Cold fingertips clumsily ran over mine and I stared at the large metal nervously. My shoulder was sore from turning myself around and I could hear Daehyun’s breath behind me. I listened for any noises as his fingers finally reached the rope around my wrists. He struggled and I stayed still. I could hear the faint thump of footsteps above us. I heard one yell at the other one for something they needed, he yelled back angrily and there was the slam of a door.

A rush of relief came over me as I felt the strands of rope come lose and my wrists were suddenly free. It was only when I brought my arms back to me and I pushed myself into a sitting position that I noticed how bad the circulation had been. They ached as I pulled myself to Daehyun. I turned him over and quickly went for the ropes around his wrists. I untied him faster and threw the rope to the side. We both went to untie our ankles and finally we were free. He pulled me up in a fluid motion and pulled me over to the door.

“What if this doesn’t work?” I whispered nervously.

“It’s going to work” He insisted, sending me a stern look, “Don’t get nervous. Are you sure the other one left?”

“I’m not positive, but it sounded like it, they need to get things to drink too right? It makes sense I haven’t heard any more yelling or footsteps” I said staring at the door as if any second someone would burst in and kill us both, “I want to help”

“We talked about this, if you’re not safe I won’t be able to focus. As soon as I grab him you need to run out of the room and stand by the door. I’ll run past and we lock it. I won’t be able to fight if I have to worry about your safety” Daehyun as he ran a comforting hand down my head so it rested on my shoulder.

“But you’ll be fine right?”

“Yeah. Now let’s get started”

I stared at him a second longer and silently prayed that he would be alright. I took a few deep breaths and stood to one side of the door while Daehyun stood on the other. Suddenly I screamed at the top of my lungs. The loud high pitched sound echoed against the walls and I knew the man upstairs had heard it. There was the clatter of something falling to the ground and I screamed again as loud footsteps ran downstairs again. The metal lock clattered as suddenly the door squeaked open and he ran in. Daehyun wasted no time; this was our only chance he had said, as he lunged for the man and got in one swift punch.

Lock and key came crashing to the ground as the man staggered back in surprise and Daehyun moved forward. I could see though, his surprise didn’t last for long. Animal like instincts brought him back in a second as he dodged Daehyun’s fist and instead returned it with a swift punch to the stomach. I stood by the door and ran for the lock and key lying off the ground.

“Don’t you dare!” The man growled as he ran for me.

“Don’t touch her” Daehyun yelled as he grabbed him by the collar and punched him again.

I scrambled up and ran for the door. I looked to the foot of the stairs and thanked god the other one was out. I heard a click and looked around, Daehyun had his back to me and I couldn’t really see past him, my nerves were getting the better of me. I gripped the edge of the doorway tightly, forcing myself to stay by the door. Cold metal dug itself into my palms as I reminded myself that Daehyun was right I knew nothing about fights. I would get in the way, but still… seeing him like this made my heart ache. Daehyun grunted and I caught a glint of something silver.

Suddenly, I heard a loud crack and Daehyun slammed his head into the man’s head and kneed him in gut. The man stumbled back and Daehyun ran for the door. He stumbled in and I slammed the door shut, pressing the lock into place. I jumped back as a hateful scream of rage echoed from inside complete with a series of punches on the door and I slid to the ground in relief. Daehyun breathed heavily on the stairs and he held his torso in pain.

“Come on. We have to go” I whispered as I helped him up and we went up the stairs.

I looked around for anything we could take and spotted a dozen empty water bottles, a half full one, and a blanket by some chairs where they must’ve been sitting this whole time. I was suddenly reminded of the harsh fact that we hadn’t had anything to drink. My lips were suddenly dry and my throat worse, but that wasn’t the worst of it. I frowned and felt frustration take over. Shouldn’t they have phones, a laptop? Something to make calls with?! I turned to Daehyun to find him supporting himself on one of the chairs, his head bowed down.

“What’s wrong?” I asked suddenly.

“Nothing” He groaned and tilted his head back as he took a shuddering breath.

