The Tiger King (Chaelisa)

96| Rescue

Jennie's head pounded. Her side felt very sore, like someone had run her through with a hot knife. When she tried blinking her eyes open, razor blades lanced through her eyeballs—the harsh glare of a blinding spotlight forced her eyes shut again. The surface beneath her was smooth and hard, like a table.

Where was she? What had happened?

Hazy memories swam into focus: gunfire. Jinyoung. Jongin. Jisoo. Jungha.

"No!" Jennie's eyes snapped open. "Jungha NO!"

Something metallic crashed to the ground , wrenching Jennie out of the whirlwind of anguish in time to find Jinyoung hovering over her, breathing hard from the sudden movement. His eyes darted all over her face finally settling on her own.

"You're awake," he rasped.

He had lost the body armour and now wore a labcoat, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was dishevelled, his shirt in disarray and his face was streaked with smoke. But his eyes flashed, piercing into hers. The spotlight behind his head resembled a halo yet his presence was anything but holy—when she looked in his eyes, all Jennie saw was swirling blackness.

"Jungha...Jisoo," Jennie choked out. She tried to sit up only to find herself stuck fast, tied down to the white table. She strained, and fire bled threw her side, leaving her gasping in pain.

"What did you do to me?" Jennie whispered, cold sweat beading up on her forehead. It wasn't just fear: the room was chilled. At the back of her head, Jennie clocked that she must be in some lab. Her anxiety skyrocketed. "Where are we? What the hell did you do to me?!"

"Easy, easy, you'll tear up the wound," Jinyoung said, his voice ragged. "And don't move too much, you'll displace the needle."

"Wound?" Jennie whispered. "Needle?"

She lifted her head to glance at her arms, heart sinking when she discovered an IV needle feeding yellow fluid into one of them.

"Relax, it's only TK Beta, to stabilise and revive you. You would have slipped into a coma otherwise," Jinyoung jumped in when she opened her mouth to scream at him.

"Take it out," Jennie seethed. "Fucking take it out!" She twisted her arm unsuccessfully, only receiving a pinch whenever the needle moved instead.

"Be sensible, Jennie. I'm only trying to help you. You got shot. That boy shielded you from more fatal hits. Dr. Kwang got the bullet out and patched you up. " Jinyoung smiled faintly. "Luck of the devil. We're going to need it."

Fresh tears welled up at the reminder of Jungha's sacrifice—she recalled Jungha yelling when gunfire broke out, recalled him slamming into her, recalled waking up to find his limp body in her lap, lifeless.

"Jungha—I didn't mean—he wasn't—he was supposed to go home," she wept. "He died because of me."

"He made his choice. Forget about him now, he's dead," Jinyoung said. A wave of revulsion cleared her grief when Jinyoung wiped away her tears almost tenderly. She jerked away from his touch, furious.

"Don't touch me," Jennie spat, her fire returning. She thrashed against the straps holding her down, hissing when her sore side stretched. "Where's Jisoo? Where are we? I swear to fuck, if you've hurt Jisoo—"

"I don't know where Jisoo is," Jinyoung said calmly. "I don't even know if she's still alive."

Someone close to you will die, the fortune teller warned.

Reeling, Jennie fixed Jinyoung with her dirtiest glare. "I swear if she's-if she's gone then you're dead."

"I feel like we've been here before. Seems to be a pattern for you to threaten me when you're tied up," Jinyoung drawled. Then his face grew grim. "Jennie, we don't have time for slinging threats. I could have simply told you Jisoo is dead, but I respect you too much to try and deceive you."