Chaerin stirred in bed as she kicked the sheets off her body. The noises outside and the rushed footsteps woke her up from her sleep. Not that it was a pleasant one anyways. She stood from bed, walking slowly towards the door. But, before she could open it, she heard rushed voices, almost as if the words were being slurred out.

“Ji called, they are on their way. We have to scram.”

“Take as much as you can and let’s leave.”

“Go get Chaerin.”

She put a hand over her chest, looking around frantically, taking deep breaths. When she moved towards the bed, the door opened harshly, and Seungri walked in.

“We need to leave.” He said, throwing her a jacket. She grabbed it, quickly putting it on without questioning. Seungri nodded, walking out of the room. Chaerin followed him, trembling inside when she realized Jiyong was nowhere to be found.

“W-Where’s Jiyong?” She dared ask when they reunited on the living room. Daesung looked at her with an apologetic face, but Seunghyun simply scoffed, grabbing a long gun.

“He’s not here.” Seunghyun asked. “And we should leave.”

“I-Is he—”

“Not dead.” Daesung answered. She nodded, but somehow, it didn’t made her feel at ease. He wasn’t there, period.

“We got a distress call from him, we are going to aid him.” Seunghyun spoke, and she nodded, shaking inside.

“Ok.” She muttered, walking towards the table full of weapons. Seungri stopped her, putting a hand up. She halted, crooking her head at him.

“You’re not coming.” He told her.

“Why not?”

“Chaerin, let’s not go there. We respect you, because of Jiyong, but you’re dead weight to us. I believe he told you, right?” Daesung said. She took a deep breath, her muscles tensing as she felt the insult of Daesung.

“Dead weight?” She echoed, and Daesung nodded, as if what he said made perfect sense. It did, but Chaerin didn’t wanted to admit defeat.

“Having to take care of you while helping him will only put him at risk. Also, it’s your family they’re fighting, if they get to you, then Jiyong’s sacrifice will be in vain.”

“Enough talk, let’s scram.” Seunghyun interrupted, putting a bag over his shoulder. Chaerin didn’t said another word, it was more than clear their position.

But, the way they said ‘Jiyong’s sacrifice’ made her tremble from fear inside.

They led her out of the apartment, down the stairs. They formed a circle around her as they hurried down. It gave her a hard time to keep up with them. Even if she was wearing snickers, they were way too fast for her.

By the time they reached the ground floor, she was panting and sweating. Seunghyun peeked through the door, signaling the others to walk out. Daesung walked out first, followed by Seungri. “Your turn.” Seunghyun said, and she nodded, taking a step out.

Seungri was still close to her while Daesung walked towards the entrance of the building, holding his gun high as he checked the area. “Clear.” He muttered, opening the door.

They walked out, following Daesung towards a car. Chaerin followed, looking down as she tried to keep up with them. They were near the car when a noise near some bushes to her left made her stop abruptly. She looked around, frowning as she saw a pair of legs moving from bush to bush. “Seung—”

Before she could call him out, a loud noise of an explosion interrupted her. The loud noise hurt her ears as the expansion of the explosion threw her back. She yelped as she fell on her back, holding her ears, instinctively turning around so her back would be facing the shower of metal, crystals shards and dirt. The heat of fire evolved her, and she panted, suppressing a shriek, dragging her body towards the building.

“DAESUNG! GET CHAERIN!” She heard at a distance. The air was coming out short as she put her hands on the floor, aiding her body up. When she lifted her head, her body was already being carried by someone. Her back hurt, her arm was sore and her leg felt like being tore apart.

“!” She screamed, and the man, who she assumed was Daesung, let her go, sitting her down far from the explosion. “Ahh.” She hissed, holding her leg. Daesung kneeled in front of her, his face covered in dust and sweat, and grabbed her leg. She hissed again, taking deep breaths.

“It’s not broken.” He muttered, breaking the sleeve from his shirt and quickly bandaging the fresh wound on it. “Let’s make pressure so the bleeding would stop, alright?” He told her. She nodded shyly, still trying to process what happened.

“What was that?” She said, looking at the fiery flames by the entrance of the building. She hadn’t realized how far Daesung has taken her up until now.

“Someone planted a bomb on the car. I guess they found us already.”

“M-My family?” She said, but Daesung shrugged.

