“You know, both you and your girl are weirdos, no wonder you’re together.” The man reached a hand out to Areum’s face, and caressed her cheek. “She’s quite cute though” A lewd smile spread across the mans face as he ran a thumb across her quivering lips.
“H-hyun, just let me be. I don’t want you to ruin your future because of me. It’s fine if I die now, but you, you have a bright future ahead. Leave me, please…” Areum shouted across the room, voice shaking behind her tears. He could see the fear in her body and yet, here she was trying to protect him until the very end. Stupid.
“Cute, lover’s protecting one another. Too bad that’s not something I care about . Look Hyunnie, it was you who messed with one of ours first. So we’re gonna play with one of yours too. Just to be fair, you know?” The four men standing behind the main man were snickering.
“Areum has nothing to do with this. If you want to mess with me then don’t take a shortcut. Come at me directly.” Zen knew this was a battle that couldn’t be won alone. Even so, he couldn’t control himself. His body moved before his brain could tell him “no”. Or perhaps it was something he’d already decided from the beginning, that he’d give it all to protect the one he loved, she was, after all, his treasure. If a treasure isn’t hidden then it must be protected at all costs.
“Boss, what do you want us to do with him? We have him on his knees right now”
Zen was being held down by two men as the rest surrounded him. They all stared down at Zen with smirks plastered on their faces.
“Dispose of him. We don’t have much use for him in our organization.” The boss’ voice spoke through the speaker phone.
“I don’t care what you do with me, just let Areum go first. That was the trade.” Zen said sternly, but behind his facade, Areum knew he was just as afraid as she was. How could he not be?
“Oh, that’s right. We have his girl too. She was so quiet I forgot she was here for a moment.” The leader of the men laughed. His voice was loud and obnoxious. It echoed off the walls of the warehouse, bouncing back and forth into their ears. It was laugh that couldn’t be forgotten easily. “What did you want us to do with her?”
“Do as you wish. Just finish up quickly and come back to headquarters.” The boss said and hung up.
“Well, you guys heard the boss. Let’s have some fun with these two. We’ll play with the guy first. Now then, let’s take a look at your pretty face, Hyunnie.” The leader of the group crouched down and held Zen’s face up using his fingers. He stared at the beauty before him and smiled a wicked smile. It was one of lust and desire. The man thought of all the possible ways to carve up this beautiful face before him. It was almost unbearable to hold back. He pulled out a knife and traced it along Zen’s jawline. The cold steal made Zen flinch in fear. His body was tense and shaking in the man’s hands. The leader laughed at Zen’s reactions. It was undeniably satisfying to watch someone wriggling in fear beneath him.
“I’ve thought about it enough. Shall we begin pretty boy?” The man his lips in anticipation. He was ready to carve out his masterpiece. His eyes glistened as the knife in his hand slowly slid across Zen’s flesh.
Just then, two men fell to the ground and the leader was pushed aside. Zen looked up to see the gang has pulled through.
“Man, you guys are frickin late!” Zen chuckled out of relief. His body could finally relax. One second later and who knows how he would've ended up. Zen and the gang stood in their groups facing one another.

“Now, now who do we have here? You should have came alone like we told you to, Hyunnie. Now you and your friends are all going to die. At least you guys can die together right?” The leader laughed and reached behind his belt. A gun was held in front of them. 
“. What are we gonna do now? We didn’t plan for them to have a gun…” one of Zen’s brothers whispered.
“Sorry guys. This is all my fault. I don’t know.. I don’t know how I can make it up to you guys. I’ve sent another friend my location in the case I didn’t make it back but, I don’t know…”
“Now’s not the time to be whispering around. But I guess I should be considerate enough to let you guys say goodbye to one another, right?” The men laughed. “But then again, I’m not a considerate person. Get on the ground now before I start shooting. Even if you yell, no one will hear you guys now. This area is secluded.”
Zen’s gang couldn’t do anything but obey them. They were kneeling on the ground with arms behind their heads.
“Leader Min, the men outside said cars have arrived on scene and they seem to be a security team.” one of the subordinates whispered into the leaders ear.
“Prepare the helicopter. We’ll leave through the air” the subordinate nodded and ran outside. The leader rubbed his temples. “Hyunnie, why do you have to make things so difficult? I was going to let you live a bit longer but, you know, it’s—"
“Drop everything and get on the ground.” A voice yelled through a microphone. “Drop the gun, now!” A man in black signaled the others to follow suit.
"tsk. They got here quicker than expected.” He ran towards the back exit where the helicopter pad was. Zen took this chance to go untie Areum.
“Babe, are you okay? I’m sorry you had to go through this. You’re safe now. I’m here.” Zen looked at her with eyes that were so filled with love and sorrow, Areum found it hard to hold back her tears any longer. Her act was over. She was weak in front of this man. She quickly reached for the man in front of her, when she noticed that hanging on the helicopter, the leader of the opposing group had his finger held on the trigger of the gun that was directed towards them.
BANG

Areum woke up gasping for air. “HYUN!” She yelled waking up from the nightmare. She clenched her chest as she rolled onto the floor of the apartment.
“Areum?” Zen walked out of her room still half asleep. “Areum!” Zen ran to her side when he saw her crouched on the floor wheezing. “What’s wrong? Why are you like this? Did you have a nightmare?” All sorts of questions ran through his mind as he pulled her into his arms and tried to calm her down.
“Hyun.. my.. desk…” She couldn’t manage to speak. It was hard for her to catch her breath. It almost hurt as much as when the bullet first went through her. She grabbed onto Zen’s shirt and breathed many short breaths into his chest. It hurt so much her mind was going blank from the lack of oxygen. Zen quickly laid her down on the floor and breathed into her. In that moment, it was the only method that came to his mind. 

Let my breath be yours.