Kyuhyun stared at his reflection.  Too pale.  Too fragile.   He didn’t look like a star who belonged in the center of the lights.
That’s not who I am.
Sometimes, he wasn’t sure he’d ever really been that person.  His hands reached for the barre. He’d installed it himself.  Just gotten the mirrors positioned a few moments ago.  Right after he’d finished up the paint job.  Done it all—himself.  There was a grim pride in his own accomplishment.  He’d sweated blood and tears for this place.
The studio had taken the last of his money.  He’d put down his deposit and paid rent for a half a year.  Kyuhyun knew that opportunity—that precious six months—was his chance.  To do something.  To get his own life back.
The studio was his.  He would make it work. Only the image staring back at him in the mirror didn’t look so certain.
Kyuhyun started tapping his heel against the timber flooring, ignoring the twinge in his left calf. That twinge would soon turn to an ache, but he’d ignore that, too.  He’d grown used to ignoring pain over the years.  That was the first rule of dancing and practice.  No pain.  If your body was weak, you ignored the weakness.  You danced and continue to practice until your feet bled.  Then you went out onto the stage, and you danced some more.    His arms stretched, the beat in his mind, back straighten.  His first tap class would start in three days.  That would give him just enough time to—
The lights turned off.  Every single light shut off at once, plunging him right into total darkness.
His heels hit the hardwood floor.  The circuit breaker.  Dammit, this same problem had happened before.  Only then it had been daytime and sunlight had trickled through the windows, providing enough illumination for him to see.  Now, there was just night to deepen the darkness.
He kept his hand on the barre as he made his way to the door.  The building manager had promised him that the problem had been fixed.
This isn’t fixed. This is—
A faint rustle of sound reached his ears.  Like a shoe.  The quick press of a footstep.
Kyuhyun froze.  “Is…is someone there?” When he’d left his apartment, Siwon's men had been installing new locks and an alarm system.  One of the men had even followed him to the studio. He was supposed to be safe.
The floor squeaked.  He knew that squeak.  There was a weak spot near the front door.  Every time he came inside the studio, he stepped in that spot and the floor squeaked beneath him.   Not alone.
He stopped advancing toward the door.  Instead, he backed up, fast.   “Kyu…” A rasp of his name.  
Turning, he ran away from that rasp.  But he didn’t get far.  Hard large hands grabbed him and locked tight around his stomach.  He spun Kyuhyun around and jerked him against hard body—and those hands holding Kyuhyun so tightly hurt.
“I’ve been watching…”  The voice was still a rasp.  A terrifying rasp.  He was bigger than he was. So much bigger and stronger, and he held Kyuhyun easily when he twisted against him.    But the man hadn’t covered Kyuhyun's mouth.  His mistake.  “Help me!”  Kyuhyun screamed as loudly as he could.
Siwon's agent was outside.  He’d hear Kyuhyun. He’d—
His attacker slammed him into the mirror.  The glass cracked and shattered around Kyuhyun. His fingers pressed over his mouth, reminding Kyuhyun of a nightmare from his past that wouldn’t ever stop.
Kyuhyun's head ached where it had hit the mirror.  The wooden barre shoved into his back.  His breath blew against the shell of his ear.  “I will be the one,” he told Kyuhyun, voice low and hard.
Kyuhyun lifted his knee.  Tried to shove it into his attacker's groin, but he was already pulling back.  Even as the sound of footsteps pounded toward Kyuhyun.  Footsteps—and a light?
“Mr. Cho?”
He clung to the barre.  It seemed to be the only thing holding him up right then.  He was here. He was here.
The flashlight hit Kyuhyun in the face.  “Mr. Cho, what happened? I heard you cry for help.” It was his guard— Kangin.  He recognized his deep voice and that faint accent.  If he could have moved, Kyuhyun would have hugged that man right then.  Instead, he managed to say, “He’s here!”
That flashlight immediately swept the room, cutting through the darkness.  But finding no one.  “He?” Kangin asked Kyuhyun as he came closer.  Kangin put his arm around him.
“He’s here,” Kyuhyun said again.  Siwon had warned him, he’d told Kyuhyun… He’s dangerous. He’d been right.  If Kangin hadn’t been there, what would his attacker have done?
"Kyu?"
At that familiar, deep voice, he tensed in Kangin's arms. Siwon
The lights flooded back on at that moment, coming with a brightness that almost hurt Kyuhyun's eyes.  Siwon rushed toward him.  He pulled Kyuhyun right from Kangin.  "What the hell just happened?”
