Several thoughts danced through my head as I stared outside at the trees drifting away into dingy obscurity, the headlights being the only source of radiance. The soft cacophony of nyctophile crickets and riotous wail of the wild wind wrecked the opaque silence loitering around the car while a train of events from a few minutes ago marched through my cognition, the reflection of the unexpected turn my life took vandalizing my sanity. How did I let this happen to me? Am I that incompetent?

I had travelled all the way to Seoul with a colossal thirst for triumph and dignity. I wanted to receive the love and respect my father got in this very job. He was the perfect role model for me and the moment I realized that, I started dreaming the day when I would adorn his esteemed uniform and trace his eminent footsteps. All I ever wanted was to make my family proud but getting such humiliation on my very first mission was making me question, did I even deserve this badge?

A sudden halt pulled me out of my depressing thoughts and I glanced to the side only to be met with a revolting view. Y/N was glaring at me with her gun pointed at my forehead.

""

I was ashamed to find myself this much intimidated by a ruthless criminal, the one that I was supposed to vanquish but there was a darkness in her eyes as if she was dead inside and no matter how much I tried to, I couldn't restrain myself from getting lost every time I glanced at those dark orbs. Absolutely no emotions flickered in them, and it seemed like she had sucked every last bit of her feelings out and crumpled them into fine dust. It is said that eyes are the door to ones soul but hers were just a big scary void as if she had no soul and I wondered, what made her this vacant?

Unlatching the door I slid down from my seat and exited the vehicle to find myself in the driveway of the huge mansion where the ball was held in the first place. However, the scenery was much less welcoming now.

The rowdy slamming of the car door echoed in the empty background followed by footsteps approaching me. The cold breeze embracing the sinister night blew Y/N's hair into buoyant curls and the slight tint of cementy ash on her round cheeks made her look like a daunting empress, waiting to prance on her errant prey. Mellow loath dripped down her gaze as the sketch of my face twinkled in the black of her eye.

"Don't you dare try anything stupid or things will get much worse for you..."

A few inches

That was the thickness of the air separating our face from mingling into one. Her razor sharp glare was latched to my face while mine lingered somewhere around the contorted motifs on the plastered driveway. Looking into her eyes while she was in such close vicinity was not an option.

But while straying my plane of vision to anywhere but her face, my eyes managed to catch a glimpse of the small crimson puddle on the amber floor. A pool of shed gore rested right beside Y/n's feet and its abrupt appearance confused me but my uncertainty was smothered almost immediately when a drop of the very fluid slid past Y/N's slender finger and rippled against the already formed tarn.

My eyes widened in bewilderment and I shot my gaze up, looking straight at her face, my conspicuous disconcert morphing into nothingness. The swift change in my expression seemed to startle the female in front as she glanced at me with her eyebrows huddled together in a messy confusion.

"What!?" she asked, arrogance never leaving her icy voice.

"What happened to your hand?"

"You don't need to know that"

I inhaled a sharp breath, trying not to react at her sheer vexation but...

"You may be the villain but I'm not. I still have my humanity and as a human, its my responsibility to help others no matter how evil they are" I didn't know what came into me but the words that slithered past my tongue managed to even surprise my own brain. Even the slightest flicker of fear seemed to have left my conscience and the new found confidence was slightly overwhelming. Restraining me and keeping me captive was a part of her job, I was supposed to do the same with her, wasn't I? A thin sheath of legislation is what distinguished our intentions but we'd have plenty of time to judge that later. For now she was hurt and I genuinely wanted to help her.

"It's nothing, Min Jun's bullet just scraped my hand a little" she answered carelessly while flicking her wrist in apathy but as realization hit me and I felt guilty. It was me who was exposed to the baleful metal and yet she ended up being the one shedding blood. The thought itself spawned utter curiosity in me as the question I was too occupied to dawn upon earlier came back.

Why did Y/N save me on the fist place?

_____________________

To be continued...