“Hey, wake up! It’s your turn.”

He coughed as water splashed onto his face. His hands were chained to the walls on both sides of him, causing him to sway from the force of the bucket of water. Forcing his eyes open, he squinted at the man in front of him. The single lightbulb in the basement flickered as it was , and he closed his eyes again at the sudden brightness, after countless days of living in the dark.

The man that threw the bucket of water stepped aside, revealing a much shorter woman. He couldn’t see her face clearly, but her eyes stood out to him. They were completely emotionless.

He frowned. He knew he remembered warmth in those eyes… or did he dream that up? Averting his eyes, he stared at the patterns of the concrete floor.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to summon his powers. He could feel the energy in his clenched fists. With a shout, he released it. He could feel the energy bursting out of him, but nothing happened.

Panicking, he looked at his hands, expecting to see his powers, but there was nothing.

Another bucket of water was thrown at him, and he gasped for air amongst the rush of water. He averted his eyes back to the patterns on the floor.

However, the patterns began to smoothen out and disappear. The floor began to turn from dirty grey to a pristine white. He looked up in alarm, and the woman and the man were no more. In their place stood two women with red visors covering their faces.

Instant fear coursed through him as he recognised them.

He was back in the Facility.

He struggled against his restraints, vaguely noting that instead of chains he was now strapped to a bed. Someone was screaming violently. The screams were desperate and pained, and it took him a moment to realise they were his.

The visored women didn’t even react to his screams, as they came closer. One of them was holding a syringe.

“No… no…” he whispered, pulling at his restraints once more.

He could feel the bile rising in his throat at the swirling green liquid.

“Don’t wipe me, please,” he begged, voice hoarse. “Please, I’ll do anything.”

The women stopped suddenly. One of them lifted her visor, and he recognised her as the woman with emotionless eyes. He frowned. Why was she at the Facility?

“If we don’t wipe you, will you comply?” she asked in a soft voice.

He nodded his head fervently. “Anything. I’ll do anything.”

“Very well.”

She lifted a hand and gently swiped it down his face, causing his eyelids to close.

In the instant, he suddenly saw a flash of images of his friends, big smiles on their faces as they cheered him on. “Hang in there man, you’ll be fine!” One of them said, giving an eye smile. He grinned widely and nodded in assurance

When it opened his eyes, it was gone. He found himself in a caged arena. The woman with emotionless eyes stood across of him in the audience, behind the bars he was trapped him. She gave him a nod.

The audience began to roar as the door in front of him opened, and out came a burly man with a sinister grin and a metal collar around his neck. He followed the chain leash of the collar with his eyes, but he couldn’t see it beyond the darkness of the room the collared man came from. The door shut with a bang. At the same time, the handle of the leash fell onto the ground next to him, giving the collared man free to move about.

The collared man growled menacingly.

His eyes narrowed at the man, now his opponent, and he shifted into a fighting stance.

A gong resonated ominously.

The fight had begun.  

-

So apparently Amber’s family is ing rich, Krystal thought as she stared up at the mansion, luggage in hand.

Amber cackled as she threw her hands up, waving them around wildly. “Welcome to the Liu Family’s Korea home. How do you like it?”

“I take it back,” Sehun gulped, eyes wide as saucers as he took in the scale of the place. “I take every mean thing I've said about you back, Amber. You are a goddess sent from heaven to bless us with your presence.”

“That’s true,” Amber shrugged, patting Sehun’s back. “But I’m still not going to be your non-ual sugar mummy.”

Sehun’s awed expression immediately fell, and he pushed Amber’s hand off his back. “In that case, you can keep being a llama-faced pig.”

Krystal shook her head at their interaction, pointing to the large gates. “Are we going in, or what?”

“Ah, right!” Amber fumbled with a card key, holding it to the reader. The massive white iron gates opened inwards, and Amber pranced in while Sehun and Krystal followed slowly.

The driveway, although rather short, was wide, able to fit multiple cars at once. The mansion looked even bigger up close, a modern and minimalistic design with white as the main colour. With her fingerprint, Amber unlocked the front door, pushing it open with a flourish.

“Welcome, welcome,” she announced, her voice echoing around the empty living room. The living room was so large Krystal didn't think she could even finish exploring, and there were a flight of spiral stairs leading upwards.

“This looks like the set of a drama…” Krystal mumbled to herself. “How do you guys even keep in clean?”

“Oh, there are attendants that come to clean it up a few times a month,” Amber explained with a wave of her hand, as if it was no big deal.

Shaking her head, Krystal followed Amber’s lead as they ascended the stairs. There was a secondary lounge area on the second floor, and they were greeted by Kai, Suho, Chen, and Yixing.

“Hey! You guys made it!” Amber cheered.

“Are you sure this is your house? You’re not breaking into some millionaire’s vacation home, are you?” Chen asked, suspicion strongly laced in his voice.

Amber rolled her eyes. “It’s my vacation home, you peasants.”

“We really are peasants…” Yixing commented, shaking his head.

“While you guys were taking the plane here, we did some exploring…” Suho began, “there are probably… 10? rooms in this place, so we kind of took one each…” he sounded a little guilty as he said it. “We left the master bedroom alone though! We thought you’d want it, Amber.”

“The master bedroom is bigger than our apartment,” Chen shuddered. “Amber, you are now my queen and I pledge to be of your service!” he declared. He ran up to Amber and kneeled on one knee, raising an arm in front of him.

Amber laughed and pretended to knight him.

Krystal smiled at their antics, looking around once more. “Which room should I take?”

“Oh! You should take the room next to mine!” Amber said, pushing her down the right hallway. “Obviously I’m taking the master bedroom, but the room beside mine is pretty big too!”

As the two girls ventured down the hallway, Kai nudged Sehun.

“What?” Sehun raised a brow.

Kai looked at him with wide, curious eyes. “Is bubble tea really that profitable?”

-

A knock on her door caused her to look up from unpacking. Kai hovered by the door, a hesitant expression on his face.

“What’s up?” Krystal asked, beckoning him into the room.

Scratching the back of his neck, he entered the large room, coming to a stop in front of her. He sighed. “I seem to be making all the wrong decisions. Evidently you didn't appreciate my decision to leave you.”

Krystal’s eyebrows furrowed. “You did what you thought was best at the moment,” she comforted him. “I don't blame you.”

“I—I’m sorry,” he buried his face into his palms. “I just—I care about you, Krystal. You’re the first person outside of the boys that I’ve actually gotten to know. I don't want to mess this up, but it seems to be the only thing I’m doing.”

She bit her lip, unsure of how to respond.

“I think I know what this feeling is,” he continued, staring at the floor. “I—I like you.”

Krystal bit her lip harder. “Jongin, I…”

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