Chapter 8 

 

The morning came but still, Yoona had no answers from Changwook. Something had happened, something had rattled him to his very core and still, she had no idea what it was. 

 

Changwook had finally fallen asleep sometime in the pre-dawn hours, too exhausted, both emotionally and physically, to remain awake despite whatever had thrown him into such a distress state. 

 

Only then, once Changwook had fallen asleep and had finally relaxed had Yoona allow herself to relax but she hadn't slept, she hadn't been able, too. 

 

She had been and still was too preoccupied with her thoughts, all of which hover around the man who had held her so tightly in his arms, even while asleep. The one thought that roll around in her mind during those long silent hours before dawn was whether or not she could give up the one thing she had always sworn to herself that she would never, under any circumstances. 

 

Something traumatic had obviously happened to the man she had fallen in love with and maybe what she was imagining was worse than the actual event had been but she couldn't know that because she had absolutely no idea what the said event was but it had affected Changwook strongly. 

 

The way Changwook held her, it was something else. It was as though Changwook was downright terrified that at any moment, she was going to be wrench from his hold by some unseen un-fightable force. 

 

Yoona had to help him but she didn't know how and that was why dangerous thoughts were tumbling around inside her head. 

 

Her dad wanted a grandson, only then would he let them go. One child. One child who would be protected and in her dad's own way love only by him, cherish even and then the two of them could walk away unscathed. 

 

It was the same choice her mom had made. Her own mom had given up the son she had love in order to save her daughter, in order to get her young daughter out of her dad's world. In the end, it had been what had killed her but she had live over a decade, watching her daughter grow up safe and sound, far away from that dangerous world that Yoona had seen for herself, a world that could twist and corrupt a person until there was no goodness left in them but was Yoona as strong as her mom had been? Was she strong enough to make such a choice? To give up a part of herself so that she and the man she loves could be free? 

 

What would her mom think of her now? What would her mom say if she were here now, watching her daughter face the same choice that had eventually kill her? 

 

Would her mom tell her that it was worth it or would her mom warn her away from such a sacrifice? After all, had her mom really been living after she had walk away from her youngest child so that she might save her other? It wasn't the exact same choice but in essence, it was the same. Yoona wasn't choosing between the well-being of two children already born, she was deciding between the man she had fallen in love with and a child not yet even conceived. 

 

Would that make it easier in the long run? Knowing that she was going to give up her child before it had even started growing inside of her. Would knowing beforehand make it easier for her to forsake and abandon her child to the same life that had killed her brother? 

 

Could she do it? Was she that sort of person? Could she be that selfish to sacrifice a child, her own child, so that the man she loves could be safe and she could be free? 

 

Early morning sunlight fills the room before Yoona couldn't stand lying still anymore. Moving slowly, being careful not to wake Changwook as he needed the sleep, Yoona pulls herself from Changwook's arms and slip out of bed but she couldn't leave him, not even for the time it would take her to shower. She was going to be there when he wakes up otherwise she fears that he had freaked out after whatever had happened to him last night. 

 

Slipping on her black charter club french terry kimono robe, Yoona went to the window and look out over the grounds that were the back of the estate. 

 

Outside, it was promising to be a glorious day. The golden sun was rising into the cloudless blue sky, shining its golden rays down over the lush green grass and the delicate petals of so many colors that made up the gardens. There were flowers of all kinds and colors, blending together to create a visual delight. There were aster and amaryllis, anemone and dahlia, carnation and peony, daffodil and hyacinth, all proudly displaying their beauty to the rising life-giving sun. 

 

The gardens were a work of art. A beautiful work of art that didn't belong in such a monster's lair. 

 

Directly below the golden light of the sun seem to be dancing on the surface of the crystalline blue water of the in-ground pool. 

 

Birds flew about here and there between the trees that ran the perimeter, providing privacy from prying eyes and above, more birds glided majestically through the air. 

 

It was a beautiful morning, one that should have filled her with hope and excitement at the endless possibilities that this new day held but Yoona didn't feel any of that. 

 

A chilling trail up her spine and Yoona wrap her arms around herself, desperately seeking both warmth and comfort. 

 

What was she going to do? 

 

It was funny how things turn out. In the beginning, before she had gone to the FBI before she had even heard Changwook's name, all Yoona had been concern about was bringing down her dad so that she might be free and so that her lost loved ones would finally have justice for their violent deaths. She had been so careful, had thought that she was being so clever. She had spent countless hours each day for nearly a year, trying to cover every base to have a contingency ready for any possible wrinkle that presented itself but not once did the possibility of anything like this happening occur to her. 

 

Yoona hadn't seen this coming, how could she have? And so, she hadn't been able to prepare herself for it, let alone do anything to shield herself against what she had come to feel for the FBI agent assigned to the task of using her to bring down the monster that was her dad and now, here she was. Not only contemplating the idea of giving her dad what he wanted but actually seriously considering it as the only way to get Changwook out of the snare that she had trap him within. 

 

Changwook had no real idea what he had been walking into. At least she had known what her dad was, what he was capable of and the danger she was in but how could Changwook possibly have known what he was in for? Yes, Changwook was an FBI agent who did things like this for a living but there was no way he could have known the depth of her dad's cruel and twisted insanity. 

 

Just yesterday, Changwook had tried his hardest to convince her to run with him, to give up all her plan and just go, disappear and Yoona had been so very tempted then but she had hesitated, believing that no matter how far they ran it would never be far enough to escape her dad's reach but now, Yoona deeply regretted not saying yes and running away with him. 

 

None of this would be happening now if she had just taken a chance and said yes but even now, Yoona knew why she had said no. It was the same reason that had made her go to the FBI in the first place rather than run. 

 

It was pointless. Her dad would find them and then he would drag them back and make them very sorry for defying him. Changwook would be slaughter and she would no doubt be by Kai until she was very definitely pregnant and it would all be done by her own dad's order. 

 

Yoona scoff ruefully. She had once had the thought that at least her mom had died before she had seen what had become of her son but that hadn't been the true mercy of her mom's death. 

 

For what Yoona was most grateful about was that her mom had died before she had seen what her husband had become. Her dad wasn't the same man that her mom had loved all those years ago, the man her mom had continued to love at least in part until her dying days. 

 

If her mom could see what her dad had become it would have destroyed her every bit as much as losing her son would have. 

 

If her mom had been here though, would her dad be different? Would her mom have been able to talk her dad out of this sick and twisted trap that he held their daughter in? Would her mom have been able to save her from this fate? 

 

Yoona would never know. She had no memory of what her dad had been like when he had been with his wife as she had been too young when her mom had taken her and left him. It was only the way her mom had spoken about her dad over the years that made Yoona realize that her mom had always loved her dad in some small way, "Yoona?" 

 

Yoona gasp, startled out of her thoughts by the disorientated panic voice coming from the bed behind her. Yoona whirl to see that Changwook was now awake, sitting up in bed, balancing his weight on his elbow, the covers bunch at his waist, leaving his gloriously chiseled chest bare as his frantic eyes hurriedly scan the room. His eyes found hers and Changwook visibly relax, the panic and fear in his eyes fading along with the momentary disorientation of waking up so suddenly from a deep sleep. 

 

"I'm right here," Yoona told him reassuringly, as she went to him. 

 

As she moves, Yoona became aware of the aching stiffness of her body and the painful numbness in her feet, as if she had been standing still for far too long and she threw a glance at the digital clock and shockingly realize that over an hour had passed since she had left the bed. 

 

She had been so deep in her trouble chaotic thoughts that time had passed unnoticed until Changwook had woken up and pulled her out of her own mind. 

 

Changwook held out his arms to her and Yoona went immediately into them, with all the comfort and ease that came from knowing that she belongs there. It was as if she had been born to be in his arms, design specifically to fit perfectly in his embrace. 

 

Changwook's arms close around her as he lay back down on the pillow, pulling her down onto the soft mattress with him. 

 

Yoona relaxes against him, laying her head against his chest and listen to his strong heartbeat beneath her ear. It was the most soothing and calming sound she had heard since her mom's last words to her. She wraps her arms around him as best she could, considering that she was laying on top of him and held him as securely as he held her. 

 

"Are you alright?" Yoona asks softly, her tone serene and warm because she knew that that's what he needed from her. 

 

Changwook's hold on her tighten as if fearing that she had be torn from his grip forever at any moment, locking her in placed where she was. 

 

"I'm fine." He whispers into her hair, but his hard tone told her that he definitely wasn't fine, that he was anything but fine. 

 

Yoona was half-relieved and half-irritated. She was relieved that he had found his strength again, that his voice had its steely undertone back but at the same time, she was irritated because she had heard the resolve in his tone that told her that she wasn't going to get anything more out of him other than that he was fine. 

 

For his sake, Yoona pushes down her irritation. Changwook had been through something traumatic and terrible, that much she knew and she was going to be patient with him. 

 

As long as the word fine didn't come out of his mouth again today. 

 

Yoona raises her head, supporting her weight on her hands on the bed beneath Changwook and stare deeply into his brown eyes. 

 

Eyes that only yesterday had been hard and cold when facing an enemy who had meant her harm, eyes that could stare down an armed enemy without fear or uncertainty and yet, when Changwook look at her, there was never any of that hardness, none of that icy remoteness there. Instead, there was only tenderness and great affection, a warm gentle softness that he seems to reserve for her alone but today, there was something else in his eyes, tainting their usual tenderness. Something that Yoona strongly suspected was fear. 

 

Fear for her. 

 

Changwook was a protector, a fierce warrior who would conquer the deepest depths of hell just to keep her safe. When Changwook, himself, was threatened, he became aggressive and acted strategically, she had seen that with his interactions with Kai. 

 

Only fear for those whom he loves could cause the fear she could see in his eyes now. 

 

"Don't lie to me." Yoona told him, her voice barely more than a whisper, "You don't have to tell me the truth but I have enough men in my life who lie to me. I don't want you to be one of them." 

 

Something flash in his eyes at her words, something that was gone before Yoona could identify it but then, his expression softens until his expression was solemn but tender. 

 

"Then I will never lie to you again." Changwook promise, his hands slowly making their way along her body from the middle of her back to her shoulders where he buried them into her hair. He then pulls her head down towards him. 

 

His gaze flicked to her lips for a single moment before he touches them gently with his own, hesitantly as if he were half expecting her to pull away from him. 

 

Silly Changwook. As if she had ever pulled away from him, especially when he so obviously needed her. 

 

His kisses were gentle, caressing and reverent. He kisses her as though she would break like some fine china doll if he wasn't gentle and that alone confirm to her that the fear in him was fear for her, not for himself. 

 

Changwook was too protective, too selfless, to show such overwhelming fear of himself and that terrified her. Not because of the danger she, herself, was in but because of what Changwook might do. He was a fierce warrior who protected what he loves with everything he had and with such a man, there was no telling what he would do if he thought he was protecting her. There was no telling what he would do or how reckless he would become with his own well-being. 

 

That's what terrified her the most and brought dangerous thoughts to mind and then something seems to snap inside of him. Between one moment and the next, Changwook's gentleness, his reverence, became madden desperation, became a starving burning hunger that was near violent in its intensity. 

 

Changwook clasps one arm around her, holding her press to him as he rolls them both over until his body covered hers, pressing her into the soft mattress beneath her and then he was kissing her once more, only it was like a completely different man was kissing her now. The gentle worshipping man was gone and in his place was a starved man with a wild desperation and raging heat in his blazing brown eyes. His kisses were fierce and demanding, conquering. He was ravaging her, taking what he needed from her and not giving her a chance to object. 

