Ruby Dust

four - gara

    Her gaze was facing the window. No more than three cars would pass every ten minutes on the street in front of the house. She slowly blinked and took deep breaths reflecting on her current life stage. Six weeks have passed since the true identities of the boys were revealed to her. Just six years ago she was in the same room as these seven guys when her aunt died. She even danced with one of them. That’s the reason why their faces looked so familiar from the beginning: they were the ones who took the life of her beloved aunt, Charlotte. She had been living in the same house as the most dangerous mafia in South Korea. To think that a month ago her life was monotonous with no sort of excitement whatsoever and now she’s on the verge of death every day. She had run away from armed strangers during the middle of the night, almost got hit by multiple bullets, and found a dead body. How did everything happen so fast?

     “I might as well just jump out  f*****g the window.” Brooke thought to herself.

    Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on the white door behind her. The noise filled the room and she turned her head back to face it. It was already partly open and a familiar pair of eyes were looking attentively at her from the other side. She rolled her eyes and signaled the man to come in with her small hands. She turned her head back to the window and rested her face in her palms sighing in tiredness. 

    “Am I interfering with anything?” asked the well-known Junghyun placing a hand on the female’s left shoulder and sitting on the small stool next to her. 

    “I was just considering jumping out the window, nothing more than that,” said Brooke turning her head to look straight into Jung’s deep brown eyes. Messy silver hair covered part of his face and a barely noticeable pimple had made its way to his left cheek. She was amazed how even something as gross and bothersome as a pimple could look good on him. 

    “Don’t say that. Anyway, I need to tell you something, but you’re probably not going to like it,” said Junghyun with sad eyes. “You remember the night when you met the rest of the guys, right?” Brooke nodded nonchalantly in response. “Well, before coming here, they were on a mission and found out that all of us were being stalked.”

    Brooke’s dull eyes widened at the new information and her hand covered her mouth in shock. 

    “We have been their targets for a few weeks now and sadly,” Junghyun made an uncomfortably long pause. “They are hunting you down too.” 

    The tension in the room grew so thick that it became hard to breathe. Brooke’s eyes watered and a bright tint of pink dyed her pale face. A tight knot formed in her throat and she could feel a void in her stomach that sucked every living part of her body into it. Both of her hands were pressed against her chest. She clenched her fist with such strength that her nails began to cut the flesh of her palms.

    “Brooke… don’t cry. We are here to protect you.” said Junghyun softly caressing her face with one hand while he placed the other on her trembling knees.

    “Don’t touch me!” yelled Brooke slapping his hand away from her face. “Who is they?” Why are you keeping me here then? What is going to happen to the people I know? I want to leave, Junghyun, please, just let me leave. I want to be somewhere safe.” said Brooke as she buried her head into her hands in frustration. Loud sobs emerged from her shaky lips and Junghyun had no idea of what to say next. 

    The sight of Brooke crying heavily brought back the vivid image of his deceased mother under the rain so many years ago. His father had just committed suicide and his mother laid down devastated next to the lifeless body. Ever since that morbid evening, his mother had become reckless and abusive. Things at his home back in Busan had gotten so toxic and dangerous that his mother ended up killing Junghyun’s younger brother out of nowhere. This series of events caused Junghyun to run away from home at the young age of 11. He grabbed the first train to Daejeon - the only place a poor kid could afford- and lived on the streets until Stefano Ricci found him and took him into his home where he became the person he was today. All of those memories hit like a truck just by looking at the female next to him cry.  A bittersweet feeling spread through his soul and when he was about to pull Brooklyn into a hug, he remembered the words of his former boss: “The minute you let others’ emotion take over yours, you have failed as a warrior.” Despite not being under Stefano’s rule anymore, having lived so many years under his rules and having engraved those concepts into his brain was not something he could just erase. The scars he received there were deep and had a long way to go for healing. 

    “If you are willing to refuse our protection, then you shall leave,” said Junghyun in between Brooke’s sobbing.

    “What?” asked Brooke looking up from her hands. His face was as blank as the walls behind him. Not a single hint of emotion. Not in his eyebrows, mouth, or those eyes of his that always seemed to be open windows into his vulnerable soul. 

    “You drag me into the streets almost getting me killed, you lock me up in this house of hell as if I were some dog and now you are kicking me out? You are f*****g insane,” said Brooke receiving no response from Junghyun. 

