Insoo gasped as the magnificent ball of fire rose up spreading its golden rays over the wide flower field that laid in front of them.

The dew that slept on the grasses over the night, took its leave at the slight sign of the almighty Sun. The said dew glittered like polished diamonds making them feel like they were inside a diamond mine.

The light rays penetrated through the darkness and the particles of light bounced and crept over the majestically huge field and Insoo and Dayun watched everything come into life as things started getting colour of their own. Like a black canvas that was beautifully being painted with none other than Earth’s star as the artist.

The flowers that were black and grey seconds ago turned red and yellow and orange by nature’s choice. And now, Insoo could see what flowers they were. They were Tulips! Colourful and bright.

It was such an amazing sight to behold and Insoo was dumbfounded by its beauty. Never has he seen something like this before.

Sure, he has seen his own share of beautiful sun rises but they were nothing like this. This! Was something else. This image was something that would never leave his memory and would live in his heart forever.

After a couple of moments, “It’s- it’s-” He struggled to form words. “Gorgeous, isn’t?” Dayun finished it for him turning to look at his side profile. And when she did, for a split second she wasn’t sure what she was referring to as she spoke those words.

To get herself out of it, she quickly continued speaking, “I used to come here often with Iseul. But she has never woken up to see the sight. Ha ha” She paused for a moment and started talking again after taking a long breathe, “I really love watching sun rise from here.” She said and her words were sincere.

“Yes… It indeed is splendid.” Insoo finally spoke after a long time, still looking at the said scene before him.

After sometime, “Are you cold? I left my jacket in the car, should I bring it?” Insoo asked quickly standing up but Dayun pulled him down, saying, “Wait, I have this.” Opening the bag that she carried around, taking out a woolen blanket.

Insoo found it odd to see her carry such a huge bag with her and he wanted to ask her about it. But now he knew.

The girl really did come here often. He thought.

“You carried that around?” He asked surprised, simultaneously taking it from her hands and spreading it over them. “Had to be prepared.” Was her reply.

They both came closer to accommodate themselves within the blanket and being close to Insoo further made Dayun feel warm.

She was peacefully enjoying the view when out of nowhere she got reminded of the incident that morning, when his lips were not more than a millimeter away from hers. And at that an unexplainable smile found its way to her face as her cheeks showed a slight sign of red just like that of the rising sun which was hidden only due to the lack of proper light.

She turned her head to look at Insoo and he was still looking forward with fixed eyes and a smile of his own. Dayun watched him for a couple of seconds when suddenly the smile on her face vanished as she felt her heart to be oddly heavy, an unknown fear engulfing her.

~

~

Dayun’s POV

“Are you sure we can go there now?” I asked Insoo, now, inside the car.

“Didn’t you want to go there?”

“Yeah, but it’s only 7 in the morning. How can we- I mean can we go inside?”

“Oh darling, what kind of question is that? Did you forget who I am already?......... It’s fine. There’s just a single password lock.” He said while driving.

Insoo wanted to drive the way back since he really likes driving in an empty road.

Travelling back seemed short, we quickly reached the company.

…

“Wow! This is my table. It’s just the way how I left it!” I quickly rushed to give the surface of my table a gentle stroke. “Whoa! My chair too!” I screamed in joy holding my hands together.

Insoo laughed at that. “Seeing how excited you are to see this place I’m starting to doubt if you really did any work here or if I’ve been giving you salary for nothing.” Insoo’s remark didn’t escape her ear but she was too happy to see her workplace to give him any reply.

She then, looked through her window admiring the view that she always saw while she worked there. She felt glad to see how things exactly looked how they used to be. She had worked here the longest, so, of course, it held a special place in her heart.

“How are things unchanged? It’s too clean for an abandoned place.” Dayun remarked.

“Who said its abandoned? It’s being maintained regularly. And I decided to keep it just the way it was, because we could use this place sometime in the future.”

To which, Dayun let out a ‘Oh…' expression and went on to open her draw.

She had kept some gifts that her co-workers gave each other on the last day that she forgot to take with her, inside her draw. She opened it expecting it to be the way she left it, with all her gifts neatly arranged, just like how everything else was.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

But when the draw slid open, she immediately knew something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Her excited expression turned into worry as she spoke the words,

“They’ve been here…”

Dayun let out slowly looking at how messed up her draw was. She’d never leave her draw like that.

