CHAPTER 13: HUNT DAY

The next morning everything seemed a bit messy and all over the place. As soon as I woke up and got out of the room, I walked into Seungcheol who seemed to be there against his own will. With a slight frown on his face he informed me that the gunman had been catched and put behind bars so that he couldn’t tell anyone of my location. So, in a way I was safe again. The hunter had probably been there just by a coincidence so nobody else knew who I was and that I lived here. The other news he told me was that I had been promoted back into a housekeeper.  Dr Choi wanted to keep me close and safe so I could move back into the room that was actually in their apartment. In a way, I was happy. But then again, knowing that I would leave Sunhwa’s room I felt a bit sad.

Anyhow, I did as I was told and gathered my staff, taking them to the room upstairs before changing into the housekeeper’s uniform that felt nice and familiar. Then I rushed to work. Even though the amount of my tasks would now be smaller again, I wanted to work to keep my mind off everything scary. I did the same tasks I did when I was a maid like the others. I stayed close to Sunhwa. The angry glares and whispers from the other maids were back again – why does that girl get treated so differently?

After my official working hours ended, a few hours earlier than the maids’, I sent a text to Wonwoo, asking what was he doing today. I got no answer and sighed. He had probably forgotten his phone somewhere again. This time I didn’t want to get worried so I just threw my phone onto my bed and looked around in the room. It was familiar since I had lived there for a while after moving into this house, but it still felt to strange after I had lived with Sunhwa in the smaller room.

I wanted to get out of the house and do something. I knew there was the risk of some other hunter finding me, but I really wanted to continue living my life. For a while I thought about it. Sunhwa’s working hours wouldn’t end until 7pm. Then I realized I was her supervisor – I could let her get off work earlier and go out with me. With a smile, I changed into my casual clothes and searched for the girl.

“Sunhwa”, I called the girl’s name from the door of the kitchen.

The girl who was mopping the floor turned around to see me. “Yes, miss Dami?”

I glared at the girl. “I still don’t want you to call me that. I might be your supervisor now but you’re my friend.”

“Sorry”, the girl apologied with a smile on her lips. “But what is it?”

“I’m letting you off work early”, I stated. “I want you to go out with me.”

“Out? Wow, you’re asking me for a date?” the girl chuckled and smirked at me.

I laughed. “Well, will you say yes?”

“Of course!” the girl replied. “I’ll just change my clothes.”

After about 20 minutes Sunhwa and I were heading out of the house. We agreed to get coffee and found our way to a cute coffee shop in our neighbourhood. I felt like ordering caramel mocha – it was Wonwoo’s favourite, and me as a tea person hardly ever drank coffee other than that. Sunhwa who didn’t really drink coffee either, just ordered the same as I did.

As we sat down to the corner table, we chatted about everything possible. Work, coffee, our favourite desserts - as we drooled at the delicious looking cakes of the coffee shop, and then Sunhwa started asking about my boyfriend. She remembered me talking about him a few days ago and wanted to know more.

“So, I know you’ve been together for three years”, the girl said. “But what is he like? Is he handsome?”

I chuckled. “He is handsome. Hmm, he is kind of the tsundere type, you know? He looks cold and seems arrogant at the first sight. But in reality, he is caring and kind. And he’s such a book worm!”

Sunhwa listened at me, resting her head on her hands, smiling. “He sounds amazing… I’m so jealous. I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“You’re still young”, I snorted. “You will have more than enough time to date later.”

After we finished our coffees, we decided to take a small walk around the neighbourhood before heading back home. As we walked down the street chatting, I realized we had made our way to the bookstore without even thinking and I couldn’t help but to smile.

“This used to be our secret rendezvous”, I explained to Sunhwa who eyed at me with a confused expression. “He’s a book worm, as I said earlier.”

“You’re so obviously in love even after three years…” the girl sighed. “I wish I can have a boyfriend like him in the future.”

I chuckled as we continued our way. As we changed the direction and started heading home, the sun had started to set, disappearing behind the skyscrapers and colouring the sky orange. I let out an admiring sigh, staring at the beautiful spring evening’s sky. The weather had gotten a lot warmer lately, a jacket was rarely needed anymore – only early mornings and late evenings were cold.

Suddenly I got a hunch of something suspicious. I stopped walking and grabbed Sunhwa’s wrist. “Something’s wrong.”

And right then a bullet hit a window in front of us, breaking into million small pieces onto the street. Sunhwa let out a scream and I instinctively covered my face with my hands. Then I first reaction was to run as hard as I could. I grabbed Sunhwa’s wrist again and started running. I should’ve never left the house. Now I also put Sunhwa in danger.

