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Warning: slight violence

“You have ten hours,” Monster said calmly. “I suggest you use them wisely.” He chuckled. “Oh, and by the way. I look forward to seeing the carnage they leave behind.”
Your heart dropped.

“I don’t give a about Jihoon anymore. But if the description was correct, he was your sidekick in the heist? I am eager to see how they decorate their interior with his limbs.”

He hung up.

The air was acid. The hair on your arms pricked in a numbing sweat. You were drowning. Your hands wrapped around your spinning head.

No. This couldn’t be happening. They didn’t know where you were. You had been safe. All that was lies now.

How could you trick yourself? This is how it was always going to end. They would have found you eventually. Tick or not-they wouldn’t have stopped.

Laughter stung your ears. You turned around.

Through the glass walls of the gallery, DK was lifting one of your artworks to Mingyu. Hoshi laughed with the other giant. Woozi stood with Coups in the corner.

You were a ticking time bomb. In ten hours, you would destroy everything you had touched. Tick’s gang would come with a million dollars in rage. Any thing or one associated with you would be slaughtered.

Woozi.

He was with you that night. He helped you pull of the million-dollar scam.

They wouldn’t just kill the two of you.

Any person who so much as hand put up to save you would be eliminated. Hoshi. DK. Coups. Joshua.

A screamed ripped your throat. Darkness swallowed the edges of your vision. A numbness washed over your feet and crawled up your legs. A muffled crashing sound barely alerted you, that you had dropped the bottle. A glass piece snapped away from the whole and sliced your foot. The cut stung with feeling amidst the seas of numbness, drowning you in nothing

You were starting to slip away from your body.

Your dead knees knelled down on the grass. Your dirty hands hover over the glass, glimmering in the moonlight. You plunged your hands down.

The broken shards of glass kissed your flesh. You pressed your hands into bottle pieces. A cold sting shot up from your hands. The rest of your body was gone, but the ripping pain that reached up your arms assured you, you were still alive

The hands turned themselves over and deepening the kiss into every inch of your skin. The glass struck bone, as your blood coated the grass. Your hearing was starting to fade, you were losing consciousness. The screams were barely permeating though your deafening ears. You recognized the voice as your own.

Hands were on you. Yelling something. They pulled you away. You resisted, transferring all of your weight onto your hands. The glass struck another bone. A scream ripped your throat. More yelling and another pair on hands were on you. They grabbed your ankles and dragged you away from the bottle. You rolled over.

Without the pain, the numbness pulled you down. Darkness swallowed you. You felt nothing. You heard nothing. You saw nothing. Only heat and sweat. Only the silence in your chest. Maybe you were already dead.

Blindly, you jumped for the glass again. Bodies held you back and picked you up. The hands shook you and held you firm.

A high pitch ring stung. You winced and pressed your hands to your ears. As the ring died, sound came into focus foggily.

“WHAT THE IS GOING ON?” The voice was distorted but distinguishable.

The blurred figures stood over you. They grabbed you by your elbows and hoisted you to sand. You squinted, struggling to see them and swaying from side to side. The two holding you had their heads down, gazes transfixed on the leaking red, twisted flesh extended from your wrists.

“Woah, is she going to faint?”

The group was filing outside, a blur of blonde ran frontfirst. He pushed the giant with glasses aside. You felt his hands cradle yours. “WHAT HAPPENED?”

“She’s gone nuts!” The taller one yelled. “She was drinking and then she screamed and smashed the bottle. She dug her hands into the pieces. I saw it myself!”

“She looks like she might pass out.” The other with glasses said.

Your hands withdrew to hide behind your back as your vision started to come into focus. Woozi grabbed your arm. “You need to get to the hospital.” You looked down. Glints of glass shimmered in your hand. His thumb hovered over a shard sticking out freshly from your palm. “You need stitches.”

Everyone was looking at you. Their forms cleared. The darkness faded away and the numbness dulled. “Get away.”

“What are you talking about? You are hurt. Let’s get to the hospital!” A hand rested on your forearm.

“DON’T ING TOUCH ME!” A bloody handprint stained his shirt as you pushed him. “EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET AWAY. YOU NEED TO GO! LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE!”

