Kai has been shot in the lower part of his back. I'm gasping out at the sight of the bloody mess before me. There's still too many sound of gunshots outside our car and I don't know what to do. It feels like I'm in a movie.
Breathe. . . I need to at least breathe before I collapse. I close my eyes. One. Two. Three. I inhale and exhale, open my eyes and turn to look at Kai groaning in pain beside me. I quickly tear out a part of my dress and use it to press down on Kai's wound to stop the bleeding.
"Sir! They've hit the tire!" Suddenly, the driver alerts Master Jin as he struggles to guide the direction of the car. But a bullet suddenly shatters the window and hit the driver straight in the head. His body slumps against the seat.
I scream out as Master Jin fiercely turns the steering wheel to stop the car from rolling down the hills. I brace myself for the impact as one side of our car collides with a rock in the process.
Everything is happening so fast. Master Jin is clutching the body of the young driver and screaming his name. Kai's labored breathing is hitting my cheeks next to me. . . The metallic taste of blood has filled all my mouth. Chaos. There's chaos everywhere around me.
Master Jin kicks and shatters the glass window with his booths. "We need to get out!" He yells. "Your brother, Hana. Wake your brother!"
But before I can move, the door on Kai's side is pulled open and three men point their rifles at us. "Hands up! Hands up before we shoot you in the head!"
Kai is the first to get dragged out. Then Master Jin and I follow at last. I look back and realize that nobody cares to pull out the body of the young driver. I think Master Jin is yelling and trying to tell the men to pull the driver out but before I can grasp the whole situation, my head is being pushed into another black van as the sound of explosion fills the air.
Black smoke. Fire. It's all I can see through the tinted window coming from the direction we left. Our car and the dead driver must've completely burned down. Kai looks like his mind is absent due to the pain, he's barely moving beside me and his eyes are shut.
Two men are sitting with Master Jin in the second row seat, their guns on his head. I and Kai and another man with a rifle are in the last row, the backseat. The front seat is occupied by the driver and someone I strongly suspect might be Sergio. He is giving orders from where he's seated in the passenger seat. The windows are darkly tinted and the car feels warmer than the cold outside.
My mind is a mess. I can't think of anything in particular. I feel like I'm in a trance. In a dream I can't control. A nightmare I can't run away from. I can hardly focus on anything until the car stops in front of the Alfonso's Mansion. The whole place suddenly feels unfamiliar, like we're being transported into a high facility prison. Like it's not the same Mansion that felt like it could be a second home to me, just some days ago.
How did everything changed so fast? How did I end up a prisoner to the Alfonsos? Have I made a terrible mistake by attempting to escape with Master Jin and my brother? Should I have obeyed Haru and just stayed in the room? Should I have refused Paulina's offer to help us?
None of this would've happened if only I had taken a wiser decision. That young man could've lived. But he died because of me. His blood are on me. I shouldn't have made a hasty decision to escape.
Tears have stained my face. I feel so weak and tired. I wonder how long I can hold my eyelids. I'm being dragged through the same dark corridor of so many cells. I can't distinguish faces in the dark. I can't understand anything. I'm tripping forward but my feet are dragging behind. I can't walk upright and I can't even breathe properly.
Somehow, I'm falling on a concrete floor, my bones cracking in different direction. Pain shoots through my body but I'm more concerned on keeping my eyes on the iron door. I watch it slams shut and someone on the outside locks the door with a key.
"Hana." Kai is shaking my body thoroughly. "Stay with me. Keep your eyes open and stay with me." It's now I recognize the voice. I thought it might be my brother holding me, but the voice does not belong to Kai. It belongs to Master Jin.
I think I'm in the arms of Master Jin. And I think he's trying to make me hold on a little longer but at this point, my eyelids are too heavy. My consciousness is slipping away with the passing of every second. I don't know how much time I have, but I think I might've hit my head back there in the car when the accident happened. It's now I'm feeling the aftermath.
"Please, Hana ya. You can't die on me." His voice is almost like a whisper in my ears. A cracked whisper. He sound terrified to the core, and it gives me just enough energy to peel my eyes open to look at his face for a moment.
I'm lost in his hazel eyes that seems to be glowing with hope. A lump of dark hair is dangling on his forehead as he's staring down at me. Master Jin is not saying anything more to me. Because he doesn't need to. I'm sure he is aware that I can see all the emotions in his eyes. He's being vulnerable because he's afraid to loose me.
I wonder how much I mean to this man. I'm supposed to be just a maid at the Dante Estate. But I think I might be much more than a personal maid in the eyes of Master Jin. I think he cares so much about my life and he's terrified to loose me.
I hope this is all happening in a dream though. I hope I'm in a lucid dream where all I need to do is hang on until I wake up. And everything will be back to normal.