Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

It was such a foreign feeling for him and yet, he did not find it out of place. It was the first time that he felt it though it seemed like he was already accustomed... like it belonged to him.

He approached the door and when he opened it, the two guards who stood outside turned to his direction and before they could even utter a sound, Daniel had already struck a blow on their necks. The two guards choked on the heavy hits, gasping for air to stay sane but Daniel did not stop there – he banged their heads on the wall and they fell on the ground with a thud.

There were no apparent emotions on his face except that his stare turned dark. A look that was also not totally new on him but it was another level of a menacing Daniel, one that gave him a new ident.i.ty. If his friends and family back in Country K saw him like this, they would surely be frightened because he did not look like the Daniel that they knew.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!" Another scream echoed through the walls of the drab hallway, catching Daniel"s attention. He raised his head and followed the sound until he reached a corner where one man stood guard outside of a metal door. The man was casually playing on his phone with a smile on his face like nothing unusual was going behind the door that he was standing by.

"Take that. And this. Kya." He murmured when he was totally in the mood, not noticing that Daniel was already approaching him slowly until a shadow appeared on the floor, s.n.a.t.c.hing his attention away from his phone screen for a brief second before he continued to play. "Did you finish eating?" He asked, most probably thinking that it was one of his colleagues.

Reaching his arms around the neck of the man in one swift move, Daniel pulled him over his shoulder and slammed him onto the floor. The man groaned in pain but was silenced right away when Daniel twisted his neck that it snapped.

Continuously hearing Lucas" scream from inside the room, Daniel clenched his teeth but he made sure not to make stupid advancements that would just cause them to ruin their chance of escape.

Peering inside the room from the small grilled window on the door, he saw that Lucas was tied to a chair whilst being tortured by one man who was asking him questions about their business but Lucas did not answer anything even after earning cuts and bruises.

There were two other men inside, a total of three dirtbags including the guy beating up Lucas that Daniel wanted to crush with his hands. There were no signs of Vladimir being inside the room with them.

Breathing in, Daniel knocked on the door and stepped aside. The three men looked at each other, not knowing why there was a knock.

"What was that?" The first man asked.

"Go and check it."

Nodding, the second man headed towards the door and opened it. And the moment that he did, Daniel stealthily pulled him out of the room with brute strength and slammed his body onto the opposite hard wall. Daniel Cho lifted his knee and extended his leg in a semicircular motion all in one fluid motion, his foot hitting the man in the face before the man dropped with a loud thud, the noise calling the attention of the two men inside the room.

The two men in the room furrowed their brows when they exchanged looks, suspecting that something was going on outside.

"Let"s check it out," said one of them before they turned towards the door.

However, just as they were nearing, Daniel appeared like a phantom inside the room, catching them both off guard.

"HEY! How did you get-" The man exclaimed as Daniel dashed towards him.

"You-!"

The two of them fell flat on their faces after receiving Daniel"s calculated moves, knocking them out speedily, they did not stand a chance.

"The captive has escaped!!!" A voice was heard not far away and running footsteps were heard not long after.

They found Daniel in the room and started attacking him.

Hearing the commotion, Lucas raised his head and saw Daniel Cho moving around the room in a blur while evading a.s.saults and countering them at the same time. There were ten men in the room, charging from every side yet Daniel seemed unfazed by them as he continued his precise movements expertly.

Lucas had never seen his friend like this before. He saw the deadly look in Daniel"s eyes and felt the murderous aura radiating around him. Lucas wondered how he became like this when he wasn"t like that at all whenever they sparred before. Daniel was so fast that Lucas believed he was really born to be named Swift.

"Daniel…" Lucas whispered as he watched him take a few blows and return hits ten times in retaliation.

The fight lasted for several minutes with Daniel earning several hits here and there but he never backed down as he was very much determined to get out of that h.e.l.l hole with his friend.

Daniel stood panting in the middle of the unconscious bodies of Vladimir"s men. He had several cuts and bruises on his face and body. The cut on his brow bled and it trickled down his face but it did not bother him at all.

Dragging himself toward where his friend was tied down, he looked down at Lucas" feet when he arrived in front of him.

"I knew you"d get us out of here! What took you so long?!" Lucas played, he was ecstatic to see Daniel going to his aid.

But Daniel did not look at his friend in the eye. He could not bring himself to tell him what happened to his cousin.

"Where"s Kevin?"

Lucas" question was like a stab in Daniel"s heart. He blamed himself for not being fast enough. "Swift? Yeah right." He scoffed at himself. Ever since then, he hated being called Swift as it reminded him of Kevin. Though he never told this to anyone, he had since felt like he did not really deserve that name.

"Come on, let"s get you out of here," Daniel said as he started to untie Lucas from the chair.

"Ah, yeah. I hate this thing." Lucas casually replied, his lip was busted so his words were a bit m.u.f.fled. He failed to notice Daniel"s regretful expression.

Daniel helped him up and when they got out of the room, several men came rus.h.i.+ng towards them and together, Daniel and Lucas fought all of them.

Later, the main door blew up and in came Uncle Eddie"s underlings. They swarmed the place and captured all of Vladimir"s men.

Everything happened so fast that Daniel did not know how they got out of the place anymore.

The next day, he woke up in one of Uncle Eddie"s room in the mansion with an IV attached to him. He looked around him and saw that he was alone. Memories from the previous day flashed before him and his heart sunk when the image of Kevin was all he could see.

He closed his eyes once more, trying to get rid of it but his aching heart did not allow him to forget. He would never forget Kevin"s screams and the stupid smile his friend gave him before his last breath. Tears streamed down from his eye as regret and guilt clouded over him.

Vladimir was in hiding for a couple of days until he was found by Uncle Eddie"s men.

Standing by the window, Daniel was looking over the river outside in a daze when Lucas came inside the room.

"Brother..." Lucas said.

Without saying anything, Daniel turned around and walked past Lucas as he headed out of the room — he could no longer wait.

Daniel walked quickly until he reached a door in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Several men stood around it as if they were waiting for him. They looked at Daniel with an unreadable expression and saw him open the door and went inside. A click from the door was heard and they knew that he had locked it from the inside.

Daniel Cho was in the room with Vladimir. It was only the two of them inside and screams echoed for hours and hours when Daniel returned all that Kevin had received a hundred folds — everyone believed that Vladimir Yanovich deserved whatever happened to him.