Bridge of Seoul

City Lights

He was bruised up and his lips were cracked and bloody. I opened a drawer and began to hurry my pace on looking for the needle and thread. I found it behind a bottle of mouthwash in the bottom cupboards. I pulled it out and attached the needle to the thread. Seonghwa nodded and took off his shirt revealing bruises and scars all over his body.
"Seonghwa-"

"I need you to stitch up my shoulder. It shouldn't be that hard. We went over it in that surgery class." he said clutching onto his shirt tightly.
I stood behind him and saw a large snick on his shoulder blade revealing some pieces of his muscle. I gasped watching the immense amount of blood drizzle down his back.
"Oh god, that's a lot of blood." I ran toward the sink and washed my hands quickly then ran back to Seonghwa. His hand clenched onto the shirt tightly and bit his lip.

"Okay, don't...move. I need to make sure I get the 90 degree angle right or else I'm going to mess this up big time."  i say , placing my hand on his smooth skin.
I began to suture his wound as he groaned in pain when I finished and tied up the knot. He stood up and turned around.
"Thank you for doing that, i would've gone to Yeosang but he's sleeping."

"Do you mind telling me what's going on here? Who are you really?" I ask, folding my arms.
He was quiet and bit his lip shaking his head slowly. I sighed and realized it was pointless. I was probably just overreacting about all of this. Maybe this is just normal for koreans. A ton of fights, fancy cars, near death experiences, always on motorcycles. I sighed and put the needle and thread away. We stepped out of the bathroom and Seonghwa paused at the counter watching it closely. He looked around and turned on a light.

"Did you clean up the place? It smells good in here." he says running his finger along the counter.
"Just a little bit. It was disgusting earlier."
"Yeah it was like that when Korinna moved in here. She cleans up but sometimes she forgets." he says sitting down on the chair he pulled out earlier.

I walked to my bed and sat down setting my blanket down. I laid down staring up at the ceiling. Seonghwa stood up and walked toward me laying down next to me looking at the ceiling as well. I turned my head toward him and his eyes were focused on the ceiling. He was quiet and I closed my eyes trying to go back to sleep but Seonghwa shifted to his side and I opened my eyes seeing Seonghwa watching my stomach move up and down.
"Can i help you?" I ask sitting up.

"Do you want to go somewhere and possibly eat some turkish delight? We haven't eaten that yet." he pointed at the fridge.
"Seonghwa, I really don't want to be around you. Since I met you I've almost died like twice already. Plus it's really late and I kind of want to get back to sleep. "
"But night is the best time to go out."
"Bangchan is taking me out tomorrow night to see korea."
"Okay, but he doesn't know the place I'm going to take you." Seonghwa says getting up.
"Seonghwa, I don't want to. also you need a shirt." I say folding my arms.
He laughed and grabbed me by the legs lifting me over his shoulder.

"You can be stubborn but not as stubborn as me. Lets go."
"Seonghwa, you have stitches. I don't want to open them."

"Hah, they're on the other side. I have a shirt on the bike." he grabbed the turkish delight and we walked out of the dorm.
We walked to the bike where there were already saddle bags and a white shirt with a black leather jacket laid on top. Seonghwa walked up to the bike and put the turkish delight in the bags and put on the white shirt. A soft breeze hit my skin and Seonghwa leaned against his bike pulling out a lighter looking off to the side as if he was waiting for someone which was odd because we were pretty much the only ones in the parking lot.

Seonghwa played with the lighter as a car showed up and parked a few spaces away from us. He put the lighter away and walked toward the car putting his hands in his pockets. I grabbed Seonghwas arm and hid behind him as the doors opened revealing six men holding onto a beat up man in handcuffs. Seonghwa looked down at me then back at the boys with a heavy sigh.  He grabbed my hand and brought me forward to meet the six men.

"This is the Kim part of the gang. This is Nam, Seok, Eric, Chim, Ta-Ta, Ko, and the one driving is Min. They are one of the trusted Families. Like the stays." Everyone bowed and grabbed the beat up man by the hair.
"Where should we take him?" Nam asks.
"Same place as usual. Bring him to my house and we can discuss this there. I need to take her out for a good night."

