Heartbreak Club | s.yx ✓

Chapter 36

Yaxuan walked into the living room of his home, finding his mother sitting in the living room.

'Mom,' he said as he walked closer to her. One of the guards was following behind him, carrying his bags.

'Oh Yaxuan,' Mrs. Song acted surprised, even though Akira had already informed her that Yaxuan was coming ever. 'I didn't see you there.'

'Well,' he walked closer to her. 'I don't think I've been making good decisions while on my own. I just ended up hurting myself.'

'I understand, Yaxuan. It's alright.' She pulled him into a hug. 'The world is dark and evil but mommy is here for you alright?'

Yaxuan nodded and leaned on her shoulder as tears started to come out of his eyes. 'I should have listened to you.'

'Shh...it's alright.' Mrs. Song comforted him. 'I'll protect you as long as you're here. Don't cry.'

Yaxuan nodded once more as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

'Mary! Yaxuan's here! Make him a snack!' Mrs. Song interjected.

'Yes ma'am!' Mary answered from the kitchen.

...

AKIRA POV

I opened my eyes to a dark room, and my head was still spinning. I couldn't tell where I was, or whether I was alive or not. For a moment, I couldn't even remember who I was.

I could hear voices in the distance, but they got closer and closer. Then there was a familiar voice that I could not mistake. I turned in the direction of the speaker, and even through my blurry vision, I could tell who it was.

'Roy...?' I asked weakly.

'Hey! You're awake!' Roy answered me. He was sitting down next to me, one of his hands suspended into the air by a pair of handcuffs attached to a metal bar above us.

My eyes adjusted to the room, and I could now see that the room wasn't completely dark. It was still daylight outside, and there was some light coming from the two windows although the dirty curtains were closed. The room was incredibly small, and it was very stuffy and warm.

'You're alive!' I announced happily with a new bout of energy.

I looked around the room, and I noticed there were several other boys there. One of the boys I couldn't forget was Mr. Yin's son, and another one was Zhang Zhenyuan – the son of a famous politician. As I looked at the faces, I realized these were all the boys who had been kidnapped in the past months.

'Oh so your sister has been captured too? I thought you said she was going to save us,' Zhenyuan teased Roy. It was amazing how they could even joke in this situation, probably in an attempt to make everyone feel better.

'Save you?' I asked. 'Wait, where are we?' I tried to lower my arm which was starting to ache, but I realized I was also handcuffed to the metal bar above us just as I was.

'Nobody knows exactly where, but we've been kidnapped, that's for sure.' Roy answered. He looked completely disheveled just like everyone else in the room, and I wondered when last they had had a shower.

'Do you at least know by who?'

Roy shook his head, 'we don't know the mastermind. But I do know one of the people involved. You wouldn't expect it.'

'Hey your brother said you know Taekwondo, how could you get kidnapped?' Zhenyuan interrupted the conversation.

'I don't remember anything, it all feels like a blur.' I put my free hand on my head, as if that would make me remember something.

The door opened, and a familiar figure walked in through the door with plastic bags. 'Okay chumps, it's lunch time, this is your only meal for the day so savor it.'

The voice, the stature, everything, I knew I wasn't mistaking. I couldn't believe the person who I was seeing in front of me.

I watched as Junlin moved from one boy to another, putting a box of takeaway in front of them. He hadn't noticed me yet, and I wondered if he knew I was here. Probably.

Junlin finally put a box in front of Roy before moving on to me. He bent in front of me to place the box down, but when his eyes met with mine, he almost jumped in terror.

'Akira!?' he asked me once he stood up straight in front of me. 'What are you doing here?'

'Why don't you tell me?' I answered. 'I don't know why I'm here but I'm wondering what you're doing here. And you're certainly not a victim!'

He sighed. 'Just...eat up. We don't have conversations around here.' he started to walk towards the door he had come in through.

'They know each other?' one of the boys whispered to Roy, and he nodded.

'Is this the life you chose Junlin!? A life of crime!?' I cried. 'I know we're not together anymore but I expected more from you!'

He turned around to me but didn't reply.

'You did this just to be rich didn't you!? Come on Junlin, this isn't you...'

'Can you not judge what you don't understand!?' Junlin finally spoke up. 'You don't understand why I do this, you don't. So keep your mouth shut.'

'I just thought I knew you.' I was emotional at this point, even though I was scared and confused as to where I was. But seeing Junlin there and being a criminal made me focus more on that issue at hand rather than the bigger issue.

'You do know me. So you know for sure I wouldn't do this just for the money.'

'Whatever,' I tried to not make myself seem like I care about what he was doing, even though it apparently seemed I did. 'Can you at least tell me why I'm here?'

'That's something I don't know as well.' Junlin answered before he walked out of the room, slamming the door hard.

'Do you guys see what's going on here!?' one of the kidnapped kids, whom I knew from the news as Chengxin, finally spoke up. 'You're the only one able to penetrate Junlin's wall.'

'Hmm?' I turned to Chengxin.

'Junlin usually doesn't talk to anyone, and you actually made him talk and get emotional. You know how emotions can be the best way to fight criminals?' Chengxin continued.

'Of course,' Roy commented next. 'With a little psychological manipulation, you could actually break Junlin down since it seems he cares about what you say. You can make him set us free, or at least set you free.'

'Wait how do you guys know each other?' another boy asked.

'He's her ex,' Roy answered.

'This is great, your sister might be the one to save us after all.' the boy answered and smiled at me.

'Does anyone know where we are first?' I changed the subject.

'Probably in the middle of nowhere.' Zhenyuan answered. 'When you look out of the window, all you see are trees. It's some kind of cabin.'

I sighed. The boys started to eat their food hungrily, I guess it really was their only meal for the day.

The food in front of me hardly looked appetizing, there was too much on my mind. And one of the things I was considering was what the boys said. Could I really use my relationship with Junlin to my advantage?