Stillness greeted me when I got to the house of my target. The lights were off and everything was quiet.

My eyes narrowed and suspicion crawled up my spine. This isn’t right. The target is an abusive drunk. Being without his abusees, he cannot be this calm. I check my watch and my feelings were confirmed. Forty-five minutes since departure.

Looking up at the house, I grimaced. A trap? But he couldn’t have known. I took one step closer to the house when the feeling of jeopardy gripped my body.

Danger. Don’t go.

Familiar whispered warnings crept into my head.

Normally, I would listen to this voice. I would alert my cohorts and get out as soon as possible. But for some reason I ignored the warning and continued my mission. Ever since I came to Korea I seem to be doing this a lot, ignoring the voice that saved me from trouble so many times before. I would be sure to pay the price.

Quickly outlining the property and drawing a map out on my head, I finally found the best point of intrusion.

Pulling on my gloves, I turned the knob while taking out my lock picking tools out of my pocket when the knob turned all the way. My eyes flashed. It cannot be this easy.

Trap.

That same voice whispered. Aware, I felt the wind change behind me. I whipped around, putting up an arm to protect myself.

SMACK.

I stifled a moan as the wood made contact with my forearm. For now, I ignored the pain and swiftly dislodged the wood out of the man’s hands.

“You snuck up and hurt me.” I growled as I punched his face and elbowed his stomach. “But above all, you pissed me off.” with that I kicked his family jewels.

A noiseless scream and intense pain entered his face as he slumped to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

“Jerk.” I blew a raspberry at him and walked into the house, my senses on high alert. Slowly, I snuck around the house and was about to go upstairs when my foot faltered before the first step.

“How can you gang up on one girl?” I said to the empty air. But it wasn’t that empty as men shook of their shroud of darkness and appeared into my vision. Narrowing my eyes, I internally got ready. “You know it’s not a fair fight right?”

They just smirked. “We don’t fight fair.”

Shoot. I whipped around but it was too late. Cold darkness swamped my head as I felt myself falling.

“It’s your fault.” Key said firmly. “You’re being such a jerk to her.”

“Now, now I think he’s heard enou-,” Onew started when he caught the glare Key threw his way and gave a nervous cough. “I mean I can’t believe your attitude Jonghyun.”

With another pointed glare from Key, Taemin and Minho nodded quickly.

Puppet master. Jonghyun rolled his eyes inside and stabbed his food, not in the mood for anything.

Ah, ah I’m so curious~

Feeling the vibration, Jonghyun tilted to one side and fished his phone out of his back pocket. A quick check to the caller ID showed that it was from Yaeyoung.

Yaeyoung? Why is she calling?

“Who is it?” Minho asked scooping some food into his mouth.

“Yaeyoung.” Ignoring the astonished looks and orders from all members, Jonghyun picked up the call. “What?”

There was silence.

Jonghyun raised his eyebrow. What the heck? “Hey! Don’t call if you don’t have anything to say.”

Silence.

“I’m going to hang up-,” he began to pull the phone away from his ear when he heard a rough voice.

“Stupid girl.” The person growled. “Okay, Kim Jonghyun you listening?”

Who the heck… “Yea, I’m listening. Who is this? Why do you have Yaeyoung’s phone?” he asked forcefully, a frown apparent on his face. The other members looked at each other with confusion from Jonghyun’s tone.

“You don’t seem to have control over this fake girlfriend of yours do you?” the caller gave a throaty laugh.

Fake girlfriend? How… “Who are you? Where is Yaeyoung?” Jonghyun unconsciously gripped the phone tighter.

“She’s at ****** come now if you want her.”

“Wait,” he cried, stopping them from hanging up. “Let me talk to her.”

“In two hours, or she’s dead.” The man seemed like he was going to say more when Yaeyoung’s shrill scream interrupted him.

“DON’T COM-,”

A sharp noise was heard and it was silent. Seconds later, the phone call ended.

“Jonghyun, who was that? And why do you look like you saw a ghost?”

“No looks like he want to kill someone.” Onew determined. “He looks too angry to be scared.”

He shook off his shock and grabbed his coat. “Come on, this is urgent. Yaeyoung is in danger.”

“What?” they yelled but it was too late, Jonghyun was already gone leaving them no choice but to follow.

“Don’t glare at me like that. It only makes me want to hurt you more.” A fake smile stretched across his face.

I tugged at the ropes that banded my wrist together. The ropes were thin so my chances of loosening the knots were extremely low but easier to cut. Unfortunately, a quick scan with my eyes didn’t show anything to cut the ropes with.

Pissed off at the circumstances, I glared some more at the guy. It was my only way of rebelling and it felt good. My cheek still burned from his hit and I could taste the ebbing flow of blood from the corner of my lip.

The man crouched in front of me and looked at me with bored eyes. “I don’t get why I was ordered to get some girl.” He spit the last word out like it was a disgusting concept. “I have better things to do with my time.”

“But he ordered us to boss!” one of the men piped up.

He? Who is this person? I narrowed my eyes. How did they know I was coming? Coincidence? No. That’s not possible. They were expecting me. But who? And why?

“Cheh.” The ‘boss’ stood and spit on the ground, “I don’t take orders from some skinny guy like him.”

“Then why are you her-,”

“SHUT UP!” the man roared and scared the other one into silence. “I thought I could get some fun out of doing this but where is that kid?”

“He’s not going to be happy about this. You’re straying from his orders.”

“He’ll never know. I’m just having fun. It’s not like that guy is going to actually get past us. We have men everywhere.”

Jonghyun. I closed my eyes and prayed. Please don’t get hurt. Don’t come here.

But for now, I need to get out of here. My calculating mind and my training came into play.From what I heard, there are men outside and about four men inside. The chances aren’t good. My phone was taken away and I can’t contact anyone. My best chances are for Jay to find me but… I grimaced. He has no idea where I am or that this even happened.

A distraction from the outside that pulls the men here outside…if only… I mentally shook myself. No I have to rely on myself. With my hands I felt the ground behind me. Cement…pebbles... I looked around discreetly and noticed the piping in the ceiling, following one of the ones closest to me; I saw that one of them must be right behind me. If I’m lucky, maybe there is something I can use to cut these ropes. But I’m too far away right now.

“What am I doing here? Who are you?” I yelled at the man catching his attention.

“Huh, you feel like talking now?” he smirked. “You don’t need to know why you’re here Alicia.”

What? My eyes flashed. How…how does he know?

“Tell me! How do you know my name? Who are you? What do you want?” I questioned urgently.

“God I liked it better when you were giving the silent treatment.” He swore.

“What am I doing here? Who is this man that you are taking orders from? Why-,”

“SHUT YOUR TRAP!” he raged, hitting me. I cried from the impact but let his power smash me against the wall. “STAY QUIET! YOU’RE LUCKY I HAVEN’T BEEN ORDERED TO KILL YOU YET!”

Just wait till I get out you gorilla. Keeping the anger inside, I smiled. My hands felt the pole behind me and found a bulging nail that hadn’t been screwed on all the way. Yes!

Hope sprang inside of me as I rubbed the rope against the metal, thinking of what to do after.