Chapter 23
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
Victoria took a step back. Her voice had caught itself in while her brain was quickly searching for an escape route.
“You probably didn’t expect to see me,” Young Ae smiled pleased with the fear encased in Victoria’s eyes.
The wail of a baby suddenly cursed the air before a bouncing ball came rolling their way. It came to a slow stop once it collided into Young Ae’s leg.
Victoria turned to look at the small toddler who’d come running after her. When he picked up the ball and glanced up at Young Ae confused, Victoria turned to see his mother come chasing after him.
“I’m sorry, sorry,” his mother apologized toward them.
Certain that Young Ae wouldn’t have the guts to hurt her in front of a witness Victoria quickly turning around dashed for the door. Changmin was walking toward her just at the right moment.
Grabbing his arm she ran through the doors feeling her heart take a leap when Eui Tae started pushing his way through the line by the checkout lane.
“Why! What’s going on?!” Changmin asked loudly trying to look back.
Victoria pulled him forward, “Don’t let them see your face!”
“What…”
“Unlock the car! Unlock the car!” Victoria’s scream interrupted him.
Changmin’s heart leaped as he dug into his pocket for his keys but turned back to look at Victoria with blank wide eyes. Victoria stared back at him confused for a second before she realized the worst possible situation she could have come across.
“I don’t have them,” the words trailed out quickly as they came to a fast stop.
dropped open and Victoria turned back to see Eui Tae and Young Ae quickly joining up. What was she going to do?
“Why?” Changmin asked almost turning his head to look at who was after them.
Victoria shook him toward her, “I said don’t look at them. If you get your face shown you’re not going to be safe either.”
More confusion scrunched up his face, but too impatient to even care Victoria pulled him around the cars and ducked down. Listening very carefully she could hear their loud footsteps still moving around in search of them. Glancing down through the bottom of the cars she saw their feet walking in the direction just pass them. Still crouched down Victoria pulled Changmin after her. As soon as they passed by the hood of the car they popped up and turned to the left, right, left again, right again, and left, right, left before Victoria was sure they were confusing her two chasers. As they circled around the parked cars in a maze-like manner Victoria had started her way back toward the mart.
Once they entered through the automatic doors she ran toward the meat section as fast as she could. Changmin diligently followed without a word. Stopping before the glass counter beside a white draped table and darting her eyes furiously she suddenly heard something cling against each other.
“Found it!” Changmin exclaimed with a grinning smile.
Relief shot through Victoria before she heard loud gasps and complaints coming from the aisle they’d just come from. Within seconds the giant Eui Tae appeared around the corner and Victoria’s heart nearly stopped when he started lunging at them. Changmin barely stepped in front of her before he grabbed onto the table and sent it sliding across the floor toward Eui Tae. As it collided into him Changmin grasped her hand and they dashed throughout the mart pass sneering men and women.
When they got outside Victoria glanced at his hopeless old fashioned key and shut her eyes frustrated. Quarter of the way down the large acre sized parking lot Victoria glanced back to see Eui Tae running out of the doors with Young Ae lagging behind.
“Sorry, my car is an old one…it doesn’t have a car beeper,” he apologized.
Victoria let go of his hand and ran toward the passenger’s side impatiently pulling at the door handle, “Hurry!”
She anxiously glanced up to see Eui Tae and Young Ae nearing. They were almost there. Just about 10 feet away.
“Get in!” Changmin’s voice called out.
Victoria pulled the door opened and immediately locked the door as Changmin backed out of their lot. She could hear pounding on the windows as Eui Tae tried to climb on. Clutching her hand into a fist to calm herself down Victoria could feel fear break loose inside of her.
When they drove past an intersection Changmin asked, “Are you ok?”
Victoria nodded still full of fear. Her breathing had become unsteady and cold sweat had started forming on her forehead and in the palm of her hands.
They reached the house a few minutes later and even being inside the home couldn’t settle down her feelings. The thought of being abducted and that she would have to see Ren Gei again sent chills up and down continuously down her spine.
Even the fact that Eunhyuk was in the kitchen with Yuri couldn’t seem to surprise her.
Changmin let out a loud sigh as he dropped the bag of meat onto the kitchen table, “I had no idea shopping could be so dangerous. I absolutely can’t go back there. You’re going to have to do the shopping from now on.”
“What?” Yuri questioned confused at his remark. “Why? What happened? Why does Victoria seem so worn out?”
“We ran into them at the mart,” Changmin explained as Victoria helplessly leaned against the table, “well…not me, but Victoria did.”
“What?!” Eunhyuk got up from his seat alarmed with the news.
“I’m ok,” Victoria cut in. “But I’m not so sure about Changmin. They might have seen his face.”
Yuri turned from Victoria back to Changmin who quickly shook his head.
“I only turned for less than a point second. He shouldn’t have seen me,” Changmin refuted. “I’m fine.”
“Well, it’s just Changmin,” Yuri slightly muttered before turning back to Victoria. “Why don’t you get some rest while I start on dinner?”
“I could help you too,” Victoria offered before Eunhyuk got up from the chair and put a hand on her arm.
“Hey, lets talk,” Eunhyuk suggested.
Victoria glanced at him worried for a slight second before following him out the door to the backyard. Sitting down beside each other, Victoria rubbed her hands together wondering if Yuri had said anything to him while she was gone. She turned back around to see Yuri bossing Changmin around in the kitchen.
“Why didn’t you tell me you heard about Donghae?”
Her attention spun back to Eunhyuk and she glanced at him wondering what he was talking about.
