Federal agent Drake Hoswell sat down in front of the young man staring off into space his dazed glance momentarily flickered up to the man that stood in front of him with a cup of coffee in his hand before lowering to the table he sat at.  The older man shook his head recognizing how lost the young man must feel right now.  He and his partner had just swooped in out of nowhere to separate him from the only person he could remember or held a connection to.  Now they were telling him that his entire life was a lie built by the woman he thought he was in love with.  It was more than anyone could handle under the circumstances.  He has seen many victims of kidnapping and assault, go through this stage.  It wasn’t pretty, but for them to come around it was necessary.

“Youngjae, drink this.” Drake set the cup of coffee in front of the front of the young man who looked as if he were still in his teens instead of being twenty.

“Where’s Soonim?  I want to see her,” Youngjae requested gazing up at the man.  “I have to know she’s alright.  We’re having a baby she shouldn’t be under any stress.”

“She’s fine,” Drake assured.  “My partner is with her right now.”

“I want to see her for myself,” Youngjae shook his head.  “Please, she’s my wife.  I have to make sure she’s okay.  This is just a misunderstanding.  Whatever is going on, she couldn’t have committed any crimes.  She’s a good woman.”

Agent Drake shook his head rounding the table to take a seat in front of younger male.  Sliding a case file to Youngjae, he motion for him to open it.  Hesitantly Youngjae flipped the file open, the first picture he found was a wall plastered with hundreds of images of him smiling, laughing, and doing various activities.  Confused, Youngjae stared at the federal agent.  “Your so called wife spent weeks stalking you until she knew when you were alone.”

“This is a lie,” Youngjae shook his head.

“After finding a chance to get you alone, she kidnapped you and held you captive in her apartment in South Korea.” Agent Drake stretched his arm across the table, flipping to another picture of her apartment and the chair used to keep him bound.  “This was your holding place until she decided to take you to her family’s cabin.”

“Stop lying to me,” Youngjae said standing from his chair.  “I want to see Soonim.  I’m worried about her and the baby.”

“Sit down Youngjae, there’s more,” Agent Drake replied flipping to pictures of the lake house crime scene.  Youngjae paled his already ashen face taking on a sickly tint in response to the grisly photographs. “This is what Ahn Soonim is capable of doing.  Do you know who this is?”

“No.”  A lump formed in Youngjae’s throat, choking him.  Images of Soonim hovering over an old woman screaming flashed in his brain.  Closing his eyes, Youngjae wheeled backwards away from the table.  “Please, don’t do this.  Just let me see my wife.”

“She isn’t your wife,” Agent Drake stated.  “She drugged you and took advantage of you.  She’s been doing so for months now.  Everything you think you know about her is a lie orchestrated to keep you by her side.”

“That’s not true,” Youngjae whimpered.

“Then tell me, where did you meet?  Do you remember your wedding?  Proposing to her?  Do you know anything about her parents or meeting them?” Agent Drake interrogated.

“It’s because of the cancer.  After the surgery the doctors said there would be holes in my memory,” Youngjae answered.

“Did the doctors tell you that, or is that what Ahn Soonim told you the doctors said?” Agent Drake sat back sympathetically gazing at the young man who now stared at him, his mouth gaped open to say something.

Youngjae’s heart thumped in his chest, ramming against his ribcage.  Had he heard the doctors tell him he would have holes in his memory.  He remembered Soonim holding his hand, telling him how lucky he was.  He could remember the care she gave him during the worst bouts of sickness after surgery.  He never went to a regular doctor who assured him there was nothing to worry about in regards to pieces he couldn’t recall.  He relied on Soonim for information because he trusted his wife.  She was a kind person.  Wasn’t she?  She would never lie to him about their life together.  She never did anything to make him distrust her.

“She loves me,” Youngjae said feebly.

“Your apartment, there are no pictures of your family or your wedding.  Do you get calls from your parents asking how you’re doing?” Agent Drake pressed on.

“Please stop,” Youngjae cried.  “She loves me.  I know she loves me.  She was the only person I could trust and rely on when I had no clue what was going on.  She took care of me.  The things you tell me have to be a lie.  She would never harm me.”

