THE RESTLESS AUTUMN (completed) (a full-length novel)

A Prelude

"We're waiting."

"Uhm."

"I said we're waiting. We've been waiting for hours."

"Uhm."

"Don't play with me."

She bit her lower lip and gazed through the car window.

"10, 000,000."

Silence

"9."

Silence

"8."

She closed her eyes and blurted, "Wait."

"Who is it?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice, his eyes squinting from the rear lights ahead.

Her hand groped the mouthpiece as she mumbled, "My sister." From the periphery, she could see him taking his eyes off the road every few seconds to look at her. She closed her eyes again to collect herself. Her pulse had been racing at a lightning speed since the call came through. Her hands grew cold with the turbulence inside her. She reminded herself to hold on just a little bit more and it would soon be all over. She remained still in this short interval, pushing her old self to resurface, the one she used to know well before Lee Ji-heon came into her world.

"Wait for me. I'll be there in a minute," she said before hanging up. Sans her usual tenderness, she turned to Ji-heon and asked to be driven to Café Roma. "My sister needs the house keys. She's waiting by the café." Her eyes lit up to match the sweet smile on her lips.

He took an unfamiliar but shorter route to the coffee shop. Since it was not as congested as the main road he assumed they would probably arrive within quarter of an hour. They were on their way to dine at his father's house when Euna got the call but it didn't bother Ji-heon that they were already late for dinner. Anything she asked, he would gladly give. Anything for the woman he had madly fallen in love with.

Her deliberate silence started to bother him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see her drifting away, lost in her thoughts. He glimpsed at her, cautioning himself to take it slow. He must be overwhelming her, leaving her limited space to think about what she really wanted. Euna reluctantly met his eyes when she noticed his glimpses. Her lips parted into a half-smile as she asked, "Yes?"

"Where would you like to get married?" The wait for the red light to turn green was perfect for this question, he thought. His hands settled on the wheels, his voice sounding like a free-spirited lad getting his first dip on a summer afternoon.

She let out a loud laugh. By throwing her head back a little she had hoped to hide her nervousness. "If I wanted to get married on a mountain top, would you agree?"

His hand found hers on her lap. "I will marry you anywhere, just say the word." Ji-heon hoped he didn't scare her with this declaration. He knew in the eyes of many, their whirlwind love affair was fleeting and shallow, but he could hardly care. He had never been so sure of anything until this moment.

"Will you still marry me even if-things change?" she asked, baring a disquieting look.

The green light momentarily distracted him but he pursued. "Nothing can make me stop from marrying you. Even if things changed, even if you changed, I'd still make you want to marry me."

"What if you change?"

"Do you really think I'd ever change?"

A black SUV in the rear mirror caught Euna's eye before she could say another word. Her heart pounded against her chest as she watched it drive past them, cutting their path. Ji-heon put on the brakes and fumbled for his mobile phone. But it was too late. Two men in hooded masks with long firearms broke the car windows and dragged Ji-heon out of the car. A few more men surrounded his vehicle, armed with ammunition, each one aiming at him like a predator cornering a prey. He quickly raised his hands in the air and shouted, "Please don't hurt her." His eyes looked for Euna inside the car but she had already been dragged out. "I'll give you what you want. Just set her free. I have money in my pocket. You can take my car."

"We don't need money from your pocket," said the burly man in front of Ji-heon.

"Please, I'll do anything-anything, just let her go," he pleaded again. His voice started to shake.

"I'm sorry to say but we can't do that," a man from behind shouted and laughed.

Ji-heon tried to get to Euna but the burly man held him back and punched him in the head. Another man came and kneed him in the gut until he fell to the ground.

"Stop!"

One command and the men stopped hitting the prey.

"Step back!"

Ji-heon recognized the voice.

It was Euna's.

He could barely open his eyes with blood oozing from his brow, obscuring his sight. But he could see her pointing a gun at the masked men with rage, something he had never seen in her. He reached out to her when she shifted her eyes to him. He waited for her to help him get up but she just stared. Slowly, Euna aimed the gun at his face and said, "Move it."

Ji-heon could only see the tip of the gun at this point, its barrel staring at him. He kept blinking, desperate to wake himself, because he still believed it was all a bad dream.

"Move it or I'll shoot."

He turned to her face again. The eyes were no longer livid but they still belonged to a stranger. He tried searching for the woman he had loved profusely, but the cold stare confirmed his fears.

He looked at the barrel again. Death ogled at everyone, every second of the day, but only a few would know. Ji-heon never expected to meet his death this way, not in the hands of Euna. The same delicate hand that used to hold him tenderly now held a gun with precision, something that a first-timer couldn't possibly do. Her fingers white and soft, which used to play with his lips, were now wrapped around the handle, threatening to pull the trigger. Just below, a diamond in her ring finger bursting in radiance became a witness to the chaos as it had been a witness too, when Euna accepted Ji-heon's marriage proposal in the park just moments ago.