"Dad!"
I kneeled next to him and saw his chest bleeding.
The first gunshot was followed by rain of bullets. I pulled him behind the stairs to dodge it.
"R-r-run.."
"Don't talk!"
I applied pressure with my knee. Then reached for the table cloth under our telephone to seal his wound.
"Okay, talk."
"Ji-"
The difficulty in his breathing began. We need to get out of here. But the house is not holding great with this menace.
"Run." He muttered.
"Shh!"
BOOM.
A deafening explosion scared the crap out of me. I peeked, it's not our house. Then I saw smoke coming from our fields.
The fields we worked out butts off to clean is now destroyed.
"WHO ARE YOU!" Maybe they'll stop shooting to answer me.
"Run."
"Argh I said quiet. Just breathe, okay?"
I carried him to get us out of here. I didn't slow down even when he winced in pain.
"Maybe I should thank your son for your first aid."
Amidst all the shooting, a guy in black suit with shades, shades at this hour, walked inside our house. The same guy that visited my clinic.
"Jisoo, get the jasmine in the attic."
"What?"
"The jasmine! Go!"
"And you?"
"I'll distract him."
"Are you kidding me?"
"It's important! Go, now!"
He stood up on his own and pushed me. I looked at him in disbelief then he glared at me, compelling me to get whatever it is.
I ran upstairs without looking back, I am afraid to do so. I will just put my faith on my dad.
Jasmine. The same thing that shades guy asked last time.
I rummaged all the closets and boxes to look for it. What exactly is it?
I opened one box. I ran my hand inside it and cut my finger as I do so.
"Paper cut! Are we serious?"
I glanced at the laminated paper and saw a dried white flower glued to a white paper. On the lower right, these are written calligraphically "Seung Su; 12.29.95"
I can't understand but somehow I am drawn to it. I like flowers but not to this level.
Oh. It's a jasmine flower.
I put it inside my shirt, stood up and thought if should I look again for the Jasmine, or this is it? The gunshots snapped me and I remembered the situation, so ran back down.
I saw dad still standing with his left hand on his chest and his right hand holding a rifle. I don't know where did he get that.
"Oh, did you get it?" The shades walked towards me.
"Stop!" My dad pointed the rifle at him.
"Now, give me that." Shades reached his hand.
"The what?"
I reached for the gun in my waist when suddenly a bullet bruised my hand.
"Warning shot." He said, pointing the gun at me.
"Can you at least stop the bullet showers? I can't hear you clearly."
He then raised his left hand and it really stopped.
"Now." He stepped forward so I moved backwards.
"Jisoo!" Dad body slammed him. "Run!"
"No!" Before I could shoot, I heard another gunshot.
Then my dad was laying on the floor with his head drowning in blood.
No. No. No way.
"DAD!" I kneeled next to him. The blood flows from his skull. No way.
No.
I checked his pulse.
No.
No way.
"Depressing, right? I don't like to kill him, yet. But what happens, happens. Not sorry, though."
He can't be dead. We haven't planted a corn yet. He will teach me to ride a horse. We will share more dinners together. He will give me more advise.
He can't leave me again.
He protected me and what? This jasmine? Then what?
"Hey." The shades guy called.
I can't think straight now but the bullets showered again. My body just moved towards the kitchen. It flipped the table to hide behind it.
I heard footsteps drawing near my hiding spot.
"Pretty lame, right? This life, I mean. Protecting someone important comes at a high cost. In your father's case, your life and jasmine cost him his own life."
BANG.
I shot him at his right arm, where he holds his pistol.
"AHH!" The shades whined as he looked at his bleeding arm.
He shouldn't have triggered me. I know how lame this world is. I have lived my entire life thirsting for something. Just when I finally got a taste of what happiness is..
This world is mad.
I crawled towards the door over all these glass shatters. I grabbed the knob then a sharp blade pierced the bullet-hole-coated door.
"Where do you think you're taking the jasmine?"
"Jasmine here. Jasmine there. You're obsessed!"
He was taken a back. "Funny how I've also heard that from your dad."
While he's blabbering, I aimed his right thigh but shot him at his right arm again. Sorry, not really a shooter.
"Bastard!"
I aimed again at his right thigh and now succeeded. He knelt and was screaming in pain.
I ran back again towards the door and felt chills on my spine. He was standing right behind me and his blood dropped on my shoulder.
"Ho-how?"
He raised his left hand with a knife. I aimed at that arm and pulled the trigger. I pulled again.
"Ooh. No more bullets?" He said.
Really, now? I crawled sideways then "Ah!" I landed my palm on a debris.
"Bye."
I'm sorry, dad. I know you risked your life for me and for jasmine. More than anything, I'm sorry for not being motivated to continue living. If we ever meet in afterlife, please forgive me for giving up. I don't want to wake up another day without you. See you, dad.
His knife rushed towards me when suddenly his left arm is bleeding, too. I watched his knife bounce beside me.
From the area where I left my dad's body, stands a man in a stripped black and white shirt and skinny jeans. He mouthed
"Stand."
