bad alive {dong sicheng}

36

keni and winwin stood by the mini-bar, glaring at everyone in their vicinity as they sipped on mocktails. 

winwin had wanted to drink real alcohol, but keni had decided against it, knowing that drinking alcohol would probably make them more inclined to do something stupid at the party.

keni had yet to run into her mother, the woman of the night, and she wasn't complaining. the only reason that she had come to this party, was to keep an eye on her father and make sure that he wouldn't be dead by the end of the night.

her father had seen her, however, and was now making his way towards her rapidly. keni frantically looked around and groaned when she saw no way out of talking to him.

she grimaced as he came close and held winwin's hand tightly, something she always did to calm down.

he squeezed her lightly, letting her know that he was right next to her and supporting her the whole way. 

what both of them didn't expect was for the president to get on his knees in front of her, attracting the attention of the entire party around them.

she could hear them muttering, wondering who she was and what connection she had to the chinese president.

"get up," she said with gritted teeth but her father took no heed.

"i'm sorry," he said with his head hung low, ashamed to look her in the eyes, "i was a coward."

keni grabbed one of his arms and yanked him up to his feet, "what's done is done."

"will you forgive me?" he asked.

keni scanned his eyes and his expression, searching for any kind of deception. she saw no malice in him as much as she wanted to. although she wanted to yell at him and curse him out, she felt the pressure of winwin's hand around hers and she stopped herself, taking deep breaths. 

"i will accept your apology," she began, "but i still won't trust you. you'll have to earn that part mr. president."

the president nodded, his eyes sad as he gazed at his only child. 

"will you call me father?" he asked timidly.

keni shook her head, "that's not something you earned."

just then, keni saw her mother glaring venomously from the staircase balcony at the interaction with her father. her breath hitched in her throat when she saw the gun in her mother's hand, being raised up to aim. 

she stepped forward, pushing her father out of the way as the bullet traveled through the air. 

in the moment that she had let go of winwin's hand, the bullet hit her in the abdomen and she looked back at him in fear for her own life. she saw the same look mirrored in his own face. 

as she felt the blackness encompass her mind, she struggled to turn back to look for her mother. she saw the woman throw the gun away in shook and run in the opposite direction as chaos ensued. 

the last thing she heard was the obnoxious ringing of an ambulance getting louder and louder.

she collapsed in winwin's arms, blood gushing profusely from the wound.

~

"the surgery, how did it go?!" winwin yelled as he gripped the doctor's shoulders a bit aggressively.

the doctor winced, having just completed a three-hour long surgery on keni's wounds. it turned out the bullet had ricocheted inside of her body, damaging several organs instead of one.

"the surgery went successfully. she should be waking up in a few hours," the doctor paused, "may i ask how she got shot?"

"you don't need to know, please keep this confidential."

the doctor and winwin turned around to see the chinese president and the doctor bowed down low, "y-yes sir," he said and scurried as if the president was too intimidating to be around.

the president approached winwin and looked him up and down, "i want to take her back to china with me."

winwin furrowed his brows together, "it's not your decision to make."

"it's not yours either," the president pointed out.

"you're right. it's hers. and i know she won't want to go with you so don't even bother asking her right now," winwin threatened, his voice hardening.

the president sighed, "she's my daughter, dong sicheng, i can't just sit around in a different country watching her run around with a gang and possibly get hurt."

"i'll be with her every step of the way so you don't need to worry about that," winwin said, "i'll protect her. i have to anyways, she's the love of my life," he added on the last part softly.

"and if she gets hurt?" the president raised an eyebrow.

"she won't."