You're My Target

Chapter 33

''Wake up - WAKE UP.''
Troy heard a voice calling, slowly getting louder. he came to, but it was still dark, pitch black. his breathing was muffled, his head was covered by some sort of black hood and his arms were bound behind him, tied to a chair. The hood was suddenly ripped from off his head and white light flooded his eyes. even with his eyes tighly closed, it pierced through.
"Hes awake" the unfamiliar voice said. Troys eyes were still closed shut as they had not adjusted to the light.

"whats going on? what is this?" troy asked breathing nervously

"thats what we want to ask you!" the voice hissed. Troy was beginning to gain some vision as he open and shut his eyes. making out a black figure holding a flash light into troys face.
"You're a rebel arent you?"

 "im not a rebel." troy answered defiantly. there was a taste of blood in his mouth.

"well youre not one of us." the man said.

"correct, im not one of you either." troy was still trying to see clearly, only making out blurry figures. he turned his head seeing what looked like another person in a chair, just like him.

"so youre not a rebel and youre not one of us. that really doesnt answer my question now does it." the voice said getting less patient with troy.

"listen, you're gona have to trust me when i say: we're here to help." troy said calmly, but pleadingly

"we'll see." the voice replied. troy felt a sharp point on his neck, most deffinetely some sort of blade. it ran along from side to side. Troy held his breath. he felt the blade move from his neck, and he exhaled slowly in relief... but then a sharp thrusting pain in his abdomen followed...Troy screamed, and sat up. he was in his bed. he panted and was sweaty all over. his hand grasped the scar on his stomach. he took a moment to calm himself and looked around. it was barely dawn. he rubbed his face, and his crusty eyes. it was just a dream. He realized he wasnt going to be able to fall back asleep, so he dragged himself out of his bed. he walked while yawning out to the living area and sat on his couch.

"stupid Mou bringing up things he shouldnt be bringing up." troy muttered to himself as he turned on the TV. "stupid dreams making me remember things i try so hard to forget." he switched channels to the weather station.
"i wonder what its gonna be like today..." he said, as he caught a brief smell of soyeon in his nose. Her scent still lingered slightly in his couch. he kept sniffing, trying to smell as much as he could.
"after a day of flurries yesterday, today is looking to be a clear day with small periods of sunshine. bring a jacket out for the wind-chill." the weather report said "just another day adding to the up and down, random weather we've been having this season..."
troy stopped trying to savor the soyeon scent and turned off the TV. "nice" he said as he stretched out his stuff body. "that'll make the day a little easier."
Later that morning Troy was already dressed and waiting for Hank to come pick him up. Troy still had to go and get his Moped which he had left behind the day earlier. he was beginning to get restless but eventually Hank showed up. He honked his horn to let Troy know he had arrived. troy grabbed his jacket and ran out to hanks car.
"morning." troy said as he sat inside the car and closed the door.

"well arent you a ray of sunshine." hank said glaring over at him.

"is something wrong?" troy asked as Hank started driving.

"yea man. its too early to be that happy." hank grumbled. "i never wake up before noon when i dont have school."

"well you could have come later. its not like i forced you.." troy shrugged.

"yea so you can go and tell your girl and she can tell all her friends and then Jiyeon and Qri think im a bad friend and ruin my chances with them." hank rambled as troy watched his eyes getting wider with every word.

"Jiyeon... AND qri?" troy asked.

"i gotta have a back up Troy!" Hank exclaimed to him. "which brings me to my next problem."

"go for it." troy said, anticipating what outlandish thing he was going to say.

"why havent you set me up with any of them yet." Hank looked at him seriously.

"You gotta go for it. like i did." Troy said patting his shoulder.

"you just want them all for yourself." Hank said squinting his eyes.

"news flash im not a ladies man, Jiyeon tried to kick my head off and hyomin thinks im some kind of phony jerk." troy said trying to convince hank that not all the girls liked him.

"ok but youre dating Soyeon, Eunjung is your new best friend, Boram is your old best friend, then theres Hwayoung..." Hank explained.

"yea were friendly i guess but she thinks im hiding some secrets about the 'devil man' or whatever. i think the only reason she talks to me is because she is hoping to find some proof he actually exists. totally ignoring everything i said about how theres no way he could. i mean unless you believe in Areums fairy tales." Troy tried to reassure him.

"ok so over active imagination hwayoung aside, theres Qri." hank added.

"Qri..." troy said and paused with a slight sigh.

"......Qriiii...." Hank said wanting troy to continue

"i dont know whats up with Qri. shes indifferent about everything. you never know what shes thinking or planning. i dont know if shes a friend or she secretly hates me" troy did his best to sum up how he views Qri.

"cause she is a goddess, Troy. she doesnt have time to meddle in mortal affairs. shes a whimsical being just look at her." hank said in all seriousness.
"and uses us simple mortals as pawns in her grand scheme of... whatever it is goddess's do?" Troy asked him.

"exactly!. i want her to use me like a pawn!" Hank said with a grin.

"well i guess i shouldnt bring up the fact that she tried to use me as a pawn in her little goddess game." Troy smirked.

"very funny." Hank said.

