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The gun Vernon had given me was in my hands before he could fully turn. My hands were trembling, so was the rest of my body—it felt like my mind was on fire, a million different thoughts and scenarios running through it, their steps thudding against my skull.
"Wait!" It was Lay who spoke first, stepping backwards, eyes wide, arms half-raised at his sides. "Don't shoot."
"Why not?" My voice was uncannily cool, like it was coming from some other person. There was no way the cold, smooth question had come from a mind so heated. "You never hesitated to shoot me."
In the heat of the moment, I had all but forgotten about my plan to get my papers before escaping the country. There were more pressing matters at hand.
There was hesitation on his face now, confusion and something oddly resembling concern. His teeth worried at his lower lip as he stepped further out of the shadows, exposing the lines and planes of his torso. As much as I tried, I couldn't keep my eyes from roaming over every scar that I'd once run my hands over. He was still beautiful. The memory of him was still painful.
Slowly, he slid his hand into the holster at his side. I gripped my gun tighter, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to shoot him. I was weak. I was in pain.
"Don't move." But my voice was brittle. All he had to do was calmly take aim as my body refused to act against the man I used to love. Did I still love him?
The thought scared me.
"Baekhyun asked me to come here," he spoke, not letting his eyes wander from my face as he slowly pulled out a compact gun. His movements were slow and careful, like he was dealing with a wild animal. "This gun—this is yours."
Baekhyun?
There was a high probability that he had only said it to throw me off track, but I let it. The way he had said it had been too genuine to be doubted, despite the fact that he had tried to kill me and Baekhyun was dead.
My sight fastened on the small gun in his hands as he held it out into the moon's light. It was the same one I had lost the day when I had first encountered him, in the dark alleyway.
He turned the gun on its side, and my eyebrows furrowed. I had no idea what he was doing, no reason not to shoot him, but I couldn't do it simply because he had, so far, made no move to harm me. Even though I wanted to run away from the place, to leave the past in the past, the man in front of me managed to rivet me in my place.
"What..." I trailed off, the mouth of my gun dipping as I realized that he was trying to show me the initials carved into the side, the ones I had forgotten to read before.
L.J.Y.
"Lee Jaeyeon." I looked up as he spoke, bewildered to the point of silence. "This was your mother's."
