WARNING
I DOUBLE UPDATED
PLEASE GO BACK TO CHAPTER 69 RIGHT HERE

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Okay, scroll IF YOU HAVE READ CHAPTER 69 ALREADY!!

YE BE WARNED

(I'll remove this warning in a week or so, it's just important you don't read this first to notice you missed a chapter)

Chapter 70 - I love you

It wasn't until twenty-three minutes past four in the morning that loud noises interrupted our sleep. I clutched at my head to get rid of the sounds but nothing worked so I got up only to find Hyungwon on his feet already, looking around like a startled guard dog. Well that's what he was, wasn't he? I grabbed his arm and he relaxed just long enough to show me he had acknowledged my presence before turning stone cold again. “Your earpiece.”

I scrambled to fish it out of my pocket and put it in – they had told us to never take it off but Hyungwon insisted on being the one available at all times so that I could sleep well. Ha, sleep well, my . As soon as I had put the earpiece in more chaos flooded my head. Orders were given out, people were reporting, all kinds of sounds could be heard until the situation was described by someone from the front line.

“They broke through our line of defense, all second line soldiers are ordered to stand guard and chase every black uniform they see. Shoot at sight, I repeat, shoot at sight.”

It happened again. Shoot at sight. Just a week ago this was the command that had me shoot Yi-en and now I was receiving it again. They had broken through the line, how the had they- “Let's retreat to the main highway”, Hyungwon's voice interrupted my thoughts and I watched as he rolled our sleeping bags together, took my hand and started walking dragging me along. “The main highway should be the most guarded place, it's safer there.”

“Nowhere is safe, Hyungwon”, I whispered in shock but he just yanked me forward in determination.

“We'll manage. We'll get home.” He pushed some button on his communication device and asked for Changkyun to come as well but he said he would be busy at the base so he couldn't come. Hyungwon sighed and his lips. “Fine, the base is safer as well. No big deal, we'll get it done. How many are there even in the first place it can't be that hard to get rid of them, we're so many.”

He was rambling, something he usually didn't do, not even under pressure.

He was thinking too much.

“We're good”, I assured him again, forcing him to look at me. “Keep calm and let's go.” So we went.

Seconds, minutes, hours of standing at the highway with three other guys from our group. Hours of listening to orders and reports being sent back and forth, back and forth.

I was confident the problem would kind of clear up itself when suddenly someone said they were near the base. “Changkyun”, I breathed just when Hyungwon and I started running at the same time. It was a crap decision, running into battle head on, but this was Changkyun. I wouldn't leave him in the midst of battle to stay safe and Hyungwon knew that. He knew so he had no choice but to follow me to the place of danger.

And it was on our way that we finally noticed the scale of the problem. They had really made it to the base and there were still several black uniforms left. I was about to run into someone's line of fire when Hyungwon pulled me back and behind the closest wall right before the fire was opened. It was so loud I couldn't hear anything Hyungwon told me, only the shots, the orders in my right ear and my own heart beating against my ribcage like it wanted to escape from its prison.

Still, when Hyungwon nodded, I nodded as well and he pulled me to my feet to find a way around the gunshots, behind walls and through abandoned houses. At some point I grew confident again, stopped shaking just when I saw a flash of black appear in front of me I raised my gun in a hurry- ...But I couldn't shoot.

I saw it in my mind. The blood, fair hair, the pain, the frustration. I saw Hyungwon crouching by Yi-en's side, I saw him sobbing in the hospital. Every time I shot someone, someone else would have to suffer like Hyungwon. Someone would be left behind. That could be you.

I was frozen to my spot when the Chinese soldier seemed to notice me but before anything could happen Hyungwon pushed me out of the way and fired a well aimed shot right through the soldier's skull, making him drop to the ground in the blink of an eye. I turned to glance at Hyungwon but he didn't give me the time to be shocked, pushing me forward with his teeth clenched and eyes hostile. I was scared. “Hyungwon, I'm sorry, I just-”

“I know, I can imagine”, he hissed pushing me forward and leaving the body behind. We ran around the base until we caught a glimpse of Changkyun fighting back to back with another Korean. Relief flooded my mind and I stepped forward but again Hyungwon yanked me back to prevent me from running into another battle. A soldier attacked him with a blade in his hand he didn't see beforehand and a shallow cut was placed on his beautifully pale cheek, another one on his palm following when he defended himself against it. A few seconds of exchanging punches, a moment of distraction and Hyungwon's gun went off again, sending the enemy to the ground.

