Sohye ran ahead, gigging under her breath. She was wearing her new hat whilst holding it to prevent it from flying away. She was inexplicably giddy and happy.

‘So this what it felt when you put your pride aside.’

It was blissful.

She rounded the corner, in excitement to see the familiar backs. But she found none. People littered the streets, but she could recognize nobody. After minutes of searching, she decided to just go to the restaurant itself.

But before she took a step, she realized she didn’t know which restaurant.

“Awesome, Sohye. Great job.” she chided herself. She fished her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through her contacts. Her thumb froze as an idea came to her.

‘Should I?

Should I not?

Will it look like I’m too enthusiastic?

I mean, it is a valid option.

She internally argued with herself, her face contorting into different expressions. People were giving her weird looks but she hardly noticed.

Finally, she decided to turn and go back to Wonwoo.

She spun quickly, muting the opposing voices inside her. She broke into a run and convinced herself it was for a good reason. She clutched her hat and rounded the corner again, but due to her speed she crashed into a group of slim bodies.

She fell onto the concrete, along with another girl. She grit her teeth as she landed on her hand and her palm scraped the rough road.

“Yah! Watch where you’re going!” the other girls yelled, breathlessly, Sohye noticed. They scrambled to pull their friend up while Sohye got off the ground herself.

“Sorry, unnie!” girl one, the one who fell, apologized and bowed slightly. The others became flustered and followed suit.

As they raised their heads, Sohye looked the girl in the eye to convey her own apology. With a bow, she said, “It’s okay. I wasn’t careful. I’m sorry, too. “

“Ah!” girl two exclaimed. “You’re the girl with that guy at the small shop earlier, right?”

“Ohhhh, you’re right. It’s the same clothes.” the others agreed.

“And hat. It’s cute, unnie!” girl three complimented.

Happiness spread in her chest as Sohye beamed. “Thank you! I like it, too”

“Wait!” girl four shouted. She moved to stand right in front of Sohye and stared at her long and hard. She gasped. “Unnie, aren’t you Kim Sohye?”

“Mwo?” the other girls stared at Sohye. “Of IOI?!”

Sohye felt panic rise in her as recognition flashed in their eyes. She covered as she racked her brain for what to do. Her eyes grew wide when she noticed one of them attempting to scream her excitement.

“Shh!” she gestured at them wildly. “Please! Don’t scream!”

But it was too late.

“AHHHHH!” They screamed together, garnering the attention of passers-by. Sohye was frozen stiff. “Can we take a picture?!”

“Who is it?” “Someone famous?” she heard people whispering. From the corner of her eye she saw a crowd beginning to form and plenty of them were bringing out their phones.

‘What should I do?’ she thought in panic. She didn’t know how to escape this situation without damaging her image or the girls’ feelings. ‘What should I do?!?’

“Wait, so if you’re here…” girl two spoke loudly among the murmurs. “…then the guy with you is he an idol, too?! Oh my god!” she concluded herself.

“I told you he could be!” girl one answered.

“Are you dating?? Who is it??” another screamed excitedly, getting in Sohye’s personal space.

“If we post this on SNS we could get famous!”

‘Alright, screw this.’ She spun on her heels and bolted.

“Oh no!” girl four yelled. “Follow her!”

Sohye ran as fast as she could. She thanked the stars for being an athlete and an idol that she had quite the endurance. She turned corners and crossed roads for as long as she could hear the stampede of feet behind her. Her chest heaved but she didn’t let up. She didn’t even feel her phone ringing in her pocket.

‘Please please please let me escape.’ she prayed over and over.

Through it all, she was tightly gripping her hat.

She looked behind her and found that the crowd had thinned into the initial four girls. She sighed a breath of relief among her jagged breaths. She rounded a corner and looked before her.

‘Okay, Kim Sohye. Where do we go now? Hurry!’

She spotted an alley not far away and without hesitation rushed in.

“Where did she go?!” she heard one of them say breathlessly.

“She might have ran ahead!”

“Or she might be in that alley over there…”

“Let’s check!”

She heard shuffling of feet and her fear level rose. She walked deeper into the alley and spotted a large trash bin. She sprinted and crouched behind it. She held her breath.

“She isn’t here!”

“Let’s get out of here then, it’s so scary here.”

“Fine. Aish. We didn’t even get to have a picture.”

She waited until their footsteps faded completely before she let out her painfully long breath. She slumped against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. Her legs were tired and she sighed as she massaged them.

She looked at her surroundings. It was a narrow and dark alley. She knew from her right to be a trash bin and in front of her to be a wall lined with boxes and with barely visible graffiti. Above her were terraces with clothes hung from clotheslines and to her left was a woman staring at her.

