“He didn’t show up.”

I pursed my lips in a pout, although Mina couldn’t see me through the phone screen. I watched as the water on my stove had begun boiling, the faint sound of the liquid rumbling on the pot.

“Awe, Tara must’ve been disappointed.” I played with the strings of my shorts, pulling at them continuously.  “She even dressed up extra cute today too.”

Shuffling and muffled voices came from the other end of the phone, as Mina hummed softly. “I just feel bad for her, she’s upset. You should come and cheer her up, Neha.”

I twisted my lips a bit, contemplating it. I really hadn’t been doing anything other than sitting under the covers, playing rewinds of Grey’s Anatomy. I muttered words of agreement, as I hung up my phone, turning off the stove, whilst  walking towards the closet.

I didn’t live that much far from campus, where lots of other students lived in the same building as me. The streets were lively, even at night, which was something I admired about the area. However, the more you would walk downtown, the more darker and narrow the streets became. You’d expect it to be just as more livelier with all the clubs, bars, and exotic areas around here. But rather, people don’t tend to walk around as much, with many other things that could be lurking in the alleyways.

But, I still walked. My friends use to ask me why I always did that. Why I always tended to do reckless things, why I always had less care for my safety, for my own well being. They always asked me why I lacked the love I had for myself some days, and I couldn’t help but just stare in response.

Because I, myself, didn’t have a damn clue as well.

Turning around the corner, I walked through a darker street, the Lips wasn’t so far, just a block away, but something about the cold chills that passed through this warm spring evening caused the hairs on my neck to stand up tall.

“Did you finish?”

A gruff hard voice from the corner had caught my attention, I froze suddenly, aware of the tight heavy atmosphere that engulfed the area.

“Yeah, I made sure to remove the blood out from your car as well. God damn that was a pain in the .”

I stood there rigid. I could hear them as clear as day, as the two men seemed to be only a few steps about the corner. I knew that if I continued walking further, it’d be towards my death. The words were hard and vengeful, and it didn’t take an idiot to put two and two together about what these men were doing, or rather, did.

The shuffling seemed to get louder, and I knew that at any moment, those men would appear right before my eyes as they rounded the corner. I thought about turning around and hurriedly walking away. Would I make it? The street was long, but it was dark enough for me to not get seen, right? If I made a sprint for it, then I would be able to st-

“Yah! Hyung! We have an eavesdropper!”

Well, . I knew, I was screwed. And maybe there was nothing I could do about it, could I? My only option is to run, but they were really buff tall looking guys, so I doubt that would work. My best option was to play it cool, and act like I hadn’t heard a thing, and be merrily on my way.

But if only that worked.

“Eavesdropper?” The older one took a glance at me, a small smirk on his face. “So is that what pretty girls like you do nowadays? Doesn’t sound so safe to me, baby.”

I cringed at his voice, I always get stuck in dangerous situations, last time, I had to play a game of tug-of-war with a homeless robber attempting to steal my purse. My favorite purse. In the end, I won that game of tug-of-war as Reol showed up, causing the robber to flee. I was happy to get my purse, but I did earn an earful from all of my friends that day.

“Eavesdropping?” I asked, maintaining my voice. “On what? I was just walking by.”

The older one laughed while the other one snarled at me, as if he knew I was lying and was ready to tear me up in shreds at any moment.

“Funny story if you’d expect me to believe that.” He shrugged, taking a few steps forward, I moved one step back. “I mean, a young girl walking about alone in these streets? Please, I’d rather believe that pigs fly. So tell me, baby, who sent you?”

“You’re one of Lee Zu’s people, aren’t ya?” The younger one spoke, his expression livid. “I’ve been hearing a lot about him sending out spies  these days.”
 

“No, I’m not a spy.” I shook my head, putting my arms out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The two men looked at each other, while the younger one spoke again, “What should we do, hyung? Send her back to Lee Zu all bloody and broken? Or dead?”

My blood ran cold.

My god, if I knew death would be lurking around the corner I would have never stepped foot out of my cozy apartment. I cursed myself for walking through these streets alone, what is it with me and being so reckless? I should have listened to all my friends. I can already hear Reol’s nagging through the back of my mind. God, what will he say when he realizes that I’ve been killed by a couple of hooligans on the street? He’d be so disappointed.

They began to advance towards me, and I began taking steps back, I didn’t want to die, at least not like this, I needed to think of a way to escape, but quick. I could run, but then they would catch up with ease. Curse their long legs. Maybe, I could somehow take out both of them, I watched enough action movies in my life to see how it all plays out. A few good punches here and there.

But just as the younger one got near, a loud audible screeching of tires and a roaring engine stole all of our attention. I assumed it to be just a random car driving through the road, but as the car pulled up, I took one glance at it before becoming mesmerized.

A black Lexus LFA pulled up onto the side of the road, tires coming to a stop right beside us. I hadn’t a clue who this intruder was, but I’d be blessed if they were willing to be my savior.

“Oh my god, hyung.” The younger one spoke up, his voice coming out as a whisper. “We know that car, don’t we?”

The older man seemed to go rigid as he stared at the car, the engine slowly coming to a stop, and suddenly, I became all too engrossed as well to find out who the intruder could be.