    “Can the two of you stop being so loud? Some people need sleep to function.” complained Tae walking past the bedroom into the empty hallway.

    “Don’t worry. I was already leaving.” said Brooke glaring at Junghyun who was still facing the floor with a blank expression.

    Brooke’s black converse stomped down the hall into the main living room where the rest of the gang was sitting down.

    “Where are you going?” asked Seok tilting his head to the side like a confused dog.

    “I’m going home,” answered Brooke monotonously.

    “What? It’s not safe for you to go out there by yourself. They are hunting all of us! Wasn’t Junghyun supposed to tell you all of this?” complained Tae giving Brooke a hug from behind and resting his chin on her head.

    “It was her decision to leave,” added Gi from his corner of the room. “I heard the entire conversation.” With his arms crossed in front of his chest, Gi gave Brooke a deep stare. His triangular eyes looked directly into hers as if he were trying to telepathically transmit her a message. Sadly, since her head was hurting too much, she ignored the staring and continued her way to the door.

    “Just so you know,” spoke Junghyun’s voice from behind her. “The minute you step out of this property, the minute you forget about us. Every single thing we discussed with you, the training, our names, our faces; everything is going to be erased from your mind completely. Understood?” asked Junghyun in a firm voice with one eyebrow raised and his left foot anxiously tapping the floor waiting for an answer.

    “Don’t tell me what to do,” replied Brooklyn, turning her head left making her profile visible but avoiding any sort of eye contact with either of the guys. “I guess I’ll see you guys around. Bye.” And as soon as she came in, she was out.

    Brooke closed the door behind her and felt how hot tears streamed softly down her face as she turned left on the sidewalk. She glanced at the window and saw Tae and Kook pressed against it waving goodbye. Tae was also gently crying as he waved. Brooke forced a smile and blew them a kiss. Despite only knowing the guys for less than a month, the two weeks she had to spend getting to know them were truly meaningful to her. She learned how to look past their reputation of danger and saw how they are simply hopeless and hurt people with a job most of them didn’t choose to have. Each one of the members of Ruby Dust had their own unique trait that made the whole group special and unique.

    Joon was the brains of the group. He was very smart and had this odd but adorable passion for crabs. Even if he was clumsy, his abilities with the katana were worthy of admiring. Seok was a bright ray of sunshine. His smile could make the darkest of rooms lighten up and his cheerful personality did not match at all his job as the main assassin. Tae was one of the sweetest. He was the one who would usually cause a distraction and had so many hidden talents that anyone could notice he was born to be a star. As Junghyung said one time, Tae does not deal with blood or murder; he prefers to work as the decoy. Jin, even though he appeared to be evil and menacing, was actually just worried all the time. Being the oldest of the group, his fatherly instincts always kicked in. He actually loved to tell jokes and cook. His skills in one-on-one fighting were pretty remarkable. Gi was another one who seemed cold and malicious at first glance but in reality, he was a gentle and introverted dog lover with an undying passion for music and sleeping. He wasn’t one of the main assassins but was in charge of training the younger ones. Kook, the youngest, was indeed one of the closest to her. Apart from being the same age, both Brooke and Kook loved to play online games and animals. He was a primordial fighter and also the one who took care of any security systems. She also felt a connection with Kook since both of them went through very rough lives from a young age. Last, but definitely not least, Junghyun. The alpha of the group. He was the most charming and sleek one out of all the members. There was also something about his gentle but clever personality that managed to get Brooke on her toes. He was always on the lookout for his brothers and did always fulfill the promises he made. 

    As she continued to reminisce about her bonding with the members of Ruby Dust she began to cry more eagerly. She wasn’t ready to leave. Despite telling Junghyun how desperately she wanted to leave, she knew deep down that she wanted to stay. The strange connection she felt with these seven gang members was hard to explain but she knew that they would be in her life forever.

    Among all the memories of the guys passing through her mind, she remembered something that she had forgotten about the minute the casino was ambushed: Aiden. Brooklyn recalled what Junghyun had previously mentioned about the stalking.

    "Okay, if these people were able to track down such careful and inconspicuous mafia, they for sure have someone similar to Kook in their team. This means that they probably have a whole booklet of information about each of us and they know that Aiden is my roommate." Brooke thought as worry began to creep from every inch of her body. "If they know I'm here, they must've gone for Aiden!"

This sudden realization cause Brooke to run at full speed towards her apartment building to check up on her probably missing best friend.

