"We're gonna take a lot more from you."
Your heart jumps in your throat as you consider what they could do to you, and the possibilities start to make you sweat.
The man pushing the gun into the back of your neck gently shoves you forward into the receding darkness, and your legs begin moving on their own. You slowly begin to make out the outline of a car at the other end of the alley, and your eyes widen.
If I go in there... I'm dead.
"Don't even think about it..." The second man says, sensing that you were tensing up.
"You know what, I'll make it easier for all of us..." The first man decides.
In a painful instant, you grimace in agony as the cold steel forcefully strikes the back of your head, and your vision twists into blackness.,
...
Your heart drops as you wake up and eye your dirty surroundings.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. I'm so dead. I really hope they didn't take me too far from Vegas...
The chair beneath you slightly wobbles as you try to move, but the zip ties around your wrists and legs minimize your movement. You crane your neck as far as it can go, and you eye the additional ropes tying your wrists and legs to the chair.
You freeze as the muffled noise of the wood softly sounds out into the air from your movement, but you don't hear any other sounds.
Maybe they're not here? I wonder if I can... Nope. Of course, they took my phone...
But maybe if I can tip this chair over...? No, then they'll hear me...
But deciding that you had no other option, you try to jump up and down in your chair, hoping to eventually tip it over.
"You look like an idiot."
You yelp as a voice speaks from behind you.
"What do you want from me?" You ask, trying to put on a brave face, even though you couldn't see the man approaching you from behind.
The man finally comes up in front of you, and you see his unmasked, scruffy face.
He holds out your phone in front of your face.
"Tell me the passcode," he demands.
"Why?" You ask.
He stuns you by slapping you across the face, making your temper rise sharply as the stinging feeling cascades through your flesh.
"If you untie my hands, I'll type it in..." You blurt out, immediately regretting the feeble attempt at trickery.
"Do you want me to hit you again? Even if I punch you until you can't talk, you can still type in the pin with your fucking nose, dumbass," he says, starting to get annoyed. "So? What is it?"
With a rebellious flair, you shake your head and quickly brace yourself for another slap.
But instead, his fist comes flying into your nose, and the sharp impact brings tears to your eyes and knocks you back onto the hard, wooden floor, with the chair still underneath you. Your tied hands luckily avoid the brunt of the impact, but the feeling sends waves of pain throughout your body.
"DO YOU THINK I'M FUCKING PLAYING AROUND?!? ENTER IT!"
He places one foot on your chest and shoves the phone in front of your face, but your eyes are too blurred to see the keypad.
"Why?!?" You groan out in pain. "What do you want?"
"You know what we want, you DICKWAD. Your precious... little... girlfriends," he says, resting his grimy fingers on your cheek and squishing them.
Your eyes widen, and the fear written all over your face makes the man grin evilly and continue talking.
"Oh, yeah... We're gonna call each and every one of them over here... and they'll either have to be our little toys... or they'll have to sit still and watch you die..."
"FUCK YOU!" You spit out, sending a little blood flying from your bleeding lip.
"Yeah, yeah... cry all you want. We're getting them, one way or another."
"No... you're not-"
He whips you across the face again with his blazingly fast fist, but luckily, it misses its main target and glances off of your jaw instead. A fresh renewal of pain strikes you, but it's not nearly as bad as the first.
"Motherfucker! If you want to play that way, how about this..."
He tosses your phone aside and reaches into his back pocket, where he pulls out a rusty knife and slowly brings it toward you. Your life nearly flashes before your eyes in a moment of overwhelming despair, and tears come to your eyes.
You tremble as he gently lays it on your arm and drags it down, not forcefully enough to puncture the skin, but enough to petrify you.
"Listen here, you little shit. If you don't want to make this easy for yourself... I'm gonna go find something much, much deadlier than this to cut you with..."
You don't respond, and he sighs.
"Alright, then. You leave me no choice..."
He slowly walks out, and his measured pace makes you even more terrified at the thought of what would bring when he came back.
I NEED TO GET OUT. I NEED TO GET OUT. I NEED TO GET OUT.
You repeat the phrase like a mantra to yourself until your muscles finally start working again. You no longer cared if he could hear everything you were doing, you just knew you had to get out, or else horrible things would happen.
