Uki’s POV~

The next week that went by was tense. I knew that Tony was planning something, but waiting for it to actually go down was nerve wracking. I mean, there was still no way in hell that I was gonna let him know that I was actually nervous, but to know that he was up to something actually did scare me! I just wish he’d do something already! But nooooo. He was just waiting, knowing that he was driving me insane.

“What do you think they’re planning?” Alex asked me.

It was about two in the morning, and we had one of the bedrooms to ourselves since everyone else decided to either sleep in the other room or in the living room. Troy was fast asleep on the couch near the door. I sighed and rested my chin on my drawn up knees and looked straight at her. I fiddled with a hole in the comforter on my bed and shrugged my shoulders.

“I honestly have no clue. But I will say that it’s scaring the hell outta me right now,” I confessed to her.

She nodded knowingly and drew up her knees as well, staring at her bed’s plain comforter pattern. “I know. I think…I think they’re planning to split us up.” She looked up at me as she said this, her eyes wide with fear. “Uki, I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t with me. You’re the only thing that’s kept me from going insane in this place.”

I smiled sadly. “Really? ‘Cause as of right now, you’re the only thing keeping me from killing every single one of these guys.”

She looked at me. “Uki, why don’t you hit them back? I sit there and just watch you take it. That’s not like you!”

I laughed at her. “I do it for the safety of the other girls. That first night that I became the example girl, Tony warned me that if I were to fight back, they wouldn’t hit me any longer, just take it out on the other girls. I can’t do that to them.”

She shot up in frustration. “Why, Uki?! Why is it that you always put other people before yourself, even if it’s your life on the line?! Why are you sucha good person?!”

I laughed at her. “Alex, I really don’t think that’s something I can really explain. I mean…It makes sense in my head. I’d rather take all the suffering than see other people suffer, knowing that there was something I could have done to prevent it.”

“But this is your life we’re talking about here. I mean, these guys can seriously beat you to death if you’re not careful!”

I sighed and laid back on my bed, my head resting on the pillow, staring straight up at the ceiling. “I really don’t care at this point.”

Alex let out an angry breath and sat back down on the bed, her arms crossed huffily. “How can you even say that?! Donghae is sitting there waiting for you, and here you are doing nothing! You’re just letting yourself get killed!”

I looked at her and smirked. “Isn’t that the same thing as you being too scared to leave here?”

dropped and her eyes widened. The she shook her head, finally catching on. “You sneaky little…You planned this the entire time, didn’t you?”

“Ahh, you know me all too well, Alex.”

She looked straight at me, determination fired up in her eyes. Her eyes flickered to Troy’s sleeping figure for a second, making sure that he really was asleep. Then she leaned in closer to me. “Let’s do it. Tomorrow night so we’ll have more time to prepare everything.”

I smiled widely and sat straight up, giving her a mischievous look. “Finally! I’ve been waiting to hear those words for the past three weeks.”

Alex’s POV~

I couldn’t believe I’d finally said it. Finally agreed to leave. Sneaky little Uki. She knew just how to manipulate people. After we’d decided that we were leaving tomorrow, Uki and I both fell asleep. And I don’t know what it was, but this was the best sleep I’d ever gotten in my life! I just felt so refreshed and energized, like I was ready to take on the whole world all by myself. But, of course, some things were just too good to last. After about two hours of falling into a deep sleep, I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and nearly screamed when seeing Tony and his goons standing in front of me. I didn’t get to scream, though, because the moment I opened my mouth, they immediately gagged me and lifted me up out of bed.

“Don’t worry. We’re not gonna hurt you. Just have something special in mind,” Tony whispered in my ear as they tied my hands behind my back.

Oh my goodness, God, please don’t let them kill me!

Uki’s POV~

I woke up to sunlight streaming in from the open curtains. Who the…? That’s not normal. I immediately turned to the bed beside me to wake up Alex, but…There was something missing. Where was Alex…? Maybe she woke up earlier than me and was eating breakfast with the other girls. I stood up and walked outside. Even Troy was awake before me! That’s not normal either! I opened the door to find all the other girls sitting in the living room, crying. There was a significantly smaller number of girls here. What the hell was going on?!