“Could be, could be the Dragons. I can’t tell.” He said. She nodded. Chaerin lifted her head, trying to look for Seungri or Seunghyun, but right at their side, a man with a mask was moving slowly towards them. He was so subtle it was almost hard to spot, but she saw him, and her eyes widened as she saw he was carrying some sort of weapon.

“Daesung!” She screamed, and he quickly stood up, only to be thrown to the side when the man hit his head with a bat. She jumped back, her leg throbbing, as she tried to hide from view. But the man already saw her. She held in her breath as he approached her.

Chaerin was ready to receive a hit, closing her eyes in an effort to numb the impending pain she was about to receive. The man lifted the bat, and just as Chaerin was starting prayers for dear life, Daesung threw himself on the man, knocking him out of his feet. Chaerin gasped, frozen in spot as she watched how Daesung continuously hit the man on his face. The man coughed, and she realized Daesung was constantly hitting his thorax now, breaking ribs, apparently.

“Who sent you?!” Daesung yelled, and before the man could talk, some other launched himself on top of Daesung, throwing him out. Chaerin jumped, hyperventilating as she debated whether she should aid Daesung or simply remain there, watching how the beat the crap out of him.

By the time Daesung was already with his arms covering her face and slightly crouched, she stormed out of her hiding spot. The bat was lying close to Daesung, and she didn’t need to think twice. Grabbing it, she launched herself towards the masked men, hitting them merciless with the bat. It vibrated in her hand as it hit their skin. Her breathing was coming out short, but she didn’t stopped.

One was already down, and the other one launched himself towards her, knocking her off her feet to the ground. Her back hit the floor, and she whimpered with the weight of the masked man. He s his legs around her waist, pining her down as she kept throwing crazy punches, scratches and slaps. He wasn’t trying to hurt her, she could tell, otherwise, he would have punched her and knocked her out cold. But he didn’t. Instead, he continued trying to hold her arms in place.

“! LET GO OF ME!” She screamed as she grabbed the man’s mask, furiously pulling it out of his face.

The man stopped moving, and she widened her eyes as the black hair of his fell down on his face. The man looked at her with wide eyes, tears forming at the rim of them as he slightly shook his head. Guilt, she could see guilt on his face as he moved to hold her once more.

“K-Kibum?” She gasped, but before he could answer, she felt his weight being pushed away. Everything happened in slow motion, almost as if someone had purposely put the tension on that exact moment. Chaerin moved her head to the side, her heart beating furiously as she saw Kibum’s body being slammed against the concrete over and over again. She had to blink to realize who was hurting him in such a brutal way, had to blink several times to finally realize she was crying, to realize she was terrified at the brutal scene in front of her.

“J-Jiyong.” She muttered softly as she slowly stood up. Jiyong’s face was completely changed, transformed into a blind monster. His face showed hatred as he effortlessly lifted Kibum’s body, then threw it back down.

Her fear increase as she saw Kibum’s eyes roll back and a gush of blood coming out of his mouth and nose. He was destroying him, inside and out. And once more, her reasoning got clouded as she launched herself towards Jiyong, pushing him with all her strength until he let go of Kibum’s body, falling face down on the floor with her on his back.

“Enough.” She said, trembling as she tried to hold Jiyong down. He abruptly moved, pushing her away as he aimed once more towards the unconscious Kibum. She wasn’t thinking clearly, and again, she crawled towards Jiyong, not caring if he could physically hurt her, or even kill her. All she was thinking was that she had to save Jonghyun’s younger brother, no matter what.

“Jiyong, please! Stop!” She said, pulling Jiyong’s arm. She could hear gun shots at the distance, could hear punches and grunts, but nothing mattered anymore, she needed to save Kim Kibum, for Jonghyun’s sake.

“Chaerin,” Jiyong said softly, impossibly softly considering the circumstances. “This man was trying to hurt you.” He said, finally looking at her. She shook her head, tears falling from her eyes.

“He wasn’t.” She said. Jiyong took a deep breath, the veins on his neck showing, as he looked at her. His eyes dark, infinite, unreadable. “He wasn’t.”

He was going to say something else, but Seungri interrupted them as he came running, followed by Seunghyun. He was panting and sweating, his face covered with dirt and blood. “They’re here!”

