𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 ( Chase Series #1 )

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 1

Under the hot sunbeams, Sara walks back to her apartment as she was finding her phone in her bag.

She bumps on a guy, her gaze goes up. "I'm sorry." She bows her head. She holds her bag tight, looking down at the pavement, she steps to side. But the guy blocks the way.

She gulps and inhales the confidence to protest. "May I pass by, pleas-" She tries to walk beside him. But he blocks the way again. Before she could protest again, someone pulled her hair which was covered with a scarf. She yelps from the sudden yank.

She falls back into an alley, scraping her elbows and palms.

She looks back at the guy who yanked her. With no emotion on his face, slowly approaching her. His goon-like-smirk twitches on his lips. Eyebrows narrows with slyness.

From her left, she felt someone brushing his hand in her hair. Panic starts rising in her chest. Her heart beats faster as tears wells up in her eyes but she tries to look brave.

She shoves the guy's hand from her hair and drags herself away from them. Other man grips on her throat. She gasps, choking when he puts more pressure on it. Her tears rolls down over her cheeks. It was getting hard for her to breath.

Sara clutches her hands over his, attempting to free herself. She also kicks on the man's stomach. No damage. Scratches on his forearm. Still, no damage.

The guy who grabbed her hair earlier, slaps her face rigidly. The grip on her throat, the force of the slap made her gag. She forces her eyes to focus on the people. She needs to take in their facial description.

Due to the tears, her vision gets blurry. She can't make out anything visible other than their silhouettes.

A hand rushes on her thigh curves to inner side. She screams, but mumbles by her dry throat. Pursuing to, at least trying to verbal her plead.

Some fingers stroke her collarbone which is exposed by her v-cut shirt. She thought to thrust his hand away from her except she couldn't do it. She can't move her hands. Which she doesn't know the reason. No memories flash what happened to her hands.

She couldn't move her hands nor her legs. Her vision is also went from blurry to pitch black. At this point, her all senses are going numb.

That was the moment when she gives up.

She felt her cheeks wet from her tears. Eyes slowly closing since any oxygen can't go down to her lungs. Only their ugly chuckles, laughs and her heartbeat slowly thumping in her ears.

She coughs out a breath before her head thuds over the concrete.

Next thing she remembers her breathing as if she came out of water. Her head pumps up blood, making her struggle to turn on her side.

She is free. She got free from their gripes.

She coughs, forcing herself to relax her breathing. She needs to breath and run away. Breath, get up and run away from there. She has to breath and run.

She moans when she tries to stand up. But she fails her attempt, laying back on the pavement.

Through her distorted vision, she sees some black boots, long legs. Whoever is there, crouches down. She panics when he extended his hand over her face.

"Don't.." Weakly, she lets out a low yelp. "Stay away."

That individual puts his hands behind her knees and under her neck. She squirms by his touches. As he lifts her up, she hits his throat to free herself.

"You'll be alright." He says, his words echoes in her ears. Although the words reassure her, still she felt uncomfortable, being wrapped in his embrace.

"Brother..!" Another man declared his presence by calling out the man who was holding her. "Brother? What happened here?"

He ignores his brother's concerns and walks to his car. He opens the door, cautiously putting her onto the passenger's seat.

"Do you know her?"

"Iah. Later." He hangs his brother there and gets into the driver's seat.

He notices the unfastened seatbelt. He reaches over her, buckling her while tugging on the seatbelt. He takes one look at her, her trembling lips and beads of sweat on her forehead.

When fastening his seatbelt, he turns his head aside. He turns on the engine, changes to a different gear, and drives off.

*                *                 *

Sara squirms in stiffness, opening her eyes slightly.

She sits up, brushing her hair to side. She touches her throat. A shiver runs down to her spine. She gasps with the sudden memory of those goons.

You'll be alright.

She sits there, still her fingertips pressed against her throat. Her nerves soothe down by that random person's words.

"You are already up?" A female nurse asks.

Sara looks up at the nurse. "How long have I been here?" Her brows narrow whole asking the nurse.

"Not for long enough. Just few hours." She checks Sara's pulse. "You seems like you got better. But for medical reasons, I'll call the doctor for your discharge."

Sara bows in approval. The nurse leaves to find the doctor.

A few minutes later, the doctor came to her bed. The doctor gives her a prescription for a week worth of medication to get better.

After the doctor declares her discharge, she goes to the receptionist table for the bill.

"Your bill has been paid, Miss." The woman at the desk said, a little polite smile plastered on her lips.

"I.. didn't pay-"

"No, no. The gentleman who took you here had paid it."

Sara's eyes narrowed down in questioning manner. "The gentleman?"

"Yes, a tall, handsome man with beautiful eyes and huge body was holding you in his strong arms—"

"Okay, o-okay. I get it. Thank you."

She hangs her bag on her shoulder. She couldn't find her scarf so she assumed that it might has fallen off somewhere. So, it is worthless to wait or find it anywhere.

She takes a subway trip to her area.

After entering her apartment, she takes a shower and does her prayer. Then, falls asleep. She thanks the lord that the next day is her off day. She doesn't have the energy to go out after how the day has gone.

It isn't like it was first time. Many people had harassed her physically or mentally, while some adored her different facial features.

She is by born Korean but not by the ethnic. Her parents were from Arab descent. They used to stay in Middle East, then they immigrated to South Korea. But, when she turned 8, something happened to her parents and just left her alone.

Because her being all alone and having no relatives there, she had to go to orphanage. She suffered in that orphanage school for her difference. Her big eyes, oval face. People harassed her for that.

Till she left that place, when she turned 18.

She part-time worked at delivering packages, working at grocery and convenience store. She was paid enough to finish university studies, getting bachelor and master degrees.

But still, she chose to be a yoga instructor in a local studio where she met a gentleman who is the manager of that place, gave her the opportunity to practice yoga.

There, she learnt about yoga, meditation. And it helped her in doing a decent job. She was blessed with a good manager who accepted her.