Blood and Roses || Lee Taeyong

Chapter 6 | "fight me"

Immediately after the words left Jaehyun's mouth, Lucas ran forwards. His long legs allowed him to appear in front of her in only three strides, giving her very little time to react. Before he could reach her, she darted out of the way, narrowly escaping his outstretched arms.

Her mind was on overdrive, her body in panic mode as she practically sprinted around the mat trying to outrun the larger boy. Her cheerleading and gymnastics background allowed her to maneuver her body around his lunges but she knew it wouldn't hold up. She could only stay on the defense for so long before he got her.

"Think for a second, Chae, you know what to do!" Jaehyun called out to her from the side.

"Attack him, Chaerin!" She heard Jaemin yell out encouragingly.

Taking their advice, she stopped running, causing Lucas to briefly stumble out of surprise. Not thinking, she jumped on the opportunity of his momentary distraction and ran at him, twisting his arm behind his back and kicking his knee in.

His larger size was to his disadvantage as he toppled to the ground. Before he could get up again, she quickly ran over to him and did her best to pin him down.

"Not too bad." He huffed out, looking up at her with a smile. "But you weigh nothing and I'm still stronger than you."

With that he quickly pushed her off of him, flipping them around so that she was pinned beneath him. After holding Chaerin there for a moment he climbed off of her, offering her a hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Pretty good, Chaerin." Jaehyun said from the side. "I know he flipped you, but pinning him like that would've given you the chance to pull a gun and shoot him if you had to. Nice job."

Lucas gave her a quick high five as Mark stepped onto the floor. She didn't quite know what to think about fighting him, he wasn't short or insanely tall like Lucas. She knew he was muscular but not like Jaehyun or Johnny. She didn't know what to expect.

Once again they took up positions on opposite sides of the mat, the two of them staring each other down as they waited for Jaehyun's signal.

"Fight."

Chaerin tried the same approach she did with Lucas, but quickly saw that it wasn't going to work. She realized why Jaehyun had picked Mark: he was just like her. Mark was fast.

Every time Chaerin tried to avoid him, he would zip around and cut her off. It was like watching a cat play with its food, she was the mouse desperately trying to find an escape.

After a few more tries she stopped running, turning to face him head on and try her best to fight him off. She lunged at him, swinging out with her fist. She made contact with his side, but he was already moving out of the way so the blow was weak. He quickly turned and kicked her in the back, not hard enough to knock her down but enough to send her stumbling across the mat.

She turned around, ready to attack again but Mark was quicker. The moment she face him, he spun around her and wrapped his arms around her neck, holding her in a headlock. Chaerin's mind was spinning, thinking of how to get out.

She tried elbowing him in the stomach, swinging out with her feet, she could hear him grunt as she hit him but he remained stable. Soon an idea popped into her head, a last ditch effort at survival.

Quickly she let her knees go weak, dropping all her weight straight to the floor. It seemed to have worked, catching Mark off guard as he went tumbling over her, losing his grip on her neck and allowing her to wiggle free and pin him down.

Once again, he was able to flip her due to his greater strength, but all she heard from the boys after was cheers. Mark quickly pulled her to her feet, giving her a quick hug.

"Nice job, Chaerin. You could've finished me off there with a knife or something before I flipped you." He said encouragingly, giving her a thumbs up as he walked off the mat.

"That was impressive, Chaerin, you did better than I thought you would." Jaehyun said with a nod. "There's nothing you can do about the fact that they're just stronger than you, but you gave yourself chances to kill them if it was life or death. I think you're ready to move on."

"Yay!" She exclaimed, hugging the younger boy with a smile, causing all they boys around them to chuckle.

"I want a turn!" Yuta called out.

"Wait me too!" Added Doyoung.

"I want to fight Chaerin!" Ten said with a nod.

Soon all the boys joined in, claiming they wanted a chance to fight her. Jaehyun and Chaerin quickly broke out into chuckles.

"What do you say, Chae? Up to fight one more person?" Jaehyun asked the small girl.

"Hmm.... alright why not." At her response, the boys all cheered. "But who?"

"Me! Yuta!"

"No, Ten! Choose Ten!"

"How about Kun? I think Kun would be a great choice."

She laughed as all the boys began calling out their own names.

"She'll fight me."

Chaerin felt all the blood drain from her face as she instantly recognized the owner of her voice, not daring herself to look as her hands began to tremble.