To love and to Hate

22: Trapped

*Song: No time to die- Billie Eilish

*For those shook by Minho's evil-ness, I've been sprinkling hints throughout the story since chapter one, so if you ever read back and catch any hints, some may be obvious or at least interesting to notice :)

The sight of a high ceiling filled Jisung's vision slowly. If felt like he was underwater, like he couldn't hear or see properly, like his body was floating without much control. But the floaty feeling quickly began to feel heavier and heavier until it felt like his body was weighed down by bags of wet sand.

How did he get here? Where was here? And were those voices? They sounded distant yet somehow close at the same time.

The muffled sounds grew louder, more harsh, and then a crash had Jisung bolting upright as he seemed to re-enter his body. The movement instantly had him falling back onto his elbows again, squeezing his eyes shut with a soft groan.

Wake up, damn it!

"-clear to you?"

Jisung went utterly still at the sound of Minho's angered voice, and he cautiously opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He was on the floor in what appeared to be a large space, possibly a warehouse, though the terrible lighting made it hard to tell. He was chained, of course, but otherwise unrestrained where he was dumped in the middle of the room. Keeping himself as small and unnoticeable as possible, he turned his head toward the commotion.

Minho was standing over the crumpled shape of a man, who'd evidently crashed into the wooden crates now sitting in pieces all around them. Three others stood nearby, watching the water mage cautiously like he was about to explode.

"I won't ask again, do I make myself clear?" he snapped, turning to face the other men. That's when Jisung saw a large dagger sitting in Minho's hand, dripping with blood.

"Yes, of course, Minho."

"Good." The water mage roughly kicked the crumpled body. "Get this out of here."

Jisung quickly fell back to the floor the rest of the way, closing his eyes in a hope of looking like he hadn't woken up yet. He listened intently as the other men mumbled responses of obedience and the following sound of shuffling feet and dragging. When those noises faded, his heart began pounding in his chest at the sound of steady footsteps slowly stalking toward him.

His foggy mind raced, wondering what he should do to get out of this place, wondering what he could do. His magic was stifled and out of reach, his body felt heavy and watery, and he had no idea where he was. And Minho... the one person he began to let himself trust fully, the person he was falling for, was not who Jisung thought he was. At all. He was a stranger. A dangerous one.

The steps came to a stop in front of him. "I know you're awake, Jisung."

The fire mage didn't dare move, didn't dare open his eyes. Because he couldn't trust himself to keep it together, couldn't trust himself to look into those mismatched eyes and hate them all over again. He couldn't face that betrayal.

Something rustled, and the chains between his wrists were suddenly yanked, pulling Jisung upright with a gasp. His eyes flew open to meet Minho's brown and blue eyes inches from his. He immediately tried pulling back, his chest filling with molten heat, his mind going cold.

Minho's blank expression didn't change, but there was a slight drop in his shoulders that was barely perceptible. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," he murmured, tugging Jisung's chains a fraction closer.

"Your promises are empty lies," Jisung snarled, his voice raspy from his parched throat.

"I'm sorry to hear that."