{1} "Who Are You?"

"Death, the one thing a human being fears more than life itself, the one thing they dread more than Monday mornings is death. The fear of not knowing anything, of not feeling anything terrifies them." —Icychica_

'Am I really gone from this world? Did I really just die?'

My eyes slowly began to open as I observed my surroundings, my eyes adjusting to the sunlight, at least it felt like sunlight, as it was warm on my skin.

When my eyes adjusted I sat up and looked around, I wasn't sure where I was at first.

But then I touched my chest and back in a panic remembering that I got shot, but there was nothing, no blood, no pain, nothing.

"What on earth?! I really am dead! This isn't heaven, it's hell isn't it?! I'm being punished for my sins!" I fell back down onto the ground, giving up and accepting my death as I looked up at the sky.

"WAIT! THE SKY!" I voiced out loud as realization hit me, seeing indeed the clouds and birds up above.

I sat up quickly seeing the abandoned building next to me, I stood to my feet, feeling so relieved that I wasn't dead I literally started to celebrate, earning me a weird look from an on looker as she raised her eyebrow at me.

I waved awkwardly and mouthed a 'Hi.' to her, she ignored me and continued walking on.

"Hang on a minute, if I'm not dead or injured, then what about Lisa?" I asked no one in particular as the memories of the recent catastrophic events replayed in my head, seeing her laying there, covered in blood.

I shook those thoughts out of my head, looking down at the object Lisa had given to me, not sure why she did or what it even was since it was my first time seeing the object.

It looked kinda weird though, it was some kind of art piece, clearly made out of gold, it was round and had a flower I recognized to be a claytonia craved into it.

'Probably what the men were after, it looks hella expensive.' I thought, carefully placing it into my pocket.

I walked out of the alleyway hoping to find my car, so I could see if Lisa was alright, though I wasn't entirely sure what happened yet.

I found my car as I had left it. I took my keys out and started it, then my eyes caught something in the rearview mirror. I turned around to look into the back seat and I was left discombobulated.

"Why is there a condom in my back seat?" It was still in the package. I didn't buy it and I sure as hell wouldn't have kept it in my car if I had.

I exhaled, deciding to focus on the real problem. I drove to my house hoping that Okada was there and maybe he knew for sure if Lisa was alright.

But when I got home... I wasn't convinced that I lived there anymore, because first of all, the colour of the house was different, my keys did go into the hole proving that it was indeed my house.

However, when I stepped inside, things were rearranged in a strange manner; not how I left it.

"When the hell did I get an inside pool?!" My mouth popped open as I gapped at the huge pool where my living room was supposed to be. I would have definitely remembered that being there.

"Okada!" I shouted for my soon to be dead best-friend. "Boy if you don't get your caramel behind in here right now I'll—"

"You'll what?" A voice from behind me asked sheepishly.

I turned around only to almost have a heart-attack when I saw him.

"Since... since... since when did you have so many tattoos and a lip piercing?!" I stuttered pointing at him, my finger shaking, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"What are you talking about babe?" he asked grabbing my wrist and pulling me close to him as he gently laid a kiss on my forehead.

I pushed him off of me with force and smacked the back off his head. "Hold up, boy back the heck up! What the hell is wrong with you?! Why did you just kiss me?! Are you asking to be punched?!"

"Did you... just smack me?!" He looked at me with a hint of disbelief in his eyes mixed with shock, holding the area.

"Sure as hell did and if you 'babe' me one more time, I'll do more than just smack you." I looked around. "Oh, I see what's going on here, this is a another one of your pranks isn't it? Come on, where is it, where's the camera?" I rolled my eyes calling him out on his obvious prank as I searched for the camera.

"Did you hit your head or something on the way back? You're acting weird." He started coming dangerously close to me again.

"That's cute, you trying to scare me and all, ya' got me, you really did have me fooled there for a second, you really went all out this time." I said, hitting him playfully.

He would usually pull pranks like this on me, it was the stupid thing best-friends did to one another—or rather... that he did to me— him being as goofy as he was, I got use to it, but this time he went too far. How did he even rearrange the house so quickly?

"What are you talking about?" He now looked at me like I was nuts.

