Chen walks down the narrow, grey staircase, his hand still throbbing unbearably. He winces in pain as he momentarily forgets that his hand is sore when he grabs the metal door knob. Lightly cursing, he uses his unwounded hand to open the metal cell to see the girl still tied to the wooden chair. Her face is bloodied and slack as she lightly snores. Chen closes the door behind him, slumping to the ground against the wall closest to the girl. He stares for a moment before calling out to her, “Hey. Wake up.”

Rose shifts slightly causing her dark stands of hair to fall softly across her face. The wolf leans to peer past her hair to watch her sleeping face. He admires the gentle glow of her skin in the dim, ghetto lighting. When he begins to get impatient, the wolf calls for her again, “I said wake up.”

Again, she doesn’t wake causing a surge of annoyance to bubble its way out of Chen. He stands, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. With a mischievous smirk, he kicked the chair out from underneath her. He watches happily as her eyes fling open as she begins to struggle against the slow fall backward. Chen catches her chair with his good arm a fraction of a second before she hit the floor. “Hello Sweetheart, nice of you to join me in the land of the living.”

The girl with her bloodied face begins to gather spit in but Chen puts his hands up in defense, stepping away from her causing her chair to begin to tip again. Her eyes panic as she slips a little cry of help from .  The wolf catches her once more with his wounded hand causing him to wince in pain as he pulls her chair back upright. He holds his hand and examines the injury as blood begins to seep through the bandages. Rose watches curiously before speaking, her voice raspy and unused, “What’s wrong? The big bad wolf got bit back?”

Chen chuckles as he sits back against the wall, crossing his legs once more. “Something like that.”

“You didn’t come to beat me again, did you?” Rose’s face is statue like but her voice wavers slightly. She notices he sensed her weakness and spits at his feet, “Do it so I can nap again.”

The man stands and walks over to the sink in the small room next to a dirtied toilet. He takes his clean handkerchief and runs it under the cool water. “Nah, I have my own injury to worry about, remember? This is my fighting hand,” Chen turns to look at the girl who eyes him suspiciously and kisses his bloody knuckle, “Can’t break this baby.” Turning off the water, he walks back over to the slim girl and kneels in front of her. “Hold still.” His voice has become gentle as he softly brings up the wet cloth to her face.

The girl flinches, “Don’t touch me.”

“Stop being stubborn, you don’t want it to get infected.” His voice is low as he glances towards the camera in the top corner of the tiny room. “I’m not going to hurt you, watch, I’ll use my injured hand.” He transferred the cloth to his other hand and winces as he adjusts his fingers to hold it. Chen brings it up to her face once more and lightly wipes away the blood and dirt, revealing a softly tanned skin from beneath it.

Her mysterious eyes watch his sharp jawline carefully as he continues to clean her face. She doesn’t let it show but the cool cloth feels comforting against her hot and fevered skin. The man works cautiously, going back and forth between the girl and the sink in a formulated manner. Once he’s finished wiping off her face, he walks back to the sink and picks up a cheap hair that lies on the rim of it.

Rose’s voice breaks softly as he stands behind her and kindly brushes her long and tangled hair. “Why are you doing this?” Chen says nothing as he continues brushing it, being gentle whenever the brush catches on a knot. The girl angrily spits her next line, “Stop touching me!” When the man does nothing in response, she kicks back her head and hits his injured hand roughly. “Get. Away. From. Me.”

Chen manages to hold in a cry of pain and string of curses. Instead of lashing out, he begins to untie her ropes around her ankles and waist but keeps the one on her wrists. “If you kick, you get hurt.” He tells her and from the menace in his voice, she keeps still.

“What are you going to do? Break me out of here? Become some big hero? Think it’s going to let you off the hook of kidnapping Red Riding Hood you ing wolf.”

Chen looks up at her, suddenly curious, “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re the main character of a story, hm, Ms. Hood?”

She coughs as she stretches her legs in stiff happiness, “Just an analogy.”

“Alright, Ms. Hood.” He pulls her up by her inner elbow and drags her towards the door. “Time to get all gussied up, you’re going to a party.”

“What?” She protests loudly as Chen pushes through the metal door, slamming it with a loud bang.

--

As he drags the girl to the bathroom upstairs, she repeatedly questions him. “Shut up, would you!?” He shoves her angrily against the corridor hall. “Don’t ask questions.” Chen growls loudly.

Rose sets her jaw, “Where are you taking me?”

