I woke up with Taehyung curled in a ball beside me. I snatched the blankets from him in the middle of the night, again. I moved the blankets to cover him and quietly slipped out of bed. I walked downstairs and found my father sitting in the kitchen.
“Good morning.” He said, hearing me enter the room.
“Good morning.” I sat next to him.
“Sleep well?” He asked.
“Yeah. I did.” I reply. “I’m so happy that you’re alive.”
“I’m glad I could be here for you. Especially now that you’re pregnant.” He says. “I’m sorry for leaving you when you needed me most.”
“It wasn’t your fault for Mr. Kim’s behavior.”
“But I shouldn't have left you alone with him.” He says.
“Father, it’s not your fault.”
“It is.” His voice became shaky. “Aikoku would still be here.” For the first time in my life, I saw my father cry. It was a very awkward moment. I didn’t know what to do. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed harder. “First I lost your mother. Now your brother is gone too. Our family name is gone.” He said between sobs. I awkwardly placed my hand on his back. After a few minutes, my Father calmed down.
“I’m just glad you're back in my life.” I said.
“Me too.” He smiled at me. Then Taehyung came downstairs.
“Good morning.” He said cheerfully, kissing my cheek.
“Someone’s in a good mood.” I chuckled.
“When you’re happy, I’m happy.” He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and sat next me, munching on it.
“You’re lucky to have him.” My father says. I smiled at Taehyung. “He truly loves you. I see it in his eyes. I am proud of you, Akari.”
“Thank you.” I replied.
“Actually, I’m lucky to have her.” Taehyung replied, grabbing my hand and kissing it.
“So what are we all going to do today?” My father asked.
“Well, I was planning on taking Akari to the mall today. She keeps complaining to me about how she needs new clothes.” He rolled his eyes playfully. I chuckled.
“Aww how sweet.” Sakura teased, walking down the stairs. “You guys have fun.”
“I don’t think taking me to the mall is a smart idea. I might spend all your money.” I laughed. “You know me.”
“I’d buy the world for you Akari. I don’t care how much you spend.” He replied. I felt a smile creep into my face as I tried to hide my blushing.
“Ok.” I replied.
“Blushing for Taehyung?” My father teased. “I missed a lot.”
“Stop it.” I replied, blushing further. Taehyung chuckled.
We got into the car after getting ready. I was wearing jeans and a cute, blue plaid, oversized sweater. Taehyung wore brown pants and a brown belt with a yellow and red striped shirt.
He looked really stylish. We sat in silence for half of the drive. He reached over and held my hand.
“How do you feel?” He asked.
“Like about everything?” He nodded. “I honestly don’t know. I’m thrilled that my dad is here. But I have mixed feelings about the baby.” I admitted. "What if something happens?”
“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby.” He gave my hand a small squeeze. I nodded.
“And how do you feel about all this?” I asked him after a while.
“I’m shocked that your father made it out alive. But I’m exhilarated about the baby.” The rest of the drive to the mall was silent. I stared out my window and noticed a black sports car that had been following us since the last stoplight. I shrugged it off. So many people were going to the mall today. We parked near the entrance and walked in, hand in hand.
“You look cute.” He said as we walked in.
“Thank you.” I replied. “And you look very stylish as usual.”
“Why thank you.” He chuckled. “So where do you want to go first?”
“Starbucks.” I replied. He laughed.
“Alright, then. Starbucks it is.”
A few hours later….
Taehyung and I sat in the food court.
“You sure you’re not hungry?” He asked again.
“I’m positive.” I replied, placing my hand on his arm. “But you go get something if you want.”
“Ok.” He sighed reluctantly. “I’ll be right back.” He ran off to the Panda Express. I chuckled. He loves his Panda Express. I opened my phone and sat back in the chair. First, I went to the camera app to check my appearance. Gotta look good at all times. Mental facepalm. I’m so cringy sometimes. I laughed out loud because of how stupid I sounded in my brain. Then I noticed a guy with long shaggy hair and a black mask sitting at the table behind me. I saw him in the camera. He was watching me. When I turned around to look at him he moved his eyes to his phone. Something was going on here.
Five minutes later, Taehyung came back with his food.
“Are you alright?” He asked, sitting down. “You look jumpy.”
“That guy behind me in the black mask,”
“What about him?”
“He was watching me.” I said quietly.
“Ok.” He nodded. He shifted his gaze behind me.