You whipped backwards, cradling your injured hand. The shard of glass had pressed deeper when you pushed him. With watery eyes, you pinched the glimmer and ripped it out of your palm.

Everyone yelled in alerted disgust as the red-stained shard disappeared into the long grass. They all took steps backward. Woozi surged forward. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” He yelled over the ringing in your ears. “WHAT IS WRONG?”

He pulled a rag from the hem of his jeans and put pressure of the wound. “DK,” Woozi said. “Get the first aidkid.” He turned to you. He did not overlook the dilated pupils, the brows pulled tight against your forehead, the clattering of your teeth nor the way you seemed not to care about the severe state of your hands, the very instruments of the pieces in the gallery.

“Someone tell me what the is going on!?” Coups was next to Woozi.

Woozi whispered in a voice he thought you couldn’t hear. “I think she is having a posttraumatic stress breakdown. Give me a few, I can calm her down.”

Telling him would be useless. He would only insist on rebelling against Tick. You couldn’t willingly fight when you knew of the causalities waiting to happen. The only option left was to run. If you left, Tick and the gang would follow. You could divert the gang away from the boys and save them from your misfortune.

“I’m fine,” You croaked, “I need to go.”

Woozi’s brows furrowed. “You aren’t fine.”

“I know what I need.” You shoved him aside.

Woozi grabbed you. The coldness in your glare focused on his hand, wrapped around your wrist. “Let’s talk about this,” he said

“I thought you said you would only touch me when I gave you permission. Have you reverted back to your street-trash ways? You are no better than Monster.”

Woozi stilled, hand dropping lifelessly.

“Where the are you GOING?!” Hoshi yelled as you brushed past him. The paintings passed in a blur. You burst through the gallery and leapt through the front doors.

A figure collided with you just as your feet hit concrete. “Woah, there” a voice said.

He wore a plaid button up shirt and a beanie. He rocked back on the balls of his converse, “Surprise!” He said half heartedly. “I came.”

Following voices echoed behind you. You needed to go. There was no bus at this time of night.

You turned to Josh, “Do you have a car?”

“Do I-?” He was talking too slow.

“DOYOUHAVEACAR!?”

“YES!” He yelled back.

You grabbed him and whipped him down the street. Joshua tripped over his own feet trying to keep up with the hold on his sleeve. You neared his car and pushed him up against the driver’s door.

“What are you doing?” Joshua gasped breathlessly.

“Start the car!” You screamed. “NOW!”

“Am I supposed to be going somewhere?” Joshua stumbled in, side-eyeing you cautiously and rearing the engine.

Where were you supposed to go? You had ten hours. You would have to get your stuff and leave. But how?

The boys would be looking for you right now. You needed time to gather your emotions and settle a plan. The first place they would look would be the apartment.

“Take me back to your place. I need to hide out for a while.”

“I don’t understand what is going on,” Joshua breathed.

Coups’ van was also in that apartment’s parking lot. Possible getaway?

“Shut up and drive.”

The engine spluttered in agreement.

Neither of you spoke on the way there. He parked his car, and you followed him soundlessly up the stairs. Joshua unlocked his apartment door.

He opened the door and you went straight to the bathroom and closed the door behind you. The pain in your hand you were once desperate for, was now overwhelming.

Streaming water ran over your hand, the other clenched the edge of the sink. The water turned pink as it rolled over the deep injuries. Your breath fogged the grimy mirror.

The yellowing light set a dark cast under your eyes. Three days of no sleep, two drinks, and a severe injury were not ideal circumstances to deal with a crisis.

“Is there something going on?” Joshua banged on the bathroom door.

The faucet turned off. You pushed your matted hair back, “I’m fine,” The toilet paper roll squeaked as you unraveled it from its metal handle and pressed the thinning material to your clean hands.

You creaked open the door, the skin on your forehead pulled tense. “Josh, I just need to think for a moment.”

“You look as if you seen a ghost.” He tried to open the door.

A dirty look was given as you pushed back.

“You look as if you are a ghost.”

“JOSHUA!” You let your hands down and the door was opened. “Can’t a girl breathe?”

