18

Have you ever gone to a party with big expectations of a mass of people, loud music, drinks here and there, and freedom to do everything you wanted? If you have, then this club would be your paradise as it was exactly that. Bodies moving at the rhythm of the loud music as the dancers drank litres and litres of alcohol. People kissing here, others... doing something else there. Strangers inviting strangers; the party that everyone would want. Everyone but Hyuna.

It was almost nine and Hyuna still wondered why she hadn’t left yet. Her stomach was screaming for some real food and was so damn dry. She might have considered taking a sip of the rainbow coloured drink some guy —a really hot one— had given her like years ago and was lying now on the table, but she was sure it had alcohol. It’s not that she gave a about being underage, but if she smelled of alcohol when she got home, Junhyung would tell their parents and she would have to fly back to Busan. So, that was obvious and big NO.

And since she had not even a single drop of alcohol in her veins, she was bored as hell. Seriously! They had said they did some dance battles here, but the only show they had seen was at the beginning of the night when some dance crew did a little of break dance. That was all. And it wasn’t that good either. And being really honest, Hyuna didn’t care about the dance battles... if Hyunseung wasn’t in them.

AARGGG. Fine, fine, she had come here just because she thought it would have been a good chance to finally dance with Hyunseung. But said boy was who-knows-where.

“Hey” speaking of the angel devil “Why aren’t you dancing?” he asked her with his usual sweet smile and speaking a bit loud due to the music.

“Ah, I’m just tired. I actually was thinking in going back now” but if you want to dance I may change my decision.

“Oh, then I’m go with you” guess not. But hey, they’re leaving together. And since they leave near they might take a cab together or maybe just the bus.

“Eugh~ what was that?” suddenly Hyunseung’s voice pulled her back from dreamland. She turned to him and saw the empty glass of the rainbow drink in his hand.

“I have no idea, but it probably had alcohol” she said while trying to hold her chuckles at the funny faces he made. Even like that he looked so good.

“Well, it tastes horrible” he said and Hyuna had to laugh. It was impossible not to. Hyunseung turned to her and pouted.

OMG so cute!!! She yelled in her mind. In order to prevent Hyunseung from noticing her blushing face, Hyuna decided to pull his hand and walk out of the club. OMG I’m holding his hand!

Once out, Hyuna let go of his hand. Hyunseung didn’t seem to care about it and guided her through the streets. As they walked they decided to talk about anything. And Hyuna learned more and more about Hyunseung. He loved dancing, but not as something he wanted to make money with. That’s why he didn’t participate in the dance competitions before. No, to him dancing was something with a deeper meaning. He didn’t really explain what that meaning was, but Hyuna felt kind of empty when he mentioned it.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the vibration of his phone. And to Hyuna’s bad luck it was his uncle who told him to do some errands. Hyunseung apologised to Hyuna for not being able to accompany her to the bus station, but he said his uncle was in a hurry so he had to leave and it was the other way.

It hadn’t been long since she started walking when she heard someone calling out her name.

“Hyuna!” She turned around to see Kikwang running to her. “Are you Ok?” He asked in a really worried voice and serious face while holding her by the shoulders.

“eh... yes?” What was with him? Wasn’t he supposed to be in his room locked by his mom?

“Oh, thank god” he leaned in her shoulder and then hugged her. “Thank God you’re Ok”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the affection, Kwangie. I do, but what the hell is with you?” Kikwang broke the hug and looked at her.

“Ji eun called me and she was really worried. She said some guy had given you a drink and he might have put something on it” something on her drink?

“He did what?!”

“I guess Ji eun was wrong since you’re fine”

“Of course I’m fine. I didn’t drink it” Kikwang gave her a questioning looking eyes “it had alcohol and I was sure Junhyung would smell it me and God knows he would probably forbid me to come again”

“So, what’s the problem?” if she didn’t drink it was good, right? What was the problem?

“The problem is that Hyunseung drank it!” she said while biting her thumb’s nail. Kikwang widened his eyes and without wasting time they went looking for Hyunseung.

It hadn’t been long since Hyuna and Hyunseung parted in different directions, so he shouldn’t been far there. But he had said he was taking a short-cut and that meant they had to look for him in dark alleys. To avoid that, Kikwang decided to call him, but no matter how many times it rang, he never answered. There was no way he didn’t have it with him; Hyuna had seen him call his uncle just half an hour ago; and he had said he was going back home.

And if something had happened to him? And if the pill or whatever they had put into her drink was something dangerous and now he was

Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

“Where the hell are you?” hissed an angry Junhyung. Oh, . She had forgotten to call him. “Do you know what is right now?”

“I-I k-know. I’m sorry oppa” she said with shaky voice.

“H-hey, is everything ok?” Oh, right. She had said the magic word. “Hyuna, tell oppa what’s wrong”

“Oppa, someone put something in my drink” she couldn’t help but tear out of nervousness.

“What? Are you ok? Where are you? I’m picking you up” Junhyung hissed at the other side

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I didn’t drink it, but a friend did it. I don’t know what they put and... What if something happens to my friend?” she tried to be strong, but she couldn’t but been worried about Hyunseung.