Throughout the darkness, a tall dark figure emerged from the driver’s seat of the car. Light from the moon , shone down on his face, revealing his features. I believe that this man was quite more dangerous, as the two men in front of me now stood frozen, like a toddler getting caught stealing a cookie before lunch.

“Mingu, Seojoon, Are you two causing trouble about already?”

I knew that voice.

Suddenly, my eyes found those familiar brown ones, and I watched as a flicker of recognition shot across his eyes, like a small flame dancing on a candle. His mouth was swung ajar a bit, but then he closed it.

I had art class with Lay since first semester, but all throughout, I’ve spoken to him in very limited words. I knew him, and he knew me, but we weren’t really friends as he was also a year above me, I think he was twenty-two?.

“Lay.” The older man spoke up, seemingly finding his voice. “I didn’t expect you to be out today.”

Lay switched his attention onto the two men, and then onto me, as if he was assessing the situation he had caught us in. I spark of hope was ignited within me as my heartbeat began to race, Looks like I won’t die today!

“Neha, get in the car.” was all that left Lay’s mouth as he receded back into the driver’s seat, and at that moment, I couldn’t be more happier than to be saved by a fellow classmate.

I did get into the passenger seat of his sleek black car, not bothering to spare the two hooligans a second glance. Without a word, or a moment to let me put on my seatbelt, he began speeding off, off into the deeper streets of the abandoned downtown. There was this heavy silence as none of us spoke for a few moments. He began driving towards the big and loud city lights, and that’s when he decided to speak up.

“What were you doing in that part of town?”

I looked over at him, one hand on the steering wheel while the other stay rested on the window, he teared his eyes away from the road and found mine, and suddenly, it was as if I was staring into the eyes of an old friend. As if we had known each other years back. As if we weren’t just strangers who only knew each other’s names. And I wondered why I felt like that, it made me feel something funny inside and I couldn’t help but avert my gaze elsewhere, as he did the same.

“I was going to meet up with my friends.” I said.

“By walking through those dead streets?” He asked, his tone was deep, a deep voice but a soft deep. One that makes you feel reassured and at home. “Do you know what happens in that part of town?”

I played with the hem of my dress while looking out the window as the main part of the city came to view, lights and traffic sounds filling the world around us. “I do. I just, didn’t think.”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t come?”

For a second, I faltered. His tone was not something you hear from strangers, it was a soft tone, a concerned tone, and who knows, maybe he was actually concerned about a classmate, but something in the way he spoke caused a flick of light to ignite somewhere inside my chest.

“I don’t know.” I muttered. “Thank you, though. For coming at the right moment.”

He didn’t say anything, but a thought had been stuck in the back of my mind, and I wanted to know.

“How do you know those men, anyway?”

It was a while before he spoke again, his eyes hard and fixed on the road, “My siblings, my family, are very well known people. Men like them usually cause trouble, and often times, we’re the ones running to fix it. We keep them on watch, to make sure their not disrupting town.”

I pondered about what he had meant by ‘disrupting’ or ‘well known people’, but instead of inquiring further, I stayed silent for a moment, that was until Lay had begun to speak up again.

“Where do you live?”

I pondered about it for a moment, but I realized that I didn’t want to go home and be alone. I wanted to be with my friends and find comfort in them. Being alone with just me and my thoughts didn’t seem pleasing at all, so instead I told him to drop me off at The Lips. He looked at me for a bit, before nodding in acknowledgement and begun to drive near the place.

We arrived at the Lips, it was a sort of calmer night club, a place where my friends and I enjoy visiting on occasional Fridays, when our weeks become rough. It was a method of coping with stress.

“Thank you.” I said, once he pulled up by the road just across from the glowing club.

I waited a moment to see if he would say anything, but he simply just nodded as I stepped out of the car. It didn’t sit right inside my chest, but I ignored the feeling as I walked into the club, why does it matter if he says anything or not?

Wait till I tell Tara about this.

“Neha!”

I smiled as I walked closer towards the lounge my friends all sat around. Mina was up first, pulling me down towards her. “What took you so long?”

“I ran into some issues.” I muttered, and Reol raised a brow at me.

“Did you walk here?” He asked, his tone mimicking disbelief.

“Don’t be stupid.” I waved him off. “I took a cab.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, and opened his mouth, ready to argue, but Tara already beat him to it.

“Neha, he didn’t even show up today, what a waste of time putting on makeup and doing my hair.” She pouted, her voice a soft whine

I opened my mouth, about to tell her about my encounter with her dear crush. About how he was nice enough to take me away from those street hooligans, and offered me a ride home. But as I caught Reol’s judging gaze from the corner of my eye, I closed it shut, they’d all kill me if they found out I was walking near those streets, so I simply swung an arm around Tara, telling her that she can always impress him next time.

Hmm... anybody else having a problem with un-bolding their words? I can't seem to figure out how to fix it, I usually type everything beforhand onto my google doc, and then paste it onto here, guess its' not working. ^-^ anywho, please leave comments and tell me your thoughts on this chapter. Tara really likes Lay, huh? But what about Neha? Why is she so reckless? I mean, gee, why can't she be even a little bit careful for herself.

xoxo