Word Count: 1007

Fixing his tie, Chen stares himself in the mirror with a feeling of being thrown back in time. The uniform is a little small, accenting his built figure which he doesn’t mind one bit. Today is operation ‘Roses Bleed Red’. He commemorated himself on it, a little play on words always makes the name-game fun. Of course, no one else knows the code name—only Chen does. He likes bestowing each mission a name and takes it so seriously, it’s almost like he’s naming his own child. The Abductor s his shirt at the collar and decides to leave the collar loosely tied, accenting his friendly features. A confident chuckle escapes his lips; this is his favourite part of the missions. The excitement, the thrill of going undercover. Of knowing you could be caught at any moment. The risk of saying the wrong thing and the pleasure of saying the right. “Hello, Rose.” He practices in the mirror, his eyes darkening to a slightly mad expression, “Did you know, you bleed a wonderful shade of crimson?”

--

The school yard mingles with sounds and warm bodies. Chattering about the latest gossip, the slurping of drinks, the heavy footsteps of tied students all flows together to create a massive block of sound. It hits the Dealer with a great force, “Tch, let’s get this over with.” Unlike the excited Chen beside him, the Dealer prefers to do undercover work, never really liking to step into the spotlight. It’s his looks, a young and innocent face, which put him into this uniform instead of the nice black Sudan around the corner. Adjusting his tie, Xiumin holds back a sneer and puts on a friendly face; after all, this is a job.

Chen confidently strides onto the campus, his walk speaks happiness and his smile says ‘talk to me’. As he walks by, he leaves his hands in his pockets, the little pocket knife for comfort. It’s his lucky one, he got it from one of his jobs. Codename ‘Cut Throat Competition’ if he remembers correctly. Anyway, it was his first job as a professional kidnap—no, he preferred, ‘Abductor’. It was his first job as an abductor but unfortunately, it didn’t go right and his hostage was killed in a freak accident. The knife symbolized mistakes he would never do again, mistakes which he would willingly forget. Gripping the knife tighter, he dismisses any ideas of failure and continues on in his quest to find the perfect rose.

“Rose!!” The two men’s heads snap into the direction of such a name—a name who could only belong to a very prestigious businessman whose wife had a particular taste for pretty men. Chen held back an excited smile as his eyes sweep over the girl’s slim waist. He admires the way he legs seem to stretch on forever and the way her hair spills softly over her shoulder. For a moment, he’s mesmerized by the mysterious aura the girl gives off. It isn’t until Xiumin nudges his shoulder that Chen moves back into the realm of the conscious. He smiles widely, not looking at the Dealer, “Masks, on.”

They pull over a blindingly bright yellow mask from their thin backpacks, along with a simple bouquet of red, red roses. The two begin to make their way towards the small group of girls. The girls huddle together, squealing about something [probably] unimportant. Chen begins to fidget, fiddling with the bouquet and rubbing the back of his neck out of a ‘nervous’ habit. He falters in his steps, Xiumin pushing him closer. He stumbles towards the group of girls before bumping directly into the delicate figure of Rose.

She flies forward, crashing through her group of friends who clumsily catch her. Only a small squeal is let when she fell, surprising Chen. He acts sorry, bowing and apologizing to the girls before pulling out the roses from behind his back. “Ro-rose…uh…” He watches her expression from behind the mask, her eyes, a dark and mysterious brown, watch him with light suspicion. Chen hands her a small card with a big ‘hand drawn’ heart on the front. Opening it, her eyes slightly widen at the carefully chosen words written on the paper.

Chen had fun with the poem, getting to use a massive play on words. It’s his favourite thing and the Leader agreed to such a request. So, Roses expression satisfied him greatly as she gulped quietly. “O-okay…” She turns to the girl on her right, a girl with an explosive aura and eyes that battle the mysteriousness of Roses. Her hair moves in dark waves over her shoulders, a concerned expression is displayed quite clearly on her face, “A-amanda…I’m going to go out with…with…Raymond. He wants to take me on a short date. Nothing…nothing serious.” Turning around, Rose nods at Chen, “Raymond…let’s…let’s go, shall we?” The girl puts a hesitant hand in his outstretched one, letting herself be pulled along by the smiling mask.

“Don’t worry, Rosey-dear.” Xiumin walks silently beside them, “We’re not going to hurt you~ Just need to ask some questions and then you’ll be on your way~” He smiles reassuringly at her, making her heart ease for a moment. She doesn’t know why, I mean, they were kidnapping her but it’s something about his smile that makes her believe she’ll come back. She looks back one last time towards Amanda who holds the love letter. Rose smiles confidentially back, she’ll definitely come home.

--

Amanda opens the letter Rose dropped, her face flushing with anger. How dare they threaten her best friend! She angrily reads it once more, looking for clues, “Roses bleed red, and violets cry blue, if you haven’t noticed, I’m kidnapping you~” A large heart is drawn around the first verse but it’s the second one that drains the colour out of Amanda’s face, “Now Roses wilt, and violets die, say one word, and you’re life might just run dry.”  She looks after her friend who only smiles back, “Dammit Rose, what have you done now…”