“Don’t get pissy at me,” Josh said. “I am just worried and confused. Is your hand okay?”

Maybe the two beers were finally processing in your system. Maybe it was everything that happened that night, or maybe you finally realized Josh, the unresponsive friend, was here. Nonetheless, something in you snapped.

“You don’t get to be worried.” You stepped out of the bathroom, the injured hand clenched.

“I am concerned. You look so pale.” He followed you into the living room.

“Where was that concern a week ago? A month ago? Where were you? Do you have any idea how much me- let alone Woozi- was losing sleep over you?” The words were falling out so fast you weren’t sure if he could understand you.

“Monster didn’t allow me contact any of you.”

“A text?” a low hiss forced itself between your front teeth.

“They had my phone.”

“Bull. You could text a fourteen-year-old boy asking if he could take your place in the gang, but you couldn’t let a friend know you weren’t bleeding out in an alleyway somewhere?”

The cateyes glistened with a shame, shoulders hunched over, “Monster only told me last week that I had been texting Woozi. Believe me if I had known I was texting him-”

“It’s not about Woozi. Its about you convincing a teenager to join a gang!” You shoved him. His thin legs took a step back. “What if that was Dino?”

“But it wasn’t!” He objected fiercely.

“And that makes it better?” you said. Something had changed in Joshua. You didn’t like who you were looking at.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

“We had to put Dino in a mental institution.” Your brows caved down on your eyes, the veins in your neck popped. “Coups can’t spend more than three hours in his apartment because of the thought of an empty house. And you were just a few floors down. You could’ve helped him!”

Joshua looked down at his shoes. “Coups wouldn’t have wanted me to stop by anyway.”

“No more excuses. Dino!” You pushed him again. “Didn’t you hear me? We had to put Dino away!”

“I know!” Joshua yelled back.

You gathered a handful of his shirt and raised a tight hand. Joshua flinched.

“I’m sorry.” He pleaded. “I ed up. I know. But comeon’, lets look past this. We have all summer in Coups’ house to make up for lost time.”

“You royally ed up.” You said, hand dropping. “And if this wasn’t my last night here, I would put you in the hospital.”

Joshua’s eyebrow raised. “What?”
“I mean,” The raging train of thought came to a screeching halt. “I am going away for a while. Just a week or so.”

“But your art exhibition… that’s why I was there. Woozi told me I should come to make things up. Why are you leaving so soon?”

“An emergency came up in my hometown.”

“That explains why you are so frazzled.”

You pointed a finger, “Don’t take that as an excuse. I am still pissed at you.”

“All summer,” Joshua didn’t react to your genuine anger. He smiled gleefully. “I am at your service, ma’dam. I’ll even dress up in a maid outfit” His lighthearted aura was a slap in the face. After everything he did, he thought he could just smooth it over with a joke?

“There wont be a summer.” You snapped. His smile annoyed you.

“You just said a few weeks.”

“I lied.”

You wanted him to feel remorse, the same he caused you.

Joshua straightened. His chocolate eyes glanced nervously to his box of records and then back to you. His beanie slid off, he fidgeted it between his hands. He took a step closer to you. “How long are we talking?”

“You remember the promise we made on the trip?
“Yes.”

“I won’t be able to find you a girlfriend by graduation.”

“Two years?!” Joshua exclaimed. “What? Why?”

The pact Joshua and you had made during the road trip hadn’t been forgotten. You had promised him to find him a girlfriend to give him his first kiss before his graduation.

Your hands raised in defeat, jutting down on the couch, “I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I will still be there in the morning. We can talk then.”

You lied.

A part of you didn’t want to hurt him too much.

“Really?”

“Yes. I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Such a ing liar.

You forced a chuckle, mirroring the lighthearted illusion he was trying to give you. “Woozi was talking to a girl in the music program for you. I was going to try to set you up with her.” You crossed your arms. “I was staying true to our promise even when you were ignoring my calls.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“All those voicemails. A day didn’t pass that I left one.”

“I listened to every one.” Joshua said. “They kept me sane when Monster was training mw. Trust me, I wanted to call you back so badly. But I just couldn’t.”

