Chapter Thirteen – Echo

Life is similar to echoes. The things you give in life, in the end, it bounces back. It may be slightly different, but it still returns. The pain they gave to people, eventually, they would feel the same.

-

“K-Kyuhyun…” she trailed with her hoarse voice. Her heart raced, fearing the reaction which would come from him. For once, she wanted to explain her reasons to him. Yet she knew it was all too late. In the end, she could only clench her fists so hard, that her whole hand flushed into a bright crimson colour.

“How long...were you planning on lying to me?” he heaved a sigh as he tried to divert his eyesight away from her. She could feel his wrath even though he was holding it in. She knew how much resentment he was going through during that moment. It was probably enough for him to lose his sanity and physically tear her apart with his own hands...if only he didn’t love her.

“Until my assignment is complete,” she answered with a straight face which frightened Kyuhyun a little.

“Aren’t you being used?” he furrowed his eyebrows, as he was hoping that she would at least change a little after being caught. The fact that she was strong until the end slightly disappointed him.

“I’m...sorry,” she muttered quietly. She wasn’t expecting for forgiveness from him, but she wasn’t expecting him to unleash his anger at her either.

“Sorry? Can that word bring back those who you’ve killed? What’s the use of that word?” he spoke as he gritted his teeth, which made it seem as though he was mumbling. He began to feel a slight twinge in his nose, telling him that his tears would soon prevail.

That last phrase of his left her speechless and shocked, causing her lips to part. Her heart seemed to have skipped a beat, as she never imagined that the situation would’ve come to this. She thought the people around her would understand, she thought they’ll be grateful for the fact that she was trying to protect them. For the first time, she had doubts about her decisions.

“If a mother was told to kill another person in order to save her own child – she would. It’s ironic, but that’s the reality of life. And who are you to judge me? Do you even know what’s going on? Stop talking as if you’re trying to teach me or punish me! I’m not doing anything wrong!” her screech echoed within the emptiness of the studio, causing it to ring continuous in his head.

“I’m amazed...how you can speak as if a life doesn’t even matter. You’re right, I don’t have the right to judge you, but stop acting like some kind of saint. Just stop this, whatever you’re doing, stop!” he demanded threateningly, yet Kira remained unmoved by his anger.

“I can’t stop. There’s no other way,” she murmured with her head hung low. Guilt, shamefulness and embarrassment, all took their turns to surround her, pressuring her to the edge of her sanity. She hated the feeling – the feeling where she doubts herself. It was so horrifying to her that she just wanted to block herself from the world.

“There’s always a way...” he sighed sombrely which only aggravated her. She wished there was a way, but in reality there wasn’t. She understood that he was trying to help her, but his persistence simply paranoid her.

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! Stop acting like you know everything when you don’t!” she shouted exasperatedly. “You don’t even know me,” she gritted her teeth as teardrop ran down her face “Do you think I enjoy this?”

After knowing her for quite some time, Kyuhyun could say that it was the first time he’d seen her so…broken.

“Just get out of my way!” She tried to push him, but unlike normally where he would just fall to the ground, he remained still like a rock.

“You can do whatever you like when your head is clear. I don’t mind your silly behaviours, but I won’t listen to you when you’re like this,” he declared aggressively. “What a disappointment,” he chuckled mockingly. “You could do all that for Anna, but you can’t even try listening to me. In the end, we can’t even have a decent conversation without disagreeing with each other,” he spoke with his usual smile, yet the warmth which could normally be felt was no longer there. Instead, it was replaced by two transparent trails on his face, travelling from his crimson, stinging eyes. He blinked rapidly before whispering his goodbyes to her, as he could no longer hold his emotions under her presence.

He ran across the endless corridors until he presumed he was far away from the studio. He leaned his back against a wall whilst he panted heavily from his exhausting run. His hand was on his forehead as he wondered why it hurt so much. His temples were pounding excruciatingly, as if it was trying to break out.