“We need to go!” Seunghyun yelled, grabbing Jiyong by his arms and pulling him up. Youngbae came to Daesung’s aid while Seungri looked at Kibum.

“Jiyong, Jonghyun was in the car.” Seungri said softly, still looking at Kibum’s unconscious and battered body on the ground. The other man was nowhere to be seen, making Chaerin think he had left to give the news to whoever he was working with.

“.” Jiyong muttered, looking to the side. Chaerin, who was still at the floor, looked up, slowly making the math in her head. Jonghyun wasn’t at the apartment, Jonghyun wasn’t with them while they were coming down, and most certainly, he wasn’t at the lobby waiting for them.

“I-In the car?” She echoed, trying to put the pieces together. Jiyong looked at her, and for the first time ever, she saw sympathy, saw sorrow, saw something more than the cold monster he was. And that made her falter, broke her walls completely. He was silently telling her that he was sorry. He was apologizing for something he couldn’t control, yet he felt bad. And that was enough to numb her.

“I’m sorry.” Jiyong said, and she looked down, biting her lip. No tear fell down, no pain on her chest, no nothing. She was numbed, the whole place was put in pause as she matched the missing pieces. Jonghyun was killed, he was killed because he was helping her. In a way, she had killed him.

“We need to go.” Youngbae said, touching her shoulder slightly. “Chaerin?”

“Come on babe.” Jiyong said, bending down to help her stand up. She looked up at him, and finally, she saw him. And again, she felt nothing. He was full of blood, his clothes were stained, even his face and hair, yet she didn’t felt nothing. She wasn’t afraid, wasn’t glad, was nothing. “Let’s go.”

Chaerin tried to follow them, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t force her body to go on because she wasn’t feeling it. She wasn’t there, her mind was slowly drifting away as she looked around the place, her eyes landing at the fiery car right at the entrance of the building. Jonghyun’s body was there, slowly being consumed by the fire. Did he felt any pain? Did he died quickly? Why would his own family set a bomb when they knew Jonghyun was there? Did they forgot about them? About her?

It was all a matter of time before that happened, yet it still intrigued her. Would they be able to kill her at the end? Would she be seen as a traitor to her blood if she chose her heart? How would that end if she continued running away with Jiyong? Will everybody end up dead? Missing? Was that really the path to choose?

At the main entrance, Chaerin could see a black car slowly entering. She couldn’t see who was inside, the windows were tinted, yet, she could feel deep in her heart what was coming there. They had nowhere to run, because no matter where she went, Sooman would always find her. And apparently, no matter where Jiyong went, the Dragons would always find him. They had no escape, not even Jonghyun or Kibum had any escape from that. No one would come out alive if they kept that strategy. And even if she went by the Lee’s side, there was no guarantee Jiyong would be safe.

A look at Taemin’s situation would clearly tell her that the only way out of that mess was with death. But even that wasn’t clear, since she tried it once, and there she was.

“CHAERIN! LET’S GO!” She could hear Jiyong’s screams from afar, but she chose to ignore him. She looked back at him before walking towards the black car that was pulling to a stop just a few meters away. He was being held by Seunghyun and Seungri as he tried with all his might to go towards her. “ CHAERIN! COME HERE!”

Once again, she was going to hurt him, because that was the better option there. She wasn’t going to die, she was going to give him time. By now, all that was left for Jiyong was to realize what she was doing and come get her before it was too late. From that moment on, her hours and minutes were counted, and if he didn’t realized what she was about to do, she might end up dead. She looked down, then at the car. The passenger’s door opened slowly, and Sooman walked out, then the backseat opened, and her heart sunk as Taemin was pushed out of the car. His face was battered, his body bruised.

He had been tortured, and to her disdain, Sooman didn’t seemed to be affected by his only son’s image. Taemin was clearly weak, and he couldn’t almost walk, yet, he made the inhuman effort as an old man pushed him to the front, next to Sooman.

“CHAERIN!” Jiyong yelled once more before she heard a door closing, and his voice being muted.

“Chaerin, who would have thought we would finally meet like this?” The old man holding Taemin said. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at them. At her back, she heard a car screeching, then speeding away. “Jiyong didn’t wait for you, I see.”

“Jonghyun’s dead.” She said. Taemin closed his eyes, looking down as he took a deep breath. “Was that part of your plan?” She said. Sooman raised an eyebrow, but the man holding Taemin smirked.

