COLLISION

Chapter 15

  I throw my phone onto the sofa, before I begin to pace back and forth in panic. Minho steps away from me quickly answering the call as he disappears into the room. I gather up the courage to pick up my phone and answer the call. "What do you want." I snap at him. There's a hum, followed by the sound of a car door closing. "You know, I should be angry but, I can't find it in me to be mad at you baby." Daniel's tone is playful, mocking, almost feeling like when you are so scared you want to throw up. "Don't call me that. What do you want. I know damn well it's not to apologies." He laughs, continuing to taunt me in the same sinister tone. "I just miss hearing your voice, its so empty at the house without you." I stay stuck in place, a sense of dread making its way through me, paralyzing me in fear. "You can stay alone. If you're going to call me to waste my time, then I'm hanging up." There's a slight pause before I hear a familiar voice in the background. "You're friend just got off of work I see, looks like she met up with that artist friend of yours." I clasp my phone tighter, feeling the tears forming in my eyes. "You leave Yeji, and Hyunjin out of your money corrupted problems."

  Daniel laughs. "It would really be a shame if they lost everything. I'll tell you what, stop running and just sign your life away. Or I start picking them off on by one. Starting with your gangster boyfriend." The call ends before I can say anything else. I stay frozen in place, feeling my words get stuck in my throat. Seconds later, Minho returns. Noticing the state I'm in, he holds my shoulders, in an attempt to comfort me. "Hey what's wrong." I push his hands away, taking a step back to catch my breath. "I am backed up into a corner. I don't know what I can do anymore." The tears start rolling down my cheeks as my voice starts breaking. "If I just, sign those damn marriage papers, nobody has to suffer. Right?" Minho stands still, looking at me with a sad expression. "Then what was all this for. Y/n, why do all this if you are just going to run back to base?" I look up at him, feeling frustrated and angry. "What choice do I have. If I don't do this, Yeji and Chan could loose their jobs, Hyunjin could loose his studio, Felix, Jisung, Seungmin and Jeongin could loose their chances at studying, I could loose you. And you have no idea what pain I went through the first time."

  Minho doesn't dare come closer to me. Instead he keeps the distance between us, not even showing a hint of emotion behind his expression. "You're doing it again." He says softly. I wipe my tears with my sleeves. "I can't think of myself, knowing that choosing you is going to hurt eight other people." I say, my voice cracking the more I speak. He looks down, then begins to pace back and forth. "I'm sorry, I just can't do it anymore. This is to much pressure for me." I pick up my phone, beginning to make my way to the door. "So that's it. You are just going to run away?" I don't have a choice. His calm words stab my heart as I stop at the door I turn to say good bye. "I don't expect you to understand. My life, was never mine. I was a fool to think that I could have any control over it." I reach to open the door but Minho is quick enough to slam it shut. He holds the door closed, preventing me from leaving. "You want to leave, fine. But let me tell you something. You aren't the only one who's suffering here. By signing your life away you are going to be creating a system where the rich will drown in money and the poor will thirst for it." I look down, feeling like the room is spinning, and I'm sinking into a endless pit of water.

  I finally break down, not caring if Minho sees or not. "I don't know what else I can do." Minho pulls me into a hug, tightly holding me. "Wait for Seungmin to meet with Steve. You've done enough. Let us take care of you for once." He returns to his usual soft expression, still holding me captive in his arms. I return the hug, sobbing uncontrollably before breaking it. "I'm afraid. I'm scared that.." Minho cuts me off, shaking his head and pulling the loose strands of my bangs behind my ears. "I know you are. And you have every right to be. Please, put your trust in us. We aren't going to leave you alone." I nod and wipe the tears off my face. "If you are fighting for something that is worth it make sure you win. Right?" He smiles, cupping my face in his hands. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

Seungmin

  "I'd like to speak you Secretary Choi? It's an emergency." The front desk lady nods as she reaches over for the phone. She holds up one finger, telling me to hold on. "Yes, Mr. Choi, um a young man is here, he says it's urgent he speaks to you." She holds the phone away from her face and covers the bottom of it with her hand. "Young man what is your name?" She asks. "Kim Seungmin." I reply. She brings the phone back to her ear. "A Kim Seungmin?" She looks around confused then nods at the instructions given to her on the other side of the line. "Mr. Choi will see you now. He's.." I nod and quickly make my way to the elevator not wasting any time. Once I reach the designated floor, I step out of the elevator and quickly make my way to his office. I knock on the door and wait a few seconds before opening it. "Hey, Seungmin, it's been a while. Have a seat." He happily greets me. I set the computer I was carrying on his desk in front of me. "Sorry for the sudden meeting, I'll cut straight to the chase. I need a favor."

  Steve laughs, analyzing the laptop I brought him. "You need me to find you some hackers or something? Fail another test?" I lift an eyebrow, shaking my head in disagreement. "No, I don't need hackers to cheat off my neighbor. Anyway, I need your help with something. You're shitty boss has been threatening Y/n and Minho with all sorts of crap. Is there a way you can transfer any sort of data that we can use to get his ass dethroned?" Steve stares back in shock, not knowing what to say. "You want me to give you confidential data? To somehow scare my boss." I nod, keeping my straight face. "Yes. There's gotta be something that would get him in trouble I'm sure you know. If we manage to do this somehow you will probably get a better boss." I slightly push the laptop towards Steve. He eye's it suspiciously, still not convinced of the risky idea. "Please? Can you do me this solid?" I beg. He leans back on his chair, taking a deep breath before standing up. "You've always been a mastermind in planning these things. I'm surprised you're going to college and not working part time as a hit man." He paces around a bit before abruptly stopping. "Don't know how you are going to do this, but I trust you. I'll get all data and transfers on here by tomorrow afternoon. I'll send them back to you with Ben." I smile and nod, standing up from my own seat. I reach my hand over to shake his.

  "Pleasure doing business with you."