A silver Camry was coming straight at Veggie.

It was going to hit him.

She sprinted towards him with all her might, no longer bothering to traffic-police the cars.

The Camry came close.

Five feet, three feet, two, one, half a foot-

Byul took a leap in the middle of her dash. She hurled herself towards Veggie, arms spread open.

She felt the cold, dull impact of concrete.

* * *

Something warm was on Byul’s face. Warm, and wet. She felt hot breath.

“Arf!”

Veggie was licking Byul all over her face, tail wagging.

Byul shot up, eyes wide.

“Ow!”

She immediately laid back down. There was blood going down her left shoulder where she had scraped against concrete. Her arms and legs were already sore. But it didn’t matter.

Veggie was safe.

Tears in her eyes, Byul embraced her Golden Retriever puppy.

“Veggie!”

“Woof!”

Veggie climbed on top of her and parked his chubby bum on her laps. This was his spot, and it was exactly where Byul wanted him.

“You little troublemaker! I was so worried!”

She squeezed Veggie tightly and didn’t let go. Tears were streaming from her eyes. She was crying so hard that she had a hard time breathing. Clueless, Veggie kept on barking at her and wiggled to break free. He thought it was play time.

The Camry that was racing towards Veggie had emergency-braked in the nick of time. The car behind the Camry had rammed into it from an angle, not able to swerve or brake fast enough. The collision drove both cars into the next lane. There were charcoal skid marks going through the two lanes.

The drivers were stumbling out of their vehicles. One of them scowled at Byul and approached her.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

The other driver put his hand on his neck and faked an injury.

“I can’t! I can’t move my neck! It’s broken!”

Even the drivers behind them parked their cars where they were and came outside to express their anger.

“Dumb b*tch!”

“If you’re gonna die, die by yourself!”

“Some of us have places to be!”

“This is why we shouldn’t let women drive.”

They grumbled towards her and Veggie, spitting gross phlegm onto the street.

“Girlie! What are you doing, so embarassing!”

Even Kat yelled at Byul from behind.

Byul wasn’t hearing any of it. Veggie was safe, sound, and in one piece. She could feel his weight on her laps. The 35 pounds of which she was solely responsible for. She claimed him and he claimed her.

She ran her fingers through his soft chest fur. It was warm and his heart was beating.

Nothing else mattered.

* * *

Byul flipped her hair back and turned sharply towards Kat.

“Do not. Do not. Under any circumstances. Ever. Do that again.”

She said to Kat, trying her best to sound simultaneously amicable and stern.

“I said I’m soooorrryyyyy! How many times do I have to apologize?”

Kat puckered her lips into a pout.

“He’s literally not even two years old. You have to treat him like a toddler.”

Byul said, putting her fingers on her aching temple.

“I didn’t know he was going to just jump out after the ball like that!”

“Arf!”

Barked Veggie, oblivious that the conversation topic was about him and his safety. He was a silly little baby and was excited that his mommy and her friend were both around. People made him happy.

Byul folded and gave Veggie a kiss on the forehead.

“Thank god everything worked out.”

She let out a deep sigh. The thought that she could have never been able to kiss his soft little forehead again was simply too much.

“Worked out?! You almost died!”

Kat exclaimed. It was true. Car accidents were no joke. Byul would make sure nothing that dangerous ever happened to them. With Byul holding Veggie in her arms and Kat walking behind her, the three turned a corner into a quiet, residential area.

That’s when a car rammed into Byul full speed.

She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t hear anything. There was pain like she’d never felt before.

Her entire body felt like it was being torn apart by the limbs and stitched back together without anesthesia.

It was quiet. She thought she saw Kat, but Kat soon disappeared from her view. Maybe she ran away. Maybe she fainted. Kat was always a bit feverish at the sight of blood.

‘Is this for real?”

Byul thought.

‘When I went through all that to avoid getting hit?’

She couldn’t move a finger. It was for real. It was like the air was asphalt pressing down on her. What happened to Veggie? Veggie, Veggie, Veggie, Veggie.

She desperately tried to look around for him, but her body wouldn’t budge. She perked up her ears to listen to his barks, but the buzzing in her head was too loud.

Blood was seeping into her eyes and staining her field of vision red. Ew, so this is what the scene of an accident looks like from the fallen person’s point of view. Soon, all she saw was red.

Until he came walking towards her, that is.

* * *

The man was at least 6 foot tall. He was wearing a sporty rider’s jacket with leather accents and a motorcycle helmet. He loitered over, taking his sweet time.

He threw off his helmet. A full lock of pitch black hair cascaded out.

“What is this?”

He spoke as he looked down on her. He tapped the side of her face with his foot.

“Dead fish?”

She grunted at his ludicrous behavior. What the hell was happening? Did he not understand that she’d clearly been the victim of a hit-and-run? Any sensible person would call 911. She tried to speak but only a grinding noise came out of her throat.

“You’ll die like this, you know.”

She tried to speak but only a grinding noise came out of her throat.

He squatted next to her.

“You wanna live?”

‘You think?’ She tried to say. To her dismay, the words remained inside her head.

“Use your words,” he let out a sly chuckle.

She scowled at him.

For a moment, they sat in silence. He rested his chin on his hand. She continued struggling to make a sound. He looked lazily down at her blood-splattered face.

Help me, her eyes were saying. It hurts.

His eyes narrowed in a gross, sadistic smile.

Then, he held out his foot by her lips.

“Lick it,” he said.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Lick what’s dirty off, and I’ll save you.”

He used his chin to point at the part of his boot where her blood had stained it.

* * *

The elementary school Byul attended was far from prestigious, but it was a in a sweet little neighborhood full of sweet little families. Happy-go-lucky dads dropped off their kids to school in the morning on their way to work.

“Have a good day, son!”

The men would say, rolling down the driver-side window.

Stay-at-home moms sent off their kids with lunch boxes full of egg rolls molded in the shape of hearts and ham and cheese sandwiches cut in halves.

“Share with your friends, I made plenty!”

The women would say, putting the Tupperwares in their daughters’ gaudy, princess pattered lunch bags.

Those elementary school kids had a permanent rosy glow in their cheeks and the fearlessness characteristic of those who were raised to believe that they were, indeed, the best of the best.

On days that would rain unpredictably, kids would clamor about the front entrance, waiting for their loving parents to pull up in their cars or walk up, elbows linked, with an extra-colorful umbrella in hand for their child.

Byul, age 9, stood next to them. Her parents weren’t coming, and she knew that. She had eaten water for lunch that day and spent lunchtime washing her hands in the bathroom, drying them in the air dryer, and repeating. Her stomach grumbled. She looked at the gray sky, her cheeks hollow and her eyes dark.

But she never wasted her time waiting for someone who wasn’t coming. Instead, she put her hands on her backpack strap and stepped out into the rain. She’d walk in the same exact speed she usually walked when it wasn’t raining. No running. No backpack or textbook raised above her head in a feeble attempt to keep a portion of her dry, when it wasn’t going to work anyway. She didn’t make a show.

And she never, ever asked to be in someone else’s umbrella.

She would never let fact that her parents were never coming to pick her up be her weakness. She would prove that she was fine all by herself, and didn’t need anybody’s pity.

Byul Lee was a prideful girl. And she grew up to be a prideful woman. If she were one of the seven deadly sins personified, she would be pride by far.

And fast forward a few years, here was some haughty man ordering her to lick his boot.

In exchange for her life.

To be continued...