“Oh, I'm so sorry!”

I groaned, grabbing a napkin from a nearby table to dab at the wet spot on my jacket. I looked up and forced a smile for the strawberry-blonde woman who had just spilled her drink on me. “It's fine.” I relied through clenched teeth.

The girl bit her lip and behind her sequined fuchsia masquerade mask, I could see her eyes were wide with worry. “Are you sure? I really didn't mean to...”

I sighed, mumbling as I manoeuvred myself around her to make my way to the washroom to clean myself up, “It's really okay.”

She grabbed my arm to stop me. “Wait! Do you need any help? I can pay for your jacket if the stain doesn't come out. Here, take my card.” she said seriously, handing me an expensive looking gold-trimmed business card.

I shrugged out her grip, hastily taking it and nodding even though I knew I wouldn't use it. When I walked away, this time she let me go. I glanced at the card, reading the name Jessica Jung printed neatly on it before I shoved it in my pants pocket, quickly forgetting about it.

When I got to the white-tiled room, I braced my arms around the sink and leaned on the counter, warily looking at my reflection in the mirror. I took in the sight of the dark circles around my eyes, barely concealed under my plain black mask, the only embellishments being three tiny dark purple gems near the edge. Then my eyes trailed down to the very noticeable red stain on my light-grey suit jacket. I groaned again, taking it off. Coming here was a bad idea.

As I was trying to get the discolouration out with a wet paper towel, the door opened to reveal a baby-faced man with dirty blond hair and a lean figure. “Lay!”

I nodded at him in acknowledgement before turning my attention back to my task. “Hey, Luhan.” I grumbled.

Catching sight of my now ruined suit jacket, he chuckled. “What happened?”

I shrugged. “Some chick spilled her stupid drink on me...”

He came up next to me and took the jacket out of my hands, inspecting the stain. “Oh, it's red wine too... Yeah, sorry man, but that's not gonna come out. Just leave it off, it's not like you need it, anyway.”

I glared at him for a moment before collapsing against the counter again, letting my light brown hair fall over my face, slightly covering my eyes. “Luhan... Can we please just go? This has not been a good night and I didn't even want to come here in the first place.”

He put my jacket down and took me by the shoulders, forcing me to look at him “No.” he said promptly, “Look Lay, we came here to get your mind off your ty ex-girlfriend. If we go back now, you'll just go back to sulking in your apartment like you have for the past week.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's normal when your girlfriend cheats on you.”

“No dude, you're acting like a chick.” He adjusted my navy blue tie before pushing me toward the door and clapping me on the back. “Now, go be a man and get back out there!”

I sighed in exasperation, but still obliged to my overly-enthusiastic friend. As I braced myself to re-enter the chaos, Luhan gave me a double thumbs up and a cheeky grin. I sent him a tiny smile back because, as much as I didn't want to do this, I did appreciate his effort and never ending support that I probably didn't deserve.

As soon as I stepped back into the main part of the elaborately decorated club, I was hit by the pounding bass of the loud music. I avoided the dance floor filled with a disorienting crowd of pulsating colours and masked faces. Instead, I made my way over to the bar and ordered a drink, realizing that alcohol might just be the key to making it through the night.

When the bar tender handed me my drink I took slow sips of the bitter liquid. As little fun as I was having, I wasn't stupid enough to get drunk. I knew from experience that intoxication would only make the situation worse.

From my peripheral vision I noticed a figure taking the seat next to me, but when I glanced over at the person, I found myself doing a double take. It was a beautiful woman with long purplish-red coloured hair flowing down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a short white lace dress with a matching mask that protected her identity, but didn't cover the appealing features of her prominent nose and and large, piercing eyes.

After a few moments, she raised one of her perfectly arched eyebrows at me and I realized that I was staring. I looked away in embarrassment, feeling the blood rush to my face. The woman's giggle echoed through my ears over the loud music and I dared to look at her again, seeing an attractive smirk on her pale, heart-shaped lips.

She leaned over and spoke into my ear, her smooth, musical voice somehow making its way into my eardrums, “What's your name?”

I blinked. “Uh, I-I... My name is L-Lay,” I stammered pathetically.

The girl tilted her head and pointed to her ear, gesturing that she couldn't hear me. I took a deep breath and leaned into her, speaking more loudly and trying to sound confident, “It's Lay.”

She nodded. “You can call me Kana.”

We sat in silence for a while, Kana watching the crowd while I tried not to ogle her. Finally, she grasped my arm and pulled me close to her. I shivered as her warm breath ghosted over my neck, “Do you want to dance?”

I didn't even have the time to stutter a reply before she pulled me onto the dance floor. The throng of people readily swallowed us up and I soon found myself being pushed and jostled by the group of sweaty bodies surrounding me. I felt uncomfortable and a bit claustrophobic at first, but then Kana started to dance.

I was mesmerized as her body twirled and curved, flowing to the fast beat of the song. At one point, I was so caught up in watching her that when she slipped her arms around my shoulders I automatically joined in dancing as well, following her movements.

