[CONTENTID1]CHAPTER EIGHT - SURVIVE[/CONTENTID1]
[CONTENTID2]

​PLEASE REMEMBER TO UPVOTE IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY!

I throw myself at Master Wu, clinging onto him as my breaths come out in quick, shallow pants. Tears are rolling down my cheeks at a constant, rapid rate and I can't seem to find my words but I have to. The soldiers move behind Jackson, Henry and BamBam with guns in their hands.

"Please, please, please don't do this!" I beg, sobs raking my body. "I'm begging you, don't kill them, Yìfán. Don't kill them." He looks down at me and puts his hands on my waist, holding me against him. I fist his shirt in my hands and tug on it. "Don't kill them, please, Yìfán. Please!" 

I hear the cocking of guns and snap my head in that direction. The soldiers are pointing their weapons right at the three males I've come to love and I violently shake my head. "NO! Please, please, please, please, please!" I've never said one word so often and my throat is beginning to dry up. I look back at Master Wu. "Don't do this. If you love me, if you really love me you won't let them die."

"And why not?" He asks coolly. 

"I don't want their deaths to be on my conscience," I say, only telling half of the truth. "Don't let me bear the weight of their deaths. Please, if you love me. Don't do this." My voice is small and pathetic but at this very moment, I do not care. All I want is to save my friends. He groans and digs his fingers painfully into my back. 

"You drive me insane, woman," he growls, dipping his head so that his lips are on mine. He breaks away after a few short moments. "Stop." The soldiers lower their weapons. He looks at Henry's father. "Get your idiot son out of my sight before I change my mind and make my fiancée a very unhappy woman." The older man nods quickly and hauls Henry to his feet, dragging him out. I do not look at him as he leaves. He then looks at Jackson's father, as I've assumed him to be. 

"You can kill the slave, Lau won't care, but spare my son. Please," the man pleads and I widen my eyes at him, willing him to shut up. He does not spare me a glance. Master Wu nods at one of his soldiers, who then shoots Mr Wang in the head.

"NO!" Jackson roars and a soldier punches him to silence him. Jackson spits out blood-laced saliva and wipes his mouth. He looks up and gives Master Wu the most hateful glare I've ever seen in my life. "I'm going to kill you, you sick ." BamBam looks up with wide, worried eyes and starts shaking his head.

"No, just kill me--"

"I WILL ING DECIDE WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES," Master Wu bellows and the room falls silent. He then looks down at me. "Sweetie." I shudder in disgust at the term. "I know you don't want them dead but you're going to have to choose. I'm a merciful man but I am, after all, a man. I cannot just let them all live after they've captivated my woman, can I?"

"But you--"

"I know, I know," he sighs, kissing my forehead. I flinch and shove him away, staggering back. "Hyerim, don't be angry, my love."

"Shut up!" I snap and everyone gasps, their eyes fixated on me. "You're a monster. You just keep proving it day after day. So, do it. Prove it again. Kill them." Fei gapes at me and Minah buries her face in her chest, looking away from the scene before her. "ing kill them. I promise you that's the last thing you'll ever do."

"Are you...are you threatening me?" Master Wu asks as he laughs, his shoulders shaking. His men start laughing with him and it only fuels my anger. "Come on, love. Go upstairs, it'll all be over soon." I stand my ground and his face darkens. "Don't make me hurt you." 

"Hurt me," I say. "Hurt me and prove to me that you never really loved me."

"You know I ing do!" He barks, then quickly catches himself. He closes his eyes, takes several deep breaths, then opens them again. "Fine. You don't want the boys dead? I won't kill them." I let out a sigh of relief, until I see him walk over to one of the soldiers and take one of their guns. He points it at Fei and Minah. "Choose." 

"B-but--" Bang! It goes right in between them, taking off some ends of their hairs. "Stop!" 

"One person is not coming out alive, my love. Pick who it is," he purrs, his eyes cold and his smile equally as chilling. I always thought Luhan would be the first man I killed but I guess I was wrong. Wú Yì Fán just climbed to the top of the list. "Come on, my sweet Hyerim. We don't have much time. I'm getting frustrated and you know what happens when I get frustrated." 

"Kill me," I blurt out and his eyes widen. "You said one person isn't coming out alive. I choose myself." 

"No," he deadpans. 

"Why not? You said I could pick," I argue.

"I love you, you're not leaving me," he growls, then shakes his gun at Fei and Minah. "Now ing choose before I blow both of their brains--" Before he can finish his threat, Fei lunges forward and strikes him with one of the chopsticks in her bun, lodging it right in his eye. 

"AAHH!" He screams and whips her across the face with the back of his hand, sending her flat against the marble floor. He pulls the chopstick out of his eye and I can't help but look away. "You ing psycho bit--" Again, he's cut off. I look back and see that this time it's Minah who attacked him. She stabbed one of her own chopsticks through his shoulder. Bang! She falls to the ground, a hole right between her eyebrows. 

"NO!!!" I scream at the same time as Fei. I run over to her but I'm caught by one of the soldiers and he holds me back. Master Wu grabs Fei and hauls her to her feet, repeatedly smashing her in the face with his fist. "STOP! LEAVE HER ALONE!" He ignores me, continually delivering blows to her bloody face. 

In that moment, I snap. I slip my hand behind me and snatch the soldier's combat knife and flip it in my hands, throwing my arm over me and burying the weapon in his neck, right down to the tilt. I yank it out and he slumps to the ground, gurgling and clutching his neck as blood pours from the wound and his mouth. 

"What the--" Before another soldier can attack me, Jackson springs to his feet and kicks the gun out of his hand. I call out for him and launch the bloody knife at him. Simultaneously, BamBam gets to his feet and starts fighting the soldier identified as Yixing. I sprint over to Master Wu and jump onto his back, l