pretty flower | 강새벽

024

( 𝗞𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗔𝗘-𝗕𝗬𝗘𝗢𝗞 )

"Did I do something wrong?" I mutter to myself as I watch Sun-Hi walk away, holding the crazy lady's hand. She pulled the older one along with her, trying to distance away from us quickly.

"She doesn't want to be the cause of something happening to you. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself and she would blame herself, even if it wasn't her fault." the girl with the piercing spoke from behind me, only causing me to turn to glare at her. 

"And what would you know about it?" 

"What I know is that you are cold to everyone but her and she is worried that something is going to happen because of it. She's worried that you are going to sacrifice yourself for her or that you are going to get hurt because of her. I know that you both care about each other a lot, and it's quite easy to see that. You're yourselves with each other, you're comfortable with each other." 

I stare at her for a long while, waiting for her to say something else. Something that I didn't know, something that would help me make more sense of everything.

"She's scared that the person she loves is going to have something happen and it's going to be her fault. She's scared." She emphasized the scared, making me realize that Sun-Hi walked away because she cared about me more than she lets on.

I stare down at the ground, taking in the girl's words. 

"Team up with me," she says and I snap my neck up towards her. 

"Why should I?" I can feel my face hardening as I ask her.

"You'd rather hang onto those boomers over there? How embarrassing." 

I sigh in annoyance, looking down at her "I don't care if it's embarrassing. I have to win no matter what." 

"Then team up with me. I'll make sure you win. And I'll make sure you see your girlfriend again." 

"And how will you do that?" 

"I'll do whatever it takes."

I stare at her, tilting my head slightly before answering "Why do you want to team up with me?" 

"Why did you ask me to join?" she raises an eyebrow.

"You were the only one I thought would come along." 

She nods "I feel the same way now."

I glace down at her small hand that was outstretched towards me. I glance back up at her and then her hand once again.  I take her hand slowly, feeling the warmth of it. Her hands were soft and delicate, but not quite as slender as Sun-Hi's. Her fingers wrapped around mine, interlocking our hands as we make a mutual handshake. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯

( 𝗞𝗜𝗠 𝗦𝗨𝗡-𝗛𝗜 )

"Why wouldn't you just be on a team with her?" Mi-nyeo asks me as I pull her along with me. I don't answer her, instead, I continue pushing past people and getting a good spot. The spot I choose had a good view of some guards and we were hidden just enough so that if the guards above us started speaking, we could hear them. 

"Just because we're teamed up doesn't mean you have the right to ignore me now you know." She snatches her hand back from me, crossing her arms. 

"I don't want to talk about it." 

Mi-nyeo just stares at me with a raised eyebrow. 

"What do you want to know? You want to know how I'm so fucking terrified that if I team up with Sae, that I'll end up getting her killed? I'm terrified that if something happens and we have to make a choice on who is going to live, she is going to choose me? When I first started the game, the only thing I cared about was getting money so I could get my brother and sisters out of the hellhole I grew up in. To get them out so they could live like normal kids. They were all that mattered, if anyone else died, I wouldn't have cared. But now that I've gotten attached to people, I can't continue to live knowing that they had sacrificed themselves for me." 

I didn't say anything else, wiping the tears from my eyes and sitting on the ground as the time ticked down slowly on the timer. Mi-nyeo sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to her so I was leaning on her. 

"I've never loved anyone as I love her. Sae is my everything. I can't picture my life without her. If she died, I wouldn't want to continue with my life. My life would be useless without her." I cry and Mi-nyeo wipes the tears from my cheeks.

"And that's why I will make sure that you both get out of this shitshow together. I will do everything necessary to make sure you both live." she smiles and I nod as the timer dings. 

Time for team selection is over. 

We stand up and stay standing where we were, watching as people started walking past us and into the door. I watch as Sae and the girl walk together, directly past us. I take a deep breath, looking back towards where Mi-nyeo was standing. 

"Hey! Don't trust this asshole," Mi-nyeo yells, pushing Deok-su's partner backwards. "He's a scumbag. He'll abandon you in no time. He was in the league with the dead doctor out there." 

I rush over towards her, but someone grabs me from around the waist, restraining me. 

"Let go of me!" I growl, fighting against the unknownst arms. Instead of letting go, the arms grabbed onto me tighter, causing my stomach to tighten.

"Did you know that? He hid it from all of you to save his own ass. Tell me I'm wrong, you son of a bitch!" She yells, pushing Deok-su and grabbing onto his arm "He was in it the whole time! He deserves to die too!" 

"Get the fuck off!" Deok-su yells, pushing Mi-nyeo off him and onto the ground. She laid on the ground limp as the two men walked past her. I attempted to elbow the arms that had grabbed me but failed. The energy drained from my body and the air escaped my lungs before my eyes fluttered shut. Mi-nyeo's limp body was the last thing I saw before everything was pitch black. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯

 Word Count: 1055