Hope, 92-liners Squad [C]

Chapter 10 (Trouble)

They were finally back in Seoul. After what had happened in Jeju, Ken decided to have his girlfriend staying with him so that he could always check on her. Moonbyul was taking her time to mentally recover and the others were supporting her in every way possible.

"Why do you seem upset, Hani-ah?" Ken went to the living room, throwing himself on the couch where the girl was sitting. As usual, they were gathering at his house, doing nothing specifically.

"I'm upset because," she clicked her tongue, "Jin doesn't want to go out."

Ken let out a laugh, not too loud as he was considering Moonbyul who was asleep in the bedroom. "You know even if he wants, he can't, right?" Ken asked the obvious question. He eyed the girl with sympathy.

"But, why? Why can't he go out with me? We've been to many places together and no one was saying anything. No paparazzi or dispatch reporter too." Hani whined.

"That's before you got together and we were all together, not just you two," Ken replied. He took the girl's hand in his, rubbing a circle on it. "Ning-ning, you have to understand him," he spoke softly, using the nickname which he personally gave to her.

"He is on the same page as you, Hani. He didn't expect this to turn out like this too. He is also lost while trying to find what is best for both of you." he looked into her glassy eyes as he finished his words.

Hani's mouth twitched a little, but instead of saying anything, she cried into Ken's arms, which the guy accepted her without complaints.

Throughout their whole conversation, Jin was watching them from behind his room's door. His tears eventually fell too when he saw how his girlfriend suffered because of him. He hates himself for not being able to stand up for her, but what can he do when his past life kept coming to him like there's no tomorrow?

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of a door creaking. He wiped off his tears as he saw Baro walking out of the room across his.

"Are you okay?" the latter asked. Jin had no choice other than to nod, especially when Ken and Hani already watching him. He spared her a quick glance before slowly going back into the room.

"Did something happen? Why are you crying, Hani?" Baro couldn't help but questioned the girl. Hani shook her head, not wanting to tell the story which Baro understood immediately.

"Where's Sandeul?" Ken asked, changing the topic. "He's on the phone with Sunyoung. 'LDR'." Baro quoted as he went to the kitchen, brewing some coffee. Hani casually ordered a cup, causing Baro to roll his eyes. But, he still made one for her. And the rest of the evening was spent by them chatting and laughing together.

(in case you don't know, LDR in this context, stands for Long-Distance Relationship, not the Physics thingy =))

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The next few days went by smoothly except for Moonbyul who refused to go out of Ken's house. Her boyfriend did so many things to help, but none succeeded.

As a result, Ken decided to support her in everything she did, so that she would be alright someday.

On the other hand, Sandeul kept taking days off-which Ken didn't mind at all-and fly to Jeju to meet his girlfriend. Honestly, his loyalty as a boyfriend was nowhere to be found in this world.

This left Baro, along with Ken-who often absent-to take care of the cafe. Baro had partially moved on from Hyesung, but he still had his hope, in case the girl canceled her engagement.

It was Saturday and they agreed on going out, but with limits as Moonbyul still anxious about being in public. They went to an arcade and she eventually forgot her worry for seconds.

After a few rounds of playing around, they finally settled at Ken's cafe.

"It's nice to have a friend who owns a cafe." Jin chattered. Ken joined them after that, with six cups of iced coffee.

"A friend? I thought we're soulmates." Ken replied, clutching onto his heart while faking a painful expression. He laughed after that, thinking how absurd he sounded.

"Yah, Sandeul. Why don't you just bring Sunyoung to Seoul? She could move in with you." Hani said, making Sandeul turn his attention from his phone to her.

"We already discuss that. She needs to find another job here first to live with me. And so far, there's no suitable job for her." Sandeul told, leaning onto the chair.

"She can work here if she wants," Ken suggested as he sipped on his coffee.

"You want her to work here? How much you can pay her? She earns 4 000 000 won per month." Sandeul scoffed.

"Are you saying that our, no no, my cafe isn't selling well? Tch." Ken flipped his bangs, annoyed.

"Woah, so now it's your cafe. I thought I'm the one who runs the cafe most of the days. I don't think I saw you guys here, were you?" Baro suddenly cut in.

"That's because you have no one to take care of beside yourself." Jin attempted to whisper, but since it was silent and it's just them in the cafe at the moment, his words became clear for everyone.

"What a life." Baro sighed as he sunk into his seat.

The conversation somehow ended, but the real event just about to start. Moonbyul suddenly flinched beside her boyfriend, making Ken instinctively hugged her sideways.

"What's wrong?" He leaned in and whispered. He caught Moonbyul shivered in his hand as the girl shook her head lightly. Ken looked up to see others' worried faces and smiled timidly to assure them.

"Let's go back, shall we? We had enough fun today." Ken said, and if it was a cue, the front door was forced open. A few men with black masks on their faces and firearms in their hands, barged in, surprising all of them.

"Ms. Moonbyul, please follow us." One of the men, probably their leader, spoke. His voice filled with authority that sent shivers running down their spines. Ken's wrap around his girlfriend tightened as he eyed the man back.

"Who are you? Why should we obey you?" Jin was the one who asked despite Hani who kept tugging onto his shirt, begging him to stop whatever he was going to do.

"We are ordered to take Ms. Moonbyul with us." the previous man said, smirking underneath his mask. "And kill whoever trying to get in our ways." he continued while aiming at Jin's forehead.

The rest of the armed men began to aim at each of them, but Ken remained beside Moonbyul who was shaking uncontrollably.

"Move."

Everything happened so fast that none of them could process. The cafe was suddenly on fire. The six young adults scurried out of the building and got to a safe place.

Baro watched the cafe burned down as his tears flowing down freely. Sandeul was quick to check on him if anything happened to his brother.

Jin was helping Hani who got injured when Ken collapsed beside Moonbyul who was crying.

Sirens were heard from afar while some of the people there and a police officer tried to put out the fire. Everyone thought it was the end,

but it's just a little warning.

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Hey guys! We've reached 1K! Thank you so much for your support! I hope you enjoyed this (shtty) chapter hehe...the original storyline is actually different, but I can't refuse the sudden lightbulb, so here it is.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Signing off, jaetiff14