Deal

Undeniable

He came forward and I backed towards the shop, clutching my bag, until my back hit the glass. I tried to make a run into the shop, but the men were quicker. Someone grabbed me from behind and put a hand over my mouth to prevent me from screaming.
I struggled and kicked my legs as I was dragged away from the shop with this strong and muscular arm wrapped around my body. I was like a doll to the man that was holding me; my struggle was weak and useless.
The shop became farther and farther from me, and I was towed into a narrow and dark alleyway beside the shop. They brought me deeper into the alley way, where the light from the street could not reach.
I could barely see anything, and I was scared to death. I could not even cry. I was petrified. Then the hand on my mouth was removed and I tried to scream, but a split second later it was replaced by a cloth and it was tied securely around my mouth.
I was then released from the grasp of the arm, and I tried to run away. But of course, it was impossible. Someone pushed me and my back hit the wall harshly, making me wince in pain.
Someone put their arms on the wall on either side of my body, trapping me. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness in the alleyway, I could see that it was the man who spoke earlier.
“You have nowhere to escape now; you’ll just have to wait till we’re finished…” that guy breathed on my face, and the smell was so bad that I wanted to gag.
A hand travelled up my bare thigh, and I heard the others snickered. I was now shaking all over. The hand ripped off my skirt and it fell to the ground, making the others laugh. I had never felt this humiliated in my life.
The man squeezed my butt before ripping off my jacket and throwing it behind him. He leaned closer to me and I tried to jerk my head away, although it would not be any help. I felt his rough lips touched my neck and his stubbles were scratching my skin. I whined in horror.
Just then I heard someone calling my name from the distant.
“(Yn)? Where are you?” it was Edward. I tried to scream but no sound was produced because of the string of cloth around my mouth.
“(Yn)?” he called again, his tone full of worry.
“Is he calling you?” the man lifted his head from my neck and whispered.
I struggled to move the man away from me and tried to scream again, making this weird noise. The man pushed me back onto the wall roughly and I yelped in pain as my head hit the wall. I panicked and kneed the man in the groin.
The man cursed loudly and backed away, his hands over his groin. I tried to make my escape but the others held me back.
Now Edward was walking pass the alleyway, but the noises we were making took his attention. He stopped and looked in our direction. Then he realized what was happening.
“(YN)!” he screamed and ran towards me. I used all my strength and stepped on the foot of the man who was holding my arms. He cursed and his grasp loosened, and I took the opportunity to run.
Edward and I met in the middle of the alleyway and I fell into his arms. He quickly straightened me up and ran away from the gang with me, holding my hand tightly.
But the gang caught up with us a few paces later. I glanced back and saw that two of them had some knifes in their hands. They yelled, and I saw that they were about to stab me in my back!
Edward heard how close they were to us and looked back. Then before I could react, I heard Edward shouted my name urgently and I was yanked towards him and was then wrapped in his arms, my head held securely against his chest. The next moment, I heard Edward yelled in pain.
I looked up from Edward’s arm and saw that one of the knife holders were about to stab Edward. I wanted to scream, and Edward knew we had nowhere to escape, so he turned his back to them and tightened his arms around me, protecting me. I tried to push him away to make him go behind me, but he would not budge a bit.
Suddenly, someone shouted very loudly. I thought it was Edward, who must have got stabbed, and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. How could he be so stupid? He should have run away when he had the chance!
But then, a second later I realized that it was not him. It was someone shouting from the entrance of the alleyway.
“Stop what you’re doing or else we’re going to shoot you!” it must be the police! I managed to turn my head slightly, but I saw that they were not police. They were another gang. Some of them had long knifes in their hands, and one of them had a gun pointed in our direction.
I looked back at the gang who was chasing us, and they had frozen. The man who just got kicked by me walked past us and raised his arms up.
“Come on, Joe, let’s take it easy, eh?” he said calmly.
“Take it easy? You just killed my man!” that guy who apparently was named Joe and was holding a gun boomed, “Now leave them alone and let’s fight. Or I’ll have to shoot you right now!”
“Guys, you heard him,” the man standing right in front of us turned around and told his man, “You don’t want to get killed before getting the chance to fight for your life.”
Then just like we did not exist, everyone left us and exited the alleyway. I was shocked; even my tears had stopped and Edward and I just stood there, frozen.
After a while, I gained my senses back and I started to cry madly. I buried my head into Edward’s chest and Edward was stunned. He was still frozen. A few seconds later he patted my head and brought me to where my clothes were to sit down on the floor against the wall. He helped me put on my skirt and wrapped my jacket around me. He sat there and held me tightly in his arms, trying to calm me down.
I sobbed into his neck and he kept whispering to me, “They’re gone, no one can hurt you now; I’m here. I’m so sorry (Yn), I should have never left you,”
I cried into his neck for ages before I could calm down. I wanted to tell him it was not his fault but I could not speak. Finally I calmed down and only silent tears were rolling down my cheeks while my body was slightly shaking. I looked up at Edward.
He wiped my tears away with his thumb and I noticed something red on his arm. I looked closer and, to my horror, I realized that his arm was bleeding. They must have done that when they missed stabbing me.
“Oh my God Edward,” I gasped shakily, “You’re bleeding!”
“It’s nothing, really,” he said.
“Come on, let me help you,” I had now recovered from the shock and fright. Seeing him like this had woken me up. I tore his sleeve from his bleeding arm and wrapped the cloth tightly around his wound. He winced when I did that. Luckily the injury was not serious.
“We should go to the hospital,” I told him.
He shook his head, “I’m sure I’ll heal; I hate the hospital,”
“But you’re bleeding!”
“It’ll stop, please, I really hate the hospital,” he really looked like he was scared of the hospital, “It’ll remind me of my – my grand—”
I put a finger to his lips to silence him. I could see that he had difficulties speaking about his fear and unpleasant past, “It’s okay Edward, I understand. I won’t make you go,”
“Thank you (Yn),” he smiled weakly.
“Thank you Edward, I should be the one saying thank you,” I said, “You saved me.”
“No, I did not,” he shook his head, “I put you in danger. I’m so sorry for leaving you.”
“It’s not your fault okay,” I told him, “You didn’t make them to come.”
Edward hugged me against his chest, “I’m glad that you’re okay. I was so scared – they didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“No, thanks to you,” I held his eyes, “How could you be so stupid? You should have run away! Now look at what I’ve got you into!” I gestured to his injured arm.
“It’d be worse if I didn’t do that,” he said, seriously, “They’d have k – killed you. Ugh I can’t even imagine what I’d do to myself if anything had happened to you! I don’t think I can live in a world without you (Yn)!”
He looked terrified of the thought of me getting hurt. I was touched to see he did really care about me a lot.
I leaned up and kissed him without thinking. Edward seemed surprised, but responded to the kiss immediately, our lips moving against each other urgently. I reached out my hand to pull Edward closer to me by his neck, and he pulled me up to him by my waist. I put my other hand on his shoulder to heave up my body, to get closer to him.
At last we stopped to gasp for air. Edward grinned at me happily.
I had fallen for Edward, hard. I could not deny it now; even though I was not sure about being with him before, now everything was utterly clear. He meant so much to me, and he did really love me. The thought of him getting hurt did hurt me.
“I love you,” this time it was me who spoke these three words.