Crimson Gold // ATEEZ

Chapter -3-

Yeosang's POV

I look around to see where she could have gone and come back with nothing. I bend over and place my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath. I deeply regret not looking for her from the roofs. I start to go back to the café, although reluctantly as this is the first time someone has slipped past me. The last place I saw her was an alleyway next to an apartment building. Maybe we should start searching there.

But why did Hongjoong want me to go catch the girl? She didn't do anything wrong.

"Yeosang?" I hear a small voice say from behind me. I turn around and see a young woman around my age standing down the road. 

It's obvious that she wants to keep her distance, so I don't approach.

"Hello? Do we know each other?"

I reply. She sends a smile even though the pain in her eyes is noticeable.

"Yeah, we used to always hang out together,"

She lets out a small laugh and adds,

"My name's Yiren. Does that sound familiar? I know it has been 10 years since we last talked, so if you don't remember me it's fine, I'll leave."

I mutter her name once and then it clicks. I gasp and cover my mouth.

"Wang Yiren!"

I exclaim and start smiling like an idiot. She smiles and then suddenly runs forward and embraces me, almost knocking me over. I grab her and hold her close.

A few minutes later she lifts her head off my chest so she can see my face and whispers,

"I missed you."

"I missed you too,"

She backs up a little so we're no longer in each other's embrace.

"Are... you still... involved in that?"

I sigh and tell her,

"Yes, but I no longer have a choice."

"Why? What happened? Where did you go when you went missing? How did you escape? What have you been doing since? Tell me everything!"

She asks, spitting question after question. I smile at her actions and think,

She hasn't changed.

"I'll answer all your questions, but first tell me how it's been with... you know."

Her smile fades and she looks down and whispers so quietly I almost miss it,

"She said I wasn't making enough money and kicked me out today, I have nowhere to go, so I decided to get as far away from her as possible."

I lift her head with my finger and tell her,

"You can stay with me. As long as you don't use the normal entrance you won't get caught. And like what I promised you years ago, whenever you're with me, you'll be safe."

She looks at me and says,

"Are you sure? You know you'll be in big trouble if I get discovered."

"I know, and I trust you not to slip up."

I smile at her and take her hand in mine. Instead of taking her straight to the café, which is only 5 minutes away, I take her to an abandoned building around 30 minutes away. It's a building that is only half complete because the person funding it died and the builders never found a new sponsor.

I go inside and go to one of the only complete rooms in the house. It's small enough that anyone passing by would mistake it for a storage room. I write a series of numbers on the back wall and an eye scanner comes out from the wall. It scans my eyes and a finger pad comes out from beneath the eye scanner. I put my pinky finger on it and a mechanical female voice asks,