Gaein’s head throbbed; a steady, pulsing, pounding sensation that hurt her head unabatingly. Whatever drug she’d been given wasn’t kind as it was leaving her body.

 An orangey-light was all she could make out behind her closed eyelids. She rolled over onto her side, and a soft groan escaped her lungs. She felt hyper-sensitive, but tentatively opened her eyes trying to let them adjust to the light. The light, though it wasn’t terribly bright, was still much too bright for comfort and she squeezed her eyes shut again, blinking rapidly as her pupils adjusted.

She found herself in a large room. There were no windows. She was in a king-size bed with linen sheets and fluffy pillows, very fine, and very alien to her. A dresser and vanity were assembled on the opposite wall and a chair was perched next to the wall on her right near a door. But other than those few pieces of furniture, the room was largely bare.

Next to her, a tall thin pole-like object stood near the bed. Wrapped in a tube that wound its way to her arm where a needle was injected securely in her arm, taped over so that it wouldn’t accidentally fall out. An IV? It sure looked like one. That is, she’d never seen a real one before, but in dramas, they looked like this. She wondered for a moment if she looked like a desperate, sickly patient from a medical drama and glanced down at herself.

She still wore her dress from the ball. Her tangled mass of matted, knotted hair hung loosely past her shoulders and she shakily brushed away the strands that had fallen into her face.

Where is this place? What happened to me? Just how long was I out?

In what seemed a superhuman effort, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. A wave of dizziness crashed around her and she had to close her eyes as her body shuddered and a retching sensation tore through her stomach. It burned as it swarmed up her insides. Yanking the IV needle from her arm, barely registering the pain, she crawled over to the side of her bed and leaned over just in time to lose the last of the contents in her stomach onto the floor. It was sweet relief, despite the misery of the moment, to feel the last of the drug being flushed from her system. Her head seemed a little clearer than it had.

As she sat shaking and breathing deeply, the soft noise of the door opening reached her alert senses. She glanced up as the door creaked open. Zelo slipped inside…no…Choi Junhong she firmly reminded herself. It still seemed difficult to use such an alien name on the man she used to care for…this man standing before her in an innocent looking t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Was he trying to seem less intimidating or something in more inconspicuous clothes?

“Oh noona. I’m so glad you’re finally awake. I was beginning to worry I’d have to call in my personal physician to make sure you would make a full recovery. I mean, you’d think after two days…”

Choi Junhong took in the scene before him: Gaein, looking hollowly back at him on the bed, and the mess splattered floor. His palpable relief instantly transitioned into worry as he hurried over to her, scurrying around the putrid contents on the ground. He climbed onto the bed beside her and began massaging calming, circular motions into the small of her back.

 “Gaein-ah,” he said worriedly, “I am so sorry. I had no idea the drug would have such drastic side-effects on you. Here, breathe in and out. That’s it. Are you feeling better?”

With the other hand, Junhong reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved his phone. He dialed, and began speaking into the other end, “Daehyun, Gaein isn’t feeling well. Send our most trusted maid to come in and clean up in here and tell her to bring medicine and water now.”

Gaein tried to move further away from the young man, but it seemed her strength had failed her. She couldn’t budge an inch. He still had his arm draped over her protectively; his touch now repulsive to her.

She gazed at him, exhaustion and anger adorning her features as she demanded, “What have you done to me? Where am I? What happened?”

Choi Junhong’s face was grim as he replied, “You were trying to leave me. I told you I wouldn’t allow that. But you wouldn’t listen to me. So I had to resort to…some drastic measures. I’m sorry about the drug, I really am, but you left me no choice. I brought you to my home in secret. You are currently in the unused, and for the most part forgotten, basement. I had some construction done a couple of years ago, and had most of the underground parts of the mansion here closed up because I just never used it. There’s only a small, secret entrance to it now; I designed it that way in case I should ever have need of it, and who would’ve known it would be so useful now?”  He seemed so proud of himself, as if he truly felt he deserved to be congratulated for his brilliance at successfully attempting a kidnapping.

“You do realize holding me against my will is illegal and does nothing to make me like you.” Gaein glared at him accusingly.

“My darling, have you ever truly liked me?” Choi Junhong asked bitterly.

Gaein blinked in surprise at the sincere hurt in his tones.

“You have lied to me, and rejected me again and again despite all I tried to be for you,” Junhong reminded her, “I doubt you ever did like me. But as I mentioned before, I decided that it didn’t matter if I had your heart or not, as long as I had you with me. That’s all I need.”

“You’re wrong.” Gaein whispered, so softly that Junhong had to lean in slightly to hear her, “I did like you…loved you even. I never once was swayed from that devotion…only you…your insecurities could ever have convinced you otherwise. Or else, you never truly knew me at all.”

A quiet, timid looking maid entered at that moment to clean the up the mess and help Gaein get cleaned up after the previous night’s extremities.

“Whatever may have happened, doesn’t matter now.” Junhong sighed as he stood up to leave the maid with Gaein to help her freshen up. “For now, I have you. That is enough. And who knows? Perhaps there may come a day when you will come to care for me.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.” Gaein spat, “and just how long am I to be imprisoned down here?” she called out as he began to leave.

“For as long as it takes. As long as necessary.” Choi Junhong didn’t spare a glance back as he left, shutting the door behind him.

Gaein, though enraged at the situation she now found herself, allowed herself to be undressed and wrapped in a plush towel. She was led from the room, leaning heavily on the maid for support, and after winding her way down a few hallways lined with doors and a set of stairs (just how big was this basement anyway?) brought to another of the rooms that, as the lights switched on, turned out to be a bathroom. The maid drew a bath for her and she gratefully entered the warm waters, that swirled with a delightful vanilla scent. The maid left the bathroom to clean up the mess Gaein had left on the floor in the meantime.

As Gaein soaked, and dunked her hair under the water, scrubbing away the dirt, sweat, and tangles, her mind began racing as she tried to come up with plans to escape. She knew she’d have to make her leave quickly. The longer she stayed, the more likely she’d be even more firmly barricaded under his home, a ghost drifting in a maze of lonely hallways and empty rooms. She’d go mad…that is if she didn’t develop Stockholm syndrome or anything so horrifying. She shuddered at the thought. No. She couldn’t let tha