ONE
The first encounter

"Don't you dare move a ing muscle," Sehun was looking at the medicines, checking which ones haven't expired yet when he was pulled up by a stranger whose arms are now pressing hard against his throat.

     He doesn't move. But he opened his eyes to look at a female, significantly shorter than him, with a knife in her hand. "Let me go," Sehun whispered, his voice suppressed by the pressure on his throat. "Let me go and no one gets hurt,"

     The woman scoffed. "You don't think I'm that stupid now, don't you?"

     Sehun chuckled in return, still keeping his voice to a whisper. "Lady, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so by now."

     The sound of a cocking gun appears just below them and the stranger felt a metal poking her stomach. She looked down to see a pistol pointed against her shirt and Sehun took that moment of occupation to grab the arm that was pinning her. He turn her around so her back was against his chest and he was gripping both of her arms while his other hand held the gun to her head.

     "Go on," the woman taunted. "See if you get out of here alive once they hear us."

     The stranger was panting and Sehun can feel her heartbeat through her chest. She's scared too, Sehun figured. "I'm gonna let you go," he said tentatively. "And you would let me go, too. Do you understand? I have a gun, you have a knife. I'd kill you faster than you could kill me,"

     "You don't know that," she replied.

     "Oh, honey, I do. And once I fire, I can run out of here faster than them. I guarantee that." When the girl didn't reply, Sehun slowly loosened the grip around her but his gun remained pointed at her. The girl turned to face him and started stepping backward with a knife held on the level of her stomach, also pointing at him.

     "Let's just get whatever we need and never bother each other again," Sehun suggested. "Is that okay with you?"

     The woman did nothing else but glare at him. Sehun put his gun back into the pocket of his jeans and raised his arms, showing that he no longer meant any harm. Sehun watched her disappear from the aisle before turning back to the medicines before him. He read long ago that even expired medicines are not dangerous to intake, they just became less effective. However, years passed and these medicines were not kept to certain cool temperatures they require to last longer. But still, he didn't have any other choice but take the risk. Expired medicines are better than no medicine at all.

     After a few more minutes of stuffing antibiotics inside his bag, he heard the quiet thud of the door and saw the girl through the transparent glass exiting the store.

     On his way back, Sehun's mind wandered back to that girl. It has been a really long time since he had seen someone from home. She has the usual small eyes, not too small, but smaller than everyone else he had met around Brooklyn. She's short for him but she's probably the average height of adult women back in Korea. Even her accent has a tinge of home to it. She looks like she's in her late 20s, aro