The cars reached the meeting place a little after nine-thirty and surrounded Hyo’s car.  All the headlights were left on as the groups of people stepped out of the cars.  Sung-hee grimaced when she spotted her father coming out of one of the cars and resisted the urge to run over and beat him for what he put her through.  Just when she was about to one of Tai’s lackeys grabbed her and brought her forward along with Tai and a few others.  She was surprised to find that only Hyo, Kevin, Ichiro, Aki and Han stood around the car with a laptop snug under Hyo’s arm.  Hyo looked over at Sung-hee and though his expression softened for a moment the hardness of his eyes returned the second that he looked at Tai. 

Hyo looked genuinely surprised as his eyes adjusted to the light and Tai came closer to him.  “So you’re behind all this then?”

“Why yes I’m surprised you didn’t recognize my voice over the phone.”

Rolling his eyes Hyo placed his laptop on the hood of his car and looked Tai up in down, sizing him up.  He figured that without all the others around he would still be able to teach the slightly older boy a thing or two about “It’s been eight years and my sister’s phone isn’t the best in the world.  Speaking of I’d like that back”

Tai shrugged and tossed the phone towards Hyo who caught it without taking his eyes off of Tai.  Sung-hee had only seen Hyo like this a few times in her life and each time the end result was never very good.  A part of her was rather worried that he didn’t have a set plan for what they were going to do yet.  “Good to see you too Hyo how’s life been for you?”

Sneering he pocketed Sung-hee’s phone and held Kevin back when Tai raised his brow at him in a come at me motion.  “Oh I’ve been better.”

Faking concern Tai put a hand to his chest and frowned a little bit.  “I’m sorry to hear that old friend is there anything I can do to help.”  Though Hyo would never admit it he had actually been close with Tai during his time in the army but they fell out of contact not to long after he got discharged.  This certainly wasn’t the same Tai that he had known eight years ago. 

“You know exactly what you can do to help.”

“I do?”

“Can we stop playing these games?  Just give me my sister.” 

“Awww but I thought you liked games isn’t that your business Hyo?”  A low rumble of laughter echoed through the crowd as Hyo’s gaze turned steely.  “Hmm let me think about that,” He tapped his finger against his chin, “nope I don’t think so.  Not until I get a confirmation that my money is in the bank.  You can have your father though now if you want him.”  Hwan was brought forward beaten to a pulp and Hyo sneered at the old man. 

“I could care less what you do with him.  Just give me my sister.”  Once again Hwan was pulled back by the ones that shoved him forward eager to deliver more payback for making them chase him all over the country. 

Tai wagged a finger at Hyo and tsked.  “Not until I get my money.” He turned to the man that brought Sung-hee food and water before.  “Be a dear and wait with her by the car with the others okay?”  The man nodded and took Sung-hee’s arm dragging her back to the passenger’s door.  “You know we had a lot of fun with her your sister’s quite entertaining.”

Figuring the worst Hyo’s blood boiled and his hands clenched into fist at his side, this time Kevin was the one having to hold him back.  Actually Hyo felt disgusting for letting this happen he knew he should have taken care of his father when he first found out that he was in town.  He had just hoped that Hwan would eventually leave when he saw that he wasn’t getting the money.  Now Hyo was determined to find a way to pay Sung-hee back and to make sure this never happened again.  “Tai I swear to you I’ll kill you!” 

Tai looked mildly offended and he stepped forward his fake smile disappearing.  “Is that a threat?  You know I don’t take kindly to those Hyo.” 

Scoffing Hyo glanced around at the crowd that was slowly moving in waiting for their bosses signal.  Just before Sung-hee lost sight of him she saw a mischievous glint in his eyes.  Instantly relief washed over her, he was trying to get Tai riled up.  “What else would it be?”

