Chris Evans: One Shots

Corruption (Part 1)

I know I should be continuing my full fanfics right now but all my brain could manage, at the moment, is to write short stories. Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy this one. This is the first part of what could be a two or three-chapter fic, which is based on a dream I had. I remember clearly, I woke up sobbing at 4 in the morning. Although the dream wasn't long, I decided to work in on a plot that would include it and this is what I came up with. What if Chris Evans gets entangled in an elaborate web of corruption by church leaders?

-SS

CHRIS' POV

The strong April wind kissed her black wavy hair violently as she crosses the street from JW Marriott Dongdaemun to the Great East Gate. I was on my way back to the hotel after a stroll and I couldn't be mistaken. I knew that woman, who just passed by me.

Light and darkness clashed in the sky while the evening lights in the Korean historical park had been turned on. I was supposed to go on my way, let her be. But there was something in her haste, something written on her face that I couldn't shake off my mind. I clutched the beak of my cap closer to my forehead, zipped my jacket and maneuvered through the crowd.

Tourists and locals were out and about the district since there was a spring festival happening at a nearby street. I extended my head, looking in all directions hoping to catch her trail. A couple more minutes of walking along the Dongdaemun Gate, I saw her, at last. Trying not to attract attention, she sat at a nearby bench.

Her eyes were distant. And because I was focused on her, I could see how her hands were shivering atop her lap.

"Liv," I whispered as I stopped a few meters away from were she was sitting. She didn't look my way. Her eyes still staring in space.

When I realized she wasn't herself, I rushed to where she was and squatted in front of her. I held her hands. Apart from shaking, they were also as cold as ice. "Liv, what's wrong?"

That's when she shifted her eyes to look at me. The skin on her face was paler than usual and the horror in her light brown eyes couldn't be missed. I saw a tear drop on her red coat as she blinked staring at me.

All I could do was shelter her in my arms. "Tell me what you need?"

Olivia Alexander is Justin Alexander's younger sister. Justin is an up and coming fashion designer from the West Coast and one of Scott's closest friends. This was how I knew Liv. We were close acquaintances and even dated for a short while before she decided my life wasn't something she wanted.

"What do you need, Liv?"

She was still holding back tears. "I... need to get out of here."

I bobbed my head as I helped her up to her feet. The woman was, without a doubt, weakened by something. What that something was, I had no clue whatsoever. But I do intend to find out.

"Alright, then," I said. "Let's go to my hotel room."

I had been staying at the JW Marriott since we started filming The Gray Man in Korea more than a week ago. "It's just across the street."

I uttered those words simultaneously with the sound of approaching sirens from a convoy of ambulance and a few police cars.

I didn't know whether what I said or the sirens made her jolt that she pulled her arms from my grip. If I wasn't mistaken, when I saw her cross the street, she was coming from the direction of the hotel.

"Not... there." Her voice was trembling. The heartbreak in her eyes made my insides knot. She was still visibly keeping herself from crying.

I smoothened her messy hair in my palm laboring to keep whatever it is that's making her restless at bay. "Okay... Where are you staying?"

She spaced out for a few moments, which was never like her. She had always been so quick-witted and jolly, which made me even more curious.

"Liv?" My eyes were inquiring.

"Huh? Yeah... Aloft. About two miles from here."

Given that I had no idea where places were here, I rang my bodyguard, for the duration of the shoot, and asked him to bring along the chauffeur to drive us to where she was staying.

Although Aloft was less than two miles from where we got picked up, the drive took a while. One, the spring festival in the area caused some traffic. Two, Liv's unusual silence made the trip felt a lot longer.

Her eyes bore through the glass window of the car into the streets outside. But that's not to say her stare wasn't devoid of life.

I didn't want to bombard her with questions. At least, not with the driver and the bodyguard with us. So, I would wait until we got into her hotel room before I get to the bottom of this.

But, alas! That wasn't to be. When we arrived there, just like a zombie, Liv took her coat off but let it fall freely to the ground. She dragged her entire body in the bathroom sliding the glass door semi-shut.

It felt to me that although it would seem like she was the walking dead, it was I who was the ghost. I picked her red coat from the floor, placed it on a hanger and stashed it in the cabinet. From inside the bathroom, I could hear the sound of the water dripping from the shower head.

At one point, I thought why the hell was I even there? Why did I even run after her? I should've just left her to tend to herself. F@&k me and my curiosity. 

It had been a couple of minutes since Liv went in the bathroom but it seemed like hours for me. So, although I wasn't exactly formally welcomed to enter the room, I made myself comfortable, as if that were even possible, and decided to watch TV while waiting for her.

I channel surfed, since most of what's on was in Korean. However, while the screen jumped from one channel to another, a particular flash on the TV caught my eyes. I had to flip back to it.

THERE IT WAS! I cannot believe what I was seeing. Although I couldn't understand what the news anchor was talking about, I knew the location that was being reported was the JW Marriott. The ambulance, the police, the stretchers with blankets covering the entirety of what seemed to be human remains.

THEN THERE IT WAS AGAIN! I felt my heart got stuck in my throat. The blocking of my air passage made it hard for me to breathe. The image shown of one of the men in the news! I knew him! I knew him well!

I rushed into the unlocked bathroom door, completely disregarding the fact that I would be invading Liv's privacy. My voice booming. "What the f@&k have you done..."

And then silence. My words abandoned me. The fear I had been shoving off since I saw her overran the rage I felt seconds ago.

Liv was slumping on the bathroom floor, clothed, clutching her legs. The water drenched her and her tears.

I rushed to her and took her entirety in my arms, as though I could shield her from the cold water. As though I could shield her from whatever horror she had just gone through.

"What happened, Liv? What happened?"