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C H A P T E R T W E N T Y – T W O
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»This is the part where you run away.«
– Shrek

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Even after five minutes had passed, his muscles were still tense. I noticed this by his posture. By the way how tight he held the steering wheel. By the way, he ignored the stop signs and saw the red lights as an option. Being angry and tense was not good for someone like Taeyong (or the people around him).

I was silently sitting next to him and looked at my cell phone. I received a message from Mr. Nakamoto's secretary, who had sent me the flight information for our upcoming business trip to Busan.

I rested my eyes for a second. If Taeyong wasn't here right now, or rather: if I didn't sit in his car right now, then I probably would be happy to read that notification. The mission had a good start after all. Just... if only Taeyong wouldn't be here...

5 years ago.

It had been a tiring day. Ten and I had been traveling from A to B to C for literal hours, rummaging warehouse after warehouse to sort out the new delivery of arms and report back to Mr. Lee -Taeyong's dad. In our age, one wasn't much of importance to them. That's why they only recruited us for simple work.

"Cami, I can drive you back to the headquarter," Ten offered, holding the motorcycle helmet in his hand.

"Thanks, but it's not far," I declined politely, "I prefer to walk."

"You sure? The backstreet will be full of drug dealers."

"Various types of people are out and dusk has barely begun. I don't think a lot will be going on at this hour. And whether I see the dealers now, or later at our headquarter makes little difference," was my nonchalant response.

"Not every dealer is our dealer, you've never heard of rival gangs, have you?" Ten laughed heartily, causing the two girls passing by with shopping bags to turn around. At first, they looked at him - looked would be the wrong term, it was more like drooled over him - and then they met my glare.

"I should be able to handle it," I let him know as the girls whispered something to each other's ear and turned around in a huff.

Ten's bright white teeth grabbed my attention as he spoke. "Okay, Angel, it's your decision, you do you." Then he looked at his mobile phone display, which lit up. "Nice! Just got a text and TY and Jaehyun are also nearby. I'm sure you'll see them on your way back."

"Jesus! Don't say such things," I complained, which made him laugh again.

"See you tomorrow." He nodded goodbye to me before putting on his motorcycle helmet and taking off with a howling engine.

With a sigh, I turned around and strolled through the long, narrow streets, noting that the lights on the high street lamps weren't really enough to observe the whole area. It wasn't completely bright; as if the entire street had been equipped with very few low-energy bulbs.

"Look, what a nice chick." I froze in my movement and my eyes searched the environment, only with a little concentration I could make out two figures a few meters in front of me, who had leaned casually against the wall and were looking straight ahead in my direction.

I couldn't make out their faces, but the mere fact that I had heard them clearly despite the distance, made me realize their intention.

They wanted to be heard.

No one else was in our immediate vicinity and I was sure that they were talking about me. The smaller of the two was broader but looked much younger than the slim, tall guy in tight leather pants.

I slowly continued my walk, making it seem I hadn't heard anything, as I didn't really feel like dealing with two morons. However, the closer I got to them, the wider they occupied the street, they no longer leaned against the wall, but stood side by side, right in front of me, or rather, in my way.

My heart quickened and I felt the familiar tingling in my palms, which spread into my limbs and finally throbbed in my face. Adrenalin, paired with anger. Thanks to Taeyong, this reaction of my body was now as familiar to me as breathing, I felt it almost every day.

I was prepared to rail at the two, as they made no move to clear the way and let me through; they seemed to be itching for trouble. But when I heard two words torn out of context, it made me feel sick.

I stopped, by now I was so close to them that I could see their faces very well. The tall, slender boy had a dirty grin on his face, his hair greased backward with tons of gel.

The smaller, broadly built guy, who looked so incredibly young in the face, had the physique of a bodybuilder, he only lacked in size to look really scary by his look alone. His dark eyes seemed lurking, rather unpredictable, an irritating contrast to the rest of the picture.

Neither the remarks nor the fact that I was completely alone here, made me decide to turn back, even though I had to go in that direction to get to headquarters.

Only the eyes of the smaller guy, only those crazy eyes, which I'd seen only on one person so far, pulled the trigger.

I turned around, completely abrupt, at the same time I felt the wind in my back, a hand that raced forward and clutched my upper arm like a vise.

"What the hell?" I shrieked, my heart thudding against my ribs.

Something else flooded my body and that was certainly not anger, but fear.

By pulling me backward, I whirled around and slammed painfully against the tall guy, trying to free myself from his hurting grasp.

"Well, what do we have here?"

I was completely shocked, taken by surprise, by no means prepared for what he dared to do.

He gripped my face with his free hand and forced me painfully to look him in the eye, but I slightly pinched my eyelids in pain.

"Let me go," I squeezed out as he still had my face between his fingers, but all he did was lifting his left eyebrow in amusement.

My whole body trembled under his boorish touches, yet I struggled with all my strength against his strong grip, pulled and tugged like a crazy woman, but this didn't even bring him to release his pinky from my upper arm.

"Let her go," I heard the small, broad boy say. It was the first time he spoke and that caused me to pause for a moment in my attempts to defend myself.

I couldn't believe I was so wrong, because the small guy, for some unknown reason, had emitted much more of the insanity that now pervaded from the tall guy's face.

Now I knew it - I absolutely couldn't rely on my gut feeling.

"But she is such a pretty thing."

And at that moment I looked him right in the face.

The green in his eyes went through my skin and bones, reminded of a swamp, or much more of a dirty pool with quaking frogs and that alone was enough to send shivers down my spine.

That and...

I had the feeling of falling from a gigantic skyscraper, to a bottomless depth; at any moment ready for the fact that out of the blue the darkness would turn into asphalt which I'd hit with a bang.

The big bang before the lights would go out. I waited for it and wasn't disappointed.

His grip on my face didn't give way, it was rather so tight that I could already taste blood in my mouth, but the pain, yes, real pain, I could barely feel and I knew why.

I was in shock. I suppose that's what people feel when they say "realization hit me".

Yes, I recognized the guy who just wouldn't let me go. And the moment I realized it, he forced his lips against mine – my mind was unstoppably slipping into the darkness.

That sick bastard was one of the men who had robbed Nalin and me.

More precisely... this was the asshole who had hit me in the face without hesitation that night.

And I only hoped that he hadn't recognized me...

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AN:

hi there beautiful honeybees,

I know I was on hiatus for a very long period of time. And I can't emphasize enough how much I thank and appreciate each and every one of you guys for still support me.

Your votes show me you like what I'm doing

& your comments show me what you like in particular.

I loved, loved, loved your comments and feedback from the last two chapters. That's why I would send my love to @msimhungry @yeon_naya @sunwardss @ElizabethGaruba @KOSnow @JungkookBunny5541 @Krispy_Kentucky @_bts4life @yosiieb14 @taeyhoeng @Chocolate_sweety3 @silvestineye @kimlija @AmniAdnin1 @aficionado_girl @GoldenQuality @bagtanfication @PresidentZhong @jeus_junguwu for taking your time and comment on my writing and story. I really hope I didn't forget anyone; if I did please tell me and I'll correct it. Some of you comment on a regular basis and I just wanted to tell you how much it means ♥

To show you how grateful I am, I will update 4 chapters in total today.

I can't wait to read your new comments.

Kisses,
Lyra