I stepped up to him cautiously, a bad feeling coming over me. I put my hand on the one he had on the chair and tried to pull him away. He wouldn’t budge, he had his fingers wrapped tightly around the frame and I pulled harder. I knew something was wrong even as I finally managed to pull his fingers free and he stumbled into me. I groaned as I tried to hold him up and he buried his head into the crook of my neck. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and I suspected half of it was for support.

“I need you to go get us help” He whispered and I froze.

“The plan was that we would go together” I said in a meek voice, fear sinking in the pit of my stomach.

“Go now” He ordered as placed his cold lips against my neck and he staggered back into the chair.

I stood frozen. I was about to speak when I noticed a stain on my shirt. I frowned as I touched it and felt the ground come out from under me. I looked up at Daehyun and he avoided my gaze. I felt a wave of emotions come over me as I went to him and placed a firm grip on the arm he had bent over his waist. I angrily pulled his arms away and touched the soaked material of his black sweatshirt. I pulled away my hand to see it stained red.

“How…” I spoke slowly, suddenly overwhelmed by our situation.

Daehyun looked at me guiltily and reached in his pocket. Out came a small switchblade with blood dried onto it. My world spun and I lost hope. I reached out with shaking fingers and pulled down the zipper of his hoodie. I pulled it open to reveal a large red stain on his shirt. I gasped in horror as I carefully lifted it up and looked away from the gaping gash.

“This is why you have to go. There’s no way I’m going to run very fast with this thing. It hurts like hell” Daehyun whispered.

“Shut up. Why didn’t you tell me?!” I snapped as I tried to think.

“The other one will be back soon and you won’t be able to fight him off!” He insisted.

“I’m NOT leaving you!” I snapped as my eyes brimmed with tears.

I pulled off my own sweatshirt and shirt, leaving me in a tanktop. Daehyun’s eyes widened and I grabbed the only water that was left. I bit my lip, the momentary thought that this was the last drops of water fleeting past, this was more important. I carefully poured the water over the wound, hoping it would at least clean it up a bit; it was no disinfectant, but better than nothing. I took my shirt and pressed it firmly against his wound. I pulled my sweatshirt back over my head and keeping pressure on the shirt I used the bloody switched blade to cut away a long strand of cloth. I felt tears burn their way down as I used the long strand to secure the cloth tightly onto his stomach. I tied a tight knot and sank to the ground in panic.

“Come on we have to head out if we’re gonna have any chance” I whispered reaching for the blanket and draping it around Daehyun.

“Hyerim…” He began to protest, but I shook my head.

"I'm not moving an inch without you. If you don’t want to leave then I’m staying here and they’ll just kill us both!” I finally yelled, frustrated that he wasn’t trying harder. There was no way I would ever step out of this place without him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We stepped out into the cold air and I placed an arm around Daehyun’s waist and threw an arm around my shoulders using me for support. I looked the worn down trail where cars would come in and bit my lip only to immediately feel a drop of blood come out. Of course, they’re that dry.  

“Let’s walk along the road, but we have to stay in deeper in the trees, because that the first place they’ll look” I said quietly, though there was no one around to hear me.

Daehyun just nodded as we slowly made our way deep into the trees. I ignored everything else and simply focused on getting as far away as we could. We walked for I don’t know how long. It seemed like forever, the sun had barely even moved. I could feel it though, every couple of steps the weight from Daehyun would before heavier, his breathing more labored, and his walk slower. We took a few breaks, every time any rustle in the leaves sending both our heart rates skyrocketing. Finally, we had to stop. Night was coming in and I looked around and found a thick mess of brush. I leaned him against the tree and walked over to a thick mess of leaves in a bush. It was large enough to at least camouflage Daehyun I thought happily as I walked over to it and pushed down branches. A couple of the snapped back and left small cuts on my hands, but at this point I didn’t even care.

The temperature had dropped and I couldn’t even really feel my fingers any longer. Worse of all was Daehyun, it was this cold and he was burning up, sweat rolled down his forehead and I knew he was forcing himself to stay quiet to not worry me.

I ran over to him and guided him to the small spot in the bushes. Very carefully I helped him lay down and he trembled in the ground. I slowly lifted up a bit of his clothes and saw that blood had seeped through the cloth. Daehyun moaned in pain and I quickly pulled his clothes back down and wrapped the blanket around him tighter.

