Page 29 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 1-4
“No, I’m borrowing this one from a girl in a convenience store.” Damian’s rapid, sharp questions were settling. Reality bled back in between the cracks of the dream sequences that had become his thoughts.
“Do you have your passport? I can buy you a plane ticket here.”
“Bak never lets me touch it.”
“What do you have?”
“Myself, a jacket, shoes.”
“You have me.” Damian added without hesitation. “You ran away. How immediate is our threat? You said the new year?”
Jun swallowed. Dream sequences were nicer than reality. He needed to pretend everything Damian was asking about wasn’t real. “He wants me to date, no, sleep with someone. I won’t. He…he tossed my room, took my wallet, the swipe card to get in and out of the dorms, everything. And he reminded me of what happened to…to someone I knew. I think he had them committed. But I don’t think they—I don’t think they were sick.”
Damian rumbled on the other end of the phone. “Do you have anyone you feel safe trying to reach right now, physically?”
“In Seoul? No. I don’t know who to trust. Mostly because I don’t know why things are happening the way they are happening. Yohei is back at home in Gunma. The other three are south and home for New Year’s. I don’t want to fuck things up for them. Bak says…he says I owe him money. Not him, his company through another company. And I have a contract…I don’t even know who owns my contract, DaSu. How can I have a contract and not know who the contract is with? Every lawyer refuses to even look at my questions. I just don’t understand it. Any of it.”
More tears slipped down Jun’s face. He pressed his cheekbones against his knees, trying to dry them. It helped, but his pants were still wet from the winter rain.
“Jun.” Damian sounded concerned but firm. There were sounds of heavy footsteps on his end of the line.
“Yes?”
“I’m getting on the first flight out of O’Hare. While I’m driving to the airport, I’ll make some calls. We’ll get answers. I can probably have someone I trust with you in two to three hours. It just depends on who answers their phone in the middle of the night. Let’s try to get you a hotel room.”
Jun shook his head. “I can’t check into a hotel without an ID, not without someone recognizing me, unless you know someone who can get me past the front desk. An alarm went off as I left. He’s probably called the police. They’ll…they’ll help him.”
“Forget hotels. You can stay with me.”
Jun flinched. He lifted his head. The woman from the cash register stood right in front of him, speaking perfect English.
He blinked. Fuck. How much had she heard and understood? He pushed himself up and stood to face her. “Nuna, you really don’t want to be more involved. You’d piss off a lot of powerful people.”
She snorted. “I’ve already pissed off some powerful people.” She twirled her finger to take in the shop. “Why else do you think I’m working here in the middle of the night when I have a degree from SKY?”
Jun absorbed that. SKY was a top-ranked university in Seoul. She should have graduated with significantly better prospects.
“Who is that?” Damian asked.
“The shop lady,” Jun answered, still staring at her. “She’s offering me to stay with her.”
“Does she already know who you are?”
“Yes.”
“Ask her what she wants in exchange.”
Jun framed the question.
She raised her eyebrows, insulted. “To fuck them over. They want you to sleep with someone, yes?”
Jun nodded, his cheeks burning.
Her lip twisted in an ugly sneer. “Yeah, you can stay with me. Fuck ’em. I get off in a few hours. You can stay behind the counter until we leave, and then we can go back to my flat. It’s just me until after New Year’s. My roommates went home for the holiday.”
Damian
The cold that had wrapped around Damian the moment he heard Jun’s voice on the other end of the call settled into his bones, leaving his mind clear. Extraneous things fell away. He was already walking toward his room to grab what he needed to travel.
