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The world melted away.
Ten was still grinning the widest I'd ever seen him grin, obviously proud of himself for having his wits about when none of the rest of us did. Of course, there was the amazing feeling of having stolen two beautiful motorcycles, but I guessed he was more attracted to the emotion than the bikes themselves.
I was still not utterly in my senses, but it was as if looking at the motorcycles had awoken something inside me. Unable to take my eyes off them, I got to my feet, leaning on Vernon for balance, fascinated by the way the headlight glinted in the darkness. The danger of being killed didn't seem so dangerous now.
It had been so long since I'd been on a bike.
Yeeun noticed the look on my face, but didn't say anything about it. Vernon got up as I did, seemingly still worried that I'd keel over, and held on to me as he proceeded towards the bike she was on. Yeeun slid off just as I grabbed the rolled-up sleeve of his shirt. He turned, raising his eyebrows in concerned inquisitiveness, and I shook my head.
"I can probably ride it better than you," I said.
A few feet away, Ten snickered furtively.
"I know that," Vernon said, then bit his lip. His hands had still not released their hold on the handlebars, but I could tell he was hesitating. "Look, it's not that you can't ride the bike. I know you can, of course I do. It's just that, after all that just happened—"
Yeeun watched him struggle with words for another moment before putting up a hand, stopping him mid-sentence. "Chwe, I understand your worries, but what we need right now is a quick getaway. She might not handle it well, but I would rather we end up on the wrong side of the road than on the wrong side of a knife."
Vernon didn't look very happy at being interrupted, especially through a single, blunt action, and I knew his mood wasn't exactly being helped along by the situation. He was usually able to rely on his tongue—in more ways than one—but there wasn't enough time to convince anyone about who should ride the motorcycle and who shouldn't.
I looked up at him, tightening my grip on his sleeve pleadingly.
He took another long look at me, then relented with a reluctant sigh. "Okay, then," he muttered under his breath as I climbed onto the bike, then proceeded to climb on behind me. I held my breath as his arms locked around my waist, his chest warm and hard against my back.
This was a new feeling, and the adrenaline should have been enough to deal with it, but my mind was exploring every single sensation before letting it go. There was much that I needed to figure out about what I was feeling, but I had no time to consider all that. Vernon was probably right. I wasn't the best getaway driver, especially in this state.
