Bubble

39. Not Again

Even though Mr. Chan had locked the door, they couldn't stop the panic that coursed through them as they heard the steps up the stairs coming towards them. Felix slipped an arm about I.N as he brought him closer, trying to still him from trembling as I.N looked over at Mr. Chan.

"Is Bong Baek okay?...Mom?"

"I'll go check on them," Mr. Chan assured I.N, "but you all have to stay put..."

Before Mr. Chan could move to go towards the door, they all froze as it flew open after a few quick kicks.

"Should have known that rich things are cheaply made," tisked Jongsu as he stepped into the office.

Looking at the group clustered behind the desk, a small smile slid onto his face. Jongsu locked his eyes on a wide-eyed Bang Chan as he said, "Hello son."

- - -

"Can't you go any faster?"

Taking his gaze momentarily off the road to look in the rearview mirror, Han looked at Minho who was fixing him with an incredulous look.

"Be happy you're getting any sort of ride! Do you realize I could lose my job for helping you and Hyunjin escape?" asked Han.

"You didn't lose your job doing this with Bang Chan and you aren't going to lose it now," assured Changbin, reaching out to tap on the steering wheel. "Now focus on the road. We need to get there as soon as possible!"

In the back of the van, Bonita kept her hand in Minho's, their fingers remaining interlaced as the houses went by at a painful 45 miles per hour outside the window. Seated in the row behind them were Hyunjin and Seungmin. Seungmin's eyes were focused on Minho and Bonita's joined hands, leaning over to whisper in Hyunjin's ear, "I feel like we missed something."

Sitting in front of them, having heard every whispered word, a small smirk flickered across Minho's lips.

- - -

They had all sat back down in the seats they had been seated in previously in Mr. Chan's office, but the atmosphere was completely different. It certainly didn't help that Jongsu was currently pacing back and forth behind Mr. Chan, twirling a gun about in his hand as if it were a fidget toy. I.N was seated on the edge of his seat with tears misting in his eyes.

"Why are you crying?" asked Jongsu finally as he came to a stop. "It's not like I've killed anyone...yet."

Clenching his hands into fists, I.N tried to swallow his emotions as he watched Jongsu tsk, moving to hold the gun in his hands near Mr. Chan's temple.

"So Sari decided to go from someone who only had her best interests at heart to you."

Acting undaunted by the gun near his temple, Mr. Chan turned his head to lock eyes with Jongsu.

"Best interests? You call abusing her mentally and physically keeping her best interests at heart?"

"Yes, I call it best interests. She was stubborn and needed to realize the hierarchy in a healthy relationship. I was just trying to get her to follow me. If she had, we would have both been happy."

"A relationship is meant to be a partnership, not a dictatorship," said Mr. Chan, his anger heightening and seeping into his voice. "She was truly in love with you and stayed with you way longer than she should have because of that."

"You call what she had for me love? If she had truly loved me, she would have obeyed me. She would have stayed. Instead, she left me one day without a word and proceeded to chase away the next woman that I fell for."

Pausing, Jongsu looked from Mr. Chan to where Bang Chan sat. Chris stayed near Bang Chan the whole time, and though he wasn't visible, Chris felt like the anger he was feeling was palpable in the air.

"I was about to have a child and start a family with that woman, but Sari chased her off," Jongsu continued. "Sari told her lies about me and made her believe I was bad for her and our child. Come to find out, Sari was keeping her own secret from me. My firstborn."

Waving a gun in Bang Chan's direction, Jongsu looked at him with a look of disgust on his face.

"I know you saw me kill your mother that night. I saw you hiding in the bushes. I knew after that that you were a liability, not only because your view of me would have been colored by what happened, but because you witnessed it. The risk of letting you live was too great, but then, after that night, I couldn't track you down. Sure, I was institutionalized by my older brother who thought I needed help, but I still tried to track you down. I finally found you when I saw you acting in that "Bubble" show and knew that I had to end you before it was too late."

"So those threats he got and that accident he got in..." I.N started, pausing to look at Jongsu. "It was all your fault."

"Of course it was! Gosh, there's the genius that wrote the script that got him killed."

"Stop it."

"Why? It's true. If it hadn't been for him acting in that show, he could have continued living under the radar. I may have still found him eventually but putting him in the spotlight like that was instant execution."

"Don't listen to him, Jeongin," said Felix as he saw I.N tense up even more. "You weren't responsible."

"Blondie, how about we can it?" asked Jongsu. "This is my story here. Not yours."

"Stop lying to yourself already!" snapped I.N, drawing Jongsu's attention back to him. "Stop lying to yourself that you ever loved either woman in your life, or that you would have loved your own children if you had been given the chance! Chris ended up becoming an amazing man because of what Sari did to protect him."

"You think he's amazing six feet under?" asked Jongsu before turning to look at Bang Chan. "Though...maybe he is. I mean, he is sitting right there. How did you raise yourself from the dead, hm? Did I not kill you when I thought I did?"

None of them were about to explain the story to this deranged man, watching as he walked over until he was standing right in front of Bang Chan. Bang Chan kept his eyes fixed on Jongsu even though he could feel the fear rising in his chest.

'You're not really real. He can't hurt you. He can't hurt you, but he could hurt everyone else here,' thought Bang Chan as he moved to stand up.

Seeing that gun in Jongsu's hand brought back the waves of fear that he had felt in his bunker, the fear that had paralyzed him every time the gunshots sounded out. It was a fear that had even paralyzed him when he first arrived in this world, having mistaken the thunder for gunfire. It was violence that had taken his family from him the first time, and even though he was afraid, he wasn't about to let it happen again.

"I'm here so you won't hurt anyone else," said Bang Chan, seeing I.N, Felix, and Mr. Chan all turn to look at him at the same time. "You've already put this family through enough."

"Well aren't you the brave little boy with a death wish?" asked Jongsu, clicking off the safety on his gun as he pointed it at Bang Chan.

"Don't!" shouted I.N as he sprung to his feet. "Please. I...I don't want him to die again."

Bang Chan knew that I.N knew he couldn't die, but it seemed he didn't want to test fate when it came to a gun. Jongsu watched I.N for a moment before moving to point the gun at him instead.

"How about I be merciful then and make it so you don't have to watch it happen?"

Knowing what Jongsu was about to do, Bang Chan and Chris raced across the small expanse of space so that he was between I.N and Jongsu. Bang Chan and Chris arrived in between I.N and Jongsu at the same time, colliding with one another as the gun went off.