Blood and Roses || Lee Taeyong

Chapter 12 | "too late"

Chaerin closed her eyes and waited for the knife to hit her but it never did. The pain never came. Slowly she opened her eyes to see Taeyong in front of her, the knife that was supposed to impale her clasped tightly in his hand only inches away. Her eyes flashed to his, seeing a familiar darkness to them as he quickly pulled out his gun and shot her attacker square in the chest, killing him instantly.

The moment the man fell to the ground, Taeyong dropped the knife, gripping onto her shoulders so that she was directly facing him. He quickly scanned her up and down, looking for any injuries. Eventually he made his way to her face. Chaerin's eyes widened as she looked into his, gone was the darkness she was so used to seeing and in its place, genuine concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked lowly.

"Y-yeah." She stuttered out with a nod.

"Thank god, I thought I was too late."

"You care?" She whispered out, a surprised glimmer in her eyes as Taeyong froze, his gaze flashing back to her.

"Of course I care," he said quickly. "I've always cared. Now let's go before you get hurt."

With that, he lightly grasped her arm and dragged her away from the building and back to the car where the others were nervously waiting.

- - -

Chaerin couldn't stop playing the moment over and over again in her head. She almost died. She almost DIED.

It was almost surreal, it finally dawned on her just how much danger she was really in and what could've happened it if wasn't for.... him.

Why did Taeyong save her? Didn't he want her dead? She had no idea but she knew she needed to thank him, whether he hated her or not.

She carefully made her way to his office, taking a deep breath before lightly knocking on his door.

"It's open." His deep voice called from inside.

She slowly pushed open the door, turning the gold handle and walking in. The moment she made eye contact with him, his eyes filled with shock. Not an unpleasant look, just surprise.

"Can I help you?" He asked, composing himself with a bored expression.

"No I uh... I just um...."

"Just what? Spit it out, I'm busy." He snapped back, the old cold demeanor returning.

"Just wanted to thank you. For earlier." She mumbled sheepishly. "I know you didn't have to do that, but thank you."

"Oh, uh, sure." He said quickly, waving it off with a dismissive hand. "It's whatever. Now I'm very busy so get out of my office, you're distracting."

Her eyes widened slightly in shock but she dipped her head anyway, frowning as she turned and walked out of the office. His eyes glued to her as she left, staring her down until she was out of sight. Once she rounded the corner, he let out a sigh, allowing his shoulders to drop and his head to hang.

"Thank god." He mumbled to himself. "That was way too close of a call on that poor girls life..."

- - -

"Knock knock? Can I come in?"

Chaerin looked up from the boom she was reading as the door to her room slowly opened, seeing Yuta peaking his head in.

"Hey Yuta, what's up?" She said with a smile, waving him in.

"Just coming to check in on you, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." She replied quickly, scooting over as he took a seat on the edge of her bed. "All thanks to Taeyong, I'm safe and sound."

"Sorry about that, by the way."

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, sorry." Yuta nodded. "You were in some serious danger there, it was thoughtless of us."

"Oh don't sweat it, you didn't know and I ended up all in one piece, didn't I?" She joked, gesturing to her unharmed body. "I'm just surprised that Taeyong cared enough to save me."

"Not gonna lie, me too. When Renjun told us what happened, we all rushed to you as fast as possible and when I heard that Taeyong was the closest, part of me definitely thought you were a goner."

"Why did he do it though? Doesn't he hate me?"

"I don't know, he's weird like that sometimes." Yuta shrugged. "I tend not to question him. He scares us."

"Yeah I feel that." She chuckled out. "I'm just glad I was on the receiving side of his mercy this time."

"You can say that again." Yuta said with a smile, high fiving her. "So what do you say we text the others for a movie night? I think Johnny and Jaehyun want to join too."

"Sounds good, as long as I get to pick the movie."

"What? No fair." Yuta whined out as he texted the others.

"Too bad, I was almost killed today so it's my pick."

"Yeah yeah whatever Princess Chae."