Yongguk was being chased. I let go of Daehyun’s hand and slowly walked forward. 

“Are you crazy?” Daehyun hissed, grabbing me back. “You have to be careful.” 

In the distance I heard police sirens but there were also very close sirens. Suddenly two police cars pulled up a few feet from Daehyun and I, at the end of the rood, blocking off the road and making it a dead end. Then a few seconds later, there were other cars on the other end of the road. I gasped, it couldn’t be a dead end, Yongguk needed to escape. 

“You get into my car and sit in there. Lock all the doors and I’ll be back.” he said quickly. 

He held my hand and pulled me gently back into the direction of where his car was parked. Unlocking his car, he gently guided me in and opened his glove box, taking out a gun and loading it with bullets.

“But-“ I said quietly. 

“I’ll be fine.” he said, handing me the keys.

I needed to do something to protect Yongguk, yet I felt helpless and knew that I couldn’t do anything. I glanced back and saw that Yongguk and the gang were getting closer and so I put my hands together and closed my eyes, praying. Praying like the first time that I met him, hoping that he would pull through.

Swiftly, Yongguk ran past Daehyun’s car and I felt tears clouding my eyes because I knew that he could be taken from me. I couldn’t bear anymore and stepped out of the car and stepped closer to Daehyun who was only a few feet from me. Then my gaze darted to Yongguk, he looked utterly tired and when he and the other two gang members that were chasing him reached the dead end, Daehyun spoke up. 

“Freeze and put down your weapons.” 

Yongguk put both his hands up in the air and I was also surprised to see that the other two members had put their hands up, but with guns in their grip. Yongguk was unarmed because he had packed both of his guns into his luggage. I knew that he was free from a weapon, for sure. 

“Bang Yongguk, step to your right.” Daehyun said loudly. “You two at the back, drop your weapons.”

I held my breath and stared intently at the two behind Yongguk. They looked at each other and had what seemed like a telepathic conversation because they both looked back at Daehyun and began lowering themselves. As their guns were near the ground, one member dropped the gun while the other swiftly stood back up and shot Yongguk in the back. The intense silence was then filled with a loud and disturbed gunshot.

My heart stopped while my eyes widened and what happened after that was a blur, with bullets firing and people yelling. I ran from the side walk and straight to Yongguk, who had collapsed. I faintly heard someone call my name, maybe it was Daehyun but I registered none of that. Suddenly it felt like there was a sharp grip on my right arm but then I saw that nothing was there. 

“Yongguk.” I cried as I got closer to him. 

There was blood around him and I wasn’t sure if he was alive or not because I could only see his back. As I was getting closer to reach him, I felt a pair of hands grasp my waist and pulled me back to the side walk. I began thrashing violently in that person’s arms. 

“What are you doing?” Daehyun said. “You could have gotten seriously hurt!” 

“Let me go.” I cried, tears streaming down my face and clouding my vision. “Let me go. Yongguk.” 

“Wait, what?” Daehyun narrowed his eyes at me. 

“Daehyun!” I heard a voice call. 

He leaned me against the brick wall of the coffee shop and began running towards his team. I glanced at Yongguk’s spot on the road and saw his pool of blood but he was no where to be seen. The ambulance hadn’t yet arrived so where had he gone. I straightened up from the wall and looked around but couldn’t spot him anywhere. 

My breath sped up and I could hear my heart beat in my ear. Eyes darting around the area, but there was no sign of him only his pool of blood in the middle of the road, besides that, nothing. When the two gang members had been taken care of and arrested, Daehyun came back to my side and examined me. 

“Are you okay?” Daehyun examined me. “Your arm got shot.”

I glanced down at my arm and saw that indeed, a bullet had indented itself into my bicep, it must have been that grip I felt but my whole body and mind was numb from the shock. The pain in my arm felt like a sting compared to the aching pain in my heart. 

“Where’s Yongguk?” I asked, grabbing onto Daehyun’s arm. “Find him, please. He’s gone. You have to go find him.” 

Daehyun’s eyes widened and he looked back to where Yongguk had collapsed and ran to his team member. After saying a few things to the man that was known as Youngjae, he ran back to me. 

“We need to talk.” he said lowly. “But first let’s get your wound taken care of.”

By then the ambulance had arrived and Daehyun guided me to the car and sat me down on a seat as a nurse began treating my shot arm. Daehyun kept his stare on me the entire time, wincing at the pain that he must have felt when I was getting  treated, whereas I was just staring numbly into the distance, hoping that Yongguk was alright. If he could get away it meant that he was alive. 

“There you go.” the nurse said, after bandaging my arm. “Don’t use it too much for the next week and a half. Go to the hospital for regular check ups.”

I got up and began walking away. But then I felt Daehyun pull me back. 

“We need to talk.” Daehyun said, guiding me back to his car. 

After helping me into the passenger seat and him getting into his seat, Daehyun stared at me. I continued to stare out the window, too numb. I kept staring at the spot that Yongguk was last seen and my chest squeezed painfully in my chest. All I wanted was to curl up in bed and sleep. I couldn’t do anything else. 

“What are you and Bang Yongguk?” Daehyun asked. “Why did you say you didn’t know him when I first met you?” 

Seeing that there was no more hiding, I shifted my gaze to Daehyun. 

“Yongguk is my boyfriend of three years.” I mumbled. “I said I didn’t know him because I knew that he would get in trouble if you were to find out about him.”

“Why?” Daehyun whispered, sounding hurt. “You lied to me. You had no feelings for me but continued to string me along. That hurts. I really thought that we-“ 

“I couldn’t not date you.” I interrupted coldly. “My mom knew that I was dating Yongguk. She would bring it up if I spoke up. But she didn’t know that he was a…”

I trailed off from there. Daehyun looked frustrated with me but I couldn’t blame him. I had been stringing him along for the the past three months. I wanted explain everything to him in detail but the void in my heart was taking over my thoughts. 

“Daehyun, I’m sorry.” I said. “I had to protect him. I had to do anything within my power to protect Yongguk. I promise that I never intended to hurt you.”

“Well, how’s that working out for you?” Daehyun shot back. “Yongguk’s missing and probably going to die. You’re shot in the arm and you’ve played me really well.” 

“Dae-“

“Forget it.” he sighed, starting the engine. “I’ll take you back home.” 

After the silent and tense atmosphere on the car ride, Daehyun finally parked his car in front of the apartment. By the time I had gotten home, it was already eight, nearly nine in the evening.  I stepped out, hearing his car rush off immediately. I unlocked the apartment and stepped in, almost immediately overwhelmed by Yongguk’s familiar scent of cigarettes and cologne. 

I closed the door and locked it but quickly turning around to look for Yongguk. Maybe he came back home? If he was able to hide, it probably meant that he was still alive. I kept telling myself that and I kept the hope in my heart that Yongguk was alive. I looked around the apartment in hope that I’d just magically find him in one of the rooms.

“Yongguk?” I whispered. 

I hoped and prayed for an answer, but after twenty minutes of searching every single room of our apartment and finding his phone on my study table, I slumped down by the wall in our bedroom and sobbed. His scent and belongings were still in the house but he wasn’t physically there. I curled up into a ball and cried, mumbling Yongguk’s name through every sob.