“You’re right,” he cried silently. “I don’t understand you,” he sighed as both his hands gripped onto his smooth chestnut hair whilst he slid onto the ground with bent knees. “But, Kira…Have you ever tried to understand…me?” The agonising pain spread around his body like a disease, a disease which he couldn’t stop.

----

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVu0uZJpAps

Kyuhyun was not the only one who could feel distress crawling under his skin. Similarly, in another part of Seoul, our young Karen was also on the verge of break down. She stared at her own reflection and she was simply horrified. Tears immediately poured down as her heart felt as if it was about to be ripped apart.

“Stop it. Stop staring...STOP STARING AT ME! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she grabbed her vibrating mobile and threw it directly at the mirror, causing it to shatter. The small fragments flew elegantly, just managing to scrape against her delicate cheek, causing faint streaks of blood to fall.

She screamed and cried frantically, praying for someone to save her from her own hell, praying for time to return. She knew her actions were not justified, no killing could ever be justified, but somehow...she did it.

It was either her prayers were heard, or she was simply too loud – someone actually broke the bathroom door to save her. After everything she did, someone was still willing to wrap their arms protectively around her. After all the sins she committed, someone still cared about her.

She felt blessed and thankful that it finally made her smile a little - Even though she couldn’t see who it was, she felt protected and saved. All she saw was a silhouette under the glimmering light bulb, whispering her name over and over again.

“Thank you,” she smiled whole-heartedly as she rested her head on their shoulders.

“You stupid girl. You horrible girl,” the familiar voice echoed in Karen’s head, yet Karen could not recognise it as she fell into the realm of unconsciousness.

-----

-----

Fiercely, he slammed the documents onto his desk.

“That little traitor!” Mr Hiew was fuming once he realised that a few bottles of medicine was stolen from the company.

“But Mr Hiew, Steph had already developed cystic fibrosis. After all, she has worked for us for so long, shouldn’t…” Rae tried to reason with him, but of course there weren’t words which were ‘pleasant’ for him to hear.

“YOU, SHUT UP! Don’t think I don’t know that you’re also helping that little brat!” he bellowed ferociously. “Adopted daughter of Lee So Man are we? Let’s see how he plans your funeral,” he muttered under his breath. “Call Renee. NOW!”

Rae immediately scampered outside to call Renee before the old man decided to kill her instead.

---

Three days later, there was a knock on the girl’s door. Reluctantly, Renee crawled toward the door to open it.

Pushing Renee aside, Rae entered as if she was searching for something.

“Where is Steph?” she asked in a slightly panicking tone, checking all the rooms.

“She just went out to go to a specialist doctor.” Renee hugged her pillow as she continued to yawn.

“Why? What’s wrong with the other doctors?” Rae’s question sounded urgent which caused Renee to get suspicious.

“Karen said she knew a doctor who might be able to help her. Unnie, what’s wrong?” Renee eyed her curiously as she sensed something was wrong.

“Lee Karen! Get your out here!” Rae ordered, which caused the entire building to wake up. Once Karen finally made her way out, Rae instantly approached her. “The doctor, did you really know them?”

“U-unnie,” the little one trembled in fear.

“Tell me!” she looked at the younger one desperately.

“Mr Hiew said he wanted to help her because he felt bad after knowing that she was ill due to the experimentation. So he told me to tell Steph unnie…” Karen didn’t even need to finish her sentence; it was already crystal clear to Rae. Her posture immediately changed as if all hope had faded in her life.

“D-does she has to get there by bus? The 56A bus?” Rae asked which Karen simply nodded to. “Call her, now! Tell her to get off the bus.” Rae paced up and down the hallway as if she was under a lot of stress. Karen did as she was told, but simply shook her head as it turned out that Steph’s mobile was off.

“The 56A bus?!” Renee gasped in horror.

“Don’t tell me you put a bomb under it,” Rae prayed.

“No! But…but…” Renee swallowed hard as she looked at Rae. “I did something to that bus. I loosened the wheels. Once the bus goes down the hill, it’ll crash,” she confessed guiltily.

“Renee, why would you do that?” Anna questioned obliviously.