In an instant all those that were with Tai surrounded Hyo and his small team.  “Are you sure you don’t want to change the way you’re speaking to me?”  It was clear that Tai was getting a little annoyed that this was taking so long.  Usually everyone that he dealt with was too scared to try and go against him in any way much less threaten him. 

Tapping his laptop slowly he leaned against the hood of his car and chuckled a little bit knowing that Tai hated to be laughed at more than anything in this world.  “Are you sure you don’t want to back off or else I won’t send you any money at all.”

Sung-hee looked at the man who was still standing next to her and saw it as a perfect chance to get rid of the last guard she had and maybe try and make a run for it.  Clearing she drew his attention and raised a brow at him.  “Shouldn’t you be up there?  I mean your boss just got threatened.”

He laughed quietly and shook his head before looking back to the crowd.  “And leave you alone?  Please.”

She scoffed and leaned against the car for support still feeling rather famished from the day’s events and her ribs really weren’t feeling the best.  “Like I’m going anywhere.  I mean do you see anyone around here?”  Sung-hee looked around to emphasis that no one was around before looking up at the other man. 

He narrowed his eyes at her and stepped back a bit.  “Don’t make me regret this.”  With that he went to join the crowd that was still tight around the two boys and showed no signs of backing away.  As soon as she figured that attention was off her she sighed heavily and gingerly touched her bruised ribs wincing a little bit.  While she knew they weren’t broken sleeping on her side would be out of the question for a few days.  When a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist she jumped and nearly screamed until she turned to see who it was.

“Sanghyun?”  He motioned for her to keep quiet and glanced behind them to see that the others were still distracted.

“Come on let’s get you out of here.”  He laced his fingers with her and they started to carefully sneak away from where everyone else was.  She has to push back her tears as he led her up the hill and out of sight.  Once there they broke into a run and about a block later they ran into about seven or eight police cars and an ambulance with the officers standing around until they saw Thunder coming.  He waved at them and everyone jumped into action with most of the cars leaving to go and arrest the ones responsible. 

As soon as they stopped running Thunder turned to her and pulled her into a tight hug.  “I thought I lost you this time.”  Sung-hee couldn’t even respond as her body finally gave in from all the days’ trials and sobs racked her body as she clung to him desperately.  He cried a little as well but held her close whispering comforting words.  Sirens started to resound in the relatively quiet area along with a few gunshots but neither Sung-hee nor Thunder moved.  Still crying Sung-hee reached up and pulled Thunder’s lips down to hers desperately and Thunder was all too happy to give in.

Their heated kiss broke when Sung-hee heard Delphine call out her name.  Turning to her left she saw her best friend running towards her.  Crying harder she moved one arm to welcome Delphine in a hug and Delphine didn’t even hesitate to pull all of them together in the tightest hug she could give.  “Don’t you ever do that to me again Park do you hear me?”  Delphine tried to sound threatening but the tears and hiccups weren’t letting her. 

“I promise Del.”  She sniffled while Thunder rubbed her back soothingly and she leaned her head against his chest in response.  Delphine gave them both a brief squeeze before pulling out of the hug and rubbed her eyes.

“G-good.  There is a woman waiting for you by the ambulance and the police are going to want to take your statement as well.”  She glanced behind her to see a male officer that had stayed behind motion to Thunder.  “They want to take Thunder’s now apparently.”  He tensed up at the idea of leaving Sung-hee alone for even a minute but Delphine gave him a weak smile.  “I’ll take her to the ambulance okay?”  He looked at Sung-hee who nodded while rubbing her eyes free of tears.

“Isn’t Rain-ssi going to be upset with you for this though?”

Thunder couldn’t believe her.  She just got away from a gang that was going to use and abuse her and she was more concerned by what would happen to him if word got out.  Shaking his head he kissed her lips briefly and ran his fingers through her hair.  “Rain-hyung understands don’t worry about a thing okay?  I’ll be right over there if you need me just let me know.”  He hesitated for a moment before going over to the police, glancing back at Sung-hee and Delphine a few times as they slowly walked over to the ambulance. 

