Race On Race

Chapter 7 : The protest

•Protest

~A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so.

N a t h a n. P O V

We've been protesting for some hours now and the protesters decided to call it a day , Yeonjun had asked Yeri if she could accompany him for some coffee at the café , but Yeri being her oblivious self had to invite me . To be honest, even though I felt bad that yeonjun wasn't able to get her alone with him , a part of me was glad about it .

We were Currently in the café , we found a table and patiently waited for the waiter and after a few minutes he came up to us "Nate , Yeri , nice to see you guys!" He greeted. Yeri , Amitola and I were quite known here . The Café was run by an old lady , her children and grandchildren , it's basically a family run café and I absolutely loved that . Though the Lady rarely comes here , her family does a great job managing it,her children take care of the kitchen while her grandchildren , jisoo and Jin (who are twins) take orders . We've gotten close to the twins ,mainly through helping them out with their homework and giving them what Amitola calls "The way around 16 tips" , basically teenage advice .

"Hi Jin! , This is yeonjun" Yeri said , introducing Jin to Yeonjun ,"he already knows who I am , I came here yesterday" yeonjun said as he flashed Jin a smile "well then , we'll have the usual , the chocolate exploration"Yeri said as she truned to yeonjun "what will you have?" ,"The same " he quickly answered.

Our food arrived and I immediately took a sip of my chocolate shake ,which as always made my taste buds rejoice . I saw yeonjun take a bite of the chocolate cake and he looked surprised, but in a good way "this is great! , What's in here?" He asked as Jisoo who brought our orders and was still here answered him "chocolate from all around the world , melted together to create the ultimate chocolate adventure for your taste bugs to go on" she replied with a wide smile on her face , my attention went to my plate but I could feel Jisoo looking at me until she soon left. "Nate you know she has a crush on you right ?" Yeri asked "yeah" I replied "but , I already have my eyes on someone" I added ,quickly realizing that I probably shouldn't have said that ,"really, who?!" She turned to me and she looked shocked, but I could see  disappointment in her eyes ,if only she knew it's her . Yes , I am aware she has a crush on me what can I say , I'm a very observant person I'm just not sure if I want to initiate something with her yet "you'll know when I introduce her to you as my girlfriend " she looked even sadder now , I guess I shouldn't have said that either .

One might wonder why i haven't told her about my crush on her even though I know she likes me back , well I guess I'm just worried , about what you may ask? I have no idea honestly .

"So yeonjun , FIC huh? , Isn't that in New York?" I asked, trying to change the topic to lift Yeri's mood , usually I'm not the one to start a conversation or interact with someone I barely know , but I just had to do something to lighten up the atmosphere "oh yeah , I'm here as part of the protest community" he answered ,"how long have you and Yeri known eachother?" I asked as he took a sip of his milkshake "for about..... A year now, I came last year for the BLM protests , we bumped into each other at the park and exchanged numbers after realizing we had so much in common" I was actually shocked that they knew each other for a year ,"wow Yeri , you've known the dude for a year and you didn't tell any of us about his existance" her eyes widened and she started moving around in her seat , "well actually, the others already met him , it's just that you and I weren't that close" ,"oh" I simply said as I felt a little hurt , I looked at the time and it was 1pm , I was planning on visiting Liam at the hospital and visiting hours were almost up for the afternoon , so I had to leave now. At least yeonjun will get his chance to be alone with Yeri "sorry Yeri , but I have to go , I'm visiting Liam in the hospital" ,"oh , I can come with-" just when she said that ,there was a huge explosion in the café , I opened my eyes and saw Yeri on me "Yeri , Yeri! Are you okay" ,"yeah , where's yeonjun?" I then looked around and saw his body on the ground with blood running down his head , I then looked around and saw the kitchen on fire and Jin trying to get a table off of him . I begun shaking and it seems Yeri noticed , "Nate?!" She called but my eyes were still focused on the growing fire and the uninjured people running out , "Nate!" She finally got my attention as I quickly got up

"Yeri go outside and call 991!" I yelled as I got myself together and moved towards Jin to lift the table off of him "quick get outside!" ,"But my parents, they're still in the kitchen!" I turned to the kitchen and saw a way to get in and help his parents out , which wasn't the easiest thing to do as the smoke was quickly spreading making it harder and harder to see and breathe "I'll get them , help out yeonjun over there" I pointed at yeonjun as he ran to him.

I started moving towards the kitchen as it got hotter and hotter the closer I got . I managed to get in but my breathing was unstable , I spotted Jins dad , he was trying to lift something up , it looked like a refrigerator "sir you need to get out!" ,"I can't , my wife is under this" I then noticed a hand as I crouched down and helped him lift the refrigerator up , failing at the first attempt , I tried taking a deep breath which was a bad idea as I frantically begun coughing , we tried again this time managing to barely lift it luckily enough for his wife to get up "thank you" I nodded as a piece of the ceiling dropped "we need to get out of here quick!" I said as we made our way towards the door and just when I was about to get out , I heard someone painfully call for help, I looked around and saw Jisoo on the floor , I moved towards her and helped her stand up. I had to move slowly because it seemed she had broken her leg, as we moved I felt a sharp sting in my head , the lack of oxygen and my head injury were not going well together, we made it to the door and I heard crack sounds , I looked up as I saw a piece of the ceiling board about to drop , I thought fast and pushed Jisoo out the door , her leg probably felt even worse but at least she was out , just then the ceiling board dropped and blocked the door .

I was stuck in , smoke clouds quickly formed around me as I begun to sweat , breathing became unbelievably difficult and the fact I was hyperventilating wasn't helping , I got more and more anxious as I got shaky again , I tried to lift the ceiling board blocking the door but it soon caught on fire , almost burning my hands . I stumble back in search of a way out but I just couldn't see anything. I dropped to my knees clenching my chest as my sweat dropped but quickly evaporated as it hit the floor due to the heat , I tried to stand up but suddenly......

everything went black .