DongHae POV

I closed my eyes in fright when I was harshly pressed against something cold. My breath caught. What was going to happen now? Was he going to hit me? Or did he even have something else in mind? I didn’t know the answer to my question but I knew that I would soon find out what exactly was going to happen to me.

His hand was still clutching my right wrist and pressed it against the cold, smooth surface behind me. My left side was incapacitated in the same way. I waited, but nothing happened. No word, no movement.

I carefully opened my eyes and flinched scared when I saw his face unbelievably close to mine. I pressed myself against the wall behind me to bring a few more millimeters between us. But since I already was fully pressed against the wall by him, the move didn’t change the gap.

Lee HyukJae looked at me insistently. His facial features showed no feelings whatsoever, his eyes, however, did. Was he angry? He had to be angry. Who wouldn’t be angry, when 5 billion won simply walked away? But the expression in his eyes was a different one. It wasn’t anger. I was sure of that. So what was it then?

He began to move after a while. To my horror, it wasn’t away from me, but rather slowly coming closer. My eyes widened at the sight. What was he up to? He wouldn’t…

In panic I tried to free my hand from his clutch to be able to defend myself against the now quite clear situation. The more I struggled against him, the more he gripped my wrists. I quietly gasped from the pain, but didn’t give up this quickly.

His face was now dangerously close to mine. I could already feel his hot breath on my skin. Only a few millimeters separated us from each other. I began to shake slightly and turned my head aside so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore.

A quiet sigh made its way to my ears. The clutch around my wrists was loosened and I felt, how he slowly moved away from me. I turned my head again. He wasn’t there anymore. I took a relieved breath and let myself slide down against the cold surface that I now recognized as the door to a balcony and found myself between diverse shoes.

I felt empty and strange. How in the world did I deserve something like this? What did I do wrong in my former life?

My eyes scurried up to the door latch. I was alone again. Should I try to run away again? Both of the men from before surely weren’t nearby anymore. If I avoided the big streets, I could even make it this time.

„Don’t you dare“, exclaimed Lee HyukJae and tore me from my thoughts of fleeing.
My gaze wandered from the door latch to the young man who was now standing in front of me again. He hadn’t come back empty-handed. He carried something in his hands that looked like a bundle of clothes. I recognized after a closer examination that it consisted of a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.

Lee HyukJae now came up to me again. I quickly stood back on my legs. I was getting ready to defend myself. My hands were free now, so if he decided to pull the same number again, he should be bracing himself.

He stopped a few steps away from me and held out the bundle of clothes towards me. I eyed it suspiciously. There was no way I was going to accept them.

Impatient, he moved his hands closer to me to indicate that I should take the clothes. When I didn’t react to his gestures, he rolled his eyes in annoyance and downright pushed them into my arms. I again felt the strong grip of his hands around my wrists and was pulled into the insides of the apartment shortly after.

Now completely lightened, I was able to realize the full size of the apartment. The room, in which I had woken up, was nothing against the living quarters. I had never seen a living space this big. Two couches stood in the middle of the room and hinted at sort of a “comfy-corner”. In the back of the room I could see an embayment and a long table with chairs. Even though I couldn’t clearly see it from this angle, I assumed that there was a kitchen behind the table.

Lee HyukJae pulled me up to a door that had to belong to the smallest of the locked rooms. When he stopped in front of it, he let go of my wrist and I immediately took a few steps backwards to bring as much distance between us as possible. When Lee HyukJae noticed my movement, he turned away from the door and directed his attention at me.

“I won’t do anything to you. Don’t be afraid.” He tried to calm me, but without success.
He sighed once more and then pointed at the door behind him.
“This is the bathroom. I suggest you get changed inside of it. It also wouldn’t hurt if you grant yourself a warm shower. Not that you're lying in bed with a cold tomorrow. Shampoo and shower gel should be available”

I didn’t move. I was aware that if I didn’t put on something dry real soon, I would get sick. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to go into that room. I didn’t want to get changed and taking a shower even less. Both required for me to be for a short time. Something that, right now, I didn’t want to be at all. What if this guy decided to get inside, too?

As if he read my mind, he started to speak again: “The door is lockable. Just lock it if somethings bothering you. I will wait here. There’s something we have to discuss together afterwards.

I quickly looked at him, finally nodded and scampered past him into the bathroom. As soon as I’d closed the door behind me, I used the locking mechanism, the light and slightly leaned against the nearest wall.

For quite a while, I just stood there breathing. My thoughts rotated and hardly came to a stop. Only when the ventilation switched on was I awakened from my rigidity. 

Like the rest of the apartment, the bathroom wasn’t very small either. The plaques were bright and practically shined with cleanness. My glance focused on something big in front of me. There actually was a bathtub standing there. Neither my friends nor I had something like this standing at home. Space to live was more expensive in Seoul. Many couldn’t even afford something as big as a bathtub.

I cringed. The cold now slowly penetrated through my wet clothing onto my skin. I was now glad to take them off and put something else on after all. I hurriedly disposed of the wet cloth and stood beneath the shower.

The warm water felt good. It chased of the biting cold that I only truly realized when the first drop of warm water had hit my skin. I turned off the water unwillingly to get dressed again to face reality.

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