Dare couldn’t sleep. She kept on staring at the ceiling. Moments later, she heard Bom’s light snore beside her. Also, she heard Taeyang’s loud snore from the next room.

“I wonder what Jiyong’s surprise to me is,” she said, recalling what Jiyong told her when he called her a while ago. “I miss Jiyong already,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

Later…

“Dara! Dara! Wake up!” a familiar voice kept on calling.

She slowly opened her eyes. She saw Seunghyun with his arms outstretched. She followed his arms and realized that he was tied up. He was shirtless and his body was covered all over with wounds. His face too, he’s almost unrecognizable.

“Thank goodness you’re awake! Hurry! Escape!”

“Escape?” Dara wondered. She tried to move her arms. She tried to take a step forward but she realized that she too was tied on post.

“Seunghyun!” Dara called and looked up. But he saw Seunghyun’s motionless body on the ground. “Seunghyun! Wake up! Get up!” then she felt her eyes drop.

When she opened them, the scene repeated. It repeated several times that Dara lost count.

After a while, she jolted awake. She panted as if she was running. “Thank goodness it was just a dream,” she said. She looked at her empty side. “Bom?”

She looked at the clock and it was just 5 in the morning. She went downstairs and saw Bom and Taeyang on the living room.

“Oh, you’re up early. I was wondering why I was alone on the bed,” Dara said. Realizing that the two just stared at her silently, she became anxious. “What’s wrong? Is there a particular reason why you’re up early?”

Bom nodded and handed her a paper. She read it.

                Your dear Seunghyun is with us. Come to XXX Warehouse at Suwon. Don’t you dare come with the police. We’ll know. If you don’t come alone, we’ll be sure to hurt your loved ones one by one.

Dara’s hand trembled. She stared at Bom and Taeyang. “Who sent this?”

“There was no return address,” Taeyang said.

“What should we do?” Bom asked, scared.

Dara’s mind was wild. She knew who did this. It was Chaerin. There’s no mistake to it. “I’m going,” Dara said.

Bom and Taeyang were too taken aback to react immediately. Besides, Dara was too fast. She rushed outside the cold winter morning wearing only her pajamas. She didn’t even notice that she was actually barefooted. She didn’t even hear Taeyang and Bom calling out her name. Her eyes were now welling with tears. Then, her vision became blurry and everything went black.

Dara’s sound sleep was disturbed when firecrackers were tossed into the air. The whole Seoul was already celebrating. She stared at the clock; it was already seven in the evening. She sat up, trying to remember why she was asleep. She felt that there was something to remember. Suddenly, she remembered her dream.

“Seunghyun!” she gasped. She sat on the floor and leaned her folded arms on the edge of her bed and cried.

Later, she heard unusual rustling outside of her window. She stood up and cautiously walked towards her window.

“Jiyong!” Dara gasped.

Jiyong was covered with scratches on his face and some bruises.

“What are you doing here?” she asked while hugging him. “You realized that my room is on the second floor right? Did you just climb that tree to arrive here?”

Jiyong just hugged her.

“What happened to you?” Dara asked, leaning away, examining the wounds on his face.

“I heard about Seunghyun. And I looked for him. I received a letter saying that they kidnapped him. I knew you were worrying so I looked for him. But then, on my way, I met Chaerin’s men and they beat me up.”

Dara hugged him again and hit him hard. “You’re so reckless! How could you do that and put yourself in danger? Stupid!”

“I knew you were worried,” Jiyong just said. He leaned away and headed to the window.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going back,” Jiyong said, half of his body already outside of her window.

“No, stay here. Let’s look for Seunghyun together,” Dara offered.

“I can’t put you in danger,” Jiyong just said and went outside through the tree.

Jiyong was already running away when Dara approached the window and stared at his running figure. “Please come back soon,” Dara whispered.

Bom called for her on the door. “Are you awake now? What are you doing by the window? You’re letting the cold winter air enter your room.”

Dara hesitated what to say. She wanted to tell her about Jiyong paying her a visit, but something stops her.

Bom put her hand on Dara’s forehead. “You still got fever. Lie down and sleep more,” Bom ordered.

“How about you and Taeyang?” Dara asked.

“We’ll be waiting for news. I think they’re going to send another letter or give us a call. We didn’t call the police just yet,” Bom paused. “Anyway, don’t worry. Just sleep. Your fever’s too high.”

Even though Dara didn’t want to, once she closed her eyes, she fell asleep. And it was as she expected, the nightmare about Seunghyun came again. Every shuddering scene was repeating itself right before Dara’s eyes. She wants to wake up but it was as if her eyes were locked. She just wants to escape from the torture that the nightmare is giving her. She’s afraid that whatever is in her dream is what is actually happening to Seunghyun at this very moment. With this in mind, she shouted Seunghyun’s name repeatedly. Through her closed eyes, she felt hot tears rolling down.

It was a long night for Dara. Finally, she was able to open her eyes. She found herself sitting up and hugging someone. She leaned back and found Seunghyun smiling at her.

