pretty flower | 강새벽

043

"So your plan is to use my - what are we?" Shin-hyuk asks, turning towards Binyoung.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're my husband. But legally, we're only boyfriends." Binyoung answers, rolling his eyes. Shin-hyuk blushed at the answer, unsure of why the simple words made his heart flutter or caused his stomach to knot up as it'd done before.

"So your plan is to use my husband's popularity to save your girlfriend?"Shin-hyuk turned back towards Sae-Byeok, crossing his arms. 

"In a sense, yes. You two are an openly gay couple, living in South Korea might I add. And people don't see you differently, they find you interesting. They see you as role models. You saw how they reacted to the two of you earlier when you finally got Binyoung to eat. They cheered. If just getting him to eat gets so popular, how popular do you think a legal case against the Seoul Police Department?" 

Shin-hyuk stared at Sae-Byeok, taking in her words. "But you want to use his fame to save Sun-hi?" 

"Do you have any other ideas? I want to get her back. I need to get her back, Shin-hyuk. If Binyoung can help even just a fraction to get people aware of the shit that is going on on that island, then there might be a chance that we can save her and get justice." 

He stays quiet, looking down at the ground, not daring to say the words that threatened to leave his lips.

"I think it's a good idea." Binyoung interrupts. 

"You do?" all heads turn toward Binyoung in complete shock.

"Yes. She makes a good point. We're seen as role models, even though we are a couple. I think that getting the public aware of the neglect the police have been showing, will pique people's interest. Worldwide. If we were to get it viral enough on social media, we could blackmail the police into helping us."

"How long, roughly, would this take?" Sae-Byeok asks, hope filling her eyes.

"That's where the complications would come in. We have no idea if it even would go viral. And who knows if it'll go viral in time. It could go viral in a few months when it's too late to take action." 

Sae-Byeok groans as she plops down in the seat behind her, pushing her hands into her hair. "I promised to keep her safe. And she's going to be killed." 

"She's not," Shin-hyuk responds, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. 

"We can't save her. She's probably already dead!" 

"Are you just going to give up like that?" Shin-hyuk asks, pushing her shoulder backwards. Sae-Byeok stands up, glaring at him.

"I have thought of every possible solution that could be used to save her. But every time a new idea comes up, there's always something that will go wrong. I don't want to give up on her. I love her. But why keep fighting a fight that we can't win either way?" 

"You can't give up! We'll think of something else!"

"There's nothing else we can think of!" Sae-Byeok yells, grabbing onto Shin-hyuk's shirt collar. "I've thought of everything! You haven't given me any ideas, but you shoot down every single one I have! I'm sorry that I'm not super concerned that your 'husband' isn't dead. That he's sitting right there perfectly happy and healthy. I'm sorry that I'm worried about the love of my life. Who, for all we know, could be dead already all because you wouldn't let me go back and get her!" 

"I didn't know she was going to stay behind. I didn't know that she was going to make you go first. You want to blame me for what happened, fine. But I hope you know that this isn't my fault. I didn't tell her to stay to win the money. I didn't tell her to make us leave. I didn't make her do anything. She did what she did because she cares about you. She cares if you're alive or not, she told me so herself. She told me that living without you isn't worth living at all because you aren't her life. She doesn't have anything else, only you. And if something had happened to you, she wouldn't have anything left. That's why she stayed. She's doing it for you. And although I hadn't been with Sun-Hi long, I can tell you that she's not going to stop fighting. She's going to fight to see you again. No matter what." 

"Says the man who walked out on his own relationship because he was scared he wouldn't be loved." She scoff and Shin-hyuk stands there, offended.

"Excuse me? I didn't walk out on him because I was-" 

Binyoung was staring at the floor silently, thinking of ideas on his own, before interrupting the useless fight starting in front of him. "Rather than using my fame to advertise it, we could use my fame to pull strings. You said this place is on an island, right? Well, I have a few boats, and if none of those will work, I know a guy. I can also get us some guns anonymously. No one would even know we were gone." 

"We?" Shin-hyuk raises an eyebrow. 

"You think I'm gonna let you go by yourselves? You've got to have someone to keep you guys from killing each other."

"But you don't even know what you're getting into! There's so much that-"

"I know enough from you two squabbling like children."

"Hey!" Sae-Byeok pipes up, glaring at Binyoung.

"I could've compared you to seagulls." Binyoung states as his lips curl into a gentle smile. For someone with such a strong build, he most definitely had a soft demeanour. 

"How soon could we leave?" Sae-Byeok sighs, looking Binyoung over quickly. Binyoung pulled out his phone, typing quickly before looking back up at the two.

"We can leave whenever you're ready." He responds, looking between Shin-hyuk and Sae-Byeok. 

"You are not going anywhere." Shin-hyuk crosses his arms, pouting unintentionally as his face sterns. 

"You can't stop me."

"Yes, I can. You're not going."

"I'm not letting you go again. I'm not being left behind again." Binyoung responds, staring at the slightly shorter male in front of him. 

"I'm coming back."

"That's what you said last time too, and then you never come home from work. If you hadn't talked to Jisoo and told her that you left, I would still be thinking you're dead."

"Bin..."

"Please don't try to tell me that I'm not coming with you. I going along whether you like it or not."

Shin-hyuk didn't say anything else on the matter, knowing that no matter what he was to say, he had no chance of stopping Binyoung. 

"We can leave now." Sae-Byeok turns on her heel, walking out the door as she grabs her ripped coat. 

"It might be smart to grab a few things before we go through." Binyoung smiled, pulling out his card and phone. He scrolled through it for a few seconds before dialling a number. "Jisoo? Would you be able to take my new friend shopping for some new clothing? Please keep in mind that we don't need something flashy." 

Sae-Byeok turns back around, raising an eyebrow at the man on the phone. 

"What is he talking about?" She asks Shin-hyuk who just smiles, not responding at all. 

A few seconds later, Jisoo rushes inside with a huge smile. "Come with me," she says after she grabs the card out of Binyoungs hand, grabbing onto Sae-Byeok's wrist and pulling her out of the hospital room. 

"What-" Sae-Byeok asks, trying to face Shin-hyuk, but it was too late, Jisoo already had her out of the hallway and in the elevator.

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Sorry for not updating in a while, but I'm back nonetheless. I have been very busy lately and trying to think of new ideas was a lot of energy on top of working on my final assignments for school. Plus I had like no energy. Although I'm back from hiatus, I will be going into a 3 week hiatus, due to travelling. I will try to update if I get the opportunity to do so. Also... Thanks to everyone who's been reading, commenting, and voting for Pretty Flower.

Pretty Flower is at 18.3k reads, 662 votes, and over 1k comments! Like I said at the very beginning, I wasn't expecting any reads at all, and I'm very thankful for each and every one of you who is continuing to read and enjoy.

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