Amber (Part 7): Escaping
Paris: The City of My Heart
1 도련님 (read: do-ryeo-nim) : Young Master.
“Amber.”
I heard a voice calling me.
It sounded so distant.
He sounded so worried.
I felt my arm burning.
Another voice was heard. “She’s fine, do-ryeo-nim1. We used the J23 long-acting stun gun. It hurts like hell, she’s probably just dealing with it as she wakes up now.”
Then I heard the door being pushed open and shut quietly.
There was light, blurry at first then grew. I tried to move, but my body ached. I felt paralysed.
I felt someone near me.
He was whispering lightly. “Amber… I’m so sorry.”
His voice kept fading in and out.
“Amber, I love you.”
And suddenly I knew.
I opened my eyes and felt light-headed. Myung Soo was there, but his head was turned away.
“You said she’s fine, what’s with that gauze pad on her arm?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“It’s just flesh wound. We put the gauze on it.”
“You idiot! That’s not how you treat a wound! If she doesn’t wake up in five, I’ll make sure you would never see the living daylight ever again!”
“M-Myung Soo…” My voice sounded so faint, but I got his attention.
He beamed and grabbed me into a hug as he cried and laughed with immense relief, “Amber, thank God! I thought I had lost you!”
I rubbed my temple and looked around. “Where are we?”
I heard footsteps leaving the room and the door closed.
“My house.”
I slowly sat up, with his help, and observed the spacious room. A large window on the left wall and a double door to the balcony next to it, locked I believed. I looked out the window and saw the top of some trees and the Eiffel Tower far away that it looked like a pencil from here. There was a bathroom on the wall to my right and an opening to, what I believed was, the closet next to the bedside table. Even from the bed, I could see that the bathroom was large already.
I got off the bed and walked over to the window to find myself at, what I believed was, three floors above the ground.
“Did you say this is your house?” He nodded before sauntering over to join me. “This is more like a palace!” I exclaimed.
He chuckled and rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Some houses in France look like castles.”
“What happened?”
“Well…,” he thought over on how best to explain to me situation. “We were… ‘put to sleep’ last night and ‘kidnapped’ here by my Dad.”
“And where is he now?” I looked around the room and the door warily.
“In a meeting. He’ll be back in two hours to deal with us.”
“Oh…”
His expression turned grim and he leaned in to my ear. “It’s probably time to plan our escape.”
I stared aghast at him. “But… we aren’t ready. What about our clothes?”
“We’ll worry about that later.” He then approached the door and opened it. “We’re having a shower. Don’t come in before I come out.” His warning sounded deadly that even I would obey his words. But I wouldn’t tell him that.
With that, he closed the door and turned to me before leading me to the bathroom. I could swear it was the same size as my rented apartment. When he started stripping, I realised he was serious.
“What are you doing?”
He looked at me with do-you-have-to-ask look. “Shower. Duh.”
“What?!” I shrieked in horror. “I thought we were going to discuss our moves?”
“Yeah, we’re discussing it here.”
“Why the shower?”
“The last time we had a shower was yesterday morning. We better get cleaned up before we leave.”
“But I didn’t bring any clothes.”
“Just wear again what you have now.”
“Okay, fine.”
I turned to the door, but his arm caught my waist. I held my breath as my muscles tensed. I felt heat spreading over my face when I felt his chest against my back.
“Where are you going?” he asked, forehead creasing.
“Out. You’re having a shower first right?”
He tilted his head and raised a brow at me. “Yeah, you’re coming in with me.”
“WHAT?!” I yelled so loud that he had to cover my mouth. I can’t believe he even considered it at this point of time. I smacked his hand away. “We’re at your dad’s house and you’re still thinking of doing that?”
His lips pulled into a smirk. “Who ever said anything about that? Unless you want to…”
I scoffed. Yea, right. I could feel his body burning up against me.
“Come on. Who knows this will be the last time I see you?”
My muscles stiffened and I shot him a cautious look. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing really, just a thought. Who knows whether we’ll be able to get out of this stupid castle?”
