I won’t go into any graphic details about the treatment I received at Ravi’s hands. It was incredible that I came out of that period alive, considering the torture I went through. I was burnt when I said something to displease him, and if I “made him sad” my head would be forced underwater until I was gasping for breath. He left countless cuts and other marks on my body, the scalpel being his favourite tool. A favourite ‘game’ of his was to bring a knife to my skin – usually on a limb or my stomach – and slowly push it deeper and deeper until I lost my voice from screaming. I was kept in that dark room, tied to a bed at night to sleep and the chair during the day, allowed two bathroom breaks a day and fed a pitiful amount of bread and water once a day – enough to keep me alive but not enough to give me any strength.

But worse than the physical torment was the psychological. He played games with my mind, had me scared of every sound, every movement and destroyed any independent thoughts, replacing them with mindless terror and desperation.

Sooner or later, however, I noticed the torture was diminishing in cruelty and frequency. It was then that Hongbin, a member of his gang, visited my broken self. I was in their HQ, and the others had endured my screaming and pleading for far too long. So he told me the truth.

All of the gang save for Hongbin suffered from the Shift. It was something wrong with their minds, their character. When the Shift was active, the normally perfect boys became dark opposites of themselves – sadistic, cruel and enjoying the pain of others. Ravi was the original Shift victim – so his personality suffered the most. The others could be reasoned with – they listened to Hongbin’s advice and avoided their loved ones when the Shift was active. But Ravi was feral.

After I learnt of this I felt so conflicted. I loved Ravi. But I couldn’t survive that torture again. Hongbin promised Ravi would never hurt me again – at least physically. Hongbin said the Shift was fading and he was returning to normal. So I ignored my head and agreed to stay after learning that Yebin, Eunseo and Jaeun had recently moved in with the gang. They had been kept oblivious of my imprisonment, but Eunseo and Jaeun knew about the boys’ trouble, although Jaeun had never actually seen it.

The next morning I woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom. I slowly got up and moved towards the ensuite, pausing at the mirror. I had been fixed overnight. There wasn’t a trace on my skin to indicate my torture. More importantly, my mind no longer felt broken. Looking around the room, I felt butterflies in my stomach when I caught sight of a leather bracelet on the dresser. I knew perfectly well who that belonged to. Looking at the photos of us around the room – happy, normal – I found myself smiling. Ravi…

Almost instantly there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal the largest bunch of flowers I had ever seen. White roses. My favourite.

Ravi’s eyes were pained and he slowly made his way into the room, closing the door behind him. The malicious and mocking glint was gone from his expression, only anguish remained. He stopped a fair distance from me, eyes on the floor. We stood for a few minutes like that, silent and awkward. My head yelled danger, but my heart had forgiven him already. Not knowing what to do, I listened to my gut instinct. Ravi froze, not breathing, as I started walking forwards. He thought I was going to leave him. He wasn’t surprised; he knew he deserved it for being unable to control his inner demons.

So he got the shock of his life when I wrapped my arms around his waist. The roses fell to floor as he was momentarily stunned. I hugged him tighter and soon his arms were around me, safe, trustworthy. I couldn’t bring myself to leave him. We loved each other, and he was suffering as much as I had – minus the knives.

His voice was soft, broken. “Why…?” He whispered.

I looked up at his tear-stained face. “Why do you think, ?” I smiled.

I heard applause and looked around Ravi to see N and Leo grinning. “You’re a tough cookie, Serin.” As they left, Ravi chuckled and ruffled my hair.

“What?”

“You’re amazing, you know that. Even after I…” He started crying again. Ravi never cried. I wiped his tears away. “I love you that much Ravi. And I don’t blame you.”

“Serin, baby girl, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

We never left the bedroom that day, and I didn’t shudder when he used pet names. I loved him that much.

And I was going to fight to keep him.

*Hey everyone! So this is quite short, it's the sappy kind of chapter. I at romantic stuff tbh. So next few parts will be about the other boys and their issues - I wanna let Serin and Ravi have a little peace for a bit. Anyone have any preference about who goes first? Leo, N or Ken? It could change the story's outcome so fire away! :)