“About Donghae and who he’s probably with,” Eunhyuk clarified after looking at her blank expression.
Victoria’s eyes tilted downward before she looked at him again, “It’s nothing big.”
“Are you ok?” he asked as if he was sure he knew something else about her.
Her jealousy? Or her overrunning concerned feelings?
“It’s fine…really,” Victoria tried but why did her voice sound so fake?
“Ok.”
Victoria hesitated before saying, “If he’s not alone…it only means there’s something else connected to this whole thing. I’m only worried that the root of the problem is much more than what Donghae can deal with.”
When Eunhyuk looked at her it seemed as if his eyes glowed in the dark.
“Ren Gei broke out of prison,” Victoria went on, “you knew that, didn’t you?”
Eunhyuk’s face was struck with guilt.
“That’s why you followed me home that day,” Victoria recalled before smiling, “thanks.”
/ / / / /
Kikwang had found another place for them to settle in for the night. Donghae lie on the ground stiffly trying to lure sleep to him, but Kikwang who was pacing back and forth was preventing sleep. Nana who lie on the opposite side of the ground hadn’t spoken all day. It was bringing Donghae to wonder why she was so angry that Kikwang was in their presence.
Suddenly the lights turned off and Kikwang crawled onto the ground beside him. They were quiet for a long time.
“Remember what we talked about,” Kikwang whispered before turning away from him to sleep.
How was Victoria? Was she well? Where was she? Was she afraid being by herself? All these thoughts occurred to Donghae again before he fell into darkness for some time.
The gentle knocking on the door brought Donghae up until he realized that Kikwang was urgently shaking him awake. Sensing that something was out of order, Donghae shot up from the ground and looked around. Scanning the darkness of the room to adjust his eyes he finally turned to Kikwang.
“Take Nana with you into the bathroom,” Kikwang whispered underneath his breath so quickly that Donghae could tell he was resisting panic. “There’s a window in there. I broke the screen earlier so you’ll be able to get through it. Hurry!”
The repeated knocking at the door made shivers crawl underneath his skin.
“It might not be…” Donghae started.
“At this time of night? You’re kidding me. Who in the world would come knocking at our door?” Kikwang quietly bellowed before shaking Nana awake. “Osan, remember that.”
Donghae stared at Kikwang for a long time wondering if it was really alright to leave this young boy alone. But heck, he’d fought them off by himself to get to Nana. It would be fine. He was trained and fit to fight.
Sealing his lips together, Donghae got up and pulled Nana from where she was sloppily sitting before entering the bathroom. Shutting the door and locking it he turned to the bathtub and immediately recognized the window Kikwang had spoken about.
“Why? What’s going on?” Nana asked, still in dreamland as Donghae crossed over into the tub and pulled at the window.
After he’d lifted the window up he glanced outside to see that it was empty. Figuring it was safe he quickly turned around to hear some sort of pounding coming from outside the bathroom door. As his heart began pulsing quickly he reached out for Nana’s arm and pulled her over.
“It’s not too far down, can you jump?” he asked.
Nana glanced out the window and backed up before frowning, “No, I’m not doing it.”
“Why’d I even ask,” Donghae muttered underneath his breath before pushing her toward the window anyhow. “You need to get out first. I’ll be right after you.”
“What?” Nana half shrieked. “No!”
Donghae quickly clasped a hand over and turned back to look at the bathroom door. Everything had gone silent outside and he wonder what kind of situation Kikwang was in.
“They’re going to get to us before you can get your brother justice,” Donghae tried, “either you go so we can run, or you stay here for them to come for you. And I guarantee that I’m not going to help you.”
Nana stared at him for a long time and he couldn’t tell if she was just staring or silently glaring. In the end, Nana pushed him aside and pulled herself through the window before jumping from the second story. Peering out to make sure that Nana was alright, Donghae started to pull himself through it as well just before the doorknob to the bathroom started twisting and turning. It sent chills down his spine before he jumped out and landed on both his feet.
“Yong Jo!” he heard someone scream.
Grabbing Nana who was rubbing her hurt ankle, Donghae made a run toward the parking lot and toward the dark streets.
“Ah…wait! I can’t run! It hurts!” Nana screeched after him.
“Just for a bit, hold it in,” Donghae told without turning to look at her.
Stopping by the edge of the street and peering back to see that no one was yet at their backs, he wondered how he would get to a bus station or anything that could bring them to Osan.
Frantically searching back and forth amongst the street to see that the roads were almost clear, Donghae pulled Nana after him and blindly started with a half run across the street. But that was before the bright lights of a car blinded him from the side. Freezing in step, he turned to look at the car shielding his eyes with a hand as it honked at them.
/ / / / /
Victoria abruptly turned toward the street as a car honked somewhere at the intersection near the home.
“What is it?” Eunhyuk asked.
For some reason, Victoria’s heart was palpitating very fast. Getting up from where she was sitting she tilted her head up to look around.
“Victoria, what is it?” Eunhyuk questioned from behind also getting to his feet.
It felt as if he was somewhere near. That Donghae was close by. Or maybe she was just hallucinating from having thought about him too much. When silence only responded back to her pleading wishes, Victoria turned around.
“It’s nothing,” she lied with a smile. “Lets go back in.”
Drawing the door open she stepped back into the kitchen to the warmth of Yuri’s home.
***So sorry, guys, for the lack of update. I'm currently so busying trying to keep up with my classes that I haven't had time to write. Thanks for waiting patiently and I hope you guys are still here.
spring semester ends this friday and i'm off for summer break :D i'll get back on track with YSRMII
Comments