“Bom!” Cl and Seungri ran up to her, “How’s Dara?”

“She’s in surgery, right now” Bom explained quietly, “Honestly...I don’t know how she is Cl.”

Cl covered and sat down, “I should have gone to check on her, I knew oppa was going to Macau...”

Seungri walked up to Jiyong who was sitting down, staring numbly at the wall “Hyung?”Jiyong looked at him for a moment before looking back at the wall. “Don’t do it hyung.” Seungri said as he sat down beside his cousin. Jiyong didn’t reply but continued to stare at the white wall. “Hyung” Seungri placed his hand on Jiyong’s shoulder, “Don’t do it again. Don’t blame yourself again.” Jiyong just clenched his jaw and stood up and stormed out of the hospital.

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“We’re checking for any fingerprints on the door handles or any other furniture in the house” Top told Taeyang.

“So it was definitely them?” Taeyang asked.

“Either them or burglars” Daesung replied, “I’ve also handed in the number plate of the unknown car that the guards said they saw a few hours before the attack."

“But how did they get past the guards?” Taeyang shook his head but the caught sight of Jiyong heading towards them.

“They both said they heard a noise behind the house and went to check it, the culprits must have got in when the guards were distracted.”

“TOP, did you get the CCTV footage from the house?” Jiyong asked as he walked towards them.

“Yea, they’re being looked through as we speak.” Top replied, “Don’t worry about it Ji, we’ve got this.”

“I don’t care how you do it, but I want those men do you hear me!” Jiyong growled. He raked his hair with his fingers in frustration and kicked the ground, “I should have been there! I shouldn’t have gone! She needed me and I left-”

“Jiyong don’t do this!” Taeyang shook his head.

“I should have never let this happen to her!” Jiyong shouted angrily, “I was meant to look after her! She trusted me to look after her!”

“Jiyong stop it!” Top grabbed hold of him, “It wasn’t your fault!”

"Have you not seen her?!" Jiyong shouted back, "If I was there, none of this would have happened-"

“Guys” CL ran out to them, “Dara’s out of surgery.”

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JIyong and the guys ran into Dara’s room to find Minzy sorting out the IV drip. She saw them bowed slightly before turning back to Dara.

“How is she?...Is she ok? The surgery?” Jiyong asked anxiously.

“She needs to be observed for the next 24 hours” Minzy replied, “Until then she’s still in critical condition.” Jiyong exhaled deeply and walked towards Dara.

He furrowed his brows with guilt at the white bandage wrapped tightly around her head, her arm in a sling and her bottom lip cut and bruised. He sat down slowly and hesitantly reached for her hand before placing his on top of hers. The guys looked at each other in slight shock. JIyong may have not known what Dara had done to him, but it was plain to see for everyone else.

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“How long before Dara wakes up Bom?” CL asked nervously once both were outside the hospital.

“It’s hard to say…” Bom sighed as she sat down on the bench, “But she’s out of surgery and it went well too. She’s got a good chance of recovering fast."

“I don’t know why but all this is scaring me” CL shook her head, “It…it reminds me of that night.” Bom slowly looked at her and she suddenly shuddered at the thought too, “…if we hadn’t escaped that night we’d probably be like Dara…”

“CL don’t think about those things” Bom stood up feeling uncomfortable, “don’t you think we should forget about that night now?”

“I’m trying but…for some reason every time I see Dara I have the strange feeling. She reminds me of that night…” CL shook her head slowly, "Don't you get that feeling when you see Dara?"

Sukjin stood close to them without being seen and furrowed his brows. He peered from behind the wall and watched both Cl and Bom walk back into the hospital. “…Bom and CL? Bom?” he repeated Bom’s name, why did it sound so familiar. Suddenly his eye snapped back up at hospital when he remembered. Park Bom and Cl must be Lee Chaerin. Those were the girls that escaped them 18 years ago. But how did they find Dara? Do they know they were all kidnapped by them all those years ago? If these girls do know, with Dara they’ll be able to catch them. He had to go warn hyung.

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“Minzy and I will be here, so you guys go home now” Bom said when she saw how tired everyone looked.

“I’ll come back tomorrow morning” Top assured Bom before getting up to leave. The rest of boys and CL nodded and stood up too but Jiyong remained sat beside Dara.

“Ji?” Taeyang called out from the door way.

“You go on ahead” Jiyong replied still staring at Dara.

“Jiyong really you should go” Bom walked over to him but Jiyong remained in his place. She sighed with defeat when he realised when he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’ll call Macau and tell them there’s been a problem but you’ll be there as soon as possible” Taeyang informed Jiyong but Jiyong turned to face him and shook his head.

“Ani, tell them I can’t come. I’ll do a video conference if I have to but I’m not going anywhere.” He looked back at Dara, “Not now.”

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“Ring me if you need anything” CL held onto Bom’s arm, “I’ll come by tomorrow morning and bring some stuff for Dara.”

Bom smiled and nodded, “Hmm, now go will you.”

Cl looked back at the hospital for a moment, “Arasso, I’m going.”

*beep beep*

The girls turned to see Seungri pull up in his car. “Let’s go” Seungri called out.

