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24. Friendly Rival

"Excuse me?" Yuna asked in shock.

"Lucas, I told you to stop starting conversations that way. It's too much." The man driving spoke up.

"It's ok, she doesn't seem to mind." The man named Lucas winked at her and patted her legs that rested on his lap.

"I do mind. A lot. Who the fuck are you and what am I doing here?" She jerked her legs away and sat up.

The man in the front seat smiled at her through the rear view mirror and let out a small breathy laugh.

"I'm Jungwoo and this is Lucas. Sorry for meeting this way, but there is someone who wants to see you and this was really the only way. I hope Lucas wasn't too rough. As you can see, he gets a little carried away sometimes."

His voice was quiet and soft and calming and his smiling face was angelic. Yuna never would have thought that he had just been party to putting a bag over her head, tying her hands and shoving her in a car.

"Who? What do they want?"

"You'll see soon. We aren't here to hurt you, though so don't worry. He just wants to have a chat and then we'll send you home." Jungwoo assured her.

"We have to keep your hands tied until we get there, sorry. You're very scrappy. It's ok, though, I like scrappy girls he nodded to her and eyed her intensely, raising his eyebrows before giving her another wink.

"If you wink at me like that one more time, I'm going to kick you in the face."

He let out a loud, exaggerated laugh and made a face that could only be described in words as a mix of oops and oh shit.

She sat rigid and anxious the entire way, flicking her eyes between the person in front of her and the one next to her. A million scenarios ran through her head on how to deal with this situation. Try to open the door behind her and jump out? She was sure they would catch up with her immediately and they were driving in pretty desolate area so there wouldn't be anywhere to run. She already felt Lucas's strength when he restrained her so she knew she couldn't overpower him. Was she really only there to talk? They didnt seem like they wanted to hurt her but how could she know for sure? She felt like a helpless sitting duck. An animal being herded to the slaughterhouse.

The car came to a stop and the two men got out. Lucas reached back in the car to grab her arm and help her out. A newly constructed building towered over her. It looked as though it was still in the process of being completed.

"It's ok, come on." Jungwoo smiled sweetly at her again as he gently took her other arm and the two men led her inside.

The interior was neat and clean, but littered with unused construction material. Buckets of paint stood along the walls and the floors were covered in plastic. She shivered, recalling all the shows and movies she had watched where empty building plus plastic sheeting equals murder. She pulled back but their grip tightened, pushing her forward into another room. Plastic sheeting hung from the ceiling like a curtain. They lifted it to the side and led her through.

The pale color of the walls mixed with the dusky sunlight that shone through the cloudy plastic that lined the windows made the room glow a soft yellow color. The room was empty apart from a dark figure that stood in the center of the room facing the opposite direction. One hand hung loosely at his side and the other folded oddly against him, like a bird with an injured wing. He heard them enter and turned himself to face her, quietly eyeing her up and down with a thoughtful expression.

Her memory flashed back to the day in the alley. In the parking garage as she fell apart, the voice that appeared and cut through Taeyong's comforting whispers was his. Taeyong called him Mark. She recalled the exchange between them. Not exactly friendly, but not on the verge of killing eachother either. The questionable interaction made the current circumstances even more confusing.

"You recognize me, right? I definitely recognize you." He grinned. She didn't answer. "So this is Nam Yuna, the one that turned Taeyong upside down. I don't think I blame him though." He said suggestively.

"What do you mean turned him upside down?" She asked cautiously, avoiding his other statement.

"Do you know what kind of person Taeyong is?"

"Is that something I should be finding out from you?" She sneered and he chuckled.

"Well, I doubt it's something that you'll find out from him. Let me explain." He waved the other two men out of the room and settled himself onto the ledge of one of the windows. "Taeyong is ruthless. He has done things you never could have imagined."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked before he could continue.

"Who will be more honest about it than me? We go way back, you see."

"But what does that have to do with me?"

"More than you think, actually. You seem to be stuck in the middle of something big that involves all of us." He sighed and shifted, his arm still clinging to his side unnaturally. "My point is, that's the kind of guy Taeyong is...but suddenly he's different. He's being careful, waiting and watching instead of charging in. He's hesitating...probably because he's not sure how it will fall back on you if he acts the way he normally does."

"Did you just bring me here to talk crap about Taeyong?"

"No. I brought you here to pass on a message. I also wanted to meet you...I can't say that I'm disappointed." He looked up at her through his dark lashes. "Talking crap about Taeyong is just something extra." He laughed.

"What message?"

"If he keeps hesitating, it will be too late to save you or himself. The head of my family is going all out this time and I think he's got some unexpected friends on his side. Kyung Chul, no matter how sick he is, is not the worst part of all of this. But, I agree that he does need to be taken care of immediately. Taeyong should know he's in the mountain safe house by the river. The sooner he gets rid of him, the better. For you especially."

"Why are you telling me this? Isn't that guy on your side? I don't know exactly what your relationship with Taeyong is, but I can guess that it isn't good, so why bother with all of this?"

"Our relationship? Hmm..." his hand went to his mouth, his thumb grazing the fullness of his bottom lip as he searched for the right description. "Friendly rivals, I guess you could call it? And I'm doing this because I have family I want to protect too."

"But what is that supposed to mean? Why would opposing ends need to be on the same page? I don't understand. What do you have to gain from helping us?"

"I think that's enough, for now. I've given you all that I am willing to, so we're done." He got up to lead her back out. As he stood his arm brushed against the window frame and his face contorted with pain.

"Let me help you with you arm, first. It's injured, right?" She nodded toward the arm that he protectively held close to his body. "If what you're saying is true and you are trying to help, then I can do that much, at least."

"No need. Lucas was about to take care of it."

She squinted her eyes and grimaced at the idea.

"Please, let me. I can do it and I somehow think that guy isn't that adept at things like that."

He chuckled and nodded his head in agreement.

"You're not wrong. Ok, if you insist, but don't bother asking what happened." He warned. "I'll have them bring in the supplies."