Insoo’s eyes grew sharp at that as he too noticed what she was talking about.

Then, both of their eyes fell on a little shiny button that was lying on the floor near her table, Panther’s paw engraved on it. Of course it belonged to Hee-sung or his men. Dayun knew it. And Insoo could figure it out too.

They grew cautious.

And the most worrisome was the thing that happened next.

They heard footsteps. Footsteps that were getting near and near.

She was wrong.

'They’re still here.'

…

The very next thing she felt was getting dragged and thrust under the table in a swift move by Insoo who managed to get both of them inside the small space right in time before they could be spotted.

She could feel herself pressed against the sides of the table with Insoo in front of her, both of them trying to adjust their positions to fit themselves inside.

Everything happened very suddenly and their breaths started to get heavy.

“Ya, there’s nothing in here. We’ve searched here for hours, let’s leave now.” They heard one of the men say, entering the room.

“Just do it once again. We should make sure no place is left unchecked.”, Another spoke in a husky voice to which the former hummed a 'Hmm...'.

Then, all of them started searching the place again looking for any piece of information related to Dayun. There were around 7 men and all of them were armed. If they found them, they’d definitely get into huge trouble.

2 vs 7 was impossible and on top that, they carried guns.

Dayun and Insoo tried hard to hold their breaths and not let out any form of sound when a foot step approached them making their adrenaline rush. He had already taken 6 steps towards them, each foot step getting louder than the other.

At this rate, if he took 4 more foot steps he could definitely spot them.

They moved even closer to each other to get themselves inside a small compartment like space that was formed by two sections of the table arranged in right angles that wouldn’t even be enough to fit one person.

At this point, Dayun was sitting on Insoo’s lap, with her legs around his torso and with his body pressed against hers.

With each further step he took, their grip on each other tightened as their heart rates raised.

Two more steps and they won’t be hiding anymore.

They braced themselves to face whatever that came after, thinking of ways to handle the situation as he took another step forward,

But, then,

“Okay, boys, enough. Seems like there’s nothing important. Let’s leave.” The same husky voice spoke again and everyone stopped their actions in the middle.

‘Yeah…' ‘Okay…' They heard murmurs and after a moment or so they also heard them leave as the noise of their footsteps slowly started to fade.

Dayun and Insoo’s faces relaxed as they both let out a silent relieved sigh. They stayed like that for a few more moments until they have made sure that they really left.

When the flight, fright and fight hormone dropped levels in their blood, their mind started functioning as they grew conscious of their surroundings,

Only for their motions to freeze altogether again,

As the situational tension turned into a… Romantic one

With their eyes looking forward, only to get lost.

Their heart beats synchronised with heart rates that increased again. But now for a totally different reason.

“Uhm-”

Dayun was the first one to break the gaze before she completely lost direction in his eyes and after a taking a moment to recover “Are they gone?” She quietly asked.

“Uh- Oh- I guess so.” Insoo said moving away.

Then, he reluctantly got out and also helped Dayun get her way out.

Settling to sit down on the seats, they took their time to process the prior events. Everything about how they got into such a critical situation and how close, they had their escape.

And after five minutes of silence or so, “How did they come inside? Through that window?” Insoo wondered looking at the window on top of them through which they heard them leave.

“They left the place dangerously clean without much clues. No one would even know they were here.” Insoo further added, shocked at the thought that they probably would never know how long they’ve been coming here and how many places they’ve been watching.

Dayun slowly nodded, deeply thinking. “They’ve also gone to the apartment, I’ve rented when I worked here.” She said.

“What?”

“Yeah…” She said looking at him.

“How did you know?” He asked.

“Well… Got my own ways.” She smiled gently and Insoo further asked another question,

“What actually were they looking for?”

“I don’t know. Probably something that would help them track me or Iseul down.” Dayun answered him, thinking. “But I didn’t leave anything much except some small gifts that we gave each other on our last day.” She reassured.

Insoo nodded at that and then got back at thinking and sorting out things.

“You know…” After a couple of minutes, it was Dayun that broke the silence this time as she stared at the ceiling leaning back in her chair. Insoo diverted his attention towards her.