You try punching and kicking your way out, but your cuffed limbs impede every move you try to make.
Shit... I'm so screwed... FUCK!
In a moment of pure outrage at the thought of your guaranteed demise, you fling your elbows back into the floor, and you hear the cracking of wood beneath you.
Your eyes widen. You crane your neck back, and you can't see exactly what broke, but you immediately start moving your locked wrists around, painfully sliding them up to where the sound occurred, ignoring your shoulders tightening and begging for relief.
Your fingers finally grasp the broken part of the chair, and you realize what had happened.
In one motion, you swing your arms up from behind you, and they break free, still joined by the zip-tie, but now separated from the chair.
You urgently and quietly remove each of your feet's bounds to the chair, and you awkwardly stand up, with both pairs of limbs still tied together.
You lean down and grab your phone, stuff it into your pocket, and immediately begin hopping on two feet toward the window, now moving purely off of your survival instinct.
Dammit. There's no other way.
But with the fear that the man would come back at any second, you find a heavy block laying amongst the mess of the garage and awkwardly use your constrained hands to throw it against the window. It bounces off and falls onto the floor with a grating sound.
Fuck! He must've heard that. Wait, I wonder if I can...
Moving quickly from adrenaline, you manage to pick up the object again, spread your feet the full inch they could go, then bring its sharpest side down onto the zip tie between your ankles.
The plastic holds, but a small crease forms in the material.
You whip the block up and slam it back down onto the small tie, now missing entirely.
Focus, FOCUS!
You slam it down three more times, and finally, one of your legs gets free. You shake the tie loose and immediately refocus on the window.
You take a few steps back, eyeing the glass and taking a deep breath.
"HEY! WHAT THE FUCK?!? I'M GONNA KILL YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!"
The raging figure running toward you blurs into the corner of your vision as you leap into the window and slam your feet against it. It shatters under the weight with a piercing sound, and your momentum carries you out.
You land on the cold concrete outside, and you instantly get up and start sprinting. The man takes a few extra seconds to escape the shards of broken glass lining the windowsill, but he quickly chases after you.
You run for blocks and blocks, turning corners and heading through alleys as often as you could.
Your heart never stops pounding in your head, and the chilly air bites your skin as you force your way through it. The blood on your face starts to dry, but you feel the wounds still leaking, so you cup your hands under your chin to catch the falling drops. The adrenaline and fear push you faster, and your legs sprint through what feels like over a mile before you finally stop and catch your bearings.
Eventually, you enter a hotel lobby and walk into a back room with your head held down, ignoring the strange look you get from the receptionist for your appearance.
You sit down and pull out your phone.
No way. It's... It's 4 AM! Hafu and David must be worried sick!
Your fears are confirmed by the 13 calls from Hafu and dozens of desperate texts, but you temporarily ignore them all as you see your battery life dwindling to its last percent.
The first thought that comes to mind is to call an Uber, so you do so, praying that the man wouldn't be around when it came time to leave the hidden safety of the building.
Ok. Now I need to call Hafu and tell her that-
And just like that, your phone powers off in your hand, and you curse the timing.
You peer your head out of the backroom, but you reject the idea of walking up to the front desk for fear of being seen, or worse yet, having security called on you because of your bloody face.
Instead, you anxiously wait, watching every set of headlights that passes by the front of the building.
Finally, one car slows down and stops in front of the building. It doesn't move for a minute, and there's no one else in the lobby but you.
Screw it, I'm going out. It has to be mine.
You walk out with your head down and quickly jog to the Uber, immediately getting in.
The driver confirms your identity, and he quickly gets the car moving, swallowing nervously and deciding to not ask about the blood smeared across your face.
You duck your head beneath the window view and stay down, trying to calm yourself.
It's ok now. I almost got killed by psycho, crazy murderers who wanted to kidnap and assault all my girlfriends, but I'm... ok now.
Fuck no. I'm not ok. I'm not ok at all.
Tears start to blur your vision, and you clench your fists as your thoughts spiral.
What would have happened... if it had worked? If all my girlfriends... fell into their trap because of me? I... I...
Why does this always happen to me? Why can't I go one fucking week without some shit like this happening? And one of these days... it's really gonna kill me. I...
I need to leave.
