Mir, Sanghyun, and Beong Hee chased the rest of the gangs who tried to escape into the city. Seungho remained behind to wait for you and Joon to come out. His mind raced at the thought of you. He felt so useless and powerless right now.

The large rusty gate opened and Seungho hastily ran over to you and Joon. His body stiffened at the sight of your bare skin. You were trembling in Joon’s arms with your face buried deep into his chest. “Min Hee-ah…” He whispered.

“Seungho, let’s go.” Joon walked rapidly towards his motorcycle. He sat you in front of him the same way he carried you with your back leaned against his right arm and your head to his shoulder.

“Wait.” Seungho walked over. He took off his jacket as well. “Put this on her. It’s going to be cold.” Joon slightly held you forward as Seungho slipped his jacket into your arms. He ran back to his motorcycle and they both sped off going back home.

~~~

*What am I going to do with you Min Hee? I don’t know anymore.* Joon looked at your exhausted form lying underneath the bed covers. He didn’t want to violate you by putting clothes on you, so he decided to just wrap your body with some blankets instead.

He dug in his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper with the code on it. He looked at the paper then back down at you. *Everything you’ve been trying to protect can just end right now with just this.*

He’s never had anything he wanted to protect in his existence before and here you were protecting this one thing that your parents left in your hands with all your soul. He clenched his jaws tightly and crumbled the piece of paper in his hand.

 *What should I do?* His brows creased together. His eyes sadden gazing at you. The thought of feeling lost and unsure crept through him once more. Every passing second of seeing you there, made it worse for him. *Am I going to pretend that I don’t know anything now?* He slowly reached down to touch your cheek.

Joon observed your beautiful feature. His deep brown eyes traveled to your eyebrows, to your long cascading lashes, down to the bridge of your nose to the tip, and he landed upon your nicely shaped and plumped lips. *A fearless babo can look cute while she is sleeping.* The corner of his lips curved into a smile and he lightly sweeps the fringe of your hair with the tip of his finger.

Your soft steady breathing assured him that you were ok now. He wanted some time to think about what he needed do. Your life was in the palm of his hands and it was up to him whether or not to crush it.

Joon got up to leave, but you grabbed onto his hand gently. Surprised, he stopped in his track. “Komawoyo for coming to get me. I…I thought you wouldn’t.” You whispered as he turned around to look at you. You gave him a thankful small smile.

“You shouldn’t thank me.” He avoided your eyes. *It’s my fault you’re in this situation now.*

 You shook your head. “I’m just glad, you didn’t get hurt either.” You dropped your hand and Joon leaves the room without a word.

He leaned his back against the door and closed his eyes tightly while sighing deeply. *Why are you doing this to me?* He clutched his chest and his beating heart pounded rapidly against it. The vibration in his pocket brought him out of his thoughts. He pulled out his phone and looked at the caller. *Kim Ho.*

“Shiet!” He hissed and picked up. “Hello?.....She’s still unconscious. Yeah. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Joon hung up. An uneasy feel crawled under his skin.

He looked at your closed door and touched it. “I’ll try my best to make it less painful for you.” He whispered. He ran down the stairs, grabbed his helmet and left to meet his soon to be enemy.

~~~

You got out of bed light headed, but you didn’t want to sleep anymore. You went to the bathroom to wash yourself. You felt disgusted and the thought of Lazer made you shiver.

After you were done, you walked out to the balcony. It was a chilly night.  “Fall is around the corner. My favorite season.” Your eyes wondered down to the busy city streets and up to the billboards of beautiful hallyu stars. *I wonder how my life would be like if Appa and Umma was still alive*

There wasn’t much time left for you. *Joon knows now. There’s no point hiding anymore.* Deep down, you knew he had a kind heart and not the cold expressionless person he showed you every day. Whatever that will happen, you wanted to stop running now. You don’t want to put any one in danger. You didn’t know there were other people out there besides Kim Ho who wanted what you have.

With Joon doing all his dirty work for him, you wanted that to stop too. Maybe one day Joon would quit being a cold blooded killer, and become his true self. You really wished for that.

 You shut your eyes and let the cool breeze fly through your wet hair sending chills down your spine. Suddenly, a soft, warm blanket hugged you from behind.

