pretty flower | 강새벽

018

( 𝗞𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗔𝗘-𝗕𝗬𝗘𝗢𝗞 )

"Sun-Hi?" I ask, looking down at the small, sleeping figure next to me. I've never seen someone look so amazing as they slept. 

She mutters something in her sleep, her head on my lap still, moving closer so her face was buried in my stomach. I chuckle and place a hand on her face, gently pulling her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. 

"Did you get any sleep?" I hear a voice from a few steps below me ask. I look down to see the owner of the voice looking up at me with pity in his eyes. 

"A little. But I promised to keep her safe, so I kept waking up to check on her." I respond to Gi-Hun, looking back down at the gorgeous girl asleep in my lap. 

Gi-Hun nodded his head, looking away and towards the old man. He began speaking to the old man, too quietly for me to overhear their conversation. 

"Did you stay up all night?" Gi-Hun asked, his voice louder this time, causing the small group around us to look at them. 

"I was afraid they might attack again." the old man answered.

"You must be so tired." 

The old man nodded before speaking again "I'm fine. You don't sleep much once you get old. I wasn't much help, so the least I can do is stand guard." 

The old man didn't get to say anything else before music erupted in the room, causing the fragile girl in my lap to stir. 

The third game will begin momentarily. 

"Sae? What's happening?" I hear her ask, her eyes slowly fluttering open as she tries to look up at me. 

Follow the staff's instructions and proceed to the game hall. 

I watch as fear flashed over her face and she sits up quickly, her breath quickening. 

"Shhhh, It's okay. You stay with me and I won't let anything happen, okay?" I tell her quickly, trying to calm her down. Sun-Hi looks at me and nods slightly, grabbing my hand and moving close to me again. 

Gi-Hun and Sang-Woo look up at us in sync, concerned looks on their faces just as the rest of us. I kiss Sun-Hi's forehead gently, causing her to close her eyes slightly and take a deep breath. 

"Are we going to die?" she asks quietly, causing me to tense up. 

Were we going to die? 

"No. Nothing is going to happen to us. We are going to make it out of here." Gi-Hun answered, glancing up at my face. 

"Sae?" Sun-Hi asks me, poking my shoulder. I stay in the position I was in, unable to look at her and unable to say anything. 

How am I supposed to promise her that we are going to be okay when she almost died last night. I almost died last night. How am I supposed to promise her something that I can't guarantee? 

"Sae? Why won't you answer me?" I can hear the pain in her voice, but I can't look at her. If I look at her, my heart will shatter. 

"Sae? Please! What did I do? Why are you ignoring me?" Her voice cracks and I feel my chest tighten. 

Sun-Hi lets go of my hand, moving away from me slightly. I look up towards Sun-Hi to see tears falling. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I look back to the ground in front of me and hear her fast footsteps running away from us. 

A single tear fell from my face, hitting the ground. I stand up quickly, walking away towards the brightly coloured stairs, ignoring the calls I was receiving from Gi-Hun and the rest. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯

I walked into the plain white room, climbing up and down the stairs, looking around for Sun-Hi. 

Let me repeat. This game will be played as a team. All players, please divide into teams of ten. You have ten minutes. 

"Where the hell is she?" I mutter, still looking for Sun-Hi. 

"If the game has to be split into teams of ten, maybe it's Tail Tag or Why Did You Come To My House," Gi-Hun says, glancing at me every so often. "If it's Tail Tag, we need to be fast. If it's Why Did You Come To My House, it's just Rock, Paper, Scissors. What should we do?" 

"We should find Sun-Hi." I glare, still looking around the room. 

"We'll find her, but we need to come up with a strategic plan so that once we find her, we can have a team already," Sang-Woo said, looking at me with a nod.

"You guys can do that, I'm going to find Sun-Hi. I'll meet you back here once I find her." I spit, walking away from them and continuing my search for Sun-Hi.

I walk around, pushing past people until I find Sun-Hi standing alone in a corner, curled in a ball and watching Deok-su carefully. I rush over to her, wrapping my arms around her, tears filling my eyes once again. 

"Sun-Hi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. But I don't want to lie to you" I cry, grabbing her face between my hands "I can't promise you that something isn't going to happen. I will do everything and anything I can to make sure nothing happens. But I will not lie to you and tell you that nothing is going to happen." 

Sun-Hi looks up at me, her breath shaky. "I thought you... I thought you hated me, Sae." 

"I could never hate you. You're perfect in my eyes, even your mistakes are perfect. Nothing you could do or say could ever make me hate you." 

Sun-Hi wraps her arms around my waist, pulling me closer to her, and buries her head in the crook of my neck. 

"Are you okay though?" I ask her, placing a kiss on her forehead. 

She nods her head "I love you, Sae. Please don't leave me." She whispers into my neck, causing me to smile. 

"I love you too, Sun-Hi. And I won't leave you." I whisper back to her "But we need to go back with Gi-Hun and them. They are making a plan about something and I need to make sure they aren't making some stupid plan that involves us in any way." 

Sun-Hi nods and lets go of me enough so we can stand up. She grabs onto my arm again and we begin walking back to the area with Gi-Hun and the 'team'. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Word Count: 1089