“We’re back…” Kiko announced, exhausted. Chanyeol, D.O., and Kai received them with a wave.

 

“Took you long enough.” Hannah walked out of her room smiling, but her grin disappeared when she saw Yujin’s troubled expression. “What’s wrong? What was the emergency you told me over the phone?”

 

“We met a psycho.” Baekhyun grumbled. Sehun and Suho tensed up, looking awfully pissed.

 

“Yah, you guys are making me anxious now.” Kai said.

 

“Yeah, if I didn’t know better I would say someone died.” Chanyeol laughed nervously, but no one was in the mood for jokes. “No one died, right?” Chanyeol frowned.

 

“Of course not.” Sehun smiled ever so slightly. “But I think we should leave now, hyungs. We should all rest for tomorrows performance.”

 

“The kid is right.” Suho agreed.

 

“Have a safe trip.” Yujin forced a smile. “And thank you for tonight.”

 

“No problem.” Baekhyun smiled. “It’s good no one got hurt.”

 

“I don’t know you guys, but I feel completely left out.” D.O. whispered at Chanyeol and Kai. Both nodded.

 

“We will explain once we get home.” Suho promise. “Let’s go.”

 

As they were preparing to leave, Baekhyun pulled Kiko aside.

 

“Are you okay?” He looked at her with genuine concern. “Taecyeon said some pretty rough things to you.”

 

“Of course I’m fine.” Kiko scoffed. “Like he said, I’m a tomboy. I’m not the type to get hurt over a few insults.”

 

“You may be a tomboy, but you’re still a girl.” Baekhyun said. “Keep that in mind and take care of yourself. I mean it, Tsukiko.”

 

“As I said…” Kiko frowned. “I’m not weak. Stop worrying about me.”

 

“How can I not worry?” Baekhyun said, his eyes were almost pleading. “Just remember what I told you tonight.”

 

Kiko was taken back by Baekhyun’s concern. He was never this protective. Or did she simply hadn't noticed before?

 

“Goodnight, Kiko. Sleep well.” He gave her one last heartfelt smile and walked to the door along with the other members.

 

Everyone exchanged quick goodbyes and then the boys parted. Kai wanted to talk to Hannah one last time but she avoided his gaze every time he tried to make eye contact with her.

 

“So…” Hannah spoke. They had all gathered in Yujin’s room for a small group meeting. “What really happened?”

 

Lexx narrated the story, carful not to leave out any important details. As she spoke, Yujin seemed to become more and more restless.

 

“I can’t believe I used to think Taecyeon was hot.” Hannah scowled. “He is out of his frigging mind!”

 

“I wonder if the other 2PM members know that they live with a sociopath.” Kiko thought out loud.

 

“From now on, we should be more careful.” Jae said. “We will stay away from Taecyeon. Hell, we will stay away from all JYP if necessary.”

 

“That’s a bit drastic, don’t you think?” Hannah yawned.

 

“No, Jae is right.” Yujin finally spoke. Her voice was a little weaker than usual. “We will avoid him at all costs. Got it?”

 

“Yes ma’am.” They all responded.

 

“Good.” Yujin sighed. “Now go to bed. We have the Inkygayo rehearsal early in the morning.”

 

Everyone but Jae left to their respective rooms as told.

 

“Yujin…” Jae said. “Don’t you think we should tell Kanging, Doghae and Kyuhyun about this? I mean-“

 

“No!” Yujin covered Jae’s mouth with her hands. “No one but EXO can know about this. This is something I should work out by myself. No need to get others involved.”

 

Jae stayed quiet for a while.

 

“Don’t try to handle all this by yourself, alright? We’re a team.” She said in a soothing tone before leaving the room.

 

Why is this happening to us. And right after the debut, too. Poor Yujin…Jae meditated as she buried her head in her pillow and tossed around the bed restlessly. Then her phone rang.

 

“Hello?” Jae mumbled.

 

“Jae, it’s me.”

 

“Suho?” Jae rolled on her side. “What’s wrong?”

 

“What do you mean ‘what is wrong?’. Can I only call you when there is an emergency?” Suho reproached.

 

“Yeah, but you never do.” Jae remarked in a sarcastic tone.

 

“Never mind.” Suho emitted a sigh. He wanted to avoid a discussion with Jae at all costs.

 

“So are we going to stay here listening to each other breathing or…?” Jae urged him to speak.

 

“I’m just calling to check up on you.” Suho admitted. “Taecyeon did pushed you to the floor earlier.”

 

“So you’re worried?” Jae teased. “That’s very sweet of you.”

 

“Don’t push it…” Suho warned.

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Jae laughed. “But seriously, thanks for calling. I kinda needed to hear your voice right now.”

 

“Why? Is everything alright?” Suho asked.

 

“No…I just needed to.” Jae smiled. “I’m just a bit worried, that’s all.”

 

“Dummy.” Suho chuckled. “Just go to bed and rest.”

 

“Roger.” Jae answered. “I’m hanging up, okay?”

 

“Wait don’t hang up yet!”

 

“What is it?”

 

“You don’t have to worry. Next time I’ll definitely protect you.” Suho said quickly and then hung up first.

 

Jae grinned foolishly as she heard Suho’s last words. After their small chat, sleep got a hold of her in matter of seconds.

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“I don’t get it.” Hannah whined. “Why do we have to be here first? This place is deserted!”

