(EXO's POV)

"CIRCLE UP.", BoA yelped over the music. They all huddled around closing any gaps.

"CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME?"

Xiumin flinched away from her, for she was yelling in his ear. She held his ear. 

"Mian~"

"What's the plan?", Suho asked.

BoA started back up again. "Okay. You guys need to split up into twos and look for her. DO NOT take off your gloves, by any means necessary. DO NOT upset her, by any means. Alright?"

"What about you? Where are you going to be?", Tao asked.

"At the deserts station. Alright, good luck!"

Like that, she was off on in flash. They all broke off into twos as instructed. Across the hall, they caught each others gaze, looking for confirmation on Nia's location. But the only responses bounced about were shaking heads.

The music slowly faded out. A spotlight landed at the top of the grand staircase, where tonight's host, Kang Ho Dong stood (hysterically, of course). 

"LADIESSSSS~ AND GENTLEMAN~~~!", he yelled into the microphone, hilariously.

"It's time for the LIIINE DAAAANCE~! LADIES, to the LEFT~! MEN, to the RIGHT~!"

Everyone cheered loudly, as they bustled about.

Suho, Kai, and Chen hopped into the men's line several people apart, while the others stood back in the distance. The two lines wrapped around the dance floor, making a circle. They looked across to our partners. Kai was partnered up with none other than Hyuna. All he did and could do was sigh. But luckily, Suho was partnered up with a quaintly dressed Nia, who at the moment was fixing her gloves. 

(Nia's POV)

First dance with a dude. First dance with a dude.

I quickly fixed my gloves and looked up to meet my partner. It was Suho. If I could go pale white, I would. My eyes widen in shock. I was going back out of the line, but it was too late.

"MUSICCCC~ CUE!", Hodong yelled.

The music had already began. I nervously walked up to him, placed my right hand in his, and my left on his shoulder. I made sure to make no eye contact.

"Hello, Nia.", He spoke softly, trying not to disturb the atmosphere.

I kept quiet.

"Well aren't you a rude hostess...", he mumbled.

I looked at him quickly, in awe.

"What do you-"

He shushed me.

"No time to explain. We need to talk about today...at school..?"

I looked away once again, not trying to entertain him.

"It's okay to be shy and to have emotions.", he whispered.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

He let out a sigh as he looked away from me around at others as we spun around. 

"We know about your "problem" ", he said calmly.

My heart began to race in fear, as I tried to flee from him. He held me close and rubbed my back trying to comfort me.

"Whoa now, little bunny. No need to go hopping away. We just want to talk with you." He chuckled at his own corny joke.

"We? Who's We?"

"Look around."

I began to careful examine the dancing bodies. I recognized one of the faces to be Kai. Suho then grabbed my hand and spun me around were I saw a group of guys standing off to the side. They noticed me, greeting me with distant nods and waves. Suho pulled me back in.

This didn't feel normal. This didn't feel right. This felt like a joke in the making. Before letting him go any further with the shenanigans, I let it off my chest.

"Suho, I would never expect you to be the pranking type.", i said firmly, looking at away from him.

"W-What..? Nia. We have-"

"Just stop. If this is some ploy to get me to do something with you, you've failed."

"SWITCH~!"

"Goodbye.",I said with a firm voice as i gently pushed him away as we swapped partners, as the music began to change.

Maybe I pushed him too hard, that I slipped, died and went to heaven, because I found myself in the arms of a rather attractive man. He had soft white porcaline skin, and a crisp, yet soft jawline. His somewhat long raven hair was pulled back, the tips curling up around his ears. All i could do was get lost in the features that weren't covered by his blindfold mask, as the music drifted us away.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing could come out.

He smiled softly in response to my malfunction, and parted his lips, letting out a soft velvet sound.

"Hi."

"H-H..i.."

"I like your mask. It suits you"

"..You too.", I responded shyly.

I held my head down, gnawling at my bottom lip, in embarrassment remembering he's wearing a blindfold. He chuckled in response.

"You're pretty funny."

I looked back up at him shaking my head in denial. He nodded back.

Everyone else dancing around us was twirling about while we swayed away.

"This is nice.", I responded. 

"It is. Even though I don't know what I'm doing."

"Me too."

We both smiled at each other while we enjoyed the calm atmosphere between us.

I looked at my hand which rested in his. I noticed he had calisus on his finger tips.

"What do you play?"

He smirked, probably in shock from by acknowledgment of his guitar calluses.

"Guess."

"Hmm.. Well. You're calm and confident. But not cocky."

"True, and True."

I let out soft chuckle. 

"You've got a rather warm, homey feeling. So, I'm gonna say~...Acoustic."

"Bing-"

"But! If you want to show off...Electric-Acoustic."

He held his head up and smiled from ear to ear. 

"Wow. I didn't think I would be meeting my future wife tonight."

The distance between us grew shorter and shorter. And then

"SWIIITCH~!"

He kissed my hand and whispered, "I'll find you." against my ear, before taking my now blessed hand, and spinning me off.

As i spun to my next partner, my lips retreated to a frown. It was Chen. He smiled like a puppy. As I rested my hand in his, a small electric shock went through my hand. I jumped.

