Chapter 11

After classes, Daehyun worked at a coffee shop, part-time. He needed the money to pay his necessities since he was already a scholar at school. He didn’t like asking money from his dad since he was still prideful. He hated asking or begging from him.

“Hey Daehyun, could you please clean the table over there?” His co-worker, Yoo Youngjae asked him.

“Sure.” Daehyun grabbed a towel from the rack and headed towards the table.

A lady waited for him to finish and for some reason, he caught her attention.

“Daehyun?”

Daehyun turned and saw Hyosung standing in front of him. She flashed her beautiful gummy smile and glowed as she saw the sight of him.

“I didn’t know you worked here.” She said.

“Yeah, just part-time.” He replied.

He fished a notebook and pen from his apron pocket. “So what would you like to order noona?” he asked politely.

“I want caffe mocha. Tall please.” She replied.

“One caffe mocha.” He scribbled the order on his notebook. “Is that all?”

“Yeahp.” She nodded.

“Alright.” Daehyun nodded back.

“Wait, theres one more thing I want.” She added.

“What is it?”

“Your Saturday.” Hyosung smiled.

Daehyun blinked. “Come again?” He said in astonishment.

“Your Saturday.” She repeated. “Go on a date with me Daehyunnie.”

“Noona, I don’t know you that well. Why are you asking me out?” He asked.

“That’s the point. I want to get to know you more.” She told him.

“I’m sorry. I don’t date.”

“Is it because of Eunji? Is she your girlfriend?” she asked.

“Its nothing like that.” Daehyun shook his head.

“Then what’s holding you back?”

“I just can’t.”

“Just this once. Please?” she pleaded.

Daehyun looked at her. He wondered why she asked this out of the blue. Why was she so interested in him? She was beautiful, she could have any man she wanted, why him? In the end, he gave up and finally agreed to her plea.

“Alright.” He said.

Eunji was on the phone ordering the flowers for Hyosung’s event.

“Alright. Thank you.” She put down the phone and went back to the errands she had put on hold.

She went out to check the mailbox. She jumped in fright when she saw bloodstained flowers inside her mailbox along with a note placed on top. She hurriedly went inside and grabbed her phone.

She contacted the only person she could turn to at that point.

“Hello?”

“Daehyun!”

It was already the end of his shift when Eunji called. He dashed out of the shop to run to her aid. He ran as fast as he could towards her flower shop hoping she wasn’t taken away by some psycho. When he finally arrived, he barged through the door and saw her sitting on the chair, looking blankly at thin air as she sipped her coffee. Her grandmother and a woman he didn’t recognize was beside her, they tried to soothe her with comforting words but she still looked dazed.

“How is she?” he asked.

“Still in shock.” Her grandmother replied.

The other woman, who looked younger, approached Eunji and gently touched her hand in reassurance.

“It’s alright, Eunji, everything will be just alright.” She said in a pleasant tone.

“Get away from me.” She said quietly but sternly.

“Yah Eunji! You’re being too much.” Daehyun scolded.

Eunji turned silent. The woman took a step back and went to the kitchen. Her grandmother turned to follow her, leaving the two of them alone.

“Was that your mother?” he asked.

“I don’t know that person.” She said.

Daehyun approached her and bended both his knees to face her. He touched her shoulder and looked at her worriedly. “You ok?”

She shook her head.

“The note said he’d have me. That I would be his forever. He said that if he coldn’t take me, no one could. I’m scared Daehyun. This never happened to me when Baekhyun was still around. He always made things all better. Now, I’m scared.” Tears dwelled her eyes and immediately fell down.

Daehyun wrapped her in a warm embrace, letting her know that he was there for her. She wasn’t alone in the darkness. He was there with her.

“Don’t worry, Eunji. I’ll make things alright from now on.”

Daehyun kept the letter in his pocket and brought a sample of the person’s blood with him. He knew what to do. He had to make sure Eunji was alright. He had to make sure she was happy. That’s all that mattered. Her happiness.

Daehyun left Eunji in the care of her grandmother. He told her not to go out and not to go home tonight. He had to visit someone for a while and would be back by morning. When he left, Eunji stopped crying and started doing some work to distract her from the thought of perils that were about to occur to her.

Daehyun headed to the deepest part of the city where dangerous people lurked. The place was familiar to him because he passed the place every night when he was still in middle school.

He fished his phone from his pocket and dialed the number of one of the people he thought he would never contact in a long time.

“Hello?” the person from the other line said.

“Hello Junhong? It’s Daehyun. I need a favor.”