***

    After a few minutes running as hard as she could, Brooke finally reached her apartment and dashed up the six floors of cranky stairs. She tried to turn the knob but completely forgot that her keys were lost during her persecution a few days ago. Cold sweat dripped down her forehead as she desperately tried the knob again but to no avail.

    “Aiden! Aiden, are you there?” shouted Brooke while pounding harshly on the door. She yelled and yelled but no sign of life came from the other side of the door.

    “Hey! Knock it off!” commanded one of the building’s security guards. He held his baton tightly and had his other hand in front of him in defense. 

    Brooke slowly raised her hands to show she was harmless and began to cry once more. “I swear I’m not a robber. I live here but I lost my keys. My friend is probably dead in there! Please, let me in.”

The guard got off from his defensive position and his face lit up.

    “I’ll let you in… but you need to do something for me in return.” said the guard looking at Brooke’s chest with wonder. He looked back into her eyes and winked.

    “You are f*****g stupid if you think I’ll shove my dignity off the cliff just like that.” 

    The guard’s happy expression quickly turned into a frown. He took a step forward, making Brooke take one back. He deepened his voice and took another step forward. “If you want to go in, you’ll do as I say, okay? And you better not say one single word to anyone or I swear on my life that I’ll kill you.” Another step forward. “I will rip off your clothes and I’ll do everything I want. You’ll love it so much you are going to beg me to stop.” Now, Brooke was against the back wall and the guard was inches away from her. “Then, I’ll begin to cut you in that big-ass stomach of yours to make you look the exact way I want. Inch by inch, I’ll cut off flesh and fat to turn you into my beautiful wife.”

    “Let me f*****g go,” whispered Brooke looking directly into the guard's dead eyes with wrath.

The guard started to unbutton his blue shirt to reveal a disgusting and hairy chest. With another hand, he grabbed Brooke tightly by the waist and pushed himself against her.

The pressure was high and Brooke needed to act fast. There wasn’t a single soul in the entire hall and screaming wouldn’t be of any help since the entire area was practically a crime scene. The guard was moving rapidly, therefore Brooke had to be faster. She closed her eyes and remembered what she saw during Kook’s training with Gi. 

    “If the attacker is bigger than you, use your knees as a defense.” echoed the commands of Gi in Brooke’s head. She surprised her attacker by hitting him in the crotch area with her knee and punching him with all her strength right in the middle of his nose. He took two steps back and groaned in pain squinting his eyes giving Brooke time to act again. She listened to her memories again and visualized Kook’s mentor and his movements.

    “When they get distracted, try attacking the neck of the legs.”

    Brooke began to move like a reflection of Kook. Left foot, right foot, kneel, extend legs and turn over. With this technique, she brought the guard to the floor and dodged his desperate swings. Another kick right on his left ear and the hefty male was unconscious on the carpeted hall. 

    Brooke stopped for a second and took some time to breathe after such a quest. One half of her was utterly glad that she managed to do such a thing for the first time but the other half couldn’t believe she had done such a thing. She shacked off the conflicting feelings remembering that he had the intention of r****g her and grabbed the cluster of keys from his belt to open the door. 

    Once the door was finally open, she called out for Aiden. No response. 

    Before checking anything else, her instincts told her not to leave the repulsive man unattended so she began to drag him into the apartment. The pantry, which was most of the time empty with bugs, was the perfect place to lock the man in. She forced his overweight body into the wooden pantry and tied his hands with a rope conveniently placed under the sink. 

    Brooklyn proceeded to look around her apartment with a sharp and cautious eye in case all of this was a trap. Under the bed, inside closets, behind shower curtains. No sign of a break-in or someone in the apartment. Also, no sign of Aiden. She had lost her phone too during the persecution and the apartment didn’t have a phone. Too expensive for two underpaid twenty-year-olds.

    Out of frustration and exhaustion, she threw herself onto the bed and closed her tired eyes. Soon, she was sound asleep.

***

    Ring ring.

    A sudden ring woke Brooke from her deep sleep. She stood up from the bed in a frenzy and rubbed her eyes hurriedly. Once open, she looked around and was taken aback by the pitch blackness of the bedroom. 

    Another ring came from under the mattress. She jumped out of bed and threw the thin mattress onto the floor.

    “Hello?” she asked into the phone mysteriously placed under the mattress. 

    “Look out the window.”