He looked at me to make sure I was fine and grabbed my wrist again, smearing blood on it due to his cut hand. “You're hurt”, I managed to choke out but I didn't hear my own words. He, however, did.

“Doesn't matter. Won't die from it. Moving on.” I my lips and let him drag me to Changkyun, push me behind the two of them, fire several shots to enemies' legs, arms and heads. He really was a guard dog. My guard dog.

“I thought you were by the highway”, Changkyun shouted when we fled towards the closest building to use as a shield while distancing ourselves from the main battle. With the amount of soldiers located at the base it would be easy to get rid of the intruders but it was still a mess. A bleeding, screaming, dying mess.

“We're not leaving you here alone”, Hyungwon explained with a shrug but I couldn't bring myself to smile like I usually would all of a sudden.

I took a deep breath trying to calm myself, trying not to think about anything. “I want to go home”, I whimpered quietly and Changkyun and Hyungwon turned around in surprise, the latter immediately wrapping his arms around me.

“I know, but it's so far away. And our orders-”

“I don't care about the orders, you're on withdrawal and I'm scared you'll break down in the midst of battle and today is our free day why are we even here, we are supposed to be back home, should have gone there hours ago and-”

“Fine. Then let's go. Going against orders isn't that bad once you get used to it. Let's go home.”

I stared at Hyungwon who just calmly returned the gesture, not a trace of the previous hostility left now. Suddenly he was my little puppy dog. I nodded. “Yeah. Home.”

He gave me a smirk like it was only me and him for a second, then his ears picked up on some sound, he started and took a quick step pushing Changkyun out of the way before a shot joined all the others being fired around us. Hyungwon hissed while Changkyun aimed and shot before any more damage could be dealt and the Chinese culprit went down without so much as a gasp. What a dream team. I looked at Hyungwon whose side started bleeding and panic arose in my throat, making it hard to breathe.

“Hyungwon, , does it hurt? How bad is it?”

He looked down at his side but waved it off with a smile. “No big deal, not deep. Let's go.”

Another look at Changkyun who nodded before we took off towards the highway. It was our free day anyway, we might as well go for a short five hour walk, right?

And again, we went.

The further we walked the more I could tell something wasn't right. It was around two in the afternoon, four hours of walking later, when Hyungwon stopped to crouch down for a couple of seconds. We were close to our old city. Not much more and we'd be there. Maybe another hour until we'd reach the base. An hour was nothing compared to safety. I could just hope they would allow us to stay in the hospital though we had ignored our orders. They couldn't blame us, right? We had told them beforehand. Right?

I was back by Hyungwon's side in a second, clenching my teeth. “What's wrong?”

“I'm fine.”

“You're not fine!”, I retorted loudly, trying to get him to his feet but he just grabbed my fingers and shook his head.

“I'm dizzy. Just a little dizzy, nothing else. Will be fine in a minute.”

He didn't look like he'd be fine though so I turned to Changkyun who stood beside us in uncertainty. “Keep going, I'll carry him but it will take longer. Tell them about the situation. Two knife cuts, one gunshot wound. Low on drugs. Tell them and send a team our direction. But don't run. We'll be fine.”

“I can't just leave you after you even came to-”

“Go! For 's sake, listen to those older than you and go get the others.”

Changkyun chewed on his bottom lip for a couple of seconds before nodding with an apologetic look. “I'll be back as fast as I can.”

“Stay safe.”

“You too.”

And then I watched his figure move away, watched it get smaller and smaller until he disappeared around a corner and I helped Hyungwon to his feet. His left side was completely red, it didn't look like 'no big deal' after all. “Hop on.”

“I said I'm fine-”
“And I said hop on, so you'd better listen you head.”

I could tell he wanted to say no and be strong but the way he tried to keep his focus and the way his eyes searched for something to concentrate on gave away how serious it was and he almost let himself fall instead of climbing on my back. He was so thin, so light, was this normal?

“Sorry to burden you”, he mumbled, sounding half asleep and I shook him with a little more force than necessary to keep him with me. “Must be the blood loss. Bullet was deeper than I thought. And the lack of...of...uh-”

“Delphinium.”

“Yeah, right. That.” I pursed my lips and picked up pace. He sounded so far away with his thoughts, unable to stay with me for more than a couple of seconds. If only I had taken the almost empty vial with me, I could have allowed him another week of drugs. It could have saved him then and there because it would get his body running again but no, I hadn't thought it necessary. Why even?

I sighed wholeheartedly and took in the environment, the broken houses, the remaining trees, the ruins, the moss and weed covering a couple of stones- Wait. Wasn't this- “Hyungwon, I'll let you down for a while, ca