“Annyeonghaseyo.” You bowed politely to the customer who had just walked up to your register. He sent a hearty smile back because he was a regular. You were at your night job – a cashier in a small grocery store that was a long way from your house but too close to catch a bus. There wasn’t much in the way of clients, about two for every hour you were there, because of the late time so you found yourself drifting in and out of deep boredom.

You sighed and picked up the few things that the customer had placed in front of you and scanned them one by one. You were just putting through a loaf of bread when another item in his basket caught your eye.

It was the logo that had called out to you – Min’s Chicken – with its red and blue decorations. The box was just full of chicken, a convenience food that could be eaten straight from the box, but it stirred you a particularly vivid memory.

“Stop lying, I’m not that dumb! It’s just coincidence that you have the same name.” You accused him.

“Can’t you read? It’s right there! Look ‘Min Chicken’. Isn’t my name Yi Min? No need to look further.” He answered with an exasperated breath, pointing at the package before pushing it in your face and touching your nose with his knuckle.

You laughed and pushed his hand away. He smiled tenderly at you and your argument seemed useless to the happiness that you felt in each other’s presence. You were outside in the park on a beautiful spring day, having a picnic together. The eating was over with so you used the empty box of to put all your rubbish inside since the bin was a long walk away.

Yi Min lay down on his back when you had finished and picked up the toy blue plastic ring that had come in the box as a ‘special prize’. You knew it was just a ploy for more parents to buy it for their children.

“Seriously though, how could you own a chicken factory when you don’t even know how to cook one?” You looked at him victoriously, he couldn’t defeat that kind of logic.

“I was just saying…don’t believe me if you don’t want to.” He shrugged it off and glanced at the sky, drawing picture with his finger on the clouds, the ring dangling on his forefinger.

“Oppa, you don’t know how to cook and you don’t know how to do the housework. How are you going to cope?!” You turned your body to his flat one with a serious face. When it came to things like housekeeping, he was pretty useless.

He waited a while before looking into your eyes with a blank expression. “Do you know how to clean?” You nodded and he looked back at the ring. “Do you know how to cook?” You nodded again and he sat up with a quiet groan.

“Then I won’t have a problem.” He smiled at you like he knew a secret that you would love to know. You raised a brow at him. “Ah, Eunjae-yah. It’s because you’ll always be there to help me with these things.” He grinned from ear to ear and took one of your hands in his.

You looked down at it with a frown. “Oppa what are you-”

“Because later,” he slid the ring onto your forth finger smiling at it before he looked into your surprised eyes, “you’ll be my wife.”

You took a moment to just stare into each other’s eyes, feeling the romance of the moment fill you both to the brim.

Yi Min leaned forward just enough to coax you to do the same and he pressed his lips to yours. It was sweet and you felt all bubbly inside before he deepened the kiss by angling his head. He tasted every inch of your lips, your mouth and you felt your back press into the grass as he lay you down on it, not allowing your kiss to break as he did so.

It was the first time the two of you had shared more than just a peck on the lips or cheek and you’re was doing somersaults.

You smiled sadly, longingly, at the memory.

“Agashi?” You weren’t sure what the voice was as it cut into your thoughts, it certainly wasn’t a part of your daydream. “Agashi?” You blinked a few times, shocked to come back to your true surroundings, and finally turned to the customer.                                       He was waiting and you suddenly remembered your job. You apologised profusely as you continued to scan his items. You took his money when he paid for the groceries and handed him his change.

“Thank you, but are you okay? You seemed a bit spacey.” The customer gave you a worried look. He was a regular and had wormed his way into the hearts of everyone working the night shift because of his kindness that you felt in that moment.

“Oh, no.” You laughed off your momentary mistake. “I was just thinking too much. Thank you for your concern though.” You bid him goodnight and after another hour of the shop being empty, the few people left worked quickly to clean up and close the store.

You got out of the store with a bounce in your step, excited to be going home at last. The streets were dark though and the way to home was long and full of turns. You walked along a thin laneway that was only wide enough for one car, watching your feet move – right, left, right, left.