 

Changwook shifted his weight on top of her, forcing her legs to part as he settled his weight between her legs until her lower body was cradling him. 

 

While his mouth ravaged hers with bruising savagery, his hands pull at her clothes, yanking her robe from her shoulders with such brute force that Yoona was surprised that it didn't tear and then his large hands were on her body, running boldly up and down her front and sides, her shoulders and neck. There was a desperate hunger in him that had her crying out into his mouth that refuses to release hers. 

 

Yoona was dizzy, the world spinning around her, from her body not getting enough oxygen or her mind being so overwhelmed that she didn't know and didn't care. 

 

Her entire body was on fire. She was alive with sensation, desire and a fire-storm of pleasure that seem to rage with increasing intensity low in her belly, wildly demanding more. 

 

Abruptly, Changwook releases his hold on and lifted himself up on his elbows, looking down at her with fierce wild eyes. His breathing was frantic and his entire body was corded tensely as if he were fighting a fierce internal battle. 

 

"I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe," Changwook vowed savagely, with all the determination of a man who stood alone against an army of people who doubted him, who would make a liar out of him at the first opportunity. 

 

There was a different kind of fire in him that hadn't been there last night, a warrior's fire. He was a warrior hell bent on fighting for everything he had against invading marauders, a warrior who had nothing and everything to lose. 

 

Yoona, who never had and never would fear him, felt an overwhelming fear for him. She fears that this illogical desperation was going to make him do something stupid, something dangerous. 

 

There was another less potent fear in her also. A primitive age-old fear that had been felt by women since the beginning of time. 

 

The fear a woman faces when she laid with a man for the first time. 

 

Yoona wonders if this was it if he was going to take her. If he was, she wasn't going to make a move to stop him, especially not when he so obviously needed her and especially not when she wanted him so much. 

 

In the back of her mind, a voice that Yoona chose to ignore whisper that if she did happen to fall pregnant then her choice to sacrifice a child for their freedom would already be made, almost as if she were handing the decision over to fate itself. 

 

"Keep me safe from what, Changwook Oppa? Please tell me?" Yoona raise her hands to his face and cup his face in both hands, gently moving her thumbs back and forth against his cheeks, wordlessly reassuring him that she was there and that everything would be ok, "Tell me what you are so afraid of?" 

 

Emotions so intense flooded his eyes so quickly that Yoona couldn't name a single emotion in his eyes. His eyes were intense that they were blazing and they were filled with the madness of a man who had been pushed beyond each and every limit he had. 

 

"I can't lose you! I won't!" He cried out as if he were in physical pain, not answering her question in any other way and then he claims once again, more hungry, more desperate, more maddening than he had ever been before. 

 

There was love there, too. He was kissing her with all the love and desperate of a dying man who was given one last moment with the woman he loves, the woman needed more than the air he breathes. 

 

Yoona was helpless against him. Not his physical strength or his greater size but his love and fear for her that was driving him to madness. He needed her now, more than Yoona had ever needed anything in her life and she needed to do whatever she could for him, to help him through whatever this was. 

 

Inside her burning body, her heart was breaking for him. What horror had he endured that had done this to him? Uncontrollable tears leak from her closed eyes and stream into the hair just above her ears. 

 

If she had too, Yoona would give up anything to help him, to keep him alive or even just so that he had never have to be so terrified ever again. 

 

They didn't leave her room all day. Changwook locks them both inside and wouldn't let anyone in. 

 

Their food was brought to them and although Changwook let her leave his embrace, he never took his eyes off of her, was never more than a few feet from her. 

 

All day, he was tense and battle ready. All day, he waited for the battle that didn't come. He was as edgy and as restless as a caged tiger recently caught in the wild. He couldn't sit still, he prowled around the room over and over again, as silently, as alertly and as lithely as any predator. 

 

Yoona realizes that Changwook was waiting for a battle, he was waiting for the threat he fear was looming over their heads to come for her. 

 

Yoona was concerned for Changwook. He was so fiercely protective, so battle ready, that Yoona, herself, was terrified for him. There was something about the way he was acting that made Yoona uneasy as if he had already decided to give up his life for her as if it were a done thing and he was at peace with it and that terrified her beyond words. 

 

In the early pre-dawn hours of the next morning, Changwook woke up with a violent start as he was wrench from his terrifying nightmare, his heart pounding in his chest like a battle drum, his body was drench in sweat and his breathing was rapid and heavy as he struggles to catch his breath. 

 

He was frantic. 

 

It took him a long moment to realize that it had just been a nightmare but it had felt so real. It still felt so real. Only partial images remain as his conscious mind took dominance over his subconscious mind but even as it faded, Changwook knew that it had been so vivid, so real, that it had terrified him to his core. 

 

The fragments he remembers wouldn't leave him in peace. Yoona screaming in pain as a knife flash, reflecting the white light from above the door. Blood trailing down the flawless white skin of her legs and dripping from her toes into the drain beneath her. Golden blonde strands of endless silky hair smear red with drying blood. Her radiant eyes consume with unbearable pain as they pleaded him to save her and worst of all were her pain-fill words that fill his ears and echo through his mind. He could hear her begging him to save her, to make the pain stop. He could hear her ghostly voice asking him why he hadn't saved her when he had sworn to her that he would keep her safe. 

 

He had dreamed of Yoona hanging from the hook in one of those torture cells in the basement, not him. Yoona had been the one who had been tortured while he had watched and he hadn't been able to do anything to stop it. 

 

That was his worst nightmare. That was what he fears the most, more than his own death, more than he, himself, being tortured. He had watched his parents, whom he had loved dearly, be torture and murder before his eyes and he hadn't been able to do anything about it but if the same thing happens to Yoona then that would be something that he wouldn't be able to survive. 

 

Why had he gone down into that basement? Why did he have to find what lurks beneath his feet, waiting for its next victims like a gruesome monster in the terrifying darkness? 

 

It was taking everything he had to keep a tight grip on himself that he didn't just snatch Yoona up and bolt. Something he fully intended to do but he had to get things in place first. Their escape had to be planned. They had only one shot at their escape and if they fail then Changwook risk his worst nightmares coming true before his very eyes. 

 

Yoona knew something was wrong, how could she not? But fortunately, she hadn't been able to figure out what had him waking up in the middle of the night, screaming. She had held him when he had needed it, had tolerated him hovering over her constantly. She had allowed herself to be crowded and held prisoner at night so that he could eventually manage to get some sleep. She had questioned him at first, had implored him to confide in her but at his refusal to give her the answers she wanted, she hadn't pressed him any further. She had understood and she had done everything she could to ease his anxiety and suffering. 

 

Not once today had Yoona even suggested that they leave her room and it had been because he had been uneasy about it and not because of the drive-by shooting attempt on them just the day before. 

 

Changwook had little doubt that if it hadn't been for his obvious distress at what he had discovered in the basement the night before, Yoona would have been right back out in the park, running their usual track just as she did every morning and afternoon like nothing had ever happened. 

 

Regardless of what her dad said or did. 

 

How could he not love this woman? She was the daughter of the man who had murdered his parents but she was so like his own mom that there were times when it took his breath away and Yoona was nothing like her dad. He even had a doubt or two as to whether Yoona really was Sejoon's biological daughter. 

 

Yoona was strong and confident and knew her own heart and mind. She loves absolutely and never let anyone tell her what she could or couldn't do. She was selfless and strong-will and she never let even the bleakest of situations keep her down. 

 

Just look at what she had done in the last forty-either hours. She had kept her head during the shootout and had to remain rational instead of becoming a hysterical mess. Then only hours after being shot at, Yoona had comforted him when he had crawled into bed with her, distress and panic beyond all means of controlling himself and she had comforted him like the shootout hadn't even happened. 

 

Yoona hadn't demanded answers from him either. She had asked but only after comforting him the best she could. How could anyone not love such a caring selfless strong woman? 

 

Yoona was everything he had never known he had wanted in a woman and more. Granted, these were extraordinary circumstances but Changwook believed that it was in the trying times that one really saw who a person really was and learn who they themselves were. 

 

Changwook look forward to learning who Yoona was under normal circumstances, although he had the inkling that she would be exactly who she was now. 

 

Hope for the future, for the first time since his parents had died, a future with Yoona was all that was keeping him going in what had become his darkest hour. 

 

In this blackest of black dark hours. Changwook would never forget the horrors he had seen in the basement of this grand mansion; they had very nearly unmanned him. 

 

Which was inexcusable. He had Yoona to protect and he was acting like a pansy. 

 

Changwook scolded himself fiercely. He was seriously off his game and it was going to get him kill. He had made too many mistakes already and it just wasn't like him. He was usually very careful, meticulous and at all times professional and he knew well the high cost of making mistakes in this game. 

 

His worst mistake to date was that he had actually left his personal weapon, not one of those that Sejoon had given him or the one the FBI had issue him but his own personal weapon that he had had on him the night before, in the basement, in Sejoon's breeding cell. 

 

How could he have done something so stupid? If it was found then he had be discover but he couldn't go back down there. He couldn't. The thought of going back down there was so sickening that it nearly choked him every time he even considers it but on the other hand, his weapon was a ticking time bomb, laying somewhere on the floor in the basement, just waiting to be found. 

 

He was in love with Yoona and because of that, he needed to protect her more than ever but because he was in love with her he was making careless mistakes that were going to get Yoona capture and himself killed. 

 

He was quickly running out of time. Yoona was running out of time. He had to get Yoona somewhere safe before their luck ran out but after seeing what he had seen, after learning just how obsess and twisted Sejoon was, was there any place that would be safe for them? Sejoon would never stop searching, never stop hunting for Yoona. Unless someone stops him, once and for all. 

 

By the end of this, Sejoon would be dead or he would be, that was the only way either of them would stop. 

 

So to keep Yoona safe, Changwook had to kill her dad. 

 

Settling back down into the comfort of the pillows, Changwook hugs Yoona's peacefully sleeping form to him and close his eyes. Not to sleep but to try to find comfort from the feel of Yoona sleeping safe and unharmed in his arms, "I love you." Changwook whispers soundlessly to her, in the safety of the secret-keeping darkness of the night. He told the night his secret because he couldn't risk saying the words to anyone else, not even Yoona. 

 

The three simple words had the potential to be more dangerous, more harmful than Sejoon, himself, for they were words of great power and consequence. 

 

One day though. One day he would say the words out loud to her and she would hear them, would understand the truth they carried. 

 

One day. 

 

Changwook will his body to relax but sleep didn't find him for many long hours. 

 

It was a full week before her dad would let her leave the estate and for every minute of every day of that week, Changwook had stuck to her like her own shadow. The bathroom was the only room Changwook hadn't follow her into but Yoona had the feeling that he had had to force himself to let her out of his sight for even that long. Yoona did what she could to help him even though she still had no idea exactly what it was that she was helping him with. 

 

Yoona was hardly ever out of his arm's reach. She slept being held tightly in his arms every night; she woke in his arms and she fell asleep in his arms. 

 

At least now Yoona knew what it was like to be a child's favorite teddy bear. 

 

During the day, no matter what she did, Changwook was right there. It would have seriously gotten on her nerves on day two if it hadn't been for how terrified she had seen him. Whatever he had seen had done a number on him and even though Yoona couldn't work out what it could have possibly been, she knew it had been center right around her. 

