Sarang felt everything around her fall apart as she tried holding onto the small particles of sanity she had left.

Her thoughts flooded her mind and as much as she wanted to push them away, she couldn’t. Sarang wasn’t a robot. She couldn’t shut it out simply because it hurts too much. She wished she could, because right now she felt like her entire world was falling apart before her. Everything was crashing down, bending and twisting. She didn’t know how much more she could take.

There was a reason why she shut herself out from people. People can hurt her.

The following events that unfolded after their argument, if that’s what you call it, consisted of Kris pushing her out of his world. Which meant the apartment they shared, EXOM, and now their engagement; he was determined to cut her out of his life.

She didn’t understand why he had to be so persistent with cutting her out. He claimed that she made him weak, but she couldn’t she say the same about him. He made her weak. He tore down the walls she built, she made her feel like a lost child. He had feelings for her, she was almost sure of it. The way he spoke and the things he did confirmed that for her, but she wouldn’t make major assumptions until he admitted it himself, which seemed unlikely.

She stepped through the dark alley; carefully looking at her surroundings to make sure no one tried pulling anything funny. She saw the man standing at the other end of the alley, dressed in a dark trench coat and hat.

He slowly turned around when he heard her approach. She came to a standstill when he made eye contact with her.

“Look whose here alone.” He stated looking at her with amusement. The news of her broken engagement with a certain heir had hit the news. Sarang had tried stepping out of the public eye to avoid the storm that had hit her.

Just like that everything ended. She knew this was bound to happen. Kris made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her.

“Explain to me what happened.” She stated. A curious look appeared on her face. She needed answers, namely who he was working with because she knew he was working with someone and what he had against Kris, because she knew he had something against Kris.

“Why do you still care about him so much?” He asked.  She rolled her eyes, now wasn’t a time to be talking about her relationship with Kris Wu.

“Answer my question.”

“Answer mine.” He retorted like a stubborn child refusing to let things go.

“I don’t have time for this Xavier. I can have you dead in three second.” She protested, her temper growing thin. She was already in a bad mood to begin with. She didn’t need someone adding fuel to her fire.

“The Dragon has many enemies. He’s betrayed many, taken down more, and killed even more. His head is wanted.” Xavier stated. Sarang already knew this, what she needed from him was useful information. “I can help you.” He added as an after matter, something she wasn't even going to consider for one moment.

“I don’t need help.” Sarang retorted. She only needed to help Kris, find her parents killer, escape her grandfather’s wrath, avoid being eaten alive by the media, and most of all, try to keep Kris from damaging her heart even more. It was so much, and so difficult. The weight was killing her, but she kept going even when the water reached above her shoulders and was engulfing her away.

“Someone in a high standing position wants him dead and is willing to go to extreme lengths to find him. I know you know who it is, and I need you to tell me what you know.” She declared.

“What makes you think I’ll help you?” Xavier asked. Sarang already saw this question coming and she knew how to counter back.

“I can clear your mark. I can wipe your slate clean. I can make your black market record disappear.” She proposed. She knew Xavier wouldn’t walk away from something like this. Sarang knew that Xavier wanted a clean slate, he wanted his name erased, and she could give him this. This was her way in. This was the first major stepping stone into ending all this.

“Okay.” Xavier decided and a knowing smirk appeared on Sarang’s face.

This was where she stood, on thin ice that could crack at any moment. This was where she held her priorities.  Beyond all else, no matter what anyone else said, Sarang knew her priorities. She was going to help EXOM, she was going to help Kris, even if wanted nothing to do with her.

She was doing this because she cared. She cared about him too much to leave him like this. So he could ricochet any bullet at her, and she would take it. He could throw any amount of punches and kicks, she'll take them all. She'll help him, like she promised she would, and if this made her an idiot, so be it. She'll be his idiot.

-----

A man sat alone and looked through a stack of papers. An evil grin appeared on his face.

“We have him sir.” Someone said from behind him. He nodded knowing, it was finally going to end. After all these years of chasing he finally found him. Battles had been fought, men had fallen, and now he had finally found him.

“Do you have her?” He asked his trusted right hand man. She was his pawn into getting him his victory.

“Yes, we do. She’s unstable though and we don’t know if she’ll be enough.” He stated. A growled, scowling his ungrateful seed for being so useless.

“It doesn’t matter. At least we can take her down, we know who he is now, and we no longer need to hide in the shadows.” He stated staring out into the busy streets of Seoul. "After ten years it’s finally going to end.” He whispered, knowing it was either going to be his fall or theirs.

-----

Sarang unlocked the door to the penthouse apartment. She was supposed to grab the remainder of her things. Honestly she didn’t care about her things right now, she was just hoping she would run into him, but she doubted that he would he here. He was trying to stay away from her.

The last box of her belongings lay in the corner of the room. Her things had been messily thrown in. She walked over to the box and to pick it up.