I spun around and glared at him. “Do not say that ever again! We came here together, we’re leaving together!”
“Okay. Get undressed now.”
I stared at him in disbelief as he grinned defiantly.
“Turn around,” I ordered. He rolled his eyes and did so anyway after releasing me.
I watched him as I started to get undressed. Before I met him, I would be the last person on earth to be doing this at my partner’s house.
“By the way, I found a place to stay in Toulouse.”
~*~*~
When the owner of the house finished his meeting, Myung Soo and I were summoned to his room. We were taken to an office room looking out to the city of Paris. It seemed so odd to me, considering we were in a castle, to have such a modern looking office. Two guards held me by the arms as another two were standing at attention behind Myung Soo, who was crossing his arms as he glared at his dad. Mr Kim didn’t have his sunglasses on this time.
I looked at the father and son back and forth. The room was silent. The bodyguards were standing at attention without a word or expression, as if they weren’t even there.
Mr Kim smirked and I heard a lock behind me before I felt something positioned just inches from my head. I did not dare to move. I could feel my heart drumming against my rib cage and my blood pumping. I tried to keep my breathing even as I waited for what was to happen next.
Myung Soo turned to the guard behind me and glared at him. “Put. The. Gun. Down.” No movement was made, so I assumed Myung Soo was ignored. He zoomed to his Dad and grabbed his collar. “What do you want?”
Mr Kim raised an eyebrow as he said every word clearly and concisely, “You lay a hand on me, the bullet will be released.” Reluctantly, Myung Soo let go of his dad without taking his eyes off him. “Well, son, I’m sure you know what to do. You stay, she gets to leave.” He sat on his desk as he crossed his arms over his chest, clearly telling us who the boss there was.
I stared at Myung Soo, pleading. No. We came together, we’ll leave together!
I saw Myung Soo swallowing a lump in his throat as he took a glance at me before turning back to face his Dad. “We came together, we’ll leave together.”
Suddenly, a gunshot reverberated in the room and just as I thought I would black out, one of the guards who were guarding Myung Soo earlier groaned. I saw a hole where the bullet went through. The man didn’t fall and I realised he had a bulletproof jacket on underneath his suit. This was planned.
“If you don’t make a decision now, that will be in her head next time.”
I locked eyes with Myung Soo and we nodded. As he armed the two guards behind him, I turned around swiftly, grabbed the man’s hand, and kicked his manhood. As I did so, I threw him towards the other guard to block the attack on me. The guard I just took down pressed on the trigger when I grabbed him, causing a bullet to be released across the room, hitting the surface of a metal file cabinet. While he was groaning in pain, I kicked the other guard on the shin and raised my leg up for an axe kick as he bent down, but he grabbed my leg and threw me on the carpet. I was fine, just a carpet burn on my arm. Why was it always the left arm?!
He was about to step on me when Myung Soo knocked him out from the neck and stole the gun off the one on the floor. He took hold of it and extended it to his Dad as he helped me up. Mr Kim just smirked.
“You’re just wasting your time and energy.”
“Let’s go,” Myung Soo said and we left the office room.
We turned to the right corridor with Myung Soo leading me. He had the gun on one hand as the other held my hand tightly. He asked if I was alright from the fall and I assured him that I was. We ran through the endless corridor from tens of men behind us. Myung Soo shot four men in front of us, wounding them. I never saw this fierce side of Myung Soo, ready to take anything down that gets on his way. But I wasn’t scared, I was anxious of whether we could get out alive. Maybe this was what he meant earlier.
“We are getting out of here together, Am. Alive. You better promise me you’ll be alive by the end of the day. Promise me!”
And I did.
We ran down the stairs as he rose up the gun to shoot at some men at the flight of stairs before us. He told me to grab a table with a flower vase on it resting at the wall across the stairs and throw it to the ground to hinder our chasers’ path. He grabbed onto my hand again before we ran and threw things here and there. Mr Kim might need to buy new vases and fixed the desks.
The castle was like an endless maze. My heart was beating so fast against my chest like a drum that I thought Myung Soo could’ve heard it. We ran and ran. They chased and chased.
