“Even knowing that my presence brought a shadow over the lives of my loved ones, I can't regret the experiences I've had with them. They gave me life, becoming an integral part of my soul. They healed me when I was broken and somehow they recovered those parts of me, I thought lost forever.”

― J.D. Stroube, Caged by Damnation

Allow me, just once, to have the power on my hands to make things right. Allow me, oh Greater Power to save those who I care for. Give me strength, Oh Mighty one, so I can overcome those obstacles you give me, I know those are for my own good. But give me self-control, Mighty Father, for I will never forgive, for I will never go on without my hands getting the blood of those who have done me wrong, the blood of those who had done them wrong.

Jiyong prayed on his mind again and again as he drove towards the hospital, his foot almost breaking the car as he drove at 100mp/h through the highway, avoiding cars and lights. James was at the back still trying to make Dara’s weak heart beat as Bom made pressure on her wound. Everything went so fast that Jiyong didn’t had a proper time to settle once they arrived at the hospital and James carried Dara’s limp body towards the hospital as Bom ran after him, her Bluetooth on ear as she spoke words to whoever it was on the other line. Jiyong looked at his hands, full of Dara’s blood, and let out a sigh as tears strolled down his cheeks. He didn’t felt like crying, no, those weren’t tears of sadness, they were more of anger, of uselessness, a dark feeling he had been having since he got injured for life.

He got out of the car and walked towards the hospital, where he could see from afar that the nurses were running around as they admitted Dara. If his eyesight wasn’t so good, he would almost miss the pain on James face, the agony, the misery on his face. Jiyong shook his head as he entered through the doors, his bloody hands deep on his pockets, and walked towards James. He was looking at the door that had just closed, his own bloody hands hanging limply on his side as he miserably looked at the doors.

“They won’t let me in.” James murmured as Jiyong stood by his side.

“We shouldn’t be here.” Jiyong told him, and James nodded and turned around, not looking at Jiyong, just walking ahead of him as Jiyong followed. Bom walked towards them, she had been on a corner of the ER, talking on the phone. She looked at them both, her face a mixture of apology and accomplishment.

“It had been confirmed, it was an attack from Woochoong’s men.” She said and both Jiyong and James shared a look before looking at her.

“How is that possible?” Jiyong said and Bom looked around, there were a few people in the ER waiting, and they were looking at them. Jiyong noticed and smiled as he bowed slightly and walked towards the door, James did the same and followed Jiyong, and lastly, Bom exited. The three of them got into the car and locked the doors. The crystal were tinted, so it was impossible to see who was inside. Bom shook her head and let out a sigh.

“Next time, why don’t you both chose your façade as something less noticeable?” She said as she pulled out from her bag a laptop.

“I didn’t chose mine, it was given to me.” Jiyong said, “And, after all, it was supposed to be my life from now on.”

“Mine was a mistake…” James said. Bom rolled her eyes and started typing on her laptop. James looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What’re you doing?”

“I’m hacking into the hospital system, so we’ll know what’ll happen to Sandara Park.” She said not looking at them.

“You can do that?!” James said with surprise. Bom shrugged and nodded.

“I think there’s nothing I can’t do.” She said, now finally looking at them. Jiyong nodded, his lips pursed as he tried to clean the blood under his fingernails.

“When are we getting information?” Jiyong said.

“Right… now.” She said as she hit enter and turned the laptop around, showing her images of Dara’s body on a hospital bed. She was shirtless and a white sheet covered her as her were still in place and nurses were around her, tending her, administering meds and a surgeon was getting ready at a side of the room. James gulped as he got closer to the laptop.

“This is amazing.” James said.

“I hacked into the security system, now I have access to the surveillance cameras. We’ll know about her even if we’re not there physically.” She said and then looked at Jiyong with her big eyes. “Would you mind getting us back to the house? They’re still patrolling the area, and I have a feeling they’ll need us soon.” Jiyong nodded and started the engine, driving them back towards the house.