The thought hits you like a train, and your brows furrow as you suddenly start examining the seed of the idea that had just popped into your mind.
What if I... save them all the trouble... and go?
Would things be better then? Could they be?
If I were to go away from all this, away from this new life that has caused me so much love and joy... as well as so much pain and hurt...
It was never like this before. Being a celebrity, and being surrounded by my idols... seemed amazing. It seemed perfect.
But it's fucking horrifying. It all happened so fast, and I didn't want it to stop. Every new experience I got from this brand new life... it all felt so incredible.
But now... I wish it had never happened.
You know how drastic and irrational your thoughts were becoming, but you let them continue regardless, not having the will to shut them down.
...
The car rolls up outside Hafu's familiar home. You quickly leave and run up to the front door, now fully crying tears of agony.
You bang on the door and someone yelps from within. The curtain opens, and Hafu's face creases into a mix of emotions you couldn't recognize through the tears as she swiftly moves to open the door.
She nearly screams as she fully takes in your appearance, but seeing the emotion written across your face, she pulls you in, closes the door behind you, and wraps you up in a tight hug, quickly beginning to cry along with you.
Your sobs both resound out into the entryway of her home, and you sob even harder as you let Hafu squeeze you tight.
David quickly finds you two and gets a good look at you. His eyes widen in shock as he sees you up close, and he doesn't need to say a word for you to know what he wanted to know.
"Kidnappers..." You groan out, finding it painful to speak, and wanting nothing more than to sob yourself to sleep.
Hafu cries even harder upon hearing the word, and she continues crying onto your shoulder, partially from relief, and partially from the mind-consuming anxiety.
"Are they still after you? Do they know you're here?" David asks. You notice how tired he looks, and you realize neither of them had slept for a minute.
You shake your head.
"Good. Are you ok?" He asks.
You honestly shake your head again.
Hafu pulls you in for another hug and buries her head on your shoulder.
"I'm going to update the police," David says with urgency. "And we're going to find those bastards... I promise," he says, reassuringly. "Do you know where they kept you?"
You try to think back, but your thoughts during your run from the garage were filled solely with fear, leaving you with no memorable information about the place. You shake your head again.
You sit down on a nearby couch and put your head in your hands, feeling some remnants of trickling blood on your cracked skin.
"I'm heading to the police station right now. I'll make sure I get them involved, and we are going to find those sons of bitches before the morning."
"I... should come with you..." You groan out, before clutching your neck from the pain.
"No. You're... staying here," Hafu finally speaks up over her tears.
David nods in agreement. "You should rest."
He quickly heads out after giving you one last glance of pity.
...
"Ow... Ow!" You yelp.
"Sorry, sorry..." Hafu grimaces, hating the sounds of pain that escaped you at her touch, but knowing there were no other options when it came to cleaning your wounds.
"Ok. You're clean. Now let me just bandage your jaw," she says.
She leans in front of you to apply some cream, and you examine her face up close. The little makeup she was wearing had run down her cheeks from the tears, making her look even more exhausted.
Her face rests inches from yours, and you stare into her deep, concentrated pupils.
As soon as she pats the bandages down, you reach a hand up and pull her in for a kiss, surprising her.
"Hey, don't do that..." She says, pulling away. "Your lip is still hurt."
"Doesn't that mean you're supposed to kiss it better?" You ask, smiling goofily, despite everything.
She sighs, but a slight grin becomes evident in the corner of her eyes. "Shut up."
She stands up, and you gently follow suit, before walking out of her bathroom and laying down on her bed.
"Hafu?" You ask.
"Yes?"
"...do you have any alcohol?"
"Fuck yes."
You smile as she runs downstairs, and you close your eyes to rest them for a moment.
But as soon as they close, all you can see is the gnarling, angry face of the man who was moments away from doing tremendous harm to you...
And your eyes snap open again.
Hafu brings up two bottles of beer, as well as vodka and some shot glasses.
"Wanna start with the beer?" She suggests.
"I think I'll take the strong stuff first," you say, still shaking off the horrifying image burned into your mind.
She nods in understanding and pours a tall shot for you.
You take a deep breath and toss your head back to down the liquid. You grimace as it burns the back of your throat, but you quickly pour another and follow suit.
