|ch.17

Zhan made a rough turn,driving the car to wherever he could to find an escape. He flinched down hearing another gun shot. His throat went dry seeing a whole through the seat where his head was placed previously.

He cursed hearing them shooting for the tires. The dawn was on the way and soon,the road will get crowded again. He had to make a quick plan to escape.

He drove the car towards a bridge. He had no choice now. The best way to escape is,creating his death infront of his enemies. Swirling the car,he drove straight towards the railing of the bridge. With a loud sound,the car collided with the railing. The impact somehow made Zhan nearly knocked out. His head had collided with the steering wheel. When he opened his eyes,the car was already falling to the river under the bridge.

The car was sunken down infront of his enemies' eyes. Zhan knew that they won't leave until they made sure that he's dead.

The car was still sinking down and the water was pouring inside. But Zhan still had a chance to breath since the every window was shut tightly. Buy to his unluck,the seat belt was a pain in the ass. It wasn't coming out! He was stuck!

"Fuck!",he cursed seeing water level going up. "Come out! This damn thing!"

No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't pull out the sear belt. Now the water level was upto his chin. He took rapid and shallow breaths. When the water level came to his nose,he took a large sum of oxygen and,he is under the water.  He tried his best to remove the belt.

He looked around for something sharp to tear up the belt. He even tried to smash the window but it only injured his hands. He couldn't hold his breath anymore. The water bubbles were bubbling up from his nose and mouth.

The seat belt was too tight onto his body that he couldn't even lift it up a bit to sneak out. He understood why the driver wasn't using the sear belt when he was driving. If I get out alive today, I myself will go and find that driver to lock him up in prison for driving without seat belts! Bastard!

The water had already entered his lungs now. His chest was burning like a heater. Just as he was about to give up,he saw a shadow of a silhouette, swimming towards the car. His first ever thought was that the enemies were coming to check if he's dead or not. So,he played dead. Closing his eyes,he stayed still. He was sure that he's gonna die but still played dead for whatever the reason.

He could feel that the person opening the door of the car. In a few seconds,the seat belt was teared but a knife or something. And soon,he was dragged upwards. After few minutes of swimming, he was hurled to the ground with a force.

He was nearly on the verge of unconsciousness but still stayed alert. He felt his chest being pressed by their hands. Few incoherent words reached his ear but he couldn't understand. He felt water pumping out from his mouth.

Soon,a pair of soft yet familiar lips landed on his lips giving him the breath of life. His blurry vision started gaining the clear vision.

Without thinking twice,he kissed the lips which were still pressed against his lips. He could say that the person was frozen with his act but he didn't care. His dizzy mind was taking the control over himself. When the person was about to get up,he tightly clutched onto their collars,kissing the hell out of the person.

Receiving few punches onto his chest,he finally sobered up and let the person go.

"If you have the energy to kiss me,then you sure are fine. Get up!"

Deoksim's annoyed voice woke his mind completely. He widened his eyes and sat up like a straight pole only to see Deoksim wiping her lips like some sort of poison had touched her.

She again punched his chest with her fist,glaring the hell out of him. "Didn't I tell you not to touch me?!"

Zhan groaned a bit. "Stop hitting me! Didn't I tell you to escape! What the hell are you doing here?!"

She scoffed. "If I didn't come,you'd have died long ago! Ha! I should have let you die"

She got up and looked around. Her hair was sticking to her neck and it was such a distraction to Zhan.

"We gotta run inside that forest before they come to search. Come on!"

That's when Zhan noticed where they were. A massive forest was ahead of them. Did Deoksim really swim to this part while dragging the 'unconscious' Zhan?

Zhan also stood up but immediately wobbled having no energy. Deoksim was quick to hold him by his waist.

"I can help myself —"

"Yeah yeah. You showed how you helped yourself earlier. Now shut up",she wrapped one of his arm around her neck and held his waist by one of her hand. "Can you walk?"

"Guess so"

She nodded before dragging him inside the forest.

"The brief case?",He spoke as they were hurrying inside the forest.

"I handed it over to your friend"

"Did you follow me since then?"

Deoksim sealed her lips into a thin line without answering him. Obviously, she followed them with a stolen bike. And went to a shore where she expected him to show up but he didn't come. Guessing something must have happened, she swam towards where the car was sunken and yes,indeed,she was right. He was stuck inside the car.