“So is this going to be the end of it?”  Delphine asked quietly as she helped Sung-hee sit on the floor of the ambulance and the medic started to look over her.

“What do you-ow!”  She hissed a little and shied away from the medic woman who mumbled an apology. “What do you mean?”  Sung-hee tried again while looking up at a concerned Delphine.

The girl in question rubbed the back of her neck trying to find a good way to word it without trying to make her sound like a bad person.  “I mean there aren’t any other people from the past that we need to worry about?  Not to sound like a it’s just…” She trailed off not sure how to recover after seeing Sung-hee’s face drop. 

“Except for Dae there’s no one else but he won’t be coming back he could care less about me.  I’m sorry Del all I ever do is cause trouble for those around me I don’t see why you guys put up with me.”  Fresh tears appeared and she tried to mumble that it was because of the disinfectant that the woman was spraying on her arms. 

Delphine sighed and sat down next to Sung-hee.  “We wouldn’t do all this,” she gestured to Thunder and the cop cars that were coming back, “if we didn’t love you and it wasn’t worth it Sung-hee.  I’ve caused you a lot of trouble as well, don’t forget my crazy ex.”

Blinking a few times Sung-hee looked over at Delphine with a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look.  “I just had to go to court to testify that he was stalking you.  This is totally different and you know it.”

“Not really we’re going to have to go to court to get them and your father put away.  Speaking of when I see that man he’s getting his beat.”  She added quickly a vicious growl vibrating in her chest as she thought about Hwan.  Even if she had to go to jail she was determined to make him pay for everything.

Before Sung-hee could respond the medic cleared drawing both of the girl’s attention.  “Alright you’re good.  You’ve got a bruise rib and keep an eye on the deeper cuts on your legs and arms but other than that from what I can see you’re alright to go on home after you give your statement.  Unless of course you want a prescription?”

Sung-hee shook her head quickly, “No I’ll be alright.”  She could have said that she already had some stuff from the last time at her house but that would probably look bad on her part and she already felt like the biggest mess of all time. 

“Well if you change your mind don’t hesitate to get some.  No use living in pain unless you have to.”  She looked up to see a cop car and Hyo’s car coming towards them and stood.  “Now if you excuse me I need to see if anyone else needs help.”  With an exchange of small bows the woman headed over to the cop car as Hwan and two cops got out. 

Seeing the look in Delphine’s eyes Sung-hee tried to grab at her friend but she already ran off.  “Delphine don’t!”  But it was too late Delphine’s fist connected with Hwan’s already bruised cheek.

While everyone was still in shock she hit him again a sickening crunch indicating she had at least fractured his jaw.  But she didn’t stop there kneeing him in the stomach she slammed him against the cop’s car and landed a few body shots on him.  Finally the cops came to their senses and pulled Delphine off him though they looked like they wanted to hit him as much as she did.  “No!  He doesn’t deserve to be protected let me go!”

“Please miss calm down!  Oh and Chanee you might want to check on that brave brother of the girl’s he’s hurting pretty bad.”  One of the officers commented while dragging Delphine away as the other one tried to calm the enraged girl down. 

Though she didn’t hear what happened Sung-hee saw her brother get out of the car clutching his arm and holding his cheek with the other hand to go into a panic.  And seeing Kevin and the others in a little bit worse of state was enough to get her running over panicking.  “Oppa!”  Turning to her Hyo gave a small smile and without thinking Sung-hee pulled him into a tight hug but quickly pulled back when he moaned in pain.  “Oppa I’m so sorry!” 