“He knew what was coming, he knew he would be treated like a traitor, and that’s exactly what he deserved.” The man said.

“What about Kibum?”

“That’s Jiyong’s monstrous doing, isn’t it?” The man said. Chaerin nodded. “That kid, always the little psycho.”

“What about Taemin and me?” She said. Sooman was about to speak, but the old man spoke again.

“Traitors to their own blood, but can come in handy.”

“Where’s Kikwang?” She said. “And my aunt? What have you done to them?”

“All in due time, young girl. You seem anxious. First I want to know what devious little plan you are scheming with Jiyong. Will you tell me nicely?”

“Who says we have a plan?” She said, but the man narrowed his eyes.

“Will it be roughly?” And before she could do anything, a pair of arms were already holding her in place. She jumped slightly, but didn’t fought as another man held her tight.

“Lee Chaerin, what have you planned with Jiyong? Where is he going?”

“I don’t know. He left, I stayed.” She said. The man chuckled, letting go of Taemin to slowly walk towards her.

“Real deal?” He said, and she nodded. He nodded, smiling with an evil grin. “Very well,” He said again, and slapped her hard. So hard she felt her skin falling off. “Roughly it’ll be.”

“No!” Taemin said, and almost without being able to, he moved forwards to punch the man, but the old man simply turned around and punched him, throwing him to the floor. Chaerin jumped, yet all she could feel was a terribly hatred burning her veins.

“Sooman, take them all back to the mansion. Also, be sure to double the security, Jiyong might appear anytime soon, we don’t want him near the vault.” The old man said as he walked towards another car.

“Yes, Kunhee.” Sooman said, then signaled the man that was holding Chaerin to move as he went to grab Taemin from the floor. Taemin whimpered a bit as Sooman put him to his feet. Chaerin was slowly being walked towards the black car, looking at Taemin. Her heart broke as Taemin held himself onto his father, his face looking as a child’s looking for his father’s support. It made her think over and over again how Sooman could have done that to his own child. His only son. Sooman had no heart, at all.

“We have to ing go back! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE HER THERE?! ING TURN BACK!” Jiyong screamed frantically as he tried to open the door and jump out of the car. Seunghyun held him back as he stubbornly tried to get out of the moving car.

“You’re not thinking straight anymore Ji! Don’t be stupid!” Youngbae yelled back as he tried to focus on the road.

“WHY DID YOU ING LEFT?! SHE WAS ABOUT TO COME! SHE WAS COMING!”

“She wasn’t!” Seungri yelled. “She was not coming, didn’t you see her?”

“SHUT UP!”

“We have to think things straight, we need to get there and get her out. She will find a way to get us in, I am sure.” Daesung said.

“WHAT IF THEY KILL HER? WHAT IF THEY TORTURE HER? WHAT IF SHE DOESN’T MAKES IT UNTIL TOMORROW?!”

“Then you need to find a way to get her out tonight.” Seunghyun said. Jiyong stopped moving frantically and looked at him. Seunghyun had his face composed, calm, and even under the dirt and blood, he still looked like the handsome, laid back man he was.

“Tonight?” Jiyong said, and Seunghyun nodded.

“Yes.” He answered. “I’m pretty sure she used herself to give us time. At least, that’s what it looked like to me.”

“She did.” Seungri said.

“She knows we infiltrated the system. Maybe she’ll find a way to get us in. We need to monitor her movements once she gets in the mansion.” Daesung explained.

“I’m taking us to Seungri’s house, let’s set up surveillance there.” Youngbae said, taking a “U” turn and speeding off.

“Please just tell me she’ll be alright.” Jiyong said, shaking his head no.

“She’ll be, she’s ing strong. She can take your , she can survive anything.” Seungri said. Jiyong nodded.

“So tonight we end this .” Jiyong muttered, and everyone in the car nodded.

“This is the end.” Youngbae agreed. 

Gily's Notes: So yes, this is about to end. I am sorry for the late update, but I am really, reeeeaaaallly busy lately.

So, to make up for my lack of updates (and to take this off my mind and sleep peacefully) I will end this with another chapter. This has been a long journey, and sometimes, too much of something might make one hate it, so I think this is it.

You have no idea how this is going to end, only that it's twisted and that it's destiny. Lol!

Happy Reading ~

Gily ♥