“Hee-sung… He wasn’t a bad man.” She said sighing wearily and he listened. “He was just- brought up in a rather messed up environment that required him to act the way he did.” She said and Insoo was a little surprised at that.

“What do you mean?” He asked. “So what? Didn’t you tell me that he abused you? There’s no excuse for what he has done! How can you justify his actions?”

“No, I am not- justifying… him” She quickly said facing Insoo, reading him. “I’m just saying that, his circumstances required him to act the way he did.” She said and continued after a pause.

“It’s just his environment was so toxic. There… It’s like, a man can do whatever he wants and treat their women like sh*t, hit them whenever they get angry and things as such. His father was like that too.” She paused at that to think about Hee-sung’s father.

“He abused his mother in front of his eyes and he was expected to do the same. If he was gentle, they’d hail him weak. That’s just some f*ucked up crap but that’s how the underworld works. And whenever he treated me badly, his father was behind his actions almost all of the time. He was just 21 and clueless then. He- wasn’t a bad man, he was turned into one.”

Insoo carefully listened to her words like he always does. And this time, he just couldn’t make anything out of this. Until a moment ago, he thought that Hee-sung was evil. He despised him for everything he has done to Dayun. But now, he didn’t know how to comprehend her words.

“I actually never really hated Hee-sung. I know I should, it’s only logical if I have developed anything against him. Hate, fear, disgust... Something, Anything… But when I can’t even bring myself to dislike my own father, who was the reason for everything in the first place, I think I have no right to have anything against Hee-sung. The only concern I have is Iseul. I can not sit and watch my daughter get dragged into such a cruel world.”

She finished letting Insoo have his own time to think and understand.

He sighed looking away. Then, he stood up as he thrust his hands into his pockets and slowly spoke, “I don’t know what to say…………….. You were the one who told me he was a criminal. And now, again, you’re the one to say he was turned into one. I guess…… I’ve got no right to judge him either.” He said and continued after a long pause, “But…………… can I ask you something?” He asked.

“Hmm…” She hummed consensually.

“Did you ever think of letting him be a part of Iseul’s life?” He vocalised his inner thoughts.

“What..?”

He spoke again.

“I mean- he’s her biological father, and if he’s up to no harm, would you let him and Iseul- like- get along or something-” He paused. He could not continue. Getting used to Iseul calling him ‘Dada’, he felt it very hard to get the fact that Iseul was someone else’s daughter, inside his head. Her lovely smile and the way she’d scream after winning against him crossed his mind and made his heart melt.

“Well…” She paused looking down and he patiently waited for her to continue which she did after facing him again.

“If things have really changed and if it doesn’t involve criminal activities, I might let him into Iseul’s life to an extent……... He is her father after all, I can not forbid him from coming into her life if he’s up to no harm. I should at least let him watch her from a reasonable distance.” She put her thoughts across.

And taking a moment to understand her words, “Yeah……………. I get that.” He slowly mumbled. That rather hit personal to him even though it wasn’t meant to.

Then, bracing his heart, he asked the next question whose answer he wasn’t really ready to face.

“Did you ever- at some point………… Love him?”

He spoke softly for only her to hear, looking down at his feet, strangely afraid at the thought he might find a positive answer in her eyes.

That question was crazy. He knew that. Because even if one did not develop any negative emotions against the person that treated them poorly, how could they possibly have loved them? But Insoo really wanted to hear it from her.

He could hear her heave a sigh, “I-” She paused thinking and that pause made his heart sting.

“I don’t think so.” She stated and he looked at her, but she had even more to say as she continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever loved, had romantic feelings or things as such for anyone. I never had the time and never thought about that.” She said and,

If he had got any form of hope before, then it quickly vanished when she said that.

“You never felt anything for anyone..? Not even once……..?” His voice was low and showed a small tint of sadness that anyone would easily fail to notice including Dayun.

“No. I never did…………... I never felt anything… For anyone.” She said looking forward.

For anyone except you

But would that even matter?

She couldn’t say those words out loud.

“I get that………… too.” He spoke after a long pause and it felt more like he said that to himself... As he felt his heart break.

And... The room filled with the eerie silence of confused emotions, unsettled fears and stupid conclusions.

…

To be continued…