I didn't really sleep that horrid night; I more so drifted in and out of mild consciousness, remembering instead of dreaming. Still, I jolted to complete awareness when the office door suddenly slammed open. A man, one I'd never seen before, came in and looked at me. Within seconds he took me by the forearm and without making a sound, began dragging me forcefully from the room.

The warehouse was busy even this early in the morning. I didn't see Kougi; not that I was looking for him. The gangster now holding me simply brought me back to the main floor where the boss was issuing orders. He was too busy to notice us right away, so we just stood there very awkwardly- well, it was awkward for me at least. Eventually, after three minutes or so, the mob boss turned around, spotted us, and puffed on the fat cigar between his lips. Leave it to a mobster to smoke at six in the morning.

The boss blew a ring of smoke; his eyes sharpening on me. "Oh, yeah- her," he said this as if he'd forgotten about me. He forgot about me?! I spent the whole night up in that awful office by his command, and he forgot?! To make matters worse, he let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head like I was some sort of nuisance to deal with now. "I don't know. Give her to Johnny; he'll know what to do with her." "Sure thing, boss," the guy clenching my arm confirmed. I was about to be dragged away again before all of a sudden, I got my reprieve.

Literally no one blinked when this unearthly pounding rang from the huge warehouse doors- the main ones. I however, was terrified. Whoever was outside sounded angry; not that anyone in here particularly cared. The most reaction came from the boss, who lightly swore under his breath. "Awe, shit," was all he groaned.

I screamed as an axe came through the door, followed by a few more trying to break through. This succeeded, and a whole whack of men- all mobsters as well- busted in. Most were arms with knives, bats, tire irons, and metal pipes; guns aren't really a thing with Korean gangsters unless they're super hardcore. It took me five seconds to realize that I was about to be in the middle of a gang war, and this was all before anyone said a word. Everyone around me looked ready to get down, swiftly pulling out their own weapons of choice.

The bulky bald guy wearing a yellow hoodie and a chain pointed directly at the mob boss. "There! That's the guy! The guy that pinched my Lexes last night!" Oh…. Oh no. More of the new gangsters reacted as bout as well as you'd expect to this- they were pissed! "No scuzzy old punk ass bitch gets to make a fool out of us," one new arrived proclaimed. "You don't go fraying around with our crew," another added. They were preparing to fight each other.

More was said but it's not worth repeating. Soon enough one from the new gang charged the boss and the war was on. As strange as it sounds, this had positive side effects for me. First off, the man holding onto me let me go to go join his crew in the brawl. This should have given me the opportunity to make a run for it, but there were two problems: one, I was on the opposite side of the warehouse away from the entrance, and two, the streets were crawling with mobsters and someone was bound to catch me before I could find a police station.

This brings me to my second advantage. Of course I took cover as soon I was free, ironically leading me further away from the exit. But I was out of sight, for the most part, hiding behind this large wooden crate thingy. The raddle of clashing iron, fists to skin, and bats crushing bones made the place vibrate; I had to cover my ears, it was so horrible. Another chance came to me though, when a man- one from the new gang- came flying through the air towards the back. Now I didn't see him fly but I knew he must have by the way he landed. His body hit the back wall hard and he fell down onto his back with his limbs at his sides. He let out a pained moan and slowly tilted his head to the side to see me. When he did, he looked surprised. His mouth opened but nothing came out immediately. This gave me time to assess the situation.

I quickly scanned him over, desperately searching for anything I could use. And I found it- a burner phone was halfway falling from his left-side baggy jeans pocket. I needed that phone! By now, the man had regained enough composure to speak. "What're you doing here?" His speech was slurred.

As fast as I possibly could, I straightened up, walked up in front of him, and lifted my foot back. He cried out in unholy agony as I kicked him in the balls. This had the desired effect and he was writhing on the ground in pain, too busy grasping his nuts to grab me. I know this probably seems a little heartless on my part, but after last night, I didn't care. Who knows when I'd have another chance like this and I needed to be sure that he didn't catch me like the others. My hand reached down to pluck up the phone and I ran for a different cover. Along the way I dialled for the police.