“he said someone was here.”  Kangin seemed to have just noticed the broken glass.
“Go. Search,” Siwon ordered as he pulled Kyuhyun even closer to him.  “I’ve got him.”
Pieces of the broken mirror had fallen to the floor.  They crunched beneath Siwon's expensive shoes.  Kangin hurried away from them.  When he ran away, Kyuhyun saw the gun in his hand.  His breath choked out.  Why is this happening?
Siwon's fingers slid through Kyuhyun's hair.  He growled, “Dammit, you could have a concussion.”  What Kyuhyun had was a giant knot on his head.  One that was making him dizzy and nauseous. Wait, was that a concussion?  “I’m getting you out of here.”
Before Siwnon could say anything else, he’d lifted Kyuhyun into his arms.  Siwon held him easily, as if he weighed nothing at all, and he hurried for the door.  Then they were outside.  The crisp air hit them both, Kyuhyun pushing back some of the nausea, but not doing a thing to alleviate his fear.  The fear had far too tight of a grip on him.
Siwon carried Kyuhyun toward a dark Jag.  He opened the door and sat him inside on the passenger’s seat.  “Tell me what happened.”
Kyuhyun hadn’t seen Siwon in ten years.  So why was he so ridiculously glad that the other was the one there with him?  “I was practicing… the lights went out.  I-I thought it as the breaker.  It’s gone out before and—”   Siwon caught his chin in his hand.  “When did the man come?”
Kyuhyun swallowed.  “When it went dark.  I heard the floor squeak, and I knew he was there.” he his too-dry lips.  “I tried to run, but he caught me.”
“Did he…”  Siwon's words were gritted, “what did he do to you?”
Kyuhyun's eyelids flickered as he remembered.  “He slammed my head into the mirror.  Kangin came in…before he could do anything else.”
I will be the one.
Kyuhyun's hands were shaking.  He balled them into fists in his lap.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No, I—”   “I’m taking you to the hospital,” Siwon said again, anger snapping in the words.  “You’ve got a concussion.  You need to be checked out.”
“Boss!”  Kangin rushed toward them.  “I searched the building, but no one’s there.”
Kyuhyun gaze darted down the street.  There were other buildings, a few shops nearby, but they were all closed for the night.
“Stay here.  Get back-up on the scene,” Siwon ordered Kangin.  “I want that SOB.  And we’re getting him.”
Then Siwon slammed the car door shut.  Kyuhyun watched him through the window, chill bumps rising on his skin.  Siwon leaned close to Kangin.  Whispered something that he couldn’t hear. The chill bumps got worse.  Kyuhyun felt so cold then.  So very cold.
Siwon turned away from Kangin and stalked back toward him.  The driver’s door opened.  Siwon slid inside the vehicle, and the engine growled to life.
I will be the one.  The words wouldn’t stop whispering through Kyuhyun's mind.
The car’s engine snarled to life, and the Jag shot into the night.  Kyuhyun looked back.  Kangin stood there, staring after them.  His studio was lit up, every light glowing.  And the monster who’d been in the dark—he was long gone.
But he’ll be back.
The cold sank down, penetrating all the way to Kyuhyun's bones.  
***
“Definitely concussed,” the doctor said as she shone a light into Kyuhyun's eyes.
Siwon crossed his arms over his chest.  He’d moved back so the doctor could work on Kyuhyun, but he hadn’t been about to leave the small exam room.  He wasn’t in the mood to let Kyuhyun out of his sight.
“We’ll need you to stay overnight for observation,” Dr. Denise Bond told Kyuhyun as she lowered her light.  “It’s a precaution in a situation like this—”
“No,”  Kyuhyun said, his immediate denial cutting through the doctor’s words.  “I’m going home.”
“I don’t think you realize how dangerous a concussion could be.”  The doctor spoke carefully, still in that soothing bedside manner that some docs managed so easily.  “Brain injuries are unpredictable.  Your concussion appears mild now, but what if you have a seizure in the middle of the night?  What if you fall…is there someone at your home that can help you?”
Kyuhyun's dark brown gaze darted to Siwon, then back to the doctor.  “I-I’ll be fine.”
He’ll be alone.
The doctor glanced back at Siwon.    “I’m the patient,” Kyuhyun reminded her.  Siwon rather liked the snap of anger in his voice. Before, Kyuhyun had been afraid.  He’d been shaking when Siwon first rushed inside that studio.