“You shouldn’t be out here with wet hair. You’ll catch a cold.” Seungho came and stood next to you. “Thanks.” You smiled and cuddle the blanket closer.

He stood there not saying a word, but his eyes were on you. *You look beautiful…Min Hee* You glanced up and caught his eyes and he turned away embarrassed.

“What are you doing out here?” You questioned him tilting your head. “I should ask you that as well.” He replied with a smile.

“I wanted to see and remember this beautiful city.” You took a deep gulp of the wind and exhaled it out.

“Why? Are you planning another escape?” Seungho arched an eyebrow teasingly at you. You laughed softly, “No, I ran out of ideas.” *Then why did you say it like that?* He wondered.

“Can I ask you one thing?” You looked at him and he nodded. “…Why…do work for Kim Ho? Do you really like to do all that gruesome things to people?”

“I believe that was more than one thing.” He laughed. You felt your cheeks grow hot in a second. “I’m kidding.” He nudged you lightly.

“I don’t know why I’m working for him. I guess…it just happened that way.” He shrugged and you turned to face him, listening. “I was a homeless child. I had no family and my parents died when I was a baby. I grew up on my own will with no one there to support me. Every day I ate scraps I found in the trash or if I was lucky I would save enough pennies to buy something. Growing up alone could be scary so, I learned how to fight. Street fighting back then was quite popular and I needed money anyways, so I did it. That’s how I met Joon, Mir, Sang Hyun, and Beong Hee as well. All along, Kim Ho had been the one hosting the entire event. That’s how we were into all of this.” Underneath the moon, you could see sadness swept over his flawless face. You were beginning to understand his vain.

 “One day, as if he had finally found a goal in life that he wanted to reach, he killed whoever wasn’t good enough at fighting or didn’t have the guts to assassinate and kept the ones who were willing to.”He looked down at you and then turned towards the city. He leaned against the balcony and rubbed his arms. “I should be dead already.” Your ears couldn’t believe it what they just heard. You wanted to reach a hand up to comfort him, but hesitated.

“But, Joon saved me.” He whispered and you froze. “J-Joon did?” Seungho nodded.

 “He was the strongest one out of all of us and Kim Ho favored him a lot. Joon showed no mercy when it came to killing and his fighting was extremely skillful. On that day, I was on the verge of death and Joon was supposed to finish me off. He pointed the gun to my head and his hand was on the trigger. I waited for him to kill me right then, but he didn’t. Instead he turned the gun around and handed it to me. He told me to shoot him and escape and for me to run and never look back. I looked into his eyes and saw sincerity that was drowned in coldness and blood. I grabbed the gun and pointed it at his heart. Right then, Kim Ho walked in and saw the scene. He told me to put the gun down and he’ll spare my life. Truthfully, I didn’t have the wits to kill Joon after what he did. So, I dropped the gun. Joon talked Kim Ho into leaving me with him and now, here I am. Joon and I have been together ever since and the rest of the guys came after. In the end, I guess I am the weakest one here.” You can feel the pain in Seungho’s voice.

“I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I hope you can just listen. Joon may appear to be cruel and he kills people like it means nothing to him, but deep down, he’s suffering. It’s as if he’s hiding his true identity with blood. Until this very day, I have no idea what his past is except that he’s had an even rougher life than me. Behind his emotionless self, I know that he is a warm person. Out of the five of us, Joon does most of the killing. He may not say it, but he’d rather stain himself with blood then have us do it. Especially if it's someone Kim Ho wants dead. He would always try his best to step into the scene and do it for us. Do you understand a little bit of what I’m saying now? What I want to ask you is that I hope you don’t hate him too much for what he has done to you in the past. It’s because he has no other choice and no control over that dark shadow within him. To add, you’re also here because he didn’t have a choice. Kim Ho has been going around murdering the wealthiest people to steal their assets and you just had to be the daughter of one of them. Joon doesn’t want to do this, we all don’t. If you get to know him long enough as I have, you might be able to see it too.” Seungho turned to face you and his expression softened. You were becoming someone that he wanted to pour out his heartache to. If he could, he wanted to take you far from here and keep you safe from Kim Ho.