"Xjeng's Police Department. What your emergency?" This woman asked in Koran on the other line. "Help! I've been kidnapped and am trapped inside this warehouse!" That was the first thing I could think to say. Unfortunately, I was so panicked that I didn't realize I was speaking in English. "Pardon?" The lady sounded confused. "U-Uh, please help! Please help me! I'm a foreign exchange student who's been kidnapped and is being held in a car warehouse," I replied in Korean this time. "Do you know where you are?" "N-No, I don't know… Wait! The station I got off at was somewhere on line two; the one in the bad neighbour. The warehouse is a ten-minute walk from there!" There was the world's briefest pause. "Did you say line two, Madame? On the city train?" "Yes! Yes, right!" "Ok, Madame. We're dispatching officers immediately. Is there anywhere you can safely hide until they arrive?" "N-No, I don't think…." Then I looked back up at the empty office. My lips parted as I argued with myself whether or not to take the gamble. "Wait."

I hung up with the operator along the way, but this was an accident. Originally I was supposed to stay on the line with her until the police arrived but I closed the phone forgetting it would end the call. This was probably a good thing though, as I thought to myself again. I didn't know Lee, Noah, or Marco's cell phone number but I knew mine…. And I left it in my backpack at home last night. As fast as my fingers could, I dialled my phone number. It rang like two times before someone picked it up. "Elle?!" Lee's frantic voice answered on the other side. Man! It felt good to hear him again. I wanted to gush my heart out and tell him everything but knew that being as silent and invisible as humanly possible is what would get me out of here alive. I clenched the phone in my hand, pressing it firmly up against my ear. "Xjeng's Police Department!" I screamed in a whisper. Then I hung up rapid fast and went to hide in the office.

Every second I waited up there felt like an eternity. But thank god it was not an eternity. Within minutes you could hear sirens outside. This caught the attentions of the combative mobsters, proven by the dying down of the yells and clashes. When the sirens were right outside, they all went into panic-mode. "Oh, shit; it's the fuzz!" "We're busted!" "Everyone scram!" Voices filled the air. I didn't budge an inch as a series of cops flooded in. Some gangsters were arrested, and others managed to escape. Footsteps hurried up the metal grate staircase and I winced. The office door flung open and a pair of policemen were there; their faces went from anger to surprised in a mere second. "This is her; the kidnapped girl," one told the other.

They both wrapped their arms around my shoulders on the way down; not in a possessive way like the gangsters but more supportive. I think they knew how traumatic this whole ordeal had been for me and wanted to help any way they could. The three of us re-emerged onto the warehouse floor to see the remaining mobsters being handcuffed by cops. The boss was long gone; I don't know if they ever caught him or not. Police and other people talked to me but I was sort of unresponsive. I was just so tired and wanted someone else to handle everything for a while. I did respond though, when three familiar figures appeared in the main doorway some time later. My head lifted up ever so slightly and my eyes widened. They widened when I saw him- when I saw Marco.

Marco had on an expression I'd never seen from him before. His face was nothing but pure fear, at least until he saw me. Then this gigantic wave of relief washed over him- it all happened in seconds. He gasped something I couldn't hear- probably my name- and with no warning he went from fastly walking to running towards me. I had just enough time to shut my eyes before he caught me, embracing me so incredibly close. One of Marco's arms coiled around my back and the other let his hand hold the back of my head. He rested the bottom of his head against mine while I clung into his chest, still keeping my eyes close. Nothing went through my mind in that moment- nothing but the smell of Marco and how it felt to be held by him like this.

Noah and Lee were there too, both running over and breathing very heavily. "Elle! Elle, they found you! They found you!" I think Lee said this more for himself than me. "Are you ok? Are you alright, Elle? Did they do anything to you? Did anything happen?" Noah sounded frantic. "What happened?! How'd you get here? Who took you?!" Lee asked next. But they both stopped when they noticed I wasn't answering any of their questions. My eyes were still shut and I was still clinging onto Marco, who was holding onto me just as tight. He rocked me gently back and forth in a calming motion. "Shhhh, it's alright; I'm here. I'm here now; I've got you," he whispered in the most soothing tone ever. This only made me hold onto him tighter. Seriously, I wasn't sure how I'd ever let him go. What he said next didn't help matters. I sensed his arms hold me ever so closer, pressing me into him as near as he was able. "I thought I lost you again," he breathed so, so tenderly. Marco….. My eyes opened a tiny sliver. My Marco…..

I didn't hear when Lee and Noah stopped asking me questions; I don't know when it got so silent. But I did feel them embrace me as well. Seeing that Marco wasn't going to pull back anytime soon, they thought "screw it" and joined us instead. Noah held me from behind and Lee from the side. We stayed like that, not making another sound until the police chief came over to take a statement.