Chapter 15

The Great Escape

With her winter coat and boots on, Seonyul sneaked out through the back door of the house and walked in the heavy snow of February through the garden, making her way to the backyard's door. She tried opening the door but as unlucky as she is, it was stuck by the endless amount of snow on the other side of the fence, making it hard to push it through. She looked around, trying to find something that could help as she saw G.O's dog running towards her and started barking, showing his excitement. She cursed to herself and tried her best to shush the dog, not wanting to attract attention to her, especially if she was about to escape.

The dog was still jumping around, his voice as loud as ever and she was still trying to calm him down. She gets on her knees, and places her hands between his face, making him look at her. It did what she was hoping and he calmed down as she gently shushes him. He sits on the snow and stays quiet his eyes staring at her, ready to follow her every movement.

She lets a sigh of relief and goes back to her thoughts, still trying to figure a way out. She turns around and looks back at the fence. She turns her head back around and notices the small mountain of snow at the corner of the fence where countless trees were standing tall on the other side. She looks down at the dog and sweetly pats him on the head before walking to the mountain. She firmly places her foot on the bottom and shifts her weight on it to make sure its solid enough to climb to the top.

She takes another step and leans towards the snow, placing her hands in front of her, so she wouldn't fall. She keeps on going up until she reaches the top on the mountain, high enough to slide on the other side. As she was about to take one step further, the dog starts to bark once again taking her by complete surprise. The moment she turned around to make him shush, she slips backwards and falls flat on her back on the other side of the fence. her hands, she curses about her downfall, feeling the pain all over her back, with the dog still barking on the other side.

She sat up, clearing herself from the snow that had fallen on her coat. The barking were becoming more violent and as if things couldn't get any better, she heard several voices of men coming to her and one of them were from a distressed G.O. She quickly got up and ran towards the small forest as fast as possible, finally having her way out.

A few steps away and she found herself in the dog park. She took a quick look around and finally concluded that the cost was clear. With a deep breath, she walked back to her place, but instead of using the usual route, where she passes in front of the mansion, she took another detour, longer but safer. In just a few minutes, she was back in her familiar neighborhood and smiled seeing the outline of her house a couple of steps away.

Standing in front of the steps, she was about to make another move when she heard a voice behind her. Her body stiff and eyes wide open, she slowly turned around to find none other than Cheondung, who had his back casually leaned against his car, his arms crossed over his chest with a smug look on his face.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back home. What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"Oh yes. I was looking out my window when I saw you climbing up a mountain. I bet your fall wasn't that all smooth, was it?"

"Leave me alone."

"And why would I do that?"

He pushes himself away from his car and walks towards her, standing dangerously close. He hears her gulp, her eyes showing fear as his face was not even an inch away from her, the tip of his nose brushing against hers. He looked straight into her eyes, trying to look as composed as possible.

"Listen to me. You will get your in that car so I can drive you back to the mansion. And you better forget about any other plan for escaping or you'll have to deal with me for longer than you would like."

"What if I say no?"

"Then I'll carry you myself. I had no problem doing it last night, I'll do it now."

He grabs onto her arm and she resists when he tries to make her walk to his car. She attempts to free herself from his grip only to stumble backwards, almost falling on the ground.

"I'm not going back! Nothing even happened ever since the incident! What's the point of keeping me cooped up inside?!"

"If you don't want to be dead, then you better forget about walking inside that house."

"And why would I listen to you?!"

"You don't have any choice. Now, let's go."

"No."

She escapes from him, running towards her house and locks the front door once she steps in. She hears the loud knocks with his voice, yelling to her to come out but she simply ignores it and steps away from the door to run into her room. She ran up the stairs and walked to her room where the door was closed. Placing her hand on the knob, she tried to open the door but it was locked. She backed away, finding it strange since she doesn't remember even closing the door to her room the last time she was here. She kept turning it, but pushing her body against the door, hoping it would budge.

After a few kicks from her boot and constantly pushing against the door, she was finally able to hear the click that would make her door open.

Turning the knob, she slowly opened her door only to hear another click.

She ignored the sound, probably thinking that it was nothing to be concerned about.

She slowly walks in her room, content of the silence that was surrounding her. She couldn't hear Cheondung's voice anymore thinking that he might as well given up.

Another step and she gets thrown back, hitting the door open from across the hallway making her land on the floor, wooden debris thrown all over the place.

The sudden explosion caught Cheondung's attention from the outside and quickly kicked the door opened, alarming the others through his phone about what was going on. He ran straight upstairs the smoke and fire blocking his way. He yelled out her name several times but couldn't get an answer.

Panic and worry rushed through him, thinking that she might have been dead from the sudden impact. He kept on in his tracks through the hallway until he heard a cough and sigh in relief, recognizing the voice. He found her on the floor, half of her body buried under destroyed materials that were thrown away from her room. He ran to her and pushed everything out of the way, placed her head on his lap and noticed a couple of small scratches on her face.

She lets out another cough and groans, feeling the pain shot through her entire body.

Another explosion and she felt someone hovering over her body, like a shield, protecting her. Even though her vision was blurry, she knew who it was and tightly held onto him. He looks down at her and saw a single tear escaping, something that went unnoticed to her.

