Blink: Part 3
Eun Hyuk and Lee Sena’s Story, within the Agency Series world. Part 3 of 3. I have rewritten parts of Part 2 to flow better with the story, and since it's been weeks since the last update, it might be a good idea to go look at Part 2 again. :P
He couldn’t believe he had just kissed Sena as if she were a goddess and he the worshipful devotee. After sobbing, no wailing like an overgrown baby on her shoulder. Don’t forget begging for forgiveness, he ruthlessly reminded himself. Because she had done… something… to his brain. Who, no, what was she?
Sena stopped. That was fear in his eyes. No special senses needed to tell. A moment ago she was being kissed by a man she was foolishly attracted to. Now he was staring at her like she had grown two horns. And a scaly red tail. It hurt.
The sound continued to buzz insistently. With a blink he realized the sound wasn’t coming from her, but from his phone. With an embarrassed grimace, he got to his feet and pulled it out of his back pocket.
“Y-y-yoboseo?”
“Eun Hyuk-ah, Hyung. Come to the Agency. We got security cameras for last night.” Teuk sounded shaken. “Bring Sena.”
Eun Hyuk glanced at her. She wasn’t there. Eun Hyuk glanced around and behind him. Zip. He swore.
“What?” Teuk was annoyed.
“Ah, Hyung, no, not you! We’ll be there.”
He hung up and sprinted out of the room to the living room. Still no sign of her. She couldn’t have gotten very far yet. He clattered out the apartment door and looked to the left and right down the corridor. Empty. Eun Hyuk ran to the elevators. They weren’t moving. Was vanishing in her powers too? Eun Hyuk ran a hand through his hair. Ah. Logic asserted itself. Eun Hyuk adroitly spun around and dashed to the emergency staircase.
He burst through the swinging door, the loud bang echoing down the long concrete stairwell. Eun Hyuk leaned out and peered down the stairwell. Panicked eyes stared back up at him. Sena gasped and continued her headlong rush down the stairs.
“Wait!” he called out, and scrambled after her, taking the stairs two at a time on feet made swift from years of dancing. In two flights, he easily overtook her and held out his arms to stop her.
Sena came to a screeching halt two steps above him, but pursed her lips in determination. “I’m leaving.” She glared down at him.
“Uh-uh nope,” He stared right back, and his lips parted in a half smile, enjoying their impromptu game of catch.
She bent and feinted to the right. He blocked her. Easily.
He cocked his head, the pose one of cocky triumph. She didn’t know she was playing with the king of playground catch. Sena sniffed and straightened, crossing her arms and glowering at him out of the corner of her eyes.
When she did nothing else, Eun Hyuk was confused. Was she giving up? He slowly straightened, unsure whether to trust her, but eventually dropping his arms to his side.
Sena broke for it, feinting left but running right again. She almost got through. Eun Hyuk shunted backwards and turned with her, snagging her with a muscled arm around the waist. He hauled her in against his body, wrapping a second arm around her waist to secure her.
“Got you!” he crowed. He threw back his head and chortled from the thrill of the silly game.
She didn’t see what was so funny. And it grated on her already bruised emotions that her mortification was just a game to him.
“Let me go!” Her voice cracked with upset. “You’ve seen enough haven’t you? You got your demonstration!” She hopped and wriggled, working to get free. Eun Hyuk felt her sweet behind rubbing against him and his body ached. His grip involuntarily tightened around her slim waist.
“Let me go now! I’m a freak, I can mess with your brain!” With each word she hopped a little, unaware of the havoc she was wreaking on his libido.
“You better stay away from me,” Sena choked around the lump of tears in her throat, “or I’ll ‘get’ you again!” she threatened, “I will!”
Wait, what was this? Eun Hyuk’s smile sputtered and faded out. Had she not enjoyed their little game of chase? Uncertainly, he angled his head to look into her eyes. She stubbornly looked away.
She twisted and struggled harder, trying to get out of the circle of his arms, frantic now with the need to run before she broke down in front of him in tears.
Eun Hyuk gritted his teeth and told his body to behave. “Sena-sshi! Stop moving!” he hollered. She stilled.
Eun Hyuk used his body to back her up against the wall. When they got near enough he let go her waist and quickly gripped her shoulders to turn her around, pressing her firmly but inexorably against the wall. Much safer, he thought, with just one contact point. Still, she avoided his gaze, shrinking against the wall. She wished disappearing were within her range of abilities.