 

Changwook was terrified for her, even though after that first twenty-four hours he had tried his hardest to hide it from her. He wouldn't tell her what had happened or speak to her about it at all; in fact, he hardly said a word at all. 

 

Changwook answers her when she asks a question or responded with a couple of words when she did say something but no matter what she did, Changwook wouldn't engage in any conversation and she misses that. She loves that they could talk about everything and anything, just talk for hours but not now. Not since, as Yoona had dubbed it in her own mind, the event and because of the event, something had changed between them, only Yoona wasn't exactly sure what it was or why it had happened. It wasn't a bad change, just a noticeable one. 

 

It had been two days before Changwook had let her leave her room and even then, he didn't let her go far, especially not without him and he didn't like it, it was obvious that he wanted her to stay put in her room but after two days, Yoona was at the end of her tether with him. 

 

From the moment they had left her room for the first time in two days, Changwook had been inseparable from her. He was always touching her, was always so close. It wasn't that she minded; it was that she couldn't figure out what had caused the change. They hadn't actually had yet but even if they had, would it have brought such aggressive protective and possessive behavior out in him? 

 

Changwook had always been like that with her, it was part of his nature she knew but now, it was so much more. 

 

After a week, Yoona had managed to convince her dad to let her off of the estate to resume her twice daily runs. She had used many arguments but in the end, it had taken her pointing out that by keeping her lock up like this he was only proving to those who had tried to kill her that they had gotten to him. 

 

So in the end, it had been her dad's male pride that had been her ally in getting her back her yard time. 

 

In the SUV on the way to the park, Changwook had held her close with one arm wrap around her, keeping her press into his side while with his other hand, he had held her hand. 

 

His eyes had been constantly scanning their surroundings as they zoom past. 

 

As they had run together, Changwook had remained as close to her as he could while still leaving her enough room to run without constantly bumping into each other. 

 

All the while, his eyes had constantly been scanning their surroundings as they ran. 

 

Changwook didn't relax his guard for a second. 

 

In the coffee shop, after they had ordered, Yoona had just ordered a pink drink as she wasn't in the mood for anything more decadent today with everything that was going on, Changwook had pocketed the change and the sales receipt and then instead of sitting across from her at their usual table, Changwook had ushered her towards a table in the back where he had sat with his back to the wall. 

 

Why was he so on the alert? What was going on? Yoona really wishes that he had talked to her and let her know what in the hell was going on. 

 

It wasn't the drive-by shooting or at least not just the drive-by shooting. It couldn't be as she hadn't failed to notice that Changwook was the most guarded and the most watchful and protective of her when they were inside her dad's mansion. 

 

What was going on? What had happened that had him so afraid for her safety? If Changwook didn't give her some answers soon she was going to lose her mind. 

 

They sat in silence as they both drank their beverage, Changwook looking everywhere at her and Yoona looking nowhere else but at him. 

 

It was an utter relief when Yoona's bedroom door close behind them. Changwook checks twice that it was locked fast. It had been a relief leaving the estate grounds and stretching his legs and getting some fresh air for the first time in a week. 

 

He had had to wait, with great impatience, a week to make contact with Jaejoong. He had taken great care in writing his encoded message, being clear and precise with his instructions. He had slipped it to Jaejoong in the café when he had placed their order and Changwook was certain that Yoona hadn't noticed the piece of paper he had drop into the tip jar folded inside the dollar note. 

 

Now, Changwook was anxious. Would Jaejoong do what he needed him to do? It was a big risk for Jaejoong to do as he asks as it would be more than a favor; Jaejoong would be risking his career for him. 

 

While he, himself, would almost definitely be flushing his career if he went through with this but Changwook just didn't care. 

 

If he knew Jaejoong, Jaejoong would come through for him and he wouldn't ask any questions, at least not until much later. 

 

If Jaejoong did come through then Changwook would know it by tomorrow. If Jaejoong came through then Changwook would have a chance, one small chance, of getting Yoona away from her insane twisted obsess-craze dad. 

 

One chance and right now, it all depended on Jaejoong and a whole lot of luck. 

 

The next day, Changwook was so impatient and jittery that it was all he could do not to drag Yoona straight to the café when they arrive at the park. 

 

Changwook was doing his best to act normal and to keep to their routine without looking like he had ants crawling under his skin but the need, the raging driving force, was uncontainable. He felt like a guy hype up on speed must feel, wanting to go at a hundred miles an hour but only able to do twenty. 

 

That was how he felt, he felt held back like something was restraining him and all he wanted to do was break free and go. 

 

It didn't help that it felt like he had a hangman's clock hanging over his head, counting down the very little precious time that he had left before their luck ran out. 

 

Finally, finally, they enter Victoria's café and there behind the counter was the closest thing Changwook had to a best friend. He was the man Changwook trusted most which in his line of work was the closest thing he could afford to have as a friend. 

 

Changwook order his usual coffee but today, when Yoona said that she didn't want anything, he immediately decided that that wasn't going to fly with him. Just because he was off his game didn't mean he was going to let that bring her down a moment longer. 

 

His plan might not work, he was no mastermind like Yoona but he was suddenly resolved to make the most out of each moment that he had left with her. 

 

So, Changwook told Jaejoong that Yoona would have her chocoholic brunch which today would consist of a chocolate smoothie, a chocolate croissant and a plate of chewy chocolate cookie. 

 

In response, Yoona gave him a long look but she said nothing. 

 

When Jaejoong handed him his change and his sales receipt, Changwook slip them into his pocket and from that moment onward, he forces himself to focus on Yoona and then for the first time in a week, Changwook sat down with Yoona and forgot about everything else for the time being and engage Yoona in a conversation just as he had done so many times before while sitting here in Victoria's café with her and for that one hour, Changwook didn't think once about the slip of paper in his pocket that in this moment in time held the fate of the woman he loves. Later that morning, while in the shower, Changwook learns that Jaejoong had agreed to do what Changwook had asked but Jaejoong needed forty-eight hours to get the pieces together and get everything in place. 

 

Changwook also learns that Jaejoong wasn't happy that Changwook hadn't clear this with their superiors first but he had done as asked regardless as he too wouldn't be surprised if Sejoon really did have a mole in the FBI. 

 

Jaejoong promises to look into the matter quietly. 

 

Chewing on the slip of paper, Changwook almost smiles at his friend's addition to the note that he wasn't happy about this, thinking that Jaejoong was a character whom he was glad he knew, glad to have him covering his back. If he lives to ever speak freely with Jaejoong again, Changwook was going to make certain that he told his friend just how much he respected and appreciated him and as far as the mole was concerned...Well, that was just another piece of trouble that Changwook could add to the ever-growing pile. 

 

It was a suspicion that had been growing in his mind for a while now. Sejoon was just too good at evading authorities and keeping his nose clean, at least in regards to outside appearances and the only guaranteed way that Sejoon could assure this was a paid informant on the inside of the FBI who leak him information and if that was true then Changwook truly didn't know who he could trust in the FBI. He trusted Jaejoong because Jaejoong had earned his trust time and time again, and it was obvious that his direct superior was clean or else Sejoon would have known about him ahead of time but that left everyone else in the FBI and that was a lot of people, a lot of agents. Even those who were above his direct superior. 

 

For the first time in his career, Changwook had no idea who he could trust at the FBI. When, not if the hit the fan, he wouldn't be able to risk turning to the FBI for backup. 

 

This in turn pretty much cut him off from all backup and cut him off from the FBI's extensive resources. 

 

Once Jaejoong helps them get away, Changwook knew that he was on his own. He would be all that stood between Yoona and her dad. 

 

At least this assures Changwook of one thing. 

 

His head was finally getting back in the game. 

 

"Go out with me tonight." 

 

Yoona looks up from her laptop, pull from her thoughts by the first words spoken between them in over an hour and consider the tall man sitting at the foot of her bed. 

 

For the past three hours since coming upstairs from lunch, they had been killing time in her room. While Changwook had settled down with a thick old-looking medium brown leather bound book that he had chosen from her dad's extensive private library, Yoona had been sitting against the headboard of her bed, propped up against her pillows with her laptop resting on her lap. She had been passing the time, surfing the web and doing a little online shopping, so far she had spent a little over three thousand dollars of her dad's money on random things that had caught her eye. 

 

If her dad ever gave her an unlimited credit card, Yoona was certain that she could have him bankrupt within a week but unfortunately, her dad wasn't that stupid. 

 

"Go out where?" Yoona asks, turning back to the screen for a moment to finalize payment on her current purchase, a purple surfboard and of course, her shopping cart included extras like a top of the range wetsuit and a purple beach town that match the white floral design on the surfboard. 

 

Now, if she ever got the urge to learn how to surf, she was all set. 

 

"On a date." Changwook elaborated, "With me. Tonight." Six words, three sentences. 

 

Yoona's hand froze over the enter key that would make the surfboard that she was buying hers and take her day's grand total expenditure to over eight thousand dollars. 

 

After a moment, the shock passes enough that Yoona press enters then slowly close her laptop and place in on the bed beside her. Then she returns her eyes to Changwook, studying him carefully from his eyes to his deliberately impassive expression and his still body language. 

 

It seems a little odd for him to request this of her now. Only the day before yesterday had her dad allow her off of the estate's grounds to resume her twice daily exercise, under double guard meaning that her bodyguards had been increased from four goon plus Changwook to eight goons plus Changwook, four goons park on opposite sides of the park. 

 

Honestly, she had more bodyguards than the vice president. 

 

It had been nine days since the day she had been shot at, nine days since the night that Changwook had held her to him like he were afraid she had die if he let her go for even a moment and it had been three days since Changwook hadn't woken her up in the middle of the night from his terrible nightmares from which the only thing that seems to comfort him was her. 

 

Whatever he was going through, he seems determined to go through it alone. She had tried to get him to talk to her about it but he still flat-out refuses. All Yoona seem to be able to do was stay close to him and be there for him the best she could. He never let her out of his sight, he never truly relaxes. 

 

Honestly, Yoona was starting to think that Changwook's worst enemy was himself. 

 

The only time Changwook came close to relaxing was when they were both lock inside the same room together which was why Yoona was trying to tolerate being coop up the best she could. She had had two of her dad's expensive treadmills move into her room from his private gym and that was where they had exercise until her dad had let them leave the estate once again. During the day, they spent most of their time in her room, idly passing the hours between meals and although Changwook seem the most at ease when they were lock in her room, that wasn't saying much. He was like a caged tiger. He might manage to keep his body still in one place for a while but Yoona knew his mind was as restless as a caged animal. His eyes were on her at least once a minute, even when he was trying to read. 

 

This morning though in the café, for the first time in over a week, Changwook had seemed like his normal self. They had talked and flirted over sugary delights and for a brief moment, Yoona had been treated to things between them being normal, at least as normal as things had ever been between the two of them. 

 

So, how could Changwook be content to stay coop up but be so restless at the same time? 

 

Changwook wasn't a man who was made to sit still. He was a man of action, a man used to putting his skills to use, to fighting bad guys and doing good in the world. 

 

The main thing that betrays just how restless Changwook was was that at least twice a day while she sat somewhere in her room doing something to keep herself occupied, Changwook work out on her floor. He stretches and did push-ups and sit-ups and then he then did a series of martial arts moves with such a driven blinding intensity and dedication that when Yoona watch him for once, her mind wasn't center on lustful thoughts or concern for him but rather what a breathtaking extraordinary man he truly was. 

