Of Rescuers and Revelations

Sometimes, luck just runs out. She'd been avoiding telling the boys about her run-ins with the gang member that got away that day. She wondered if he went after any of the others, but hoped he didn't. As she stood, glaring at him in the alley, she wondered why he chose to bother her day after day. He squeezed her injured wrist, smiling at the way she cried out in pain, the way her knees buckled. She tried yanking free of his grasp, but he held firm. He ran his finger along her jawline, until she spat at him. His face contorted in disgust as he flung her to the ground. She managed to catch herself, but the impact sent a jolt of pain through her wrist and injured ribs. She rolled onto her side, trying to breathe as shallowly as she could.

“I'm going to kill you, little girl. Slowly,” he said, crouching next to her. She pushed herself up and flung her leg around to kick him in the chest, knocking him backwards as she stumbled into the wall. She held her ribs, which were protesting against everything that was happening, as she leaned against the wall for support. The pain was making her nauseous. The man growled and stood up, glaring at her. His eyes landed on her hand, still holding her broken ribs, and a malicious smile spread across his face.

“Ah, yes, those got broken some time ago, didn't they?” he sneered as he approached her. She threw a punch at him as soon as he was within range, but he caught it easily and twisted her arm behind her back, slamming her into the wall. She bit back a scream of pain, wishing that she had thought to bring her knife with her that day. It was late evening, and everyone was in the more popular parts of town. No one was around to help her.

She stomped on his foot, making him release her in surprise as he held his foot, jumping up and down like a fool. She twisted around and kicked him in the face. He fell back with a grunt of pain. Her vision swam, and for a moment, she couldn't tell which way was what. She staggered in what she hoped was the way out of the alley, but he grabbed her by the arm and flung her to the ground again. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Once. Twice. Three times, indicating a call rather than a message. She pulled it out of her pocket painfully and hit answer.

“Please, help me-” she started, but his foot collided with her ribs, knocking her back a bit and causing her to cry out in pain.

“Sunny? Sunny!” the voice on the phone yelled, but the man kicked it out of her reach.

“Gunwoo, plea-” He grabbed her by her collar and punched her in the face, silencing her. She hit the ground again, in too much pain to try to stand up. The man flipped her onto her back and smirked down at her as she glared up at him.

“Doesn't it hurt?” he said, noting with satisfaction her split lip and the bruising around it as he crouched beside her. His fingers trailed along her injured ribs as he laughed. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as he pressed against them. He stood back up and kicked her in her ribs again, enjoying her weakness. She couldn't keep from crying out as she curled up in a defensive position. He pulled her up by her collar and she punched him in the kidney. He grunted in pain before punching her in the face and knocking her back to the ground.

“You killed my boss. He payed me, you know?” he said, circling her. She glared at him while he was in sight. He stopped and frowned at the fire in her eyes. “You should be afraid, little girl.” She scoffed, her bloodied lips pulling into a defiant smile.

“Of a slime ball like you? You're the one that ran away with his tail between his legs, not me,” she spat. He growled and kicked her in the ribs again, because he knew it would hurt her the most. She cried out, and then she did something that took the man off guard. She laughed. Even though it hurt, she laughed at him.

“What's so funny?” he asked.

“You're really repetitive. And predictable,” she said, rolling onto her back with a pained groan. “Have you ever wondered what's really out there?” He frowned.

“What are you going on about?”

“Whether you'll go to Heaven or Hell when you die, do you ever wonder?” she mused.

“There's no such thing,” he said harshly. She smirked.

“That explains why you do what you do,” she said. “Why you don't think twice about it. Why you don't care if it's right or wrong.” She looked over at him from her spot on the ground, an eyebrow raised. “Guess where you're going?” He stalked over, grabbed her by her collar, and punched her in the face.

“Stop talking nonsense, girl,” he growled. She pushed herself to her knees.

“Ah, then you do know where you're going. You wouldn't be so worked up if you weren't worried about it being true,” she said, smirking at him. He started towards her, but didn't get very far before he was grabbed by the back of his jacket and thrown into the wall. The dirty blond that came to her rescue punched and kicked at him mercilessly, not giving the older man a chance to retaliate. The younger male's foot connected solidly with the older man's face, sending his vision into the stars.

“That's enough, Gunwoo. He's not getting up any time soon,” Sunny said, crawling towards her phone and pocketing it, noting the new scratches and the crack on the bottom. Gunwoo stopped the assault on the older man and looked over at her, the anger in his eyes soon replaced by concern. He rushed to her side and helped her sit up a little. It hurt him, seeing her in that state.

“Misun...” he murmured. She smiled at him, ignoring the pain in her lip.

