Chapter Twenty Three

Her eyes stared at the gun in his hand with complete horror.

HeshothimHeshothimHeshothim

“Ileana…” Kris uttered in shock and dropped the gun. She jumped violently when the metal weapon hit the ground. Her eyes raced up and met his. He continued to look at her with disbelief.

She chocked back a sob and found it hard to breathe with her hand still tightly pressed against . Her eyes twitched, trying to control the fluid that was attempting to escape them. She looked down at the floor once more and stared at the drops of blood leading out of the room.

HeshothimHeshothim…He shot him dead.

“Ileana…” Kris took a step toward the screen but she scurried back, shaking her head.

“Don’t.” She managed to say through shuddering breaths.  

“Ileana, please. Let me explain.” Kris brought his arms up and his eyes pleaded with hers.  She shook her head continuously, trying to shake the images from her head. “I had to do it.”

She stared at him through her tear filled eyes, her face contorting with horror and disgust.

“Ileana, please. If I don’t do these things, I would’t be taken seriously. Please, please stop looking at me like that.” Kris’s voice pleaded and straining near the end.  She slowly turned her gaze down to the floor again and back to the traces of the blood on it.   Do what things? Does that mean he's killed before? She sharply inhaled when her imagination ran through different scenarios of Kris killing various people in different ways.

“Ileana, understand please. You…you can’t do this. I need you to understand!” Kris exclaimed, with his voice cracking. She looked up at him, feeling confused and betrayed. Who was Kris? How could he just kill someone one moment but be so caring toward her the next?

“I don’t.” She replied rather nasally, “I don’t understand, Kris. H-How could you?”

“I had to, Ileana. Otherwise, they wouldn’t trust me. “ Kris seemed to calm down after hearing her speak. But she was feeling anything but calm.

“S-so, you steal someone’s life? Is someone’s trust really that important to you?” She shook her head with tears finally coming down her cheeks.  

“I need it. I can’t achieve what I want without it-“

“Is it really worth it?” She shot back, feeling her anger starting to rise, “Are people’s…people’s lives worth less than your goal?”

“I don’t enjoying killing anyone, Ileana. I hate it. But, it’s a step I have to take in order to have justice served.” Kris crouched down on the ground in front of the screen, almost as if asking for her forgiveness on his knees, “Please, Ileana. You can’t. I need- Can we please just forget about this? I need you right now. I need your …I just need you right now.”

“If I could, I would Kris. But I don’t see how I can. Kris, you killed someone…in front of me.”

“You weren’t meant to see-“

“Enough Kris!” She cried out, as her body trembled, “I don’t…I don’t want to hear anymore.”  Kris opened his mouth but quickly closed it as he frantically searched her eyes.

She felt a light tug and the screen before her started to fade. Kris noticed as well because he tensed up and started to slam his fists onto it frantically. She could tell he was yelling her name although she couldn’t hear him anymore. She admitted she never saw him so desperate before. One more sharp tug and she woke up.

“Ileana!”

She focused her vision and was surprised to find Kai worriedly looking down at her. She had been placed on a couch on display in the front shop. She blinked her eyes and felt tears escape them. She took a deep breathe in and shuddered.

“You, you were sleeping. And then you started shaking and crying and I tried to wake you up. I, I’m not programmed for these situations. Goodness, are you okay?” Kai fumbled over his words as he frantically searched her face. He ran a hand through her hair before wiping her tears.

“I …I just.” She mumbled out as the memory replayed in her head. She felt nausea suddenly wash over her. “A nightmare. A really realistic and terrible nightmare.”  She gripped onto the front of Kai’s shirt and quivered.

“I saw a man being killed. He was just shot dead. I’ve never seen someone die before.  It was just so-“

“Shhh.” Kai cut her off and brought her close in to his body and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She in return brought her arms around his torso and gripped the back of his shirt. She tried to calm herself down; taking deep breathes and willed the images to disappear. Kai lightly caressed her back and whispered reassuring words.  

A ding went off from behind them but neither of them moved. The sound of hurried footsteps came toward them.

“What happened?”

Ileana looked up and saw a frantic Sehun. His eyes widened when he saw her tear stained face. She gulped and let go of Kai and straightened up against the back of the couch.  Sehun dropped all his things to the floor and crouched down on the floor next to Kai. “Ileana, what happened? Are you hurt?” He looked over her body but obviously found no wounds.

“She fell asleep and I left her alone for a while. When I checked up on her, she was crying and shaking in her sleep. So, I woke her up and she said she had a bad dream.” Kai explained for her. Sehun glanced over at Kai and back to her.