 

“Stop complaining, Hannah.” Kanging flicked her forehead. “You girls perform first so it is obvious your rehearsal should be first. Besides, EXO-K should be here any minute.”

 

It was 6 A.M. and EXO-G and their managers were already at the stage where Inkygayo took place. Aside from the three managers and the group from them no other idol group had arrived. Not even the whole staff was present.

 

Yujin had purple-ish bags under her eyes, which made it clear to the other girls that she hadn’t slept at all last night.

 

“Kyuhyun…” She tried to approach the manager. “I-”

 

“Practice is about to start.” Kyuhyun cut her off coldly; not even meeting her eyes.

 

“Right.” Yujin gave up on trying to talk to him for now. She slumped her shoulders and proceeded to climb on stage.

 

“Okay, girls gather up!” Kanging, Donghae and Kyuhyun also climbed on stage. “We’ll give a quick review of the performance.”

 

“Excuse me!” Lexx interrupted. “My mic is not working.” She said as she tapped on her headset.

 

“I left the replacements on your dressing room. Hurry and go get it.” Donghae said.

 

“I’ll go with you.” Kiko said through her malfunctioning headpiece. “Man, just because we’re rookies it doesn’t mean they have to throw the cheapest crap they had at us.”

 

“Just hurry, kay? We start in 5.” Donghae reminded them.

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

Both girls ventured into the backstage area. It was way darker than usual, even if it was morning. The girls noticed that not a single staff member was around, either.

 

“Kiko, this is creepy.” Lexx muttered as she closed in to Kiko.

 

“Don’t worry. The staff is probably working on the lighting or something.” Kiko assured, remembering how much Lexx hated dark or cramped spaces. “Do you want me to go back? I’ll get the headpieces for both of us.” This place shouldn’t be so dark…

 

“Nah.” Lexx tried to laugh her worry off.

 

They reached the dressing room shortly after, but no matter how much they looked they couldn’t find the replacements that Donghae was talking about.

 

“We should probably ask someone…” Lexx pulled Kiko toward the empty hallway. Both girls squinted their eyes and tried to look for an employee among the darkness.

 

“Hey!” Lexx pointed at a moving figure in the distance. “Maybe that person can help.”

 

“Excuse me!” Kiko waved her hands. “Sir, could you help us?”

The figure halted. The man looked up but quickly turned his attention back to the front and hurried away.

 

“Is he ignoring us?!” Lexx gasped, a little offended.

 

“That rude-“ Kiko muttered and started running behind the man. Lexx followed behind.

 

The man looked over his shoulder and noticed that he was being followed. He sped up even more but there was no way he could outrun neither EXO-G’s main dancer nor the toughest girls in the group. The man took a left turn and disappeared into another hallway.

 

“Why is he running away?!” Kiko shouted with more annoyance than frustration.

 

“That person looked too suspicious, Kiko.” Lexx breathed heavily. Beads of sweat were already forming on her forehead.  “Lets just go back and notify security. He could be dange-“

 

In that moment the mysterious man jumped out from a door behind Lexx and violently pushed her to the floor, knocking the air out of her system.

 

“KYA!” Lexx cried as she made contact with the floor.

 

“LEXX!” Kiko threw herself next to the maknae and held her head up.

 

The man froze for a fraction of a second and then turned around and ran away.

 

“I-I’m fine…” Lexx coughed. A thin stream of blood ran from her nose to her upper lip.

 

“Stay here, okay? I’ll go after him!” Kiko jumped to her feet. “Don’t follow me!”

 

“Kiko, don’t!” Lexx tried to go after her but she was still woozy from the fall. “Come back!”

 

But it was too late. Kiko was already in persecution. It took the rapper a good couple of minutes to catch up with the guy that had attacked Lexx, but instead of jumping at him she decided to quietly follow him to see what he was up to.

 

The attacker didn’t seem to have noticed Kiko and he continued whatever task he was up to. He walked a few more meters and reached the staircase that lead to the huge lights on top of the main stage. Kiko held her breath and followed behind.

 

Once they reached the top Kiko found her self on a narrow catwalk. A quite amount of feet below she could see the rest of EXO-G and two of the managers conversing. Kyuhyun was standing rigidly a good four meters from the rest of the group. EXO-G’s song was already blazing on the background but no one was dancing. They were probably waiting for her and Lexx to return.

 

Once again she turned her attention to the intruder. He had climbed up the railing and was now pulling out some sort of screwdriver. The he proceeded to unscrew the largest of the spotlights from the main iron beam.

 

What the hell…Kiko thought, but when she traced the path the light would follow if it dropped her heart froze.

 

It was directed straight to Kyuhyun.

 

“STOP IT!” Kiko jumped out of her hiding place without hesitating. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” She had stopped him right on time; exactly before he finished undoing the last screw. Kiko’s heart almost stopped as she saw the spotlight dangling from a single piece of iron.

 

The man climbed down the railing, startled. He was wearing a mouth mask and dark shades, making it impossible for Kiko to identify his face.

 

“If you don’t step away from that light, I’ll scream.” Kiko threatened.

 

“And you think they will hear you over the music?” The man spoke in a raspy voice. Kiko couldn’t see his mouth, but she felt that he was probably sneering at her.

 

Before she could analyze the rest of her options then attacker was already running towards her. All she could do was use her arms as a shield.