 

His moves were swift, sure and precise. He trains with the intensity of a warrior preparing himself to go into fierce battle that he knew he had little chance of surviving but he was going to do his damnedest anyway. He was proud and lethal in his movements. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. 

 

Not that Changwook seems to notice. When he trains Changwook was in a whole other world, there was nothing else but his body and what it had been trained to do. 

 

He was a highly skill lethal machine; his body and mind were his greatest weapons and now that great weapon was looking at her with puppy-dog eyes, as though he wanted nothing more in the world than for her to go on a date with him tonight. 

 

Her heart melted. Who could possibly say no to this man? 

 

What was she going to do with him? And then for the first time in nine days, Changwook smile. It wasn't a big smile, it was barely a shadow of a smile but it made her breath jump into . She was stun. She hadn't realized just how much she had missed his beautiful smile. 

 

In that moment, Yoona knew that she wouldn't have denied him anything. 

 

Although, she did wonder what had brought this on all of a sudden. She wanted to ask, she wanted to ask so many things but above all else, she trusted Changwook and she loves him. If he wanted to go out tonight then they were going out tonight. 

 

Besides, she wanted to go out on another date with him. Especially with what had happened afterward on their first date. 

 

Even after all the times, they had made out, the night of their first date was still the closest they had come to going all the way. It was the furthest they had ever gone. 

 

Considering how hot they were with each other, that in itself was a miracle. The ual attraction between them never lower beneath a simmer and when they got close enough they burn hot enough that Yoona was surprised that they hadn't set the house alight. 

 

"Alright," Yoona said gently, as though it were a great sacrifice on her part, hey a girl couldn't let her guy know just how easy she was for him or else it might go to his head and she couldn't have that now could she? "What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? Do you have any place in mind?" 

 

"Someplace fun." Changwook answer clearly relieved, as if going somewhere fun with her was his last request of this life, "Someplace where we can just forget about everything and have fun." 

 

Yoona thought for a moment, ignoring the fear in her heart that was causing icy butterflies to fill her stomach as she tried her best to shrug it off. Maybe she was just imagining things or maybe Changwook was just worried that she wouldn't want to go out with him tonight, as if and then a lightbulb click inside her head, "How about Lotte World? I have never been there but always wanted to go." 

 

Changwook's smile widens just a little bit and his expression soften too, "Whatever you want to do. As long as we are together." 

 

Yoona smiles awkwardly at him and then turn away so that Changwook wouldn't see her troubled expression. His tone had been strange, he was acting strange. He had spoken as if he knew that this was going to be the last thing they ever got to do together. 

 

Yoona had a feeling that he was up to something, something that might really make this the last thing they ever did together. 

 

Yoona didn't like where Changwook's head was at. It was almost as if he knew he was dying and had accepted it and come to peace with it and now he was saying goodbye and making as many good memories as he could with those he cares about. 

 

Well, whatever he was up too, Yoona wasn't going to let him get away with it. There was no way in hell that she was going to lose him now. 

 

Not a chance. 

 

Yoona didn't waste any time, with Changwook right on her heels, she left her room and headed straight for her dad's study, as that was where her dad was most likely to be. 

 

When her dad was at the estate during the day he spent most of his time working in his study on what Yoona didn't know and didn't care but she had no illusions that the majority of it was to do with his illegal enterprises and low and behold there her dad was, sitting behind his large varnish desk with papers spread out across its surface in front of him and an expensive gold pen clutch in his right hand. On the desk to his right, his laptop was open and base on the dim glow from the screen, it was on. 

 

As always her dad was dress in an expensive suit, this one was navy with a teal and gray narrow tie, in which he look professional and neatly presented. Anyone on the street looking at him would have assumed him to be a stockbroker or a lawyer or some high-level executive. 

 

A few would ever guess that he was the head of one of the most powerful mafia families on this side of the country. Her dad didn't look up when they enter but Yoona wasn't a fool; her dad knew good and well that they were there. Yoona waited for him to acknowledge her first, refusing to speak first no matter how long her dad made her wait, "Yes, Yoona?" Her dad asks her, without looking up from his paperwork after only about thirteen seconds of awkward silence. 

 

Yoona considers playing up to him, trying to be nicer to him than she usually was but she quickly dismisses the idea. If she did try to play nice then her dad would only think that she was up to something and as a result, he had be less likely to give her what she was asking for. 

 

"Changwook wants to take me out tonight." Yoona stated, her tone pleasant enough for dealing with her dad, although for all the warmth in her tone, she might as well have been speaking to a complete stranger, "And since I have been behaving lately." Six words, each leaving a really bad taste in , "I don't see why we can't." 

 

Her dad sigh warily and slowly puts down his pen. He then lean back in his overstuff overprices top-quality leather chair and looks up at her, looking her straight in the eye. 

 

Behind her, Yoona sense Changwook tense ever-so-slightly, in an alert protective way that she hadn't even noticed him use before that made Yoona wonder just how much of a hand her dad had had in whatever trauma it was that Changwook had suffered last week. 

 

"Yoona." Her dad started long-sufferingly, "It was just over a week ago that my men had to deal with that little incident in the park, you remember that don't you?" 

 

It took all of Yoona's self-control not to react to that load of bull. Instead of screaming at him like a wounded banshee that he was so full of it, Yoona plaster on a sweet smile and tilted her head to the side just a little. She was going to argue her point but for once she was going to do it delicately. 

 

"Yes, and as I recall, Changwook handles it and got me back safely." Yoona couldn't help it, she had to remind her dad just who it was wh that had handled that little incident as her dad would say, "And let me remind you that that happens at the park which you have allowed me to go back, too. All we want to do is go out for a little fun tonight. I had stayed on the grounds for a week without complaining about it. I think I deserve a little reward for my good behavior." 

 

When Yoona got back to her room she made a note to brush her teeth. Twice. All this bull coming out of couldn't be good for her breath. 

 

Her dad stared at her for a long moment before he let out a deep sigh, caving even though he clearly wasn't happy about it, "Where do you plan to go on this date?" 

 

Yoona grin with triumph, knowing she had him and not because she was charming or persuasive but because in her dad's mind a date would lead to them coming home and having which only aided in giving him exactly what he wanted so badly. 

 

Or so he believed anyway. 

 

"Lotte World." Yoona promptly answers him, just like the good little girl her dad obviously thought she was becoming and then Yoona added the clincher that she knew would get her a definite yes. 

 

"We won't be out too late; I want to get home before I get too tired that I fall asleep in the car. I'm too old to be carried to bed." 

 

Subtle but nonetheless a reminder that as far as he knew anyway, she was close to giving him exactly what he wanted. 

 

If her dad had known her at all, he would have heard the sarcasm in her too-sweet tone. 

 

"Fine, you can go." Her dad picks up his pen and returns to his paperwork, obviously trying to hide his delight at her subtle spoken admission that she was being intimate with Changwook, "But be back by ten." 

 

Yoona turns and left the room. 

 

Only Changwook saw her smug Cheshire cat grin. 

 

Yoona was having fun. She wouldn't have believed it even a few hours ago but she was really having fun. 

 

Changwook seems to be determined to put everything else behind him and just have a good time with her, even going as far as to completely ignore her dad's five goons that were tailing them only a couple of feet behind and that made Yoona want to do the same. 

 

They had started with the aquarium and spent an hour there. Walking around with Changwook's arm permanently wrap around her waist, they had view nearly all of the fascinating attractions and the best of all was the underwater glass tunnel, watching as the various forms of sea life glided through the water above their heads like slow-moving birds in a colorless sky. 

 

Yoona had felt like a kid again, exploring the underwater world, admiring the wonder and beauty. 

 

It had been wonderfully peaceful but still a lot of fun and then they had moved to the theme park. 

 

It was a little cramp with how many people there were occupying the limited space but to Yoona, that was part of its charm. 

 

Rides and games surrounded them, the rollercoaster hovering above it all, twirling in the space above their heads, the rumbling of the cars as they flew along the rail, the screams and excited cries of the people buckled into those cars gave a fast-paced exciting atmosphere to the park. 

 

Bright colors and even brighter lights lit up the night until it was almost impossible to tell that it was night time. It was only the black blanket that hovers beyond it all gave the time of day away. 

 

The smell of fast food tickled her nose. The buttery aroma of popcorn and churros made water and her stomach demand a taste. 

 

It was a perfect evening to boot. It was too bright to see the stars in the black sky above the glass ceiling but who was looking at the stars when they were standing in the middle of such a fun place? The breeze was warm enough that Yoona didn't need the light jacket she had left in the SUV but not warm enough to be uncomfortable. 

 

This place was a delightful sensory overload and Yoona was having the time of her life. Changwook kept her close, his arms wrapped possessively around her waist but she didn't have an arm to spare to wrap around him. Under her opposite arm was a plush pink flying dragon stuffed animal that Changwook had won at one of the games. 

 

It had been a basketball theme game and the poor vendor hadn't seen Changwook coming. Changwook had taken the highest and largest prize available with a perfect score and her other hand was always full with some variety of fast food. She had started with a bag of buttery popcorn and from there, she had consumed some ice cream, two delicious churros and at this very moment, she was half-way through her third pizza that was smother in a salty rich tomato sauce and later, Yoona had planned to return to the ice cream vendor. 

 

They had been on half of the rides and the complaints her stomach were starting to give her told her that she wouldn't be going on anymore unless she wanted her stomach to revolt, although they had already been on the most exciting of the rides. The Atlantis rollercoaster had been their first ride and even though Yoona had loved it, it had left her feeling a little queasy for a while so she had no plans to ride the rollercoaster again tonight. 

 

After the rollercoaster and after her stomach had settled a little, there had been the flume ride that takes four riders in a log boat up in the air and plummets them back down, ending with a big splash. 

 

All those rides had been fun but Yoona had no intention of having a second turn on any of them, not with all the delicious junk food she still had left to taste. 

 

Yoona knew she was going to regret eating so much junk food at some point, most likely later in the night and tomorrow morning and going on jostling rides in between didn't help but Yoona really didn't care. She was having fun and even Changwook had lightened up. 

 

What more could she ask for? She was really glad that Changwook had asked her out tonight, after the week she had had she needed this and so did Changwook. 

 

Yoona looks up at Changwook and found him staring down at her with such soft affection that Yoona's breath caught in . His eyes were so soft and caring but beneath that, there was a bleak sadness that had Yoona wondering why he was looking at her like she was the most cherished thing in his world. 

 

Like he was looking at her for the last time. 

 

"What?" Yoona asks, wondering if her fun was coming to an end. 

 

"You are beautiful." 

 

Yoona felt her heart melt and her expression soften. He had spoken with such genuine sincerity and emotion that she didn't have any other choice but to believe him. 

 

"And you are charming." Yoona smile back at him, willing him to read in her eyes just how much he meant to her. Changwook's eyes lower to her light red color lips and he grins with real amusement, "And you are cover in tomato sauce." And then before Yoona could wipe the sauce away herself, Changwook lean down and kiss her, tomato sauce and all. 

 

The kiss tasted like the tomato sauce on her lips and the coffee he had had earlier unlike her, Changwook wasn't partaking in any of the oily, salty or sweet delights that fill the air around them with their tastebud seducing scents and just like every other time that Changwook had kissed her, the world around them fell away until there was nothing but the two of them and the feel of Changwook's hands on her body as he pulls her flush against him, the big dragon now being strangled by her arm's attempt to wrap around him. 

 

Changwook's tongue brush along her lips, demanding entrance and Yoona was powerless to refuse him. 