You felt a bomb exploded in your chest and your voice became lost for words. You would never have imagined how much pain and suffering they’ve went through, especially Joon. You wanted to cry and shout as loud as you could for this unfairness. *I knew…somewhere in my heart Joon wasn’t who he seemed to be.*

 Somehow,you wanted to take all of their sorrows away from them. *Maybe all this time, Kim Ho’s goal has been me all along. I’ve been the reason for all of these tragic happenings. He’s killed others in search for me.* You felt breathless and your lungs were caving in.

You looked up at Seungho who stares down at you with eyes filled with guilt. “Why do you look at me that way?”

“Because, I don’t want to see you get hurt. We were the ones who brought you here and now I wish I can turn back time. I don’t know what I’ll do, if…if…” You grabbed onto his hand and he stopped. You didn’t want to hear it anymore.

“Seungho, don’t worry about me. Just be the same way you have always been before you met me. Whatever my step uncle tells you to do, just do it. Don’t blame yourself or any of your friends for bringing me here. I want to thank you for sharing with me your past. I understand a lot of things now and I don’t see Joon as a bad person either. Everything just seems to make sense to me now that I heard it come from you. Your life, Joon’s life, and all of the people, who are important to you, just keep them safe inside here.” You brought your hand up to his heart. “Stay strong even if you can’t protect them all. Just don’t ever waver.” You took off the blanket and swung it around him tightly to keep him cozy. “Stay warm.” You smiled.

Seungho swallowed his heart back down into his chest. His body went weak to the sound of your soothing voice and sweet words. He felt an electrifying shock seep through his body with your gentle touch. Your angelic smile poisioned him.

So badly, he wanted to pull you into a hug and keep you there everlastingly. Instead, he took hold of your hands and blew warm air into it. “Did you know that you have a way of making me go weak?” He whispered. You blinked up at him unsure of what he really meant by that so you just smiled.

“I’m going to get a drink of water ok? I’ll see you in a bit.” He smiled and nodded. You patted his arm lightly and walked back into your room and out the door. As you reached the bottom of the stair, you heard the front door open and close. You slowly tiptoed over and peeked to see who it was.  

From afar, you saw Joon put his helmet onto the counter and went into the kitchen to grab a cold drink. You stood there unmoving as a rush of what Seungho told you earlier flashed into your mind.

           “Deep down, he’s suffering. He does most of the killing for us…he’s hiding behind coldness and blood…he doesn’t want to do this…he’s not a bad person…he saved my life…”

All this time, you thought that you were the only one suffering and had it hard in life. *How could I be so selfish?* An urge inside of you wanted to comfort him and tell him he’s not alone because you could be his shoulders to lean on. You wanted to blow away his pain and heal his wounds like no one has ever done before. Like a child, you wanted to take care of him even though you didn’t know why.

Joon turned around with a water bottle in his hand when he saw you staring at him from the stairs. He looked blankly back at you wondering why you were there. You could see a freshly cut wound at the corner of his lip that has swelled up. The right side of his cheek bone had a slight trail of blood coming out of the gash. *He’s hurt…Is it because of me?*

Without thinking, you ran up to him and encircled your arms around his waist. Your head lightly hit his chest as you buried your face into his shirt. Tears welled up into your eyes. In your heart, you wished Kim Ho would let Joon go. You wished he would be able to live freely without sadness and have the will to smile again.

Joon, shock as ever, froze where he stood and dropped his water bottle to the ground. He didn’t know what was going on or what had happened. You caught him off guard too quick for him to even react. His arms were up in midair stunned as you held him closely.

“I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see anyone hurt…” You whispered. Suddenly, he felt his shirt damp and a soft sniffle escaped your mouth. His body relaxed and he heart softened. Not knowing what you meant or why you were like this, he put one hand at the back of your head and it. With his other arm, he hesitantly circled it around your waist. Time as seemingly stopped for him. He felt warmth and sincerity from your presence and it was eating slowly at this heart. He didn’t expect to come home to this, but right now he hoped it wasn’t a dream.

*I want to protect you…* The both of you silently thought.

~~~~

I want to apologize for the delay in my chapter updates! I will try my best to keep updates every other day! Hope you like this one! Thank you my wonderful readers!