Kidnapped 1

"Yeah. What happened?!"

"I don't know exactly. But it looks like someone doesn't want us to go back to the city alive. Look!" Kai pointed towards the road.

Rain looked on as the road bathed in what appeared to be like oil came into her view. If Kai had not applied brake that instant, there was a high chance that they would have confirmed their dinner with the Yama[1] himself. Her brain flashed with a short snippet of similar scene in front of her with a bloodied body in her arms and sound of gunshots all around her.

Her eyes suddenly darkened. Her entire face turned pale as she tried to subdue the sudden outburst of bloodthirst ready to wreak havoc . 'Calm down Rain. It is not the same. That will not happen again. This is not that big of an issue for you to get so worked up. You can handle it calmly. Breathe' Rain reminded herself to breathe to calm herself down.

Kai took in the shift in colour of her face and how she was at a verge of hyperventilation. Taking this as a sign of her getting scared, he tried to soothe her as he rubbed her back gently and muttered in a gentle voice "Don't be afraid Ms. Erena. I am here. Nothing will happen. May be some tanker dropped some oil while transporting it, or maybe someone had an accident. And even if it's someone trying to harm us, don't worry. I will protect you. Trust me."

'I will protect you. Trust me' these were such simple words. So easy to say. Yet, they carried an inordinate weight. These simple words somehow managed to penetrate the wall that was suddenly building up around Rain's mind which was almost barricading her link to the world. The words that her brothers would mutter to her when she faced similar situations. The same soothing words which she always craved during her life in that hell, which could have changed the course of her life had someone spoken those to her at that time.

The words combined with the soothing edge of the voice which resembled to that of her brothers managed to calm her turmoiled emotions as she looked at the source of those words with a blank expression. Her eyes resembling to that of an innocent child's who starved for love , care, and reliability.

Kai's breath hitched and his heart skipped a beat when he saw her face and met her gaze. Never in his life had he seen such an innocent pair of eyes. They were so pure, so captivating. He just wanted to keep on gazing.

They remained in that instance for about half a minute, looking into each other's eyes.

Then as if breaking the last brick of the wall that hindered her link to this world, Rain regained her consciousness and moved away from Kai when she realised their awkward position.

"Thank you" Rain almost whispered.

"Ahem…." Kai cleared his throat as he too moved back "No worries. Are you alright?"

"Yes. I was just shocked." Rain said with her usual business smile.

Just as Kai was about to say something, he noticed a flying object coming towards them from in front of the car. He instantly held Rain and ducked down, covering her. The glass of the windshield shattered into numerous pieces.

They were still not able to recover from the shock, when about ten people approached them holding weapons and gun.

As they came near, two of them pointed their guns towards Rain and Kai while the rest divided in two groups of four members each and took the position outside their car doors. "Raise your hands above your head and get down" a thin man, who was on Kai's side, said in a groggy voice.

Seeing that they were surrounded, Rain and Kai followed their instructions. As soon as they got down, their hands were tied behind their back. They didn't bother to cover their mouth as the highway they were on was almost deserted even during the day, and it was already getting dark now.

They were taken to an abandoned warehouse nearby and thrown in like some useless luggage inside one of the rooms. "Hey, be careful with the lady." Kai hissed as they threw Rain.

The man who threw Rain gave a sinister laugh, "And what would you do if I won't? Beat me? Kill me? Sure, be my guest. That is if you are able to survive this place first?"

They then turned around and signalled two of their men to keep an eye their hostages.

Kai gave their departing back a murderous look 'Sure. I will be your guest then. Just don't turn back on your words when I do. If not for finding the brain behind you, do you think you weaklings even stood a chance to touch me? Heh.'

He then recollected that he was not alone and went near Rain who was sitting on the floor with her face between her knees "Ms. Erena? Are you alright?"