❈| Bound And Promised |❈

❈|3|❈

"Good day to you, Lalisa." An old vendor said to Lisa after she bought some of her good harvested vegetables.

With a beaming smile, Lalisa replied, "Good day to you too, Mrs. Hong." And she began to fled away from her stall.

Currently, Lisa was in Cypress's occupied market. And even though it was small to be a market, the place was still filled with a lot of people from the village and from the kingdom as well. For today, a lot of fresh food and vegetables were harvested from Cypress's bountiful fields.

Cyria is a very well known kingdom all over the country for their rich filled lands and deep waters. A lot of food and materials from other kingdoms mostly came here in the Kingdom of Cyria. And not to boast, most of them came from their tiny village, and Lisa just cannot help but to feel proud that her village was one of the causes why their kingdom is abundant with produce.

Checking the last item off her list, which was vegetables, Lisa was all set to go. But before she can, she saw people that made her feet stuck on the ground.

It was a group of men whose faces are too familiar to her.

Fearing that they will chase after her, she without any hesitation, quickly sauntered away from her position and blended in with the busy crowd. Hoping that they didn't get a glimpse at her cowering self. 'I really need to get to them. Fast.' She recited at her head, pertaining to her friends who were awaiting for her at their meeting place.

•|Time Skip|•

It took the lass about 20 minutes before arriving at her intended destination; an old storage barn. Proceeding at the back of the abandoned shed, voices of men can be already heard, who were all laughing and conversing with one another. The latter only then ceased, when one of the men saw the girl's approaching form.

"Hey, it's Lalisa!" One of the noisy guys in the group named, Bambam, exclaimed.

As a result of Bambam's shouting, all the other six guys turned their heads at the girl, who was waving her right arm at their direction. Finally standing in front of them, the group greeted Lisa with high-fives and pats.

"What took you so long? We've been waiting for centuries." The youngest male, Yugyeom, exaggeratedly stated, earning him a light punch from the small maiden at one of his broad shoulders.

Done welcoming the newly arrived Lisa, the leader of the group, Jaebum, inquired the girl. "So what is the reason to your sudden invite here in the barn, Lis?"

With that one question asked, Lisa's throat became all suddenly dry and speaking to them was a lot harder than carrying a large sack of rice. Clearing her once dried throat, Lisa began to reveal the reason for her abrupt meet up. "Well, I was meaning to ask if you-" She paused, her eyes only gazing at the straw filled ground as embarrassment was eating her up. "If y-you have any job suggestions that I can probably take?"

There she said it. None of her friends, nor even her uncle, knew about her situation. She was extremely and officially broke and in debt to her landlord. It has been two months since she was abducted by her landlord's men and threatened her personally, saying to pay her almost a thousand debt to him or he will evict them out of their house or worst, kill them both with his own two bare hands. And she has done everything to gain the needed money, yet it was always spent for their needs and her uncle's medication.

Knowing that her friends has a bunch of connections, she thought that they might have a job suitable to her that can pay her in a large amount.

In the end of her flashback, Lisa was in the verge of tears and the seven males were all looking at her with sadness and empathy. Minutes in silence passed, and Jaebum spoke at the tear-eyed girl. "I'm sorry to say this, Lis. But we don't have any job requests for you. All of them were all taken by the other villagers last month. We really like to help you, but we have nothing to offer anymore. I'm so sorry, Lisa."

Hearing those words, shattered Lisa's fragile heart. That was it, they were her last beacon of hope and sadly, her hope was inverted to despair.

Heaving a deep breath, Lisa weakly mumbled, "I-I understand. Thanks for coming all the way here, though." She turned at her heel and started to amble away from them. Not even reaching five miles away from their spot, a hand gripped her arm. "Wait."

Spinning around, she saw the person that halted her from her steps. It was the oldest of them all, Mark. "There's one job suggestion we would like to offer you." He started, seriousness and pity cladding his features.

"Hyung, she can't. It's too dangerous for her to handle. Even for us." The eomma among the seven, Jinyoung, worryingly protested. "She can, she's a very strong girl anyways. Besides, we'll be there when danger happens." One of Bambam's partner at the noise and trouble, Jackson, countered.

"I can do it. Whatever it is, as long that I can get money, I'll do it." Lisa interfered before a fight ignited with the two guys. Diverting his attention back at her, Mark smiled at Lisa. "Then your coming with us to do the job." Lisa and the others then joined him at his grinning celebration. But in a short time of seconds, curiosity got the best of her and therefore she questioned, "What is exactly the job were doing?" And everyone in the room, including Mark, turned mute.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she scanned them. "Guys?"

Sighing, Jaebum nervously replied at her inquiry. "You see, all of us are going at the kingdom's plaza in five days. There will be a huge bazaar spree at that day and we planned on going to-" He halted, finding the right words to explain it to the girl, who was beginning to have a clue to where he is going with this conversation. "To do the one thing we're very good at."

As he was finished, it took Lisa a hot second before a very important detail about her friends sunk into her.

Her friends were secretly a group of professional thieves. They steal high priced items from vendors and exchange for money. She was completely aware of their illegal activity, yet she still decided to become friends with them because of Bambam and Yugyeom, who were both her neighbors.

"It might be hard for you at first. But don't you worry, we'll teach you some of our ways on how to steal professionally." The known good boy among the seven, Youngjae, tried to enlighten the mood, yet it did the exact opposite to Lisa.

Upon hearing what he said, she frantically shook her head in disagreement. "No. I'm not going anymore." She might be desperate, but she is not that desperate to stoop so low and do something prohibited. And not once has she ever thought to turn like them.

Clasping her shoulder with his warm hand, Mark responded with sympathy, " We understand what your feeling, Lis. We didn't like it at our first, either. But there will be moments in our lives where you need to sacrifice something in order for those people you love to gain what they require to live and to be happy. And surrendering your morality is one way to do it." At his statement, Lisa's perspective, faltered.

If she did this, she'll have the money to pay their debt and buy her uncle's medication. On the other hand, she has to commit a heavy sin that'll scar her as long as she lives.

Seeing that the girl was having a hard time rationalizing things, Jaebum provided her a time limit. "You don't have to give us your answer, Lis. We'll give you four days to think about your decision. If your answer is yes, we'll all leave at dawn. Until then, we'll wait for you."

With a creased expression, Lisa made her exit with a deep sigh and a distressing decision to conclude.

'Life is full of tough decisions, and nothing can ever make them easy.'

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