Because of where they looked beneath the black shadow of a tree, you didn’t quite notice the burly men watching you from across the road; at least until one of them was standing in front of you with a smirk. You looked up at the probably 30 year old man. He was wearing a baby blue V-neck t-shirt so your eyes were greeted by his forest of chest hair.

You raised you gaze further to his face. His face was grizzled and his hair was unkempt, he had acne scars dotted across his cheeks and forehead while his skin was oily and blotchy. He was unshaven, a full beard blanketing his neck and chin, while his eyes stared down at you with a yellowish tint. They were blood shot and the man reeked of alcohol. He looked to you like a drunken bear. You weren’t really the kind to judge someone’s looks, knowing that inside they had the potential be kind and good-hearted by there was no doubt in your mind that this man was ugly – probably on the inside too.  It was disgusting.

You excused yourself, feeling entirely creeped out and wanting to get away quickly, but when you went to move around he stood in your, doing the same as you tried again on the opposite side. You just couldn’t get passed.

“Excuse me.” You said pointedly, looking at him bug-eyed with the silent question on your lips as to what his problem was.

“Yeah sweet heart?” He answered and ghosted your face with his foul breath. You shivered at the pet name he used when clearly you had never met him; nor did you want to meet him again.

“Can you step aside please?” Being polite was the best option, he would be kinder if you did not provoke him.

“Anything you want, Princess.” The strange man used the name that your dad had used to call you when you were little but you had grown out of that name. His ease sent an uncomfortable tickle into your stomach.

The man stood back and finally allowed you to pass but before you got too far four other men blocked your way.

One of the looked the same as the guy behind you but younger; another reminded you of a monkey; the last two looked like twins but you couldn’t be sure in the darkness. All together like they were, they reminded you of some kind of gang with their outfits all matching in colour – black.

“Oh, sorry honey.” The bear-man spoke from behind you, coming and pressing his chest into your back. He took the right side of your face with his left hand and forced you to look at him. “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere soon.” The group of men chuckled in front of you and began to step closer.

The bear-man, who you assumed was the leader of the group, dropped you and stood in front of his friends. You backed away one step but the bear-man mirrored you. You would have ran but he was close enough to grab you if you tried.

“Where do you think you're going, huh?” He smiled gently, like it was for the girl loved, and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “You wouldn’t want to ruin this for us would you, by getting away?” The monkey-like man stepped forward to hold onto your arms, one of his reaching around your back.

“Let me go!” You shouted and struggled instinctively against the man’s grip but his fingers didn’t even loosen. The monkey-man chuckled and stepped behind you to keep your thrashing from doing anything but he stepped right into the way of your foot and you kicked him in the groin.

He fell backward, clutching between his legs as his face reddened and he looked as if he might explode. The men who looked like twins laughed hard at his misfortune. It took a minute and everyone watched as he stood with a raging expression and pointed to you while still hunched over.

“. You are so dead.” He spat on the ground and charged at you but he was punched in the face. The bear-man hit him and the guy fall over.

“Shut the up.” The bear-man shouted and turned back to you. “We sure hit the jackpot boys.” He his lips as he studied you. “She’s pretty, nice body, not to mention feisty.” He reached up to your face and caressed your cheek with his rough and dirty hands.

“Y-yah! I swear to God if you touch me again, I’ll scream and call the police. You’ll be thrown in jail!” Your voice cracked in the middle but you managed to hide it, to hide you fear.                                                                                                                       The man glared at you a little and walked towards you, baking you up against a nearby wall where he placed his palm beside your neck. Your backpack dug into your back at sharp and painful angles.

The man scoffed at you, thinking you childish. “Yeah, Princess, go ahead, scream for everyone that’s around right now.” The bear-man gestured around him and the other man looked the same way you did. The road was black and you panicked at what you saw – nothing. Nobody. The laneway was completely empty.

“So what are you gonna do now then, hey?” The younger one called out, earning a fist bump from one of the twins. The bear-man just turned and glared at them and they quietened down.

The bear-man then leant to your ear, breathing his gross scent all over you. “We aren’t really bad people you know? I can assure you, you’ll have a good time with us. Just be nice and we won’t make…too much trouble for you.”

