REPLAY | anime one shots

leaving her [3/3]

Saeyoung Choi

She was in danger.

She was in real, actual danger. Saeyoung was right about the mysterious man the entire time, and [Y/N], blinded by her bitterness towards her ex, fell right into this person's trap, ignoring the consequences of trusting a random guy out of spite. Saeyoung watched the camera feed in absolute horror as the man who seemed harmless in the beginning held a gun directly to the side of her head, the person Saeyoung valued above everyone else.

He was a panicking mess. He tightly gripped the ends of his red locks as the man on screen threw a wicked grin at the camera. "I know you are watching this, Agent Seven-Zero-Seven."

[Y/N] struggled against the man's grip, his large, sweaty hand firmly pressed to her mouth forbidding any words to escape. Tears streamed down the young girl's face, fearing that the trigger of the cold metal against her temple will be squeezed. Both [Y/N] and Saeyoung feared for her life. The gun-holder laughed maniacally.

"I'll do it! I'll really do it!" he exclaimed, pressing the gun even harder into her skull, and she sobbed, wishing for it all to be over already. Saeyoung knew he had to get there quickly and save her, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from the screen for even a moment, in fear of the psychotic man pulling the trigger while his back was turned.

"What do you want?" Saeyoung asked under his breath, glaring harsh daggers at the man with his golden irises. The stranger, though, couldn't hear Saeyoung's question, but could only imagine what the hacker was thinking.

"I want what you stole from me!" the lunatic answered, figuring that the girl's ex-lover might want an explanation. Saeyoung racked his brain for any memory of seeing this man before, but he couldn't remember. Stealing? Stealing wasn't Saeyoung's style. Unless you counted unscheduled playdates with Elly...

"I don't..." he trailed off, his heart beat stopping for a moment as he realized he had no idea who this man was. [Y/N] was in danger, and Saeyoung couldn't remember a single, simple detail. He squeezed his hands into fists, digging his nails into his skin, and tried his hardest to think.

"You have an hour to return to me what you have taken, and if your time's up... so is hers."

"No!" Saeyoung screamed as he watches the man remove the gun from [Y/N]'s head and aim it at him, sending a bullet directly to the camera and ruining the connection. Saeyoung could no longer see what was happening inside the apartment.

Saeyoung stared in shock at the fuzzy computer screen, a nauseous feeling settling in his gut. During his time in the agency, he had made many enemies, but... he couldn't remember him.

–

The man with the gun roughly shoved the crying girl onto the couch, smushing her face into the cushions as he ties her hands behind her back. He turned her over, observing the tears staining her cheeks and the red in her eyes. A piece of duct-tape covered her mouth, muffling her sobs, and he smiled at the sight of her. "Hmm... How could he... ever let someone so beautiful go?"

[Y/N] squeezed her eyes shut when he lightly touched her face. He wiped under her eyes, but it was a useless action since even more tears leaked through her closed eyes at the failed-attempt to comfort her. "It'd be a shame to kill you." The kidnapper looked down at his watch and tsked with a twisted grin. "Only ten minutes left to go. I guess your prince charming isn't coming! Hahaha!"

Six minutes left. Still no Saeyoung.

Four minutes left. Still no Saeyoung.

One minute left. Still no Saeyoung.

"It really is a shame," the man said, but his taunting voice betrayed his words. "But I promised to do this, after all. I guess... he just didn't love you enough." He brought the gun up to level with her head, checking his watch yet again and began to count down. [Y/N] tightly closed her eyes, hoping for it to be over quickly. "Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven..."

"Present!" The man whipped his head around towards the new voice, and [Y/N] slowly opened her eyes. Through the wetness in her eyes and the hair covering her eyes, she was able to make out the red hair of her rescuer a short distance away, holding a gun towards her attacker.

"Did you seriously wait all this time... just to hear 'Seven'?" the man asked with annoyance, and Saeyoung smirked.

"Just a little fun fact for you: Seven is God's holy number."

"So what!" the stranger exclaimed and laughed without humor. "God isn't here."

Saeyoung's eyes darkened, and he smiled. "God is everywhere."

Saeyoung fired his gun, and the man fell to his knees, clutching his chest. "You little fucker," he growled before falling to the floor, blood spilling all over her carpet, and then, he died.

The hacker sprinted towards the girl tied up on the couch the moment the man hit the ground. He removed the tape from her mouth carefully and then the rope that was digging into her wrists. The moment she was free, her arms wrapped themselves around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. He froze for a moment, never once thinking he would feel her warmth this closely again, but after the recent events, he felt so relieved seeing her alive that he clung to her equally as tightly, treasuring the feeling of her being close and safe in his arms.

After a while, she pulled herself away from him. Wiping the wetness from her cheeks and running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to make herself slightly more presentable, [Y/N] finally asked," So... what did you steal from him?"

Saeyoung chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I have no idea."

Her jaw dropped. She shoved Saeyoung's shoulder with an unexpectedly large amount of force, leaving him to lightly massage his arm to ease the sudden pain. "You ruined a man's life and have no idea how!?"

"Yup."

"And you came to save me with no idea how it was gonna play out?" she asked, with even more anger in her tone than before. He flinched.

"Yup." His response was quieter, more ashamed, that time.

"You're terrible... absolutely terrible," she said, scolding him. [Y/N] studied him for a moment, glaring at him, but she had a weird aching in her chest. She scoffed and said quietly to herself, "Why do I love you?"

He looked up from the ground and to her eyes, which were avoiding his with obvious annoyance. He searched them for some kind of sign to prove that he hadn't imagined those words. "You... You still love me?"

She looked back into his golden eyes and said softly, "I never stopped."

He wanted to grab her and kiss her right then and there. He wanted to wipe the tears from her eyes and tell her that she will forever have his heart. But he couldn't. He couldn't give all of himself to her because there will always be this constant paranoia that something like what had happened only a few minutes before would happen again. He can't let it happen.

"I understand why you left me," she said after he didn't respond for a while. He stared at the ground to avoid her loving gaze. "But... That doesn't matter anymore. I was in danger today because you weren't here. Don't you see? You... You didn't save me by leaving me. You only hurt me."

He didn't say a word, only thought over hers. She was right... but also wrong. She was in danger because of him, because the man somehow knew how important she was to him. He had to cut ties again; he had to.

But he couldn't do that either.

Leaving her was only hurting her and himself. He could see that now. Watching from a camera wasn't the same as physically being there to protect her. Seeing her, being in her presence, and looking into her [e/c] eyes right now, full of love and warmth, something he desperately lacked being alone in his house, right then, he made a silent promise to never leave her again.

–

sorry if it seemed rushed, but I didn't want to make this short story 10000 chapters. also, you guys have waited long enough for an update, so I wanted to post this asap. thanks for reading:)) and thanks again for requesting, keigos-!!!