FLASHBACK

"They're after you."

A massive weight dropped on my stomach and a lump formed in my throat. Blankly, I stared at the remains of coffee in the white mug between my hands.

'They're after you.'

Would I even have noticed if he hadn't told me? Probably not. And that says a lot about how my lifespan has as many success chances as a the one of a pesky fly around someone's dinner.

comparison. 'Or not so.'

The point was that a literal gang of vicious murderers was after me and there was basically nothing I could do about it.

I looked up to him and scanned his face. His expression was somewhere between blank and mildly concerned - expectant maybe, of my reaction perhaps?

"And you... Why are you after me?" I managed to ask when I found my voice again, which came nearly as a whisper.

He seemed to mentally contemplate his own answer. Either way, it came simple. As per usual.

"Just in case."

'Just in case someone tries to slice my throat and stuff my corpse in a dumpster.' I thought morbidly.

Either way, it wasn't his responsibility - or his business, per say.

"You don't need to take care of me." I sighed, rather exhausted. "We don't even know each other, we're nothing to each other, were not friends, actually, we're not even remotely close to acquaintances. And as you said so very well, I was just at the wrong place, wrong time." I averted my eyes and pushed the mug away from me. "There's no reason for you to feel obligated to watch my back. So don't."

"That's very true."

His passiveness was outstandingly irritating.

"Then stop following me, I don't need a babysitter." I snapped. "Speaking of which, I have to go. But surely you already know why and where to."

My mind spun and my line of thought tripped on itself. Things started to become clear in my mind. As we sat in uncomfortable silence, the depths of my mind started to grasp the real dimension of everything that was going on.

Suddenly, I felt sick, I wanted to puke. At the same pace the information became a solid fact in my brain, my nausea escalated to unbearable levels along with it.

I stood up.

"Bye Suga."

I slapped a bill on the table between us, enough to pay both of our coffees, collected my belongings and spun around, ready to get the hell out of there. Before I could walk two steps, I heard his voice.

"Yu-na."

It took all in me not to look back at him.

And I didn't.

But as my hand grasped the door handle and I rushed out, I still heard him say:

"It's gonna be alright."

END OF FLASHBACK

Thursday, 12:30 PM

Two days had passed since I saw him last. Two days had passed since our conversation at the coffee shop. And two days had passed since I last slept for some solid thirty minutes - at least and at once.

'I look like .' I realized, staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Dark circles framed my eyes, my skin was so pale I could almost see through myself.

I had called in sick at Bo's, and this sickness of mine had lasted for two working nights so far. Tonight, I really had to go to work. I also had managed to avoid babysitting, with the same excuse. My mother understood it the first day, the second day she eyed suspiciously my obvious lack of disease and today she threw me with a silent "don't-you-dare-ditch-again" glare right at breakfast.

All the more, she would be out of town for five days. I couldn't decide if that was a blessing or a reason to worry.

I couldn't tell her what was going on. It was both too dangerous and too ludicrous. She would be in a town three hours away from Seoul to attend an updating training program that the insurances company she worked for had prepared for their collaborators. It would last from Friday, which was tomorrow, until Tuesday next week.

Knowing I was going to be alone terrified me, yes, but on the other hand, the fact that she was safe and far away from this whole mess was good news.

I went through the school day in a haze. I didn't listen to a word spoken in classes, I couldn't even tell whether I had spotted Ji-hwa in the hallways during that morning or not. Not that it would change a thing though, she wasn't talking to me at all. I had texted her the previous day, but she never replied so apparently she hadn't cooled off yet - and by the looks of it, she wasn't going to anytime soon.

'It's for the best.' I thought, playing with the chopsticks around on my food, while I sat for lunch in the nearly empty canteen. 'I wouldn't want to drag her into danger anyway. The least she knows the safer she is. If she isn't around she won't be a weak spot. I have to keep her safe and at a distance. Even if she won't understand.'

I stared at the tray in front of me: I managed to swallow half the rice and eat a piece carrot. Not bad, considering my stomach had been acting up lately.

Deciding I had enough, I scattered the rest of the food as well as I could - out of a heavy conscience, to make it look more... well, lesser - and took the tray down to the lady collecting them from the students who had finished their meals. Avoiding her glare of disapproval over the wasted food, I walked to the last period of torture - read, Maths.