“What’s going on? Where is everybody?” I asked slowly.

“Uki! They sold them! They sold them and Alex unnie was one of the girls!” Eun Jo yelled at me.

My blood froze.

I blinked at her. “IS THIS SOME KIND OF SICK JOKE?! WHERE’S ALEX?!”

“They sold her! They do a round of selling every couple of weeks and they sold her!” Eun Jo sobbed.

Oh.

My.

God.

I was going to kill somebody, I swear!

“TROY!” I screamed. “TROY MARCUS BURCHETT, YOU GET OUT HERE THIS INSTANT! TROY!”

“Who’s calling me?!” Troy came out of the other room, an angry look on his face. Then he saw my angry look and his face immediately paled. “U-Uki, you’re awake.”

“Don’t give me any of that! Where’s Alex?! What happened to her?!” I screamed at him, stepping toward him.

He backed up against the wall as I stood in front of him, my hands on my hips.

“Troy! Answer me!” I yelled at him when he wouldn’t say a word.

He sighed and said, “I’m really sorry! But…Tony sold her. Apparently he got a really good offer for her somewhere in downtown Hanoi. Uki, just be happy that it wasn’t you.”

“NO! ALEX IS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!” I let out a frustrated scream and began pacing angrily. “Troy, I ignored it all this time. I let it go all this time. But now that Alex is gone, I can’t ignore it any longer!”

“Ignore what?! You act as if this is all my fault!” Troy yelled at me.

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” I screamed back at him. “YOU FREAKING SET US UP! YOU THINK I WAS STUPID ENOUGH NOT TO REALIZE IT?! I JUST IGNORED IT SO I WOULDN’T CAUSE ANY UNNECESSARY TROUBLE FOR MYSELF! AND NOW LOOK HOW THINGS ENDED UP! I LOST BOTH MY FAMILY AND ALEX!”

He paused and looked at me. “You really think I set this all up?” he asked me quietly.

“Who else would have done it, huh?! Don’t you dare, for one second, try convincing me otherwise. I know it was all you.”

We stood there, him staring down at me uncertainly, me glaring up at him angrily. He opened his mouth to say something but then realized that the other girls were still there as well. He let out a frustrated breath and grabbed my arm, dragging me toward the room.

“TROY, LET ME GO!” I yelled at him, trying to break his grasp on my arm.

“Stop struggling!” he yelled, throwing me inside and shutting the door.

“Troy, let me out this instant,” I demanded, trying to get to the door, but he got in my way, his back against the door.

“Uki, hear me out!” he yelled.

“No! You can’t say anything to change my mind about you! I already know!” I yelled at him, angry tears pooling in my eyes.

First I lose Alex.

And now Troy was being a total douche.

Yeah, my life officially .

“Uki, please. It wasn’t me who planned all of this. I only came here to make sure that they didn’t kill you! I was here watching out for you,” he told me.

“Liar!” I yelled.

“Uki, I’m not lying to you! Damn it, would you just listen to yourself?! You’ll say anything to convince yourself that I’m the bad guy here but I’m really not! I love you, Uki, why would I do anything to hurt you?!”

I just stood there, crying. I really disliked the fact that I cried so much nowadays. It was a useless bodily function and I disliked it.

“Why would you do anything to hurt me?” I echoed him, my voice shaking and wavering in anger. “Why don’t you just recall that year and a half of hell you put me through? I think that’ll answer your question perfectly fine.”

“Uki, I’m sorry about the past. Really, I truly am sorry. But I swear to you that it wasn’t me who planned all this.”

I looked at his pleading eyes and realized that…He wasn’t lying. He was telling me the truth. I bit my lip and took a breath. Carefully, I said, “Then who was it?”

“It’s a long story,” he said.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and pointed to the armchair by the door. “I’ve got time.”

He sighed, sat in the armchair, and explained the whole story to me. When he was done, I was no longer crying.

I.

WAS.

PISSED.

Cliffhangers ftw(x