Agent Drake placed a small tape recorder on table, hitting the play button.  “I need you to listen to her confession.  This will make you understand that woman is dangerous.”

Papers could be heard shuffling for a second as a woman cleared to address the person she was interrogating.  ‘Ahn Soonim, will you admit your guilt to me?  We both know that you face heavy charges for what you have done.  I will make sure you do not receive a pardon on lunacy in court.’

‘May I see Jae?  He gets panicky when I’m not around.’  Soonim sighed over the recorder, her voice lining with concern Youngjae easily recognized being around her.  He could just imagine the furl between her brows thinking about being separated from him in this manner when neither knew what exactly was going on.

‘Absolutely not I’m going to make sure you never see him again.’   There was a pause in between the conversation between Soonim and the female agent before Soonim spoke again, the sweet tone of her voice shifting drastically. 

‘Have you been in love before agent?’

‘I am married with two kids.’

‘How long have you been married?  Two years?  Three years perhaps?’

‘Ten years.’

‘Has your husband been faithful all this time?’

‘This isn’t about me, it’s about you.’

‘I love Youngjae, more than any other woman in the world agent.  When he first smiled at me during that fan signing it was the happiest moment of my life.  I knew he was the one.  I knew I had to spend the rest of my life with him.  There were so many obstacles keeping us from being together.  Mi Yun, grandmother, Daehyun.  I managed to get two of them out the way.  I should have taken care of Daehyun before I left, but time did not permit that.’  Soonim sighed drumming her fingers along the table.

‘So you admit you committed those crimes.’

‘I couldn’t let them get in the way of us being together like this.  You know the feeling of being in love with one man so much you would do anything for them.  That’s how I feel for Youngjae, agent.  I would kill to be with him.  Did you know Daehyun told him I was crazy?  He made me hurt my jagi so much.  It pained me to have to take such measures to ensure we were going to start our family together.’

‘You’re a sick woman Ahn Soonim.  To delusion yourself to the point you would kidnap and impregnate yourself with an unwilling partner because you think you’re in love with them.”

“I don’t think I am agent.  I know I am.  The love I have for Youngjae is quite real.  I know he feels the same about me.  The first time we made love, I glimpsed into his heart and soul.  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  I am not delusional, others try to make me think I am wrong for loving him in this way, but isn’t that the real meaning of what it means to love someone,  going through trials of any kind for them?’

‘You’re going away for a very long time.’

‘You might think you can stop him from loving me, but you won’t.  I have made him mine.  He will always remember my love.  He cannot escape it agent no matter what you do.  Our child shall be proof of my decision to throw away society’s rules.  Will you tell him I love him, and I can’t wait until our child is born to show the world they were wrong for separating us?’

‘I will do no such thing.’

‘You are a mother and wife should understand my feelings the most.’

‘This conversation is over.’   The recorder went silent, Agent Drake pressing the stop button his eyes remaining firmly on Youngjae who gaped at it visibly unraveling from the conversation he just heard.

“That is the true nature of Ahn Soonim.  She manipulated you into believing that you were happily married.  Reality will be hard to face right now, but you can do it.  You have family and friends looking forward to your return,” Agent Drake replied.

“Why would she-” Youngjae’s head spun with thought after thought of the past few months with Soonim.  The woman who had taken care of him and loved him despite his constant illnesses; always patiently beside him never asking for more than for him to be there.  He couldn’t believe that it was out of insane love, and what of his feelings for her now.  Did he know if he really loved her or if it came from being twisted into her willing puppet?  The dreams of agonizing pain or helplessness – were those signals from his subconscious reliving torture at her hands?

“Understanding people like her isn’t meant for us, we leave that up to the profilers,” Agent Drake stood rounding the table to come stand beside the young man who appeared worse off than before.  “Let’s get you home.”

“Do I really have a home?” Youngjae whispered.  “I don’t know what to call home anymore.”

“You definitely have a home,” Agent Drake informed him.

“It doesn’t feel like it at all,” Youngjae shook his head.  The comforting hand on his shoulder did not sway the doubts in his mind.  His world had caved in under his feet, leaving him to fall into a pit of self-consciousness from which he was unable to climb out of. 

