STORMY NIGHTS ✓ ⇢ [EDITING]

《PROLOGUE》[REVISED]

OCTOBER 28, 2018
9:37 PM
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

The soft, dewy scent perspiring in the air following a rough autumn rain hit slightly against Yeeun's nose as she exited the Chinese restaurant. Two paper bags stacked with packaged soft steamed buns thumped subtly against her knees, creating a slow rhythm as she walked onwards. Thankfully, waiting in that horrendously long line had allowed her to evade getting drenched. She internally grimaced as she imagined her idiotic younger brother yelling at her for the umpteenth time for forgetting his precious steamed pork buns. For once, she had remembered (more like Eunhyuk had harassed her with reminders until she finally showed up at the store).

Unfortunately, October provided little warmth, and the fragrance she'd longed for had long since disappeared. Yeeun wrapped her cardigan tightly around herself as she walked down the hill towards the bus station. Her backpack for her weekend trip back home was securely lodged on her shoulders, its contents more so food-related than clothes and books. She knew that if her boyfriend saw all that food just nestled carefully with styrofoam holding it all in place, Suho would definitely flick her forehead with that contagious grin of his and tease her by calling her an organized food hoarder, not a medical student. The thought of his smile caused her lips to tilt upwards as she glanced at her silicon watch. She still had a good twenty minutes before her bus departed, which was plenty of time to reach the station.

The neon shop signs were slowly beginning to dim as the stores prepared to close. Yeeun witnessed the last cake being sold through the glass in a bakery as the staff began to clean up after a hard day of work. A faint memory of her father wildly circling a cake around Yeeun's head during her sixth birthday dinner came to mind, and she struggled to contain her inherent laughter. Eunhyuk had screamed and ran away from their dad until the latter proved he wasn't an alien set on kidnapping Eunhyuk to Mars. To this day, Yeeun still teased Eunhyuk when their mom wasn't around.

Yeeun looked down at her phone, which had just vibrated in her pocket. Her screen glowed in the semi-darkness, presenting a notification. She smiled as she clicked on the text, realizing that it was from Suho. He had sent that corny emoji with a tongue sticking out, beside his reminder that he was going to pick her up from the bus station. No if's or but's.

She playfully sent back an equally corny dancing emoji, her fingers typing softly against her cracked screen. Eunhyuk would definitely beg to go with him. God forbid he missed out on a session of Just Dance with the legendary Suho hyung. Sometimes, Yeeun would join them, but tonight she felt that she'd just watch or eat something while they played.

Suddenly, Yeeun's phone was thrown out of her hand, clattering to the ground at her feet. Yeeun knelt down to pick it up, the screen now absolutely shattered and streaked with mud from the earlier rainfall. Yeeun looked up in wonder to see a tall man, his head covered with a dark navy hoodie.

As she stood up to give this man a piece of her mind for destroying her phone for good, she felt him grab her arms as he dragged her further into the closest alleyway. Yeeun screamed as his hooded eyes stared menacingly at her just as he clamped a hand over her mouth, squeezing her mouth shut with his palm. She struggled against him, kicking him in the shin.

The man cursed under his breath before shoving her to the cement wall, one hand pinning her wrists above her head while the other landed a painful punch on her ribs. Yeeun shrieked in pain as she clutched her abdomen, her hands reaching for the phone at her feet.

When she felt the cracked glass of her phone screen prick her finger, Yeeun breathed a sigh of relief. She long-pressed the emergency button, nearly crying as the call went through. A voice suddenly sounded on the other line, and she was about to belt out the Chinese restuarant's address when she felt a sharp pinch on her neck.

A close-toed boot crushed her phone with its  heel, completely destructing the latter. Yeeun's eyebrows furrowed as she strained to reach for it, her arms stretching, but unable to due to her crushed ribs. She screamed in agony as she clutched her upper stomach, the pain engulfing her in sharp flashes.

The man disappeared for a few seconds to kick her phone into a garbage chute. Suddenly, Yeeun's eyes landed on an old alarm clock left on the side of the alley, approximately a few steps away. She slowly edged towards it, sliding on her stomach. She prayed to whatever God there was up there to somehow let her wish come true, a sole tear forming in her eye as her vision grew blurrier. A plastic syringe lay on the ground beside her head, and she frowned as she tried to think of why it was there.

Before she could think further, everything became black.