It seemed hours, Ga Eul wasn't sure, it's hard to guess since she didn't have her watch with her and her trusted mobile phone was also taken away, before something finally happened. She was staring at the brownish dots on the ceiling, clearly a result of bad plumbing, too bored but wary to do anything else. She had tried banging the door, shouting until her throat hurt, kicking the heavy metal door, trying to jimmy the lock with no result aside from hurt knuckles and sore toes.
She had sipped her water sparingly, afraid that she would soon need to go to the bathroom had she gulped them in one go. What would happen then, she thought darkly, if no one would even let her out to relieve herself. Her frown darkened as the thought entered her head. Please, please, please don't let that happen, she quickly casted a prayer before turned her attention back to the door. Her mind rewound what had happened to her so far.
She was walking from the café to the gallery where she was supposed to meet Jin (is that even his real name?) whom Jae Kyung called Mr. Bodybuilder Villain. She really should start listening more to Jae Kyung's random babble next time, she made a mental note. If there's a next time for her, she thought gloomily. Halfway toward the gallery, a red station wagon slowing its speed to a crawl before it stopped completely beside her. She turned her head to see the driver, smiled when the automatic window rolled open to show Jin on the driving seat.
'Good morning,' he waved at her.
She waved her hand back, returning his greeting.
'Come, get in,' he nodded at her, 'we'll get there faster.'
Jan Di always did say that her lack of suspicion was only second to her overabundance of stubbornness had someone made a graph of her personality. She really should have listened to her friend more than dismissing her right out. A combination of both can be lethal, she mused, as she had a privilege to have it proven in the most unpleasant way. And so, even though Yi Jeong had reminded her over and over again to be extra careful, to never trust anyone other than her closest circle of friends, she still decided to take the offer and opened the door to enter the car.
What happened next, she really couldn't tell. One minute she was busy trying to put on the seat belt, the next she woke up in this Godforsaken room in God knows where. Someone else must have already waited at the back of the car, with some sort of anesthetic like chloroform, ready to strike when her stupid self got into the car. Served her right, really, she sighed. Oh, just what is she going to do, say, when that hateful man decides to appear again, she frowned, her fist slammed the couch for the hundredth time. She rested her head against the couch, eyes staring at the ceiling. Wide open but not really see a thing, wanted to do something but wary at the same time. So busy was she thinking about nothing that when the door suddenly opened she almost jumped up in fright.
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Meanwhile, at the other side of the city, two men were cussing as a truck stopping in front of their car preventing them to run a red light. Yi Jeong impatiently tapping his fingers on the hand rest while Woo Bin trying his hardest not to blast his horn.
'Can we overtake this truck here and be done with it?'
'And let the traffic officer arrest us and prolong the delay?' Woo Bin lifted his eyebrow. 'Nah man, I trust the police have at least sent a squad to his house.'
'Yeah but what if they keep her somewhere else?'
Woo Bin took his eyes off the road and turned his head to see his friend. He gave Yi Jeong a mischievous and yet reassuring grin.
'Which is why I asked my guys to go to his office and warehouse complex,' he said excitedly. 'Even if she's held somewhere else, I'm sure we can find a clue of her whereabouts there.'
'Yeah,' Yi Jeong nodded gloomy, a little unconvinced but he really didn't have a better idea to offer. 'Do you think the girls are OK?' he turned his body around to see if Jun Pyo's car was close by but his view was obstructed by the large truck behind.
Earlier at the restaurant Woo Bin had asked Jan Di and jae Kyung to just go home and wait for them to sort out this incident by themselves. That obviously didn't go well with Jae Kyung's eyes almost fell off from their sockets from glaring too much.
'But it's safer this way, babe,' he pleaded with her but met with stony silence.
After seconds passed he relented but told them to go in Jun Pyo's car, citing it's better for them to have a guy with them all the time, and two cars are obviously better than one.
A phone call to his police buddy reassured them that they would have an official back up on this one.
'You said they won't respond earlier,' Jan Di said after Woo Bin made a call to his police contact.
'Yeah, but that's before you identified a suspect. See, it's a different situation altogether,' Woo Bin explained before he made another call to his right hand guy and explained the situation.
The traffic light had switched back to green. Yi Jeong let out a long deep sigh as the car started to move again. He glanced at the various buildings along the street as his mind wandered to the memory he tried hard to bury so many years before.
'Do you remember the story I told you about my brother who got kidnapped when we were little?' he asked Woo Bin who nodded silently. 'This feels so much worse.' He glanced at his best friend who still kept his calm on the steering wheel. 'How can you be so calm in a situation like this? I feel like I'm about to choke someone already.' he sighed and rubbed his temple.