 

A very pleasurable sensation pulse through her, making her toes and fingers curl, her fingers digging into the material of Changwook's croquis American rag nylon bomber jacket, holding him in place. A long drawn-out moan escapes her lips to be capture by Changwook's mouth that was seal over hers. She could feel his hand at the back of her head, holding her in place for his onslaught. 

 

Yoona was in heaven. They could stay like this for a thousand years and it still wouldn't be enough for her. In his arms, she felt so safe, so cherish and happy. 

 

In Changwook's arms, Yoona felt like she had found the one place in which she truly belongs and then her bliss ended. Changwook lifted his head, the both of them breathing hard and he pulls away just enough that she had to release her hold on him but he could keep his hold on her. 

 

Changwook's face was turned away from her so Yoona couldn't see his expression and he wasn't able to see her bite down on her lips as she fought her disappointment and self-doubt. 

 

Changwook always seems to be ending their kisses too soon lately and Yoona had no idea why. 

 

Desperate for a distraction, Yoona look up, mentally shaking her head as the ability to think rationally return to her and that was when she discovered that the two of them were standing in line for the Ferris wheel. 

 

Yoona blink. When had they gotten in line? 

 

Yoona was actually glad for the reprieve from the chaos of the theme park below them, even if she was disappointed that the kiss hadn't lasted longer. Down below, people were moving about like ants, lights flash and rides span and move like gears in a large colorful clock. 

 

Across from her in the Ferris wheel's round car that contain two long curl seats was her pink dragon that was sitting upright on the seat, looking like a really happy small child and to her right, Changwook sat beside her with his arm once again, wrap around her as the Ferris wheel turn, going back and up and forward and down. Fortunately, they were moving slowly enough that Yoona was certain that she wasn't going to make the people below very unhappy with her upset stomach but they were moving fast enough that she wasn't at risk of becoming impatient with the ride. 

 

It was so perfect that Yoona didn't want to ruin it but this was one of those rare times that there wasn't any risk of them being overheard by the wrong person or by anyone for that matter and she couldn't let this opportunity pass. 

 

"Changwook Oppa, are you ever going to tell me why you are acting so strange?" Yoona ask him, keeping her voice low just in case, "What's wrong? Why won't you tell me? Talk to me please?" 

 

Changwook stares deeply into her beautiful dark brown eyes for what seems like a long time. He didn't know what to say. He had promised not to lie to her but he could never tell her the truth. She could never know just how close she was to a nightmare that no one would ever be able to come back or recover from. It was bad enough that what he had seen in her dad's basement haunted his dreams. 

 

He couldn't let it haunt hers as well. He had to protect her from that, no matter the cost. 

 

Even if that cost was an irreversible distance created between them. 

 

Yoona turns in her seat to face him. Her expression was worried and her tone was fearful, "You are acting like tonight is your last night on earth. Why? You are hiding something from me. I know it." 

 

Changwook couldn't tell her. He couldn't. Yoona could never know what her dad had planned for her. 

 

Helpless to do anything else, Changwook gently cups her face in both of his hands, holding her gaze steady with his own. His expression was caring and sad but not regretful because he wasn't regretful. He didn't regret one moment of his time with her or regret falling in love with her. Yoona was his everything and he was a better man just for having the honor of knowing her. 

 

"Even if tonight was my last night." Changwook told her gently, "Being here with you now, seeing you smile and laugh, it would be worth it. I had died a happy man right now just for having known you." 

 

Yoona's eyes widen in horror at his words and then narrow. It had taken her a while but she was finally starting to catch onto his non-answers. He used his charming words, that would sweep prince charming himself off of his feet, to sometimes distract her from the fact that he hadn't answered the actual question he had been asked. 

 

"Oppa..." 

 

"I won't leave you willingly, Yoona." Changwook swore, cutting her off, his voice as hard and as unyielding as steel, "And I won't be taken from you easily either." 

 

It was right there, Yoona could almost see what he wasn't saying like it was a physical thing that was filling up the spaced between them like an invisible wall. There was something Changwook wasn't saying, something that had rocked him to his core and knock him down. 

 

Changwook was strong. He was stubborn and courageous and he was by nature a guardian, a protector. Whatever he had done or seen or experience that night, whatever the event was, it had been something big, something terrible and Yoona couldn't stand it that Changwook was bearing the burden alone. If he let her in, if he shares this crushing burden with her then she could help him. 

 

Whatever it was though, Changwook seems determined to protect her from it, even from knowing about it and if that was the case then as long as he believed that he was protecting her by keeping this secret from her then Changwook would never tell her, of that Yoona was certain. 

 

"You are scaring me," Yoona whisper emotionally to him, even though that wasn't exactly what she meant. He wasn't scaring her, she was terrified for him. Terrified of losing him. 

 

In the back of her mind, a tiny voice whisper that none of this had been meant to happen, that she was never supposed to fall in love with the agent she had brought in to help her bring down her dad but she had. She had fallen in love with him and there was no going back, not that she would go back even if she could. 

 

"I'm protecting you," Changwook whisper to her, still holding her. His words and tone were so heartfelt that he almost brought tears to her eyes. 

 

Why did this perfect moment, this momentary reprieve, now feel like a tragedy? 

 

They left the park after that, they did have a curfew after all but Yoona didn't want to go back to her dad's estate. She didn't want this night to end. She didn't want to go back to their gilded cage. 

 

They will be late getting back but Yoona just didn't care. She wanted more time with Changwook before whatever was waiting for them, like a storm brewing on the horizon, came for them and it was coming. That's what Changwook had told her without using any words. That's what tonight was about, making the most of what could be their very last night together. 

 

Once far enough away from the theme park gate, Yoona whirl and came face to face with her dad's goons that had been trailing them all night. 

 

"We are going for a walk on the beach." Yoona told them decisively, telling them that the issue wasn't open for discussion, "Stay in the car. I have had enough of you lot being my shadow." And with that, Yoona handed the closest one her dragon and then grasp hold of Changwook's arm and drag him in the direction of the path that led to the beach. 

 

Yoona didn't look back to make sure that they obey nor to see Changwook's reaction at her practically dragging him down onto the sand. 

 

Yoona didn't stop, didn't let Changwook go until they were more than a hundred meters down the beach from the car. Once far enough away, Yoona releases her hold on Changwook and came to a stop. 

 

Then Yoona bent down and took off her black flats as she wanted to feel the cool soft sand beneath her feet. 

 

It was a beautiful night, one that Yoona could appreciate more now that she wasn't surrounded by bright lights and a crowd of people. 

 

Before her, the waves crash onto the sand not far from where she stood with a soothing mute roaring slash crushing sound. The water was black where the waves weren't breaking. Even in the black night, the crashing waves were white and beyond the crashing waves, the moonlight reflected off the black waters of the ocean until eventually, the water met the blackness that was the sky above. 

 

It was colorless but it was beautiful. 

 

Wanting more of this feeling of freedom, Yoona reaches up behind her head and pull her hair free of its binding, allowing it to fall freely down her back. 

 

Standing straight, Yoona threw her head back and close her eyes, basking in the feel of the warm-cool breeze against her skin, feeling the cool sand beneath her feet that had molded itself around her. She focuses on the soothing sound of the waves crashing on the beach and the salty smell of the ocean that fills her nose and she wanted to feel more. 

 

Changwook was entranced by her. He was captivated and bewitch by the siren standing in front of him, embracing the tranquillity and beauty of the beach around her like someone embracing the sun after being stuck underground for a lifetime. 

 

Changwook had never known anyone like Yoona, anyone so carefree and impetuous and who love life. The way she had just told her dad's goons that she was going for a walk on the beach and that they were to keep their distance and then pull him along after her as if she had expected him to refuse her wish for a moonlit walk on the beach had left him speechless and in awe of her. 

 

Yoona was strong and willful, stronger than any woman he had ever known. Hell, Yoona was stronger than any man he knew bar himself. He loves her and even though the kitten often presented herself as a tiger and so the world treated her like one, his need to protect her was overwhelming and undeniable. 

 

He would protect her. He would fight for her and he would die for her. 

 

This is what he was fighting for. Yoona was his mission now, his purpose in life. He still wanted justice for his parents but he didn't want revenge anymore. He wanted justice for his parents but most of all, he wanted Yoona to be safe. 

 

More than anything, especially now with what was quite possibly his approaching death hanging over his head, Changwook wanted to make love to her, to tell her everything with his touch that he couldn't risk saying out loud. He wanted to have her, if only just once but he didn't dare. The only thing stronger than his will to protect her and his burning lust for her was his love for her. 

 

If he got her pregnant and then die, that wasn't the legacy he wanted to leave behind for the only person left on earth whom he loves and so, later that night, after retiring to bed, Changwook just held her tightly in his arms and even though his eyes eventually close it was a long time before he drifted off to sleep and when he finally did sleep, for the first time since returning to bed after discovering what lurks in the basement beneath their feet, Changwook dream of Yoona and the normal happy life he could never have with her but wanted with all his heart and soul. 

 

Changwook only slept for a few hours that night. He woke hours before dawn and instead of trying to return to sleep and his alluring dreams filled with images of a future with Yoona he could never know, he instead held Yoona tightly to him and stare up at the ceiling, going over and over his plan in his mind until it was clockwork, until the plan itself felt like a living part of him. 

 

Yoona wasn't going to like the change in plans but he knew that she trusted him. She will go with him without resistance. 

 

Changwook had to get her away from her dad and the atrocity that dwell beneath their feet and today was the day. 

 

Everything relied on three things. First, his best friend coming through for him. Second, catching everyone completely off guard, even Yoona and lastly, luck or fate, whatever the force was that had brought him here was. Only if it was with them did they stand a chance. 

 

Changwook had been acting so weird for a while now that Yoona almost didn't notice when he went from weird to downright weird. 

 

Almost. 

 

Changwook was acting normal but he was trying way too hard to act normal that he was acting anything but normal. He was too easy-going, too chipper that to Yoona, Changwook was screaming it to the world that something was up. 

 

He was up to something, something big and he refuses to tell her anything about it or even acknowledge it to her. Yoona wasn't exactly sure when she had come to trust him so completely but it was obvious that she had, otherwise she would have refused to cooperate unless he agreed to let her in on what he was planning. 

 

If his behavior hadn't alerted her to the fact that Changwook was up to something then him picking out her jogging clothes definitely would have. The clothes themselves weren't anything out of the ordinary, each was a piece she had worn jogging before, it was that when she had come out of the bathroom he had presented her with them, with a briskly spoken, "Here, put these on." 

 

Either he was in a real big hurry or there was a purpose to the outfit he had chosen for her. 

 

Yoona had wordlessly step back into the bathroom with the clothes in hand and had to stare at them, not in confusion but in worry. 

 

Ok, not so much worry. More like freak out. 

 

Changwook picking her workout clothes? He might as well have gotten a neon sign made flashing in big blinking letters that he was up to something but regardless, Yoona had slipped out of her long black Ralph Lauren velvet robe and had put on the white lace underwear set, her lace bra was one without underwire and over it, Yoona pull on a pair of black Adidas trefoil leggings that clung to her like a second skin and a black Calvin Klein cropped fleece hoodie that was very close to being a size too big for her. Then she pulls on her black socks and her black/gold Adidas swift run casual sneakers. 

 

Her outfit didn't seem to be anything special or out of the ordinary so was it only for the sake of saving time that Changwook had pick out her clothes? She didn't take that long to dress in casual clothes, did she? 

