[Year 19 of Exile]

“Chanyeol…?”

“Yes, Jen?”

“Did… Baekhyun really bring you that puppy?” I was seated beside him, my eyes trailing the said animal as he ran after its giggling founder, a sheen of perspiration so apparent on his face from all that chasing. “Did he?”

The boy that I first talked to, the boy whom I first trusted out of the twelve, glanced over to me, a bright smile on his face. “Uh huh. Baekhyun said he found that puppy sitting on his porch when he opened the door, wanting to head over to my place.”

“Oh…”

The smile soon widened to that of a crooked grin, his eyes twinkling with playfulness. “Are you disappointed that I wasn’t the one who found the puppy, Jen?”

I was taken aback by his question and I set about thinking of an honest answer. I nodded my head, pausing midway, before deciding to shake it instead. I was being truthful to myself – I wasn’t disappointed, I really wasn’t.

“You must have come to like Baekhyun, haven’t you?” His hand ruffled my hair and I blew a loud raspberry, causing him to bellow in laughter.

“I only like you.” Pulling his hand away from my head, I placed it back onto his lap.

“I will always and only like you, Chanyeol.”

I shot up, my heart pounding excessively. Beads of cold sweat dotted my forehead as my hand shakily reached upwards and wiped them away. My eyes were unfocused, a dark and blurry image filling my vision. I lifted my other hand, only to find my palm grazing across something cold. Metal-cold.

That’s strange, I don’t remember falling asleep.

I thought I was with…

“-AI! NO! NOT KAI, PLEASE!”

Kai. I was with Kai.

Panic overwhelmed me when my vision sharpened, my eyes taking in the black, vertical metal bars that were in front, beside, and behind me. It’s a cage. I was in a ing cage.

Loud wails snapped me to reality as my ears picked up on those familiar voices that were echoing in the mansion– Wait.

Where am I?

I whirled wildly on the spot, the panic increasing and fear began to make its appearance, joining its emotional companion in sending my mind into overdrive. The hallway that I was hiding in with Kai was gone. The loud noises, the grunts and screams of pain were non-existent. The boy whose lips I had just kissed for the first time in nineteen years was not by my side.

Instead, a large, barely-lit room greeted me. I was alone, sitting in a cage. The silence was disturbed by the incessant wailings that seemed to come from beside me and I robotically turned my head to the sounds, my heart shattering into uncountable pieces when I laid my eyes on them.

The boys.

I ran my eyes over them, mentally counting the number of heads as a reflex whenever I see them. Horror filled me, and I immediately recounted once more but the number remained resolute.

There were only eight. Eight.

Four are missing.

I glanced at them once again, registering the silhouettes of their profiles and since I’ve been with them since childhood, I identified the missing boys instantly.

Suho. Xiumin. Kai.

Chanyeol.

I kneeled on my knees, my hands grabbing the hard and unforgivingly cold metal bars, squeezing my face as much as I could through them, my eyes scanning the beings in the cage next to mine.

There was no Chanyeol. There was no Suho, no Xiumin.

There was no Kai Kim Jongin.

I feared for the worst just as a bloodcurdling scream erupted from beside me, and I snapped my head in that direction as my blood ran cold.

“I’m Kai,” A hand appeared in front of me, and a playful grin followed as a bronze-skinned boy unceremoniously sat down beside me. “Nice to meet you.”

I scoffed. Boys are so full of themselves.

He blinked, before retracting his hand and using it to scratch his head. “Strange… I’m sure Chanyeol-hyung said that it was alright to start talking to her…”

“Did he?” I deadpanned, my eyes unconsciously glancing at him as he nodded, his own pair of brown orbs making contact with mine. I hurriedly looked away, bringing my knees up to my chin, wrapping my arms around my legs.