FIRE DRILL. / lee haechan

twenty-three

"seri, listen to me... you need to run."

"dad, let's run together!"

"no, i still need to get your mother. we'll be fine, for now, i need you to get out of the building, okay?"

seri was curled up in the corner while her hands were placed on top of her shoulders, attempting to calm herself down. she was shaking in fear while her eyes were on the fire just a few meters away from her.

racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, trembling... seri was lost in the memories that was coming back to her. the image of her dad running towards the flames, her screams of help and until a fireman picked her up and help her escape the burning building.

seri felt her tears falling from her eyes as she tightened her grip on her shoulders.

"jung seri!"

her vision started to get blurry. she can't hear anything yet the screams of the people during the fire incident five years ago.

"jung seri!"

seri suddenly saw donghyuck kneeling infront of her. he was saying something yet seri couldn't hear him. he held her shoulders, his mouth still moving and seri wasn't good with lip reading.

he noticed her uneven breathing so he started gesturing her to some breathing excercise. "

"seri," she heard him, finally, "i'm here..." he says and got his handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it in seri's nose.

"wait here, okay?"

the girl slowly shook her head. donghyuck gave him an empathetic smile. he stood up and came closer to the window. he was doing something yet the smoke was making it difficult for seri to see him.

"donghyuck..." seri muttered.

then he came back and held his hand out. seri looked at him in the eyes for a few seconds before she held his hand and she stood up.

"just trust me, okay?" donghyuck says as they walked to the balcony.

there, seri saw the descending life line fixed. the girl froze making donghyuck halt. he glanced at the girl and saw her shaking her head, clearly disapproving donghyuck's plan.

donghyuck siged and got the line on him before he pulled seri closer.

"i'm not doing—"

"then don't," donghyuck cut her, "but favor, please closer your eyes."

in normal circumstances, seri would raise her eyebrow first and argue. she simple closed her eyes. then she felt donghyuck pulled her and engulfed her in a tight hug.

"seri... i'm sorry..." he says, "sorry for being such an asshole. i'm sorry..."

seri carefully opened her eyes. for the past weeks, donghyuck has been trying his best to earn her forgiveness and to be honest, seri knew that the male was sincerely sorry about it. but she could find it in her to forgive him.

because she knew that he did nothing wrong except kissing her without her permission. it wasn't donghyuck's fault that her relationship with renjun ended. seri knew that renjun could have just talked about it yet the male flew back to china. seri knows renjun has his reasons.

"and please don't hate me for what i'm going to do..."

then he started to walk closer to the balcony. "close your eyes." then he lifted her legs and make her cling to him tighter.

then seri felt herself falling with donghyuck, literally.