 

Yoona shrug and quickly tied her hair back, today choosing a plaited ponytail. 

 

Yoona cast her reflection one last look, not bothering with makeup or anything like that. She had already applied her skincare cream after she had shower and taken her vitamin as she did every morning. 

 

Yoona steps out of the bathroom and stops dead. 

 

Changwook had changed, while she had been in the bathroom, into black/scarlet Adidas tricot track pants and a navy champion logo graphic t-shirt over which was his leather shoulder holster that held two handguns, one on each side under his armpit, which he concealed beneath his armory navy Nike sportswear full-zip logo hoodie. He had been in the process of slipping it on when she had open the door. Something told Yoona that she hadn't meant to see it but she must have taken less time to change than he had thought she would. 

 

At the sound of the door opening, Changwook pause in the motion of slipping on his hoodie and his head snap up and met her wide eyes. 

 

A timeless silent moment pass between them, one heavy with tension and unspoken fear. It was one of those moments in which one share a look that said it all. Yoona understood that Changwook was preparing himself for something that would most likely require the use of those deadly weapons and no doubt Changwook understood that she was aware of this. 

 

Icy cold fear pool into her stomach, making Yoona go cold all over. Was this what it had been for the women of old, farewelling their husbands, brothers, and son who were on their way to a bloody battlefield to fight for their lands and freedom? 

 

"Oppa." 

 

"I won't let it happen again, Yoona." Changwook told her quickly, before she said something that would blow their cover or give them away, "I was always armed before and I will be armed every time you leave the estate." 

 

Yoona understood the true meaning of his words. While his spoken words were meant for those listening in, the meaning beneath and the look in his eyes were meant only for her. 

 

'Act normal. Don't give me away. Please?' 

 

Yoona force down her fear or at least she tried her hardest, too. 

 

"What are the chances of that happening again?" Yoona asks him, trying to keep her fear from her voice, even though it was so close to crippling her. She had spoken the words that her dad would expect her to say, instead of begging him what she really wanted, too. 

 

'Please Oppa. Don't break my heart by leaving me.' 

 

"You don't have to worry about that, Yoona." Changwook told her, his hard tone far from matching his reassuring words, "As long as I'm here, nothing will ever happen to you." 

 

Yoona could just about hear his real meaning as clearly as his spoken words. 

 

'I will do what I have to do.' 

 

Changwook saw it before they were even halfway through their first lap of the parks jogging track. He had been looking for it. He had known that he had found it but still, there had been a part of him that had feared that Jaejoong wouldn't come through for him. 

 

It would have been the first time but in Changwook's experience, even the closest of friends could let you down. Changwook was relieved that today wasn't the case. 

 

His instructions to Jaejoong had been clear and specific. Jaejoong had used Changwook's own funds, an account that not even the FBI knew about, to purchase a pre-used but a reliable ordinary plain car which turns out to be a black Buick LeSabre sedan and leave it to park at the far side of the park, as close to the jogging track as possible. 

 

In fact, it was park only a few feet from where their attempted-assassins had pull over and fire at them. 

 

Changwook knew without a doubt that the sedan was their escape vehicle; the identifier was clearly visible in the window. 

 

A red rose was clearly visible beneath the driver's side front window wiper, stuck there like a gift from a secret admirer. 

 

It was perfect. It was in good condition but not new. There were no distinguishing marks or stickers or anything distinctive on it that Changwook could see; it would blend in with traffic nicely. 

 

There was no way anyone would notice that vehicle as long as Changwook did nothing to make them stand out. Everything was in place. Now was the time. The only time. 

 

Changwook sent a silent prayer upward, praying that everything works as he needed it, too. 

 

His protective instincts were screaming at him to take Yoona and run now but Changwook held off. 

 

So, instead of snatching Yoona up the moment he saw the car, Changwook forces himself to keep running, to keep going around the track. 

 

They normally did between five and eight laps of the jogging track twice a day, depending on what they, meaning Yoona, was in the mood to do which Changwook estimated was about three to five-kilometer run. 

 

Timing was going to be everything. He needed to do enough laps that Sejoon's goons watching them became board enough that their attention started to wonder but not enough that he risks exhausting himself to the point that it slows him down. 

 

Which meant that they had to do between three and five laps. 

 

Changwook didn't have his normal patience so the minimum three laps would be what they had had to run before he put his plan into action. 

 

They pass the car for the second time. 

 

One lap down. 

 

Around the park. Changwook tried not to let his gaze flicker back to the car. 

 

Two. 

 

Changwook had to slow himself down as Yoona had shorter legs than he did and she was having a little difficulty keeping up with him. 

 

They pass the car for the fourth time but for the first time in his career, Changwook hesitated, deciding at the last moment to do one more lap. He needed to prepare himself a little more, he needed to be ready. Everything depended on this; Yoona's well-being depended on this. 

 

'Get your head in the game, Ji!' Changwook scolded himself sternly. 

 

Everything was in place. Now was the time. All he had to do was act. 

 

They rounded the corner and there was the car directly in front of him. At this section of the jogging track, he was currently running straight towards the car, all he had to do was keep going straight when the track curved. 

 

Just as Yoona was about to turn to follow the jogging track to the left, Changwook grasp hold of her around her waist and lifted her feet off the ground. Then tucking Yoona under his arm like the stuffed dragon Yoona had carried at the theme park last night, Changwook bolted towards the sedan as fast as he could move. 

 

He would have only seconds before the goons reacted and if he moves fast enough, stay smart enough then that second-long head start would be all he had need. 

 

Yoona cried out as her feet left the ground and she found herself hanging from Changwook's hold like she was a football and Changwook was the quarterback, shooting towards the end zone for the touchdown. All except for the fact that she was being jostled around like she was in a car flying down a really bumpy road but other than her first cry of alarm, Yoona remain silent. It took her only a moment to realize that this was the reason behind Changwook's too normal behavior this morning. 

 

Whatever he was up too, it involved just grabbing her and taking off. 

 

Oddly, Yoona wasn't panic or alarm, at least not about what Changwook was doing or where he was taking her. Instead, she was alarm that at any moment she was going to lose her breakfast. 

 

Yoona heard the metallic click of what sounded like a car door being open before she was literally tossed into a car. She had enough of her bearings to know that she was flying over a driver's seat and a moment later, she landed awkwardly on the passenger's seat, her head coming to a sudden stop between the headrest and window. 

 

Yoona then felt the car dip in the direction of the driver's seat as Changwook drop into the driver's seat and slam the driver's door close the moment he lifted his foot into the vehicle. 

 

By the time Yoona had righted herself in her seat, Changwook had already started the car and was in the process of putting the vehicle in drive. 

 

"Seatbelt!" Changwook bark at her, as he hastily pulls the car out onto the street. 

 

Yoona hastily obeys, pulling the seatbelt around her and clicking it in, all the while biting her tongue against demanding that he put on his seatbelt but she held her tongue. He was obviously busy with what appears to be their escape attempt. 

 

Changwook was almost delighted to see that as he had instructed, the gas tank was half full, a full tank meant more weight which could cost him speed which could become vital in the very near future and the key had been left in the ignition. 

 

He then maneuvered the sedan onto the road and once the vehicle was out on the road, Changwook put his foot to the floor and the car lurches forward and they shot down the next street. 

 

Changwook spare a glance at the rear-view mirror just in time to see the goons in the SUV scrambling to get the vehicle started and then he spun around the corner and they were out of sight. 

 

Yoona wasn't prepared when Changwook took the corner sharply at too high of a speed and despite her seatbelt, Yoona was thrown into her door. She bit back a cry of pain and then grasp hold of the edges of her seat with both hands and held on for dear life. Her shoulder was throbbing painfully where she had impacted with the inside of the car door and she was sure she would have a bruise because of it but she had more important things to worry about right now. 

 

"Yoona," Changwook spoke, rather urgently as he maneuvered through the business area's midmorning traffic. Yoona gave him her full attention, forcing herself to ignore what was happening outside the car and intentionally not counting the number of near misses Changwook was accumulating with the other cars as he drove like a bat out of hell through city traffic. 

 

"In the backseat." Changwook told her, between dodging and zigzagging between both lanes of traffic, each lane designated for a different direction, "There's a pair of bolt cutters on the backseat. Get that blasted thing off your ankle and toss it." 

 

Yoona looks down at the black ankle monitor strap to her ankle and rush to obey, realizing for the first time since Changwook had grabbed her just what this was. They weren't taking off for the day, they were taking off permanently. 

 

So many things rush through her mind, so many questions Yoona desperately wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to point out to him but she didn't. Again, she remains silent. 

 

It went against her nature but given that they were moments away from being in a high-speed car chase in city traffic like something out of a Bruce Willis movie Yoona decided that acting against her normal nature was excusable. 

 

For now. 

 

On the backseat behind Changwook's seat, Yoona found the pair of red and black industrial bolt cutters that were longer than her arm. She reaches for them, restricted and held them in place by her seatbelt but she was able to reach far enough that she was able to pick them up. 

 

While moving the bolt cutters towards her, Yoona came within mere millimeters of hitting Changwook on the back of the head with them. 

 

She was tempted but she didn't do it. 

 

Instead, Yoona brought her foot up to rest on the edge of the seat and work at putting the strap of the ankle bracelet between the two blades of the bolt cutters. It was difficult by the jerking and swaying of the car as Changwook continue to drive like he was a stuntman for a big blockbuster action movie but eventually, Yoona manages to work the thick scissor-like blades down between the skin of her ankle and the strap. 

 

After that, it was easy. The sharp thick blades of the bolt cutters slice cleanly through the thin wires and the woven black strap like a hot knife through butter. 

 

It felt strangely satisfying and liberating when the ankle monitor fell free from her ankle. 

 

Yoona returns the bolt cutters to the back seat and stares dumbly at the slice ankle monitor. 

 

"Now what do I do with it?" Yoona asks him, holding it up for him to see. 

 

"Throw it out the window." Changwook answer, between zooming, pass the Toyota in front of them and dodging the pickup truck coming towards them in the second lane. 

 

Yoona quickly obeys, manually winding down her window and without a second look at it, threw the ankle monitor out the window. 

 

No doubt, back at her dad's estate, the alarm that would alert them to the fact that someone was tampering with her ankle monitor would be going berserk. 

 

Within minutes, her dad and his goons, who no doubt had already been alerted that they were making a run for it, would be after them. 

 

With her tracking ankle bracelet gone, Yoona began to wind up the window when Changwook's stern brisk words stop her dead. 

 

"Now your clothes!" 

 

Yoona whirl awkwardly because of her seatbelt and look at him with gaping open, making her look like a fish out of the water. 

 

"What?" 

 

"You heard me." Changwook told her, keeping his eyes on the road ahead as he continues to duck and weave through traffic like he was in the middle of a car chase for a big blockbuster action film, "Your clothes, all of them, out the window. Now." 

 

Yoona trusted Changwook, she will do just about anything for him but this was pushing it. 

 

"Look, buddy, maybe you are ok being stark in a car in the middle of the city in the middle of a car chase but I'm not." By the end of it, Yoona was dangerously close to shrieking at him like an enraged teenage drama queen, "If I'm going to die in a car wreck, my mangled body is going to be found fully clothed." 

 

"Yoona. We don't have time for this." Changwook pause in midsentence to take a left turn sharper than he had before. 

 

Around them, tires screeched and people yell furiously but fortunately, there was no collision, either involving them or anyone around them who had had to either slam on their breaks to avoid hitting them or swerve onto the sidewalk for the same reason. 

