, they heard gunshots.

“What the hell, they have guns now?” asked BamBam aloud in shock, “we need to run faster.”

They did run faster, but not fast enough. BamBam got shot.

“No,” BamBam said slowly as he took off his black jacket to apply pressure to his wound. He wore a black long sleeved shirt.

“BamBam, are you okay?”

“Yes, let’s keep going.”

“But you were shot!”

“Forget about it, let’s go!” BamBam said as he pulled Mark, running in front of him. Not long after, BamBam made a sharp turn into a dark corridor and stop there.

BamBam was breathing heavily, there was blood on his hand. The place they were in was a small space between two houses. On the other side of the space was a trash can that made a foul smell. Mark’s leg felt like jelly as he realized what happened earlier. He rested near the edge, his uniform all dirty and his phone was taken away from him. His eyes was fixed on BamBam who was standing between the shadows. With his clothing, eyes could barely see him.

“This escape plan was so ed up.” BamBam said underneath his breath.

However, unexpectedly, a familiar guy that punched Mark on the face earlier appeared from nowhere and saw Mark.

“Ah ha!” He shouted excitedly as he pointed his gun at Mark.

In a flash, Mark kicked the gun away and crawled between the spaces of his feet. However, the man caught his gun fast and put his gun directly on Mark’s head.

“If you move, I will shoot you.” He said sternly.

Mark could feel his heart was racing. This is it, he thought, I will spend the rest of my days being with them fighting and stealing. Mark closed his eyes. The next few seconds, there was a bang.

Mark opened his eyes and saw the guy on the floor and BamBam holding a trash can lid. With no words, BamBam took the man’s gun and ran outside of their comfort zone. BamBam ran backwards as fast as he ran looking front. He was shooting. One by one, Mark could hear people behind him drop to the ground.

Mark’s legs couldn’t hold it anymore as BamBam told him it was safe. They stopped by a playground where everything was back to normal. The streetlights was there and row of houses was seen. Mark was walking on a cement road again. BamBam and Mark sat on the swing. Silence remained between them as they caught their breath.

“So, how does it feel to kill your father?” Mark asked in a joking tone.

BamBam smiled, “No, I didn’t kill them, they will be fine if they were rushed to the hospital. Anyway, my father never joined a gang fight. He used to be awesome at it but now he was all lazy and stuff since he was the leader.” BamBam opened his mask that covered his face. Mark was again reminded of how good looking he was. His baby face, thick lips and gleaming eyes. “Where do you live? I will take you there.”

After a long walk, Mark finally arrived at his house. Before he could say good bye and thanked him, BamBam took a small stone and wrote down numbers on the street. “There, my number. You are my boyfriend remember?”

Mark nod as he remembered what BamBam said earlier but he tried hard to act as he remembered it all the time.

BamBam smiled, “text me if you got your new phone and, please make this thing a secret,”

His parents wasn’t worried at all. Probably they mistaken Yugyeom who was sleeping on his bedas himself. Mark was exhausted after his journey. Good thing that it was Friday. Mark changed into his pajamas and lay beside Yugyeom.

“Ah, Mark,” asked Yugyeom as he was half awake as Mark landed on his bed, “may I stay overnight?”

Mark nodded and they both of them went to sleep.