He whispered just loud enough for his friends to hear and they jeered at his comment. “Especially me. You’ll get used to it, I promise.” He gripped his pants where they bulged and you felt like throwing up. “Forget the others, you’ll just be begging me for more.” He bit his lip in a seductive manner but it was just bringing up your gag reflex.

“I’m warning you! I know…k-karate! So don’t you dare touch me again or you’ll see what happens!” You threatened but you were held in place by the bear-man’s position, he towered over you and you could tell he was much stronger.

You were frightened so it was a lie of course, you didn’t know any kind of marital arts but to say that boosted your confidence.

The long silence before their outburst of laughter brought it right back down again though. Their leader even wiped some tears from his eyes.  “Don’t worry Princess, we’re going to do a lot more than touch you.” He said mockingly as he gingerly traced your collarbone.

You weren’t sure what he was going to do next, if they were planning to take you somewhere. You gasped when he shoved himself into, pressing his hot body against yours, rubbing up and down while he forced you to kiss him. You closed your eyes, not wanting to see what was happening to your body; feeling it was enough. You tried to scream but his mouth over yours muffled the cries while he d you, forcing your leg up and his bulge against your underwear. The others started moving closer, you could hear them and their anticipative grunts.

You felt one of them shove his hand up your shirt, touching your stomach before moving to your .

You breathed hard when the bear-man pulled away for a second. “Hand off! Wait your ing turn!” The man shouted and all four of the men backed off.

When he forced himself back onto you, you could feel your cheeks become wet and several sobs escaped you when he began to desperately kiss at your cheeks and neck. *Is this it? Am I going to lose my ity like this?!* You choked on a sob when all the touches and sloppy kisses had suddenly stopped. You cried in relief and fell to the ground, half-traumatised out of your mind from the experience. You blinked your eyes and realised that the men were fighting someone but you couldn’t make out who it was just yet.

When you blinked a few more times your jaw dropped when the person’s face became clear through your tears.

He kicked the monkey-man in the face with his foot, sending the man to floor with a bleeding head. The teenage boy spun and punched the bear-man across his cheek before the monkey-man had even hit the ground. You guessed that he had passed out from the blow when he didn’t move.  The twins charged at the boy but he kicked one in the stomach and sent him flying into his brother, both falling unconscious when the backs of their heads hit the concrete. Your tears turned thankful as you watched.

The bear-man stood up from where had fallen and charged once more at the boy but he grabbed the man’s back and smashed his stomach into the boy’s knee. He did over and over until the man fell once more onto his back.

The boy straddled him then, calves locking the man’s arms at his sides. The boy punched the bear-man, again and again, blooding everything. He didn’t stop and you suddenly became worried, what if he killed the man?

You ran over to him and tried to pull him away but he threw you off. You could see how the man’s face was being changed by the force of the punches.

You could see the blood splattering across both boy and man as well as your legs. You really started to panic and tried once more to pull him away.

“Stop! Please Kris!” He paused for a moment, looking into your eyes and you felt tears smarting your eyes. It was frightening how calm he was, how at home he looked. You dropped his arm and pleaded. “Jaebal! I'm begging you! Stop, you're going to kill him!” He didn’t break your gaze for a long time and the younger one, who had been standing back in fear for himself suddenly lunged forward and hit Kris across his jaw.

Kris’ body was flung backwards but he caught himself. He stood and you could see murder in his eyes. “You didn’t really just do that right? You didn’t actually hit me?” Kris was crazed as he wiped blood from his lips and walked slowly to the younger man.

He stepped over the unconscious leader and grabbed the man’s collar harshly. “I’m talking to you!” The man was frozen in his grip, beyond frightened by Kris and his glare.

Kris dropped the young man’s collar and faked turning back before he threw his hardest punch at him which caused him to fall back and through the glass of a shop.                   The alarm started ringing and you gasped when you notice police officers down the street doing rounds of the neighbourhood. You watched as they spotted your dark figures and chased after you.

