Chapter Text
It had been an extremely long day.
To be fair, everyday is a long day now. Working three jobs just to keep up with rent, food and your boyfriend's gambling issues took a toll on you, but there wasn’t really any other option. For better or for worse, you cared for your boyfriend and even though it would be ten times easier to just drop him and his debt, it felt wrong to leave him.
You were even lucky to be able to get a job. The world wasn’t too kind to omega’s, especially in terms of letting them work. They were considered too weak, too fragile and vulnerable, and their real, intended purpose was to serve their pack or their alpha in taking care of them and providing them with children. You’d managed to find yourself a few places that were a bit more lenient and as long as you wore a scent patch, then they had no problem with you working.
It just sucked that your scent patch itched so much. Still, you didn’t like to take it off until you were fully home. A safety sort of thing.
Heading home past midnight, however, was really nothing pleasant. Your body ached, your legs were tired, your feet were burning with blisters from your heels, and you wanted nothing more than to sink into bed and pass out. You have to be up early tomorrow morning to help with inventory, so your hope is that Chul-soo will be asleep when you get home.
Brushing your hair back from your face, your body sags with relief at the sight of your apartment building. It’s a run down, dodgy building that is particularly sketchy to come home to late at night. Thankfully, nothing has happened as of yet and a few of the homeless people that live around the area you actually get along with somewhat.
You have to fight with the door to get it open, like you always do, practically shoving your shoulder into the split and rotted wood until it finally gives. You check your mail before heading up the step, sighing when you see there’s a few bills shoved in there, owed money you certainly don’t have.
Tucking them into your bag, you make your way up the steps, making it up the three flights of stairs with a tired, slow pace. The elevator in the building has been broken for months, and even if it was working, you don’t know if you’d risk taking it since someone getting stuck in it is why it broke in the first place.
Still, three flights were exhausting on a good day. Even more so when you’ve done an eight hour and six hour shift.
As you reach your floor and make it down the hall to your apartment, there’s the soft sounds of scuttering, yelling and other nonsense that is a regular in your building. You just quicken your step, reaching for your key out of your bag and turning towards your door.
You pause, however, when your eyes fall on the busted doorknob.
Instantly, your body tenses, inhaling sharply as you take in the sight. The door is slightly open, but when you listen, you can’t hear anything.
For a moment, you stand there, wondering what you should do. Part of you knows it’s stupid to walk into your apartment that’s very clearly been broken into, but if Chul-soo was in there, hurt and in danger, you’d never forgive yourself if you just abandoned him.
Inhaling sharply, you step forward, making sure your steps are light and careful, poking your head in first. You let your eyes drift across your apartment, taking in how dark it is and also, how there’s no one there.
Were they already gone? Was Chul-soo okay?
Finally stepping into the room, you take in the state of your small living room and kitchen. Your coffee table that has already been on its last legs is broken to pieces scattered across the floor. Your plants are broken, dirt everywhere. The place is destroyed. However, what catches your attention the most is the fact that there’s blood staining the couch.
Your heart drops.
Licking your lips, you stand there for a moment, not sure what to do. Then, you hear what sounds like a muffled yell.
Your head snaps towards your bedroom, the door shut but you’re confident that’s where the sound had come from. What follows the yell, however, makes every muscle in your body tense.
“You idiot!”
The insult is hissed out, voice thick with anger and malice.
Something tells you that Chul-soo is there, though, so, ignoring the voice in your head that screams to run out the door, you make your way in.
You reach your bedroom is seconds flat, and with a shaky, unsure hand, you reach forward, grabbing the doorknob and only hesitating a second longer before pushing the door open.
The sight that greets you is one you’ll never forget.
In the middle of your bedroom, right in front of your bed, is Chul-soo, on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. There’s a piece of duct tape across his lips, which explains the muffled yell, and there’s blood dripping from an open gash in his head. He looks roughed up, overall, clothes ripped, and he’s leaning on his one leg awkwardly.
Standing next to him is a man, one you don’t recognize, with a gun pointed right at your boyfriend’s head.
Then, there’s one pointed at yours.
“You fucking idiot,” the one with the gun aimed at your boyfriend sighs. “If you’d just kept your mouth shut, your girlfriend could’ve maybe survived tonight.”
Letting out a shaky breath, you turn to Chul-soo who stares back at you with wide, frightened and guilty eyes.
