Chapter 3: Is This Fate?
You and that boy have been friends for two weeks already, and it feels like you've known him for years. You hope he feels the same.
At the moment, you're laying on your bed, waiting for his to come get you from your huge room. Yes, he comes and picks you up from your room every single day, every morning. You don't mind him waking you up.
You've laughed more than you've laughed in years. He makes you really happy and you never want to let him go. He ha become something so precious to you, that if something would happen to him, you would fall into the depths of depression and god know what you would do then.
You've decided to call him 'Tiger', since his personality is as striped as a tiger is. Sometimes he is very energic and laughs a lot. But sometimes he doesn't even laugh and stays silent. It worries you, and you've tried asking him a couple of times already, but he doesn't give you a proper answer. You've decided to stop asking, so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable around you.
You hear someone knock on your door and you know exactly who it is,
Or so you thought.
It wasn't Tiger. It was Mr. Yong. You got nervous as soon as he entered the dark room through the wooden door. He was wearing a dark-blue suit. You were curious, since he's never worn a suit after you came here. He seemed to be in a hurry too.
"Y/N, I'm leaving for a couple of days for a business trip. I'm leaving you here with that boy and my guards, so you shoudn't be in any danger. Just remember,
There is no way out of here," Mr. Yong smirked and left the room as fast as he entered.
You were left on your bed, dumbfounded, and scared. He has said that before, but the way he said it was... scary, just scary. You've always avoided talking to him and being with him, because he is really suspicious and mysterious. He never tells you the details of his work or where he's going. He just leaves.
Like just now.
You sat on your bed for a few moments, before you could hear a smaller knock behind he door. This time you were pretty sure it was Tiger. Your precious friend finally came, right? The door opened and you were right. It was Tiger, but he looked different. His expression was blank and he had no emotion in his eyes. You rished to him and took his hands in yours.
Now that you look closer, his eyes seem really red and puffy. Was he crying? Why?
"Tiger! Are you okay??" You worried and looked into his eyes in worry. He didn't respond to you which made you anxious for some reson. You tried to ask about his condition again, but with no luck or answer. It made you scared and nervous.
What happened to him?
Why won't he respond to my questions?
You felt tears flowing on your cheeks as you watched the miserable boy in front of you. You hated the thought of him being hurt. He was your friend and you don't want your friends to be hurt, do you?
You hated seeing him like this, so you hugged him, as thightly as you could. You wrapped your hands around his small body and rested your head in the crook of his neck. You felt his slow breaths which made you a little calmer. Your tears didn't stop there though. Tears were falling on your cheeks constantly, thinking about his blank face and red, puffy eyes. Was this Mr. Yong's doing? Did he do this to him?
Finally, you felt his arms wrapping around your body, as he hugged you back. He stopped trembling and you relaxed a bit more. His hand brushed your back in slow motions as if he was the one who was calming you down. Well, he kind of was.
"Shh," He hissed to you. "It's okay, I'll tell you when the right time comes...," he reassured you and hugged you more tighter.
You were hugging for a moment, but he released his arms from around you and took your hands instead. He looked into your eyes and gave you his first smile of the day. Your heart broke into a million pieces after seeing his boxy little smile forming on his face. It made your heart pound with happiness.
He cupped your face with his hands and spoke: "Let's get out of here."
You widened your eyes and furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.
"What do you mean 'Let's get out of here.'?" You asked in confusion.
"I mean what I said, let's get out of this mansion. Let's ask the guards to take us outside to play," He declared with pride.
He never spoke anything about leaving this place. He was always happy and in a good mood.
But,
You've always had this one particular question on your mind since the day you met,
'How long have you been here?'
You always have the urge to ask that question, but you never end up asking. It's like a something is forcing you to stay shut in your mind.
Again, you decided not to ask the question, instead you just nodded your head and gave him a warm smile. He smiled back and took your right hand. You ran through the dark aisle and reached the long stairway. He looked at you and gave you a thumbs-up. You chuckled and ran down the stairs with him.
There were two guards downstairs. Their backs were facing the wall in front of the front door so it was hard to sneak away without being seen. And because of that, you had to ask.
You wanted to "play" outside with him.
Tiger approached the guards cautiously and almost as soon as they saw him, the guards blocked his path.
"Where do you think you're going?" The guard yelled at Tiger which made you nervous.
"Can we play outside? It's boring here," Tiger asked, looking at the guards with is puppu-eye-look. Of course anyone would warm up to that, and so did the guards.
"Well, I guess Mr. Yong would let you play outside as well, so why not," The guard sighed and opened the front door. You're mouth opened in awe as the front door, which was never open, opened with a simple action like asking. Tiger was really something else.He called for you and you ran up to him in a hurry. He chuckled and took your hand again.
The doors closed behind you when you got outside. Of course the guards followed you outside. You walked to the yard and sat down on the ground. He started explaining his plan to you.
"I'm going to distract them, so you can run away, Y/N," He looked at you with empathy. You couldn't believe your ears.
He wanted you to run away?
Alone?
Without him?
No way!
"Why would I leave you here?!" You yelled at him.
"Shh! Don't worry about me! I'll catch up with you when I get the chance!" He smiled and hugged me once more.
"Now, let me tell you the plan," he started. "I'm going to act as if I got hurt, and you're going to call for the guards, okay? After the guards run to my side, you can run and hide in the forest."
Your mouth was hanging in the ground. So he is basically sacrificing himself for you? Why?
"Bu-," He put his finger on your lips and stopped you from talking.
"Now!" He commanded and you looked at him for one last time before the plan took action.
You turned around and sighed.
"Help! He got hurt!" You ran to tell the guards and as soon as you told them, they forgot about you and ran to his side. You were already regretting your stupid desicions, but you had to do it, for you're friends sake.
You started running, faster and faster until you reached the forest. You even kept going from there until you couldn't see anything, but fields and wild plants. That's when you noticed.
You were too far away for Tiger to find you. There is no way he could catch up to you. There is now way. You started running back but the sudden noice stopped you.
You froze in place.
No...
That...
That was a gunshot...?
No...
No...
No way...
You were scared,
terrified,
anxious,
sad.
Did they just shoot your best friend..? You are pretty sure you were the only ones outside with the guards. And you are even more sure they had... guns...
No... it can't be...
Out of fear, you ran and ran unil you couldn't anymore. It was dark and it even started to rain. You collapsed on the ground, wet and cold. You couldn't think anymore. The thought of your friend getting killed was haunting your thoughts now. Enev your little brother's death crept to your mind. You were losing it.
You lost it all.
Like that golden rose which withered away after a week.
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