Taehyung’s POV
I glanced behind Akari and she was right. The second I made eye contact with the guy, he looked away. I examined his face. He was wearing a mask so it was hard to tell what he looked like. His eyes looked Korean, though. I studied his posture and then noticed a shiny object under his shirt. As he stood up, I saw what it was.
“Are you ok?” Akari’s voice brought me out of my daze. “You look like you just saw a ghost.” Not a ghost. The Mafia. They found us.
“I’m fine.” I said. “Sorry I just zoned out.”
“Are…are you sure?” She turned around to look behind her. The guy had already walked off. I knew they would eventually track us down but I wasn’t expecting it to be so quickly. After we found out the happiest news of our life.
“I’m sure.” I took a few bites of my food before packing it up.
“Taehyung, are you sure-“
“Yes.” I snapped. “I’m fine.” I stood up and put my food back in the bag. She rolled her eyes and stood up too.
“Ok fine.” She sipped her Starbucks and headed towards a clothing store. I sighed.
“I’m sorry.” I grabbed her hand and walked beside her. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.” She shrugged.
“It’s fine.” She said. “But I gotta use the restroom before we go any further.”
“Ok.” I chuckled as we walked towards the bathroom.
“Hold this.” She handed me her drink.
End of Taehyung’s POV
I turned and walked towards the bathroom. There were many people in the mall and many heading towards the ladies bathroom. I walked down the hallway when suddenly a lady ran up to me.
“You have to run!” She pushed me back. “It’s about to explode!” She panicked and kept running. That was weird. I kept walking until a whole stampede of men and women came rushing from the bathrooms.
“Go!” A different woman grabbed into my arm and started pulling me away from the bathrooms.
“What’s happening?” I asked her.
“The bomb!” She screamed. “It’s ticking! Just run!” She dragged me behind her but I yanked my hand away. This couldn’t be a coincidence. The black sports car following us. The shady guy in the mall following me around all day. And now this. I walked towards the bathrooms when-
BOOM!
The explosion knocked me back against a wall. My back slammed hard into the wall and there was a loud ringing in my ears. I stood up, shakily and the guy in black grabbed my arm attempting to lead me somewhere. My head was spinning and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Suddenly another hand grabbed my other arm. I turned around to see Taehyung pulling me. He brushed past me and slammed his fist into the guy's face. The other guy retaliated by kneeing Taehyung’s stomach. That’s all I remember before security showed up. They were trying to break up the fight. An officer walked up to me and grabbed my arm. She was speaking to me but I was too focused on where they were taking Taehyung. My vision blurred and I felt a thick liquid run down my cheek. The woman led me to a bench and tried to hand me water. I shook my head before everything went black.
Taehyung’s POV
There was a huge stream of people screaming and running away from the bathroom. I started making my way in the direction of the bathroom. Akari was over there and I began to worry. Suddenly, there was a loud bang that resembled an explosion. My heart raced when I realized Akari was nowhere to be found in the crowd of people running from the bathroom. I rushed towards where the explosion came from and I spotted her. She was being dragged away by some guy. I quickly gripped j to her arm and she turned to face me. Then I charged at the guy from earlier. The guy from the Mafia. I was enraged. I found myself tackling him to the floor. He pushed me off him and started beating me up. Before I knew it, security was pulling us away from each other. They handcuffed my hands behind my back and led me into a back room. They locked me in a room, saying they’d be back for questioning. I sat on the chair thinking about Akari. Where was she? I hope she’s ok. The last I saw her she had a huge gash on her face. I was worried. I-
“Care to explain the mess you made out there?” The officer walked in the room and sat across from me at the table.
“Yes sir.” I replied, still catching my breath. “My wife was near the explosion when it happened and I went searching for her. When I spotted her she was beeping dragged away by this man. So I punched him, causing the fight. I apologize I was just,” I stopped to keep myself from crying. “I was just worried about her. I’m sorry.” The officer looked up at me after he finished jotting down notes.
“I understand son.” He said. “We’re questioning the other man right now. He hasn’t said much, though. Do you happen to know anything about this man?”
“Well Akari and I noticed that this guy was following us around all day. So I don’t know if that had anything to do with it.” Although I knew for a fact that it did. He was tracking us somehow and the Mafia had found us again. I couldn’t tell him that, though. He wrote down what I said.
“Got it. Thank you. We’ll be looking into this.” The officer stood up and uncuffed me. I stood up and bowed my head to him.
“Where is-“
“Follow me.” He opened the door and walked down the hallway. I was following close behind. Oh God please let her be ok. We took a left turn and there was a sign that said medical wing. “Ask the nurse at the front desk and she should be able to tell you what room your wife is in.”