---

The process for his departure to South Korea seemed more of a blur to him than a length of a few days.  After the federal agents swept in to claim him, Youngjae had not seen Soonim since that day at the hospital.  He desperately wanted to see her.  To ask her if the feelings between them were really a lie.  If she upturned his life because of a delusion of love she suffered for him.  In heart it felt real.  He felt grounded yet that looming sense of something else lurked around the corner.

With it ever fleeting, he could not place it.  A part of him told him it was best left alone.  Another part of him chased it urgently.  The only answers he had were the ones given to him by the federal agents.  As trusting as them seemed Youngjae could not validate the last few months with them.  In the case of Soonim as well, he would not know what was truth or her lies.

                ‘Noona what are you doing?’  He shook in his chair, helpless to do more than watch the assault of the young woman who had coming into the lake house hearing the commotion inside.

                ‘Since neither one of you wishes to confess to screwing around, I suppose I will get it out of her one way or another.’  Soonim hauled the hammer back up over her shoulder.  He screamed, witnessing Soonim bring the object down onto Mi-Yun’s left shin.  Mi-Yun released a high-pitched shriek of pain thrashing in her chair while her leg went slack as the area almost instantly bruised from the blow.

                ‘Noona stop.’  He demanded of the psychotic woman feeling sick to his stomach.

                ‘Will you tell me now?’ Soonim yanked the girl’s head back to studying the tear streaked face scrunched up in pain all the while still ignoring him.  ‘Tell me you’re nothing but a who goes around stealing significant others.’

                ‘I’m sorry Soonim.’  Mi-Yun croaked around the spittle trailing down her lips.  ‘I never meant it.  I couldn’t help myself.  Please forgive me Soonim.’

                ‘So you finally admit it?’ Soonim released the girl’s head turning back to him with a soft smile.  The switch in her head seemed to flip back to normal as she walked over to turn his chair back right side up from where he overturned it.  ‘I won’t let her corrupt your mind anymore jagi.  I’ll get rid of her right now for us.’

                ‘Soonim let her go.’  Soonim ignored him turning her attention back to the young woman quietly crying in her restraints.

                ‘I wonder how I should punish this little .’  Soonim giggled sashaying out the room.  Listening to her rummage through a drawer, he attempted to make eye contact with the pain dazed girl.

                ‘We have to get you out of here.  Can you move towards me?’

                ‘I’m so sorry,’ Mi-Yun blubbered.  ‘I won’t do it again, I promise.’

                ‘You have to snap out of it,’ he hissed.  ‘You can’t give up now.  We can get out of this if we work together.’

                ‘Mi-Yun,’ Soonim sang from the doorway of the other room.  ‘I have something special for you. I just need to tie up one loose end first.  I’ll be right back.’

Youngjae’s eyes popped open, suddenly sitting straight up in his chair alert.  He half expected to find himself still tied down until the effects of the dream drained from him.  Looking around he could see the two federal marshals assigned to watch over him on his trip back to Korea.  Both made a move to come to his side before he shook his head.  Running a clammy hand through his sweat drenched, he pulled the blanket covering him tighter around his body.  The cold chills were coming back again.

Digging into his pocket, he pulled out the bottle of medication Soonim always told him to keep when he began feeling ill.  Popping the top, he shook out five pills into his palm.  Replacing the top, he swallowed the pills in his hand sinking back into the chair to await the medication to ease the nausea and chills chasing their way down his spine.  His thought turned inwards then to the dream.

It was the first dream he could remember having in a long time.  Months before he remembered the face of a man who screamed at him to wake up.  That he needed to fight what was happening.  Soonim dismissed it as personification of his battle with cancer.  Now knowing the monster wrapped in the skin of a pretty caring woman, he wondered if that person was real.  His memory was still jumbled.  The agents said when he landed in Korea doctors there would be able to help him regain the blank spots.  He sincerely hoped that was the case.  In the whirlwind of everything his ability to trust was running thin.    

A/N: Next chapter finds Youngjae faced with the members of B.A.P.  There is a lot that shall take place now, and I'm excited to be able to put some of Soonim behind to focus on the coming events.  Thank you to everyone who is interested in this story.  I should have the next chapter up fairly early in the week.