“You’ll be fine” I whispered, placing a cold hand on this burning forehead and he sighed in relief, “Eventually we’ll get to a highway and then they’ll get us to a hospital”

He moaned in pain and I tried to come up with something to help him, but there was absolutely nothing I could do. I moved closer to him and tried not to let fear take over. We were going to be fine.

“Do you love me?” He asked suddenly, his eyes still closed.

I stared at him in surprise at the sudden question. My head was spinning from lack of sleep and stress and I wondered if I had just imagined him talking. He shifted slightly and I cocked my head.  

“I love you like a best friend” I said softly, laying besides him and keeping my attention focused on our surroundings. My head pounded, it begged for the relief of sleep, but I couldn’t.

“I think right now you love me. So you should try to remember… that” He whispered.

 “What are you talking about?”

“Remember how much you worried about me, that feeling that you might die if you leave me behind, that’s love. That’s true love” He whispered.

“I love Kai” I said quietly.

“What if that’s not love. How many times have you thought about him all this time? Have you ever thought that maybe you just fell for him because he was there?” He groaned as another shot of pain ran through him.

I stared at the black sky and thought about what he was saying. I hadn’t ever considered it before. He was right in a way; my feelings for Daehyun weren’t all gone. They were tangled, unsure of what they really were, caught between a strange mix of friendship and love that I didn’t know how to break apart. And Kai… I was so sure of what I felt. I thought about him and realized with guilt that Daehyun was right, I had barely thought about him at all. But that was because there was so much going on. Was it even really my fault?

I felt a cold hand touch my skin and looked over at him. Daehyun was pale, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and he took labored breaths. I felt my insides churn with worry and a hint of resentment towards him snuck in. How could he bring up something like that right now? He knew I would get confused. He knew.

“I’m making you doubt it aren’t I?”

“You’re not playing fair” I whispered.

“I thought all was fair in love and war?” He asked with a ghost of a smile.

“This is too much. You know I’m worried about you to the point where I could really die Daehyun! It’s… cruel to use this” I explained, not moving an inch away from him.

“I…. suffered a lot too… I just want to make sure…” He clutched his wound and closed his eyes, “I want to make sure you know what you’re choosing”

I pulled my sleeves down further and held onto Daehyun’s hand. It was really dark now and I was afraid to let go.

“Daehyun” I whispered quietly.

He didn’t make a sound and my heart leaped to my throat. I got on my knees and immediately tried to feel for a pulse. I felt faint when I finally noticed he was still breathing. All this worry and sudden relief was messing with me I knew. I placed my hand on Daehyun again and frowned, he was still burning up and I couldn’t do anything about it. I froze though as I heard the crunch of leaves.

I told myself it was nothing, simply an animal moving along, but it was different this time. The sound was heavy and resembled footsteps more than anything else. I suddenly heard murmurs and ducked down low as a bright light scanned the leaves. I gripped Daehyun’s hand tightly and prayed it wasn’t those men. I sank down to the ground so that I was almost laying down.

“Daehyun” I whispered quickly, tightening my grip on his hand, “I’m sorry for getting you into this”

I turned to face him and placed a quick impulsive kiss on his lips. They were dry, I felt like my head would burst from worry. I shut my eyes tightly as a light shone in my face.

“FOUND THEM!” A male voice rang out as the flashlight was put down and man reached for my arm.

“Let go of me!” I screamed as I tried to fight him away, hating him for making let go of Daehyun’s hand. I couldn’t let go!

“Hey! We’re cops, we’re the good guys!” The man yelled as he held me down and I kicked and fought to get away from him with the little strength I had left.

I shook my head in panic and kept thrashing in his hold. I had to get back to Daehyun. That was the only thought that my brain would let me process.

“I’ve got her, she’s in shock and the man seems to have an injury! We’ve got to get them both to a hospital!” The man yelled loudly I freed my hand and reached for Daehyun, openly sobbing.

I had the overwhelming feeling that if I let go he would be gone.

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I managed to update once more! I know there was only two this weekend, but they were longer chapter so I think it all sort of balances out? xD

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