“It’s ok, tell me where you are and I’ll go help you find your friend”

She told him the direction and he almost let her deaf. He said he was near and it couldn’t take him much time to get there. Finished the call, Hyuna turned around looking for Kikwang, but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked around the area but she couldn’t find him. Just when she was about to start panicking, she saw Kikwang hiding behind a trash container in the entry to an alley. She was about to walk to him when, luckily, he saw her and motioned for her to keep quiet.

Even when she didn’t understand why, Hyuna did as Kikwang told her to. Then he made some gestures with his hands to make her look at the alley. When she did, she saw three tall figures standing above a smaller one that was lying on the floor. It couldn’t be. She turned to Kikwang with wide eyes and he mouthed a name. It was him; it was Hyunseung. She looked to the alley again and saw one of the figures moving him with his foot, but he didn’t move at all. He couldn’t be death could he?

Suddenly, she felt hand covering . . She tried realising herself, but a strong arm held her still. , no; , No; , NO! She was hushed and she decided to stop fighting. Maybe then, if they thought she was going to be obedient she could find a way to escape. She had her eyes shut tight as her captor pushed her softly to the wall.

“hey, it’s me” said a known voice. She opened her eyes and saw her stupid brother who had never looked more gorgeous to her. As soon as he loosened his grip on her, Hyuna threw her arms around her brother and felt that she never wanted to let go of him ever again.

“It’s alright, I’m sorry I scared you” he hushed her while caressing her hair and holding her tight. She was kind of mad because she was still scared —because of him— but there was no time for that. They needed to help Hyunseung.

“In the alley... on the floor... three guys there” she tried to explain in bad Korean.

“I know; I’ve seen them” luckily Junhyung seemed to catch Hyuna’s incoherent words.

He looked at the alley and frowned, thinking on a way to help Hyuna’s friend. Those were three big guys, probably around their early twenties, with a bit more strength than a writer each one, so it would probably a no win for Junhyung if he chooses the brilliant idea to fight them alone. Even with the help of Kikwang —who he had seen already— it would be dangerous, and he couldn’t put the three kids in more danger. But being as bright as he is, he found another solution.

“What are you doing?” Hyuna asked him as he dialled a number on his phone.

“Calling the police” he said and put the phone on his ear.

“They’re going to take a while to come and they won’t do it if you hung up!” she hissed at him when she saw him hanging up after the first rang.

“No if they call me” and as soon as he said it, a police patrol’s siren sounded loud.

Loud and fast steps were heard and then they were gone. They waited a little bit after that before Junhyung answered his phone and told his editor he had dialled a wrong number. He looked around, and just when he was sure those men were actually gone he made his way into the alley, to the body on the floor. When he got there he couldn’t believe what he saw.

“It’s the boy” Junhyung under his breath mumbled as he kneeled down beside him. Chubby soft cheeks, thin pink lips, pretty face, pretty doe eyes now closed... He brushed his hair off his face and saw the small cut on his forehead that hadn’t healed completely yet. There was no doubt it was the same boy.

Looking the surprised face on her brother, Hyuna thought that something was bad with him so she went into the alley too with Kikwang behind her. She kneeled down beside him and tried to wake him up.

“yah Hyunseung, Hyunseung-ah!” Hyuna shook Hyunseung’s body, but the boy didn’t reacted at all. Hyuna put his ear near his mouth and confirmed he was still breathing. Just then she was able to breathe normally again.

“He seems to be fine. They just stole everything he had” Kikwang said after checking if Hyunseung was harmed.

“He’s just asleep” Junhyung said. Both Kikwang and Hyuna looked at him. “The probably put some sleeping pills on your drink”

“So, he’s going to be fine?” Hyuna wanted to be sure. It was her fault Hyunseung was in that alley, after all. Just then Hyunseung let out a long sigh.

“Yes, he’ll probably wake up with a big headache, depending on what did they use”

Knowing that Hyunseung was all fine and just sleeping peacefully, Hyuna felt better. After that, Junhyung carried Hyunseung to his car. They took Kikwang to his house and then they left to Junhyung’s apartment... taking Hyunseung with them. Hyuna wanted to call someone to ask for his address. That way they could drop him at his house, tell a little lie to his parents that he drank too much, and he wouldn’t get punished. But Junhyung had said it would be totally weird and suspicious to arrive with the kid in arms and try to convince his parents he wasn’t a ert and their son was fine, which wasn’t totally true —obviously meaning the last part.  It would be also hard to explain why he didn’t smell of alcohol when he had ‘drank too much’ and that, without mentioning his missing belongings.

“Let’s let him explain his parents what happened, tomorrow... when he’s awake” Junhyung pursued and Hyuna had no other choice than to accept. Aish, she was sure it would bring him a lot of trouble with his parents, but Junhyung was right, there was no other choice.

Even thought Hyuna had wanted to help Junhyung with Hyunseung, he had told her not to worry and just go to sleep. So, after taking a long well needed shower, she wore her pyjama and got into her bed. But before sleeping, she took a small notebook from the table beside her bed, opened it on the mark and wrote on the line below the previous one.

Note to self —and learnt by experience: do not accept anything from strangers.

Seriously!

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Uhuhuhuhu

My dear readers; today there’s nothing much to say more than 5 important words:

This is where Junseung starts.

*Insert Evil laugh*