“Hey, what happened?” He put two fingers under her chin and nudged it up.
She shook him off, and looked stubbornly down. “I need to go. You have your answers. Thank your mother for me, the food was delicious, I’m leaving now,” she mumbled, speaking faster and faster as the urge to flee grew. She ducked to leave. Eun Hyuk lowered his arm and expediently stopped her.
“Please, not yet. The Agency called. They want to see you. Whatever you did to me just now, it has something to do with it.” Did? That just made her mad, and accomplished what no amount of gentle sympathy could. Her spine stiffened.
“Did? What I did to you? You asked for a demonstration!”
“You did something! I hate crying in front of people and you still made me cry! I have never felt so awful in my life, like, like I was the biggest piece of shit and you were the only one who could forgive me.” In his agitation, Eun Hyuk let her go and started pacing, waving his hands in the air to punctuate his words.
“I mean, I was a big piece of shit, and I am sorry for rejecting you. I needed your forgiveness, it’s true. But just now when you did forgive me I was so thankful I had to kiss you! Do you know how weird that is for me? I can’t even look you in the eye!” He stopped in front of her.
“That’s NOT ME!” he voice rose as he struggled to convince her of his innocence. He put his hand to his chest. Thumped it violently to emphasize his point to her. She watched him rant.
“I don’t behave like that and I certainly don’t kiss women like this,” he demonstrated, cupping her chin and kissing her quickly on the forehead, “or this,” on the nose, “or this!” The lips. Twice.The second one with a hint of tongue. She put her fingers to her lips and stared at him in shock.
Awkward silence. It was broken by Eun Hyuk’s groan. He let go of her and his hand covered his eyes in embarrassment. Not again. He’d gone and kissed her again. What the hell had she done to him. Or had he really wanted to kiss her? All that rubbing against his nether regions earlier maybe? He couldn’t tell anymore. Nothing made sense. His phone rang again. It had to be Teuk getting impatient.
“Argh, I don’t know. Just come,” he said, grabbing her wrist. Time enough to deal with this later. She followed him.
Sena was quiet during the fifteen minute ride over to Agency headquarters. Eun Hyuk tried to deal with his emotions, his thoughts, her strangeness. He failed, and eventually settled on shoving it to the side until he could face it.
When they arrived Eun Hyuk led her through the double doors into the spacious conference room with a view of early morning Seoul. A half dozen large display screens broke the clean lines of the room, filled with what looked like running data and security camera footage. She gasped when she saw her own face staring back at her from one of the boards. Photos of her. Leaving her apartment. At work.
“What have you been doing? Have you been spying on me?”
“Lee Sena, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” A man she instantly recognized turned from the board to face her.
“Teacher Lee Soo Man!” she bowed. Only the most powerful man in Korean entertainment at the moment. Lee Teuk stood up from his seat at the table, bowing and greeting her. Sora stood up next to him, holding out her arms.
Sena went to her and they hugged. “Sora, you’re here? What’s going on?”
“They will explain in a moment. But first, thank you, Unnie,” Sora whispered. “You saved my life.”
Sena looked at her with surprise. She knew? She turned to glare accusingly at Eun Hyuk. He shook his head subtly. No.
“We saw the security tapes, Unnie,” Sora explained, gesturing to the one of the screens in the room. Teuk hit the replay button.
In the grainy black and white security video, Sena could see a distorted wide-angle view down the street. The streetlight fell on the foreshortened figures of Teuk and Sora as they walked to the car. The camera must have been a security camera, mounted high up to watch the street in front of the shop. In the distance, she could just make out herself and Eun Hyuk. She saw Eun Hyuk silently nab her from behind. Teuk and Sora went off screen as they stepped off the kerb to the car.
A moment later, clear as day, a hand very distinctly holding a pistol appeared in the bottom left hand corner. Sena’s blood chilled. She had seen it herself, but the pale, long-fingered disembodied hand caught on tape disturbed her. It made it real. Undeniable. In the background, Sena saw herself raise her own arm and point. For three interminable seconds, the hand and the gun stayed there, unwavering. Then it went away. And Sena collapsed. The video faded to black.
Teuk had just forced himself to watch the footage again, even though he had already reviewed the tape repeatedly this morning. This was the reality; Sora had nearly been murdered. At that distance, the shot would have meant instant death. Teuk tightened his grip on Sora’s hand. He could have lost her.
