Check

“Damn it.” Changmin growled as he came to a screeching halt before a dead end; Sooyoung skidding to a stop by his side.

When he rescued her from that sleazy guy in the club she was working in with no other choice, he really didn’t have a game plan or anything like that. The girl needed help and so he did. But he really didn’t count of the pig of a guy to come after them and now they were trapped in an alley with only one way out. In panic, he racked his mind for any brilliant idea; his frustration growing and growing when he couldn’t think of anything to do.

“He’s coming.” Her quivering voice shook him out of his thoughts. He needed to think of something fast.

                Changmin looked around and started fiddling with the doors in the alley. For whatever reason, he found one open and quickly yanked her inside, locking the door as soon as possible. The two sat on the ground; Changmin praying so hard for the first in his life that they wouldn’t get caught – both by the sleazy man and whoever owned the building they were in. From what little he could see in the dark, they were in a kitchen. It must be a restaurant.

                Changmin and Sooyoung in a sharp breath as they heard the guy from the club calling out their names as he entered the alley, praying that he wouldn’t think of kicking the doors open in search of them. They stared at each other panic when the doorknob started shaking as the man tested it. Changmin could only mentally curse their luck as a sizable rat ran past; the rodent stopping by Sooyoung’s long feet. Her eyes went wide and she was going to more or less scream. So he did the first thing that popped into his mind.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Checkmate

A man fell against the wall, coughing violently as he struggled to get himself in an upright position. His body was so sore that it almost felt number and blood oozed out from every area possible. His skin was black and blue and scratched, his eyes puffed up and swollen. A few feet from him, another man towered him in every which way possible; a dark look on his handsome face and murderous glint in his eyes.

“Now do you remember her?” His voice was venomous. It sounded lethal. “Do you remember that girl you mercilessly the other week? The girl you broke just to have a ?”

Yunho kicked him square in the chest, the latter rolling over in pain. “What kind of sick bastard are you, finding joy in helpless women? How many have you ? Five? Ten? for you your last one is the reason why you’re going to die.”

“P-Please.” He begged, sobbing uncontrollably as he struggled yet again to get upright. “P-Please don’t kill me.”

“She begged you too, didn’t she? She asked you to stop. But did you listen?” Yunho tsk’ed as he shook his head. “ for you Sooyoung has me for a boyfriend.”

In one swift motion, Yunho brought a gun out and a shot resounded throughout the warehouse. The man fell flat on the floor, dead. Yunho’s cold eyes fell on his trusted right hand, Heechul.

“Throw his body.”

Stalemate

“You’re here too?”

Yoona looked up from her shot of vodka; her eyes falling on the older woman, who had just arrived. “Victoria unnie.”

A smile without a humor made its way to her lips. “Would you mind if I join you?”

She patted the empty stool beside her. “Be my guest.”

Victoria sat down, ordering a shot of vodka as soon as she did so. “So I take it you’ve heard about it?”

“The engagement of Cho Kyuhyun and Choi Sooyoung is the talk of the town.” The younger woman stated dryly.

She chuckled, still without humor, as she accepted the shot of vodka handed to her. “You and I tried so hard, didn’t we? To get him to love one of us… now look who got him without even trying.”

Yoona sighed, picking up her shot glass from the table. “Cheers to defeat, unnie.”

Victoria raised hers. “Cheers.”

The alcohol was downed after.

Zugzwang

Luhan’s eyes fell on Sooyoung and all he could feel was love. God, he loved that woman so much. He just gravitated towards everything about her; her smile, her eyes, her personality, her laugh. Everything. She was not hard to love. She was one of a kind; a precious gem amongst useless rocks. She had everything he could ever wish for and more. Choi Sooyoung was everything to him.

But she was everything to someone else too.

“Kris hyung loves Sooyoung.” Tao spoke softly, oblivious to the feelings that Luhan had been keeping all this time. “You know he’s sick, Luhan hyung. He’s not going to live long. I just wish he can be happy for the rest of his life, you know?”

Luhan squeezed his eyes shut as he turned away from the woman he loved.

His eyes opened and there stood Kris, looking at Sooyoung the same way he did. Luhan walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Take care of her.”

Then he left.