STRIKE MATCHES, NOT PEACE
646 Words
The S.K compound was always cold. Not physically it was climate-controlled and lined with hidden luxuries but emotionally. Like even the air had learned not to feel.
Aerin carried a crate of ammunition through the training hall. Her arms ached, but she didn’t stop. That’s what they wanted to break her spirit. Hyunjin especially.
From the moment she arrived, he’d made it clear: she was unwanted.
Disposable.
And she hated that it worked. That it got under her skin.
“Watch it.”
She snapped out of her thoughts just as she bumped into Lee Know, who caught the box before it slipped.
“Don’t walk distracted here,” he warned. “Distraction gets you killed.”
He walked off with a silent nod. Not unkind. Not kind either. Just... real.
★★★★★
Later, in the mess hall, Aerin sat alone. The others came and went Felix offered her a quiet smile. I.N gave a wink and left with two bowls of noodles. No one spoke to her. No one sat with her.
Until he did.
Hyunjin dropped into the seat across from her like a thundercloud. Black hoodie, hair tied back, gaze colder than steel.
She tensed. “What?”
He didn’t answer.
She blinked. “What do you want?”
Still silence.
It wasn’t until she stood up to leave that he finally spoke. “I heard you were once your father’s strategist.”
She froze. “So?”
“You think you’re clever.”
“Clever enough not to sell family for debt,” she bit out.
His jaw flexed, but he didn’t rise to the bait. “We’re going to hit a Thorns transport tomorrow night. I want you there.”
Aerin stared at him. “Why?”
“You know how they think. I want that insight.”
“And if I say no?”
Hyunjin stood. His voice was low, calm. “Then you stay useless. And that’s more dangerous than being weak.”
He walked away.
She stared after him, pulse racing. She hated how he moved like nothing could touch him. Like the world owed him silence.
She hated him.
But she hated being underestimated more.
★★★★★
That night, she was given a comm device and a vest. No weapons not yet but they were trusting her enough to watch.
That meant they feared her uncle more than they feared her.
She’d use that.
—
The next evening, they moved like shadows. Felix hacked the route. I.N rode shotgun. Lee Know crouched beside her in the van, checking knives.
“You scared?” he asked.
She didn’t reply.
Then “No.”
Lee Know smirked. “Good.”
The ambush was silent and swift. Cars blocked the road. Flashbangs. S.K moved with deadly precision. But the Thorns fought dirty and as gunfire cracked the air, Aerin realized something chilling:
She recognized their voices.
One of them had once carried her birthday cake. Another used to teach her how to ride a bike.
Her hands shook.
“Behind!”
Hyunjin yanked her down just as a bullet shattered the rear window. His arm was solid around her waist, shielding.
“You freeze again, you die,” he growled.
“I didn’t ask you to save me.”
He released her roughly. “Then don’t make me do it again.”
They locked eyes heat, hatred, tension thick in the smoke.
For the first time, something shifted.
Not respect.
But awareness.
Then he was gone, back into the chaos.
When it was over, and the night lay still again, Aerin sat on the curb, staring at her bloodied hands.
Hyunjin walked past without looking at her.
But before he disappeared into the dark, he said one thing:
“Next time, don’t hesitate.”
She didn’t reply.
But deep down, she knew he was right.
And she hated that more than anything.
- Writer
