Collide

Truth

"I'm going out; call me if you need anything." James said while he was putting on his leather jacket. Chaerin looked at him with a raised eyebrow; she was sitting on one of the sofas on the cinema room – as James called it – and crossed her arms.

"You're not going anywhere without me." She said standing up. He gave her a dark stare and grabbed the keys, ignoring her standing up. "James, don't even start, I can go out on my own, even if you're around." She said, they haven't talked to each other since their little fight that morning, so she thought he might still be mad at her, she still was.

James, however, looked more pained than mad. He looked at her darkly, took a deep breath and shrugged. "You won't be living for long if you do it." He simply said, holding his stance. Chaerin scoffed and grabbed a gun that was settled on a table next to the sofa. Something that caught Chaerin's attention was that there were weapons all over the place, some strategically arranged, some other scattered all over the place. She put the gun on her belt and hid it with her shirt.

"Try me." She said and grabbed some black jacket she saw on the place and put it on. He examined her for a few seconds, then shrugged and nodded.

"Fine then, I'll stay." He said and took his jacket off. She looked at him with a shocked expression plastered on her face. She had expected him to say she should go with him, or something else rather than saying he'll be staying.

"What?" She said and he nodded, setting a set of knifes on the table next to where Chaerin was, he was close to her, and she felt a sudden rush of adrenaline run through her.

"I'm staying." He said, taking a step closer. She gulped and took a step back, still looking at him.

"Why?" She said and he smiled.

"I won't risk it. If I leave you'll escape, if I take you with me, you will escape as well, I ought to keep an eye on you so I will just stay and rest. I'm quite tired." He said and got a bit closer, the flung himself on the sofa, putting his booted feet on top of the table and his hands on the back of his head. She looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"You can't expect me to stay here for the rest of my life." She said as calm as she could. He laughed and looked at the T.V on the wall.

"Oh please, don't be so dramatic Chae, you've only be here for a day." He said and took the remote, changing the channels at random.

"And a night," She said and he nodded acknowledging it. She let out a stressed sigh and sat on the couch next to him, gun still on the belt. He looked at her, his blue eyes now dark in the dim light of the 'cinema room', and she looked back at him, her face a mixture of calmness and desperation, his a mixture of solitude and amazement.

"I'm not holding you hostage Chaerin, I'm just worried, now that they've seen you with me, we're both on a tight situation." He said and Chaerin looked at him, still processing that new information.

"We're both? You mean you and me, me and you?" She said and he nodded. "Why?" She said and he smiled, took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, lowering his gaze at their hands. She caressed his thumb with hers, his boney hands so familiar on hers, yet so unknown and weird.

He then looked at her, cupping her face with his left hand, his eyes looked sad, an apologetic face, and he opened his mouth to talk, but only whispered, "I'm so sorry." She looked at him with confused eyes, his hand caressing her face as a tear escaped his right eye. "What I'm going to say, it will be hard to digest, so I'm so sorry." He said. She gulped, waiting for a punch, for a knife to stab her, but he only let a few more tears fall from his eyes as he looked at her.