[EN] LIFELINE (Jilix)

III.

The journey, which usually took Felix twenty minutes, now took him barely ten. He didn't care that he'd parked crookedly and possibly broke every rule of the road in existence, and ran up to the third floor, heart pounding.

He cursed loudly as the phone started ringing in his pocket. He answered the call without looking at the caller's name. "What?"

"Felix, it's Minho. Where are you?"

"At my flat, I'm unlocking the door right now," he replied breathlessly, while his hands fumbled in his pockets for his keys.

"Stay there, Chris is coming to help you," Minho advised him.

Felix finally managed to hit the lock and went inside. At that moment his heart sank to his stomach. His eyes wandered from the open window to the broken picture and the shards of the broken bottle, and next he noticed the pushed back coffee table from which everything had been knocked over. But that wasn't the worst of it. There was blood on the edge of the table, as well as on the carpet. He felt his head begin to spin. He turned his gaze to the kitchen and almost cried on the spot. Regret, frustration, and remorse built up inside him for not declaring his love to Jisung last New Year's Eve when he was still sober. Or, better yet, some time earlier. He felt like punching something.

"Felix? Are you there?" came from the other end of the line.

"He's gone, Minho, and he's hurt," he whispered, his wet eyes lingering on the beautiful bouquet in the vase on the counter. Jisung's cell phone lay beside it.

A slow exhale came from the phone. "Like I said, stay where you are, Chris is on his way."

"How far is he? We can't waste time," freckles recovered, wiping his eyes with his hand and going to close the window before turning to leave.

"He left a while ago, he should be there in a few minutes," his supervisor tried to reassure him.

"Sorry, I can't afford to wait for him," he pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Felix, don't do anything stupid!"

He hung up and headed for the car.

***

Minho stared at the screen in disbelief for a moment before putting the phone down and rubbing his face.

"If anything happens to you, I swear I'll kill you," he whispered to himself, propping his forehead with his hands. No matter how hard he was thinking, he couldn't come up with anything else he could do to help Felix more remotely. Maybe he'll think of something later...

A knock on the door snapped him out of his head. "Come in."

Jeongin entered, holding a stack of papers in his arms. "I have the papers for you, Mr. Lee. What else can I help you with?"

The sang straightened up in his chair and took the register with thanks. "You can sort out the papers Felix didn't get to finish. Also, be on hand for Seungmin if he needs anything. Right now, our top priority is to keep Felix, Chris and Jisung safe."

"Understood," the trainee nodded, then left the room.

Minho reached for the phone and dialled Christopher, who answered after less than one ring.

"Yes?"

"Chris, Felix probably won't be at his place anymore. He's probably driving around town right now."

"I sort of suspected it," Christopher replied dryly.

"Well done," sighed the manager. "You have to find him, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm planning on it. We'll call you right away when we get together, either me or Felix, okay?"

"Good."

Minho said goodbye and ended the call. Now there's nothing to do but wait...

***

Jisung woke up with a jerk. He blinked a few times, but everything was still black. He couldn't move his mouth, and he couldn't feel his arms or legs. But, he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head, and it felt like his skull was being crushed.

As he gradually came out of his stupor, he realized that his mouth was tied and his wrists were bound, as were his ankles. He tried to move his toes. Thankfully they were functional, as were his fingers. So he hadn't lost feeling, great.

He tried to separate his hands, but was quickly stopped by a sharp pain that shot from his wrist to his ear. Sure enough. He'd almost forgotten about his injured wrist. He exhaled heavily and leaned his head against the wall behind him. He closed his eyes. He tried to think logically despite the headache. Even if he managed to get out of the restraints, would he be able to get out of here safely, wherever he was, and then home? Was anyone even watching him? And if so, would he be able to stand up to them in his current state? It was definitely worth a try...

From what he could feel, he was able to tell for sure that his hands were bound with a plastic strap. Felix had shown him several times how to get out of these cuffs, so he should be able to do it

Felix...

How long has he been out of it? How many hours has it been? Today, his boyfriend should drink his blood to get his illness under control. How many hours before his leukaemia makes itself known? The way he'd looked eight years ago was horrible enough when the blood had stopped working, and he suspected his body's reaction would be even worse now.

He's got to get out of here. For him.

He took a deep breath and clenched his jaw, not wanting to accidentally make a sound that would bring unwanted attention to him.

He carefully began to manipulate his hands to loosen them. He hissed a few times and had to stop for a while, because the injury was making itself known, but he managed to free his hands eventually. He rubbed his wrists and released his mouth, which he then wiped. Now all he had to do was untie his ankles.

When he freed himself, he just sat on the ground for a while and waited. He hoped that his eyes would eventually adjust to the darkness, but to his great disappointment they did not. He was a little dismayed that he couldn't even see the thin line of light that usually showed under the door. Maybe the lights were off and no one was next door...

On his next breath, he tried to lift himself off the ground. With the support of the wall, he straightened up and leaned against it for a moment. He closed his eyes. He felt dizzy and nauseous, but the feeling passed quickly. He pushed himself off the wall and counted the steps to the other side. Barely three. And the length of the room was three steps too. It wasn't much space, but at least he could move around a bit.

After a few seconds, he felt the door. He hoped that he might be able to break it down, but upon closer examination he found out to his disappointment that it opened inwards. He sighed heavily. He wouldn't be able to knock them open like this in his current state. Damn it.

He sat back down and rubbed his face with his hands. He had no choice but to wait. Maybe the nice lady next door had heard something when they came for him and reported it. Maybe they were already looking for him and he would see Felix soon. He certainly hoped so.

He drew his knees to his chest, rested his forehead against them, and closed his eyes. He couldn't wait to be home with his boyfriend. They'd probably wrap themselves in at least two blankets and watch a movie. Last time he picked one, so now it would be Felix's turn. He should probably tell him that he wasn't so much nervous about the new job this morning as he was that he couldn't bottle up the fact that he'd been in love with him for years.

He lifted his head again and looked in the direction he suspected the door to be. They'll be meeting soon...