Empty Space | BTOB LMH

Chapter 20

Chapter 20
The Taken
LEE MINHYUK

I was in the car when I decided to call Harin, putting it on a loud speaker as I laid back lazily on the headrest, but I didn't expect it to be such a strange phone call.

The call was put on hold several times. It didn't make sense at first. I pulled out my recording pen that was always on wherever I went since I was always wary of my surroundings. I played the latest record.

I... TAKEN... HELP... QUICK...

When I realized what it was, my eyes widened and the car screeched as I turned it around fast.

I made a quick phone call to Peniel.

"Hyung! What is it so early in the moㅡ"

"Track Song Harin's last phone call now."

"What?"

"NOW, PENIEL!"

"Jeez. Okay."

I heard Peniel's movements as I waited for the location. "Her last location ten minutes ago was just right around the curb of your neighborhood, hyung. What's going on?"

"She's been taken."

"Holy shit."

I didn't care about getting a ticket for speeding. All I could think of was Harin. And she was taken. Kidnapped. My insides raged and my nerves tensed as I tried to take deep breaths. I swear to God, if they touch herㅡ

And then, I saw it. I almost just passed it by. A black tiny rectangular thing lying flat on the ground that could only really be Harin's phone. I stopped abruptly, quite running out of my mind. I ignored the cars that honked at me and the drivers that peeked out their windows to curse at me.

I picked up Harin's phone and I didn't realize my hand was trembling until I was holding it. The screen was broken, but it was still on. Her lockscreen image was a picture I didn't even know existed: Hwayoung and me on one of her tea parties, looking highly immensed on what was going on.

My heart clenched. God. If this was karma for everything that I've done, please leave Song Harin out of it.

I should have stayed away from her.  This is what I was so scared of happening.

I guess everything was fine when she wasn't in my life yet. They couldn't touch me or threaten meㅡbecause they knew of no one I wanted to protect.

Somehow, in the back of my head, I always knew they would get to her and dammit, I was so ready to distance myself from her just to keep her safeㅡbut when the woman you love so freaking much comes to you and tells you she'll stay with you through it all, how could you possibly say no?

I continued driving, knowing exactly where I'd find her.

• •

SONG HARIN

If my life couldn't be more cliché by getting kidnapped for dating a former gangster, I was brought to what seemed like an abandoned warehouse. There was nothing to see but men in black suits standing motionlessly on the sidelines.

Changsub had put a cover around my mouth to avoid me from making any noises.

He led me just fine on our way inside, but once we were there he tugged on me forcefully as if making a show. I couldn't quite understand his real intentions yet. Was the Changsub that Minhyuk loved so much still there? Or was his mind completely poisoned by these people?