❝𝕄𝕠𝕞𝕠𝕜𝕠 𝕚𝕟 𝕋𝕠𝕜𝕪𝕠❞✔️ (1)

❤︎Chapter Thirty-Three❤︎

I sat trying to get my breathing under control, lying frozen in the backseat of the unfamiliar black car I'd just been shoved into. My mind was swarming with thoughts, thoughts on how to escape, thoughts on how stupid I was for getting so close, thoughts on what I could do to protect myself...thoughts on just how badly I wanted to scream out the window..how I wanted to run into Yuji's arms and never come out of them.

The car took off, turning sharp corners here and there, speeding obnoxiously fast. My body slid across the seat, knocking over onto the floor of the car.

"Oh my god!" I whispered to myself, wrapping my arms in a self hug and curling into the backseat feeling vulnerable and weak. These guys could do anything they wanted to me whenever they wanted. The realization that my life was in their hands was almost too much for me to bear.

How could I have let this happen? All I had to do was keep walking! I didn't need to answer to the guy, as scary as he was and as suspicious as it was that he knew my name!

I felt so pathetic. I didn't even know how to identify the car I was in...my mind was so scattered I could barely remember what my kidnapper looked like...

I lay trembling in the backseat, alone in my thoughts, which were really not helping me feel any better. There was so much that could happen to me. I could be taken somewhere, sold into slavery...trafficked! I could be taken somewhere, tortured, murdered...

My god, what's going to happen to me?!

"Oh, god..." my voice breaks and the tears come rushing out like a raging waterfall. Not that it mattered, but it was great that I had put on waterproof mascara! At least I could die pretty! Perhaps I should stop crying since I look ugly crying. If I'm ugly they might kill me sooner. But if I'm pretty they might give it awhile, right?

My stupid way of thinking actually made me laugh a little bit.

When I felt myself chuckling and crying all at the same time, I suddenly began to think of Yuji. How his laugh sounded...his genuine and fake laugh..his laugh when he was so tired but had to keep working hard and suddenly found everything funny before he passed out somewhere.

Ugh, and those strong arms..

I tighten my grip around myself, picturing them as Yuji's. I would so love to be in them right now. For him to tell me I was such an idiot for not being careful as a young pretty girl out on the street by myself...

"Come and save me, Yuji..someone!" I shut my eyes tight, begging for it all to be a dream.

And then the car stops. I feel someone getting out of the car, but it feels like I'm trapped in complete darkness. The back seat must have been shut out from the front somehow..like there was a barrier made to trap me in my own space. I cower in the seat, my heart beat hammering in my ears.

I knew they were coming.

I had to gather my courage. Perhaps I would have enough room to run as soon as the doors opened. They'd reach for me and I could just knock their hands away. Was I strong enough to push a 200+ pound man out of my way? I didn't think so, but I had to be.

You can do it, Momoko. You have to!

I heard the door open, and I gasped as light flooded from outside and into the car. I winced reflexively and slapped at the hands that I saw reaching inside after me. One managed to grasp my arm, and the other was knocked away from the force of my hand. I tried to rush to the other side of the car, screaming for help to anyone who could hear. I sat on the other end, watching the male figures who were standing and reaching clumsily toward me.

"Damn, I didn't think she'd be this difficult."

"We'll have to do this fast! Boss!"

I felt the surface behind me fall away and gasped as I dipped backward.. someone had opened the door right behind me. I slipped from the seat and landed in someone else's arms.. when I was lifted out of the car like I weighed nothing, I looked cautiously up at who was carrying me.

"You!"

I recognized him as the man who had kidnapped me!

He looked down at me, a smirk on his lips. His sunglasses covered up the gorgeous eyes I had remembered my gaze had met just before he'd snatched me up over his broad shoulder.

"Hey there, princess.. did you enjoy the ride?"

I blinked up at the man, quiet. I still couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar. Was it the nose? The hair? Maybe from another angle...

SMACK!

My right palm stung from the impact. My grinning captor now had a red hand imprint blooming on his cheek. I gritted my teeth, suddenly feeling very proud of myself and confident I could get away.

"Feisty, aren't you? But how long is that going to protect you?"

"Long enough for someone to save me!" I shouted back, and I started to struggle in his arms, ready to work out some kind of sloppy escape attempt. Just when I started to scream in the seemingly deserted yet usually busy street we'd driven in town to, I heard a familiar voice a short distance away.

"Take your hands off of my Momo!"