As soon as Jonghyun regained consciousness he wished he could go back to the bliss of darkness. His body was aching as if he had been run over by a bus and his head throbbed with every heartbeat. He scrunched up his face and, with herculean effort, rolled onto his side, groaning. It wasn’t until he pressed his palm against the the ground to try and sit up that he realised he was lying on someone’s floor.

“What?” he mumbled, still keeping his eyes closed as pain rolled over him.

“Good,” said a voice he distantly recognised. “You’re awake.”

He blinked his eyes open. Jessica was perched on a desk with her legs crossed, examining her nails. He groaned again as he sat up slowly, rubbing the end of his spine. His entire body protested the new position and it was a little hard to breathe. He hoped he didn’t have any broken ribs.

“What’s happening?” he asked, voice raspy. His heart skipped a beat as he remembered the feeling of dread that had filled him before he was knocked out and he scrambled to his feet, forgetting the pain. “Kibum!”

He glanced around the room, which looked to be a office, and quickly located the exit. He hurried over to it but only made it halfway before it morphed into the wall, sending his heart through his chest. As the door disappeared, the entire room transformed and suddenly he was standing in what seemed to be only empty air. Everything was white, no contours anywhere. Jonghyun let out a yelp of fright and swivelled around to see a completely unbothered Jessica still sitting on the desk, now the only thing in the empty dimension they had been swallowed by. She looked up when she noticed him staring and wiggled her fingers with a small smirk.

“Illusionist. Remember?”

Jonghyun sighed, rubbing his face. He had no idea what was going on anymore.

“Okay, what is this?”

“You’ve been kidnapped,” she kindly let him know and, to his astonishment, giggled. How was this funny?

He stared at her incredulously for a few seconds, unsure how to take the situation. Not to mention her behaviour.

“I know that. Taemin and Minho–”

“You were kidnapped again.”

Puzzled, Jonghyun’s mouth snapped closed. She smiled, clearly amused by his nonplussed state.

“I kidnapped you,” she explained. “They got the orders to kill you and, since I’m the illusionist I am, I saved you.”

“I still… don’t understand…”

“The Owner had Minho and Taemin go get you in order to strangle you unconscious and throw you off the cliff, leaving you no chance of survival.”

Jonghyun opened and closed his mouth, unable to find anything to say. She jumped down from the desk, which disappeared, and walked over to him. Once she reached him, she kneeled down and took in his face, caressing his cheek.

“I had them think they threw you in the ocean, but you were actually just thrown onto the bridge, where I retrieved you with the help of a friend.”

Well, that explained the soreness of his body.

Jessica leaned in uncomfortably close, forcing him to lean back as she examined his face intently.

“But why them?” Jonghyun frowned, trying to get her away by gently pushing on her shoulders. “I thought we were friends.”

Jessica laughed humorlessly and thankfully put some space between them.

“You are. But they are the easiest for The Owner to influence and follow orders well.”

“What do you mean?” Jonghyun asked. “Is this the same thing that keeps Kibum from talking about stuff?”

Getting up again, Jessica turned and made her way back to where the desk had stood.

“When The Owner recruits performers he makes them sing a contract. In blood.”

Jonghyun drew in a sharp breath.

“Blood?!”

Back still turned, she nodded.

“That is his way of controlling us. That’s his abnormality. If he gets the blood of the person he wants to control on a contract, he has power over them. It’s not infinite but it is enough to not be entirely your own person once you sign.”

Jonghyun’s body went cold and his heart sank. This was not good. This was not good at all. He knew there was something off about The Owner and he absolutely couldn’t let this go on. He couldn’t let Kibum be forced against his will to do things he didn’t want and he couldn’t leave him tied down to the circus forever.

“I have to get Kibum.” Jonghyun spun around and reached his hands out blindly, trying to locate the exit.

Jessica laughed, but this time it sounded weird.

“I wouldn’t bother.”

Clenching his fists, he rounded on her and took a threatening step forward.

“What the is that supposed to mean?!” he growled and she raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “I’m getting Kibum and I’m getting him now!”

“Fine, be that way.” Jessica shrugged.

Jonghyun was about to turn away from her again when he suddenly found himself tackled to the floor. Jessica perched on top of him, a small dagger pressed to the juncture of his throat and jaw.

“You have no idea,” she hissed.

“What?” Jonghyun gasped, his air-supply cut off by her weight.

“I wanted you from the very first time you stepped foot in this place,” she said in a low voice and his eyes widened as she leaned in, her long, blonde hair falling around them like a curtain. “I thought everything would work out when I saw you in the audience on the premiere night, so I made you come back.” The point of her dagger caressed down Jonghyun's throat to his chest, where his heart was. “But then you just had to run into him. Why? Why couldn’t you just go inside instead of going around to the back? You can’t leave with him! You have to stay!”

