“It was you wasn’t it?” I’m staring, shocked, at Himchan.  I don’t know what he’s asking me about, but the rage and pain in his eyes has me shrinking back to the wall. I suddenly get the feeling that I won’t be alive long enough for the Roses to rescue me.  “Answer me!” His rage burns through me as he speaks.  Our eyes are locked, and though afraid, I am once again mesmerized by his intense eyes.  I can’t even answer him; even if I knew what he was asking me about, I can’t seem to find my voice. 

     “Himchan!” Zelo’s voice reaches me pulling me back to the room and out of Himchan’s gaze.  It’s only been seconds since Himchan entered the room and me upon the wall.  It’s felt like much longer, like a moment totally frozen in time. Two sets of hands reach Himchan, and there’s a struggle between the three men.  Himchan has to release me as he is forced backwards by Zelo and Daehyun.

     “Let me go!” Himchan snarls through gritted teeth as he resists his restraint.  “It’s her, I know it is!”

     “Himchan, calm down,” Daehyun tries to reason with him, “you’ve already had your revenge and it cost us! Don’t make it worse.”

     “Shut up!” Himchan growls as he breaks free of the other two men, and once again rushes towards me.  This time however, he doesn’t lay a hand on me.  Instead he has me pinned to the wall simply by having both hands pressed to the wall on either side of my head.  His body is pressed completely up against mine and the tips of our noses are touching.  Aggression is radiating off of every fiber of his being.

     “Just answer me.  Are you the Gilded Rose?” He manages to spit out.  Zelo and Daehyun try to pull him away, but he simply shrugs them off.  I don’t know if I’m simply too scared to lie, or if his hypnotizing eyes pry it out of me, but I find myself answering Himchan honestly with a breathless: “yes.”  With that Himchan releases a low, pain filled growl, before he pulls away leaving the room just as quickly as he had come. 

     In most hostage situations I would not show this kind of weakness, but I am too rattled by Himchan’s actions. And secretly I have come to trust Zelo and Daehyun –just as I trust Youngjae and Jongup –so I feel no shame in my next actions.  I slump to the floor right where I am.  My eyes glaze over as I stare at a ubiquitous spot on the floor. What the hell was that? What could I have done under the name of the Gilded Rose that would cause him to be like that? What did Daehyun mean by revenge?  I try to think back to some of my kills.  I rarely killed if I could avoid it.  I always took my position in the Roses as a place to save lives, not take them.

     A gentle hand on my knee snaps me back to my current situation.  That hand then begins to roam as it brushes over my stomach.  Another hand finds one of my arms and lifts it while a third hand brushes down my side. What the hell are these two doing? I panic in my mentally weakened state.