A warm glow in your chest was immediately doused out. You could never come back to this town again. Tick and Monster would be tracking this place. Their eyes were on every street. You would have to find a new town. Who knew when you would see Joshua or anyone again. If you ever would.

This was goodbye and Joshua didn’t even know it.

“Leave me be now. I must think alone.” Air escaped you as you leant back on the couch. Damn, your hand hurt.

“I don’t want to sound strange, but I’ve kinda missed you.”

“We can talk in the morning.”
“Can we talk about something now?”

“No.”

“I just want to hear your voice.”

“I can’t think of anything to talk about.” You said, halfheartedly. Your eyes darted through the room as you scanned through escapes in your mind.

“What was the girl in the music department like? The one from our promise?”

“Your type. Sweet. shy. She liked Soul Eater so that is a plus.” Your voice was void of anything.

Would you have to go somewhere new? A different state? Or should you just stop running from town to town and escape to a different country altogether?

“I certainly forgot about that promise.”

“With you whining about how single and kissless you are, how could anyone forget?”

“I remember the promise now. Stupid.”

You promised Joshua that he would have a first kiss by his graduation. If you failed to do so, both parties joked you would be the replacement.

The last part had slipped your mind.

The couch creaked as you stood up, looking at him on his level.

A goodbye is a goodbye.

“I wish I could’ve come up with a girl for you,” You hand draped itself on his shoulder. The other hand grabbed the front of his t-shirt.

“A-,” Joshua took a step back, eyes shifting uncomfortable as he almost said your name that he had slipped a peak at during the same trip.

“Shut it.” You said. “Unlike you, I keep my promises.”

You fisted his shirt and pulled him down. His wide eyes got closer as you brought his tall frame to your level.

Your mouth pressed to his. His plump, full upper lip molded over yours.

The warmth was there, and in an instant it was gone. You pushed away. “There,” You said bitterly, cleaning your lips with your sleeve. “Consider the promise kept.”

Joshua was dazed, his mouth parted slightly as his fingertips grazed over them. “I-I-I…” His voice croaked, barely audible. He swallowed hard.

“I feel dizzy.” He breathed.

“I feel fine.”

He closed the space between you again. This time, it was your turn to step back, but Joshua’s arm wrapped around your waist and pressed you to him. He lifted your chin up with a finger. A strand of hair was brushed behind your ear. His cat-eyes narrowed in a soft gaze as your’s widened.

“Let me test something.”

He was kissing you again.

This was no peck like before. His mouth moved greedily against yours, eager for your touch. You gave in to his desires. The smell of old books, wafted off him.

His clumsy lips deepened the kiss. Ravenously, he bumped into your teeth as he dove into you. A thumb caressed your cheekbone, while the fingers buried into your hair.

He breathed heavily as he explored every crevice of your lips. As passionate he was, you felt no fireworks. The butterflies that had erupted from the first kiss, had died.

Perhaps at one point, you had secretly indulged in the thought that you and Joshua were capable of being more than friends in the very distant future. Your own lips spoke differently now.

There was no romantic chemistry.

You leaned back, trying to withdraw from the kiss. Joshua perused, craning over you.

He led your hands to his hair, his frantic touch begged you to continue.

You considered turning this physical encounter into something a little more violent. No doubt you were the stronger one in this situation, you could most definitely win. But a part of you was too lazy to object. It’s not like the kiss was horrible.

Why? You thought, This is his first, and it will be the last time l see him anyway. I might as well enjoy it while I can.

You made an effort to make this memorable. Your mouth responded, melting into him as you tugged at his hair. A hot moan escaped him.

Joshua breathed and grasped at you. His pelvis pressed against your but his repressed church-boy passion was still boring. This was nothing more than flesh on flesh.

Your hands slid down to his neck as Joshua pushed and pulled against you. Your hands scrapped at his back of his neck, looking for something that wasn’t there. Something about this unnerved you.

A finger slipped under your bra strap. His lips journeyed down your neck.

Still, the pads of your fingers rubbed at the back of his neck. You couldn’t shake the feeling of emptiness there. You wished there was something you could hold on to, or at least longer hair you could run your hands down.

If only he had a ponytail.

Your eyes popped open.

“Woozi.”