×

I spent the day looking over my shoulder.

At all times I felt like I was being watched. Maybe it was just in my head, with the whole knowing about it, but something told me that no, I wasn't crazy. It could be Suga, still following me even against my request for him to stop doing so. But then again, it could be someone else.

As I saw my mother's friend's house gradually grow closer, I started walking faster. It was definitely not a good idea to be watching over a child given the dangerous soup I was boiling in, but what could I do about it? Nothing. I couldn't give any more excuses to avoid coming and I couldn't tell my mom the truth either. Also, I had to keep living my life as normally as possible.

Suddenly I wanted to scream out of frustration, but I swallowed it as I pushed the doorbell button.

Not seconds later, Ms. Kim opened the door, holding Ha-neul in her arms.

"Oh, thank God you're here Yu-na!" She breathed, passing the little boy to my arms and turning around to pick up her bag. "Thank you so much for coming! I hope you're feeling better! I was rather bummed I couldn't attend the last two classes, were getting started on advanced positions and I wouldn't want to miss a thing! But your health is way more important, of course. How are you doing?"

Peachy.

"I'm better now, thank you Ms. Kim." I managed a smile, trying to untangle little Ha-neul's chubby hands from my hair. "Have fun, then! See you soon!"

With that, she kissed her son and rushed out.

"Now, let's go have yumyums." I said as if the little rosy thing could understand.

I fed Ha-neul some mashed potatoes and mince that had been left prepared on the stove - it looked like a rather unappealing brown paste, but apparently is was definitely a baby's gourmet, as he ate all of it and would've eaten more if there was any left. Then, I gave him a piece of banana to squeeze and on while I washed his baby Pooh dishes.

"Oo-na! Oo-na!" He chirped, clapping his banana covered hands and rubbing his eyes, a clear sign he was ready for a nap.

I picked him up after wiping his hands and face, setting him on his rocking chair. Not long after, he was sound asleep and I was able to take him upstairs to his crib. I left him there and headed down to the living area to watch some TV meanwhile.

The TV was on but I wasn't watching it per say. I stared blankly at it, my mind going over everything that happened these past days. I still knew nothing about Suga, I still knew nothing about what exactly happened between him and the criminals, that led to the night in the alley. All I knew was how deep in a hole I had gotten myself into - inadvertently, but gotten into nonetheless.

What would they do to me if they caught me? Well that was a dumb question. He had been perfectly clear when he said they're not famous for leaving witnesses behind. These are dangerous people and all I could do now was keep myself in the shadows and basically pray. They didn't have much on me, now, did they? All they had was my voice recorded. They could possibly even suspect I lived in the area, but then again, how many girls my age lived in the area? Unless they narrowed it down to the ones that worked night shifts. Did they even have any kind of access at all to street cameras or underground cameras? For all I knew, they could very well have bribed - or forced themselves upon - a handful of people in order to find me.

My mind spun with the possibilities and my heartbeat raced.

It seemed odd that a kartel would go to such extents to find a small little girl in the whole of Seoul. But then again, this was organized crime and it was named 'organized' for a reason. There was certainly no exception when it came to witnesses, not matter what they had witnessed.

'I'm as good as dead.' I thought bitterly.

It was all a big mess and then... there was still that mint haired boy I simply couldn't figure out.

Click! Click!

I jumped up straight and stopped breathing for a second, sharpening my ears.

Click!

It came from the kitchen.

My legs were shaky and my palms became sweaty. I dared walk some four steps around the couch so I could get a better view. The kitchen's light was on and I could distinctly see that, behind the flower embroidered curtains, the aluminium window's handle was shaking, as though...

'Someone's trying to get in.' I thought, ice washing over my body.

Click! Click!

I thought back at little Ha-neul sleeping upstairs. Terror spread to every corner of my soul. What was I supposed to do? I was glued to the floor, I couldn't move an inch.

And then it stopped.

The window was still locked and the handle had stopped moving.

I managed to walk the remaining distance to the kitchen door and grabbed the bread knife that was on the counter right next to me. Then, I walked backwards to the living room, always facing the kitchen's