 

"Just do as I say!" Changwook finish with loud frustration, speaking through his teeth as he fought to keep the car on the road, "There's a change of clothes behind your seat!" 

 

"Why didn't you just say that to begin with?!" Yoona yells at him, with just as much frustration. 

 

Yoona then forces her hands to release their death grip on her seat and unclick her seatbelt. Looking over her shoulder to make certain that they were currently in the middle of the block and Changwook wouldn't take a corner sharp turn enough to slam her into the interior of the car, Yoona all but drove into the backseat, landing roughly in an awkward position before quickly righting herself. 

 

She quickly tosses the bolt cutters onto the floor. She had enough bruises already, she didn't need cuts as well. 

 

"Take off everything." Changwook instructed her, still distracted by his madman driving, "Everything. Jewellery, socks and shoes, your underwear. Everything." 

 

"Bloody hell, Oppa! There are easier ways to get a girl !" Yoona yells at him sarcastically and frustratedly, as she reaches for her shoes, violently yanking them off and then her socks, all four items immediately flung out the open window. 

 

It was funny. It wasn't the dangerous and reckless driving through heavy city traffic at dangerous speeds that was bothering her right now, it was Changwook himself. Why hadn't he explain his plan once they were in the car? Or even ask her to change her clothes, rather than order her to strip . 

 

Changing clothes in the middle of a car chase was one thing but being asked to strip and throw her clothes out the window was quite another thing entirely. 

 

As the car swerved and veered back and forth, sending Yoona sliding back and forth across the seat over and over again, Yoona dug out the clothes that she found in the bag, tuck under her seat and quickly set about taking her clothes off but with how she felt towards Changwook right now she had be damn if she was going to give him a show. 

 

Knowing that it was only going to make things more difficult for herself, Yoona pulls her arms inside her hoodie and unhooked her bra and slid it down her arms, effectively pulling it free. 

 

Yoona then releases her hold on it, allowing it to fall free of her and her shirt and she reaches for the replacement provided by God only knew who. 

 

It wasn't as comfortable as her expensive one but at least it was the right size. 

 

Next, Yoona switches her hoodie with a black lace-up pocket t-shirt. 

 

Once the new bra and shirt were in place, Yoona promptly threw both shirt and bra out the window. 

 

God, what the people on the street must be thinking when they saw women's clothes being thrown out of the erratically driven car. 

 

Would it have kill Changwook to get an escape vehicle with tinted windows especially when he knew ahead of time that she had be changing in the back of it? 

 

It wasn't like it was him changing in the back of a moving car. 

 

In the middle of taking her hair tie from her hair, Yoona froze and threw Changwook an exasperated look that of course, he couldn't see because he was ducking and weaving through traffic. 

 

"Hey, why aren't you stripping?!" Yoona demanded indignantly, "You could be tag as well!" 

 

"I have already checked the clothes I'm wearing, Yoona." Changwook explains as if he were being forced to explain something that should have been as obvious as the nose on her face, "Trust me, I'm not tagged." 

 

With a huff, Yoona quickly strips off her pants and underwear in one smooth move, moving behind Changwook's seat so he couldn't peek without taking his eyes off of the road and toss the last of her clothing, her hair ties included, out the window. 

 

In order to put on the underwear and black cashmere leggings quickly, Yoona was forced to lie down on her back on the back seat and put her legs in the air. She hurriedly slips her feet into the underwear and slid them on, placing her feet on the window ledge of the car door for leverage so she could lift her hips high enough to slide the lace in place. 

 

Yoona then uses the same technique with the leggings, of course having to pull her feet through the leggings until her feet pop out the other end and then, at last, Yoona was dressed. The dark blue flats she was able to put on in a sitting position while still able to keep her balance. 

 

Yoona look through the bottom of the empty bag to make certain that indeed it was completely empty. Yoona couldn't help but feel smugly satisfied. So, Changwook wasn't completely and utterly perfect without fault after all. 

 

He had forgotten hair ties. With hair like hers, hair ties were a necessity. She would have to remember to rub this in his face later. 

 

Yoona slips back into the front passenger seat and clicks her seatbelt back in place. 

 

"Are we being followed?" Yoona asks him, turning to look out the back window to find out for herself. 

 

"We were for a bit." Changwook answer promptly, still concentrating hard on the road ahead, "But we lost them a block back. They will find us again, before long so we are gonna have to ditch this car." 

 

Then Changwook took the next right turn and as if changing streets had flipped a switch, he immediately slow to the speed limit and merge with traffic, obeying every law that only moments ago he had broken multiple times without a care for doing so. 

 

It took a couple of turns for Yoona to realize that Changwook was randomly driving through the city. He was zigzagging across the city and seemingly taking random turns and side streets. 

 

Silence stretch between them for a long time before Yoona couldn't stand it anymore and ask in a quiet careful voice, "So are you going to tell me what's going on now?" 

 

Changwook didn't look at her. He kept his eyes firmly glued to the street ahead and around them, constantly scanning both the streets and sidewalks. 

 

"I promise I will explain once we are safely away." His voice was different now, solemn and emotionless and hinted that he was getting tired, physically or mentally, Yoona didn't know which, she couldn't tell. Maybe both. She couldn't read him when he shut her out like this. 

 

Yoona didn't like not being let in on what was happening or where they were going or what the plan was but given that they were in the middle of a getaway, Yoona resolved to sit quietly for a while anyway and do as he had asked. 

 

It didn't seem like she had much of a choice to do anything else anyway. Changwook seems set on doing things his way and when he was like this, Yoona knew that she wasn't going to change his mind about anything. 

 

So, for the next half an hour, going by the clock on the small radio screen, they drove around the city in silence while Yoona did her best to keep her face hidden so to reduce her chances of being seen by one of the many no doubt actively hunting them. She was the one her dad was looking for, she was the one he wanted back so it stood to reason that it would be her face that her dad's people would be mostly on the lookout for. 

 

It wasn't until Changwook turns on the indicator and turn into a car wash that Yoona lifted her head. 

 

Looking around, Yoona realizes that there weren't any security cameras, not one. There weren't even any of those black reflective orbs that the newer cameras concealed beneath, not that this partly run down carwash look like it could afford those top of the range security cameras. The business was in an old run down part of town and it fits in perfectly with the surrounding area. 

 

Yoona didn't think that Changwook had turned into this carwash that didn't have any security at random. This had to be where they had always been heading. 

 

"Stay in the car." Changwook order, right before he opens his door and step out, closing the door firmly behind him the moment he was out. 

 

Yoona huff indignantly, throwing herself back in her seat and crossing her arms across her chest so that Changwook would know that she wasn't a happy camper. The two of them were going to have words once they were out of the thick of things. She wasn't someone who took orders like an obedient little lapdog. 

 

Through the windows, Yoona watch as Changwook slid some coins into one of the automatic machines around the car and then pick up the hose that look like a long thin gun, a spray hose, the kind that could blast any dirt or grim or bird poo off a car from a distance and methodically began to spray the entire surface of the car, starting with the back hood. 

 

Yoona shook her head in disbelief as she watches him. They were apparently supposed to be in the middle of a getaway so why was Changwook taking the time to wash their car? It didn't make any senses and it seems to be nothing but a waste of time. The car had been relatively clean when she had been toss into it and they had been on city streets since then, just how dirty could the car have gotten? And then, Changwook started on the hood and Yoona's jaw drop. She was rendered utterly speechless, she was so dumbfounded. 

 

The spray was removing the black paint, stripping it away like it was icing sugar to reveal a shiny red color beneath. 

 

Now their escape really was just like something out of a Bruce Willis movie. 

 

Changwook was washing away a top black layer to reveal a red one beneath, thereby changing the color of the car completely. 

 

What the hell? 

 

So the FBI really did the kind of superspy stuff seen in the movies, huh? 

 

So, if they could do this sort of stuff, just what else could Changwook do? It was interesting and Yoona was very curious to find out just what other tricks Changwook had up his sleeve. 

 

Yoona wasn't even a little bit surprised when she watches him change the sedan's front and back license plates with different ones that Changwook produce from the open trunk. He then tucks the old license plates back there and then taking a black duffle bag out, he closes the trunk with a muted click. 

 

Then Yoona watches as Changwook step behind an old but lit up vending machine that he could only just see over the top of. 

 

It took Yoona a moment to realize that he was changing his clothes. When he did step out, Changwook was wearing white sneakers, white biker jeans with a black raw-edge t-shirt and a gray melange hooded sweatshirt jacket. 

 

In one hand, he held his duffle bag and in his other, he carried something brown and hairy. Yoona didn't get a good look at it before Changwook quickly return to the car, opening the driver's door and smoothly climbing in behind the steering wheel. 

 

Changwook then tosses the brown hairy thing at her that she caught and close his door, once again, sealing them together inside the once-black-now-red sedan. 

 

Yoona looks down at what she held, now able to see that Changwook had tossed her a light gray shawl-collar cardigan and a long brown wavy wig. 

 

"Use them to hide your hair." Changwook told her, as he tosses his black duffle bag onto the backseat, "It's very distinctive. It makes you stick out." 

 

Yoona loves her hair, she really did so it nearly kill her to say the words she knew she had to say. Her hair didn't matter when it came to their lives. 

 

"Why don't I just cut it?" Yoona swallows and looks down at her lap. It would be hard for her but it was what was for the best. 

 

Changwook was right, her hair did make her stand out. 

 

"We could even pick up a home dye kit somewhere." Was her voice actually shaking? It was just hair. It would grow back. It didn't matter that she loves her hair, that she took almost reverent care of it or that she had spent most of her life growing and grooming her hair. 

 

It didn't matter that her mom had loved her hair and often help her brush it, even when Yoona hadn't been a little girl anymore. The memories were in her, not in her hair. Yoona just had to remember that. 

 

If it helps keep them safe she would shave her head. 

 

Silence stretch between them and Yoona wanted to look up and see Changwook's reaction, to find out why he wasn't saying anything but she didn't. She didn't want Changwook to see the tears that were threatening to fill her eyes at the thought of cutting off her pretty hair. 

 

Yoona jump startled when she felt Changwook's hand bury itself in her hair and cup the side of her head, her ear brushing against the bottom of his palm just below his thumb. 

 

"You have lost so much because of your dad." Changwook said softly, with a tender sad gentleness that told her that he cares about her and her feelings, "I'm not going to let him take one more thing from you, not even your hair. You think I don't know how much care and maintenance your hair takes? You think I don't know that you must love your hair to do all that?" 

 

Changwook wasn't human. He couldn't be. He was too perfect. He was too smart, too observant. He notices everything. 

 

If they did manage to get away and decided to give what they had a chance then being in a relationship with this man was going to be an experience. She had had to stay on her toes if she wanted to get anything by him. 

 

Then Yoona sense Changwook move towards her and hope flare that he was going to kiss her but was only a little disappointed when he tenderly planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. 

 

"The wig will do," Changwook assures her softly, then Changwook helps her into the cardigan and to arrange the wig so that between the two her hair was completely hidden from view. 

 

Lastly, Changwook produces two pairs of dark sunglasses, a wide circular woman's pair, and a slim and sleek men's pair, for the two of them. 

 

Disguise the best they could with what they had which was pretty well if Yoona did say so herself, Changwook pull their now red sedan back onto the street and pointed the car inland, away from the coast and within the hour they were heading out of the city and away from those who were at that very moment hunting them. 