“.” Kris cursed and took your hand. His grip hurt but he started to run fast and dragged you with him.

You slowed down a little when he let your hand go to run properly and turned to see the men being arrested. *Serves you right, bastards.* You smirked but was frightened by Kris.

“Don’t ing turn around, just run.” He pulled sharply on your elbow and you ran faster with him than before. You ran until you knew you had lost the police and Kris pulled you into a small just big enough for one person to stand with their shoulders against each wall.

Kris pulled you in sideways and you stood side by side with your backs against one wall. You having difficulty to recover and the small space was not helping – you were suffocating.

After a few minutes like that, Kris leaned out to check if the way was clear. You could suddenly see everything about him that you hadn’t quite noticed before. His features were striking; his perfect jaw line, slim nose, intense and his small but plump lips. You had been hot from running but the atmosphere heated

You tried to keep your breathing subtle but failed and ended up choking on your saliva. *Aish ! So embarassing !* He glared at you for a moment but pulled you out by your arm and led you to another place.

It took a short while but the two of you ended up at the Han River. It was beautiful at night; the lights of the suburbs danced on the water and the reflection of the moon lit up the world almost as well as the sun. It was breath-taking sight that you had always loved, visiting there with Yi Min too many times for you to count. Because of him it would always be the most beautiful place in the world.

Kris sat on one of the benches near the railing and his eyes were fixed on the water. You were still breathing heavily, trying your best to recover from what had happened. Those men had tried to you and Kris had saved you. You felt tears pricking your eyes again but you knew Kris would be mean for it so you held them back. You glanced at him where he was admiring the river. *How can he be so calm??*

The event replayed in your mind several times, each one was a little less painful. You moved over to Kris and sat beside him, groaning internally when he shifted away. You just wanted to thank him; after all, he was your saviour.

You sighed heavily. “Thank you.” Your voice wasn’t far above a whisper but you knew he heard. His chin jerked a centimetre or so in your direction. “Without you, they would have…” The words caught in your throat and you looked away, trying to rid yourself of the salty liquid coming from the corner’s of your eyes. “You were really amazing though.” You looked out to the river but not at him, you couldn’t.

He remained silent and so did you – simply watching the midnight tide together. You wiped your cheeks once more and decided to look at him, see if you could work out what was in his mind. You studied him and caught sight of blood coming from him lips and his cheek. You felt immediate regret and guilt that he had helped you at his own expense.

You bit your lip and reached out to him, grazing his hurt cheek with the back of your finger.

“Does it hurt?” He shivered when you touched him and stared at you but your eyes didn’t meet. You were staring at the large red spot on his face that would turn into a nasty blue and purple bruise in only a few hours. You felt Kris’ jaw clench beneath your  hand when he saw how concerned you were for him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“What do you think?” He spoke sarcastically and jerked his chin out of your hold.

“Mianhe.” You whispered and took your hand back, glancing at the floor in shame. There was a long silence before you spoke again, looking into his eyes that were away from you. “I’m truly sorry, I misjudged you too. You’re not a…total jerk.”

“Can we just go now?” He stood up and walked away from you and you hurried after him, not sure of where exactly on the river you were. You followed quietly but after a while he stopped and you bumped into his back.

“You need to go home now. I don’t know what you were doing there but it’s not safe for someone like you to be out so late.” His back still faced you.

“I was working at my part time job.” Your answer came quick after his command.

“I really don’t care. You just have to go.” He left then and you watched him leave but after a quick look at your surroundings you hurried after him and tugged on his sleeve.

“I have a problem though.” You spoke cautiously and his eyes narrowed.

“I don’t…know…how to get…home…from here.” You words came slowly, just like your thoughts and he groaned. You anticipated his coming reaction with a wry smile.

Did You like the chapter ?    Anyway i really want to thank all my subscribers  and please continue to comment -  it really make me happy and encourages me to write more   ^__________^

Oh and before I forget  can you check my co-author fics  here  :  toowhiteforkpop  You won't regret it she's really an amaaaaaaazing author !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luv you all my lovely <3 !!!!!!!!

Kris handsomeness    .... O_o :