"Ow!"

He smirked, making a breath. I looked up at him.

"Did you do that on purpose?!", i asked firmly.

"Sorry, I had to. You're stubborn.", he said in a sarcastic, yet truthful tone.

I squinted in confusion. He leaned over in my ear. " We. Hav-"

As the music was coming to an end, I quickly pulled away and left the dance floor.

The lights began to dim, as the DJ began to play EDM. I made my way to the drink fountain labeled non-alcoholic, picked up a champaign glass and filled it up. Just as i was about to take a sip, my hand became numb, making me drop the glass. I held my head up towards the ceiling.

I need an actually drink at this point.

I squated down carefully, to collect the pieces, only to see large frozen chunks of my drink. I was stuck in an utterly confused state. As I slowly pulled myself back up, I noticed Xiumin next to me. He was bobbing his head to the music, and drinking champaign. He looked at me, then took a double take.

"OH! NIA! COOL PARTY!", he yelled over the music.

"Di..did you ..how did you do that...?",i asked astonished, in a soft, calm, audible voice. He wiggled his fingers as he grooved out.

"WITH THESE!" 

I slowly, backed up and walked over to the candle display. It seemed to be the least popular attraction at the ball, because it wasn't recieving much attention, unlike the dancefloor. There were rows upon rows of candles sticks with the names of sponsors engraved on them. I scanned the rows looking for my donation candle.

"Ah! There you are."

At the very top of the tier sat one singular candle, that read: The Lee Family.

A gust of wind blasted across the whole candle display flew across the room. I removed my hair from my face to see darkness. The candles went out. I quickly looked over to where it came from, to see Sehun. All he did was put his hands in his pocket and squint. I squinted back, but all he did was walk off. I turned back to the candles to see them all lit, once again. Standing in front, and beside the display was Chanyeol. He held his hand up like a gun and blew it. 

All the lights went out as purple lights and beams lit  up the dance floor. Chanyeol was gone. I began to pace back and forth, talking to myself

"You're manic. But why? You are manic because..."

I snapped my fingers realizing my diagnosis.

"You're manic because you're hungry!You haven't eaten in about like what..5 hours? Get something to eat."

I darted over to the buffet area, grabbed a plate, and pulled back the first metal tray.

Clink! "Empty." Clink! "Empty again. Okay, thirds try is a charm" Clink! "Fourth?" Clink! "Fifth?"

After going through the entire table the only thing on my plate was barbeque sauce. I placed my plate in the dish bin and sat on a padded bench to a tiny planted tree. I closed my eyes and sighed in disparity.

THUD!

Something, came down on to my head and rolled off into my lap.

"OW! What the-" it was a huge red apple. 

Chomp! 

D.O. layed against a tree eating an apple. I placed the apple down, and retreated to my next hiding spot. 

But I slowly came to a halt. The grand clock, was going backwards than forewards. The lobby kept changing around me. Then it went back to normal. Tao crossed paths. I looked back at him.

As I was looking back, i noticed Kai on the other side of the room. He was waving. I turned around to walk away, but bumped into someone. "Sorr-" It was Kai. I backed away, falling on my bottom. I quickly got up, and walked in the other direction, only to be blockaded by the rest of them.

Kris had a stern, squinty, ferious look on his face. My heart was racing faster than ever, but i kept a strong look on my face. I tried to flee for my millionth time, but it seemed my luck had stopped. He grabbed my arm gently, and pulled me back. I tried to pull away but his grip became a bit firmer.

"Alright, Nia. Enough of enough. I'm tired of this Tom and Jerry . We need to talk. NOW.", he said in a soft yet, fed up tone. I panted, obviously confused and freaked out. I looked at his hand as I tried to yank once more, but stopped midway. He was wearing gloves. They were wearing gloves. 

"Wh...Why are you all wearing gloves?"

"For precaution." 

I raised my eyebrow in confusion.

"Precaution? How about you take a bigger precaution and just leave me alone, alright? How about that? All of you can just leave me alone!"

Finally free from his grip, I held my wrist staring at me. Realizing I was somewhat hurt, he reached out.

"Nia, I didn't-"

I jerked away, walking off in the opposite direction.

"Oh. Nia~!"

Someone called my name. I looked over to see a woman in a tight dress, saunter over to me.

"Do I know you?"

"It's me. Hyuna. Are you okay?" , she asked as she sat me down at a table.

"Yeah..you can say that...", I softly said as I looked over to the guys from the corner of my eye, that was now seated a couple tables away. I can tell they were watching. Hyun-a slowly looked at them from the corner of her eye. She quickly grabbed my hands and looked me in the eyes with a rather concerned manner, and began to speak lowely.

"Don't let them do the same,horrible things, they did to me.."

My eyes began to flutter with fear. I leaned closer.

"What did they do..?"

"They...They..."

Her eyes became glossy. I rubbed her shoulder and gave her a cloth napkin. She gently dabbed away her tears.  

"What do I do?"

She took some deep breaths and started up once again.

"The only thing you can do...", she said with her cracked up voice.

"And what is that?"

She leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Run."