RED - VII

"Yuri…Wake up!! Yuri!! Get up honey, See it's already 7:30…Wake up!!" Mom said loudly. Her sweet voice echoed in my ears, Every morning she woke me up , made healthy delicious breakfast, drove me to school every day. I was happy….so much happy in my life with my parents…Dad came home late but never did I ever slept without a forehead kiss with his soft lips. My life was perfect, friends used to become jealous of me whenever I called them home for my birthday parties. Everything was perfect simply perfect… Until that dark night…A night painted with red blood… Night which led me to live a life like this…

"Yuri!! Wake up!!" Mom kept on calling me But now her voice didn't seem sweet, rather it turned into scared scream for help. "Yuri!!! Run!!! Don't look at me, don't think about us!! Run!! You have to live my baby….Stay alive no matter what!! You HAVE TO SURVIVE!!! Promise me, you won't ever look back!! RUN!!!!"

"Mom….no…please don't leave me here alone…Mom!!! Dad!!!! Please…I can't leave you….I can't stay alive alone….MOM!!! STOP….Please, please don't leave me now….MOM!!!!!"

I opened my eyes while screaming, but there was no one around me. I was lying down on the hospital bed….I managed sitting up on the bed but my leg pained badly. I came back to my senses, realized that I had fainted inside Daniel's car while driving to his place. He must've hospitalized me, he must be around.

"Daniel!!! Shim Daniel!!!! DANIEL!!!!" I called him out loudly

"Have you gone crazy? Lost your mind? This is a hospital!! Lower your volume!!" Daniel rushed inside running with a bag of medicines. "And didn't you go see a doctor last night? Did you just tie a bandage on wounded thigh by yourself?"

"Did you give me 1000$ yesterday?? No, right?? 100$ were spent on fees already! And anyways my body is used to these injuries and they get healed on their own…So stop making a fuss about it!" I lied down on bed again and went under sheets.

"Annoying….you're so annoying… Don't sleep now! We need to leave this hospital as soon as possible, and you've gained enough consciousness." He removed my blankets and pulled me up.

"My legs are paining so badly!! How could you expect me to walk now in this situation??" I cried

"I don't care, One act of kindness was more than enough for today. Get up NOW, Right now!" He pulled both of my arms and made me sit on the bed.

"NO!!! I WON'T"

He grabbed my waist and pulled me over one of his shoulders, hanging me upside down. My thigh burned with sudden force acting up on it.

"DANIEL!!!! You'll regret doing this!!"

"I'm already regretting my whole life….a bit more regret won't cause any harm…"

And he carried me on one shoulder with my bag in other hand, and we left the hospital within few minutes.

.

.

.

.

The temperature dropped to minus as we entered the grove of bamboo forest in Damyang-gu. I remembered visiting this place as a 10 year old child with my parents. And today after almost 10 years I've returned back with this person…A man whom I met intentionally , on very dangerous night… He could've just slept with me and I would've continued my work as a prostitute shamelessly. But , a question kept on killing my brain since last night, Why did he help me? Why did he offer me a job? Was it because I passed his test to escape that deadly trap? Or was it because of my reckless nature? Whatever it is , if it has been the reason to escape me from being a prostitute and earn money at the same time…It's good…Anyways I'm like a dry Autumn leaf, fallen off the tree…. How much ever Red beautiful it appears, it's lonely, has no will of itself….Wherever the wind goes, it'll fly along with wind…Just like me…Wherever I find a place to survive , I'll follow that path to stay alive as my promise given to Mom….

"Rose, wait here in the car. I'll send my assistant, he'll take you to your room." Daniel got out of the car while removing his brown shades.

"Daniel, why did you bring me here? What will be my exact job?" I rolled down the window pane and asked him.

"We can comfortably sit on the couch and talk about it, just get some rest for a while now. And let your wound heal, till then we have lots of things to have a long conversation on." He pushed my head inside the car and walked inside the gate on right side of the road.

I had to wait for next 5 mins and a tanned skin, tall , young man stepped out of the gate. He was wearing white shirt with rolled up sleeves and black denim trousers, seemed like he was late in his 20's. Once he came closer to the car, his face looked more handsome. He opened the door and said,

"Rose, take your bag and follow me."

"Hmm" I nodded and walked behind him inside the gate. As we went a bit far for 10 minutes, there was a huge ass resort situated in middle of the Bamboo forest. My anxiety started building up, did I make a hasty decision again? What did I land myself into? Is Shim Daniel a trustable person?

I kept on walking forward but someone pulled my bag and dragged me behind.

"Where are you going into woods? Walk behind me!! Look up there on the 3rd floor , that's your suite for next one month. And don't try to act over smart, Even though Daniel is the CEO, I'm the one who manages this resort. So don't damage any non-living as well as living thing on this resort recklessly. Try to control your rash attitude."

"Okay…whatever…" I rolled my eyes annoyingly. "Ohh, by the way…What's your name? How should I address you? Sir? Boss? Mr.PA? Uncle?"

"Uncle????? Are you 12 year old to call me Uncle? Just call me Kim Junho or Mr.Kim, anyways I don't care much about it. And I saw you calling Shim Sunbaenim [Senior] , without any honorifics?? He's the owner of this Moon Bar and Resort chain." He looked quite irritated with my bad attitude.

"So what? To be honest, he doesn't even look like a CEO or something…. Thank me for not calling him Daniel-ah, at least I am being a good girl by holding myself back from spitting out curse words."

He looked at me with blank face, as if I was the first person whom he had seen talking in disrespect about his boss.

"There's my room right? No need to lead me now, I'll go by myself. Thank you so much in advance for bearing up with me in future." I bowed down to him and walked away towards the staircase.

"Rose, you've got no idea how cold and hauntingly dangerous my childhood friend is…." Junho whispered behind me.

However dangerous and cold he is, I will have to survive in this heavenly beautiful place or should I say The Hell hidden behind this heaven mask….