“Thank you so much.” I bowed again before walking to the counter. The lady looked up and smiled at me.
“She’s in the room down the hall on the right.” The woman smiled.
“How did you-“
“She mentioned something about a guy with a frantic look on his face coming to look for her. You looked frantic so…I just guessed you where who she was talking about.” She smiled.
“Thank you.” I bowed and rushed down the hallway. I peeked through each door until I found the one Akari was in. “Oh God.” I let out I sigh when I saw her sitting at the edge of the bed, legs hanging off the side. The doctor stepped back as I pulled her into a hug.
“I’m so glad you’re ok.” I said, face buried in her shoulder. Her arms were tightly wrapped around my neck.
“Well sort of.” Akari replied. “But look at you.” She cupped my face with her hands. “You’re all bruised.” She lightly brushed her finger against the bruise on my cheek. She had a red gash on the side of her face.
“Don’t worry about it.” I moved my face away, wincing in pain. I put my forehead to hers. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” I pulled her into another hug. She chuckled.
“I’m really sorry to interrupt,” the doctor started. “But I need to finish scanning her.”
“Yes of course.” I gently kissed her forehead before stepping back. I held her hand tightly as the doctor finished checking her blood pressure.
“She literally just woke up two minutes before you came in here.” The doctor explained.
“Well what exactly happened?” I asked.
“You’ll have to ask her.” The doctor motioned towards Akari. “We didn’t get there in time.”
“Well, I was walking towards the bathroom and people started shouting and running. They were saying hurry get out of here, and stuff like that. But me being me, curious about everything, wakes towards the bathroom instead of away so when it exploded I was flung against a wall and smacked my head really hard. Then I stood up and there was a loud ringing in my ear and everything was moving in slow motion.” She explained. “That’s all I remember before waking up here.” I took a deep breath.
“So should you check her for a concussion?” I asked worriedly.
“I’m planning on it.” The doctor assured me.
“Ow. Taehyung.” Akari pulled her hand away from mine. “You’re killing my hand.”
“Sorry.” I chuckled. “I’m just worried.”
“Really I didn’t notice.” She teased.
“Just open you eyes.” The doctor said, shining the little light in Akari’s eyes. Suddenly, Akari’s phone rang. She picked it up and chuckled.
“It’s my sister. Can I answer it?” She asked the doctor.
“Of course.” She replied. “I’ve gotta go grab something anyway. I’ll be right back.”
“Ok.” Akari answered the phone and put it on speaker.
“Oh my God, Akari! I heard about th explosion on the news! Are you alright?” Sakura asked frantically.
“I’m ok.” Is all she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She said. Something was wrong. It was probably her concussion.
“Akari, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! I’m fine.” She snapped. Silence.
“Ok.” Sakura said quietly. “Well I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Ok bye.” She hung up the phone. She turned and looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” I walked over to her and cupped her face.
“The baby.” She whispered. “What if-“
“It’s ok. Shh.” I pulled her to my chest. “It’s ok. Nothings going to happen to the baby. I don’t even think you’re far enough along for that to do any damage, ok?” She nodded. The doctor walked back into the room.
“Ok. So you have a minor concussion. But just make sure to get plenty of sleep and take it slow for the next couple days and you should be fine. If there are any other worries or complications, go to the hospital immediately.” The doctor explained. Akari nodded.
“Umm…” she said quietly.
“Yes? What’s wrong?” The doctor asked.
“Is my baby ok?” She asked. The doctor looked at her empathetically.
“I didn’t know you were pregnant.” The doctor said. “Let me check.” She put the stethoscope to Akari’s abdomen. The doctor smiled. “He’s in there alright.”
“So it’s ok?”
“Yes. Your baby is fine.” Akari let out a breath. “You guys are free to leave whenever you’re ready.” The doctor smiled before exiting the room. Akari stood up.
End of Taehyung’s POV
I stood up and took Taehyung’s hand. I could tell he was still nervous about something. He was uneasy. I brushed it off as we walked hand in hand out of the mall. He was gripping extra tightly to my hand as if to keep me from getting away. He opened the car door for me and the got in himself. He took a deep breath before turning on the car. He put the car in reverse.
“Talk to me.” I said before he backed up. He paused for a second before putting the car back in park. He turned to me.
“Don’t freak.” He replied.
“Ok…” I said uncertainly.
“They found us.”
“Who?” My heart quickened. I hope he didn’t mean who I thought he meant. “Who found us, Taehyung?”
“The Mafia.” Hmm
“The mafia.”