I wasn’t sure where to run as I had no idea where the hunter was, whether he was chasing us or running to us from another direction. I was too scared to look back. I was so scared I screamed as Wonwoo suddenly crashed into us, appearing from behind a corner, breathing heavily – he seemed to have been running as well. The boy pulled me, and Sunhwa with me, behind the corner.

“Are you hurt?” the boy asked.

“No”, I replied, breathless. “This is already the second time I’m attacked. Someone tried to shoot me yesterday.”

Wonwoo frowned. “I think we have to run somewhere safe.”

I nodded and turned to Sunhwa. “Listen, you have to escape, return home and tell Seungcheol. He listens to you.”

The horrified girl nodded and as I patted her shoulder, started running, disappearing from the alley Wonwoo had pulled us into. We shared a second of staring into each other’s eyes before a bullet hit the wall somewhere near us with a loud bang, and Wonwoo quickly took my hand, intertwining our fingers.

“Now we’re going to run.”

And we did. I was holding onto Wonwoo’s hand like my life was literally depending on it, and I ran as fast as I could. We basically flew through the neighbourhood, getting startled from time to time as we heard a bullet hitting a wall or a window. The gunshots got more and more distand ang quiet with every bullet, and soon we were pretty sure we had shook the hunter off our trails. It was completely quiet. We had made our way to the other side of the neighbourhood, where the buildings were getting modern and everything was shinier.

We ran into a dark alley and stopped, panting and shaking from the adrenaline rush, panic and running. Wonwoo let go of my hand and leaned agains the brick wall behind him, trying to catch his breath. His black hair was drenched in sweat and glued onto his forehead.

I kneeled down and closed my eyes, trying to calm down. “They treat us like prey”, I panted.

“That hunter was after me at first. I thought I had lost him but I guess he just noticed you”, the boy said, still breathing heavily. “I’ve been running for a while. I guess I really am a drifter as well since I’m being hunted too.”

I knew he was. But the question was – who else knew, and how? His ability wasn’t exactly working yet, his powers hadn’t awoken yet. I had to close my eyes again as I felt the panic slowly returning. Everything was so unknown now.

“Are you alright?” Wonwoo asked. “You’re shaking.”

The boy seemed to hesitate for a second before he slowly walked to me, kneeled down in front of me and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a warm, calming hug. I let out a sigh against his chest, slowly relaxing and stopping with the shaking.

“Why would anyone want to do something like this?” I whispered.

Wonwoo didn’t seem to know the answer as he stayed silent. Then a thought popped up in my mind. I’d had three possible suspects earlier – Seungcheol, Dr Choi and Wonwoo. I really couldn’t believe it was the doctor, and now that Wonwoo had been attacked as well, I felt my heart breaking. Could it really be Seungcheol?

“Do you have any idea who is behind this?” Wonwoo asked, slowly backing away from the hug. “Could it be the man you’re working for?”

“Dr Choi is a drifter as well”, I replied with a tired voice. “He has been helping me a lot. It can’t be him.”

Wonwoo nodded, his expression darkening a little bit. “Then you know we only have one suspect left.”

I sighed. “I know. But somehow, I think it can’t be Seungcheol either. He saved me yesterday.”

The boy didn’t answer. He looked extremely puzzled and scratched his neck. He was just as troubled as I was and must’ve been thinking very hard. I let out a sigh and got up from the ground as my legs started to ache. I was cold now that we had stopped running – we had gotten quite sweaty and the spring evening was getting chilly.

“I think I should go home”, I said quietly. “I will probably stay there for a while. It’s dangerous outside.”

“I agree with you”, Wonwoo nodded. “I will stay at the library as well. Come, I’ll take you to the train. I’m not letting you walk home alone.”

I flashed a thankful smile to the boy. We walked side by side but completely silent, exhausted about the escape through the neighbourhood. We were also very alert all the time, in case there was another hunter ready to hunt us down. As we reached the nearest train stop, turned out it was already 9pm. The next train would drive by in five minutes, which was just fine for me. I leaned my back against the wall of the train stop’s shelter and let out a sigh.

“I feel like all of my muscles will ache tomorrow.”

“It’s better to have aching muscles than a hole in your head”, Wonwoo pointed out and stood next to me.

I chuckled. “That’s right. I’m so lucky.”

With a snort the boy stepped forward and turned around so that he was standing in front of me, looking me in the eyes. His slightly amused expression changed into a darker one. “I really thought that we’d get caught.”

“I know”, I nodded. “I thought so too.”

Wonwoo looked into my eyes with a look that had some sadness in it. His whole face screamed worry and I wanted to tell him I’d be alright and safe at home. The boy didn’t stop staring at me so I was about to open my mouth when he quickly stepped forward, placing his hands on the sides of my head so that his thumbs were gently caressing my cheeks, and leaned in for a kiss.