Wait, what.

She did a double take. Her blood ran cold. She was frozen stiff as her eyes were fixated on the woman. Her mind went completely blank, her lip trembled and her hands shook in absolute fear.

‘G-G-G-Gho—“

Before Sohye could say something, if she even could, the woman spoke.

“Annyeong~” she gave a yellow-toothed smile. She giggled. “You’re homeless, too, huh? Let’s be friends!”

Upon hearing her words, Sohye let out a huge sigh of relief. She relaxed her whole body as she leaned her whole weight on the wall for support. Tears pooled her eyes and she tried desperately to calm her wildly racing heart.

“Got booze?” the woman asked again as she held up an empty glass bottle. Sohye shook her head, not trusting her voice. “Hihi. It’s okay. I don’t have either. Hihihi.”

Her phone rang in the silence and Sohye couldn’t be any more grateful. She pulled out her phone in a flash and answered without bothering to look at the caller ID. “H-Hello?” she said with a shaky voice.

“Sohye!”

Her eyes widened once she recognized the baritone voice. Warmth and security flooded her senses when she confirmed her guess. “Wonwoo!” she cried out in relief.

“Sohye! Sohye, are you okay? Where are you now?”

She opened to answer, but the woman beat her to it.

“Yah, why do you have a phone?!” the woman screamed. Sohye jumped to her feet with wide eyes. “You betrayed me?!” she screeched as she pulled on Sohye’s ankles, making her fall directly on her knees. She caught herself on her hands and heard the woman laughing at her. “Hihi. That’s what you get~!”

“Sohye? What’s happening?!” he asked in panic.

Fear bubbled in her as she clenched her fists. She looked back at the woman and with all her might, kicked her away from her. The woman fell to the ground with a grunt and Sohye scrambled to get away. She tried to stand up but felt her knees stinging. She looked down and saw her knees skinned and bruised and she cringed at the sight.

“Sohye!!!!” Wonwoo yelled through the speaker. She held her phone against her ear.

“Wonwoo! I-I ran from people and ended up in this alley a-and—“ Suddenly glass broke. Sohye whirled around. The woman was slowly getting up, clutching a broken bottle. She looked up at Sohye, absolutely livid. Sohye shuddered in fear.

“Talk to me, Sohye!”

“Wonwoo, help me!”

The woman screamed in fury and Sohye’s feet moved on her own. Once again, she was running with all her might, but compared to the earlier feeling of adrenaline, fear took over her mind and body. Tears were pooling in her eyes again as she desperately tried to escape.

“Where are you, Sohye?! Look around you, tell me what you see!” Sohye obeyed, reading off a street sign she spotted. “Sohye, you have to hide for a while, okay? You hide and I will come for you, I promise! Okay?! Wait for me!” Sohye nodded wildly, forgetting he couldn’t see. She searched for a hiding place but only found a truck. Without a second thought, she dashed behind it and crouched, covering firmly.

A few minutes later, footsteps entered her hearing. “Yaaaaaah! Where are you, chingu?” she heard the woman from the street. “Oh, wait, you aren’t my friend anymore! You lied to me!” she yelled as Sohye’s tears ran down her cheeks.

Silence ensued. With each passing second, Sohye could feel her body relaxing. She believed the crazy woman gave up and left.

She was soon proven wrong. A callous hand grabbed her arm forcefully. Sohye screamed as she was dragged out her hiding place. “There you are!” the woman screamed. “I hate you! I thought we were friends!” she screeched hysterically while Sohye struggled with all the strength she could muster.

“Please! Let go of me!” she begged. Her cries fell on deaf ears. The woman raised her hand, the broken bottle still in her clutch and brought it down on her. She squeezed her eyes shut.

In that split second, Sohye only thought of one name.

But before she could feel shards sink into her skin, the rough hand gripping her arm was forcefully separated from her. The stinky body was pushed away and she was pulled into a warmer one. She heard the lady fall over with a groan of pain and glass breaking on concrete ting clearly in her ears.

Relief flooded her senses. Tears of fear quickly became of joy as she clenched her fists on the chest of her savior. Arms slinked around her waist and pulled her closer as she breathed the very same name her inner voice was screaming.

 ‘Wonwoo.’

“Thank God.” he said breathlessly. “I found you.”

-----

Hellooooo~ 

Thank you, guys, for your comments. I really appreciate it so much. <3

So, I know updates hasn't been at a constant rate. (im sorry) But I'll be starting school soon so updates will be slower :( But rest assured, coz I'm not dropping this story. I'm enjoying it too much and I hope you guys do too xD

Tell me what you thought! Bai~