Chapter Sixteen

"Is this seriously her routine? Just staying in the office all day?" Sangbae asked, picking up the can of beer.

"She's got tons of work to do," Hyunwoo responded. "By the way, how's your gang holding up?"

"We're all alive, so I would say, good. All thanks to Jiwoo though."

"Oh, you met up with Minhyuk, huh? That old man... I'm going to give you some advice; don't rely on him forever. He'll use you for his own benefits and once he's done with you, he'll leave you to rot in the streets. Old man has been trying to get rid of me since day one."

Sangbae put down the can and cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"He never liked me in the first place. I was recruited by Jiwoo's father, not him. Honestly, I wasn't that hard working when I first entered the gang. I was slacking around, but somehow, Jiwoo's father saw potential in me and told me to watch over his daughter. Anyways, let's fast forward to when Jiwoo's father wasn't around anymore; ever since then, he's been finding ways to get rid of me, but Jiwoo was granted power, despite being at a low ranked. She was allowed to attend and have a say at each meeting they held," Hyunwoo explained. "I think if Jiwoo was shy, they would've just deposed and killed her, but she was intelligent and smart with her words. At the same time, Jiwoo was also kind-hearted and never once forgot to repay those who helped her rise through ranks. Since she was favoured by those that are higher up, Minhyuk has no choice but to obey and that is why I'm still alive. Minhyuk was her 'boss' and he technically is still a higher ranked than her, but she has more connections than he does because of what she's done when she was younger all the way till now. All right, I'm rambling on again, sorry."

"No, I'm actually curious," Sangbae shook his head. "No wonder she opened that coffee shop. She wants to leave this lifestyle."

"But that's one thing that will never happen. As long as Minhyuk is still alive, she will be staying until he's dead. I'm a burden to her. I'm the reason why she's not going to leave this lifestyle. Even if she hands the gang down to me, she'll still be in this lifestyle. There's no escaping."

"We all want power; but all she wants is freedom," Sangbae muttered. "She's been trapped for so long."

Hyunwoo chuckled, then stood up, "All I ask is for you to keep her happy."

"Wait, before you leave!" he called, causing Hyunwoo to turn back. "Can I ask where the name, 9Lives, came from?"

"Ask her about it. You're her boyfriend, aren't you?"

He smirked before returning inside the house. Sangbae followed behind and headed upstairs. He hesitated for a moment and wasn't sure if he should interrupt her or not. Despite them being together; he knew that she hated being disturbed when she was busy working. Knocking on the door; he waited a few seconds, but got no response and decided to enter, only to find her asleep on top of multiple papers that sat on her desk. He took off his jacket and gently placed it on top of her. There was empty pill bottle sitting next to her head and he picked it up, trying to read what it was, but the only word that stuck out was, Prazosin.

_____

She leaned against the wall as she held her wound. Every second that went by was painful, so she got up and walked around, trying to find help. It was dark and quiet and her vision was blurred from the lost of blood, but she forced herself to continue walking forward. There was someone walking behind her, but as soon as she turned around, she felt someone grab her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. 

"Once I'm done with you, I'm going for Hyunwoo and after him, I will go for Sangbae," the person whispered, tightening their grip. "No one will stand in the way now."

Jiwoo's eyes shot open and she jumped up, then leaned back against her chair. Her forehead was covered in sweat and when Sangbae touched her, she flinched and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Hey, it's me!"

She released him and apologized. "Sorry."

"Nightmare?"

"Yeah, it's nothing though."

"You have them frequently?"

She shook her head and lied. "No."

"Then what's this?" Sangbae asked, lifting up the empty pill bottle in his hand. "Why do you need this if you don't have them frequently?"

"Don't interrogate me right now," she responded, snatching the bottle from his hand. "I'm having a headache and I don't want to deal with this."

He placed his hand on her cheek. "Are you ok, Jiwoo?"

"I'm not," she sighed, shaking her head. "I'm really not."

"Just go sleep in your bed. I'll be right next to you," he said, leading her to her room. 

She followed behind and then lied down onto her bed. "What about your gang?"

"They're doing exports with another gang. I put Daewon in charge, so everything will run smoothly."

"Thanks for spending time with me."

He kissed her cheek and grinned. "Go to sleep, beautiful."

A/N

Before I say anything, I just want to say, the character, Jiwoo suffers from PTSD. We will find out more about her past, later in the story...

Okay, I want to apologize for taking almost a month to update and for the short chapter. I had an exam and like 4 tests this month, so it's been pretty wild. 

Second, I was going to update yesterday (Friday), but my computer decided to fail on me, so I literally lost all my files/data (everything!). 

Now, one of my friends is helping me restore the basic files, but all my personal files are gone, which because I was writing an essay and I lost that too, so ;/ I also had a few story covers made for several unpublished stories and lost those too. :'( I was planning to write ch.17, but I can't because tomorrow (if he restores some stuff), I'll have to reinstall everything. I also have work/hw to finish tomorrow, so I'll be quite busy. So sorry guys :L

Stupid computer...