At the bottom floor, instead of running towards the front door, he Myung Soo led me towards a bedroom. Well, it was a smart choice at the time considering four men from the door started coming after us, but it became a dumb one once we got inside because we were stuck in a room within this big castle we were trying to escape from.
Myung Soo locked the door and I pushed the wooden dresser from the wall to the door. I could hear the guards kicking and shooting bullets at the barrier between us. Well, Mr Kim would need to repair the door too.
I was watching the door as Myung Soo ran to the window and opened it. I joined him when he called me out of my reverie. He helped me out before getting himself out and I found us at the garden with lines of big pot plants in rows.
“We might have to separate, Am.”
“What?! No!” I refused. “No.”
“Am, I have to get you out alive!”
“And I have to get you out alive!”
I saw the guards exiting the front door and running towards the garden. We picked up our pace and Myung Soo fished through his jacket pocket for a piece of paper to give to me.
I was going to ask what it was when Myung Soo started talking again. “I’ll be out alive once you are,” he said as he kept checking our rear. “I’m not going to die and let you be with someone else!”
He flashed a grin as we ran through rows of plants one after another as the guards followed us, our hands still connected. They didn’t dare to shoot their gun because their Young Master was with me. We managed to reach the gate and fled from Myung Soo’s castle. The guards were still on our back.
“There are two divided roads at the end of this path. We have to get there before them and separate there. You go right, I’ll go left. Find a bus or a taxi or whatever you could find to Gare d’Austerlitz. Whoever gets there first, buy a ticket to Toulouse. If I don’t arrive before the train comes, I’ll meet you in Toulouse. I’ll do the same too. That—“
“Can’t I just wait for you at the station if I get there first?”
“No,” he said firmly. “You’re going out of Paris, Amber. If I get there before you, I’ll be waiting for you. Be careful, keep running, and don’t look back!”
“What if I can’t make it?” I bit my lower lip in concern.
We reached the divided roads sooner than I expected. We stopped to catch our breaths.
“You will make it, Amber. I’ll be waiting there!”
“How long would you wait before you give up on me?” I asked out of curiosity.
He straightened up and looked into my eyes. It seemed like he was pondering around this question.
“Ten years.” My eyes widened as he continued, “If I don’t see you in ten years, I’m going to move on and marry another girl.” He wrapped his fingers around my neck, his thumb caressed my cheek, and pulled me in to shorten the distance between us.“No. I’ll wait forever. If you don’t come to me, I’ll look for you. I know this is selfish, but if you get there before me, you are not allowed to look for me.” I was about to protest when he continued, “Don’t waste your time. Settle down and wait for me because as you do, I’m working my way to get to you. Understand?”
“How do I contact you?”
“I’ll contact you myself. Don’t contact me because I don’t want to leave any trace of you.”
“What if I can’t find you?”
He thought for a while before answering, “Contact me through a public phone.”
We heard footsteps coming closer and I started to panic. I didn’t want to separate from him.
”That piece of paper I gave you has the address of my friend who lives in Toulouse.” He took an envelope out of his inside pocket and I frowned when he placed it on my hand. “They took your bag, so take this money for now.”
I realised he was more prepared than I was. I also realised that not only were we going to elope without clothes, but also money—if he had not given me this envelope.
“What? When did you prepare this?”
He chuckled. “Let’s not ask too much, they’re coming closer. We’ll talk about it when we get to Toulouse.” He grabbed me in and kissed my forehead for what felt like five seconds. I could feel his reluctance to let go. “I love you. Don’t get lost.”
I nodded reluctantly. I was worrying for him. He kissed my lips and ran towards the left road. It was so brief that I was disappointed. I called out and ran to him. As he stood there wondering what I wanted, I jumped up and placed my lips on his. We kissed for as long as we could as if it was the last kiss we’d ever share. Time was running out. I put in as much emotion as I could into our short-lived kiss before hugging him tightly and walked backwards away from him.
“See you in Toulouse.”
I saw his signature boyish smile before I turned and went my own way.
~*~*~
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