Jiyong pulled to a stop just before the entrance of the house. As the tires screeched and James almost hit the mirror, Jiyong pulled out his gun and held it steady on his hand as he looked to the front. James had his gun already out and was signaling Bom to stay in the car as they both got out of the car. There, in front of the car, was a man, dressed in casual jeans and a black shirt with a leather jacket on top. He had high boots and his dark hair was done in a stylish Mohawk with a bang falling over his eye. Jiyong narrowed his eyes as he stopped in front of their car, looking straight at the man. He was slender, tall, his hands deep on his pockets as he looked at them. By that distance, Jiyong couldn’t quite see his features, only the contour of his body, nothing more since the shadows of the night were hiding his face.

“Good evening, Mr. Kwon, Mr. Campbell.” He said as he slightly bowed his head. Jiyong nodded, looking fiercely at him.

“Who are you?” Jiyong asked as he unlocked his gun. The man, however, laughed and took a few step closer.

“The question is not who am I, but what I know.” He said as he got into the light, revealing his face. Jiyong frowned as he tried to put a name on the too familiar face he was looking at.

“What do you know?” James asked bluntly. The man smirked and looked at him, then at Jiyong.

“I’m not the enemy here gentlemen, I’m here to help.” He said and Jiyong made a tsk noise with his tongue.

“I’ll judged that.” Jiyong said and the man nodded again, smiling.

“Very well, then I think I shall just get straight to the point. I have valuable information for you Mr. Kwon, very valuable.” He said and Jiyong took a deep breath, the hand that held the gun started to tremble due to the adrenaline rush that was starting to form on his veins.

“Stop going around the bush, we don’t have time to waste.” James told him, but the man continued as if he hadn’t talked at all.

“Regarding your sister.”

Chaerin felt her insides being turned around on her stomach as she tried to digest what Woochoong had said. She stood up abruptly and walked towards him, intending to grab him by his neck. One suited man stood next to him and grabbed her arm, and she fought the man easily, throwing him on the floor and putting her bare foot on his neck. Woochoong started laughing as the other man launched himself on Chaerin. She quickly grabbed a knife under the coffee table and held it close to Woochoong’s neck, and both men froze in place as the knife drew a scarlet line on Woochoong’s neck.

“I should kill you.” Chaerin hissed and Woochoong only laughed hysterically.

“You should, but I assure you, there are more of my men waiting outside, they’ll kill you on the spot, then do the job I ordered them to do.” Woochoong said. Chaerin her front lips and held the knife closer to the neck, the scarlet line turning crimson.

“I won’t kill him, and that’s final.” She said and pulled out the knife, but not before cutting him a slight bit more. Woochoong looked at her with stern eyes as she grabbed her shoes and headed out of the apartment.

“You’ll do as I say, when I say it and how I say it. I own you Lee Chaerin, you’re mine.” Woochoong said as he stood up, looking at her. She turned around and smirked at him.

“No, I’m free. I’ve always been free.” She told him and walked towards the door.

“I have more men after him anyways. It’s either by your hand or by the hands of another one. I give you the opportunity to kill him without pain, otherwise, he’ll suffer.” Chaerin stopped with her hand on the doorknob as he said that. She took a deep breath and turned around, only enough for him to look at her face. She felt hatred, a hatred she had never felt before, one she thought she could never feel.

“Listen well, Kim Woochoong, next time, you’ll be bleeding under my body, and it will be the only time I’ll enjoy being on top of you. Next time, you’ll be a corpse before you even know it.”

“Oh, I doubt it my dear, I absolutely doubt it. Let me warn you, if you leave, there will be more than just Jiyong.” He said and she trembled in hatred as she slowly removed the hand from the doorknob. “You’re not free, you have never been, as your useless father never was. You have always belonged to us, even before you were born.” Chaerin kept her gaze fixed on him, her eyes tense and fierce as she planned all kinds of way to kill him. From draining him alive to slowly cut him into pieces. There were so many ways to kill him agonizingly slowly, so slow he would even feel death touching his cheeks. “Don’t you know, oh my dear Chaerin, who kill your dirty mother? Don’t you know anything about yourself?”