Before she could reach it though a familiar face walked down the stairs. Her eyes met with his and for a few seconds there she felt relax before fear spread through her.

“Luhan.” She mumbled his name. He had a stack of sheets in his arm and she concluded that these were Wu Corp. documents. Kris had taken everything dealing with EXO out of his home office. He didn’t trust her enough to keep such valuable things in her reach. That didn’t matter now since he was kicking her out anyways.

Luhan looked over to her with a warm smile, “I can help you with that," He insisted as he stepped down and towards her. He kneeled down to pick up the cardboard box, and tucked the sheets underneath his arm.

“I can take it Luhan.” She mumbled taking the box from him. Luhan opened his mouth to say something but stopped halfway. Sarang knew he had questions for her, so she waited. She could tell Luhan was trying to decide if he should ask or not.

“You mentioned your parents didn’t you.” He stated. It wasn't a question, but a statement. She knew what he was talking about, it was her argument with Kris. She nodded. She did, and she secretly knew that she should never press on that topic, but she couldn’t help it. When your parents are willing to sacrifice their lives for someone, you just can’t let it go like that, at least she couldn’t.

“So what do you plan on doing?” Luhan asked. It looked like everything had fallen apart before them. They remained in the calm eye of the storm while the rest of the world spun around them.

“That’s only for me to know.” She answered dryly.

“Just be careful, Xavier is a dangerous man.” Luhan reminded. Sarang’s eyes enlarged because he knew that she had found Xavier.

“How di-“

“Lay. You’re not the only one good with computers and finding people. Don’t worry, we didn’t tell Kris anything, for now.” Luhan explained. She nodded, not knowing if she should feel better or not.

“I’m sorry.” She said sincerely. Because of her Luhan and Lay were keeping secrets from the rest of the members. She didn’t deserve the help Luhan and Lay was giving her.

“For what?” He asked chuckling. Right now he looked so bright and sweet. Funny wasn’t it, how appearances were so deceiving.  Sometimes she wondered how it would feel like to see the other side of Luhan, the killer Luhan.

“I’m sorry for causing you two to keep secrets from your members. Next time, don’t do it.” She insisted and she saw pain flicker through Luhan’s eyes, but she didn’t understand why.

She turned to walk out of the apartment. Luhan was right on her heels, following a few paces behind her. Neither of them said a word the entire elevator ride down.

“For what? You did nothing wrong. You were simply trying to help a friend.” She stated warmly. Luhan turned to take a good look at the woman. Gosh, where did people like Sarang come from? Why couldn’t she just hate them for everything they had caused upon her? Why couldn’t she stay away? Why couldn’t she run like the rest? Why was she so forgiving? Why did Sarang stay even when Kris pushed her away? Why did she care about them, killers? 

“He’s quite stubborn, once he insists on doing something he usually follows through. This time however it means pushing you away.” Luhan mumbled sadly. Sarang nodded knowingly. They both knew Kris wasn’t going to change his mind anytime soon.

“I know. It’s okay. He does what he wants. He’s Kris Wu after all; I’ll just wait him out.” She responded while walking out of the building. She stopped in front of the front door and turned so she was standing directly in front of Luhan.  

“Kris wants to cut you out, but he won’t kill you. He’s gone soft on you and your life is no longer on the line. The Dragon’s Mark is just to make it seem like he’s still the same badass like before.” Luhan explained.  He knew the Dragon too well to know that he could never kill Sarang, but that also meant he knew that it would take a lot of convincing before Kris decided to let Sarang help them again. What scared Luhan was that Sarang was already half way gone, and he was scared that when Kris finally realizes that he wants her back, she’ll be long gone.  

“He does what he wants I guess.” She mumbled stiffly and he could tell she was upset even if she tried hiding it.

“Then what is it you want?” He asked. She looked at him, bewildered by his sudden question. Her eyes danced around wildly before they fell back on him.

“What I want doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does.”

“No it doesn’t.”

Luhan sighed, forgetting how stubborn Sarang was. Just like Kris. “You matter Sarang.” He affirmed. He saw light enter Sarang’s eyes as if it was the first time in her life hearing such things. Usually what she wanted didn't matter, because nobody thought she mattered. Sarang was the girl who grew up alone. She was the girl who didn’t have any support or love throughout her teenage years. She grew up lonely, scared, and frightened. In the end it was either she fell or she built up walls to hide all her pain. She went with the latter one.  Deep inside however, she was still just a little girl who needed someone there for her.

“I just want someone who will love me.”

I feel like this chapter is so boring, but I promise there's going to be more drama in the next chapter. I was supposed to make the next chapter this one, but that didn't seem to fit and it moved the storyline along to quickly. There's a lot of Sarang in this chapter, but I wanted to show her personality and how she's still willing to help EXO even when she's told otherwise.