I lost all bearings of how long we spent on the floor, our bodies sliding against each other effortlessly. However, it seemed all too soon when Kana's eyes focused on something behind me and she pulled away. She looked me in the eyes once more and and the corners of curled up in a cat-like grin. “I'll see you later, Lay...” she said cryptically as her finger trailed across my chest before she disappeared behind the wall of people.

I stood confused for a moment before realizing what had just happened. I tried to find my way off the dance floor, but soon got lost in the maze of people. Suddenly, I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder, the person leading me back to the bar and sitting me on one of the stools.

I looked up at Luhan's face and gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, that would have taken me forever to get out of.”

One of the corners of his mouth quirked up in a crooked grin of amusement. “It looks like you had fun.”

I shrugged sheepishly and he laughed, settling into the seat next to me. He threw one of his arms around me in a cordial gesture. “That girl you were dancing with was hot. Like, really hot.” He winked. “So, did you end up getting her number?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn't get the chance to...”

He groaned. “Oh man, that ! If I were you, I would've been all over that. Did you at least get a name?” he asked.

“She just told me to call her Kana.”

He shook his head in mock-pity, speaking in a grave tone, “So all you got was a nickname...” Then he brightened. “Well, I'm glad you're at least feeling better. But, this girl I was talking to told me to meet her in this place and I think I'm gonna score. So, I'll come find you later Lay, don't leave!”

He jumped up from his seat and hurried off, sparing me a salute before I lost sight of him. I sighed and ordered another drink, not knowing what else to do now that both my mystery girl and my best friend had left me.

About an hour passed and I was beginning to grow weary from boredom. Neither Kana nor Luhan had showed up again and nobody else had captured my interest or tried to talk to me. I took my phone out, about to call Luhan and ask if I could leave yet, when a flash of white clothing caught my eye.

She was staring at me from across the room, standing motionlessly against the wall with a keen look on her face. When she noticed me looking at her, she grinned invitingly, motioning me over with a finger. I obliged immediately, dodging around groups of people to return to her.

When I got to her, she tugged playfully on my shirt, pulling me closer. “Follow me.” she said ambiguously before escaping my grasp and slipping out of an unmarked black door that I hadn't noticed before.

I hesitated for only a moment before following, too compelled by the girl to not take that bait. As I pushed open the door, I stopped to take in the sight before me, eyes wide with awe. I found myself in front of a garden of rosebushes. The brilliant moonlight glowed enough to show that the waist-height bushes were organized to form a circular labyrinth, taking up most of the expanse of the large yard.

Kana was standing at the entrance of the maze, biting her lip seductively and looking up at me with lidded eyes. When I stepped toward her, she suddenly moved to enter the labyrinth, moving surprisingly swiftly through it. Judging by her taunting giggle echoing through the night air, I could tell that this was a game.

I pursued her into the maze, but soon lost sight of her as I focused on avoiding dead ends and finding the right path. It took a while, but I eventually burst into the centre, finding Kana sitting leisurely on a bench, holding a single red rose. I vaguely noticed that she was now wearing white leather gloves even though it was quite warm out.

She smirked, but said nothing as she walked up to me, throwing her arms around me and pressing her soft lips against mine. I kissed back automatically, wrapping my arms around her slender waist and sliding my palms along the contours of her body.

When we pulled apart, I had a stupid grin on my face and she chuckled. Kana reached up to carefully remove the black mask from my face and peck me once more on the lips before pressing the rose into my hand.

I cried out more in surprise than pain when one of the thorns on the rose cut shallowly into my flesh. I examined the tiny wound for a moment before shrugging and pressing my mouth against it, off the small amount of blood that had escaped. I looked up to inquire about it to Kana, but I realized that she was gone.

I looked around in confusion before I noticed that the girl was already halfway through the maze. She was moving back toward the door we had come from, even faster than before.

“Wait!” I called, “Where are you going?”

She didn't stop moving and merely glanced back at me. She winked and waved casually, my mask still in her hand. It was only by the time she reached the entrance that I thought to start moving.

When I finally made my way out of the labyrinth and back into the club, I cursed when there was absolutely no sign whatsoever of Kana. The girl had simply left without any trace except for the crimson rose I was still holding, and the lingering feeling she left on my lips.

I felt the distinct notion of loss spread over me, even though I had only met the girl a fer hours ago. However, I was startled out of my slight depression when I heard screams coming from the other end of the club. The high-pitched shrieks of fear were soon the only thing heard as the music shut off.

Normally I would have stayed out of the way and probably even left in a situation like this, but I heard a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me to go find out what was going on. I felt an ominous feeling sink into the pit of my stomach in anticipation as I pushed my way through the crowd.

When I got to the middle of the gathering where the commotion had started, what I saw made my blood run cold. There, surrounded by people, laid the broken and fragile body of a woman. Her limbs were splayed out awkwardly at odd angles as if she had fallen ungracefully. Her skin had a purplish-blue tint to it and there were marks on her neck showing that she had been strangled.

From the sequined fuchsia mask on on her face and her strawberry-blonde locks, I recognized her as the girl, Jessica, who had spilled her drink on me earlier. And there, laying in her clenched hand, was a familiar plain black masquerade mask, decorated simply with three dark purple gems.