He slowly got up and lifted her up in his arms, her head resting on his shoulders while her arms were lazily wrapped around his neck. With the smoke still thick, he slowly stepped away, at his best to not trip over the remains. Finally reaching the stairs, he walked back down and saw Mir and Joon waiting for him at the bottom of the staircase. He quicken his steps, reaching up to them, with the others running towards him.

"What happened?"

"They set up a bomb in her bedroom. Everything is gone"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I think so, but she's barely conscious."

He heard some yelling and shot his head to the side, seeing G.O running to him, more panicked and agitated than ever.

"What the hell happened?!"

He took her in his arms and quickly stepped out of the house, followed by Mir and Cheondung while Joon, Seungho and other men went back upstairs to learn more about the incident.

G.O rushed out to the front porch and down the stairs until he reached the sidewalk and crouched down on his knees, still holding her in his arms.

The moment he heard the dog barking back at his place, he knew that something was wrong. He ran up the stairs and into the bedroom where she stayed only to find it empty. It hit him at that moment, when he saw her, through her window, walking to the side of the backyard and towards the fence that she was trying to escape.

And now he was too late.

The scratches on her cheek were bleeding, the one on her forehead as well and her nose was bleeding too. He cursed himself, knowing that something was wrong with her when he knocked on her door, but decided to completely ignore it.

He gently her hair, leaving a kiss on the top of her hair as he waited for her to open her eyes. The two others were impatiently waiting by the cars, making numerous phone calls, while the others were still inside.

She lets out another cough and her eyes flutter open, to the relief of the boys. She felt herself in the embrace of another man and looked up to see the teary eyes of G.O, firmly holding onto her. She was still in pain but she was able to push him away and get on her two feet, sudden anger busting through her. "What in the world just happened?!"

"I can be asking the same thing here. What were you thinking leaving like that?!"

"Sorry for wanting my own space! I got tired, okay?!"

"Of course it's not okay! One step closer and you could've been dead!"

Several deep breaths were escaping her trembling lips, making her chest heave up and down. She was tired of everything that was going on and the situation right now wasn't making things any better. She didn't care if the boys were mad at her for escaping, she just wanted to get out. She didn't even care about that explosion, even though a part of her was really mad that her house was half destroyed.

"Look, I just wanted to get out, okay? I'm tired of staying inside doing nothing! I can't even go to school anymore because you're so paranoid that something might happen to me -"

"And look where it got you!"

"I don't care!"

She took some steps backwards, distancing herself from the others as much as possible.

At any second, she felt as if she was going to break down.

She couldn't handle it anymore.

Everything was simply to much.

From the moment she ran out of her house, to her drunken state from yesterday up until that moment.

Everything that she knew was ruined, and for what?

She shook her head, running her hands through her hair as she let the cold air of winter hit her face. No words were spoken as they all watched her, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. She felt something running down her nose and swiped it off with her hand, only to see a blood stain across her fingers.

G.O took small steps towards her, feeling that she was about to break down. She saw him coming and backed further away only to run away from them. It took them a second to realize what she just did, and the three of them ran after her, as fast as they could. She was still feeling weak, making it hard for her to properly breathe. She almost trips over the ice covering the sidewalk, only to be caught by G.O as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, strongly holding her. She was squirming in his embrace, trying her best to get out of it, and yelled out her frustration at the same time.

Once again, she was feeling stuck and that emotion made her tears heavily fall down on her cheeks. She was screaming to him to let her go, hoping that she might scare him off but being much more stronger than her, he was able to hold her off.

"Damn it! Calm down!"

"NO! Just. Let. Me. GO!"

She used the energy she got left to push him away from her, but wasn't capable of doing it. The others reached up to them, each of the boys, more frightened than the others about her soon to be break down.

Especially to Cheondung.

"Please! Just let me go! Please!"

He could feel her slowly giving up, as she let herself fall on her knees, her break down reaching its peak as she sobbed out her discontent, letting everything that she bottled up inside shatter her soul into pieces.

She never wanted this.

She never asked for any of this.

And somehow, that's how her life turned out.

All upside down.

She felt so tired and so weak; her heart was hurting and her bruises were starting to burn. She could feel a huge headache starting to act up, grabbing her hair into fists as she slowly rocked her body front and back, completely forgetting everything around her. She felt a pair of arms gently wrapping themselves around her, making her look down. From there, she looked to the side and saw G.O's face, a broken expression painted across his face.

"Pl-please. Let m-me go."

"I'm sorry…"

She shuts her eyes tight, and lets herself fall on his lap, entirely giving up. Her energy was gone, not even having the will to skip out again. She felt weaker by the second, not even having the force to stand back up on her own two feet.

"Hyung… We should leave before they find us." Mir took a small step closer to them, looking as much broken as his friend, seeing her so shattered like this. Seungho took the lead as he placed a hand on G.O's shoulder and lightly squeezed it, telling him that she'll need to recover.

"We'll call the doctor once we're back. Come on."

At the request, G.O lifts her up, a tear falling down his cheek and they all go back to their cars where the rest of their men were waiting.

I'm so sorry, Seonyul-ah.

Please, forgive me.

Next: Every Night