'Next time I want to experience some excitement in my life, remind me about this and I'll go bungee jumping with eyes blindfolded and hand tied up at the back. I'll leave this kind of excitement with you.' Yi Jeong pressed his head on the plush head rest and stretched out his long arms before back to tapping his long fingers on his knee.
Woo Bin was about to answer when his mobile phone beeped.
'Yes?' he nodded as he listened to his earpiece. 'Right,' he said, 'we'll be there shortly.'
He turned off his mobile and switched his concentration to the road ahead.
'Hang on tight,' he said to his friend, hands ready on the wheel, 'let's see how fast this baby can take us.'
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The man stepped inside the room was not at all the same one as who Ga Eul thought it would be. For a start, she didn't think she had ever met him in the first place. He had jet black hair, although nowadays people dyed their hair, from teenagers to grandmas and grandpas, so what would she know about his real color. If she had to guess, though, they would be black with lots of grey underneath that jet black dye. He looked about early fifty-ish, with crinkles surrounding his eyes when he squinted a little to see her without his glasses.
Frozen in her seat, Ga Eul continued looking at him like she was looking at an alien. The man was looking very sharp, with sharp suit and trendy specs. He was looking back at her with a smirk at the side of his mouth.
'So you are Ms. Chu Ga Eul,' he said, she could almost hear a sneer in his voice.
For all the banging and shouting she did earlier, Ga Eul voice seemed to freeze in her throat. As much as she liked to start questioning this man, something in his blatant disdain of her just made her flinch. What had she done to him? Or rather, if Yi Jeong's theory was correct, what had Yi jeong done to him? She swallowed the sudden bile in her throat before she managed a squeak.
'Who are you?'
'Me?' he laughed at her. 'I'm no one important.'
She watched him as his laughed turned to quiet chuckle.
'Why…. Why did you…' she paused. 'Why am I here?'
The man stopped his chuckles and smiled almost fondly at her.
'Ah, Miss Chu,' he said, 'that's a million dollar question isn't it?'
'Are you expecting a million dollar ransom?' she frowned. 'I don't have any money. My family don't have that kind of money'
'No, I guess you don't,' he nodded almost maddeningly, agreeing with her.
'Are you going to have Yi Jeong pay a million dollar?' she furrowed her brows.
'Tsk. I don't need his money,' he almost snorted at her.
'But why?' her voice trailed as another man entered the room. She glared as the new comer came into view. It was her kidnapper, Jin, the fake art dealer she stupidly followed this morning. With blank expression he looked at her without much interest. It's almost as if she was his past assignment and now he's waiting for a new one and had no use of her anymore. Which she probably was.
'Tell me Miss Chu,' the older man started speaking again, 'do you have any idea how hard it is to see someone you love just….fade away in front of you?'
'I'm sorry?'
'To see her slowly crumbling, leaving no trace of what she used to be?'
Ga Eul felt her mouth hang open, not understanding.
'Don't you want to have the person who made her like that feels the same way as I do?'
'I…I don't understand..' she managed to speak albeit almost whisper like.
'No, I don't suppose you do,' he smirked again at her.
'Is it… Was it Yi Jeong….?' Her question left hanging in the air. She didn't want to say it. Yi Jeong? Her Yi Jeong? What had he done to this man?
But the man smiled at her as he shook his head.
'No, not your precious Yi Jeong, Miss Chu,' he said. 'But when I finish with…whatever this is, he will be crushed and fade away slowly, just like my daughter. And do you know what, I bet his father will feel the same as I do when that happened. That's what revenge is all about, don't you agree, Miss Chu?'
She shivered as he looked at her coldly before abruptly turned his body around and started to walk out of the room.
'Wait!' she almost jumped from her seat. 'What are you going to do to me?'
He stopped in his track, 'Oh, you don't want to know,' he shrugged before continuing his steps.
Ga Eul almost ran to reach him before she was rudely interrupted by Jin who put his body between them and shoved her back to the couch.
'Please!' she managed to shout before the metal door slammed back into place and the room once again empty but for her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, she almost cried as she banged her fist over and over against the vomit green velour of the couch. This was the worst than whatever she thought she was in before. Just….the worst. She burst into tears when her knuckles accidently banged a hard frame of the couch and she was left alone holding her sore hand, wishing she was thousands of miles away from here.
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A man opened the door with what looked like a sandwich and another bottle of water not long after her previous visitor made their call. Ga Eul watched him put the tray on the coffee table without sparing a glance at her.
