Yongguk sat on Sungjae’s couch and stared intensely at the new cell phone Yang had just given him. He had said it was to make sure he could communicate with Yongguk whenever. To Yongguk, that was code talk for tracking his every move. Of course Yang would track Yongguk’s activity, he was a newbie, eighteen year old. Who in the right mind would trust someone as inexperienced as Yongguk to carry out his criminal business? 

He unlocked the phone and locked it again. Then unlocked it again, then locked it. He still wasn’t sure what he did was right. Yongguk chuckled almost bitterly, of course it wasn’t right, or morally correct but he had no choice. Suddenly Sungjae walked into the house, making Yongguk snap out of his train of thought. 

“Yo, get up, I’m taking you to your new apartment.” Sungjae slapped him on the shoulder playfully. 

“What?” Yongguk stood up, unsure. “Apartment?” 

“Yeah.” Sungjae smiled. “Yang asked me to take you. You weren’t expecting to stay with me forever right? ‘Cause that’s kind of gay.” 

Yongguk scoffed. 

“Shut the up.” he scratched the back of his head. 

All of a sudden things didn’t seem so bad. Maybe the gang life wasn’t something that he wold enjoy, but the luxury was something that he was looking forward to. Since Yongguk grew up in a family that wasn’t particularly wealthy and he wasn’t pampered and spoilt, the mere thought of luxury made his stomach flip. As wrong as it may have been and he hated the fact that he was so easy to manipulate, Yongguk considered taking gang life seriously to earn more luxury. 

_________________

As the front door shut, Yongguk was left alone in his own apartment. He took in a breath and scanned his apartment for what seemed like the hundredth time, exhaling in content. This was his space, this was his own world. He then went around the house, opening every drawer and cupboard that there were to see that everything was filled. His drawers were filled with cutlery, cupboards were filled with dishes and everything that he’d ever need. 

The thought hit him suddenly and caught him completely off guard. This was all way too easy. Having met Yang and been given his own apartment in a matter of days. It was all way too easy. This wasn’t free, he thought. All this luxury was not his for free. Yongguk mentally cursed himself for letting himself get carried away. These goods all had a cost and it was his obedience, along with his devotion to Yang. That was the price he had to pay.

He felt his chest close in and it became difficult to breath. He had already tangled himself in the mysterious world of drug dealing, gang life and there was no way out. That fact hit him harder than ever. There was no  way out, at least not just yet. Who would let him leave when he had just joined? Yongguk leaned on his counter top, tightly gripping onto the edge and tried calming himself down. 

“Everything’s gonna be alright.” he whispered, breathlessly. 

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket before picking up to Yang. 

“Hello?” he breathed, running a hand through his dark hair. 

“Yongguk.” Yang smiled. “How do you like your new apartment? It was all I could find on short notice.” 

“It’s very,” Yongguk glanced around. “Nice. Thank you.” 

“That’s good.” Yang said. “You will start working tomorrow. Meet with Sungjae tomorrow morning and he will start introducing you to what you’re gonna do. I really do hope that you won’t disappoint me. I see a lot of things in you. A lot of potential.” 

“Yes…” Yongguk said, unsure of how to reply. 

“Have a good day.” Yang said, before hanging up. 

Yang’s phone calls were always short, from what Yongguk had noticed. First he’d ask you how you’re going, then he’d tell you what he wants to, then he hangs up. Yongguk shrugged. Of course they had to be, he was the leader of a gang, he would definitely be under strict surveillance. At that thought, a surge of fear struck him. That definitely meant that police were soon going to know him too. Which meant that his record would not be clean, not like it was. Since he had done a number of offences in high school, like a few shoplifts, a few fist fights. Yet there was nothing there that had drugs. 

“I am so ed.” Yongguk groaned.  

Suddenly there was a harsh knocking on the door. He immediately knew that it could be no one other than Sungjae. He quickly opened the door, finding that his prediction was wrong. In front of him was not Sungjae. As a matter of fact, it was a girl. Yongguk stared in fascination and felt his entire world stop. If there was such a thing as love at first sight, this was a close as it got for Yongguk.

Her lean figure was strikingly beautiful and her hair was shoulder length, dark brown. Her eyes were round, not the wide round, but the most innocent looking. She was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. Yongguk couldn’t deny that fact that she was different. Different from any type of high school girl he’d laid eyes on. He cleared his throat, regaining his mind. 

“Hi,” he said. “Who were you looking for?” 

“Are you Yongguk?” she asked 

He nodded. 

“I’m Sungjae’s little sister.” she said. “He told me to bring you some food, ‘cause you just moved in so you wouldn’t have any food, I’m guessing.” 

She handed Yongguk a plastic bag of food containers. He wordlessly took it but continued starring at her, feeling his mouth hit the floor. Every breath that he took, he could smell her light perfume. Making it harder for him to pull himself together. Another something that Yongguk found so damn attractive was that she wasn’t shy. She was so straight forward, so strong. She spoke to him with no caution, no thought with so much confidence in her voice. 

“Uh…” he bit his lip. “Thank you. Sorry, what was your name?” 

“Sumin.” she smiled, stretching out a hand to shake his. 

Feeling her hand slid into his, Yongguk suddenly became nervous. He didn’t want her to notice how sweaty and how shaky his grip would have been. Then, although he didn’t want to, Yongguk pulled his hand away. 

“Well, I’m Yongguk.” he coughed. “It’s really nice to meet you.” 

Sumin looked up at him and smiled, before there was a silence that lingered in between them. She heaved a sigh and put her hand behind her back and Yongguk tried his hardest not to keep staring at her beautiful doll eyes. He wanted to talk to her, because although he had only heard a hand full of words from her, it was already music to his ears. 

“How come I never hear Sungjae mention about you?” Yongguk asked. 

Sumin shrugged casually. 

“I don’t know.” she said. “Maybe it’s ‘cause I’ve been out of town for a few weeks, so you haven’t been seeing me around the house and Sungjae doesn’t usually talk much about me to anyone.” 

“So…” he bit his lip. “You live with Sungjae?” 

Sumin nodded. It was like a switch in Yongguk had opened and he felt a warm joy spread across his chest. If she lived with Sungjae, then he would be seeing a lot of her in the days to come. He might even make excuses to go visit Sungjae. It was a tad creepy and pathetic to see the measures that he was willing to go through, but there wasn’t much he could do. He was so drawn to Sumin. 

“Well,” she said. “I should get going. Nice meeting you.” 

Before Yongguk was able to utter another word, Sumin had turned around and walked away from his apartment. He stood there at the door, with he food bag in one hand, his mouth open and as dazed as ever. Her soft scent still lingered at the door frame and Yongguk bit his lip, not sure why he was so nervous all of a sudden.