This time I wasn’t as startled as the first time, and as I realized what he was doing, I noticed my eyes closing by instinct and myself responding to the kiss. The kiss didn’t start as passionate and aggressive as the first one we shared, this one was sweeter and softer, and I felt like the world was spinning around us – this kind of dizziness was fine by me. The kiss slowly got more passionate and I noticed myself wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer. I wasn’t in charge of my actions anymore – I was acting purely according my emotions. I suddenly felt Wonwoo’s teeth grazing my lower lip and completely lost in my emotions, I quietly moaned into the kiss. This seemed to just provoke the boy, who deepened the kiss even more.

After a while he finally parted the kiss, breathing heavily and staring into my eyes with a somewhat puzzled look. I hadn’t been this confused in a while. I was still taken aback and out of breath.

“I think... the dream Wonwoo – “

“That was not the dream Wonwoo”, the boy cut my sentence short quickly, looking at me with a more serious expression. “That was the very real Wonwoo who wants to outdate the dream one.”

I stared at the boy with wide eyes. I didn’t know how to respond. I’d had a hunch of the boy having feelings for me for a while, but now that he was pretty much confessing to me, I basically froze to my feet.

“The train is coming”, Wonwoo’s voice broke my trance. “Go. Let’s meet after the situation gets better.”

The boy gently pushed me towards the train that stopped in front of the train stop just now. I glanced at Wonwoo one last time before hopping on the train. I stared at the boy from the window as the train took off. I could see Wonwoo waving in the distance before he turned around and walked away.

I was confused and flustered for the whole train ride. I sat down, my heart pounding like crazy, thinking about the boy’s words. He wanted to take the place of my dream boyfriend. How would that even work? For me, the boy would always be the one I met and fell in love with in my dreams, so I’d probably never think of this boy as someone completely else. The situation was so weird I didn’t really know what to think.

As the train stopped at my home stop, I hopped off and pretty much ran to the house, entering quickly. I rushed straight upstairs and opened Dr Choi’s office’s door without hesitating. The man seemed to get startled from the sudden action and stared at me with wide eyes.

“I just thought I’d tell you… but I was attacked again”, I said with a shaking voice. “That one hunter wasn’t the only one who knew about me.”

The man stood up with a worried expression on his face. “They seem to be targeting you for some reason… perhaps they also know I’m a drifter as well. For now, I suggest you can I stay inside the house. I will tell the guards to be more alert.”

I nodded. I was relieved I had Dr Choi to protect and calm me down. He always seemed so rational, like he had a solution for everything – except my symptoms. I thought about it as I walked back to my room. This man was pretty much the reason I was still in my right mind. Without him I might’ve gone crazy already, trying to cope with the crazy world and my condition. He had been concerned of me, he had taken me under his wing, he had offered me a place to stay and a job. Even though he had demoted me down to a maid for a while, I was thankful. That demotion had helped me a lot – I had made friends with Sunhwa and I had learned to get along with the maids a bit better; even though I was back to being the object of revolt again.

I had a lot to think about as I instinctively walked downstairs to the room Sunhwa and I had shared. As I placed my hand on the door handle I remembered I didn’t live in this room anymore. With a sigh, I shook my head but decided to enter anyway, I wanted to make sure the girl was alright after escaping earlier.

“Dami!” the girl cried out the moment she noticed me opening the door. The girl rushed from her bed to hug me tightly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, exhausted but not hurt”, I stated quickly, trying to sound as ensuring as possible. “How about you?”

“I’m alright, the man didn’t pay any attention to me”, the girl replied with a frown on her face. “Why are they after you? I heard you were shot at yesterday too!”

I sighed. “Believe me, I really want to tell you. I’ll just say there is a common secret between me and Dr Choi and that puts us in danger.”

The girl looked confused but seemed to accept that I wasn’t going to tell her the whole truth. “I just hope you will stay safe”, the girl said quietly.

With a smile, I patted the girl’s head and ensured her that I was quick and strong that I’d take care of myself. I told her goodnight and left the room to walk back upstairs and lock up in my own room. After a hot shower, brushing my teeth and changing into my pyjamas, I finally felt like I was able to calm down and relax completely. As I lied down in my bed, thought about the earlier incident between me and Wonwoo flashed back into my head. I closed my eyes, trying to get rid of the thought. I was confused about my own feelings. In a way, it sounded wrong to accept the boy’s feelings. It felt like cheating, considering the fact he might not ever remember me and our dreams.

I let out a deep sigh and rolled over to my back, staring at the ceiling for a moment before closing my eyes and gave sleeping yet another try.

______

Hey, and you're welcome - another surprise update! I'd appreciate a comment! ^^