Oa7.

Nicole had been fast asleep when the old wooden door to the room she was held captive in, creaked open slowly before a lean, shady figure stepped inside with a tray of hot porridge in his hands.

Quietly, he placed the silver tray on top of the small bedside drawer and set himself down next to her sleeping self. He reached up his hand to brush aside a lock of her hair, finger tracing down the side of her serene face gently.

He simply stared at her beautiful, tear-stained face for a few minutes more, before the moment was abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door. Without waiting for a reply, the person at the other side pushed the door ajar and popped his head in.

“Has she woken up yet?”

He lightly shook his head. “Did she eat last night?”

The other male shrugged. “I left some food for her but when I came back for it this morning, it seemed untouched.”

He sighed inwardly before casting another long, forlorn look at the oblivious Nicole. Carefully, he stood and pulled the blanket up to cover her shivering body. His fists curled in, resisting the urge of wanting to touch her again. As he turned around to leave, he didn’t forget to say, “Get some new clothes for her to change in. Make sure she eats something and remember, whatever you do – do not hurt her.”

“When are you going to make the call?” his partner asked. “It’s almost a week now.”

“Soon,” was all he said.

Yoseob’s car pulled up in front of a large, abandoned warehouse which he hadn’t stepped foot in for quite awhile. He knows the place fairly well, but he also knows that his best friend had sworn this place off. So, when Doo Joon called him shortly after the confrontation he had with his brother and asked to meet him here, Yoseob had been surprised and mainly curious.

He noticed Doo Joon’s black BMW parked not far away from where he was standing as he tentatively made his way in. Despite the number of times he had been here, he still couldn’t help glancing around his surrounding warily.

“Dooj -?” he called out. “You here man?”

Silence.

“Doo…” he started to shout again but then he heard a quick “in here!” coming from one of the back rooms and he hurried over without wasting a second more. He was starting to get uncomfortable lingering there alone.

He found his friend hunched over a black laptop in the middle of a long table, face scrunched up as his deep set eyes read every single line on the screen intently. He only lifted a hand as a mere response when Yoseob walked in, unwilling to take his attention off even for a second.

“Dude, I thought something happened to you. I was about to – “

“Do you still have your gun?”

Yoseob’s eyes blinked in confusion. “What?”

Doo Joon finally lifted his head and met his friend’s bewildered gaze. Only then did Yoseob notice the strained redness etched in both of his orbs, the dark circles engulfing him and the tired, worn-out expression he was wearing.

“Have you even been sleeping?”

Doo Joon ignored his question. “Your gun. Do you still have it?”

Yoseob’s right hand faltered somewhere near the back of his pants. “But I thought we agreed – “

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Come on, give it to me.”

Left with no choice, Yoseob took out his G20 Glock from the small space between his back and jeans before sliding it over towards where his distraught friend was waiting with open hands.

“I take it Jiyoung hasn’t hug you yet?” Doo Joon chuckled as he emptied out the barrel and the bullets made loud clunking noise as they drop to the table. “She would’ve felt this, won’t she?”

“How did you – “

“I’m your best friend, dude. I can read you like an open book. Anyway, I’m going to change this for you.” He started to stand up and head over to the rows of different firearms hung up on the wall around them. Yoseob trailed behind him blindly.

“Doo Joon, wait. You still haven’t tell me what the hell is going on. Why are we suddenly going back to this? I thought you said you’d stop when you’ve gotten married and…”

“And I’m not married yet in case you haven’t noticed,” Doo Joon replied dryly. Yoseob stopped short. “Look, it’s not like we’re doing something illegal – “

“But we are not agents anymore man! We don’t have the authority to do this.

“But we still have our firearm license, don’t we?”

“Why? What exactly happened to Nicole?”

Doo Joon’s lips pursed into one straight, thin line.

“I’m going to get her back,” he said grimly. “No matter what is takes.”

November 2011

“It’s really beautiful. Doo Joon, I really don’t know what to say – “

He leaned forward in his seat and reached over for her hand. Intertwining their fingers together, with a smile he replied, “You’ve said ‘yes.’ That’s all that matters.”

Nicole’s cheeks turned a shade of rosy pink as she returned his smile. “This is a nice surprise alright, thank you for going out of your way to make this dinner perfect the way it is.”

“I have another surprise for you, by the way.”

She peered over at him curiously. “What is it?”

Doo Joon started to massage through each of her fingers delicately. “I’m quitting my job. And I’m going to be handling our family business after we get married.”

“But you love your current job.”

“And it worries you.”

Nicole shook her head. “No. I mean, of course I get worried but if it’s something you love, I wouldn’t want to be the reason you throw it all away.”

“No. I want to. It’ll be worth it, for you, for me – for the family that we are going to build. I don’t want to endanger the lives of the people I care about every single day. I want you to wait for me every night with a peaceful heart and not having to worry anxiously.”

Her teary eyes sparkled as she took his hand in both of hers and squeezed it tightly.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”