attacked

 

They talked a bit more, Sohyun mostly, about nothing in particular. She went on a rant about Hyuna that went on for a few hours. The dynamic of their relationship was explained in depth. Since before they could even talk they were together like sisters. Because of their close sibling like relationship, it was hard to let go with the indifferences they had now, but they liked each other more than they liked other people.  Hyuna was hyperactive and very social; she generally got along with most but didn’t like people and their personalities.  Sohyun, slightly opposite, got along with people but no one bothered to hang out with her on a friendly basis unless she was with Hyuna. Overall, Hyuna and Sohyun could only tolerate each other, to a certain extent, but remain as friends.

 

Jongin still felt like it was all an excuse and Sohyun should just find a new set of friends.

 

They left the library at dusk. It was getting dark and Jongin headed toward his car in the parking lot. He saw Sohyun beginning to walk on her own.

 

“Hey, where you going?” He called out. Sohyun looked back and replied sharply:

 

“Home. Duh.”

“Get in. I’ll drive you.”

“No thanks. I had rather risk my life out here.”

 

Previously, Jongin would have just let her go, he wouldn’t even have offered the ungrateful thing a ride, but he was obligated to. They were targets. Knowing how stubborn Sohyun was, he grabbed her and pulled her toward his car.

 

“Let go!” She demanded but Jongin wasn’t going to listen.  Around that time, late at night, it’d be stupid of him to just let Sohyun go and walk home by herself.

 

“You know how many psychos there are roaming around here at night?”

“I know that you’re one of them.” Sohyun stiffened. “You hear that?”

 

A chill ran down Jongin’s spine. There was indeed a noise, faint but clear, sounding somewhere in the parking lot. It sounded like a girl crying. Sohyun looked at Jongin who only stood still with a face hard as a rock, trying to decipher the situation.

 

“Well shouldn’t we go check it out?” Sohyun asked him. Jongin wasn’t too keen on the plan but he knew he’d have to take action else Sohyun would do something…stupid.

 

“Wait here.” He pushed her in the passenger seat of his car and locked the door. She was scared, he could tell.  She mouthed the words “be careful” through the front shield. Jongin nodded and traveled toward the noise. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t scared either. There was a white van where the noise might have been coming from, from just the other side. He slowly crept up to the vehicle and pressed his back against the side. He slid himself across until he came to the other side of the vehicle but found nothing. Jongin looked around for a few seconds only to find himself just wandering around in an empty parking spot.

 

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

 

He did an about face and met with a blow to the top of his head. Something hard, thick and cold nearly knocked him out. His senses were barely intact when he hit the ground, but he saw the metal object coming down to strike him again. He rolled over and the object missed. His legs scrambled under him but he managed to stand.  He quickly threw himself at the person initiating the assault and they both hit the ground in a jumbled mess. They struggled trying to get the upper hand in the situation but with one advancing movement someone was countering the other. Blood was stinging Jongin’s right eye and throwing off his vision. It would not have helped anyway seeing that his opponent was dressed heavily in black and had their face covered. Suddenly he could hear the alarm of a car going off and Jongin automatically thought of Sohyun. He brought his knee up swiftly, breaking himself away from the other and stood to his feet again. He ran to a clear opening where he could see his own vehicle with the passenger door wide open and a large rock sitting in the middle of his front windshield.

 

“Sohyun…” He looked behind him where he left his opponent on the ground after kneeing him but found no one. There was no one in the parking lot but Jongin. He noted the pain in his left ankle as he limped toward his car only to have a more powerful pain strike him when he saw Sohyun was no longer in the passenger side.  His windshield was badly cracked, the large rock harshly stuck in the middle, thrown by someone strong most likely. Did they take her?

 

He got closer to his car. He disabled the alarm and looked in the empty passenger seat. Jongin shut his eyes and breathed heavily. He wanted to call out her name but he was trembling. Perhaps he was a diversion seeing that he only got away with a sprained ankle and scratched head. Sohyun, altogether, was just…

 

“Jongin-ah!”

 

Startled, he turned around and saw Sohyun in front of him. She had her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and sweating. He had never been so happy to see the girl in his life. Suddenly she buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around him roughly. She yelled.

 

“I was beyond scared! I didn’t know what else to do so I ran!”

 

He had his arms lifted the whole time, scared to touch her back, or not quite sure how to react in general.  She finally let him go and noticed the state he was in.

 

“You…you’re bleeding!”

“Yeah.”

“Were you attacked?”

He nodded and felt the blood that ran down his forehead into his eye was drying up.

“What happened with you?” He asked.

Sohyun suddenly became animated and began explaining her side from the moment Jongin wandered off behind some van, to the part where a large rock was thrown at the car and she saw the figure that did it so she ran as far as she could. She ran back when she realized Jongin may have needed her help.

“I got here as fast as I could.”

 

“You would have been useless anyway.” Jongin limped to the other side of his car while Sohyun scoffed and put her hands on her hips.

 

“Why are your words so harsh all the time?”

Jongin ignored her question and started the car. He peaked out the passenger side window and asked, “Aren’t you getting in?”