Time Machine Project | Mingyu

Chapter 25

Linda stood speechless once again. She stared at Mingyu, that man was full of surprises.

He finished the story telling and walked towards her, he looked at Minghao and smiled sympathetically as he passed by.

"And here we are. I can't let you die again, you understand, don't you? There is no way going back now." he said and touched her shoulder.

The woman eyed him and nodded.

"I understand." she said and swallowed slowly.

There was no return for her as well. She ran away, she got involved into such situation, people died for her and she even killed someone with her own hands. Her friends were gone, she had already realized that. She had to learn to live with this till her own end.

His hand moved to her cheek, he touched carefully the strands of hair that were covering her eyes and pulled them behind as his fingers got sunk into her hair. With his other hand, he pulled her towards him.

Her arms moved automatically around him and she placed her head on his chest, where she could hear his heartbeat.

That's all she needed at that moment.
A hug. Someone to comfort her, all of this was too much to accept and digest in a short period of time.

"Thank you." she said as her dry eyes were looking deep into the darkness ahead of her.

She was thankful for everything he had done, he protected her all along, it was all for her sake. He smiled and pulled himself back and looked at her.

"I don't mean to ruin this, but.. We need to go." said Joshua silently and both of them turned to him.

"Yes." mumbled Mingyu and walked outside the room, Linda following him.

She looked one last time at Minghao and smiled yet she felt sorry about what had happened.

Mingyu took a step ahead and Linda grabbed his hand. He stopped for a moment but then continued walking, her hand tightening his as they were getting further away.

Joshua took off his jacket and covered Minghao's body, he kneeled beside him and closed his eyes. It seemed like he was praying.
He got up after he mumbled something and then turned to catch up with the couple.

He rushed to the door and locked it, Linda looked at him questioning his act. He had just said that they had to go and locked their only way to escape.

"Take your shirt off." said Joshua and the girl looked at him embarrassed, then she turned to Mingyu.

She saw a red stain on his shirt, she looked at hers and realized that her abdominal area and sleeves were soaked in blood.
Joshua walked to a room and picked two long-sleeved shirts, he handed each one to them and then turned his back.

Linda looked at him and hesitantly lifted her shirt. She eyed Mingyu, he had already taken off his and was holding the new one between his forearms, he had his back turned as well.
She stared for a while at his toned muscles, it was kind of dark but she could still see them.

"Are you done?" he asked as he wore his and she mumbled startled in agreement, she wore hers as well.

"I'm ready." she said and offered the bloody clothes to Joshua, guessing that he wanted to get rid of those.

He grabbed them and threw them on the floor, then gestured them to follow him.

"Leave those here, we have no time to waste." he said and walked in a faster pace, leading them to the basement.

He opened a door and a secret path was revealed, it was completely dark. He took out a lighter and turned it on, it was pretty narrow. Joshua first, Mingyu and then Linda following him silently.

It was chilly down there, it was smelling bad but none of them commented on it.

"This path leads in another house of this city, it's mine as well." said Joshua and the girl listened to him closely. "We will drive to the airport and purchase tickets there." he said and Linda's eyes widened.

"To the airport? But that's literally next to CERN.." she said unable to hide her worry.

"But there is no other way. They will catch up with us immediately if we drive our way out the country." said Mingyu and holded her hand, telling her that everything would be alright.

"Where have you been all this time?" asked Linda and Joshua smiled at himself.

"It was a month before the experiment.. Mingyu told me everything and we planned it all. His other self was placed in my capsule, so the victims would be 11. I was living in this house for so long. That way, everyone would think I am dead and CERN wouldn't look for me. I'm thankful he trusted me." said Joshua and Mingyu smiled as he looked at him, he was one of the most trustworthy people he knew.

"Did we know each other? Before.. " asked the young woman and looked at him full of curiosity.

She didn't know what her life was before the first time travel.

"I don't know, did we?" said Joshua and eyed Mingyu from the side.

"We worked all together, you and my whole team. That's after all how we managed to built it with such success. This plan was full of holes." said Mingyu and laughed silently. "I am the only one who knows how to build a time machine. That's why I can't let them catch me." he said and everyone's mood changed all of the sudden.

The girl kept quiet, thinking about what he meant. What if things went wrong and he was forced to tell them everything? No way.
He didn't got into so much trouble only to give up that easily. If CERN eventually built a time machine.. Then, would she forget everything?

Joshua didn't speak, he knew that he had to help his friend. He chose to not kill him, he had to return the favor.

Mingyu placed his hand on the handle of the door and brought his gun closer to his face. He opened it and got inside the room, Joshua following him. They checked the place and then gestured Linda to come inside.

"Waste no time, let's get the car." said Joshua and he stepped outside with Mingyu.

Linda took a look around her, the house was clean and it didn't seem like no one was living there. She approached the wall as she saw a lot of pictures hanging on it. There were photos of a kid, she assumed it was Joshua. She continued walking along the wall and she noticed that the kid didn't look like Joshua anymore, its skin was tanned and its characteristics much different. It looked more like Mingyu.

Joshua said that this was another house of his, but it seemed like a lie. Pictures of a teenage Mingyu were the proof for it.

She didn't mind much, nothing would change if he had said the truth from the beginning. These two were friends for a longer time than she thought.

The last picture made her feel uncomfortable. It was Mingyu standing in the center and his team standing next to him, some where kneeling in the front. She could recognize most of them. Joshua, Jonathan Strauss, Peter Dawn, Joseph Brando, Lee Michael.. Who knows how old the picture was, probably not much.

All of them were dead.
Only so she could get to live right now, someone chose that the only way was to kill them.

"We are ready, come." said Mingyu from the other side of the room, waiting for her at the door. "Oh what are you looking at there?" he said and looked at the pictures, but he wasn't interested on stepping further inside.

"Isn't it creepy that Joshua has photos of you as a child?" said Linda sarcastically and walked to him, with no intention on asking more.

He smiled and turned around, she grabbed him from his sleeve and pulled it towards her.

He looked at her with question on his eyes, she came closer and eventually hugged him. He immediately hugged her back, tightening his hold around her.

"Thank you." she exclaimed and he didn't say anything, he just smiled.

Together they headed towards the car.