"You know what? Fuck it. I need it too..." She says, grabbing the vodka bottle and taking a swig.
"Straight from the bottle?" You ask.
"Uh-huh. No shame. None at all. I need this, and so do you..."
"Yeah, you're right..."
Darker thoughts start to creep into your mind again, and you quell them by grabbing the bottle and taking another drink.
"Wow, this stuff is... intense..." You say after a few minutes, feeling yourself getting very tipsy.
"Mmm... it's verrry good, isn't it...?" She says, slightly slurring her words and laying down on her bed.
You lay down beside her, feeling your thoughts floating away and leaving you with a pleasant buzz that you sit in for a silent minute.
"I'm so sorry..." She eventually lets out.
You look over and see a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Hey! What happened?" You ask, concerned.
"I... this is all my fault, isn't it? I'm the reason... you almost died..." She gravely mutters as she takes another sharp swig.
"Hafu... this is not your fault. Not at all, do you hear me? You did nothing wrong..."
You lean over and plant your lips on hers, hoping to whisk away her guilt. Her hand reaches the back of your neck and holds you close.
"I thought you were dead... I was so scared..." She whispers into your ear after pulling away.
"I'm here now, it's ok..." You reassure her, placing your hands on her cheeks. "Feel me..."
She gladly obliges and leans up for another kiss, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you down onto her body.
Your hands rest on her waist, and they gently slide their way up to her shoulders. Your kiss deepens, and the alcohol really starts to hit you, as you have to focus to not fall from your elevated position.
"Mmm... cayostaytenigh?" She drunkenly groans out.
You don't understand her, but from how she kisses you, you know what she wants. You slowly start kissing down her jaw, loving the way she moaned when you hit her sensitive spots. Your hands make their way to her neck, and she slides her hands under your shirt and up to your chest.
Your vision starts to blur even more, so you close your eyes and begin kissing all over her neck and jaw. Her fingers reach into your hair and pull you closer as you leave a trail of kisses over her chest and navel, and her heartbeat skyrockets as she gets filled with arousal.
She grabs your shoulders and flips you over, surprising you with her strength.
She lifts her arms and strips off her shirt, tossing it aside. She straddles you and leans down to smoosh her lips against yours once more with drunken passion.
She pulls away, and you see the blazing fire in her eyes as she scans over your body. She nearly tears off your shirt and runs her hands over your chest as you unhook her bra. You take her nipple between your lips, and she gasps in delight at the delicate feeling.
Her hands run along your back and arms, squeezing your muscles and feeling your smooth skin. She impatiently tugs at your belt, and she pulls it off to get at your crotch. Still groaning at the feeling of your warm lips passionately kissing her supple chest, she unzips your pants and gently holds your cock, stroking it up to full mast with both hands.
You lift your hips fully remove your pants, and Hafu takes the time to strip herself, leaving both of you eyeing each other's body with a single-minded focus.
Hafu leaps back onto you, and your lust fills every fiber of your being as she gently aligns you with her. She misses the first time she tries to put it in due to the slight bouts of dizziness, but she puts it in on the second try, pushing it most of the way in and making her crane her neck back and squeeze her fingers and toes as she tries to adjust.
She quickly starts riding you, releasing a muffled sound of pleasure as her hands slowly trail down your chest. You continue massaging her breasts in your hands, before sliding them down over her flat stomach and stroking her thighs. Her smaller body felt lighter on top of you, and you find it easier to push her pace faster.
Her silky black hair bounces every time she drops her hips onto you, and you feel it tickle your chest as she leans over into your neck.
You reach around and grab her butt, greatly enjoying her warmth.
Your lips attack her once more, this time landing on the soft, smooth flesh of her neck again. Her moans turn you on even more, and you start lifting your hips as she drops her pelvis onto you while you continually suck at her.
"Hmmm... keep going..." She lets out, taking in every inch of pleasure as her eyes close from the bliss.
You reach up and capture her sweet lips once more as you feel her responding to you and squeezing around your shaft.
The bed begins shaking as she grinds on you, and your bodies move in rhythm as your lips push against each other, and your hands grope and squeeze her small body under you as she pulls you in even closer and squeezes her thighs around you. You feel her heat emanating from beneath you, and you grab hold of her thighs to push up even harder, giving her what little energy you had left.