 

The sun had set over an hour ago and still, they were on the road and still, Changwook hadn't told her what was going on. She hadn't ask since their high-speed car chase because frankly, she was tired of asking and just getting brush off. 

 

Except for his affectionate display regarding her hair, Changwook was a different man today than he was on their date last night and Yoona didn't like this Changwook. She didn't like the way he was treating her. He was treating her like a little kid who needed to be kept in the dark for her own good but she wasn't a little kid. She was a woman and she wasn't going to take being treated otherwise. She did understand that he was under a lot of pressure right now and that he believed that he was doing what was best for her but she wasn't his ward who would follow him blindly and the look in his eyes and on his face was in no way comforting. His expression was blank and cold but his eyes were dark and had a dangerous glint that was more than a little unnerving. 

 

Yoona turn in her seat to face him, "Oppa? You need to tell me what's going on. Now." Yoona's tone was careful as if she at this very moment had doubts about his sanity but there was no mistaking the insistence in her voice, the demand for answers. 

 

"It's not safe for you here anymore," Changwook told her blandly, again not looking at her at all. He kept his eyes fix steadily ahead, "I have to get you away from your dad. Now. I'm taking you someplace safe." 

 

Ok, an answer without any information that she didn't already know again, but at least he was talking to her, "And then what?" 

 

"I will figure that out when we get there." He told her coldly. 

 

Yoona closes her eyes for a moment as her fingers tense and curl and she forces herself to count to ten. 

 

It didn't help so she held herself still until the urge to strangle him pass, only then did she open her eyes and relax her hands. 

 

Yoona tried another course, "Oppa, you know my dad's reach. He will find us wherever we go, you know he will." "I'm an FBI agent, Yoona." Changwook stated, but finally, some emotion was beginning to leach into his cold all-business tone, "I'm one of the best undercover agents the Bureau has because I'm the best. I have access to numerous fake IDs and various cash stores, half of which not even the FBI know about. With my skills and resources, we can run and hide and no one will ever find us." 

 

"Running and hiding doesn't work long terms Oppa, trust me," Yoona told him sadly, thinking of how running and hiding hadn't worked for her or her mom. 

 

"Yoona!" Changwook snap, telling her off like a disobedient child who had gotten on his last nerved but finally, the expressionless mask that he had been wearing for most of the day shatter and she could clearly see his frustration and desperation, "This is what I do. If anyone can keep you safely hidden, it's me. Trust me on this. All we have to do is get a couple of states behind us and we will be home free. I can even have us out of the country in twenty-four hours." 

 

Yoona didn't doubt that he could, if anyone could get them out of the country undetected it was Changwook but still, she needed one thing answer first, it was the same question that she had been trying to get an answer for nearly two weeks now. 

 

"Why now?" 

 

Changwook squeezes his eyes tightly closed for a moment, not the smartest thing to do while he was driving which spoke to just how overwrought and stress he was right now. He had been so close to the edge ever since he had seen what lurk in her dad's basement and it was wearing him down. 

 

Even now, when Changwook closes his eyes he saw that room clearly in his mind, Sejoon's breeding cell and the bottom drop out of his stomach. His grip tightens on the steering wheel until his fingers turn white and protested painfully. 

 

Changwook couldn't tell her about that room. He couldn't. He couldn't scare her like that and that was if she had even believed him. No doubt Yoona knew her dad was a killer but not many men were capable of doing that to their own daughter so it was a possibility that she might not believe him. 

 

For the past eight hours, while they had been driving in silence, heading for the state border in the north, Changwook had been forced to shut his mind down, to focus on nothing but the road ahead of him just so he could keep himself from contemplating the possible negative consequences of this decision. 

 

If they were caught, if Yoona was caught then she will be taken straight to that room and he couldn't let that happen but at the same time, it was a very real possible consequence if he fails to get Yoona away from her dad, "Please just trust me Yoona." Changwook pleaded with her beseechingly, "If you trust nothing else about me then trust that I will do anything to protect you and right now, this is our only option. Your dad is further gone than you can possibly understand." 

 

Yoona's eyes narrow as she struggles to read between the lines. Something had happened that had changed everything, the event, something that Changwook still refuse to tell her about. He had to have seen or heard something that had completely freak him out. Something that still had him terrified for her. 

 

Yoona didn't even want to think about what that could be. Changwook was the type of guy who seems to have seen and done it all so it had to be really bad to drive him to such extremes; he had all but abducted her and bolted but one thing didn't make sense to her, "Why can't we go to the FBI?" 

 

"Because!" Changwook snaps at her in that superior tone again, which had Yoona grinding her teeth. 

 

Yoona really didn't like it when he talks to her like that and when he calms down, she was going to tell him so, "Because." Changwook repeated, with slightly more control in his voice, "They will put you into witness protection and I can't trust witness protection with your protection. They will just stash you somewhere and with your dad's resources, he will find you. Witness protection is people and people can be bought, bribed or blackmail and they will split us up. They won't let me stay with you, do you understand that? And there's no way in hell that I'm going to trust your protection to anyone else." 

 

Yoona wonders if Changwook realizes just how unhinged he sounded right now, "Oppa." 

 

"No, Yoona! Just no!" Changwook exploded at her, "You have seen only a fraction of what your dad is, of what he's capable of! I have no doubt that your dad has agents in the FBI in his pocket! You were right to be so careful when you came to the FBI! Why do you think your dad is so untouchable regardless of everything he's done?! It's because he has eyes and ears everywhere! I can keep you safe; we just have to do things my way!" 

 

Yoona considers the thought that Changwook had lost it completely. He sounded so desperate, so frantic that he was bordering on control hysteria if there was such a thing. Well, if there hadn't been such a thing before, there certainly was now. 

 

What could have set him off like this? What had he seen? What could have been so terrible that it had him terrified? Yoona was too terrified to ask. She had had to go along with him for now, at least until he calmed down and she could talk some sense into him. 

 

Yoona needed to get answers out of him. She needed to know what he wasn't telling her. Something had happened, something terrible but Changwook wasn't doing her any favors by keeping things from her and on top of that, no matter what resources Changwook had, they couldn't hide forever. Changwook had to know that. 

 

They drove in silence for a long time once again, so long that Yoona lost track of how long they had been driving. It had to have been hours by the time Changwook broke the silence by telling her to try and get some sleep. 

 

Yoona didn't argue with him. Without saying a word and using the cardigan Changwook had given her at the carwash as a pillow, she had taken off the itchy wig after night had fallen, Yoona laid down her head and close her eyes. 

 

Only minutes later after she fell asleep, Changwook was left alone with the long straight dark road ahead and his own desperate half-crazed thoughts that fuel him onwards. 

 

Changwook made certain that Yoona was fully and deeply asleep before he pulls the untraceable burner cell phone from the glove compartment that Jaejoong had left for him and dial a number from memory. 

 

When the call was picked up on the other side of the line, there was no greeting, just as Changwook had expected, "It's Ji." Changwook said briskly. 

 

"Ji! Where in the hell are you?!" The very piss off cold-as-an-iceberg deputy director, his superior on the other end, demanded, "I have been getting all kinds of reports thanks to your rogue behavior! What the hell are you doing?! I want you to get your here to my office right now!" 

 

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't. I have to get her someplace safe before I can come back to deal with Sejoon." Changwook responded, keeping his tone respectful but deadly serious, "Sejoon is so far gone in the head that there's no hope of bringing him down without bloodshed and I won't take that risk with Yoona. If we lose, she will pay the price, a very steep price." 

 

"What are you talking about, Ji?!" The deputy director demanded, her tone making it clear that she thought that he had completely lost his mind and maybe he had but he had no regrets, "This was her idea, her plan! She knew the risk before she brought us in!" 

 

"I don't care. I'm not willing to take the risk with her. I'm getting her to safety and then I'm coming back to deal with Sejoon." Changwook glance at Yoona's sleeping form. 

 

Yoona was worth anything, any price ask of him. He had already come to peace with the knowledge that this might very well cost him his job, his career and maybe even his freedom or his life. 

 

"You can't take the law into your own hands!" The deputy director objected, her voice taking on a scolding edge to it, "We are law enforcement, not vigilantes! I explain that to you when I recruited you! If you do this, there's no going back! I won't be able to protect you this time and if Jaejoong had any part in this, he will face the consequences right along with you!" 

 

Fortunately for Jaejoong, he hadn't been that hasty that he hadn't protected Jaejoong the best he could. 

 

"There's nothing, no evidence connecting Jaejoong to any unauthorized activities," Changwook assure her, knowing that the sharp woman on the other side of the line knew exactly what he meant. This woman knew he was too smart to leave a trail back to Jaejoong; she knew he had used his own untraceable resources. 

 

It wouldn't look good that Changwook had Jaejoong evacuated to a safe location just in case Sejoon went looking for whoever had help Changwook get Yoona away from him but it was explainable. Sejoon was smart enough to know that Changwook must have had help and so, he had had Jaejoong tell his superiors that he thought that his cover had been blown and that he needed temporary relocation so not to blow Changwook's cover. 

 

It was protocol. 

 

"Ma'am, you know me." Changwook told her calmly, with only a touch of sincere emotion in his voice, "You know that if there had been any other way I wouldn't be running right now but there is no other way. Trust me when I say that whatever Sejoon can do to me is nothing compare to what he will do to her if he gets her back." 

 

"Oh, dear god!" The deputy director of the FBI actually groan, "You have gone and fallen in love with her, haven't you? I have got to admit, I never expected you to do something so reckless and stupid." 

 

Changwook lowered his voice to almost a whisper, "It's not something I have control over." 

 

"It's something that's going to get you kill or fired." The deputy director sighs heavily into the phone and then as if a different person had been put on the phone, she was suddenly all business once again, "You have to come back in. You are acting against orders." And there it was. His superior was distancing herself from his actions by doing what she had to do. 

 

Changwook could understand that. He was going to do what he had to do. 

 

They had known each other for years as she had said she had recruited him, had brought him into the FBI family and she would protect him the best she could but she couldn't put her career on the line for him. The lives of too many other agents relied on her and Changwook did consider her a friend, one he was loyal to and so, he did what he had to do to protect her from the consequences of his decisions. 

 

"Fire me," Changwook told her coldly, and then snap the flip mobile phone close. 

 

Beside him, Yoona slept soundly and behind him, dangerous trouble was no doubt already in pursuit of them and just like that, Changwook felt better. Everything he had been dealing with was suddenly gone, evaporated like yesterday's news. He even felt lighter as if by firmly setting himself on this path with no way to turn back he had freed himself of the weight of everything that he had been dealing with. 

 

Now, Changwook had a mission, a purpose in life. The road ahead of him, metaphorically speaking, was clear, his choices had been made. 

 

Sejoon wanted what Changwook treasure most, what Changwook had just given up everything for but Changwook would kill anyone who tried to take Yoona away from him. 

 

He loves her. He would kill for her. He would die for her and Changwook was at peace with that. For the first time since he had been a kid with two loving parents, Changwook was at peace. He knew what he had to do, he knew his purpose and he would be devout on his path. 

 

Changwook had to protect Yoona and keep her safe. He would do whatever had to be done to accomplish that and heaven help and hell pity whoever got in his way. 

 

---

 

N/A: Since I will probably be busy the whole day tomorrow I won't be able to update so here is the next chapter for everyone. ^^ 
Enjoy and I will see you guys all again next week. 

 

- butt3rflyl0v3r ♡