Chapter 16 Gun #2
“Where are we going anyway?” I ask. “Do you know where we are? Pull over and I’ll drive.”
“It’s your turn to follow my lead,” she says firmly, speeding through a yellow traffic light. “We need to get you patched up from that gunshot.”
“I’d call up Dr. Song, but he’s Cheongryong affiliated and I can’t say he won’t let them know. I could try to bribe him, but it would still be a risk.”
“I have someone else we can go to.”
Elise says nothing else as we make it out of Gangnam and crossover into other neighboring districts. Bleeding all over the passenger seat with the Cheongryong on our tail, I’ve got little room to object.
Besides, it seems like for once me and the feline are on the same page. Though it’s up in the air if it’ll last very long…
Elise takes us to her apartment in Itaewon. The building is quaint, modest, clean, and most advantageous of all, it’s quiet even on a late night in the big city.
It means we sneak up to the sixth floor uninterrupted and unseen by anyone.
In the elevator, Elise shifts from foot to foot in a way that’s completely unlike her usual predatory confidence.
When I stare, she catches my gaze and sighs with obvious discomfort.
“I’ve never trusted Priscilla like this before. I’ve never... let her in. But bringing you here, needing help with your gunshot wound... it’s letting her in more than I ever planned.”
The vulnerability in her voice surprises me more than her confession. Elise admitting weakness feels like watching a glacier crack.
It also reinforces what I’ve learned about her, which is that she doesn’t let anyone in.
Not me. Not the others she interacts with on a daily basis.
She uses her key to unlock the apartment door. We step into a living space that’s cramped but homey, all mismatched furniture and the kind of lived-in warmth money can’t buy.
Priscilla sits at a computer desk in the corner, thick-rimmed glasses reflecting the glow of what appears to be some kind of cozy farming simulation game, complete with cartoon animals and pastoral music.
She pulls off her gaming headphones and stares at us in complete confusion, mouth agape.
“Eli, what’s going on?” she finally manages. “Why is there a bloodied guy in a ski mask in our living room?”
Elise slides out of her platform heels with a weary sigh. “Yeah... about that... this is Rhee Gun-woo, and he was shot tonight in a chase by the Cheongryong mafia syndicate.”
Priscilla’s eyes widen behind her glasses until they look like saucers. “Eli, a gangster? What’s he doing here with you? I thought you and KD—I mean, you never tell me specifics about what you do—but I thought it was law-abiding! I assumed you were IT for a really big company or something.”
“IT?” Elise asks, raising a brow with obvious amusement.
Any humor of hers is cut short by the deep breath she takes as she continues.
“Look, Cilla. You know I never do this. And I wouldn’t if we had any other option.
But you’re the only person I can think of who can help us.
He’s been shot, and we need somebody to patch him up.
You’re one of the top med students at SNU. Can’t you…?”
Priscilla nibbles on her bottom lip nervously, then nods. “Okay... but he better not bite. And he has to take off that ski mask. It’s freaking me out.”
I shrug and pull the mask off with my good arm. “I’ve got no problem showing off my good looks to the ladies.”
Elise rolls her eyes while Priscilla suddenly perks up. “Wait... wait. Let me pause the game. I finally made it to level eight, and they’re giving me piglets. All I’ve had so far are chicks and ducklings, so this is huge.”
“Cilla,” Elise groans.
“Okay, okay, starting now. First I need some towels, thread, a needle, a pair of tongs, and a bowl of warm water.”
“Tongs?” I ask.
“I’m limited in supplies,” Priscilla explains, bustling into the small kitchen. She opens a cabinet and grabs a plastic salad bowl to fill with water from the sink. “But I think we have a pair somewhere. I used them last time I made ribs. Hang on.”
She settles me at their kitchen table, and despite her nervous chatter, her hands are steady as she begins extracting the bullet fragments from my shoulder. The pain is sharp and persistent but manageable when compared to the debilitating migraines I get.
I find myself oddly entertained by her stream of random, bright commentary.
“So you’re a Korean gangster,” she says conversationally while threading a needle. “What’s that like?”
“It’s decent,” I reply with a crooked grin. “Pretty good benefits package.”
