[title song: satrangi re]

Chapter 8;

You jump to the side, barely avoiding his swinging spear as it whizzes past your head. When his back is turned to you, you swing your leg aiming at his back. You don’t miss (thank God) and he yelps a little as he slams face first into the ground.

“J. Behind you.” You warn, because the lion-like one is coming up from behind Jessica. You watch as Jessica smirks, falling to the ground and spinning on her hands, hitting the man’s legs straight out from under him. Suddenly a spear swings barely a centimeter from your nose and you flinch back because , that was way too close.

The tall one chuckles, darkly. “You lucky .” You lock eyes with Jessica from behind him and you nod. Suddenly there’s a loud bang and you flinch slightly when you hear the tall one with the spear grunt in shock. He hits the floor hard, blood seeping from his leg. Jessica had hit him in the leg. She’s never had the guts to shoot anyone above the legs. The graceful one shouts throwing a punch at Jessica, who narrowly avoids it, and scrambles back. You’re about to join her when a rough hand wraps around your waist, caging your arms, and you feel something cold touching the side of your forehead.

“You’re going to ing pay for that.” Someone hisses into your ear, his grip around you tightening, the cold metal pressing against your skin. Then he speaks louder, “Drop your guns or your friend is dead.” Jessica doesn’t even hesitate as she lets her guns fall to the floor with a dull thud. The graceful one grabs Jessica by the ponytail and drags her closer to where you are being held. He pauses for a moment and crouches in front of the bleeding one.

“You’ll be okay. Lay will be here soon, Zi.” He says, softly, brushing the sweaty hair off the boy’s forehead.

He then stands up and drags Jessica closer. You can tell from the way Jessica’s biting her lips that she’s scared. And you swore you’d do everything in your power to make sure she’s never scared again. You need to get out of this. You need to get away. You feel a hand travel up your waist until it wraps around your bun. He tugs at it sharply and speaks fiercely, “Don’t even think about escaping because you won’t.”

The graceful one speaks fluidly, “How about we take off your masks? How about you show us your pretty little faces?”

“ off.” You hiss because their condescending tones are really beginning to piss you off.

The graceful one takes a few steps forward until he’s crouching in front of you, nose to nose. You can see that he’s still gripping Jessica by the ponytail. You can’t see his eyes and it’s creepy and unsettling. “You’re the leader, aren’t you? I saw you giving that one permission to shoot Zi.”

You hold his gaze, refusing to back down. “I am. So what?”

The one holding your hair speaks in your ear with a tone that causes shivers to run down your spine. “We’re going to track down the rest of your members,” He pauses, his rough hand suddenly becoming gentle, caressing even. It makes his next words even more terrifying, “And we’re going to kill them all. One by one. While you’re forced to watch until the very last second. And then we’ll kill you, Leader.” You can feel your heart beating franticly against your chest. You need a plan. You need to get out. This is bad, this is so ing bad. Then you remember the weapon you stashed up your sleeve. It’s your only chance and you have to take it. You have to.

The graceful one pulls away, dropping his hand from Jessica’s ponytail to her waist, as he pulls out his cellphone. Now’s your chance.

You extend your arm a little and you can feel the switchblade in your sleeve sliding down, slowly. He’s still tugging at your hair roughly and you whimper, “Can’t you loosen up a bit? It hurts.”

He sounds incredulous when he speaks, “I’m not even really hurting you yet.”

“Please.” You say, a little pitifully. You don’t think he’ll react; he is a member of a very cruel mafia. But then you hear him sigh before loosening his grip on your hair. Instead his gloved hand wraps around your elbow, loosely.

You wait exactly two minutes, counting down the seconds as Jessica fidgets nervously in front of you and the graceful one speaks on the phone. You smile at her reassuringly and she just keeps frowning, nervously.

And then you let the switchblade slip down to your fingers and flick it open. Before anyone can react you slash the one holding you in the arm causing him to shout in pain. You don’t give him time to recover; you just knee him in the groin and spin on your heels. Jessica had taken advantage of the momentary distraction and had sent a knee straight into the graceful one’s groin, too. The phone drops to the ground and you can hear faint, confused shouting coming from it. You grab Jessica’s hand and push her forward, towards the door. You’re right at the door, ignoring the yelling from behind you, when there’s a loud bang and intense pain shoots up your side. You stumble out the door, clutching your side, and follow Jessica through the maze of dark alleyways. But the world is spinning and your side hurts so much and you feel so, so lightheaded. “Jess…I—” You start, but you don’t finish your sentence because the world goes absolutely dark. The last thing you remember is Jessica’s panicked expression.

~.~.~.~.~

You wake up to a dark room, gasping for breath. You flinch when excruciating pain shoots up your side. The light flickers on and Mina is at your side. “Hey, Sooyong-ah. Calm down. You’re okay.” You don’t realize that you’re breathing really hard until Mina runs a soothing hand up and down your spine.

You stare at her in confusion, “What happened? Where am I? Where’s Jessica? Is she okay?”

