The clock hanging lifelessly on the living room wall struck midnight, indicating that the new day had officially begun. However, you did not move from your spot on the couch, with the blanket wrapped around your legs and a now frozen tea in hand. You were staring out the balcony window, looking into the deep navy sky, and thinking about your life and about a certain someone.

That someone was Hakyeon, your boyfriend of now one solid year. One year filled with love, laughter, smiles, and of course cuddles. You can still remember the moment you two crossed paths and you allowed the memory to consume your mind.

Flashback: One Year Ago

The thumping of the bass matched the thumping of your heart as you sat at the bar watching the sea of grinding bodies and sloshing alcohol. You came here with your close group of female friends, but with the club not being your favourite place, you opted out of being on the dance floor and decided instead to take refuge at the long stretch of a bar. Being the eldest, you did ensure your spot had a good vantage point to see the dance floor, so you could easily keep an eye on the crazy youngsters. Although, you had no worries at all if anything happened, you knew your friends could easily handle themselves.

You returned your attention back to the drink sitting patiently in your hand, but took quick notice of the pair of eyes on your body. Glancing to the left, you noticed a guy sitting a few seats away and shamelessly staring right at you. But you were in a club, that type of behaviour was forever to be expected. As you waited to see if the mystery man would take the first move, you allowed your eyes to casually roam his features.

Wearing black jeans and a navy button up with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, it was easy to conclude he had decent fashion sense and a lovely lean yet muscular build. His face held an aura of firmness, yet his chocolate brown eyes displayed his seemingly hidden gentle nature. What caught your attention though was his deep red hair that seemed to accent his entire being, and make his presence easily stand out.

He must have noticed, as your gaze lingered on his hair, that you completed your observations, for he finally stood up and casually strode over and took the seat directly next to yours.

“You know it’s not polite to stare.”

You scoffed, this was his pick-up line?

“I was only staring because I felt your eyes practically burning my skin.”

“I was merely admiring how lucky you got when you were born. You’re absolutely beautiful, you know that?”

And just like that he managed to smooth talk his way into your life.

Flashback End: Present Day

Still in the same position on the couch, the clock now read 12:45 am in its blaring red lights. Thinking about how you and Hakyeon met, allowed a small smile to be formed on your face. However, as your mind roamed through the year that the two of you spent together, your smile was soon replaced by a frown; the memories turning from good to bad.

Flashback: Five Months Ago

As you cautiously opened the door to your apartment, you silently prayed that Hakyeon wouldn’t be home. You were just getting back from a nasty territory dispute with a rival gang and being the leader of your own gang, you were obligated to step up and take charge of the situation. Unfortunately, this resulted in you getting blood on your hands, and shirt, and face; you wanted to clean up without Hakyeon seeing you.

You haven’t told Hakyeon of you being the leader of a gang, and not just any gang either. You were the leader of the Red Aces, a notorious female gang that didn’t put up with anybody being even a hair out of line. You were positive that telling Hakyeon this little secret of yours would result in either a break-up or him demanding that you back out and surrender your leadership title to someone else. But of course you weren’t about to let either of those things happen, so here you were now, sneaking quietly into the hallway of your shared apartment, hoping for everything to go right and Hakyeon to not be home.

“I wasn’t expecting you back so early. I figured with all the sneaking around you do, you wouldn’t come home until at least midnight.”

Dammit, so close. Why tonight, when I look like a bucket of blood was dumped on me, does he have to be home??

You slowly raised your head to look at the man in front of you. When you did, your eyes were met with a man who radiated anger and frustration from every pore. You were waiting for him to snap, but when he did, you couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“Where the hell have you been? First you sneak out and give me a vague response when I ask where you are going, and now you come home practically soaked in blood. I want answers.” He looked you dead in the eye, awaiting your response, but you weren’t about to let go of everything so easily.

“I got into a fight. A group of guys were attacking this poor old man, so I had to do something.”  Did he take the bait? Please say he accepted your lie…..

