Lines Crossed - Volume 1 Chapter 61 This World

“So, you just want me to drop my life and follow you wherever you go, move in with you, stay by your side twenty-four-seven?”

“Just like that?”

“Mmmm”

“Yes, just like that.”

“You are an illegal immigrant, the job you have here, what is it?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Whose house are you living in? Where are the original occupants”

“What money have you used all this time? If you don’t have a name, then you don’t have a signature seal, and if you don’t have a seal, you can’t have a bank account.”

“If you don’t have a bank account, you can’t have been getting paid anything but cash. Yet, I don’t see a large wallet anywhere with you. In fact, I remember a card sitting on your counter in your house with a man’s name on it. The same man’s name that was on the house deed. All of these things are things I could ask, but instead, you are the one who keeps popping up and saving me from death.”

“Naturally, I eschew all of these to the side and have not asked all of them. You are an illegal immigrant, something tells me none of this was in your hands. So I do not blame you for what has happened. You are here now, and all those questions are irrelevant except two.” Mark paused and stepped forward slowly, I backed up with each step he took, and my heart ached inside my chest.

He raised an eyebrow, and I waited for the two questions I knew he would ask. The ones that were at the tip of my own mind, painfully obvious, like a missing piece in a completed puzzle. The end glaringly close and in sight, but yet with no possible good outcome to be had from it.

“Just”

“How”

“Do”

“You”

“Know”

“When”

“I”

“Am”

“Going”

“To”

“Die”

He stopped his carefully measured steps forward, the ones he had taken to punctuate each word and paused. His eyes stared fiercely into my own as if he could draw out the answers he wanted from there if only he stared hard enough.

I gulped his entire aura intimidating me into a corner of self reflection.

“I can’t tell you that,” I answered meekly.

“Uh, huh,…”

“And how did you get here?”

I gulped again and looked down at the floor.

“I I can’t tell you that either.”

“Are you aware that this job is so that I can keep you close when your special talent appears.” He asked his tone sharp and demanding.

“Yes, I know”

“And did you also know that this job is also my way of making sure you can’t disappear again?”

I looked up at him at that revelation.

It wasn’t shocking, I knew it already, I just didn’t expect him to be so open about his motives.

He watched me carefully, and his gaze was frozen onto my own like a bird honed in on its prey.

My whole world froze to a small slit, each moment a reminder to breathe, to think, and do not panic. The moment I blinked was the moment he won.

‘He can’t figure out he isn’t real, he can’t figure out he is just a construct of my own mind.’

‘Nothing about me has ever given that away.’

‘Whatever you do, he can’t find out’

Something echoed in my mind like a bad memory that made my body shake with unbridled fear I couldn’t explain.

‘Use a smaller lie to cover for a bigger one. Because you are more comfortable when telling white lies to people than when you are having to change someones life.’

‘Why, Mina? Why not just tell him? It’s not like you will shatter the world if you do.’

‘What’s the worst that can happen if you do? He already thinks you are a lunatic, he humored you when you said that you could see the future. Why not just throw out the truth? Then he can laugh, then he can scoff in your face, call you crazy and let you go.’

‘What would be so bad about that?’

‘So, he will think you are nuts.’

‘It’s not like anything here matters.’

‘But if you tell him, then you still can’t leave.’

‘He will simply lock you up.’

‘Is this how Alice felt when she went through the rabbit hole? Was she scared too?’

‘Did she have questions?’

‘What if I never go back’

‘What if today is every day of the rest of my life.’

“You can’t even think of running away; because I have your entire existence here in the palm of my hand, and on my word Jaemin can find you.”

“Anywhere you go”

I gulped and jutted my chin forward at his threat.

“Illegal immigrants are still people too, you know. I have rights.” I stated, firmly looking at him square in the eyes, reminding myself not to give in.

“Having you work for me. It’s my way to keep you here in front of me.”

“With no escape.”

I glared up at him, finally blinking, unable to keep my eyes open for a moment longer if I didn’t want to start to tear up in front of him.

“Oh, yeah. Well, what if I just tell you then?”

“Will you still be crazy enough to keep me here?” Mark pressed himself against me, his eyes going dark and stormy. I whimpered as my body slammed into the wall loudly. Jaemin burst through the door immediately on an alert, his gun was drawn from its holster.

Mark held out a hand.

His face looked like a thousand daggers, the demanding desire to know what was going on. And the ready alert for betrayal.

Jaemin observed the situation.

‘So you have wounds as deep as mine? So someone close to you, hurt you too?’ I sighed, taking slow, shallow breaths.

“Can I trust you?” I asked.

“Now?” He looked at me surprised.

“You are going to tell me how you know? Just like that.” He hissed, his face showed his distrust in me.

“What would happen if I told you? Would you believe the words I am saying, Mark?” I asked softly, my voice was almost a whisper.

He seemed to sense how upset and tense I was. How fearful, and maybe even on the edge of my own sanity, I was because his face softened.

‘You have never been good at lying Mina, maybe just one half truth and a lie… Maybe that is safe enough.’

“Maybe I would.”

“If your words were sincere.” Mark responded.

“What if they were sincere? But just too unbelievable.”

“Would you still be asking me to be by your side here, anyway?”

“If they were sincere.” he affirmed.

“If you told me anything with the right intentions. Then.” He paused.

“Then?” I asked.

“I would feel content because it answers some of my own questions about you. But I think I would be excited too, and maybe happy depending on the information given.”

I blinked up at him, my eyelashes fluttering against the edge of my cheeks in surprise.

“Happy? And Excited?”

“Mmm Yes.”

“Because we have a connection. A fated destiny. I can feel it every time I am with you. And if I could never trust you and yet had to keep you close. I would feel hurt and sad at the same time.”

“I have enough enemies on my own I don’t need to collect them and start keeping them close to.”

“So it would be nice, I would like it if you were honest with me.” He pleaded his voice going soft and sweet in an instant, almost melting for me.

“I..” I faltered, unsure what to say.

“Even if I told you I am not from this place.”

“Not Korea specifically, but that I am not from your world at all.”