Pursuit Of Fate

Chapter 19

"Where is that girl?" Jun Min shouted as he stormed into Suk Jin's basement, kicking away the chairs that was obstructing his path. Grabbing him by the collar, he lifted him up from the couch and stared at him in his eyes with his piercing gaze. "Where is she!" he demanded to know.

"I don't know, " Suk Jin answered.

He wrapped his fingers around his neck and tighten his grip. "One of your man took her away and now you're telling me that you don't know where they are?" he snarled.

"My men.. They are l..looking for them." Suk Jin struggled to speak in between gasps. His face was turning red, and the veins in his arms stood out as he tried to overcome his strength by grabbing his wrist and attempt to push him away.

"You better not be playing any funny games, " Jun Min warned him, strangling him with immense force before finally releasing his grip. Suk Jin rubbed his neck and coughed as he desperately take in oxygen. His eyes were watery and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

"I'll tell you when my men finds her," he replied.

***

Hee Gun constantly checked the rear view mirror to see if they were being followed as he drove down the road. He quickly pull over at the back of an abandoned office building. "Let's go in before someone sees us," he helped her to unbuckle the seat belt and said.

They got off the car and entered the building, walking into one of the office and locked the door. The entire place was covered in dust and a musty smell hang over the air. Empty boxes were scattered around the place. Hee Gun took a cardboard and laid it down on the floor.

"Sit here," he grabbed Seong Im's wrist and pulled her over. She winced in pain as his fingers rubbed against the wound. He let go immediately and apologized.

"Let me take a look," he said softly as they sat down on the cardboard. He gently held her wrist and extended her arm. He was shocked by the extent of her injuries. Her skin surrounding the lash marks was ripped, exposing the pink, raw flesh beneath. Blood was even dripping from some of the marks.

"Why didn't you run away?" he asked, looking at her in the eyes. It took her awhile before she replied.

"I couldn't.." Her voice cracked as she mumbled. She pulled her arm back and drew her knees to her chest. His eyes shifted to the dried blood at the right corner of her lips.

He stood up and peered through the rectangular glass panel in the middle of the frosted glass door. "Stay here. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon." he told her.

"Where are you going?" she asked. Her voice filled with hushed fear that she was hoping it was not obvious enough for him to know.

He squatted down and held her hand. Giving her a look of reassurance, he plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Lock the door after I'm out and don't open it unless you hear three knocks." he did the three knocks against the wall so that she would be able to recognize them.

She nodded and did as what she was told, locking the door immediately after he went out. Minutes after he left, she heard loud footsteps outside the corridor. She quietly but hurriedly dashed towards the corner of the office and hid there.

"Are you sure they are here?"

"I saw them entering."

She noticed the shadow on the floor growing larger as the person walked closer towards the door. She covered her mouth with both her hands to prevent herself from making any sound and held her breath.

"Let's go out! There's no one here!"

"Algesumnida, hyung."

The shadow was gone and the sound of footsteps gradually disappear. She slowly took her hands off her mouth and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Hee Gun, where are you? I'm scared.." she mumbled to herself as she rocked herself back and forth.

Minutes later, there were three knocks on the door. She was more than glad to hear that but yet at the same time she was afraid that it wasn't him.

"It's me, Hee Gun."

Seong Im sprang up instantly and rushed to open the door. He entered and locked the door. The moment he turned around to face her, she lunged towards him and hugged him tightly, her face buried against his shoulder. "Where did you went to? I thought you abandoned me! Jun Min's men were here just now and I was so scared!" she said to him in a flash. Her hands were tightly grabbing onto the back of his shirt and tears was spilling out from her eyes.

He stood frozen for a second, surprised by the sudden hug before wrapping his arms around her. He wasn't expecting her to hug him like this. Not even a tiny bit. "I'm here now. There's no one outside." he tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at her. She looked at him and quickly wipe away her tears.

"Sorry." she apologized after realizing what she did but he didn't mind at all.

He told her to sit down and took out the items from the black plastic bag - alcohol swabs, cotton buds, cream and plasters.

He tore open the alcohol swabs packaging and took out a piece. "Bear with it. It might hurt a little." he warned her before gently rubbing the alcohol swab against the marks, especially those that were bleeding. She slammed her eyes shut and bit her lower lips as the ethanol come into contact with her raw flesh, causing a stinging pain.

"You can bite my arm if it's too painful," Hee Gun stretched his arm out in front of her face and said.

"Gwaenchanha.. " she shook her head and replied. She was observing him as he proceed to apply the cream onto her wounds, carefully spreading it using the cotton buds.

"What happened.. between you and Ji Rin?" she hesitated to ask. She heard Jong Kook mentioned the name several times and she was curious about the relationship between Hee Gun and that girl.

He was startled by her sudden question. He stopped applying the cream on her arm halfway and just stared at it. No words came out from him.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it.." her voice trailed off and there was this awkward silence in the air.

"Ji rin and I were together for three years. One day when I woke up, I saw a note on the table. She wanted to break up. No explanation given, no calls and no messages. She simply just left." he said as he continued to apply the cream onto the wounds. He removed the plasters from the packaging and carefully paste them against the wounds.

"It was only months after then I realised that she married someone else. You must be thinking how stupid am I to not realise that she had been two-timing me, right?" he continued. Seong Im opened her mouth to speak but before she could say out a word, loud banging on the door disrupted their conversation.

"Open up! We know you're inside!" The loud knocks followed by the sound of the door handle being yanked continuously filled the quiet room.