“You and I both know that is utter crap. You look like you just came from the slaughter house not a simple alley way fight.”  He was getting louder, ready to explode like a time bomb ticking down to its final seconds.

“So maybe it is utter crap, but what about you? Where have you been stalking off to in the middle of the night? You think I don’t notice, but I do. So don’t you complain about me, when you do the exact same thing.” That’s right; you knew Hakyeon was holding a secret captive from you as well. You didn’t know what exactly he did at night, but you were certain that you and he were from similar worlds. Considering the amount of anger seething from his being, you had to assume he figured out the same conclusion as you.

“Don’t you dare turn this on me. I’m not the one coming home drenched – “

“I GET IT OK? I’M DRENCHED IN BLOOD AND YOU WANT ANSWERS. WELL GUESS WHAT, I’M NOT TELLING YOU ANYTHING UNTIL YOU SPILL WHAT YOU’VE BEEN KEEPING SECRET FROM ME.” You were pissed to say the least, but you doubted either of you would break.

“You know what fine. You don’t want to talk, then don’t. I’m leaving; you can take as much time as you need to cool off. Dinner is on the stove, you can eat by yourself.”

Flashback End: Present Day

With that, he walked out. Neither of you wanted to break and tell the other your deepest darkest secret; the fact that you were both leaders of deadly gangs.

It took two weeks after that incident for you to swallow your pride and give him a short text to at least see how he was doing and make sure he was still alive. Fortunately for your withering heart, he texted back and both of you went back to decent terms, acting civil and going for a coffee the odd time. Unfortunately though, despite the two of you not wanting to break, everything you had together was indeed broken. The relationship that started as fun and light hearted turned sour and brittle; you were unsure if everything would be able to go back to the way it was.

Before you could further allow your mind to be into the darkness of your heart, the shrill and persistent ringing of the telephone cut the memories off.  Being just after one in the morning, you were unsure who would call, but nevertheless quickly grabbed the phone off its stand.

“Hello?”

“_______, come quick. That stupid newbie gang Snake Heads invaded our hangout and is threatening to kill everyone. They got some serious fire power with them. We need you to come now.”

“I’m on my way. Hold tight.”

As soon as the last words left your lips, you ran to your bedroom to grab a few guns and knives for the impending fight. With the supplies in a small bag, you dashed out the door and headed to the familiar closed down pub that served as the Red Aces’ hangout.

With your speeding and carelessness on the road it only took 15 minutes before you found yourself standing in front of the doors, allowing your ears to pick up on the sharp and jarring sounds coming from the other side. Screams were heard above the scraping and slamming of furniture being shoved around, but as you reached for the handle of the door, a single gunshot rang out and made you freeze in your position.

If there was one thing about being in a gang that you hated the most it was gunshots, especially when you weren’t in the same room as where the shooting took place. Hearing a gunshot is like hearing a judge slam down his gavel to indicate a decision has been made; the decision of life or death. Hearing the noise, but not seeing anything made your mind reel through all the possibilities that the one holding the gun was your enemy, and the one on the floor was your friend.

Finally reaching your senses, you barged through the door and took in the scene before you: tables and chairs were thrown every which way, glass was broken and littering the floor, blood was painted on the walls and floors trying to replace the neutral beige that originally coated everything, but most importantly all of your members and dear friends were still standing tall.

“SCATTER!!” The Snake Head leader seemed to have deemed it wise for his group to split up and go throughout the pub, trying to disrupt the flow with which you lead your team. A simple nod of your head however indicated to the girls to go after them and get rid of the revolting vermin.

Soon enough, you started hearing more shouts and yells, accompanied by the occasional gunshot. You tried not to think about the possible fate of your friends, but rather keep your focus on your target, who was not so discreetly moving about in the lower storage room.

You quickly understood, as you had your target trapped in the corner, why these amateurs were no threat in the underground world. They didn’t have the smarts or the finesse to complete even a simple ambush. With a little scoff toward the fake domineering member, you quickly pulled the trigger of your hand gun, and watched as the blood slowly leaked from a wound in his stomach. You figured if he wanted to live or was in the right state of mind, he could get himself out the building and go for help. If not he would bleed out and die in the dusty corner; the choice was his.

