GATEWAY 🝔 LEE JENO

🝔 1.12

Huffing for his life source he bent down crouching on the ground. Hands still trembling, breath still wavering. His chest raised up and down as a trickle of sweat trailed down his forehead towards his chin out of anxiety.

"I nearly died," he coughed out, his voice coming out hoarse and in pain.

"You're exaggerating!" he heard the girl say. Tilting his head up he found Ga-eun rolling her eyes attempting her best to not burst into a fit of giggles. Annoyance slowly crawled up towards Jeno's heart making the boy hastily stand up on his still shaking feet. Glaring down at the girl he placed his large palms on his torso.

"You did that on purpose didn't you" he stepped dangerously close to her. Not the slightest bit affected by his strong persona and sharp threatening gaze, Ga-eun tilted her head up almost amused by his sudden change in act. A spark glistened in her dusky brown pupils. Head facing upwards at the large height difference. A slow smirk adorned her soft features making her look somehow devious.

"You looked like you were about to wet yourself" her eyes did not leave his even for a second. Staring at one another deeply they did not even blink a single time narrowing their eyes at one another until Jeno was forced to blink.

"Ah shit!" he cursed out rubbing his eyelids. Chuckling the girl clapped her hands cheerfully grinning. Calming down she patted his shoulder gently. "It's ok Jeno. I won" she playfully cackled, grabbing onto Roman's reins and leading him away with a small smile lingering her feature happy that she won their small staring contest.

"It's ok Jeno. I won" he mimicked out of annoyance. "Damn someone is a competitive person" she chuckled and approached back to him. Shutting his eyes tight he just followed her lead clueless as to where she was taking him.

"Umm where are we?" he cautiously questioned, observing the building the girl was unlocking. Climbing vines of ivy along the sides of the cottage with strong teak wood as a door. It looked like a typical English Victorian era cottage. Quite old from the outside yet so modern architecture and furnished interior.

However, the whole aroma in the area made Jeno keep his guard up. What creeped him out was the fact that it was standing all by itself far from the rest of the other buildings. Extremely distant from people. A deserted location.

An abandoned building? Where she kills people? 

Like always he fell into a pit of paranoid thoughts roaming his once empty brain. Dragging his feet backwards, Jeno's mind filled up as to how to get out of this unsafe situation. Hearing the creak of the flooring, Ga-eun snapped her head back to find Jeno in an absurd stance.

Raising her brow she gawked at him in utter confusion. "What are you doing?" An unusual sight. That's all she could describe it as. Wooden carved abstract sculpture gripped in his palm. A threatening composure.

"Why's there no one here?" he held it higher in defence as she raised her arms up. Jeno thought that she was about to grab onto some sort of weapon but Ga-eun was simply tying her long wavy hair into a bun. Removing some loose strands she tucked them behind her ear before folding her arms as she placed most of her weight on her left leg.

"Jeno, this is my clinic." she stated in a flat tone. Narrowing his eyes he let them wander between hers. He was not convinced. Sighing, the girl pointed to the number of chairs that were placed ahead of them and then she pointed to the shelves on the walls behind a desk where there were many bottles of medicinal herbs.

She won't dissect me . . right?

"NO of course I won't" she sounded offended by his comment. "Did I say that out loud?" the boy mumbled, eyes shooting wide open. Immediately his lips parted knowing that he messed up as soon as she nodded her head unimpressed.

Though she didn't display much emotion she was internally panicking as her eyes fell on the item in his hand. It was a laughing Buddha that she brought near the beginning when first opening the clinic. Since the day she bought it, the girl noticed how much more luck she gained with her business. It's like her lucky charm. Now watching Jeno hold it as some sort of weapon feared her. Frightened that it may form dents if it was to fall onto the hard marble ground.

"Jeno, can you place it down?" the girl pointed to the sculpture in his hands. After a small pause he slowly dropped his arms down and gently placed the sculpture back where he found it. Near the entrance. Seeing it back in its safe spot the girl released a relieving breather.

But there was still something that bothered him. "Why is your clinic alone?" It just didn't make sense. If she wanted her business to work well it would have to be in a location with other civilians. However, it was secluded. . . completely secluded. 

Biting her bottom lip she heaved a sigh and walked closer towards the boy making him automatically back away from her. "Follow me" she dragged her words. It was obvious that she was partially irritated. Jeno turned his head, finding a board a few feet away. Narrowing his eyes he read each letter mentally.

LIN Herbs - it read out

What does that stand for?

"Jeno?" snapping his head to the side he found her waving at him to follow her. Jogging over he noticed how she led him around the cottage to the back. "What does LIN stand for?" the boy suddenly questioned, making her tilt her head up. "Lee, Im, Na" knitting his brows, the boy humming. He knew that Im was her surname . .

So who are the other two?

Before he could question any further he found himself standing in front of a large greenhouse with many plants and greenery inside. There was also a field of herbs planted on the ground spreading far and wide.

He shut his eyes taking a large inhale of mother nature which felt so refreshing for his mind and soul. "For better soil and sunlight to reach we needed to locate in an area without many other infrastructures" Suddenly he felt guilty for suspecting her. He opened his mouth to apologise but he couldn't think of any words. Noticing the slight hesitation the girl gave him a reassuring look.

"Jeno, I'm not mad. You are my patient. You have to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you. I told you before. I'm not a violent person"

As much as he wanted to argue back saying he wasn't ill he couldn't bring himself to after treating her so awfully bad. Glancing down at the floor he began to kick some soil. "Wow and here I was thinking that we were getting somewhere with our friendship" she playfully glared at him which instantly lightened up the mood.

"Sorry" he scratched his nape. "It's ok" 

Ga-eun - she's quite talented in making people feel comfortable and he really appreciated that. But he noticed something during the past few days.

He has smiled and laughed more since a very long time and he has only met the girl

Maybe she is a good person