"she tried to kiss me just to get a glimpse of Soyeons necklace." Troy told him, when the car came to a sudden halt, Hank slammed on the brakes. troy was frozen in shock nearly hitting his head on the dashboard.

"Troy.." hank said breathing heavily.

"i didnt. i didnt! we didnt! i said tried! tried" troy waved his arms frantically and backed up away from hank. "relax man relax!"

"as relieved as i am, i'm also kinda disappointed." hank said, stepping on the gas and continuing to drive as if nothing happened."i mean what guy turns down a kiss from Qri?."

"uhmmmm, one who is in a relationship with her good friend, and one who is friends with a guy who will flip out and try to kill him if he did?" troy asked

"yea but, it would be so worth it wouldn't it?" hank smiled.

"i value what i have just fine.you wacko." troy smiled uneasily. Hank and troy continued to drive and finally got to the park where troys moped was. They lifted it and crammed it into the back of Hanks mothers hatchback car. it just barely fit. on the way back troy remained quiet. he looked out the window as Hank drove.
"so should we go look for a tire to buy to replace the flat one?" Hank suggested noticing Troy was being too quiet.

"no, i cant. not yet anyway." Troy sighed, he continued to gaze out the window.

"why?" hank questioned him.

"because i just spent a lot of money on Soyeons gift. i'm kind of on a budget." Troy tried to explain.

"it must be hard on your parents." hank said quietly. troy glanced over at him puzzled."You know, to send you out here on your own and support you. it doesnt sound like its very easy finacially." Hank said.

"well,  im just fortunate enough to have a family who can afford it i guess." Troy shrugged. "and even saying that its not easy. have you seen my fridge lately? its bone dry."

"well you cant blame your family for your mishandling of the money they send you, Troy. try to be more responsible. you have a girlfriend now and shes going to be looking at that sort of thing."

troy was shocked something so wise came out of hanks mouth. "is that so?" troy replied.

"soyeon is definitely that type of girl..." hank paused. "no, Soyeon isn't a girl. she is a woman. a woman you dont deserve. no offense. so you better step it up."
troy looked back out the window. he didn't say anything back to hank."i said no offense man, i didn't mean to upset you." Hank apologized thinking he offended Troy. troy just help up his hand for hank to stop talking.
"Youre right man. i dont deserve her. youre right about it all." troy sighed.

"but, youre fortunate to have her." hank added. "isnt that right?"

"i guess." troy shrugged.

"Troy! what do you mean you guess?" hank exclaimed."trust me, hank you dont know how incredibly blessed i feel to have what i have with Soyeon. but at the same time i feel an incredible amount of pressure. like i have to live up to her expectations. and .. its just hard to explain. as happy as i feel i also feel stressed" troy said getting flustered.

"troy, a relationship shouldn't be a job!" Hank yelled.

"a job..." troy said confused.

"yes troy, you're making it sound like your relationship with Soyeon is a job. like 'oh no when i'm with Soyeon i have to work so hard at living up to what she deserves i better act the way i expect me to act.'" Hank said mocking Troys voice. troy glared over it him.

"first of all,i don't sound like that at all. and i'm not acting like anything around her... in fact if anything. when i'm with Soyeon i feel like i'm the realest version of me. i think i 'act' more around everyone else" troy admitted to hank.

"you do kind of sound like that Troy." hank said with a smug look. "and so you're saying you put on an act in front of all of us? none of us know the real troy?"

"no. no you don't." Troy said seriously. he went back to looking out the window. they sat silently for a bit as they continued their drive.

"maybe i should have compared your relationship to hockey then." hank said suddenly. "you know, you gotta go out and perform. give it your all and score."
Troy slowly began to turn to him.
"but then instead of scoring you pass the puck to a team mate 'cause you choke under pressure" hank laughed, in reference to Troy asking him to take soyeon home the day before. "you missed a golden opportunity man!"

"oh that's real funny. real mature." troy said rolling his eyes.

"too soon?" Hank asked noticing troy was agitated. "i was just trying to lighten the atmosphere."

"no actually i think your comparison to me treating relationships like hockey is true. i know our season was short here, but you all seen glimpses of my skills in practice. you cant deny i have the talent to score more often than others." troy turned to hank gesturing like he was shooting a puck with a stick as he explained.

"yea perhaps." Hank agreed hesitantly. "but you're not the best.."

"and thats why i got Hyomin, Boram, Eunjung, Qri, Hwayoung aaaaannnnnd Soyeon on board the TROY TRAIN. not the best no, but 6 out of 7 aint bad." Troy said satisfied and turned back towards the window.

"i guess you weren't lying. Mister humble Troy was all an act. we see the real full of himself Troy emerge at last." Hank said. Troy sensed a bit frustration.

"hey you asked for it." Troy said punching hank in the arm lightly.

"yea whatever." Hank huffed. "keep it up and you can walk your moped back home."

"you can dish it out but cant take it in return huh." Troy said with little laugh. "if you do kick me out ill just have Eunjung pick me up. and if im lucky she will bring Qri and jiyeon with her."

"TROYYY!!!!!" hank shrieked.

Troy laughed as he and Hank drove on back towards Troys house.