As you were making your way out of the storage room and back down the hallway, you heard a loud DAMMIT, followed quickly by a deafening shot. You ran down the hall way but stopped when your youngest member in the group stepped out of a side room with a look of confusion and terror etched in her features.

“Sunny, what happened?” You were trying to stay calm for the youngest, seeing as she was about to let panic settle in.

“I didn’t know he had a phone!! He just started doing something in the room, I thought he was going to get a weapon ready. He called for backup!!! We are so dead– “

“We are going to get through this just fine. What did you do to the guy?” You made sure to cut her off right when her rambling was about to start. You loved this girl dearly and would protect her with your life, but she had her moments of extremely low confidence, and it was easy for her to panic and think the worst.

Without opening , Sunny simply shrugged and hooked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating to a man lying lifelessly on the floor, blood slowly exciting from the hole atop his head. You didn’t need to check to know if he was completely dead, so you simply starting walking away, Sunny quickly following you.

Once again, shouts and screams were heard, but this time the noises sounded more thunderous and loud. It sounded as though a slumbering army just woke up and was ready once again to wage war. More gunshots were heard; glass and wood were being torn apart from the shower of bullets that rained down.

Before entering the main lounge room, you heard movement from the hallway behind you and quickly turned around to see yet another lowlife unsuccessfully trying to sneak around. Not wasting a bullet, you quickly made work of his life, and watched as he slumped unceremoniously down to the cement floor. However, despite most of the action being now behind you, your focus still remained out in the hallway as you slowing backed up into the main lounge area.

Before you had a chance to turn around and face the second group that served as back up, you felt something piece your back, which allowed a warm liquid to flow down your shirt. You weren’t stupid, you knew you had just been shot, but you still willed yourself to stay awake for as long as possible despite the fuzziness trying to tempt you into darkness.

“___________! NO!”

“OH MY GOD, PLEASE NO!”

“STAY WITH US. _____________.”

You were now on the floor, trying desperately to keep your mind awake and your eyes open. You heard the shouts of your friends, and the remaining spray of bullets that determined the fate of this little battle. But what shocked you, was the frozen state of the man who was still holding a gun up in the air. The gun that once held the bullet that was now lodged in your back.

Hakyeon?

Seven Months Later

Hakyeon was sitting on the couch in the apartment in the exact same spot you were merely seven months earlier. In his lap was a photo album; a collection of memories of the two of you together spending some of your best moments in the presence of the other.  As he looked through the photos, he couldn’t help but allow tears to spill down from his eyes. All the happy moments you spent together were ruined in one night; a night of lies and deception. He couldn’t believe what he allowed himself to do; he couldn’t believe what he had done.

“You’re looking at that thing again?”

Hakyeon quickly looked up to acknowledge the sweet voice and locked his eyes with yours. You were standing at the entrance to the living room, a small smile on your face and only adoration and love in your eyes. What would have happened if he had lost you?

“I shot you _________. I almost killed the most precious thing in my life.” Hakyeon started to cry again and you quickly moved to take a seat next to him. You didn’t hesitate to wrap your arms around his shoulders and he didn’t hesitate to take refuge in the crook of your neck.

“Shh, Hakyeon it’s okay now. That is all in the past, what is important now is that we are both alive and well. You’re never going to lose me.”

That night seven months ago was a turning point for all of you, for both Hakyeon’s gang and yours. It was a reminder that all life can be taken away at a moment’s notice and to treasure what you have while it is in your possession. That night Hakyeon made a vow to himself, to forever protect you and to never keep secrets from you again. He almost lost you once, he wasn’t about to let it happen again.

A/N: Thank you to KpopLoverLella for requesting this scenario!! I honestly quite enjoyed writing this, so hopefully it was enjoyable to read as well.  :D

Keep those requests coming and please do continue to have fun reading my oneshots! ^^