Black

seven:burned letter

s e v e n

burned letter

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He coughed. Harder than the last. A lot more painful. A loud growl escaped his gnashing teeth at the pain of cigarette singeing his skin, burning it as deep as possible. His breathing went heavy. He was panting, body exhausted of torture. He felt so weak, he wanted to lie but his arms were held by heavy rusted chains. A honk from one of the ships rang all over the place, another angry cigarette kissing his bare skin.

"Enjoying?" he could hear his amusement over the speaker of the phone. His lips curved into a smirk, his shoulder shook. Laughter broke, echoing at the nearly empty abandoned warehouse. "Fuck you too, Dong Youngbae." He snarled, eyes glimmering with loathe, in his mouth was the bubbly poisonous taste of wrath. "You know what to do." Youngbae flatly said with a sigh. Seungri felt the bite of the whip against his skin, marking him with hot red lines, skin ripping off his flesh. One, two then he lost count. He snarled in pain, for a moment he wanted to die. Quick death. He wanted all this torment to stop. But inside him anger boiled, hungry for revenge.

They should feel thrice the pain they brought him. "Kill me," he gritted. It was too painful. Too much. It was too much. "Nah, we are not that bad. We know mercy and you should be thankful." Seungri felt his skin tightened, his wrath numbed his every pain, every cut, and every wound. "I'll get back..." his voice was eerily even, relaxed. "I'll get more than even." Youngbae laughed at him, mocking.

"I'd like to see you try. Cut the chains." Two of the buffed men cut the chains with axes. Seungri slammed hard on the floor, his breathing heavy, he was close to dying. He could have died but something inside him kept him alive. "Run fast, Lee Seunghyun. Because if we catch you..." Seungri pushed himself up. With raw struggle and burning determination, he scampered away. "Bang, you're dead," he broke into a dash. He needed to live.

He must live.

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Jiyong guided her to the stage where they stood in front of the elite guests. She felt like she will faint because of nervousness. Jiyong wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. Every eye stared at her, every mouth whispered asking who she was. She felt like hiding under the comfort of her blanket. How did a wallflower ended to be the rose, the center of attraction? Her fists clenched tightly. "Relax," he whispered in her ear, his minty breath kissing her skin, his lips touching it with delicate teasing.

"Good evening, everyone." He greeted, keeping eye contact on his prominent guests, the biggest names in business and the richest families. Just the mere thought on how high profile everyone was in his birthday party made her twice as nervous as she already was. "I am happy and honored that you all attended my party despite being busy individuals." He rarely talks and perhaps that's what made her like his voice more. It felt like a special treat that can only be given on specific days. The more you were deprived of something, the more you craved it.

Jiyong glanced at her and without her knowledge her cheeks heated up for reasons unknown. "I would like to introduce you the brilliant mind behind this hall's wonderful design and the woman that I will soon marry," Dara was perplexed, this was getting out of hand. Being a collateral was different from being his fiancée and from marrying him. How can a mere no one, a Park Sandara, be announced as the fiancée of one of the richest men, the most wanted bachelor? This will be all over the news, her name will surely fill the business sections and lifestyle sections. She might be in the cover of magazines. She was not thrilled of it, especially since Joongki will see this. What would people say, people who had known them ever since, people who believed in the sincerity of their relationship? Who believed that somehow they will complete a happily ever after?