Like he had heard her prayer, he entered the room holding two guns. His entrance had surprised jin hoon but not enough to leave him helpless. He must’ve suspected something all along because, by the time Ji hyo could reach for her gun, he had already raised his and aimed it at her. Ji hyo put her hands up in defeat.

Ji-hoon looked fearless at that moment. “If you don’t put those guns down I’m going to shoot her!”

Jong Kook looked over at jihyo and regretted his timing. If he hadn’t taken those few seconds to look at her, Ji-hoon wouldn’t have had the chance to reach for his gun. Now they were ed. He had no choice but to put the guns down.

As he moved a step closer to place the guns on the desk, Ji-hoon thought he was playing a trick on him and pulled the trigger aiming at jihyo. Without much thought, jong kook yelled and jumped in front of the bullet as he fired his own gun in Ji Hoon’s direction. He had no idea if he aimed accurately; he just wanted to protect jihyo. As he fell, he felt relief when he saw Ji Hoon’s body hit the floor too. For once he welcomed the fear and pain that took over his body. Pain. Good. Pain meant jihyo didn’t get hit.

Ji hyo froze in place. She saw him fall and everything became blurry. Her hands were shaking while holding the gun she must’ve reached for in the middle of the chaos. She looked down fearing the worst and when she saw him laying there bleeding, she fell to her knees next to him. She let the gun fall to the floor and took his face in her hands. “Jong-kook …?” She was calling him softly, afraid that he wouldn’t answer. “Please…”

She saw him flinch in pain and open his eyes. His gaze immediately landed on hers. A rush of relief washed over her entire body and she bent down to kiss his face, happiness lacing her kisses. “You’re alive!”

He had never felt this type of pain before. A gunshot wound was no joke. He felt like someone had lit a flame inside him and his lungs burned. Breathing was difficult. He heard her voice as he opened his eyes and felt her soft lips on his cheek and then his forehead. He blinked trying to concentrate on breathing. He wanted to comfort her and wipe away her tears but trying to reach up proved to be impossible. He settled for just looking at her and trying to speak. “You have to…” he swallowed as a wave of pain took over.

“Shhh shhhh! Don’t talk.” She looked around frantically and then walked on her knees to where Ji-hoon was. He turned his head slightly and saw her remove Ji Hoon’s shirt. She kneeled back very fast and he turned his head again to see her wrap the shirt she just removed from Ji Hoon’s limp body around his middle. “We have to stop the bleeding!”

“No…you have to…leave.” He was glad he got the words out before he couldn’t. She needed to leave before someone figured out that Ji-hoon was missing. She needed to be smart and figure something out, especially now that he wouldn’t be there to help her.

“I know, I know. I need to figure out a way to get you out of here. I think if I find something flat, I can push you to one of the cars…”

“No..no. Please just go. Leave me behind.” He didn’t have the energy to argue with her. He needed her to be selfish and leave him behind. He would only be deadweight.

“Will you stop trying to talk? I will not leave you.” She looked him right in the eyes and squeezed his hand. “You’ll be fine. Let me look at the wound.” She had no idea what she was doing but she wanted to see if the wound was deep.

Jong-kook swallowed hard and tried not to take deep breaths. “Jihyo, you need…”

She gave him an annoyed look. “ I’m not going anywhere without you so please shut your trap and let me concentrate.”

He hated how stubborn she was but he didn’t have the energy to say anything else in this moment.

She removed the shirt she had tied around and lifted his shirt. She almost burst into tears seeing that there was no hole. He had a significant cut that definitely needed a bunch of stitches and accounted for the bleeding but it wasn’t a hole. “The bullet didn’t go through. It seems like it went past you. You have a very nasty-looking wound and it’s bleeding a lot but the bullet is not in your body.”

He reached up to touch his abdomen despite the pain. “No bullet?” It sure felt like it had hit him. The pain surely felt like he was shot.

She was shushing him and smiling too. She was so relieved and trying not to cry that she was laughing out of nervousness, anxiety, and pure trepidation. “We have to get out of here.”

She tried her best and got him to sit up against the desk. “Stay here okay! He must have a first aid kit somewhere.”

“I searched every room and didn’t see any more guys but be careful.” He was relieved that she wasn’t just leaving him here to bleed out even though he had asked her to. It would be easy for her to do that and even understandable.

Before leaving she bent down again and tied his wound back up and pla