“Come on. Let’s get your upstairs.” Sehun whispered as he reached out and lightly guided her off the couch. She complied and followed him out of the shop. She looked over her shoulder and nodded her head to Kai, giving her small thanks. He just sighed and nodded back.

Sehun led her up the stairs and into their flat. He guided her to the couch and sat her down. He left her for a few minutes and came back with a steaming mug.

“Here’s some tea to calm you down and clear you up a little.” Sehun explained as he sat down next to her. She accepted the mug with a shaky smile and took a sip. It felt lovely streaming down her clogged throat.

“Do you…want to tell me what you dreamed about?” Sehun whispered, and inched closer to her. She stared down at her tea.

“Have you ever witness someone being murdered before?” She whispered back. Sehun didn’t give her a reply.  She looked up at him, biting her lip. “I dreamt a friend of mine killing someone. I know you might think me weird for over reacting like this. But, it was so real and I never saw someone being killed like that and I just seem to-“

“Shhh, it’s okay Ileana. Witnessing a murder isn’t something easy to deal with. But, you have to remember that it didn’t actually happen. It was just a dream.” Sehun placed a hand on her knee and lightly rubbed his thumb.  Except it did happen. She thought sadly and took a swing of her tea.

“Maybe you should go take a shower, that might help.” Sehun suggested.  She nodded in response. She finished off her tea and went off to shower. When she finished, Sehun had gone to bed. She walked over to the couch and sat down on it.

She didn’t want to sleep. She didn’t want to meet with Kris, just like the night before but for entirely different reasons. So she just sat there in her thoughts and imagination.
You’ve cause a lot of trouble…
You’ll have to pay for it…
No! Please…

Why did Kris have to kill the man? How were they related? Was Kris involved with the crime group that was responsible for taking Luhan and attempting to start the war? She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but she was already making them subconsciously. Is this why EXO created the connection between them? Did it hope that she would be able to stop him through her nightly visits?

“Ileana…” A voice whispered out in the dark. She looked up and saw a tired Sehun looking down at her in his pajamas. He moved forward and grabbed onto her hand. He pulled her up and directed her down the flat’s one hallway. Sehun opened the door to his room and closed the door behind both of them as they entered. He walked over to one side of the bed and pushed the covers to the side.

“Get in.”

She looked over at him confused. He took her by the shoulders and forced her to sit and then lay down on the bed. He pulled the covers over her and walked around the bed. He hopped in on the other side and grabbed onto her hand again.

“Sleep.” He whispered closing his eyes. She tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he tightened his hold. “Just sleep, I’m right here when you need me.” He peeked at her through one eyes and closed it again. She felt herself relaxing, which wasn’t a good thing. She couldn’t sleep. But with the warmth from the blankets and Sehun’s body heat, she fought a losing battle.

_________________________________________________________________________

Short chapter I know, but I thought it'd be better to get this out sooner than later. Plus, I thought this was a good place to end it. Anyways, I'm back home ^^ Hopefully work and social life won't fill my summer so I can continue to update this :) I looked at which teasers I've gone through and I've gone through 13/23 :D Yayyyyy. More than half :)

Anyways, bahaha some of you aren't too happy with the last update. Kris? A murderer? HOW COULD I?! Anyways, I guess it'll make more sense when I explain things more obviously. I'm also throwing Kris another bone in a future chapter that will make him a slightly better guy, I swear. He ain't all bad. 

On to more important things: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAEKHYUN! I'm late again by 2 hours in my country and 15 for South Korea...I think. Anyways. Beautiful beautiful boy you are, we share the same birth year...but I'm still older than him by a few days, dang. 
I wish him a good year and I hope he will continue to grace the world with his beautiful vocals, neck veins and fingers. 

To all subscribers and commenters:

You are all so wonderful. It's so nice to update and wake up to new comments and/or subscribers. I, of course, am thankful for anyone who has been sticking through me from the beginning too. Thank you thank you thank you!!

Suho's soo precious

Btw a latin american friend of mine posted on my facebook saying: It's Cinco de Mayo! Let's celebrate! I immediately thought of:

And then immediately listened to EXO-M's History to celebrate. Luhan knows whats up.
 

So, in relation...The giveaway of the day will be: *throws EXO brand Mayo*. Enjoy!

Kay, buhbye now.

ps: Not sure if author's note...or a reblogging yearEXOmacros's stuff from tumblr....