𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 & 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐡𝐞𝐦 || 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥 (𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈𝐈)

14 - Seungcheol

The low hum that groans throughout the building suddenly stops, and my eyes shoot open, staring at the pitch-black ceiling.

“What was that?” the guy from across the hall asks, standing up and walking to the bars.

A few other people start shouting too, and my stomach burns with realization.

He’s here.

I stand off the bed, going up to the bars and staring at the dude on the other side.

“What do you think is going on?” he asks loudly over the shouting.

I shrug, keeping my eyes down the hall. The power went out, as well as whatever that hum is. The small, barred windows barely let in any moonlight, but my eyes have adjusted quickly.

“This has never happened before,” he says, clearly wanting me to start up a conversation with him.

I stare down the hall, my body coiling tight with tension as I wait for something, anything, to happen.

Guards begin shouting, their voices close, but they quickly grow farther and farther away, until it’s only silence. It’s just me and the other inmates, all with our faces pressed to the bars, our hands wrapped around the cold metal as we hope it’s one of us that are going to be saved.

“Something is happening,” the man utters across the way.

Suddenly, light footsteps pound down the hallway, and I hold my breath when a flash of red enters my vision.

Jihoon.

He stops in front of me, glaring heavily with so much hatred that if the bars weren’t between us I’m certain he’d reopen my stab wound.

“Seungcheol,” he sighs, stepping to the empty guards’ station. He narrows his eyes as he glances down, and I hold my breath, wondering what he’s about to do, when he pushes a button, and all our cells simultaneously click.

My eyes widen, and I push against the metal bars. I listen to the creaky groan as other inmates do the same, and suddenly, it’s Jihoon and I, with a ton of felons.

I grab his wrist, much to his dismay, holding him close.

“How’d you get in here?” I mumble.

He tilts his chin, staring up at me in irritation. “If you have to ask, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

“Bro,” my neighbor inmate steps up to me, and I realize how fucking tall he is. A few inches taller than me, at least. He turns his gaze to Jihoon, and I stiffen next to him. “Thanks, babe. I owe you.”

And then he’s off, jetting down the hallway with a flood of other inmates.

Jihoon tugs on my hand. “Come on, Seungcheol. We need to go.”

“Where is Jeonghan?” I ask, following quickly behind him.

He glances over his shoulder at me, his hair flowing into his eyes.

“Waiting for you, obviously.”

He turns back around, dressed in all black as he darts down the hall. I follow after him, keeping close but away from the commotion of all the other inmates. Guards are shouting in the distance, and I listen as they try to gather them all up and get them back to their cells.

What’s the most depressing is those who still sit in their cells, their doors unlocked but they just lay in their beds and watch everyone escape.

Yet they choose not to.

We make it through the jail area, and Jihoon drags me away from all the inmates flooding out the visitors’ area and around to the back. I narrow my eyes at him, but don’t say a word.

Jihoon brings me through door after door until we reach one with the large neon exit sign above it. He glances at me, a slight smirk breaking over his face. “Ready?”

I nod, my body buzzing as Jihoon pushes the door open.

And there, standing before me, is my Hannie.

To be continued...