Those days - txtzy

part 2: 九

Tara eventually stopped at the door of a hotel room. Ryujin noticed that since this seemed to be a rather high-end hotel, there were fewer rooms than an average one, but the sizes were more than double.

The other girl gave Ryujin a look she had trouble reading, one of almost pity, then swung open the door and nudged her down the small corridor.

Beomgyu's father was not in the room.

Instead, there were three men.

"Tara?" Ryujin said softly and slowly, getting a little scared.

Tara looked frightened, "I...I just did what I was told to do, I don't mean any harm." She burst into tears, and the men in the room rolled their eyes. "Whiny brat," One spat out, making a move towards Tara but Ryujin quickly stood before her, using her body to shield the other girl. "What do you want?" Ryujin said firmly, successfully stopping the tremor in her voice. Another man, obviously the leader, shrugged, "Well, having the love interest of the heir of one of the biggest companies captured is terrific for blackmail and hostage stuff."

Ryujin flicked an eyebrow up. "Oh?" She said calmly, "Love interest, you say?" It was hard to believe, but Ryujin managed a laugh, "Bitch, we aren't even dating. He just needed to bring a date to the party, he asked me, and I agreed. I promise you, I am of no sentimental value to him."

The leader growled in frustration, thumping one of his men in the chest, "Why didn't you find that out?" The man sputtered, "But...that wasn't what Tara told me!" The said girl squeaked meekly.

Ryujin's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and filled with emotions, but she tried to pull herself together. They didn't even think of taking her out of the building. Surely someone would have noticed the two girls were missing. She just had to stall for time.

But how?

They were tucked into a corner, with a red gleaming fire extinguisher stuck to the wall. Without a second thought, Ryujin desperately kicked the bottle, hoping that by some miraculous thing, it would burst open, but it only spluttered weekly. The men, obviously amused by her feeble attempt, only scoffed. "Well," The leader sighed, "This was fun, but you're getting annoying." With that, he plucked a small, slim knife from his belt. Now Tara was absolutely frozen in shock; she would be of little help.

So Ryujin had to handle this herself.

"I have nothing to offer you," She said, her voice shaking and cracking, trying to channel the image of a scared, broken girl, "So please just let us go."

For a moment, the men looked like they were going to consider, then the leader lifted the knife as if to toast her, then drove it into her stomach.

The man roughly yanked the knife out of Ryujin's abdomen with a sly smirk, "Now let's see if the little Choi comes running now." The pain was excruciating yet bearable at the same time, Ryujin falling to the ground nonetheless, her hands pressed against the bleeding warm wound. She tried to retort but her words seem to have caught in her throat.

At perfect timing. The door slammed open, a messy-haired Beomgyu standing there along with a swarm of security officers in sunglasses. All Ryujin could think of was "why the sunglasses?"

As the men were tackled, Beomgyu rushed to Ryujin. "Hey," Ryujin choked out, her face screwing up in pain. "You're gonna be okay, " Beomgyu hurriedly assured, turning his head to shout requests, so focused on saving her he didn't care about the pooling blood that stained his hands and clothes.

"Hang in there princess." He let that term of endearment/ insult fall out without realising it again. As her consciousness slipped away, she managed to smile. Someone's got her.