“Thanks for finding me,” she said. He ran a thumb across the bruise around one side of softly. She looked up at him carefully, not knowing how he'd react in the state of mind he was in.

“I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner,” he said softly. She put her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

“You got here soon enough,” she muttered. He slid his arm under her knees and the other around her waist, picking her up bridal style. She did her best not to show any discomfort, but he noticed how she tensed. He could only guess at the amount of pain she had to be in at that moment. And it made him feel both bad and angry. He felt horrible because there was nothing he could do to ease the pain, and he was angry at the man who did this to her. As they passed the man, he considered kicking him again, but knew it would only jostle her more and cause her more pain.

“See you in Hell, bastard,” she said, smiling down at the man.

Once they were away from the man, Gunwoo looked down at her.

“What makes you think you're going to Hell?” he asked. She shrugged.

“I haven't always been...good. You know, I was in a gang, too. But they tried to stab me in the back...er, literally. So I stabbed them in the face,” she said as nonchalantly as if she was talking about the weather.

"If taking a life is all it takes to go to Hell, I guess that's where I'm going, too," Gunwoo said, glancing around before crossing the street. She looked up at him.

"You did it to protect me. There's a difference," she said softly. He laughed lightly.

"Didn't you do so to protect yourself?" he asked.

"It was more of getting revenge for their attempted murder," she said, frowning slightly in thought. "Kind of like a 'How dare you try to kill me' rather than a need to protect myself."

"Is that why you've been helping people?" he asked, looking down at her. She thought about it for a moment.

"No. I protect people because sometimes, they're worth saving. Like you guys," she said, smiling up at him. He grinned down at her.

"Were we?"

"Stop asking so many questions, Gunwoo. Just know that I don't regret my decision to help you guys," she said, smacking him lightly in the back of the head. He chuckled lightly in amusement. She looked around for a moment. "Where are we going? This doesn't look like the way to the hang out."

"I'm taking you to the hospital to make sure there wasn't any internal damage from your ribs," he said decidedly. She frowned at him.

"You know I don't have the money for a hospital visit," she said. He shrugged as best as he could without jostling her too much.

"Don't worry about it," he said. She rolled her eyes, knowing that it would be futile to argue against him once he's set his mind on something. He smirked triumphantly at her apparent consent.

"Looks like neither of us stayed out of trouble today, huh?" she said softly.

"Well, I was doing a pretty good job of it until I called you," he said.

"I'm glad you did. He would have killed me if you hadn't come," she said, leaning her head against his collar bone. "I guess this means we're even."

"You know you'll still come to our rescue if you see something. And keep in mind that I'll still come to your rescue if I know you're in trouble. Don't bother keeping track of scores," he said. She smiled at him.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess you're right."

Once they were done at the hospital, though Sunny couldn't figure out how Gunwoo managed to pay for it all, it was already nightfall. Gunwoo decided that he was going to take her home again, especially after the events earlier that day. He kept insisting on carrying her, but she insisted on walking. It was one of the few arguments she won against him. Although, she figured he could just as easily sweep her up, but he didn't so that he wouldn't accidentally hurt her. They walked slowly, enjoying the peaceful night. Their hands brushed once, and he intertwined her fingers with his. The sound of their footsteps was almost eerie in the otherwise silent night. But they weren't afraid of the silence. The silence was comforting in its own strange way.

All too soon, they came to her house. She stood so that she was facing him, although she kept her eyes downcast. Like before, he kept hold of her hand. For a moment, they just stood there, not saying anything. The moon shone down on them, bright and full, with the occasional cloud passing over. There was a soft breeze, blowing her hair lightly into her face. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thanks again for coming to rescue me,” she said softly. He smiled, dropping his own eyes. They were both looking at their hands, because they were afraid to look each other in the eyes. Sometimes, the eyes say more for a person than they want them to.

“I had been just starting to worry about you,” he said. A thought struck him and he laughed. “I left the boys there, wondering what had me so worked up. I wonder if they went home already?” She smacked him lightly in the chest.

“Call them, idiot. Let them know everything is okay and not to worry,” she said, a wry smile pulling at her lips. He chuckled again and pulled out his phone.

“Alright, alright, geez,” he said, dialing Insoo's number and putting his phone up to his ear.

As soon as it rang once, she could hear Insoo giving Gunwoo an earful. He held the phone slightly away from his ear, a humorous expression on his face. She hid a smile behind her hand, amused by his current misfortune. He noticed and stuck his tongue out at her before answering a question Insoo had asked. More words were exchanged, but Sunny was only half paying attention. He hung up with a roll of his eyes and raised an eyebrow at her.

“There. Everything is good,” he said, curling the corners of his mouth into a lopsided grin. She smiled and smacked him in the arm.

“Good.”