“You were shot, you’re in your bedroom, Jessica is downstairs eating ramyun, and she’s fine, just a few cuts and bruises.” Mina replies, calmly. “Now, you need to shut up and sleep. Stop stressing, it’s not helping you or anyone else.”

You take a deep, shaky breath, and sigh. “Okay. Yeah. That’s good. Tell me everything tomorrow?”

Mina smiles, gently, “Of course. And then when you recover I’m going to beat the out of you for nearly bleeding out on the streets.”

You just roll your eyes, “You care so much.”

She nods, “I do. Now, sleep.”

You fall asleep as soon you close your eyes.

~.~.~.~.~

From: Baekhyun

hey why aren’t u in class?

You’re currently huddled in your bed, unable to sit up, honestly. Apparently, they couldn’t take you to the hospital since that would involve entirely too many questions so Mina had decided to pull up a WikiHow article and take the bullet out of your ribcage herself. When she had told you this, you stared at her in anger, because what would have happened if it didn’t work. She just shrugged and said something along the lines of “But it did work, so why are you worried?” You couldn’t exactly go to class yet, since you could barely move, and also you’re worried that EXO might be hanging around the streets and if they notice that you happen to have the same exact injury as the girl they attacked then things could get ugly. So you decided to email your teachers and tell them you’ve gotten a really bad case of the flu.

I’m sick, like really gross flu kind of sick. You text him back, sighing.

oh aight. drink lots of water, feel better soon, don’t die i'm not doing the project by myself.

You roll your eyes and respond, Oh, now you care about the project.

i care abt it just not as much u do. you nerd.

Don’t be mean to me. I’m sick.

so??? anyway, who’s taking care of u?

You’re an . And Mina is. Why?

thanks, i’m gonna take that as a compliment. and mina? won't she get sick too?

No, she’s a strong one. Her immune system is incredible. I’ve never seen her sick even once. I wonder where it comes from.

her s i'm pretty sure it comes from her s.

Hmm, you’re right. Is that why they’re so big?

probably, you should ask her. or maybe i should.

Yah! You ert.

you were the one talking abt your best friends big s. god.

I’m ending this conversation.

just rmbr that we need to meet up for part 2 of the project this weekend. and get well soon! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ✧

You roll your eyes because Byun Baekhyun is actually so dumb.

“You’re smiling. Who are you texting?” Mina asks suddenly. You blink in surprise to find Mina leaning against the door, arms crossed.

“Baekhyun.” You say, indifferently, schooling your expression into indifference. You don’t need Mina teasing you about Baekhyun anymore then she already does. It’s embarrassing and totally not true.

“What are you talking about?” Mina rambles, eyeing you a little suspiciously.

“You, actually.” You say.

“Me?”

“Yeah. You and your big s.” You say.

She gives you a weird look that seems a little disappointed. “I know my s are a hot topic. But why would you talk about that? You obviously like him. ing jump him already, Sooyong-ah.”

“Mina.” You mutter, glaring at her because no.

Mina rolls her eyes, “Let’s face it. You’re hot. I doubt Baekhyun will say no.”

“I don’t like him.” You say, throwing up your hands in frustration.

“You keep telling yourself that.” Mina mutters, throwing you a rather murderous look before she stomps out of your room. Why does she even care so much about this?

You don’t like Baekhyun.

Or at least you don’t want to.

~.~.~.~.~

It’s been a few days and you can finally walk without feeling excruciating, crippling pain. But that’s about it. You figure you won’t be able to go to school for at least another week. You sigh, turning your head to the side and stare at the coffee Minhee had dropped off earlier when she told you about how she and Jessica had taken the cameras to a discrete location and smashed the hell out of them. You hadn’t touched the coffee or the scones. You’re not really hungry. You don’t know why.

You’re currently lying on your back, wrapped in a blanket, across the couch watching reruns of some dramas, or at least the dramas are playing while you stare at the ceiling, wistfully. The thing is you can’t stop thinking. You keep thinking about how close EXO was to capturing you and Jessica. To killing you. It freaked you out, you have to admit. And then your mind is being rather annoying and keeps cutting back to Baekhyun holding your hand and Baekhyun kissing your forehead and Baekhyun texting you to make sure you’re getting better and just Baekhyun, in general. You obviously like him, Mina had said. Is she right? You don’t want her to be right. Baekhyun may be nice once in a while (nice and sweet and cute and ugh) but he’s still got that reputation. It’s not like he seems completely uninterested in you, either. He had tried to get his hand up your metaphorical skirt enough times for it to not be considered a mistake or a coincidence. But that’s the problem. What if that’s all he wants to do? you and leave. Maybe he considers you a challenge. Classic bad boy slacker gets the goody two shoes Class President. You sigh, shaking your head. You don’t want to think about this. You refuse to think about this.

