Blaze

Sparks are Brewing

~_____~

They were supposed to get to the police station before they headed to a car rental company. Then after picking their car up they were supposed to grab a bite of dinner then head to their hotel. Everything had been well planned and that was how it was supposed to go. Except Namjoo should have seen it coming. Plans always got screwed up whether trouble maker Suho was there or not. She should have seen it coming.

The moment she stepped onto the pavement Namjoo found herself spinning in a half circle uncontrollably. She barely stumbled over her own feet and almost fell face down if it weren't for Tao who had just stepped up behind her. Once she regained her balance Namjoo noticed there was no weight on her shoulder where her bag should have been.

"Shoot!" she swore before dashing off recklessly.

Shaved head. Shaved head. Namjoo kept her eyes glued onto this stranger's back as she determinedly chased after him. Cars honked at them as she dangerously zipped through the red lights. Namjoo clumsily shoved people aside and heard them swearing after her, but their remarks didn't hurt.

She ran so far that without realizing it the line of traffic disappeared from her side before she realized she was running up a hill that led to an empty courtyard. Luscious green grass swayed in the wind like an army of people to the beat of a mellow ballad. Out of breath and choking on air Namjoo was unable to control the speed she was running at. Her legs seemed to wobble before her feet collided into one another and she went sprawling forward shielding her fall with her hands. Her skin burned as they scraped the pavement. She landed with a loud, "Oopf!" before pulling herself back up.

Why was she trying so hard when there was nothing important in her backpack anyway? Then she recalled being stubborn and she hated losing. She definitely wouldn't lose this one. When Namjoo got to the top of the hill she spotted him running toward the woodland that would lead them back to the busy roads. Before he really got away she was really going to show him who was boss.

Lunging forward she threw her arm out and grabbed onto the tail of her backpack forcing the strap off the stranger's shoulder.

"You're not getting away!" Namjoo shouted forcefully pulling him around.

This criminal had a dark face smudged with dirty oil. Wherever he had come from was not her worry at the moment, but he did reek of really bad garbage. What the heck was he going to do with female clothes?

"You're not letting go?" Namjoo thickened her voice to make it sound threatening.

~_____~

And in a flash Namjoo was running down the pavement without even letting him know what had just happened. Tao was utterly confused and was just about to start after her before the taxi driver scrolled down his window to shout, "Hey! You forgot your phone! Don't be charging me for theft later!"

Tao stepped back to grab the phone that had perhaps slipped out of Namjoo's pocket in the car, but when he turned back Namjoo was out of sight.

He groaned, "Great. What just happened now?"

He first started with a jog down the pavement slowly turning in circles before he caught sound of cars honking dramatically just ahead. Twisting around he saw a man with a shaved head running through the crowd that was making way for him as if he were something they didn't want touching them. It was like a wave separating before it came together again.

Tao followed and spotted Namjoo's blue shirt in the distance climbing up a roadside hill that led to the public county park. To his luck, Namjoo's phone started ringing and irritated he picked it up without looking at the screen to see who it was. Suho's voice erupted into his ear and Tao, for some reason, was even more annoyed when he realized Namjoo had suddenly disappeared. He listened to Suho ramble on with questions before he suddenly hung up while running the rest of the way.