Game Changer | Petalz 🌸🍃

Chapter XXIX

Sitting in the backseat of the taxi, Sakura anxiously taps her fingers on her phone. The blare of car horns and the low murmur of a traffic report on the driver's radio trigger a dull ache behind her eyes, a sign that her morning headache is about to return. Outside, a sea of red brake lights stretches endlessly ahead, casting a glow through the late afternoon haze.

She glances at the time on her phone for the fifth time, feeling her heart rate spike with each passing second. On a normal day, it would take around an hour to get to the airport from where she is now. However, as it's been proven multiple times already, today is anything but normal.

"Is there any way we can get around this?" she asks the driver, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.

The middle-aged man, with a kind but weary face, glances at her in the rearview mirror and shakes his head. "Sorry, miss. It's rush hour. People are coming back from the Christmas break. We're stuck for now."

Sakura leans back against the seat, closing her eyes for a moment to steady her racing thoughts.

The driver's GPS shows that they'll arrive at their destination in two hours. Kazuha said her plane leaves in around three hours but that was almost a half hour ago, which leaves her around thirty minutes to find Kazuha and tell her everything. That's way too little time for her to feel comfortable.

She stifles a groan of frustration. She can't believe she came so far only to be screwed over by a fucking traffic jam. Opening her eyes, she stares at her phone and wonders whether she should just call Kazuha and tell her everything over the phone, but that just doesn't feel right. Instead, she calls Chaewon's number.

"Hey, Sakura, what's up? "

"Chaewon. Fuck. I don't know what to do. Kazuha's plane leaves in like two hours, and I'm stuck in traffic."

"Wait, wha—? Actually, never mind. Where are you? "

She looks out at the congested road and reads the street's name and number from one of the signs.

"Okay," Chaewon says in a rush, and judging by all the shuffling noises, Sakura guesses she's getting ready. Thank God, they're back in Tokyo. "I'll send you the location. Meet me there in 10."

She disconnects the call and, a moment later, Sakura gets a message with an address that's just a street away from where she's currently.

Opening the car's door, she quickly pays the taxi driver, who stares at her perplexedly, and hops out. "Thank you!" she calls over her shoulder, running through the maze of honking cars.

A sudden screech of tires startles her, and she slaps her hands onto the hood of a sleek, red car that stops inches from her knees. The heat of the engine radiates through the metal, and her heart pounds in her chest as she stares wide-eyed at the vehicle.

The driver's window rolls down, revealing a man with a flushed, angry face. "Are you out of your mind?" he yells at her. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

Sakura's fingers tremble on the hood. "I'm... I'm so sorry," she stammers faintly as she stumbles away from the car and continues her run, this time more mindful of her surroundings.

Reaching the address Chaewon gave her, she sees the familiar black Suzuki Swift as it rounds the corner at a speed that doesn't seem legal by any means before it comes to a screeching halt right next to her.

"Get in!" Yunjin shouts from the passenger seat, and Sakura barely has time to shut the door before Chaewon hits the gas.

Her friend drives like she's possessed, taking sharp turns and sudden stops, zipping down the side alleys and avoiding the traffic on the main streets. Sakura clutches the door handle, her knuckles white. The cityscape blurs outside the car's windows, and she feels her stomach drop with each wild maneuver, as if she's on a rollercoaster.