Girl Of Heart And Iron | ✔

14 | unsteady

'if the universe didn't need you, you wouldn't be here.'

- unknown

RI NODDED.

On one hand, she felt grateful that it wasn't just her being paranoid. But on the other, she didn't want to be right either. They climbed the ladder and made their way over to Oliver. He smiled tightly at them, "Took your time. My friend doesn't like to wait."

"I don't recall befriending you, Mister Kim." A voice as smooth as velvet said. Their accent was posh and refined. Ri squinted in the harsh headlights and put a hand over her eyes to better make out the woman leaning against the bonnet.

Two long, leather clad legs stretched out in front of her languidly, the heels of her black stilettos digging into the gravel under their feet. She crossed her ankles and regarded them with cool grey eyes. The woman exuded an aura of knowing. Like she could see right past the walls and the bullshit you threw up around yourself. H

"This is Lady Ingrid," Oliver wrung his hands as he shuffled to stand adjacent to her. "She's going to take you two to a safe house and uh, yeah, that's all you need to know."

It was glaringly obvious to Ri that he was hiding something huge. One look at Minhyuk told her that he thought so too. But what could she do? Demand answers from virtual strangers?

"Where's the house?" Bless Minhyuk for trying to get what answers he could anyway. Ri's eyes flickered between the two adults as she tried to observe for any clues she could find. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she did know that there was something off about this whole thing.

Lady Ingrid - and what a strange name she had - aimed him one of those tightly patient smiles adults usually reserved for excessively questioning children. Her dark brown skin glowed in the light flooding around them, making her look celestial and vaguely threatening.

"Some place safe," she motioned to the car, "shall we leave?"

They all moved to pile into the car, with Oliver in the passenger seat and Lady Ingrid taking the wheel. Minhyuk slid into the back next to Ri, his eyes boring into the back of his cousin's head. Ri sniffed and pulled her knees up to wrap her hands around them.

A jolt of anxiety and homesickness shot through her. She was filled with a desperate longing to just go back to Harrows. Ri rested her head on her arms and looked over at Minhyuk. To think she was wondering how to say goodbye to him just a few hours ago. At the time, that had felt like one of the worst moments of her life but it was laughable now.

"You can sleep," Minhyuk scooted over and whispered. "Get some rest."

Ri hummed and closed her eyes but didn't drift off. How could she, after all? Especially now when they were in the car of a dubiously trustful person, driving to an unknown location and fighting possible hypothermia with how bloody cold it was.

There's something wrong here, the thought was chilling. It was made even worse by the general uneasiness that never seemed to leave. I'm just not seeing it.

a.n. hello pals!

this is a short chapter, i know, but i'll be posting another one that's a tad bit longer today. i missed an update day because i had to temporarily move to a friends house until my air con gets sorted out. good news is that they've gone on holiday so i don't feel like i'm intruding much. but the bad news is that they don't have internet (shock horror, i knooow).

hopefully, things'll get right back to normal soon but until then, please bare with me :')

if any of you read Aegis & Vera, then i'm sorry about missing updates for that too. to make it up to y'all, i've decided to publish the whole thing today so it should be up for you to read soon ~

i hope this brightens your monday <3

Until next time,
carry on bravely.