The air around them seemed to tremble and Jessica’s eyes didn’t quite look clear, as if she weren’t fully there. For a moment Jonghyun worried she was being controlled by the Owner, but he wanted him gone. Maybe something else was?

“What do you want from me?” He struggled to get out from underneath her.

“It’s not something I want from you, it’s you. You have to stay,” she murmured. “And as long as The Owner lives you will never have Key.”

“What the hell?”

“The Owner will kill you before he lets you come anywhere near Key again,” Jessica said. “Besides Key will probably have heard that you are supposedly dead by now.”

“Which is exactly why I have to go find him!” Jonghyun groaned in frustration. What was it she didn’t understand?!

“It won’t do anything.”

“How the would you know?” he growled.

“Because he’s about to die.”

Jonghyun froze, his breath caught in his throat and his heart erratic, trying to claw out of his chest like a panicked bird.

“No,” he whispered. “You’re lying.”

She gave a grim smile.

“He told you about his mother, right? Did he tell you how she died?”

Fear twisted his insides and he could do nothing but stare at her, trying to catch his breath.

“She had a way of going into a coma-like state, cutting herself off from the world and the things that weighed on her conscious, like her love’s death, for a few hours.” Jonghyun blinked at her. He didn’t like where this was going. “And one day she didn’t wake up. Her entire bodily system had shut down and she died a peaceful death. Key has that same ability.”

“He– he can’t–”

“He already did,” Jessica interrupted. “And he will most probably die since he never learned how to control that state, unlike his mother.”

Jonghyun started struggling against her again. He needed to find Kibum now more than ever. He had to wake him up.

“Why are you doing this?!” he yelled at her when he hadn’t managed to budge even a nanometre. How could she be so strong?

“I told you already.” She grabbed his chin to make him look at her, pressing the dagger to his throat again. “You were not supposed to fall in love with Key and take him away. You were supposed to stay.”

She leaned in close again, still that weird look in her eyes, and Jonghyun tried to free himself from her grip. He had no desire whatsoever to be this close to her. Ever.

“Well done, Jessica,” a voice said and Jessica’s eyes widened. “I can always count on you to get the job done. I suppose Minho and Taemin couldn’t do it after all.”

Jessica swiftly got off of him, the dagger accidentally grazing Jonghyun's throat and drawing some blood. She turned to the voice, bowing deeply.

“I was just about to finish, Owner. He is not yet dead.”

Jonghyun froze for a moment, not daring to look in the direction she was bowing as he sat up and pressed his hand to the shallow wound in his throat. But it was kind of impossible to avoid since there was nothing else to look at in the empty space around them.

Wait, how had The Owner even gotten there?

It hit Jonghyun that maybe he was the only one seeing the room as completely empty. Jessica was an illusionist after all, she could probably make him see other things than what he was actually seeing.

“Your services won’t be needed any longer, Jessica,” The Owner said, gazing at him with a wicked glint in his eyes. Jonghyun stood on wobbly legs. “I’d rather do this myself now that he is right here.”

Jonghyun swallowed nervously, slowly backing away towards what he prayed was the door, the window, anything.

“I’d rather just leave,” he said weakly, coming to a stop as his back hit something solid. “Maybe even move to another country, who knows?”

Neither of them looked amused at all and he fiddled with his fingers. The room fell quiet for a moment as The Owner glared at Jonghyun and Jessica looked between them worriedly. Then The Owner slowly walked over to what Jonghyun assumed was the desk. He really couldn’t tell though.

“You took Kibum away from me,” The Owner stated slowly, voice filled with so much hatred Jonghyun could practically feel the scorching heat of them.

He swallowed, shaking as he tried to surreptitiously search the wall behind him for the doorknob. He needed to stall.

“Uh… d-did I?” he stammered.

But then the words truly sank in and anger flared up in him. He took Kibum away? He glared at The Owner, his search forgotten. Instead he stood straight and met his eyes evenly.

“I don’t think you own him. In any way, shape, or form.”

The Owner’s eyes narrowed dangerously but Jonghyun was not going to back down. Kibum was not an object that could be owned. Especially not by The Owner. Jonghyun would see to that, even if he had to die for it.

A low, menacing laugh came from The Owner and he moved to pick up something Jonghyun couldn’t see. Jessica gasped in horror and suddenly the room returned around him. He wished it hadn’t, because he was now staring at a gun pointed straight at him. The Owner smirked.

Never had Jonghyun imagined that his life would end by being shot. He had always thought he would grow old, have kids and grandkids to brighten up his days in a small house somewhere in the suburbs. But as he heard the click of the safety latch and saw the deranged gleam in The Owner’s eyes it all seemed so impossible. He could hardly believe that the last thing he would hear in his life would be a gunshot instead of a child’s laughter. He could only hope it would be fast enough to be painless.

And then he heard it, so loud his ears hurt. But that wouldn’t matter. They were soon never going to hurt again