Chin Ho sat at the kitchen table, occasionally looking up at the clock. When was Na Ri coming home? The longer she took, the more worried he was getting. Maybe he shouldn’t have let her leave to begin with.

He sat up in a start when he heard the front door opening.

“Noona –“

But it wasn’t the face he was expecting to see. 

“Na Ri? Where is she?” It was just another one of Prosecutor Han’s officers. In his hands were bags of groceries. 

“Noona left to get us some food.” Chin Ho answers the officer. And at his answer, the officer quickly reached into his pocket for his phone.

“Prosecutor Han? Na Ri is gone –“ His panicked voice soon stops. At first he had thought the other officers were slacking in their job in watching over Na Ri and her younger brother but it seems he just learned of what was going on. 

Chin Ho stood up from his seat, confused by what was going on. He watched the officer talk in mumbles into his phone and soon the officer ends the call. “Is there something going on?”

Unlike before, the officer seemed to be more relaxed. “Chin Ho, it’s fine. People are looking for her now.” 

Chin Ho nods, not bothering to question it further. “Then I’ll wait for noona then.”

***

I clutched the note tightly in my hand as I looked around the vicinity. My hands trembled at the sight that I was welcomed to. A soft scoff left my lips as I realized what kind of game Gi Bum was trying to play. 

Well, he definitely chose the most abandoned and estranged place he could think of. 

The address brought me to none other than the very building the man held me in for months. 

“I didn’t think you would really show up alone.” 

The voice came from behind me and I spun around to meet him. I could feel the air start to get heavy around me and I staggered back away from him. I tugged my sweatshirt tighter around me in response.

Gi Bum’s eyes moved from me to the building behind. “Brings back memories doesn’t it?”

“Gi Bum, you’re going back to where you belong.” 

My words caused a loud rowdy laughter to leave his mouth. “Are you going to put me into jail?” His taunting words stemmed from this unfathomable confidence that I have known of him to always have. “I have some unfinished business with you.”

“Regret not killing me?” Whenever he had a chance, he passed it up to get money instead or to bait Bang. 

“That’s exactly it.”

Without me knowing, two figures slipped out from the dark and grabbed both of my arms. “Gi Bum –“ One of the men quickly placed a hand over my mouth to muffle the rest of my words. 

They dragged me into the now abandoned building, ignoring my struggling. They pulled me along the familiar hallways until we reached the room that used to bring me endless amount of physical pain. The same dimmed room that Gi Bum always beat me in or tried to break my spirit in. Just like how it was before, the men would push me down upon my knees in the middle of the room. I unsteadily looked up to see Gi Bum standing in front of me. 

“There’s no way you forgot this room, right?” He stood before me, a smirk formed on his lips. “I just wanted to remind you that I could have killed you here before…actually I had many chances.” 

My eyes wavered as they met his gaze. 

Stay strong, Na Ri.

“That’s why you brought me here?” Despite trying to keep this strong front, my voice trembled nonetheless as I spoke to him.

My question brought another smile to Gi Bum’s face. “You know, I didn’t actually think you’ll come. You’re a fool.”

Of course I knew it was all a trap. But, I needed to confront him – I needed to confront this fear that has been dwelling within me. It had only interfered with my life and this meeting was meant to stop it.

I took in a large breath. “What’s the point in killing me?”

“What?” Gi Bum sneered after hearing my question.

“You think killing me would somehow help your pride, because I was the reason why your whole business fell apart and you were this close to spending a good chunk of your life in prison.” When he sought me out, this was the conclusion I had come to. “So, to answer my own question – killing me won’t bring back this empty building the way it was.” It won’t return him to a time where he felt like he stood at the top of the world.

“Shut up. You ruined everything.”

“I told you didn’t I?” I looked up at him, my voice gaining its strength back. “When you took me, I told you that you would regret it.”

My words caused Gi Bum’s anger to spill over. I knocked over after he connected the end of his gun with the side of my head. My cheek touched the cold and hard concrete as my blurry sight struggled to be adjusted. I couldn’t hear anything else, as the sound of my own panting grew louder. 

My arms were grabbed to pull me back up into a sitting position and my body limply followed. The side of my head where Gi Bum had made contact with throbbed while the sounds in the environment returned. 

“Make her look at me." For a few seconds, confusion consumed me. I had no idea what was going on until my eyes landed on Gi Bum. I watched Gi Bum slowly kneeled down in front of me. “It suddenly feels hopeless doesn’t it?”

“Here you go again.” Although my words were soft, they were significant. “Saying things to make me feel vulnerable and weak.” This is what Gi Bum did to groom me into the person I have become today. He wanted to break me so bad and he almost succeeded. “They’re just words, Gi Bum.” His words didn’t dictate who I was and for so long, I was mistaken to think they did. 

The men standing beside me clutched onto my shoulders and it wasn’t long until one of the men noticed that something was strange. 

“Hey, what’s under your –“

Before he could jeopardize my position, I elbowed his weakest spot between his legs. While he keeled over, my eyes catch the object tucked safely in his waistband and without a second thought, I grabbed for it. It all happened so quickly and when the other man tried to grab for me, my hand instinctively squeezed teh trigger and a shot goes off, hitting the wall. 

The three men immediately clutched their heads and got low on the floor. Since their attention was off of me, I made a run for it. Forcing my legs to move quickly back down the hallways that I had months to get used to. I shook away my dizziness and pushed open the final door and the cold night air welcomed me. 

My legs buckled at the last minute and I crashed to the ground – only to push myself up on my feet again when I heard Gi Bum’s voice calling for me. 

I spun around to meet him as he just gets through the door.

At the same time, we both bring our hands up – each clutching a gun to point at one another. The two other men come out from the building and stand beside Gi Bum.

Seeing me unsteadily holding the gun, Gi Bum chuckled. “Are you really going to shoot or is that all for show?”

At his question I remained silent. It should be soon now, right? I did a quick scan of the area before returning my eyes on him. 

“Should we see who would shoot first?” 

At his threat, I stepped backwards once more. At this moment I realized that this situation resembled the last time we saw each other. I pointed a gun at him only to have Bang be the one to shoot him. 

I hated Gi Bum.

But at the same time, I didn’t want to kill him. 

Our attention is brought back when the sounds of police sirens sound off in the distant.

“What?” Gi Bum looked up startled. “How –“

“And you call me a fool?” I sighed while we remained in our positions. “I wasn’t being protected by Bang’s men, I was in police protective custody.” That means that of course they would know when I went missing. But this time, I didn’t just go off on my own like a naïve child. It was all planned. If Gi Bum had given me the note a day earlier, maybe this would have ended differently. “It’s over, Gi Bum.”

A great number of cop cars come to a harsh stop seeing our stand off. And before anything else, I heard his voice.

“Na Ri!”

It hadn’t been long since we were separated again but to me it felt differently. I