They ran far into the forest with all their might. After making sure they were safe,they stopped near a river. It was a breathtaking scene. A river with so many trees surrounding, birds chipping as the sun had already risen up from East. To their luck,there was a small cave too,which provided a roof to them. And it's entrance was covered by some vine creepers which made it a good hiding spot.

She sat him down inside and heaved a big sigh. She looked at Zhan who was closing his eyes to rest. His head and hands were injured with blood on them. Softening her eyes,she crouched down. When she realised that it was normal for somehow like him,she felt bad even more. It didn't matter if she was the one to get hurt,but seeing someone else hurt is something else.

She finally understood why Sol-ah never was interested with the idea of her becoming a red agent. Deoksim was sure that Sol-ah must have seen even more worse things,maybe even had gone through even more worse things. Oh,she forgot,Sol-ah is already going through a worse situation.

•••

Zhan opened his eyes slowly after a long nap. He felt so warm. Looking down,he saw a jacket over his body.

I —I fell asleep?

Sitting up,he saw no one around him. He looked at his hands only to see a handkerchief being wrapped around his wounds. Even his forehead had a piece of cloth which looked like a part of a white outfit.

A sound of a footstep got him alerted as he stood up immediately. He swore that his heart almost jumped out from his mouth but looking at the figure who just entered the cave,he heaved a sigh.

"You are awake?",Deoksim asked.

Zhan nodded. "Where have you been?"

Deoksim looked down to her hands and showed him what was she doing. A bunch of dry woods were in her hands. "Night will come soon. We need to keep ourselves warm. And there,I found some wild fruits too",she signalled to the fruits which were chilling on the ground next to Zhan.

Zhan was surprised to see them since he didn't see them when he woke up.
Then his gaze went to her shirt. It was ripped. Now,he understood where the cloth on his forehead came from. She had teared her own shirt to wrap it around his forehead. Her bare stomach was on display —the shirt only covered her chest.

He felt touched.

Something inside him gave him a strange feeling.

Butterflies were dancing inside his stomach giving an unexpected yet weird feeling.

She placed down the woods on the ground. "We have to hide here for few days",she mumbled. "You don't even have your passport with you now. They must be still inside that car",she gave a glance to her own back pack. "There's no signal here. So we can't contact anyone for now"

"You still managed to keep your bag?"

She hummed before going out again.

"Where are you going?!",Zhan asked.

Deoksim, "To catch some fish for dinner. You stay there and rest"

He immediately followed her,not listening to her at all. He saw her going to the lake with a large stick in her hand.

He found it hilarious seeing her trying to catch fish,more like stabbing fish. Shaking his head, he waited until she come back. But it seemed like she isn't the best for the job. She would give frustrated shouts here and there whenever the fish escape like a child.

He rolled his eyes with a smile. Finally, he decides to take the job to his hands and walked towards the lake. Joining her in the lake,he snatched away the stick.

"Give up loser. Let me show how to do it"

She huffed but didn't go to argue,clearly knowing she won't be able to catch any fish.

With eager eyes,she waited patiently,watching him carefully trying to catch a fish. He looked back at her and placed his index finger on his lips signalling her to keep quiet. Somehow, this made her more excited. She vigorously nodded her head.

Biting his lip,he stabbed a fish. "Oh!",he widened his eyes. The stick had gone right through the fish!

"You did it!!",Deoksim squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

Zhan smiled so widely like he just shot a deer infront of a royal princess. Both of them jumped in excitement, squealing and shouting.

"Teach me too!! Teach me too!!",Deoksim raised her hand like an excited student.

"Come here",Zhan said after putting away the dead fish.

Deoksim got closer to him as he gave the stick to her.

"Don't make a sound. Okay. And hold the stick like this",he corrected her hands but unknownly he was back hugging her.

"Like this?",she asked and looked upto see his reaction.

He also looked down to answer but paused realising the distance between them. They almost kissed each other with the way they turn their heads. It felt like ages since they started their staring contest.

He immediately looked away feeling his cheeks burning. Clearing his throat, he backed away.

"Uhm, I feel tired now. I'll go and rest",with that he ran away leaving Deoksim alone.

She tsked and smiled. "Such a coward"

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