Priscilla’s face goes slack with shock like she’s stunned to know the mafia offers benefits and a retirement plan.
I can’t help but laugh. “Feline, I like your friend. She’s amusing.”
Elise doesn’t get a chance to respond.
A key rattles the lock in the front door, a second later twisting open.
Elise moves toward the door to check who it is, but before she can reach it, the door swings wide and the same man who had bear-hugged her at the subway station weeks ago steps inside.
He’s tall and defined by muscle earned in the gym. Dark hair slicked back and a casual expression on his face, it’s clear he’s done this before.
He regularly comes by like he lives here.
Who the fuck is this guy and why does he have a key to Goyangi’s apartment?
Both Elise and Priscilla say his name at the same time.
“KD?!”
He grins like he cherishes the sound of his name on both women’s lips. Then his gaze lands one me sitting shirtless at their kitchen table with blood on my shoulder and Priscilla’s supplies scattered around me.
His entire demeanor shifts like a switch being flipped. His shoulders square, his jaw sets, and his fingers flex like they’re about to curl into fists.
It’s the same instinct I get when another predator encroaches on my hunting ground. I can tell this conversation is going to get ugly fast.
“Who’s this?” he asks, looking from Elise to Priscilla. “Baby, what are you doing?”
Priscilla raises her hands like she’s been caught at a crime scene. “Um, honestly? I’m not even sure. Eli brought him and said he’d been shot and—”
“EQ,” KD says slowly, his eyes narrowing as recognition dawns on his features. “Is that... Rhee Gun-woo from the Cheongryong? What the fuck is he doing HERE?”
“Breathe and calm down and I’ll explain,” Elise says.
I’ve risen from the chair with my wound only half-stitched, territorial instincts overriding common sense. “I could ask the same. Who the fuck is this guy with a key to your apartment? Is he some freeloader without his own place to stay?”
KD pushes past Elise, visibly livid now. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me, ba-bo. That’s why you’re puffing your chest out like you’re about to do something.”
“I can do plenty. Let’s start by punching that grin off your face.”
“STOP IT!” Elise screams, wedging herself between us. “You’re both acting like jerks!”
But KD isn’t done. He rounds on Elise with the wounded fury of a man who’s just had his worst suspicions confirmed. “Tell me what you’re doing with him, EQ. Are you sleeping with him? You are, aren’t you? God... You’ve sunk low. You dumped me but you’ll give this guy a shot?”
“Oh, an ex,” I say with a lofty laugh. “That explains a lot. Were you not enough for her? Don’t worry, I’ll keep her satisfied.”
“I SAID STOP!” Elise screams again. She rounds on KD and grabs his arm. “We need to talk. Alone.”
I glare as she leads him toward what I assume is her bedroom, the door slamming shut behind them.
The sudden silence feels heavy and oppressive, broken only by Priscilla’s gentle sigh as I sink back into my chair.
“I wish he’d let it go,” she mutters, threading her needle again.
“Let what go?”
“KD’s a great boyfriend, and I like him a lot. But I’m pretty sure a part of him is still in love with Eli.”
It’s no surprise given how territorial he was acting. It seemed to bother him that Elise had brought me here more than it had Priscilla was stitching me up.
I file that information away for later. I’m rarely the jealous type, but I’d be lying if I said a sense of instant jealous and territorial rage doesn’t run through me as far as Elise is concerned…
By the time Elise and KD return from their private conversation, the wound is properly closed and bandaged.
The tension in the room remains. It feels thick enough to cut with a knife.
I meet Elise’s gaze across the cramped living room, ignoring the way KD’s glare burns into the side of my head like a laser. “We better get going.”
As I pass KD, my shoulder bumps into his.
I sense his muscles coil with the urge to retaliate, though he keeps himself in check.
Smart man. Wounded or not, I’d still drop him with no trouble at all.
Elise hesitates a couple seconds longer. She looks at both Priscilla and KD almost apologetically. “I’ll be in touch.”
Out in the hallway, with the apartment door closed behind us and the weight of her decision settling between us like a third presence, Elise turns to me with weary exhaustion.
“What now?” she asks. “Where the fuck can we go with your gang looking for us?”
I press the button to the elevator and stand back as it dings. “I’ve got a place in mind.”