“You’re just bluffing.” She said.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll kill you, just wait, I’ll do it.”

“No, you can’t kill me. You can’t kill anyone unless ordered, you’re just a pawn, a machine designed to kill as told, to do as told. And you will kill him Chaerin, you’ll kill Kwon Jiyong and still be by my side. If you leave now, everyone you know, everyone will be dead, and you’ll be burying them with your own hands.” Woochoong said as he looked at her, and his eyes were the eyes of a mad man, of a lunatic, of a psychotic, and for the first time, she felt fear, she felt useless, weak, frail and powerless. He had touched the core of her fears, he had gotten deep within her, and she knew it was a lost battle.

In other terms, maybe, she would have just kill him there, but doing so meant the instant death of Jiyong, of her father and her friends. If the prize for killing him was her life, she would have done so without fears, but the stake was too high, the prize was invaluable and the risks were too many. She fought with her inner desires of walking out of the apartment, of leaving, of searching for Jiyong and kiss him until she fell asleep, but doing so meant the end of his life, of the life of everyone she knew. Woochoong was a strong opponent, and she didn’t know how strong, everyone could be under his alliance, everyone could be her enemy, and she didn’t know how well he knew about Jiyong’s whereabouts, once she steps out, it was only a matter of time until he dies, it was too much to risk.

“I’ll stay.” She murmured, her gaze softening as she slowly lowered her head, looking at her trembling hands still holding the bloody knife.

“Drop it.” Woochoong said. She took a deep breath and opened her hand slowly, letting the knife fall on the floor. “Good girl, and you will kill him, as soon as possible, am I right?” He said and she nodded slowly, still looking at the bloody knife at her feet. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

“Why? Why him?” Chaerin murmured as she straightened her face. Woochoong stopped on his tracks to look at her with an exposed expression. She could see pain, hatred, agony and despair, all in just one look, and it frightened her.

“What do you care?” Woochoong hissed, and the way he looked at her told her she needed to shut up, but as her name was Lee Chaerin, she was never good as doing as told.

“If you want me to kill him, you better give me a good reason.”

“Since when you killers need a reason to do a job?”

“Since now.”

“You better just shut up, and be prepared, you’ll be starting your job tomorrow. You have a week to kill him, and Chaerin, you better do it.” Woochoong said as he walked past Chaerin, pushing her a slight bit, making her lose balance. She held herself with the wall and turned around as the two men accompanying him left, closing the door hard on her face. She gulped as she looked at the door, and as she did, the weight of her decisions fell hard on her, knocking her to the floor. She screamed in desperation as she punched the wall, fresh tears falling on her eyes as she pictured her mission, as she imagined his bloody corpse on the floor, eyes wide opened as he looked at her, as he looked at the worst betrayal someone could have done to him.

The mere thought made her sick, crazy. The image of him made her stomach turn, made her brain malfunction and her heart stop. She punched the wall countless times as she tried to erase with physical pain the agony of her reality. Her hands began to bleed, the skin began to tore, the bones started to hurt and still the image of him haunted her thoughts. As she gave the last punch, she looked at her front, at the wall, bloody, her hands marked on the white paint as she looked at it, drained, weak and exhausted, but her eyes were fixed on the wall, on her blood, red, fresh, slowly falling in drops. The tears on her eyes stopped falling as a twisted thought got into her head, and she smiled wickedly as the idea gave her the peace she needed, the hope she desired. It doesn’t have to be his blood…

Gily's Notes: Hello!! Since I'm going on a retreat this week and won't be back until monday, I will update TWICE!! Oh yeah, TWICE!

See you!!

Happy Reading ~

Gily ♥