“What are you doing here?” Dara asked, shocked.

“Seunghyun!” Bom squealed. “Are you alright?”

“Weren’t you kidnapped? Your face… it’s spotless,” Taeyang said.

“I wasn’t kidnapped,” Seunghyun just said.

“Dara! Come on! Celebrate with us!” Bom called.

“Yeah, what are you doing there pacing back and forth?” Taeyang asked.

She stopped and faced them. “Jiyong… he left to rescue Seunghyun for me.”

“What?!” Bom gasped. “How did you know that?”

“I didn’t tell you but a while ago, he visited me and told me he’ll save Seunghyun.”

“Oh no,” Bom said, dropping to the couch.

Dara went to the door. “I’m going to save him.”

As she opened the door, she was surprised to see a girl who looked like she has been hesitating to knock on their door. “Sohee?”

“Jiyong’s in danger,” Sohee later said.

Dara stood up but Seunghyun caught her wrist and let her sit back.

“I was at Chaerin’s party and it just ended. But a while back, I overheard Chaerin’s conversation with two other girls. Chaerin was telling them their plan on kidnapping and torturing Jiyong. It looked like Chaerin changed her feelings for him. She just became angry at him all of a sudden.”

“Did she mention any place?” Seunghyun interrogated.

Sohee was thoughtful. “If I wasn’t mistaken, she mentioned a warehouse called Haewon Chemicals Warehouse at Gyeonggi-do Province.”

“Hold on tight, Dara, I’m accelerating,” Taeyang told her.

A while ago, after Sohee told them the address, they all jumped after hearing the loud slam of the door. Seunghyun was shocked to see the seat beside him empty. Dara was lost. She rushed outside without warning. Everyone panicked. She was being reckless. She’ll put herself in danger. Fortunately, Taeyang was fast enough to decide to go out and follow her. He volunteered to go with her.

Dara was holding her tears too much already. She closed her eyes and gripped tighter on Taeyang’s coat. She was silently praying that Jiyong was safe. Right now, what she wants is his safety. She doesn’t care about her safety anymore.

They were now on the highway now. Since it’s the middle of the night, there were no cars driving. However, there was one hindrance, the fog started to become thicker. Taeyang tried his hardest to see though the thick fog. However, the unexpected happened. A pair of headlights was approaching them from the blind curve. The glare blocked Taeyang’s vision and he lost balance.

The impact was too strong brought by the crash of the car and the motorbike that when Dara struggled to open her eyes to check on how Taeyang is, she still took time to look for him. It turned out that he was a few feet from her. She tried to stand but couldn’t. She crawled towards him instead. When she reached him, he shook him awake. She smelled blood. All she thought, it was from Taeyang. But she felt hot blood gushing down her face from her head. She was surprised to see her own blood. She sat up to look for the one who bumped them. From afar, she saw the car with its headlight still on and the door on the driver’s seat open.

“Help… help…” she called in a weak voice.

Instead of a help though, a handkerchief covered . She struggled to get free but started to feel dizzy. Then, everything went black.

“Dara… Dara… are you awake now?” a familiar voice said.

Dara opened her eyes, but she wasn’t surprised of what she saw now. She’s having the same nightmare again. She blinked many times to fix her blurry vision. Strange, when she’s having this nightmare, she’s always having a clear vision. This time’s different. When her vision was clearer, she realized how real the surroundings this time. It looked like she was in a warehouse and it reeked with strange smell.

“Dara…”

Dara looked up. “Jiyong?” she whispered. He was a few feet away from her. He’s tied up with his arms outstretched to two different directions. He was shirtless and his face had bruises and blood. His body too. He was almost unrecognizable. He looked like how Seunghyun looked like in her dream. She tried to run towards him when she realized she was tied to a post.

“I’m glad you’re awake now,” Jiyong said, a smile forming on his lips, though it took him all his strength just to smile.

“Why are you smiling like that?!” Dara burst out.

Jiyong hushed her. “You’ll wake them. Try to escape, there’s a-“

“Oh, wow. Our missy is finally awake,” a guy said from her right.

She looked at him. He had a scar on his right face which added to his scary look. Dara shuddered. She felt scared.

“I’m sorry we have to start the Christmas party without waiting for you to wake up,” another one said. This one looked like he never showered for years, with his face covered with his dirty-looking hair.

The two guys went to Jiyong’s side. Apparently, the Christmas party they were referring to was beating him up.

“It’s just that we can’t wait any longer, you know? Your boyfriend here is acting arrogant and all. But don’t worry; we didn’t finish him… yet.  We left something to spare so that when you wake up, you’ll witness how we’ll finish him.”

The two guys went to get their respective paddles and they started to hit Jiyong.

“JIYONG!” Dara called helplessly. She started to sob. “STOP IT! STOP IT ALREADY! PLEASE!”

“Dara…” Jiyong called in between hits. “Look…ugh…away…”

Instead of following, Dara tried to free herself. Realizing that it’s useless, she turned to the two guys. “STOP IT, YOU BASTARDS! HIT ME, INSTEAD!”