Luhan dodged the first blow but Doojun just swung the bat again – this time, towards Jinah. Jinah took a step back to avoid it but Luhan knew it wasn’t enough. Jinah was always a bit slow in the beginning of a fight. Luhan stepped up and protected his face by receiving the blunt hit with his arm instead of letting it hit Jinah. Luhan’s face scrunched up in pain. Supernatural abilities Luhan may have, but it didn’t make him invincible against a direct blow with a metal bat.

          Jinah held onto Luhan’s arms tight for balance and kicked Doojun’s shin fair and square. He doubled over, swearing. Jinah blinked and Luhan yanked her by the hand just as Doojun threw his bat, which whizzed right by Jinah’s nose. She exhaled shakily.

           “Well then,” Jinah exhaled out.

          Luhan tightened his grip on Jinah’s hand and pulled her towards him. “Come on!”

          They penetrated through Fang. A wooden stick snapped in half after hitting Luhan’s back. He didn’t even wince, but Jinah did.

          “Jack, are you okay?” Jinah asked in panic.

          “Fine—keep running!”

          Fang chased after them, yelling their names over and over, swearing at each other. Luhan skidded to a stop as he frantically looked around. Curse him for trying to take Jinah to a foreign place. He didn’t even get to see that billion-dollar smile of hers in the end. He tugged her to the left and Jinah followed, her feet were already hurting, but she ran as fast as she could.

          Luhan looked to his sides, looking for a place to hide. Luhan was strong, but not crazy. Twelve against two? And a Top Gang at that? Stupid as they were, Fang wasn’t a weak gang. There was no such thing as a weak Top Gang. They had to hide… for now. Jinah knew that Luhan wasn’t afraid. He was Luhan. He was simply evading the situation for now. He wasn’t cowardly at all. And when Jinah asked what he was looking for, she knew that he told her honestly – somewhere to hide.

          Jinah stopped running and Luhan stumbled back. He frowned at her, “What is it?”

          “A place to hide, huh?” Jinah said. She pointed to a narrow alleyway. “You didn’t notice it, so why would Fang?”

          His eyes thinned at her. “How did you notice it?”

          She shrugged. “I was more focused on how my surroundings looked like instead of where we were… does that make sense?”

          “No,” he said candidly.

          “ing find them! They couldn’t have gone far!” came a voice from not too far. “I swear, if we lose them…”

          “But clever,” Luhan briskly said as he took Jinah’s wrist again. They ran into a narrow alleyway, in between two buildings. It was so thin, it barely fit the both of them. Luhan put a hand over Jinah’s mouth, and Jinah did the same to Luhan. Luhan’s eyebrows furrowed, as if asking her, “What are you doing?” So Jinah looked back at him with the same expression, as if saying, “What are you doing?”

          “Split up!”

          And Fang did. Only about four Fangs ran past the alleyway that Jinah and Luhan were hiding in. A lot of them were shouting in the distance, others cursing nearby. Jinah and Luhan held their breaths and waited for Fang to pass. Two more came by and slowed down much too near for comfort.

          “, this was a golden opportunity…”

          “It’s okay, L. Joe. There will be future chances. Besides, it was Luhan. Their leader. Our luck just wasn’t there.”

          “So? It was still twelve against two!”

          “Jinah isn’t a normal Prix. Apparently, she’s the legendary Prix’s descendant and Luhan has the strength of ten.”

          “Changjo, that’s bull. It’s just rumors.”

           “I don’t want to be the one to verify its validity though.”

           “No kidding. Luhan’s like a war machine. Damn, Chunji’s going to go ape again…” L. Joe groaned at the thought. “I mean, I get that Jinah’s kinda attractive, but why is he going against Wolf for it? It’s just not worth it. Crazy idiot…”

          “Don’t let Ricky hear you. He’ll punch you,” Changjo said.

          L. Joe snorted. “Let him try. I’m stronger than that prick.”

          “Come on, let’s go join the rest.”

          They started running away, regrouping with the other Fangs. They yelled and swore, but most of the words were drowned in Luhan’s and Jinah’s intimate breathing.

          They were panting hard. They had to hold their breath after all that running, and now they could finally breathe.

          Jinah’s body felt lazy and stiff. Her chest tightened as her lungs implored for air. They had been holding their breaths. Her heart was beating so hard, she thought it would burst. Whether it was because Luhan was up against her with legs were intertwined and hands on each other’s lips, or because she ran, Jinah couldn’t tell. Their hands slowly parted away from the other’s lips, but their other hands were still intertwined. Jinah only noticed it then, and she wrested her wrist, her hand slipping out of Luhan’s grasp.

          “What are you doing?” Luhan hissed.

          “What do you mean? What were you doing?”

          “Uh, saving us?”

          “By holding hands? No.”

          “What’s wrong with that?” Luhan asked. He almost sounded hurt.

          Jinah didn’t believe him. “Stop.”

          Luhan frowned, and asked, “Why?”

          “Because it’s—it’s weird?”

          “Weird,” Luhan repeated, his voice tone going down as he said the word.

          “Yeah, weird. Don’t hold my hand so spontaneously.”

          Luhan raised an eyebrow. “So I can hold your hand as long as it’s not spontaneous?”

          “Stop twisting my words, you prick!”

          “Ouch.”

          Jinah cautiously walked out of the alleyway. She checked both ways to make sure no one was there. She was about to signal Luhan to come, but Luhan was already behind her, looking a lot more mellow than before.

          “Let’s go back to the base,” Jinah said. “I don’t want to see them again.”

          Luhan knew it was the reasonable thing to do, but he couldn’t help but feel down. He had the whole day planned, and everything seemed to align nearly perfectly—then Fang happened. Yet, he couldn’t comprehend why he felt disappointed to this extent. They always had tomorrow, right?

          “Yeah,” Luhan said out loud. “The car’s this way. Let’s go.”

-----------------------------------------

A/N:

Hello everyone! I hope your weekend was restful and you're ready to take on the new week :)

So story-wise, we're about halfway done.. HAHAHAHA but I swear plot-wise it will progress a lot faster. We all know who's who, everyone pretty much has an opinion on everyone, and now we can see what their growth will lead to. You can expect more answers to questions/suspicions you had, some more background information from the past, and a lot more emotions as everyone feels more comfortable and vulnerable. More action and gang interactions!!

Thank you for your comments and feedback ❤

-deardeerhan