Chapter 13

Sooyeon popped her head in between the fridge sniffing for food. She stood up with a frown plastered on her face.

‘Hungry’ She mumbled. There was still nothing to eat since they had to flee for their lives after the unpleasant encounter yesterday, leaving bags and bags worth of food behind and she knew Kyungsoo wouldn’t come back anytime soon. He stilled had at least an hour left, and that was too long for the starving troublemaker. Refusing to sit down, she searches the fridge another 5 times before her eyes landed on a green glass bottle.

‘Soju?’ She read the label. She eyed the bottle, deciding whether it was a good idea to drink this or not. She rolled her eyes and easily flicked off the lid before downing almost half of the bottle in one go.

Bad mistake. Almost immediately she regretted her stupid decision as she realised what she had taken.

Liquid 137

She felt light-headed and her body went numb. She remembered this feeling all too well. Desperately she dragged herself with her remaining strength to the couch and collapsed, blacking out.

She just hoped Kyungsoo would come back in time.

###

 ‘Experiement 088 must be in top shape to be able to get the best results.’ She heard Dr. Kim say to one of his assistant.  ‘She’s the longest and the most successful product I’ve created, only give her Liquid 120 (water). Nothing must go wrong with this one.’ She gritted her teeth and clenched her first, her nails digging into the palm of her hands. She knew exactly where she was.

Back at the lab.

Her eyes widened as she found herself standing right next to Dr.Kim but strangely he couldn’t see let alone hear her.

‘Am I… in my own dream?’ She mumbled to herself.

Sooyeon was indeed his brightest and the most successful experiment; however she was also the hardest to work with. Since the day she was taken in, and now every time he had to work with her, she’d rebel with all her might. It would get dangerous each time, as she gets stronger, faster and better. But Dr.Kim was a puzzled man. He believed that everything came with a price. And Sooyeon’s struggles were the little price he paid each time he ‘improved’ her.

His improvements were her torture.

She starred at him with hatred. Today was the day that Dr.Kim and his fellow mad men come together to gloat about their ‘successes’ this probably meant that there would be a lot of noise and of course a lot of liquid 137 she had heard about. She knew that that drink will particularly make her ill of some short but she didn’t know exactly how bad the effect would be.

But her younger self couldn’t care less.

Sooyeon knew what was going to happen, she stood with her back against the wall watching her younger self waiting for an opportunity to sneak out.

That night when she remembered she could hear the people laughing away under the influence of alcohol, she watched and followed her younger self who had just managed to easily slip past the guards and into the room. They seemed to all be drunk as luckily for her, they ignored her presence, continuing chatting away. Her younger self smirked and carefully walked in to grab on of the translucent green bottles, gripping it in her hands she turned around to leave quietly, except this time, she felt a land latch against her wrist as she was about to leave.

‘Y-y-you’ The man shakily said, slurring. She held her breath watching herself turn back again to meet his eyes.

Had she been caught? Was she going to be punished? She remembered everything that was going through her head at that exact moment.

Her younger self kept a straight face.

‘Yes?’

‘Get me another 7 of Soju and clean up the empty bottles’ She heard him say. She raised an eyebrow and tried to process it. Did he think she was a waiter? Was this what liquid 137 does to you? She looked around the room. None of them looked like they were functioning properly. They all acted like animals. She could of just brutally killed them all, but it wasn’t in her nature. Sooyeon crossed her arms together, as she turned and notice a boy around her age, who seemed to be the only sober one. He sat with his lips plastered together in a straight line, clearly watching the scene.

How come she didn’t notice him before? She couldn’t quiet see his face, so she shifted her attention back to 15 years old Sooyeon who had just her heels and once again tightly gripping the one bottle she managed to still hold onto.

‘Are you deaf? Clean up the mess and bring so more you brat!’ He murmured, trying balance himself on the chair.  She eyed him exactly like how her former 15 year old self glared at him. She guessed some things just never change. Clearly he got irritated by the minute as he still hasn’t gotten any of his Soju. He threw his chair behind him and harshly stood up, clenching his fist, attempting to make a swing at her. Just as she was about to run and literally save herself, someone beat her to it.

‘Dr. Park, I’ll handle this and get your Soju too.’ She lifted up her head to meet the same man sobered. Why couldn’t she remember what he looked like? Her mind blanked out as all she could do was look at him drag away her younger self. Quick on her feet, she kept a distance behind the male who had dragged her out and watched as he kindly sent her back safety in to her room with no words. Once he had successfully closed the door, he pushed is hands into his pocket and went back into the room, walking right past her.

If this was a dream, she could pause time right?

She shut her eyes closed and opened them to see that time had frozen, turning her head to the side, she caught his back view, he didn’t look like an adult, he couldn’t have been that older.

But the question was, who was he?

Why did she have no memory of this?

She closed her eyes for a brief second, and the next thing she knew she shot up panting, not in Kyungsoo’s home.

But at a hospital.

###

Kyungsoo arrived home, seeing Sooyeon on the couch, assuming she was ‘sleeping’. He went over and shook his head.

‘Why didn’t you sleep in the bedroom?’ He whispered before placing a blanket over her. He leaned in closer and creased his eyebrows, he realised she was breaking into cold sweats. He panicked.

‘Sooyeon, are you okay?’ He immediately placed his hand over her forehead.

She was burning up.

“Wake up’ he tried shaking her but she didn’t budge. He groaned and picked her up, rushing towards his car before speeding off to the ambulance.

‘Leave you for a few hours and you’ve gotten yourself sick’ He mumbled extremely worried.

Once they arrive, he quickly searched for assistance and was escorted to a room. The doctor did some check ups and he himself found it unusual that Sooyeon’s temperature was below average, but her body was burning up. Kyungsoo watched anxiously as he jotted some points on his clip board and just left, assuring D.O that she’ll be fine.

But they both knew he had no idea what to do in this situation.

D.O pulled his chair closer to the hospital bed and watched her like a hawk.

‘Sooyeon. You’re a tough girl.’ He whispered, hoping that she’ll hear him.

‘She’ll pull through’ He convinced himself.

She just has to. 

He felt a slight vibration in his front pocket, annoyed he looked at the unknown caller ID and relucantly stood up and walked outside the room to answer the phone in the echoed corriodoors. 

'Hello, D.O speaking' He spoke. 

'I suppose this is the correct number then. Mr Do, It seems like you have found something very valuable of mine.' He heard the other end.

'What are you talking about? Who's this?' He furrowed his eyebrows together.

Was this a prank?

'Just listen to me. I know you had a girlfriend that went missing 4 years ago.' D.O's eyes widened.

'I don't have time for games my boy, so i'll get to the point. You have something of mines, and i have something of yours. Let's exchange.' He continued, his playful voice was now quiet cold. 

'Is this..... Dr. Kim' He breathed, unintentionally clenching his fist.

'Smart boy you are. Now how about my offer.' 

'Sooyeon for Hyerin'. He deadpanned.

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Authors Note: Sick today so i thought i'd use it to update! :) Took me longer than usual considering my fever is making it kinda hard to focus and brainstorm today.... 

Look forward to CH014! :D Have a nice day lovelies!!