The next morning came and both of them were awake with Seonya in the shower while Joon was in the kitchen, trying to cook breakfast with the food supplies that was in the fridge.

“Good morning.”

From the counter, he turned around looking at Seonya who was making her way to the kitchen with barely a smile on her face as he focused on her tired eyes and the bullet wound in her arm.

“How are you feeling?”

“Sore… I wasn’t able to sleep last night because of the bruise.”

“Let me have a look, see if it has gotten worse or not.”

“Mhmm.” She stood in front of him as he gently reached out for her arm and took a closer look to it as he pulled away the stained bandage that was covering it making her lightly hiss in the process.

While he had his eyes on the wound, she couldn’t help herself but stare at him, taking in the features that he unconsciously was showing her.

“I can try to get the bullet out if you want but I don’t think I’ll be able to stitch you up.”

“No it’s okay… I’ll get it fixed when we’ll go back.”

At her words, he suddenly froze, which she saw; from her arm, he looked at her with an apologetic look. “Seonya… There isn’t really a guarantee that we are going back… After what Ji-Hoon told me yesterday-”

She cuts him off by backing away from him as she ran her fingers through her hair with a shaky breath escaping from . “So you’re basically telling me that we have to run away? Something I could’ve done without all of you and yet you’re the one telling me that it wasn’t even a choice!”

“I know you’re angry, but please-”

“Angry?! I’m way passed angry Joon! I’m pissed off!”

Irregular breathing, walking around in a small circle while losing her focus on what she was looking at, Joon was slowly taking his steps towards her until he had his hands on her shoulders, tightly gripping them so she could look at him and as she did, he saw her completely broken. The gaze in her eyes showed pain and anger but also something else that he couldn’t put his finger on; nevertheless, he didn’t put much focus on that since she needed a shoulder to cry on.

He gently wrapped his arms around her as he was softly her back, trying to calm her down. Slowly, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and let herself lean onto his chest with her hands reaching out to grab onto his waist, her fingers the side of his shirt.

“It’s such a screwed up nightmare… I just want to wake up…”

“I wish I could make things easier for you… I’m sorry.”

“Make me disappear… Please.” She turned her face to have her forehead pressed up against his chest as he had his chin over her shoulder with his arms getting a stronger hold around her.

She pulled her face away making him do the same as she gazed up at him. Barely being inches away from him, she leaned closer to place a small kiss against his lips before hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

“Can’t we just runaway now?”

“Mhmm?”

She pulled away once again while wiping the tears away from her cheeks. “I want to runaway. Leave the country or something. I c-can’t stand being here anymore; I don’t want to stay here anymore even if Ji-Hoon tells us its safe again-”

“You can’t leave on your own.”

“Then come with me; runaway with me.”

He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face, taken aback by her request. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t. He had a mission to fulfill and he couldn’t just simply drop everything and disappear. “I can’t…”

Pushing herself away from him embrace, the slight anger that was inside of her was starting to slowly grow as she looked at him, annoyed.

“You can’t or you don’t want to?”

“It’s complicated, okay? Let’s just fix this before talking about running away-”

“Fix what Joon? Everything is ruined! There is no way that everything can go back to the way things were before; it’s not possible… Let’s just leave everything behind and go away, far away from here. I know you want too Joon… Please, I’m begging you.”

She gripped onto the hem of his shirt with both of her hands making him look down onto her hold before lifting his head up to look at her, straight into her eyes. He could see a glimpse of hope and it tore him apart because he knew that he couldn’t give her what she wanted, despite how badly he wanted to leave with her.

“I c-can’t have you away from me… Joon, I need you.” The shakiness in her voice was clear to his ears and he hated himself for what he was doing to her but he couldn’t just give up everything; something inside of him was telling him that he needed to fight and not to give up.

“We don’t have to runaway… Things will blow over-”

“Is that what you want to believe? That things will blow over? What can’t you understand?! It will never blow over! My life is ruined as well as yours! Don’t tell me that this is what you had in mind for your future, huh? Don’t you want to get married and have a family of your own? Watch your kids grow up and live the rest of your life with your wife? Or do you prefer living a thug life instead?”

A few feet away from him, she had burst out the anger that was inside of her trying to make him understand that what they had wasn’t a life, but the moment she mentioned the part of having a future, he cracked.

“Of course it’s not what I want!”

“Then runaway with me! Why do you want to stay here?!” She had taken big steps until she was standing close to him and cupped his cheeks to look at him before having her lips hovering above his while sweetly whispering to him to runaway with her before she kisses him.

She slowly pulls back, inches away from him and whispers once again for him to give up everything. He places his hands above hers to take them out of his cheeks as he strongly held onto them while looking down.

“Seonya… It’s more complicated… If it was easy, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now; but they are so many things you don’t know about me and a lot of it involves all of this. I can’t just runaway and drop everything… I’m sorry.”

He gently let go of her hands letting them drop by the side of her body while she fixated her gaze on him, letting his words sink inside her brain.