"Yes... fuck... Oh, shit..." She groans out, clutching you as she begins to weaken in your arms.
"Yes... yes..." She softly moans.
You flip her over and get on top, pulling her legs around you and pushing into her once more. You begin thrusting wildly as you scoop her up by the butt and plant her back into the mattress to pump into her wet heat even harder.
She squeals and runs her silky fingers up to your arms, showing her unadulterated desire by digging her nails into your arms.
Your lips sloppily collide once more as your hips slam against hers, and the friction between her tightness and your thrusting body starts to build into a heated passion.
Your hands run all over her delicate body that was beginning to shake from the build-up, and you pant aggressively as you pound her into the bed sheets.
Her face contorts as she starts to get close, and you feel yourself getting there too. Her hips lift off the bed quickly to try to meet yours, and your bodies start moving at a wild, furious pace as you both try to reach your climax. Hafu's hot breath pants onto your neck as you squeeze her tight and pump as hard as you can.
In a final dash for the finish, you finally feel your release hit you, and you empty yourself deep within Hafu as her lips meet yours in a powerful collision. Your hips rest on hers as she cums simultaneously, and you feel her juices flood you as she trembles from the orgasm.
Her eyes close, and yours threaten to do the same from exhaustion. You rest on her for a minute more, letting your lips lightly brush against hers. You slowly pull out of her and lay down next to her warm body.
...
Where in the... Owwwww...
You gasp and bolt upright as you suddenly remember the sinister expression, the stinky garage... everything. It all comes back to you at once.
Fuck... I'm out of that now. Oh my fucking lord, it was so bad...
You bury your head in your hands and wipe your eyes.
You finally look up and around at the comforting bedroom, and then to the figure lying beside you.
I'm so glad she helped... me...
Your thoughts are interrupted by your observation that she was naked, and a quick peek confirmed that you were too.
No... we didn't... did we?
No... NO! NONONO! I don't remember! Did we?
There's no way I could've... right? There's no way she would've...
But the sinking feeling that enters your heart suggests otherwise, and the nearly-empty bottle of vodka on the bedside table, as well as the very obvious hangover you were feeling, doesn't help your case.
Fuck... fuck... FUCK!!! WHY?!?
You continue panicking upon seeing your clothes strewn all over the room, making it crystal clear what had occurred.
Your breathing starts to quicken, and your thoughts start to return to the frightening perspective you had gained last night.
Now I'm a fucking homewrecker... and for two people who stayed up all night trying to help me...
Even if David forgives me, I don't think I could ever forgive myself for this...
Maybe I was right. I don't belong here... ruining relationships and taking women away from their partners... fuck...
Your head snaps to your left as you finally hear Hafu calling your name, and your face squeezes into a teary apology, as it was evident from the look on her face that she had realized what had happened upon waking up from your panic, and was equally shocked.
"Hey... calm down," she says, with a staggeringly numb expression.
"What?!? How can I-!"
"We fucked. We both know it. There's nothing we can do to change that now."
"Hafu..." You say, in disbelief at her forced emotional flatness. "Do you think we should talk to him together about-"
"No. I think I should talk to him alone. Maybe you should go..."
Her stone-cold words evoke a painfully tragic sorrow out of the recesses of your heart, and you soon begin sobbing into your hands, not holding anything back as the sight of one of the nicest people you had ever known sitting with her back to you and telling you to leave refuses to exit your mind.
She immediately regrets her tone as she sees you break down, but even as she turns around, wraps you in a hug, and whispers a dozen genuine apologies into your ear, you find it hard to shake the thought.
You eventually stand up, put your clothes on, and drag yourself out of her house in shame. She tries to grab your hand and tell you something as you head out, but you pull away from her grip. The awful sound of your pounding head takes over, and you don't listen to a word she says.
...
The drive back to your house is slow and painful, and you ignore the countless drivers honking and passing you on the way.
What's the rush? There's nothing for me to go back to, except relationships I've destroyed and lives I might have ruined...
You solemnly park your car and walk inside, hoping no one would speak to you.
But, as luck would have it, you walk up to Hyoon waiting outside the front door, ringing the doorbell.
"Woah! What happened to you?" She teasingly asks, smirking.
