interlude [1]

2

Just like they would in the morning, your eyes opened themselves just slightly. Although instead of waking up onto your soft mattress, you woke up on something that felt like the cold hard floor. And once your eyes had adjusted to the light, you saw that your senses were right about the floor part.

"Fuck" you cursed softly to yourself as your head felt odd right as you were able to realize it, you felt as if you were on another planet and yet able to realize that you were on the cold floor. You didn't remember drinking last night, neither did you sleep in the garage of the building.

Your body slowly moved to set itself up more straight so that your eyes had a broader view of where you really were. It was cold here which was something you realized when you saw your short-clad thighs and the rest of your bare legs. Only after that, your eyes scanned the rest of the room; which really wasn't even close to what they could call a room. It was just a floor with four walls built around it: simple brights and no windows around you at all, only a door to break the endless wall of brights.

Another thing that you realized was that you were alone in the room, no one else that accompanied you here, but most importantly was what you were here for and how you got to this place. Even though your limbs were still and cold, you managed to stand up on your bare feet and head towards the door first.

The door was locked and you could hear no noises from outside the door, it was as if you were alone on this world and no one was alive to save you. A scream for help left your lips and even though your scream was loud, it felt as if you went unheard by everyone. Defeated, you slumped against the roughly-textured wall, the place where you waited and waited.

What felt like two eternities later, the door opened up again. Instincts made you get up without realizing it as you pushed yourself past the person that stood in front of it. You were quicker than you had expected to be, which probably was because your body reacted when your mind couldn't. As you ran past the person, you heard something that sounded like metal collide with the floor. But it didn't stop you. Neither did the unfamiliar way around the place stop you.

You ran as fast as you could, taking the steps that went upstairs as fast as possible but you still had to be careful so that you didn't stumble over the steps. The presence behind you was quicker than you were, but each time you had a little joint of energy that kept you a step in front of him. The door at the top of the stairs had luckily still been open, which allowed you to run into an even more unexpected place. It looked like an abandoned place made into something better, yet you had no idea of what it really looked like because you were too occupied.

The last bit of energy that your body provided allowed you to run whatever way, near the end of the energy rush it combined with your mind to find a small hiding spot in the middle of the place. Your breathing stilled even though you were sure it was still heard after running up the stairs and away from the guy behind you, but at least your body was out of sight for a little bit.

"Do you know what NCT stands for? It's New Culture Technology"

The voice was loud through the almost poorly-decorated place but the words ran even louder through your mind as you heard the words. The footsteps came closer to you and soon another pair of footsteps did the same, surrounding you in without them realizing. The voice still sounded so young and yet you immediately knew where you ended up.

"It's Neo Culture Technology"

The other voice rang in your ears a second after, the tone sounding as if the person was smiling just a tad but judging the other guy. Some laughter from the two of them and other guys filling the emptiness in the room. You tried to keep yourself quiet through their small, joking talk: because even if they were joking, joking time would be over when they saw you.

The laughing was over when you heard the same gasping as you did once you ran from the basement of the place. "She's gone. She escaped" The voice said hurriedly but kept it shushed for some reason, probably because he assumed that you were somewhere in this room. The words seemed to cause everyone to start pacing around, looking behind every single object that they occupied in the abandoned place.

As they were too busy looking in particular places, you had the chance to silently slip back towards the place you came from. No one was able to catch you as you practically crawled back towards the basement. And even when you silently put the door against the lock: they just guessed it was another member of their gang coming into the room to help them look for you. The footsteps surrounded everything, but each time you heard them coming into the direction of where you were, they disappeared just as soon once again.

After a couple of minutes, it seemed completely quiet. You rested your head against the door to check if you really didn't hear any more footsteps or talking in the abandoned place. You counted in silence, gathering your courage before you opened the door.

Your eyes cautiously wandered around to see if you were correct about no one being here anymore, and a sigh of relief left your lips once you realized that you were right. A hand went to your face and rubbed through your eyes as you just needed some extra courage to just run and get out of this place as fast as possible. The timer on your wrist came to sight which revealed that you were only five steps away from your soulmate. A romantic cheesy plot about it being your saviour filled your mind and your mind was stupid to believe in such a little untrue fairytale at that moment.

The eyes never left your timer as you took slow steps and watched the digit change with each step that you took. You had forgotten about being captured by the most well-known mafia these days, you had forgotten about walking around in their hideout spot, and you had forgotten about the fact that you were trying to escape. Once the timer claimed that it was one more step, you felt joy running through your body, because you finally were going to meet the one you were destined to be with forever.

Your feet shuffled as you took the last step towards your soulmate, suddenly feeling something cold straight against your forehead. You had expected to bump into something, but rather than that, when you looked up, you saw the leader standing in front of you, his gun pressed against your forehead. Taeyong's eyes were intense, a devilish smile on his lips.

His eyes went towards his own counter for a second, making the smile widen once he had looked back at you. You belonged to him now, and you always would.

"that was your last step, darling."