“You need shower. Get dressed. And finish brushing your ratty dirt hair too.” Chen begins pulling her along once more, “You’re going to be on T.V.”

“What? I thought you said we’re going to a party?”

“Same thing.”

“So, why am I going on television?”

“Daddy wants to know if you’re still alive.”

Rose doesn’t move at the mention of her father and instead spits slightly at his shoes, “Make sure to get my good side then.”

“Sweetheart,” He leans closet to her for effect, “All your sides are bad sides.”

She remains quiet but Chen can feel her wanting to pick a fight but he can’t blame her. Her face is still swollen and her jaw is bruised nicely from a fist dealt by Xiumin. They never left him interrogate after that. He shoves the girl towards a door, unlocking it before pushing her inside. She stumbles on her weak knees and falls ungraciously on the pristine clean tiles. Chen walks over and slits the rope, “Clean up.”

“Oh you trust me enough to set me loose?” The girl asks, rubbing her reddened wrists.

Chen smiles wickedly and shows the pistol sitting nicely in his waistband, “I’m the one with the gun and I think you’re smart enough to look at this situation and just take the advantage of a hot shower.”

Rose stays quiet as he stands and backs out of the bathroom before closing the door and locking it. He leans against the door and lets out a deep breath, suddenly exhausted. The man yawns loudly as he settles in for a wait. “Don’t take too long, Little Ms. Red.” She only grunts in response while she turns on the water. Steam almost immediately begins making its way out from underneath the door. Chen moves and sits across from the bathroom, closing his eyes slightly.

After about twenty minutes go by, Chen opens his eyes to see the bathroom still closed and steam still seeping out. Angrily sighing, he stands and goes to the door. He knocks loudly, “Yah, Rose? You ready for your photo shoot?”

No response.

“Rose?” His voice has become laced with suspicion as he begins reaching for the key. “If you don’t say anything, I’m coming in.”

No response.

Twisting the key, he shoves open the door to find the tiny window opened, a broken bobby pin in the lock. Chen swears loudly, running over to the window and looking through. He can barely fit his upper body out and notices a small pipe running down the height of the building. The pipe is thin and pretty weak but the girl’s small, malnourished body might just be able to get down it but only if the girl has some kind of experience. Not only but the window would have needed some upper body strength and flexibility to properly through. He scans the ground below to see a familiar dark sheen of hair running alongside three other feminine backs. Chen yells loudly at the girls but they don’t flinch as they slip into a black car without a listens plate.

Tao sneakily appears behind him, “You yelled?”

Chen turns around quickly, “I thought we had this place tightly locked down!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Little Miss Red escaping with the three little pigs!”

--

Kris stands at the window, barking orders at underlings, the alpha in the room.

“I want her back, now!”

“Yessir.”

“Get me information on this girl!”

“Yessir.”

“Find me some pictures of the women who entered. Security tapes.”

“Yessir.”

“Chen!?” Kris shouts for his companion who has screwed up big time. Chen runs in, putting new ammo into his pistol, “I told you to watch her!” His voice is raspy and low, sore from shouting.

“I did! She’s not who she says he is!” He runs a hand through his hair, pacing around and breathing deeply, “She’s not just some college kid with a rich dad, alright?”

Kris crosses his arms and nods his head, “So what is your theory.”

“Well, I think Rose is not Red Riding Hood!”

“What are you even talking about?”

Chen’s eyes move around the room madly, “I think she’s the huntsmen! I read this one thing this one time where the huntsmen killed the wolf by hiding as that little Red Riding Hood. Ya’know?”

“No I don’t know.”

“Okay but just listen—”

“What’s with the stupid analogy?”

“No, Kris, seriously I think she’s not some college student.”

“Shut up, would you?” Kris rubs his temples, completely stressed out, “Just, let’s get her back before she says anything and pack up, we’re moving.”

Xiumin reclines on the couch, “Again?”

“She knows where we are, Luhan and Lay are already bleaching the place.”

“Wouldn’t burning it be easier?”

“We’re doing that too.”

The trio watches as a group of men bring in some cans of gas and set them down. Xiumin pouts as he plays around on his phone, “I’m going to be glad to see these tacky couches roasted.”

“I picked these.” Kris falls heavily into the arm chair.

The other two chuckle lightly before picking up a bottle of gas each. “Let’s get started.”

Xiumin begins pouring it all over the couch, “Burn tacky burn.”

Kris slushes some onto his shoes, “If we’re burning tacky things then we might as well burn that suit, too.”