"Kazuchika, you can stop messing with me now, this isn't the time for games. Something... something terrible happened to Lisa." I said avoiding the details, so it wouldn't send him into panic-mode, knowing how anxious he got whenever she left for work, which I understood, she was a cop after all, it wasn't the safest job on the planet.

But she usually handled it, she was raised by one of the most feared men out there.

A Gangster, that's right, Lisa's father was a gang leader, unexpected isn't it? She had chosen to become a detective, you could imagine how her father first reacted to that. Spoiler, he wasn't happy about it, it probably felt like she was betraying her family.

The daughter of a mafia leader becoming a cop? Sounded like something out of a movie, but she did it regardless, of course it meant she had to act like her family didn't exist by passing herself off as an orphan.

Her brother and father did accept her decision... eventually; she hadn't abandon them in reality, just on paper. Lisa still went home when she could.

"Who the hell is Lisa?" he asked, crossed his arms, staring at me intensely as he slightly titled his head.

"What are are you talking about?! Lisa is your sister?!" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Sagwa, what are you saying? I don't have a sister, stop asking stupid questions." He grabbed my arm tightly but not tight enough to hurt me.

"Seriously, Kazuchika you can stop now. I mean it. Something terrible happened awhile ago and I... I lost her, I'm not even sure if she's still alive... so please help me! Okada, your sister is missing!"

You would think after that, after seeing how truly terrified I was, after hearing me beg him to listen, he'd give in, but no he just stood there in front of me with no reaction once so ever.

I was fed up with him, time was wasting, I had to find her whether he helped or not. "Fine, be that way then." I turned on my heel to leave, but he pulled me back to meet his rock solid chest.

"Where are you going Sagwa?" He held onto me. I tried to move away from him, but his hold became tighter.

He spun me around so that I was facing him, he took my chin slowly, looking into my eyes and I looked into his, the more I looked at him, the more everything became clearer.

I held his shirt up, showing his perfectly chiseled abs and waist, I traced my fingers along his side.

"Where is it?" I mumbled as I continued to trace his right side. It was obvious the scar from the accident wasn't there, his skin was smooth and flawless; it could be possible that he used make-up to hide it but even so I should've been able to feel the crumpled scar under my fingertips. "Who are you?" I asked in all seriousness, putting his shirt down, confused as to why he was acting this way.

"Really? You don't know who I am?" he laughed.

I stared at him blankly. I was about to lose my mind.

"Strange since we've known each other for years now." I just stared at him and blinked. "You live with me, we're together, you're my girlfriend." He clarified pointing between himself and me leaving me with even more questions.

"What on earth is going on? I'm still unconscious right? This has to be a dream. Yeah, that's it, this is a messed up dream." I stumbled back, hitting a wall.

'Why does everything feel so wrong and out of place suddenly?'

"You're... you're not lying to me?" I looked into his eyes, uncertain.

"No, why would I?" he looked into mine convinced that something was wrong.

"Okay... then what exactly do you do for a living?" He raised an eyebrow at me puzzled yet again. "Just please answer the question." I said desperately trying to confirm something.

"Not sure why you're asking me something you already know, but I'm a gang leader, remember, my father owns a couple business all around South Korea, he's a Gang Leader." I breathed out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Then... what do I do?" I pointed at myself.

"Is something wrong with you?" His face began to show worry and concern as he approached me, gently stroking my cheek.

I flinched at his gesture as his skin made contact with mine.

"You help me with my business, you've been doing it for years now, you're almost like my partner in crime."

I visibly swallowed. There was this inside joke between us that if I wasn't a fashion designer, I'd join his gang and work for his father, which was something he wanted but I wasn't really cut out for that sort of thing.

I was so shocked and perplexed that I remained silent.

He then placed his hand to my forehead, feeling it with his palm. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need me to call a doctor for you? I swear if those bastards did something to you..."

I touched his wrist bringing his hand off of my forehead. "No Kazuchika, I'm fine. I think I'm just confused, that's all. But who... are you talking about?"

"The gang you went to settle a deal with. I knew I shouldn't have let you go alone, that bastard Jeon Jungwoo is gonna pay if something happened to you." he ranted, gritting his teeth.

My head snapped up to him because I couldn't believe my ears. "Repeat that name for me real quick."

"Jeon Jungwoo." he repeated slowly.

My eyes widened. 'What the heck?!'

That was enough to make me question if I was really alright.

...