CL looked around before turning to him, “Who are you talking to?”

“You.” Seungri replied bluntly, “In case you haven’t noticed, you came here in my car.”

CL’s eyes widened and she scanned the car park for her park, “Aish!” she muttered realising she was in such a hurry to get to the hospital earlier she’d jumped into Seungri’s car without a thought.

“It’s either with me or a long walk home” Seungri called out again.

“I’ll get a taxi then” CL retorted back.

“Are you insane?!” Seungri shouted back, “Do you know how late is?! You’re not gonna get a taxi now. Are you that dumb or something, planning to get into a taxi by yourself you babo!”

CL and Bom blinked in disbelief as Seungri continued his rant. CL stepped forward hung wide open, “Ani…why the hell are you getting mad at me?!”

Seungri paused for a moment and he realised he sounded like a crazy person, “I mean…I…JUST GET IN!”

CL scoffed at him, “A taxi is probably safer than you!!”

“I’m not kidding! YAH!” Seungri continued shouting when CL started walking away.

“CL” Bom stopped her, “He’s right. It’s late, just go with him please.” CL looked around the empty roads and huffed before glaring back at him. She stormed to his car and got in, “Don’t speak to me and just drive!”

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[Music for the rest of the chapter: Come back home UNPLUGGED VERSION by 2ne1]

Jiyong raked his hair with his fingers and leaned his head on Dara’s hand.  It was nearly morning now, he’d been here the whole night afraid to leave in case she woke up. But she hadn’t. “…I should never have left you alone.” He shook his head slightly and intertwined his fingers with hers. He didn’t really know why he did that, but at that moment in time it felt like the right thing to do. “Just please wake up” he sighed and looked at her. His eyes went to her cut and bruised lip and he felt his heart pain deep within. It was the same feeling he had when he first met her. Only this time, it was his fault.

He touched her cut lip with his thumb softly and furrowed his brows guiltily. Something in his heart made him stand up as his hand traced her cheek now and he leaned over her before gently touching her lips with his.

As soon as he kissed her he looked down at her confused over what he’d just done and he stepped back slightly afraid. But still he couldn’t leave the room, not even after that. He just stepped back and sat down back on the chair, his hand rubbing his forehead as he stared at her in shock over what he just did.

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Present day.

“I finally woke up a few days later, I’d fractured my skull and was in a pretty bad state…” Dara said with that familiar lost look in her eyes whenever she was talking about her past. Soomi was used to it now and she was slowly starting to realise just how complicated her past was. “And he was there waiting for me to wake up the whole time” Dara continued.

“He must have really love you” Soomi said softly.

Dara looked up at her sadly, “…you’re right…he did. The thing is neither of us realised that at the time. It’s taken me 6 long years to finally understand just what he had to go through because of me…”

“Dara shi…” Soomi furrowed her brows, “…you’ve always been quiet about your private life but…what is your relationship with Jiyong shi now?”

Dara looked at her for a long moment before her eyes fluttered slightly, “…he’s-“

“Dara?”

Both Soomi and Dara looked towards the door when they heard a voice. Dara smiled, “That must be Bom” she stood up and rushed to call her over. Soomi continued to write her notes while waiting for them but when they didn’t come, she walked out of the room and back into the exhibition hall looking for Dara and Bom.

She looked around and stopped when she saw a woman staring at the same drawing of Jiyong that she’d stared at a while ago. She cleared and walked over to her, “Dr Bom?”

Bom looked at her slightly startled, “Oh god hi, I’m so sorry. You must be Soomi” Bom held her hand out. Soomi smiled and took her hand, “Sorry Dara told me to start the interview with you but I got…” she looked back at the drawing of Jiyong, “…distracted.”

“It’s ok Dr Bom, I’m just thankful you decided to do the interview. It’s going to be so much help if I get to know about the people close to Dara shi…” Soomi stopped talking when she realised Bom’s attention was still on the drawing. Even Soomi felt strange being in the presence of the drawing. There was just something about it.

“…Dr Bom?” Soomi started warily, why was she scared of the answer she was going to hear? “…are Dara shi and Jiyong shi…um…”

“Together?” Bom asked looking at her now. Soomi nodded slowly. Bom sighed and looked back at the drawing, “What do you see when you see this drawing of him?”

“…It looks scary” Soomi said honestly making Bom smile slightly.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Well…” Soomi looked at the drawing once again, her eyes connected with his eyes and she felt her heart constrict for no reason, “…he looks angry…no…he looks sad, maybe even hurt…”

Bom nodded slowly, “Sad…and hurt. Now you tell me, do you think if Dara and Jiyong were still together she’d have drawn him like this?” Soomi looked at Bom slightly surprised and her face fell when she finally realised.

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Later that evening Dara entered her empty house.

She walked down the empty corridor into the empty kitchen where no one was waiting for her. She took out a single glass and poured herself a glass of water. 

She sat down on the chair and stared off into space like she did every night. All by herself.

Dara slowly pulled out the necklace from under her shirt and stared at the ring hanging on it. She slowly pressed it against her lips and closed her eyes.

“…jiyong…does it still hurt?”