RANSOM - 3RACHA

Eleven

43 days before Chan was taken:

"Do you have a secret or something?" Chan asked, sitting beside Jisung on his balcony at 4 am. He blew smoke from his cigarette in the opposite direction of him but the wind kept blowing it back. He wouldn't have smoked at all when Jisung was around if he wasn't so stressed about work that he had to go to in 5 hours. Jisung understood and he didn't mind too much anyway.

"What?"

"I don't know, it just seems like you're hiding something. I mean, you never told me how you ended up homeless and you always cut Changbin off if he brings anything about it up."

"I'm not hiding anything," Jisung said, "I just don't like taking about it." He crossed his arms over his chest, his brow furrowed.

"Ok," Chan said. A tense silence fell between the two. Jisung was on the verge of spilling his guts to Chan. He wanted to tell someone other than Changbin what he had been through. Even if Changbin knew everything, the nightmares, scars and fear still remained and talking to someone new would be relieving.

"My dad used to abuse me," Jisung spoke so fast that Chan almost missed the rushed words. "I don't know when it started, probably when I was too young to remember but he used to...hit me, burn me, starve me and lock me in my room for days on end. My mum didn't do anything. She was only with my dad for the money anyway, I don't think she ever wanted me, nor did my dad. When I got older I realised I could tell someone and ruin his 'perfect name' but that didn't stop him. He still hurt me all the time for reasons I don't understand so when I was 18 I ran away. Changbin's dad had passed not long before and his house was being taken away so we ran away together. It was harder than we thought to get a job and a place to stay. We were in over our heads so that's how we ended up on the streets."

Jisung didn't know what Chan was going to say. He thought it would be better if he didn't say anything at all, that's why he was glad when he felt arms wrap around his torso and pull him close. He buried his head against Chan's neck and breathed in the familiar scent of his expensive cologne. He closed his eyes and listened to Chan's comforting voice:

"You're safe now. Me and Changbin will always protect you."

-

Changbin turned around to see the blonde woman charging towards him. She was yelling something that Changbin couldn't process but got cut off when a shard of glass was plunged deeply into her neck. Blood started to pour from the wound and cover the hands of the person who had inflict it upon her, Han Jisung.

Changbin jumped up from where he was kneeling and slammed the door to the room closed. "Holy shit," he said, unsure what else there was to say as he watched Jisung pull his hands away and stare at them in horror. The woman fell to the floor with a thump. Chan remained motionless in his seat.

Jisung's legs became too weak to hold him up and he collapsed to the floor. It wasn't a surprise that he started crying, but Changbin didn't have time to comfort him like he would have in any other situation. He had to free Chan.

He ran back over to the chair and released the rope from his hands and feet. Chan slumped against him and he had to use all of his strength to hold him up. "Jisung, baby, stop crying. We need to hurry before the others realise something is wrong."

"I-I...I killed her! Changbin, I killed her!" Jisung stuttered, frozen in place on the floor.

"Sweetheart, please. We can deal with that later. Please help me," Changbin begged. Jisung looked over at him and gasped when he saw Chan for the first time. He was bloodied and beaten almost beyond recognition, but Jisung knew it was him. He also knew he couldn't sit there crying, he had to help or things would go awfully wrong. He got up from the floor and linked his arm under Chan's, getting blood on his shirt but it didn't matter, it was already covered in the stuff. Together they were able to lift Chan out of the chair and drag him towards the door. Until it opened.

The two men, Jason and Nate, walked through the door in the midst of a conversation. They didn't notice what was happening until Changbin dropped Chan and slammed the door against them. Chan slumped against Jisung, who was too weak to hold him up and they both toppled to the floor.

Jason's head was hit by the door and he went flying out of the room while Nate remained inside, stunned eyes shifting between the door and dead Miss Everwere on the floor. Changbin seized the opportunity and grabbed a metal rod that was on the floor by his feet. He used all his strength to swing it at Nate's head and the impact was enough to send him plummeting to the ground as Changbin staggered backwards. The door opened again and Jason entered, clutching his bleeding forehead. Changbin whacked Jason in the stomach and he groaned as the rod was brought down on top of his head, knocking him out. Blood had splattered over Changbin's face in droplets and he used his arm to wipe it away, but it only smudged.

Chan's unmoving body was lying on top of Jisung who was struggling to push him off. Changbin rushed over and pulled him away, supporting him to his feet and pulling Jisung up with his spare hand. "They might wake up, we need to be quick," Changbin said, rushing towards the door before Jisung had a chance to properly stand up.

"I'm trying!" Jisung cried and linked his arm under Chan's again, finding it hard to support the heavier boy.

They made it out into the corridor and the first room they had been in where Changbin switched on the lights and grabbed one of the car keys from the desk. No time was wasted rushing towards the door. Once outside, he unlocked the closest car and worked with Jisung to put Chan in the back seat.

Jisung looked behind them to see one of the men running out of the building and started to panic. "Changbin, they're coming!"

"Get in the front," Changbin instructed and slammed the back door, getting into the drivers seat. He started up the engine as Jisung jumped into his seat. There was just enough time to drive away. One second longer and they would have been caught.