“Forget about that for now. What we need to do is get Steph off the bus,” Rae sighed as she rubbed her temples.

“Are you suggesting we run after a bus?!” Karen blinked in confusion.

“You can sit here and wait for her to die if you want. Besides, all that training you did, it’s going to come in use now,” Rae snapped, obviously getting impatient as they were running out of time.

--

Peacefully, Steph shut her eyelids as she waited patiently for her destination to arrive. However, her mind was as chaotic as it could get.

‘The woman in the first row pushing the pram, the man with the newspaper behind me and three other people at the back row…are all members of the Headquarters,’ she thought to herself. Soon, she could even feel the bus getting unbalanced. ‘He really must want to kill me. I can die in any way or form, but I definitely can’t die in the hands of him!’ she smirked at her own thought.

“Yo, bus driver, is there anyway for me to get off before the next stop?” she asked which automatically gathered all the passengers’ attention. “Never mind, just open the door.”

“B-but…” the bus driver uttered, but she simply ignored him by pressing the emergency button and jumped out of the bus. Immediately, the others started to follow her.

“Hey! Are you people crazy?!” The bus driver yelled before he felt the bus was getting out of control as well.

-

Ryeowook was driving his car until he saw someone jumping out of a bus from the corner of his eye. He gasped once he noticed who it was. Other people from the bus followed her, or perhaps even chasing her.

Without hesitation, he followed their direction as well until they went onto the streets. He too got out his car and started to guess where Steph would be headed to.

-

She kept sprinting just so they wouldn’t get to her. When they noticed they wouldn’t be able to outrun her they took out their guns.

She could hear 3 continuous bang and metal dropping onto the floor. One bullet managed to barely scrape her shoulder.

Once she turned another corner, someone was already there waiting for her. They grabbed her by her arm before she could react and pulled her into a small gap between the buildings.

“Ryeowook?!” she gasped. “You scared the hell out of me! What do you think you’re doing? Do you…” He put a hand over before she could cause anymore racket.

“Learn to be quiet will you?” But Steph simply removed his hand.

“Get out of my way! They’re going to notice us. Look! This is a dead end and…” Ryeowook could hear their footsteps advancing towards their direction, and if they heard her voice, they would be deep trouble.

Without even thinking, he crashed his lips against hers. Instantly, her body tense before her wrath got to her and bit his bottom lip. However, he didn’t even flinch. She tried to free herself from his grasp but simply failed since there were three walls surrounding her and a brick in front of her.

“How can you kiss someone who is sick? Are you insane?!” she uttered whilst she glared at him, which unfortunately he couldn’t see since he had his eyes closed.

Once the people of the Headquarters reached them, they just glanced at them before running away embarrassedly, not realising that she was hidden behind Ryeowook. Once he could no longer hear their footsteps, he slowly let go of her.

“You know...we would’ve escaped if we had done it my way,” she pouted as she continued to glare at him. “You just wait, you will pay for that.”

“Whatever...Ungrateful brat,” Ryeowook stuck his tuck out teasingly.

She was making her way out until her head started to hurt, making her dizzy. Her vision was getting fuzzy as she felt the world spun around her.

“Steph? Are you ok? Steph!”

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“You two must stop whatever you’re doing, regardless of the circumstances,” Rae let out a small sigh as she flipped her hair back so they wouldn’t get in the way of her vision.

“I didn’t think something so little could…could…” Karen’s lips quivered at the thought of what she just did. “It’s my fault.”

“Even if I stop now, I can’t redo the things I did before. I won’t achieve anything if I stop now!” Renee exclaimed, but Rae remained calm whilst she observed Renee’s expression.

“So you’re willing to put another life in stake in order for you to achieve something. If your next mission was to kill Jonghyun, how would you react?” Rae folded her arms confidently, waiting for her to answer.

“I-I…But…”

“Haven’t you hurt him enough? Haven’t you hurt yourself enough? I can see straight through you. The moment you stepped into SM you used him, didn’t you?!” Rae’s voice rose, but that wasn’t what caused fear to climb up Renee’s face. It was the running footsteps from outside.