That’s when your doorbell buzzes, loudly. You nearly fall out of the couch in surprise. Thank the Gods you didn’t because you’re sure you would have died from the pain. You frown, wrapping the blanket around you because you’re just wearing a thin tank top and shorts and hadn’t bothered changing. You weren’t expecting guests. You stumble to the door, wincing a little at the pain, before you open the apartment door.

You gape because it’s ing Byun Baekhyun, dressed in a black peacoat, black skinny jeans that fit him in all the right places, and that stupid perfectly windswept hair and those stupid perfectly smoky eyes. Obviously the Gods want to punish you for skipping school and selling drugs and every other terrible thing you’ve ever done. Byun Baekhyun is the last person you want to see today.

“I might be really attractive but that doesn’t mean you have to keep staring.” Baekhyun says, eventually, with a stupid smirk.

You glare at him, “What are you doing here?”

Baekhyun holds out the bags and his laptop (that you’ve just noticed actually) and grins. “We have to start part two of our project. And I brought kimchi soup. Since you’re sick.”

You stare at him, at his toothy grin and bright eyes, at the way the tip of his nose and ears are a little red from the chilly weather, and why is he so cute? Why does he care so much? This is so ing confusing. You don’t like him. You don’t, you don’t, you don’t.

“Um, you okay? You look like you’re going to throw up. Don’t you ing dare throw up on me.” Baekhyun says, suddenly, staring at you warily.

You blink and take a deep breath, “I’m not going to throw up. And since you’re here uninvited you deserve to be puked on.”

He wrinkles his nose in disgust. “You’re gross.”

“You’re grosser.”

He laughs before pushing his way past you and into the apartment. You hold in your wince when his elbow brushes against your ribs. He sets up his computer at the dining room table and you watch as he makes himself comfortable, draping his coat along the back of his chair, ignoring the fact that you never even really invited him in. What an idiot. A cute idiot. Wait, no. Gross. A gross idiot. He looks up at you expectantly and you sigh, exaggeratedly, and slump into the seat across from him. “We need to make powerpoints and videos and .” He says, like he knows what he’s doing.

You nod, “Okay.”

He pauses, fingers hovering over the keyboard before he drops his hands, “I don’t know how to do this.” You laugh so hard, pain shoots up your side. You gasp a little and there’s fingers touching your cheek, gently. “Woah. Are you okay?”

You take a moment to compose yourself, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just felt really lightheaded all of a sudden.”

Before you know it, his fingers leave your face (and you refuse to acknowledge the wave of disappointment washing through you). A glass of cold water and a bowl of kimchi soup appear in front of you. You lock eyes with Baekhyun and he leans back on his chair, crossing his arms, and eyes you sternly. “Eat it.”

“I’m fine.” You say because you don’t want to eat. You’re not hungry.

Baekhyun actually sounds a little dangerous when he speaks again, eyes narrowed into slits, “Eat it before I make you.”

You scowl at him but you oblige, mostly because you’re ninety-nine percent sure he’s not bluffing. You take a bite and it’s really good and your stomach growls loudly, indicating that, hey, you’re actually really hungry. Baekhyun makes an irritated sound and then you end up eating in silence. Finally he speaks again, “You don’t look sick.”

“I am.” You say, sniffling for emphasis, after a spoonful of soup.

He rolls his eyes, “Let me rephrase that: you don’t look like a person who’s had the flu for almost a week.”

You shrug, “What can I say? I’m always cute.”

He doesn’t laugh. You look up at him and he looks so, so serious. You put down your spoon and cross your arms, mirroring him. When he speaks, his tone is clipped, “Tell me the truth.”

You stare at him, “What are you talking about?”

He leans forward then, placing his hands flat on the table, his eyes piercing, “I want you to tell me the truth.” He’s got that look in his eyes again, that look that seems so knowing.

You bury your nervousness. He can’t possibly know about LILAC, right? “What exactly are you trying to imply, Baekhyun? I am telling you the truth.” No you’re not, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“You’re not actually sick, are you? You’re hurt. Someone hurt you.” He’s saying this so casually, but at the same time there’s an underlying current of anger, of very controlled anger.

“No.” You respond, hoping to God he doesn’t notice the slight falter in your voice. He’s just looking at you so intensely and it makes you incredibly anxious.

There’s a long pause and you watch as he gets up and makes his way around the table. He sits down right beside you and pulls your hands into his and you blink, in surprise, because he slowly intertwines his fingers with yours and leans so, so close, until you’re looking him right in the eyes and can’t look anywhere else. “I know you’re lying. I know what you’re doing. What’s happening with you. And your friends. I know.”

He can’t possibly know about LILAC. But. He does. He’s implying that he does. You stare at him, gripping his hands tensely. He responds by rubbing tiny, soothing circles into your wrists with his thumbs. His eyes are filled with concern and slight anger. He even looks a little sad.

You stare at him. “What. What do you know? How did you find out?”

---

a/n: oooOOOoooOOooOo another cliffhanger oops.

Thank you for reading, the subs, and nice comments, keep em coming pleaseeee! ^^