You stare silently at your hands as you fumble with your keys, trying to find the right one over the continuous pounding in your head that still hadn't stopped.
"Excuse me? Hellooooo? And what's with your bruises? Have a little too much fun with someone this morning?" She asks again.
Too tired to even want to respond, you put a key into the lock, and shake your head in annoyance as it doesn't slide in.
"...no talkback? Really? Hey, what's wrong with you?" She asks, her voice losing its joking tone.
You finally get the right key and shove the door open, but she places her hand on your shoulder.
"Hyoon, I'm not in the mood for this..." You whisper.
She freezes, reeling at your unfamiliar tone.
"Wha-? In the mood for what? For talking about your latest sexcapade you probably just came back from, or-"
"CAN YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?!?"
She stares at you with wide eyes and scans your face as you stare back with a wrathful gaze. Your fists clench sharply by your side, and the keys dig into your palm from the force until the sharp point draws blood. You storm into the house and begin marching upstairs.
"Hey, I..." She follows you, only angering you further. "I'm... sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Shut the fuck up. Laugh at me all you want. Take a picture of the fucking mess I am and post it on Twitter. I. Don't. Fucking. Care," you spit, gritting your teeth as you open your bedroom door.
"I wouldn't do that! I... I want to help you!"
You try to shut the door behind you, but she throws her body against it, so you push with all your force until it finally closes and you lock it into place.
"Hey!" She yells, banging on the door. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to say that! I... please let me in..."
You cover your ears and curl up on your bed as she jiggles the handle, trying to get in.
You try to block out her words, but her surprisingly desperate tone gets through to your ears.
"Can you please let me in? Please?!?" She begs.
"Stop, Hyoon!" You finally yell. "This isn't about you!"
"...what's it about?" She says from the other side of the door.
You lay on your back and stare up at the blank ceiling, shaking your head.
"Just... stop. I know what you're gonna say, and I don't need your insults right now."
The silence from the other side of the door becomes deafening for a long minute, and you almost think she's gone before you feel her sink down and rest her body on the door.
"Hyoon?" You blurt out as you hear a peculiar sound coming from outside.
"I... never meant to..." She sputters out, making your eyes widen as you realize how miserable she suddenly sounded.
You stand up and listen closer.
"I know you'd hate me... I just didn't know how to... even begin, I... didn't want to hate you..." She starts to break down, and you start to piece together what she was talking about as she gently begins to sniffle.
Feeling the urge overtake you, you gently open the door, and she looks up toward you, with a tear streaming down her cheek.
She leaps up and wraps you in a hug. You naturally step back and try to close the door, but she clutches onto you, keeping you close and not letting you away.
"Hyoon... what was that?" You ask, still reeling from everything.
"I never wanted to hate you. I don't think... I ever really disliked you at all. But... I didn't know how else to treat you after... everything with Kimi happened... I just thought you would hate me too... so I did it first..."
You feel a genuine sense of regret tainting her voice, and you get the feeling that you had never really known her at all, though you had believed you did.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bitch..." She curses herself, while still keeping her chin tucked over your shoulder.
You finally wrap your arms back around her with uncertainty, still trying to process what she was talking about and get your mind off your prior predicament.
"But please... even if you never want to see me again, let me apologize for being so mean to you. It hurts me too, but not nearly as much as you."
"Hyoon... your words weren't what made me snap. I..." You hesitate, not sure where to even begin with the events of the last 12 hours.
"I know. But I pushed you over the edge, and I'm truly sorry. You have no idea how much it hurts me to see this."
"..."
"So... do you want to tell me what it is? You absolutely don't have to. But... if you want..."
You pull away and look down, suddenly feeling an overwhelming desire to pour your leaking heart out to the girl who had just done the same to you.
"I slept with a married woman, Hyoon..." You suddenly let out, feeling yourself tense up as you become afraid of her reaction.
Her eyes flicker with surprise, then pain, and finally sorrow as she truly realizes the turmoil you were facing.
Her chin quivers as she pulls you in for another hug, and you finally let your tears fall again, feeling them drip off of your cheek onto her shoulder.
Your tears make her start sobbing too, and you both stand there in the middle of your bedroom on a dark afternoon, crying your pain into each other's arms as you wonder where you could possibly go from here.