CHAPTER six

Run

          There was a loud thud, then the door broke open. The light on the corridor blazed into the room, then a familiar face become visible in the doorstep. Kris shut the door behind him, his lips curved in a fierce grimace – this time, there was the scar of a cut on his marble face. His eyes went for Yoona; he bit his lip when he saw the ring on her finger – then he leaped at her.      

‘I thought I told you not to show up again!’ cried Luhan, placing himself between Kris and Yoona. He seemed strong, but he trembled as if he were on the edge of a cliff. Kris roared, then Luhan out of the way with a single hand; Luhan tumbled down to the ground. He got up quick, just to be knocked down by Kris again. Yoona shot him a glance, as Kris approached. His eyes were big; his lips shivered as he stood stooped on the floor.         

‘It was with her…’ breathed Kris, getting closer to Yoona. ‘Come here, won’t you.’

          Yoona watched Kris walk closer, her mind unsettled by thousands of voices that spoke all at once only to her. She took her head in her hands, then as Kris closed his rigid fingers around her wrist, she jostled him away with a blow in the face. The man of marble brought his hand to his cheek, then exposed his teeth in anger. Yoona tried her best to ignore the noise in her head; she ran for her gun, which she had left in the bedroom. Kris followed her, but two arms as pale as his wound up from nowhere around his neck, bringing him down to the floor.         Yoona stopped in her way when she heard them falling. One moment, Kris topped Luhan, throwing punches she would have thought deadly; the other, Luhan would roll above Kris, throwing his row of blows into the man who wouldn’t break.

‘Go!’ shouted Luhan, in his struggle to put Kris down.

          Yoona breathed hard, then followed Luhan’s orders and hurried to where she knew she had left her gun. Her hands shuddered as she removed the piles of clothes to find nothing. She heard the shrieks of pain, the thumps and the jingle of broken glass from the living room, as she turned anything that lay in the room upside down in search for it – the gun wasn’t there. She sprinted to the living room, where a bloodstained Luhan wrestled Kris with an arduousness she had never attributed to him before. Where was the Luhan that put down this odd man with just one stare?

          She noticed the voices in her head quieted down, then when she thought about them, they grew louder once again.

‘The couch!’ shrieked Luhan, breaking the clatter of voices. ‘By the couch!’

          Yoona did as told and, ignoring the strife between Luhan and Kris, hastened to the couch. When she stepped on it, she knew what Luhan had sent her for – the gun was under her feet. She picked it up in a flash, pointing it towards Kris. She held her finger on the trigger, but she couldn’t bring herself to shoot. Across the room, Luhan gave his last in fighting Kris.

‘Shoot!’ asked Luhan of her.

          She hesitated – who would the bullet hit?

‘Yoona!’ cried Luhan.

          Then, her eyes closed, she shot the gun once. Twice. The hums of struggle all turned into a shriek that filled the night – whose was it? The noise continued, but it was drained. She didn’t open her eyes even when all she could hear was a pair of weary steps approaching. She didn’t open them even when she felt hands around her shoulders, but exhaled satisfied, knowing it was Luhan.

‘You fool!’ he said. ‘Why did you take the ring?’

          She opened her eyes to a bruised Luhan. Luhan’s hand slid down her arm to her hand – she dropped the gun. He took her fingers into his, then delicately slid his ring off her hand. It slid without trouble, as if it were charmed – the ring that wouldn’t move off her finger before.

‘Sorry,’ she exhaled. ‘I was –‘

‘Curious. Now you know, but you almost  killed us both.’

          Xiumin was in front of the NIS headquarters building when Yoona arrived; she didn’t know exactly why she was there, but she could guess. At first, she thought she would talk to him, but remembering her purpose and Luhan’s words, she passed by him without a word.

‘You should stop,’ he said, when she had pressed her card through the lock.

‘What?’

‘I know what you and the Chinese guy are trying to do,’ he explained. ‘But you should give up.’

          Yoona turned to him, wondering how much of their plans he knew. Even so, she thought, there was nothing he could do – she was going to do it, for Sehun at least.

‘It’s not your brother’s life that’s at stake,’ she replied.

‘But yours is,’ he told her, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

          It took her aback, but she kept her chin high – she wouldn’t waver in front of a mere threat.

‘You’re just my assistant,’ she said. ‘Don’t act like you care.’

          With that, she her heel and went in. She counted seconds as she rode the elevator up to the fourth floor where her office was. She pulled out the drawers of her desk as swift and desperate as Kris had been when she’d seen him the very first time, right there, in that office room. When she had grabbed all the papers that were remotely related to Flight 191, she hurried outside. It didn’t surprise her that Xiumin had not left, but she wondered why he didn’t follow her inside. He seemed anxious, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Yoona would have stopped to explain how things had fallen into place, but time was running quick.

‘Yoona,’ he spoke behind her turned back. ‘They’re going to get you –  if you go with him.’

          Abruptly, she stopped. She looked at Xiumin over her shoulder. ‘Who?’

          He rattled, looking left, then looking right. Then he seemed to consider whether he should spit out truths or spit out lies. ‘NIS,’ he whispered, in the end.

          At hearing it, Yoona’s heart beat noticeably faster. She knew how sly NIS chiefs could be, and she knew they had reasons to come after her and Luhan. Her hands trembled for an instant, but she collected herself fast, hoping with her all that this was just Xiumin’s fraught attempted to stop her.

          But then, why would he want to stop her?

‘Goodbye,’ she uttered. ‘Xiumin.’

          With a brief shake of the head, all the thoughts went away. She eyed the road ahead, and hoped she had made the right decision.

          It was after long hours of unconsciousness that Sehun woke up. He lay on his back, strapped to a table of some sort, in a room whose walls were made of shiny grey rock. At first he was dizzy, his vision blurry, but each second brought his lucidity back.

‘Yoona,’ he muttered, a little breathless. He opened his mouth wide, breathing in deeply, as if the oxygen wasn’t enough.

‘He woke?’ he heard a voice speaking low.

‘Give him one more shot,’ another added.

          Sehun heard footsteps approaching, and he knew at once what was to happen. A man’s face, as fair as marble, appeared above him. Sehun stared at him lifelessly as he inserted a bony white hand into the pocket of his black jacket. He followed the hand, then something shiny took his eye. Tied to his belt was a knife. It was out of reach, but it meant life.

          The marble man took out a syringe: Sehun could almost feel its needle in the back of his head. As the man drew closer to administer the drug, Sehun’s fingers stretched towards his belt.

          But like an iron lock, an agile marble hand closed around his wrist.

          Yoona felt her heart thump when she knew she was almost there. She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag, wondering what secrets hid the papers she never had the chance to really read.

          She took out her phone to dial Luhan: he had told her to let him know when she was near. It was only the ticks of the touchpad and her footsteps that echoed on the alley drowned in the purple and blue lights of early sunrise. But the next moment brought another sound: someone else was on the alley.

          Just as she tried to dismiss the fluster that took over her senses, the phone’s screen lit up with a text message. She opened it; it was from Luhan.

Run, it said.

Dear readers,

I know it's been forever since the last update, and I'm soooo sorry - but I was busy with life. Thanks a bunch for all the love! Don't worry, I'll be taking this to the very end!

Love,

luluflawless