They all nodded and got back in the car. Min watched me in the mirror and Seonghwa walked toward him telling him something secretive. Min nodded and started the car. Seonghwa walked toward me and sighed, grabbing my hand again.

"I-" Seonghwa spoke but I cut him off.
"I don't want to hear it right now. It is way too early."
Seonghwa nodded and we got on the bike. Seonghwa handed me a carloca pink helmet as he put on his teal helmet. I wrapped my arms around Seonghwa as he got the bike turned on. We began to drive behind many different buildings which made my stomach feel uneasy. We went up a hill and I held on tighter to Seonghwa hiding my face into his back.

Seonghwa parked the bike in a nearby parking lot and turned it off. He got off the bike and set his helmet on his seat.
"Lets go."
I looked around and folded my arms.
"I can't see anything and it's almost six in the morning. I'm not doing anything." I faced away from him and he was quiet.
I turned around and saw him taking out the turkish delight and a blanket. He looked at me and was quiet. He walked away holding onto them and I felt lonely just sitting there. I saw a pair of glowing hazel eyes staring at me walking toward me slowly.

I got off and ran toward Seonghwa trying not to look back at what it was behind me. Seonghwa grabbed me by the arm and smiled bringing me toward a steep hill. We walked through a large forest and climbed a few rocks but just as we were about to get to a large rock climbing station we turned off the trail. I looked around and felt my heart beat almost ten times faster than my regular heart beat. I let go of his hand and stopped. He turned around confused and I shook my head.

"I'm not going over there. We don't know what's going to jump onto us and eat us and kill us."
Seonghwa rolled his eyes and picked me up by the legs laughing.
"Don't overthink things. Live in the moment you have now. Live a little." he says laughing and carrying me down the trail.
He took one big step and smiled once we reached the top. He set me down on an edge and I shook my head looking down the cliff seeing how far up we were. I held onto Seonghwa nervously as I got dizzy with the sight. He looked forward and grabbed my chin, lifting it to look at the city lights.

The lights were a variety of red, white, orange and green. Seonghwa brought me back and we sat down on the blanket covered rock. Seonghwa opened the turkish delight and grabbed one laying down as he took a bite out of it. The gooey red turkish delight made me crave the same thing. I grabbed one and Seonghwa turned his head down to see me.
"So what and who are you really?" I say taking a bite out of the turkish delight which sent a tangy strawberry taste straight to my tongue.
"Im-" he paused and stared back up at the sky with a sigh. "I'm an idol." he says looking back at the stars.

Well now that makes sense. He didn't want me to be a crazy fan like the others because I was from america. The people in the gangs are probably bodyguards or something. And the fights would be with the stalkers and fans and what not. I understand now. So he's famous.
"So are the boys. I didn't want to tell you because now that you know the-'' he paused and made eye contact with me. "Sasaengs would go after you and try to kill you. Those guys you met yesterday were our competitors for a spot in the award show. We won obviously.

These bruises and scars are from crazy fans." he said pointing at his arms.
I nodded. I got it now. 
Seonghwa looked back at the city and watched it with a smile as he stretched his arms and legs. I closed my eyes again and the cool breeze made the night seem more calming and comfortable. I bit my tongue as i slowly drifted off to sleep still slightly nervous due to the nightmare i had that was before i even was forced to come here. I woke up and was facing away from Seonghwa watching as the rock slanted toward the woods.

I turned toward Seonghwa and watched the sun rise behind him making him seem like an angel with rays of light bouncing off him. Seonghwa wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him as tears began to slowly fall down his eyes. Was he crying? I wanted to wake him but i didn't want him to be embarrassed for crying in front of me. I felt a vibration coming from behind me and Seonghwas eyes shot open.

He let go of me and reached over me grabbing his phone with his breath getting unsteady. He answered and brought the phone to his ear.
¨what is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
I cleared my throat and sat up, grabbing more turkish delight trying not to interrupt the call.
¨Hongjoong, i-" Seonghwa looked at me and smiled. ¨we'll talk later,"
He hung up and put his phone in his pocket.