“You know what; do whatever you want, but I am out of here.” She walks out on him and was headed straight for the main entrance until Joon realized what was going on. He follows her outside and calls her out but without getting any response; he runs to her and grabs her wrist making her roughly turn to him while pulling her good arm back to her.

“Why are you acting like this?!”

“Why am I acting like this?! What about you?!”

“What is that suppose to mean?”

She was heavily breathing with her chest moving up and down while she looked at him with a defeated look on her face. “Do you hate me or something? Did I do something wrong for you to treat me like nothing happened between us these past few weeks?”

“Seonya-”

“Answer me. Am I not good enough? Or do you have someone else waiting for you somewhere? Someone that you should’ve at least told me about before kissing me or even sleeping with me-”

“Are you going to blame me for this?!”

“Yes! It’s your fault! You screwed me up!”

“How the hell did I do that? Huh?”

“I am tired of you leading me on; just make up your mind. You either want to be with me or you don’t. There’s no in between… I just can’t have you ignoring me one minute only to turn around and want me the next. I’ve had my share of broken hearts Joon, I don’t think I can handle it if it happens again…”

Without giving him the chance to answer, she walked away from him finding herself heading towards the little porch by the small river on the side of the cabin, letting herself enjoy the view with the sun reflecting on the water.

He wanted to go after her but the faint sound of a ringing phone caught his attention, making him run back inside the house, answering it. On the other line was Ji-Hoon giving them the green card by telling them that things have calmed down and that they can go back in town.

Once he hung up and turned around he saw Seonya standing at the entrance of the cabin. She walked inside, taking small steps, and had her arms crossed over her chest waiting for Joon’s verdict.

“He gave us the green card… We can leave now if you want.”

“You can leave and go back to Seoul, but I’m not. I was serious earlier; I’m not planning on coming back.”

“Do you remember what happened the last time you ran away?! You almost got killed! Don’t be stubborn Seonya, just come back with me, please.”

She shook her head as she bit her bottom lip, hugging herself tight. She didn’t want to go back because that meant that she’d had to hide and she didn’t want that. “Don’t make me go back.”

“We don’t have a choice-”

“Yes we do; we do have a choice Joon. You’re just the one that doesn’t want to go through with it.”

“I promise you that we will fix this. Once everything is over you can go back to your place and live your life and forget everything that happened, okay?”

“How can you promise me that even when you’re not even sure that things will be over?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re trying to tell me that everything is going to be okay, but I know that you’re not convinced yourself. Don’t hide from me Joon. I’m in this mess as much as you.”

“What do you want me to tell you then? That we might die? That G.O is in a freakin’ coma?! That Ji-Hoon lost Hyun Su and his men and we don’t even know where the hell they are?! I don’t tell you these things because I know they scare you and because I know you’ll be blaming yourself. But trust me, it’s not your fault. This fight has been going on for years and you appearing in the picture… you’re the accessory he needs to get to us.”

Every one of his words were hitting her hard.

Once again, she could feel the tears in the corner of her eyes and ready to roll down her cheeks as his words were echoing inside of her mind, putting her through the moments that passed ever since she got in the middle of this mess, with images flashing here and there from the moment she found out the truth, leading up to her break up, leading up to just what happened yesterday and now that she knows that one of her friend was in the hospital because of her; she felt guilty.

“Don’t tell me that it isn’t my fault when someone is in the hospital because of me. He risked his life to save me and now he’s unconscious because of me… I don’t care how long this has been going on but if someone gets hurt because of me, I don’t think I’ll be able to wake up in the morning. You may be living in danger everyday, but that’s not my life and I don’t plan on making it this way as long as I live… Tell Ji-Hoon whatever you want about me but I’m not putting my feet back into that place.”

Before she had time to escape, he ran up to her and took her hand as he gently pulled her towards him, making her stare at their joint hands. He breathed out and started to speak out with a softer voice.

“Don’t let him win… He wants you to be scared. Even if you go into hiding, he is still going to find you. Even if you leave the country, it’s only a matter of time before he goes after you and takes you, or worse, kills you… I know you hate living like this but I promise you that living with us is safer than being alone in the middle of nowhere; at least you have people that are willing to risk their lives for you-”

“Really? Willing to risk their lives?” She lifts her head up to look at him, with a stern tone used in her words. “You guys are forced to protect me. Don’t say that you want to be doing this because I know it’s not true. I’m one hundred percent sure that you would rather run out and create a life of your own than stay and protect some random girl from some mobster… Was yesterday’s accident not proof enough? You have bruises covering your entire body; you could’ve died.”

“Like you said, my life is in danger everyday; I’m used to this.”

“Still, it’s not an excuse; I shouldn’t be an excuse-”

“You’re not an excuse.”

“I just… I just don’t want you to be hurt because of me…”

Those words spoken out with a soft voice sent shivers throughout his body, as his mind went straight back to several years ago, where those same words were used with his last love.

“I just don’t want you to be hurt because of me…”