[Chapter 21]

Things were starting to work out between the two. For the most part, everything was at peace within the house. They still fought now and then, but overall, Chenle was slowly opening up to the girl. This was a relief to Jisung, who was always stuck in the middle of their fights.

However, this morning brought back the chaos that they have avoided for a while. Stargazing became a routine in which Gayeon always invited the male to do with her. And so, like many other nights, they fell asleep in each other’s arms while they were lying outside.

Chenle was highly confused when he woke up this morning alone. Assuming she had gone inside, the male was ready to complain to her about leaving him outside without saying a word. Unfortunately, the said girl was nowhere to be found, causing his anxiety to skyrocket. He even barged into Jisung’s room, hoping the younger would know where his sister went.

“No, I thought she was just with you again. What do you mean she’s gone?” Jisung replied, feeling just as surprised as the latter.

“I can’t find her anywhere and I’ve called her a billion times! You know how that dumb idiot keeps her phone on silent!” Words spewed from his mouth as he stressfully paced back and forth in the room.

“No worries, let’s just track her.” Jisung said, spinning around in his chair to access her phone’s location. With only a few clicks, they found the red marker on the map, representing her location. With just her location, Chenle was already storming out of the room. “Where are you going, lele?”

“Going to get her. You tell me where to go and I’ll follow.” Chenle muttered, hands balling into fists as he was now beyond worried about her. Just why was she in the city right now?

+++

Chenle had made his way into the city where Jisung informed him Gayeon was at. The male was scared as ever as he rushed himself to get to her as soon as possible.

“Lele, she should be about three blocks away from you once you take a right-“ Talk about timing, the younger was cut off when Gayeon was calling Chenle.

“Hold on, she’s calling.” He rolled his eyes as he was still frustrated she only now decided to call him back. “So you finally decided to call-“

“I think someone’s been following me. I just don’t have a good feeling...” She explained to him in a hushed tone. He could hear her shaky breaths as she spoke to him.

“Just keep walking. I’ll be right there soon, I promise.”

The girl nervously chewed on the nail of her thumb while keeping the phone up to her ear. She could feel herself still being tailed and she was only hoping she was just being scared for nothing. “O-Okay... please hurry.”

Chenle raised an eyebrow when he heard someone call for her on her end of the line. “Excuse me miss, but can I speak with you for a moment?” Hearing just that, the male began to pick up his speed. The girl went pale and chills went down her spine as he continuously called out to her. She kept telling herself to keep walking as if she didn’t hear him.

“Yeon, stay on the phone with me. Just a few more minutes and I’ll get to you. Please.” The male prayed to himself that they were just being paranoid over nothing.

Gayeon was walking as fast as she could when she felt a hand latch onto her arm, pulling her into a shadowed alley. She attempted to scream and kick, but the person had covered , preventing her from doing so. “Try anything and I’ll shoot you to death.” The male said with a smirk, slamming her back against the brick wall.

She flinched as she felt his fingers hold her chin. “Park Gayeon. What a beautiful name, it suits you well. Maybe we can have a little fun together.” His horribly creepy actions caused her eyes to pool with tears, fearing what could possibly happen to her. What scared her even more was the fact that he knew her full name. Just how?

“Come on, you’re a beautiful girl. Let’s have fun, alright?” She attempted to flail her arms around to free herself, but it only caused him to slap her cheek as a consequence. “Don’t cause more problems and just relax. Don’t be so shy.” The male had on a smug smirk as his right hand began trailing from her waist down to her thigh. Trembling in fear, Gayeon shut her eyes, causing her tears to escape as she felt him begin to feel her up.

“Don’t worry, it's-“ The stranger was abruptly ripped away from her body and shoved onto the ground.

The male who was now on the ground was confronted by Chenle. Gayeon finally allowed herself to breathe as she realized she was no longer in danger. The Chinese male’s eyes seemed to have switched into ones that yearned to kill. Firmly pointing his gun at the stranger, Chenle clenched his jaw out of anger and mercilessly shot his first bullet to the leg. The alley w