'Who is he?' she asked as the man started to go back to the door. 'Who came here earlier?'
She didn't get any answer though, instead the man only shrugged at her and walked out of the door. In the silent room, the sound of the door being locked from outside could be heard clearly. It was depressing.
She eyed the tray of food in distrust. If anything, she wouldn't want to touch anything which could have poisoned her, and judging from what had been said earlier, her kidnapper really couldn't care less if she had ended dying in their care. No, she wouldn't touch any of the food they offer her. Even with her stomach rumbling she tried to stay away from the sandwich.
Damn it, she scratched her head. How many days was it that human can live without food? Was it seven days? Three days? She really should have paid more attention to trivia questions. You never know when you might need it.
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Almost another hour passed, and Ga Eul was pretty certain about this because she had been counting tiles, counting sheep, counting her breathing from one to sixty and repeat, before she banged her hand on the door again.
'Please,' she pleaded to the solid metal door, hoping that there must be someone holding a position outside her prison room. 'I need to go to the bathroom.' She waited for the sound of key clicking or door knob turning in desperation until she was positive someone did turning the key outside. A few seconds later the door opened without much fanfare and someone holding the door knob made a gesture with his chin telling her to go outside and follow him.
She stepped out to a large room, clean but quite empty except for a set of table and chairs and a fridge in the corner. The room had big glass windows leading to a larger room which served like a communal lobby and alleyway to several rooms like the one she's in. It looked like a basement of some sort. She's pretty sure the whole level served as a storage basement as her eyes made assessment of various stacks of boxes in each room.
Silently she followed her captor passed the lobby and all the way to the corner. There, almost hidden were two small bathrooms. He stopped and made a sign for her to go inside, then without sound he leaned against the wall, arms folded on the chest showing off the muscles beneath his shirt. It's not like she's thinking about running away from him, she thought darkly. Sulking, she went inside the cubicle and closed the door loudly.
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But taking care of business while having someone guarding you just outside the door was really uncomfortable. Ga Eul would vouch for that. She took her time even as the man outside started to tell her to do it quickly. It's pretty humiliating, to be quite honest. She was ready to tell him to mind his own business when a loud sound came from outside and her captor bang on the door telling her to wrap it up quickly or he would go inside and finish it for her. (How? She thought quite amused but finish it all the same).
She was washing her hand when a loud bang seemed to come directly from in front of the cubicle. Trying not to make a sound at all she turned off the tap and held her breath. She really didn't fancy being caught up in some gang action. Because that should be it, right? Gang war or something. With any luck they would all forget about her and leave her alone.
It felt like a long time, she rigidly stood with back against the wall, afraid to make a move. When at last a voice half shouting her name, she almost jumped in fright. Heart racing, she told herself to listen carefully. Another voice called her name, familiar voice. She shakily opened the bathroom door and almost cried in relief as she saw Woo Bin once she peered from behind the wall.
'Woo Bin Sunbae!' she cried and ran to hug him. She almost made it too if someone didn't grab her hand at the last minute. Preparing for the worst, she put all her strength to snatch her hand back, feet ready to kick the assailant's weakest spot.
'Shhh, Ga Eul,' she felt the attacker (or hand grabber, rather) enveloped her into a hug from behind. Familiar scent made her stop wriggling so hard. 'I got you,' his deep voice made her stop wriggling altogether.
Quickly she turned her body around, lips trembling as she saw Yi Jeong, his face tight with worry and his mouth almost disappeared in a thin line. But he managed a small smile when her fist slowly unfurled, her rigid stance relaxed. Second later she threw herself fully into his arm, his hands on her back, pulling her close almost to a breaking point.
'I knew I have to say don't talk to strangers every morning before you go,' he whispered into her hair.
'Yeah,' she almost sobbed into his chest, 'it's totally your fault.'
He smiled and buried his face deeper in her hair.
'I'll make sure to spell it for you next time.'
Ga Eul rested her head and closed her eyes, feeling the soft wool of his suit on her cheek.
'I kinda miss you.'
She felt him smile amidst the kisses on her hair.
'Kind of?' he murmured.
'A little bit.'
'Really?'
She felt his arms tightened around her, she didn't know that it was even possible without breaking her spine.
Breathing deeply, she inhaled his familiar cologne, 'not, not really,' she whispered. 'Not really.'
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A/N: sorry for the delay guys. RL is a bit hectic at the moment, what with the moving house and all that entails.
Hopefully the next one will be finished soon though. fingers crossed.