“You just had to wait until Yunho-ssi got here,” the man continues, shaking his head as if exasperated by Chul-soo’s actions. “And you,” he says then, turning to you with sharp eyes. “Shouldn’t’ve come home.”
Trying to ignore the racing of your heart, your eyes flicker from the gun held at your head, to the man holding it, back to the man who’s been speaking. “What’s… What’s going on?”
The man just looks at Chul-soo; “she doesn’t know? Oh man.”
“Know what?” You press, trying to stop your voice from trembling violently. "What's happening? Who are you guys?”
“We’re mafia, sweetheart,” the man sends, smiling at you in the darkness of the room that is all sadistic, and nothing kind. “Your boyfriend here owes my bosses a lot of money. They’re patient men, but after months of him dodging them, their hands were forced. They sent us to come and collect him, only, you came home sooner than we thought. Now, Yunho-ssi will be coming here himself to decide what to do. They don’t like leaving witnesses, after all.”
You can barely believe the words being said to you. The only reason why you know you’re not hallucinating is because the gun in front of your face is very much real and the pained whimpers coming from your boyfriend's duct taped mouth are too present to conjure up.
Mafia? Your boyfriend was borrowing money from the mafia? You knew he was into gambling, you knew he was in debt, but you didn’t know he was in debt with such dangerous and powerful people.
“Jesus Christ, Chul-soo,” you breathe, shrinking into yourself. Chul-soo makes a sound in response, but you can't even look at him.
You were going to die. You were going to die and it was going to be his fault. After he’d forced your hand for months, forcing you to work day and night, exhausting yourself to the brink, all to help him. This selfish, useless beta who used you, gaslit you and has now put your life in danger.
You feel your eyes water in panic, unable to stop yourself despite the two unfamiliar, terrifying men currently standing in your bedroom.
“Oh, don’t cry, sweetheart,” the man holding the gun pointed at your head speaks for the first time, his voice a soft, mocking coo. “They’re understanding men, maybe they’ll spare you.”
“Maybe,” the other man snorts.
Pressing your hand to your lips, you stifle a whimper. This was so unfair.
The minutes that pass by feel like forever, stifled by the tense silence. Neither of the men stop pointing their guns at you and your boyfriend, and your boyfriend, still gagged, can only look at you imploringly, while you avoid looking at him. Eventually, your tears stop when you realize there’s no point.
You’re still going to die.
Ten, maybe fifteen minutes pass before you hear the sound of the front door squeaking open. The footsteps that follow are heavy and intimidating, and your heart rate picks up erratically once again at the sound. The man holding the gun at you grabs you by the arm, ordering you to step back and away from the door as the footsteps grow nearer.
The minute the man steps in, you can feel the anger radiating off of him. Even though the two men that have been holding you captive are alphas too, this alpha instantly feels different. There’s an air of strength and dominance that surrounds him, dressed in a fine, black suit with his hair perfectly styled. There’s a gun in hand with a big, shiny watch that probably costs more than your own life.
He demands respect, and he gets it instantly.
The two other alphas, his men, straighten at the sight and the one closer to your boyfriend calls out his name as they both bow.
“I gave you two a pretty simple job,” the alpha speaks then, and his voice sends a chill through your body. “Find this… man who’s been stealing money from us and bring him back to me. And instead of that, I’m called to come here because his girlfriend came home?”
“Yu-Yunho-ssi,” the man says, hesitating just a second. “We just wanted to confirm if there wasn’t any other purpose for her. Look, sir. She’s quite attractive.”
His words make you feel sick. Even more so, when his words make the new alpha’s gaze and attention finally turn to you. You feel frozen in place, like a deer caught in headlights, as his dark, heavy gaze slowly trails towards you.
The minute your eyes meet, there’s a sharp pain in your head. It pulls a cry from your lips, the pain so sharp, so awful, that despite the circumstances, you find your knees crumbling beneath you as you fall to the ground. Your eyes fall shut, hand pressing to your head as a rush of a memory flushes through your brain.
“You’re beautiful, Y/N. I’m constantly blown away by it.” A familiar voice says, coming from the lips of a familiar man, with short black hair, sharp cheekbones and a puppy-dog like smile. His grin is dopey as he stares back at you, eyes fond and touch gentle as he cups your cheek.
“Shut up, Yuyu,” you laugh, weakly slapping at him with a light flush on your cheeks. “You’re just trying to flatter me.”