Kangin should have been taking better care of him.  The agent had screwed up.   No, I screwed up.  I should have kept Kyu closer.  Too much time had been wasted.
“Are you…involved with the patient?” The doctor asked Siwon, obviously trying to figure out his relationship with Kyuhyun.
He nodded.  She didn’t need to know more.  “He won’t be alone.”
Some of the tension eased from the doctor’s face.  “You’re going to need to keep him awake. Monitor him through the night.”
“Siwon…” Kyuhyun began.
“Consider it done,” Siwon state.
The doctor nodded, looking grateful.  “I’ll go prepare discharge orders.” But then she hesitated. “You will keep a close eye on him?”
“The closest possible,” Siwon promised.
The doctor hurried from the room, and Siwon headed toward the exam table.  He locked eyes with Kyuhyun.  Forgot about the doctor.  “This is the way it will play out.  You come with me, or you spend the night here.”
Bright spots of color stained Kyuhyun's cheeks.  “I’ve been inside hospitals long enough.  After the accident, I had weeks of therapy.  I can’t stay here.”
Siwon's hands pressed into the exam table on either side of him.  “Then you’re coming with me.”  Kyuhyun's been the one to walk into his office.  To return to him.  He wasn’t about back away now.
"He’s accelerated,” Siwon told Kyuhyun as he leaned in close.  The room smelled like antiseptic, but he smelled of sweet lemon honey and vanilla.  Siwon was close enough to see the gold in his eyes.  “He snuck past my guard.  He got to you.  He hurt you.”  Siwon barely held back his fury. “I’m not leaving you on your own until that SOB is off the streets.”
A knock sounded at the door then.  He glanced over his shoulder.
“This is Detective Kim Yesung!”  A voice called.  “Kyuhyun, I need to talk with you.”
Siwon’s eyes narrowed.  He’d been wondering when the local boys in blue would be showing up.
“He’s the one who’s been handling my case,”  Kyuhyun murmured.  “The doctors…they must have called the police in.”
“You were assaulted.” Siwon knew the notification would have been standard protocol.
“I guess he has to believe me now,” Kyuhyun said, voice tense.
Siwon gaze cut back to Kyuhyun.  Whom was clad in a one of those green paper hospital gown.  He looked so fragile sitting on that table.  His eyes were huge.   Those hair a dark curtain around Kyuhyun's forehead.   “Kyuhyun!” The detective called again.  And, before Kyuhyun could respond, the guy began to open the door.
Siwon moved quickly so that when the door opened, he was right in the cop’s path.  Kim Yesung jerked to a halt when he saw Siwon.  “Who the hell are you?”
Siwon’s brows rose as he studied the detective.  In his early thirties, light blond hair, fit, and with a dark stare that heated a little too much when it peered over Siwon's shoulder and focused on Kyuhyun.  The guy immediately put Siwon on edge.  “I’m Kyuhyun's friend,” he said simply, but Siwon knew the other man would hear the note of possessiveness that roughened his voice.
Yesung stepped around him.  Seemed to focus totally on Kyuhyun.  “Are you all right?”   Kyuhyun's smile was forced.  It barely lifted his lips.  “Just a bump on the head.  I’ll be fine.”
Then the detective actually reached out to Kyuhyun and curled his hand around his.  Siwon tensed.  What the hell kind of police work was that?  The detective was far too cozy with Kyuhyun, especially for a guy who hadn’t believed his story about a stalker.
“The attack changes things,”  Yesung told Kyuhyun as his fingers skimmed over his knuckles. “This is an assault.  I can get a team at—”
“My team is already at the studio,” Siwon said as he returned to Kyuhyun's side.  The detective was still holding his hand.  Still staring at Kyuhyun with far too much interest.  Still pissing Siwon off to an alarming degree.  “But your officers are certainly welcome to join the hunt.”
“Your team?” Yesung repeated as his brow furrowed.  Then his stare—a muddy black—was back on Siwon.  “I didn’t catch your name.”
Because Siwon hadn’t thrown it.  He did now, with pleasure.  “Choi Siwon.”  Deliberately, he took Kyuhyun's hand from the detective.
Yesung backed up a step.  “Choi Securities?”
“Yes.”
Yesung whistled and glanced back at Kyuhyun.  “You hired him to keep you safe?”  Bef