“Sena-sshi,” Teuk contained the tremor he felt inside. “I don’t know how you did it, but we are very grateful.”
“How did you do it?” Teacher Lee asked.
Sena hesitated.
“Please, Unnie,” Sora asked quietly. “I know how strange all this looks,” she gestured toward the equipment and Sena’s information on the board, “but you can trust them. Please, tell us so that we can find the shooter.”
In her mind, Sena saw again the scene, remembered her helpless panic at the threat. She had done what she could, she thought, remembering her late night jaunts trailing Sora in the cold winter streets. Now that they knew for sure there was a threat. Someone with resources would do a better job of protecting her.
“I’ll tell you how. But first, you all have to promise to never tell anyone. I’m 31 and I live on my own. Work is hard to come by for any actress. I don’t need to be branded a freak in the industry.”
Freak. Ugly. Misborn. Eun Hyuk heard the words and recognized the echo from his own skinny and poor past. He frowned, the impact of her abilities beginning to be clearer to him. Did she isolate herself or did people shun her?
“You had all better sit down.”
Factually as she could, she gave them the abbreviated version of her empathic skills. Lee Teuk, Sora and Teacher Lee listened on in amazement. When she got to the part about demonstrating it on Eun Hyuk, they all turned to him for confirmation.
“I felt it,” he nodded.
“But what does that have to do with the shooter? Are you saying you made him feel regretful about shooting Sora? Sorry enough to stop?” Teuk said disbelievingly.
“To tell you the truth, I honestly don’t know myself,” she explained. “I was panicking, I was still so far away, and I don’t know if my powers reach so far. I did what I could, I sort of …took his emotions and …lobbed it… back at him. As hard as I could.” Sena awkwardly settled for words that made her sound like a pitcher in a ballgame. There were no words for things outside the realm of everyday experience.
She remembered taking in the gunner’s turmoil, and even now her lips curled at the sensation of boiling frost, a winter storm piercing her body. Sena fisted her fingers on her mouth as the nausea returned.
“There’s your answer,” she said, shaking her head. “It was pure luck, dumb luck. I didn’t know if it would work, or how it would work. Perhaps he felt vengeance directed at him. Or he just felt momentarily weird. Enough to hesitate perhaps. It’s even possible I didn’t do anything at all, and he decided not to shoot.” She shrugged.
Everyone was silent as they struggled to process the bizarre nature of what they had just heard. Sena watched them try to figure it out. At least they weren’t reporting her to the nearest mental institution. Or carting her off to the police.
“Actually, right now it doesn’t matter if Sena stopped the shooter or not,” Teacher Lee broke the silence. “We need to find him, and fast, before he gets another chance.”
He leaned forward and fixed his steady gaze on her. “You say you can sense when this man is nearby, Sena-sshi?”
“Yes,” Sena replied, relieved to be able to give at least one simple answer.
“All right then, help us identify him. Stay near Sora’s side and if, when he shows up again, point him out to us. We can take it from there.”
Sena nodded. That she could do.
“That’s settled then. I’ll get Sora a few guest spots on Extreme Cooking. Eun Hyuk will be there. He can keep you both safe.”
Eun Hyuk stiffened. He was going to have to deal with it. All of it.
Outside the Agency building, a dark blue sedan pulled away from the kerb. The driver leaned out, carefully checking traffic before speeding up into the flow. As he drove, he considered the situation.
So, she had help now. The Agency has found her. And the boy is one of them? He must be, having brought her there from his home. What was he to her? There was more to consider, then. Still, the demonstration last night had been… impressive.
He glanced at the rear view mirror. He reached out to adjust it to accommodate his higher viewing angle. The face reflected in the mirror was fair, almost as pale the streaks of grey in his hair. He smiled a little, and genial laugh lines appeared under his eyes, bracketing his mouth as well.
Sena. Definitely time to arrange a meeting.
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Author's note: So that's it. That's the prelude. We have a bad guy, an unusual heroine and one mixed up hero. It's the run up to the whole e-book. I will be working on it this summer and hope to get it out as soon as I can. Write me if you have questions or feedback or just wanna say hi!
Acknowledgements:
@malonowa_land and @ladymcres - for help on unsticking me with regard to Eun Hyuk's characterization - thank you so much!
@kirane2 for her help on K-culture. I would be a mess without you!
