It was maybe about 3 months ago. I was at a sleepover at my best friend Suzy’s house and we decided to pull a prank on my dad. He had been even more absent than usual. Thought it might loosen him up a bit.  We decided to call him and tell him I was missing. I also wanted to see his reaction and prove myself wrong. Prove that he actually does care. So Suzy called my house to ask why I wasn’t at hers yet. The maids told her I left several hours ago and Suzy began to act all panicky, saying I’ve been kidnapped. She kept on blabbing about other ridiculous things that could have happened to me, with me giggling in the background. She’s such a drama queen. You know, she wants to be an actress. When we were younger we loved pretending we were poor and it was so funny. We always…

“Can you get on with the point?” Minho interrupted. “We don’t need to hear your life story.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. I got carried away a bit.” I pleaded.

Anyway, the maids of course got freaked out, went to my dad (which we knew they would) and that’s where it got crazy.

“Crazy how?” Soohyun wondered.

“Now you’re interrupting me.” I scolded him playfully. He gave me a cute, sheepish smile which caused Minho to scowl for some reason.

Once my dad heard the news of the ‘kidnapping’, all hell let loose. He contacted everyone he knew; all the forces and his influential contacts. The whole country was looking for me.

“Didn’t you see the news?” I wondered, looking at the two guys curiously with my head tilted.

“No,” Minho barked. “Now continue.”

“Actually, I did see…” Soohyun began but stopped when Minho’s hand silenced him.

Neither Suzy nor I suspected anything until evening when we the TV and all the news had my face plastered over them. I still can’t believe they chose that picture. Out of all the ones I have, it had to be that one! Err, sorry, got carried away again. So my dad was on the news crying his heart out, begging to give me back. He looked so heartbroken. He was saying how he would give anything to have me back safe. Anything. He looked so sincere. I’ve never seen him like that. He never cries and wouldn’t show his weak side to anyone. And there he was pouring his fatherly heart out, and I couldn’t help it. I cried because of him for the first time. But not in a bad way. I vowed to never let him get to me but this, this was different. He loves me, I thought, still cares about me even though he doesn’t show it.

I raced home as fast as I could, to my wonderful, loving father. Oh how I longed to get back to him, hug him tight and apologise, but I guess my fantasies were short lived. The front gate to my house was full of journalists and photographers so I had to go through the back door to the kitchen. All the staff were freaked when they saw me, it was hilarious. They were running around screaming their heads off. All the noise caused dad to come into the room to see what was wrong. He stopped as soon as he saw me; it was like everyone around us disappeared… oh wait, that was because everyone actually did leave… never mind. I was so happy that I ran to him ready to jump into his arms when he put his hands out and stopped me by the shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“What do you mean? I can home!” I answered. “I rushed back as soon as I saw the news.”

I tried to hug him again, thinking it’s just the shock, but he stepped away and started pacing the kitchen. “This isn’t good.” He mumbled. “This could ruin everything!” I jumped back slightly as his voice boomed over me. “Why did they let you go?” he finally turned to me.

“Actually,” I started, “I wasn’t kidnapped.” I stilled, waiting for his reaction. It came a few antagonising seconds later.

“What?” A bit of spit came from his mouth and landed on my cheek. I wanted to rub it off but thought against it. He is the worst when he is angry and it is better not to do anything to provoke him.

“It wasn’t… it was…” I stuttered, not knowing how to tell him.

“Stop your mumbling,” He growled, “you know how I hate it.”

I took a deep breath, willing my voice not to shake. “It was just a joke. I didn’t think it would become this serious.”

“Do you ever think?” he asked, finally turning to face me. “Is that how I raised you?”

You didn’t, I thought, other people have done that job for you.

“My company got so many pity investments when they found out my daughter was kidnapped. Now they are going to withdraw all of it, thinking it was a scheme of mine to get money out of them, making me the bad guy in all of this. And I hate being made a fool off.” He spat.

“Were you even worried about me?” I couldn’t stop myself blurting this out, but it came out much weaker than I planned. I already knew the answer, but the tiniest bit of hope still surged in me. It was all gone in a second though when he answered.

“Of course I wasn’t worried.” He spat. “Anyone who knows you’re my daughter wouldn’t dare mess with me.” My eyes brimmed with tears, and it took all the strength I had in me to make sure they didn’t spill. Not for this person. Not ever again.

“You shall go away for a couple more days. I will withdraw some money from the bank and replace it somewhere else so as people think I paid off for you, then we are going to have a happy father and daughter reunion, understood?” I barely had the power to nod in response. I had never felt so defeated in my life.

“At least I didn’t spend any unnecessary money.” He joked but it went right past me. I didn’t feel like laughing. This was even worse than before. I filled myself with false hope and now my heart was breaking twice as hard. Before, I was ready for disappointment, but this time the blow is too hard. The fact that money was more important than me, well, I guess it was to be expected.

“Wow.” Soohyun muttered. “Your dad is an .” I looked up from my hands, startled. I didn’t realise I actually told them so much.

“Now you know why he won’t believe this again.” I said, feeling a little shy as the two men now know my tragic story. “I was on my way to my friend’s house when you ‘took’ me, so he’ll think it’s just another stupid prank and that I am wasting his time.”

Soohyun moved to sit next to me on the plush sofa, draping one arm over my shoulders and rubbing it softly for comfort while his other hand gripped my right one. “I’m sorry if we’ve made it harder for you. Your life at home is going to be even worse when you go back.” He smiled sympathetically. I was very aware that he was very close to me. Male attention wasn’t something I was used to, and he was giving lots of it to me.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, coughing a little to gain more energy in my voice. “This is a nice change of scenery. Plus it is nice knowing my father hasn’t got a clue what is really going on.” I smiled at that. Father was a total control freak, when he finds out he misjudged the situation, he is going to be mad.

Soohyun gave out a laugh. “That really was one long story; shall I get you a drink?” I nodded a thanks as he moved away to get it. I was slightly disappointed at the missing warmth, yet at the same time relieved that I could move more easily now. I looked at Minho who was sitting silently staring at me. I was surprised he hasn’t said anything. Slightly unnerved by his gaze, I turned away not to see him sitting back, arms crossed, his judging eyes never leaving me.

“So what do we do now?” he finally asked.

“Excuse me?” my head jerked up to him, surprised at his relaxed tone. I wasn’t sure why he would include my opinion, but I didn’t even have time to answer when Soohyun replied.

“I guess we send her home. There is nothing we can do.” He handed me a glass of orange juice and sat down next to me again. Wait… did he just say send me home? “Damn, it.” He sighed. “We really need the money. What are we going to do?” he dropped his head in his hands. He sounded so desperate, I wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how. They were good guys, and if they needed the money, it must be for something really important.

“We do nothing.” I said, surprised at my confident tone. The two of them stared at me confused. “Once my father realises I was actually kidnapped, he would do anything to get me back. He can’t afford to get his perfect family image ruined.” And I kind of like it here, but I didn’t dare say that out loud.

“You are saying we go on with the plan.” Minho stated.

We looked at each other for a while. He already knew the answer but in a way to seal the deal, I replied anyway. “Yes.”

Hey everyone, soooooo sorry for the looong wait. We had exams and all the studying definetely paid off. Now that they are over, the updates should be more frequent. Enjoy!!!