On The Run - Sunki

Wall clock

It was Niki, who had just locked eyes with him.

Sunoo froze. His brain couldn't process what was happening.
What is he doing here? How?

Sunoo felt rage quickly spreading through his veins. The liar that had manipulated him, hidden clues and spied on him was right there. He still couldn't believe how he had fallen right into his trap.
Niki being gentle, flirty and sweet with him was all lies.
The feelings Sunoo had developed for him were all based on something fake.

Sunoo knew he had to keep his calm though. As much as he wanted to punch Niki on his whole face, he needed to talk with him in order to find Heeseung and maybe learn more about the weird coma everyone was in.

"Oh there you are" said Sunoo, looking at Niki with hatred.

Niki tried to speak, but only made a pathetic and muffled sound. Sunoo got closer and saw several emotions passing on Niki's eyes. It went from shock to fear and finally pain.

"Oh, so you're not talking to me now?" asked Sunoo angrily. "That's weird cause you couldn't stop talking before."

Niki's expression changed once again. His eyebrows showed clear signs of despair, but Sunoo was too angry and overwhelmed to see that.

That's when the officer noticed something else about him.

"Why aren't you moving?" he asked, surprised that Niki was still laying down.

Niki tried communicating with Sunoo by moving his eyes, but the later didn't pick that up.

"Oh I see, this is part of your clever plan to trick me?" continued Sunoo, overwhelmed by how far Niki was going in order to hurt him. "Acting like you can't speak or move to make me soft?"

"Nice try, it won't work though" added Sunoo, as he patted Niki's tight in the sassiest way he could.

However, as soon as his hand touched Niki, the officer felt an electric shock run up his arm. Niki must have felt it too, because suddenly he moved his arm and held his throat.

Sunoo walked back a few steps. He didn't think Niki would move. The latter sat up, still holding his throat, with both hands now.

"Listen" he said, with a broken and low voice.
"Listen?! What do you think is going on?" shouted Sunoo. "You tricked me, you lied to me."

"I know" said Niki, trying to look up at Sunoo.
"That's it? You're not even denying it?" screamed Sunoo, feeling tears of anger filling his eyes. "How could I be so blind and give you my trust."

"Please" said Niki, but his throat hurt so much he couldn't speak more than that.

Sunoo took a heavy breath and calmly put his hand on his gun. His heart was broken, but he wasn't here to discuss his feelings. He had people to save.

"Where is Lee Heeseung?" he asked Niki.
"I don't know" replied the latter, with a crack in his voice.
"Don't lie to me" said Sunoo, more serious than ever. "If you don't want to tell me that now, I have another question for you."

He took one step forth.

"How do I wake everyone up" he asked.

Niki closed his eyes and let go of his throat. When he opened them again, he locked eyes with Sunoo.

"We can save them, but" he started saying, before coughing heavily.
"But what?" added Sunoo, not buying Niki's cough.
"We have to do it together" finally finished Niki.

"Oh really? How convenient for you" said Sunoo. "I'm tired of your games Niki, if that's your real name."

Niki stood up and faced Sunoo.

"I'm trying to help you" he said. His throat was still very painful from his earlier talk and now that he needed his voice to explain everything to Sunoo, he was scared he wouldn't be able to.

"Like you did when you hid all the clues?" asked Sunoo, angrier than ever.

Niki took a step forward and instantly Sunoo took his gun out and pointed it at Niki.

"Don't come closer" said Sunoo.

"I know you don't believe me" started Niki. His throat felt like it was ripped open, but he continued speaking. "I tried helping you but she was watching me."

Sunoo blinked. He wasn't excepting that.

"I wanted to tell you everything, but she would have hurt you if I had" continued Niki. Now he had tears of pain rolling down his cheeks.

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?" asked Sunoo, more to himself than to Niki.

"You can't for sure" sincerely replied Niki. "You need to trust me."

Sunoo started shaking. Niki's voice cracks seemed so real.

Is this real? Did he try helping me?

Sunoo tried remembering every detail about the time they spent together.

"I gave you the address of the mansion" said Niki, hoping this would help Sunoo trust him back.

Niki coughed again, more violently and louder this time.

"You didn't, I found it-" started Sunoo
"Under Lee Heeseung's pillow, where I left it for you" said Niki, with difficulty.

Sunoo looked at Niki. He had a desperate expression on. Tears had rolled down his cheeks and hit the floor with the familiar "ploc". He had one hand on his throat, as if he was afraid to let it go.

"What happened to your throat?" he finally asked.
"She... punished me" finally admitted Niki, looking down.

Oh yes, of course.

"Oh right! I almost fell for it Niki" said Sunoo, finally assembling all the pieces together. "She kidnapped you, tortured you, left you here and now you want to help me! Clever plan. Unfortunately, it's not good enough."

Suddenly, the wall clock behind them started ringing, giving the both of them a heart attack.

Niki opened his eyes widely and walked closer to Sunoo.

"Stay where you are" shouted the officer, his gun pointed at Niki.
"Please trust me" said Niki, still walking. "There's no time anymore."

Sunoo put his gun down and saw Niki coming really close. At the last ringing of the clock, Niki had pressed his lips on Sunoo's.