"Ha! Where have you been?"
I looked at the man whose grip got tighter. He sounded as if he'd been waiting for me. Seriously, what's wrong with this guy? His face was a mix of disdain and something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
Do I know you?
"Fuck, is this bastard crazy?"
… Oh.
The air became tense as I gulped and slowly averted my gaze. Contrastingly, his eyes remained fixed on my face, I could almost feel a hole burn through me. The wind, as if savouring my humiliation, swept through, breaking the tremendously awkward silence.
"Excuse me Mister, I think you mixed up your thoughts and speech bubbles?"
His voice was filled with disbelief as his grip tightened to the point where I flinched. I grabbed his hand and tried to pull it off my arm.
"It hurts. Let go."
I glared at him while struggling. This is definitely going to leave a mark. Maybe it was the stressful start I had today, trying to calm down a colleague, or it was the disappearance of Ms Han that I had only just noticed the severity of, but my stress levels were through the roof.
I looked at the annoyingly good looking student before me. Maybe he's some sort of bad luck charm… It seems our every encounter occurs when I'm on the verge of losing my mind. Now, I will be sure to remember to never visit this store again. Definitely not.
The man in fact did not let go. I bit my lip, trying to restrain the curses filling my head from flooding out.
"What're you-?!"
He pulled me into an alleyway. I am by no means weak but this strength was seriously too much, is he even human? What does this savage want from me… Fuck why is my luck so bad, to the point where I'm getting dragged off by strangers.
My brain was filled with the worst case scenarios, perhaps he was a human trafficker? Or a serial killer on the loose. No. I shook my head, rationalising myself.
"Hey! Student, what do you think you're doing? There's cameras everywhere, do you think I won't call the police because you're young?"
We were almost at the other side of the alley. He paused and I caught a glimpse of the street behind him. I wasn't aware of an alley connecting two main roads…
"Me? I'm just being a crazy bastard."
My jaw was on the verge of dropping. His voice was drenched in sarcasm, clearly mocking me. I shook off his loosened grip.
"I don't know you, kid. Calm down."
Yeah, calm down and get the hell away from me!!!!!
I rubbed my arm and winced slightly. Yep. Definitely bruised. Kids these days never think before they act. I backed off slowly.
"You know [Requiem] though? Don't run away again Mister, or I don't know what I will end up doing."
There was a psychotic glint in his eyes. I gulped before processing his words. [Requiem]? Fuck, he's doing all of this because I insulted a video game??? Crazy bastard.
I took half a step back.
"Fine, look, I'm sorry for last t-"
He cut me off before I could finish my insincere apolog-
"Keep your insincere apology to yourself."
Holy shit. He's not only a crazy bastard, but a crazy, telepathic bastard. How does one manage to cut off both my speech and thoughts simultaneously? What do they feed college kids these days?
"Y-you… This is kidnapping, I'm sure your face was captured in the CCTV… Just leave and I won't report it."
Ugh. That came out less confident than I intended… He caught me off guard. All I wanted was a nice, cold beer. What did I ever do to deserve this?
A chuckle quickly turned into laughter. Great, he's finally lost it.
"CCTV? Yeah, you're right. Should we watch it together then?"
He pulled out his phone. I was confused of course. You know what, let's just stop thinking. I just need to make sure I get out of here safely. While he was scrolling on his phone, I tactically turned and was about to bolt back to my car until…
"THAT FUCKASS TRASH GA-"
My head shot back towards him. Even my carefully practiced poker cracked. My jaw dropped so far down that it hit the ground. The familiar voice echoed out of his phone, along with a video of me.
"Ah… W-WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!"
I lunged at him, trying to grab the phone. He pressed my head down and lifted his phone behind my reach.
"Since you love talking about the police, should I report this? I was just minding my own business until you approached me and spewed out all sorts of threats. Should I find your job and report you there?"
I flinched. Why did he have this footage? No, not my dark past that I've desperately been trying to forget.
"That wasn't even… Fuck, I mean, What do you want…?"
My face flushed red. This was blackmail. I hope money is all he wants, that I can get, unless he asks for a million dollars I could probably give him whatever.
Phew. I have to calm down. After I had quickly put together my thoughts, I looked at him, an indescribable smirk dancing on his face. Ugh…
He may be crazy, but he sure as hell is more handsome when he smiles.
Gulp.