“Is it working?” He responds, unabashed and completely honest.
The giggle you let out is high-pitched and flirty, batting your lashes as you tilt your head. “Maybe.”
“—Stop pointing your fucking gun at her, now.”
“But, sir, I-I don’t—”
“I gave you a damn order!”
The voices blend in as the pain fades and your eyes flutter open, returning to the present. Your chest rises and falls as you pant to catch your breath, pressing your palm to your chest and feeling the way your heart beats rapidly.
That man… that memory… Yunho was the man from that memory.
What the fuck…
“Y/N, Y/N, baby, are you okay? Baby, look at me. What happened?”
It takes you a moment to realize that the man speaking to you is that same man, Yunho. Forcing your gaze up, even though your vision continues to blur, you blink at the sight of him right in front of you. He’s fallen to his knees in front of you, one hand on your shoulder, steadying you and the other brushing your hair from your face as he stares down at you in… concern?
“Y/N,” he breathes, shoulders falling with what can only be described as relief. “Pretty girl, are you okay?”
His aura is completely different than how it had been when he first walked into the room. Despite his men that stand behind him in bewildered confusion and your boyfriend still tied and bleeding on the ground, Yunho’s focus is solely on you. He stares at you like you’re the only thing that matters, like you’re his whole world, eyes fond like they’d been in that memory but with a trace of confusion of his own.
It seems to catch up to you just who is crouched in front of you. Despite the memory you’d just seen, despite the worry on his face, you don’t know this man. You know that. And this man was clearly a part of the mafia, and by the sounds of it, pretty high up.
Letting out a panicked cry, you fall back, your legs still unsteady that you end up crashing to the ground with a harsh thud. You ignore it, continuing to push yourself backwards as Yunho’s face twists into something… pained, reaching out for you.
“Baby, why are you scared? It’s me. It’s your Yunho.”
Biting your lip and feeling yourself practically hyperventilating, you shake your head, your head a mess of confusion. What the hell does he mean ‘your Yunho’? And why does he keep referring to you like that? And just what was that memory?
He leans forward, moving towards you, and you shuffle back more only for your back to hit the wall. A cry leaves your lips at that, realizing how trapped you are, and Yunho halts in front of you, looking like he could fall apart in seconds.
Then, there’s a loud thud and the sound of a gun going off.
You scream, hands bracing in front of yourself. Yunho moves quickly too, and in your panic, you barely notice the way he moves so he’s in front of you, protecting you.
At the familiar cry of Chul-soo, however, your eyes snap open, unable to ignore the instinctive concern that floods your body. He doesn’t deserve it, but you’ve always cared for him, for better or for worse, and you can’t help the lurch of panic that runs through you when you see a bleeding bullet wound from his leg.
He’d tried to do… something. You’re not sure. Maybe he’d been trying to get to you, help you, or maybe he’d been trying to run away.
Either way, your body moves on instinct. His name leaves your lips in a shrill cry, running towards him as your hands fall on his shoulders, steadying him as he slumps against you in pain. Your eyes flicker across him rapidly, not sure what to do to help.
Then, you hear the click of the gun again. The man who’d shot Chul-soo is aiming his gun at you.
“Don’t even try it,” he hisses, voice low.
“L-Lee,” the other man calls out, tentatively. “I would—”
“I thought I told you to stop pointing your gun at her.”
It’s Yunho. You’d barely noticed him move.
Glancing up from Chul-soo, you glance back with wide, terrified eyes falling on Yunho who’s stepped in front of you. He’s as intimidating as he’d been when he first walked in, a complete one-eighty from how he’d been with you just moments ago.
The man, Lee, stares up at him with wide eyes. “B-But sir, she was—”
“Doesn’t matter what she was going to do,” Yunho cuts in, cruel and unforgiving. “No one threatens her like that.”
Lee’s skin pales and the look on his face is downright terrified. “I–I didn’t mean—”
He doesn’t get to finish, however, because in the next second, there’s a bullet wound in between his eyes and his body falls to the ground with a loud, deafening thud.
A scream tears through your lips, the fear coursing through your body taking over. Your eyes watch as the man's body falls to the ground, limp, with blood sinking into the carpet of your bedroom floor.
Then, just as your vision starts to blur, Yunho crouches in front of you once again, reaching for you.
You pass out a second later.