He smiled a little and shook his head.  “Don’t worry about me it’s just a flesh wound.”  Moving his hand he revealed that it wasn’t in fact a gunshot like she originally thought but a knife wound.  Not that it made matters better in Sung-hee’s eyes.  Before she could fuss over him though the medic urged all of them to head over to the ambulance so she could treat them.  Hyo explained on the way that once they saw that she was gone they, as Hyo expected, scattered trying to look for her and a fight broke out.  And when Hyo had gotten the gun away from Tai the other male pulled out a knife.  Kevin had been held at gun point when the police arrived and everything turned into a mess from there.  Everyone was trying to get in their cars and run away but the police shot the tires flat.  Han had even been accidently tased at one point before they could get most of the gang members, Hwan and Tai rounded up. 

Of course Sung-hee felt terrible hearing all about it knowing that it was her fault and continued to apologize over and over despite how many times Hyo and the others said it was alright.  Thunder finally came back over after being interrogated and Sung-hee once again latched herself onto him scared that he would go up in smoke at any time.  They fell into a comfortable silence for a while all expressing their relief that it was over and appreciation for each other.  Sung-hee felt her eyelids start to get heavy as she leaned against the ambulance with Thunder and she was about to close them until the policeman came forward. 

“Ma’am I’m going to need your statement.”

“So you want me to tell you everything now or should I wait until you make me come into the station?”  She tried not to sound annoyed with the interruption of her almost sleep but she knew she hadn’t succeeded when the officer raised a brow at her.  “Alright then.”  Standing up straight she hugged Thunder briefly and kissed his cheek before walking over to the side and started to spill her tale. 

Almost an hour and a half later everyone was finally able to head home.  Hyo dropped Delphine off at her apartment before heading home to face Mee-Yon who had apologized for her behavior earlier but unlike before he wasn’t looking forward to seeing her.  In fact he almost asked Sung-hee if he could stay over at her apartment until Thunder informed her that he would be spending the night to keep an eye on her.  Hyo would have offered them a lift but his car was already full.  So Thunder ended up calling Kaang for a lift back to Sung-hee’s apartment. 

“I’ve decided that late night McDonalds runs are the best.”  Sung-hee sighed while leaning against Thunder somewhat awkwardly to avoid causing any stress on her rib.  They had just finished the food that Kaang stopped and bought them on the way back to her apartment and were now sitting in a comfortable silence.  She had already told him everything that happened on the way back to her apartment and Thunder had updated her on everything that happened at the home front trying to plan everything out to get her back.  But one thing was nagging in the back of Sung-hee’s mind the most.  “I think Mee-Yon and Hyo are going to get a divorce.”

Thunder looked down at her in surprise.  “What makes you say that?  I mean sure they’ve been arguing a lot lately but-”

“But she’s exhibiting all the same signs that Ha Ji was right before she left him.  Most people can’t deal with our crazy family and end up leaving after a while.  Hyo tries to deny it but I know that she’s going to leave him they all do.  It’s like no one wants to be a permanent part of our crazy family.”  She added quietly while fiddling with her thumb nail avoiding Thunder’s gaze.  As much as she didn’t want it fresh tears appeared and before she could angrily brush them away Thunder’s gentle hands cupped her face forcing her to look up at him. 

“I want to be.”  The whisper made her heart flutter as he leaned closer and pressed his forehead against hers.

“Promise me.”  She breathed while leaning closer to him her lips tingling in anticipation as his warm breath danced across her skin.

“I promise.”  He murmured before capturing her lips quickly.  The slow kiss quickly turned heated as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him so close he was nearly laying on top of her.  His hands moved down her shoulders then arms and gingerly her sides as he tried to support and restrain himself thinking that now would not be the time to try and take advantage of her state.  But when she started to pull his shirt up he groaned lowly tearing his lips away from hers.  “Are you sure?” 

She looked up at him with the most trust and desire he had ever seen and despite the light bruising of her cheek and the cut there she never looked more beautiful to him.  “I’ve never been more sure.”  She spoke with such conviction that every restraint he had been holding up disappeared and before she could even ask him if he was alright with it his lips found hers once again in a heated embrace.