Dara's POV

It was as if I have been fighting monsters in my sleep for what felt like forever. I felt weak. It even took me a while to move my limbs. Seunghyun was seated on a chair beside my bed when I opened my eyes, and he was cradling his head in his hands.

"Seunghyun."

He lifted up his gaze and a pang of guilt hit me when I saw how much I made him worry. I tried to sit up but he gently pushed me back down to bed. He must have noticed me scanning my surroundings, curious of where we are. He shook his head and searched for my hands. 

"Don't worry. I took you to a different hospital. It was an emergency, I know, but it would be even riskier if I took you to National Police Hospital. Good thing, Dr. Goo is also affiliated here. She just left."

I sighed in relief. Lately, Dr. Goo has started becoming my new best friend. I just feel so at ease with her. She explains everything so well to me, and replies to all of my questions even through calls and sms. If CL's gonna be pregnant someday, I'd definitely recommend Dr. Goo to her. 

"How do you feel?" Seunghyun asked.

"I'm okay," I smiled at him. "The baby is fine, too, right?"

He nods. "He is. Such a strong boy,"

I chuckled a bit and let go of his hands. "What makes you think he's a boy? My next check up's still a week to go– oh my God." I clamped my mouth at the realization. "You already know? Did they ultrasound me???"

Seunghyun waved his hand dismissively while chuckling. "Calm down! Calm down! Okay, your BP dropped down that's why you fainted. That's what she said. You underwent ultrasound, yes, but Dr. Goo said she'll talk about the baby only with you. All she said was that both of you are fine. No more, no less. She'll drop by again later to talk to you."

I bit my lip. Excited and nervous at the same time.

"I just sort of felt it though. It kicks really hard, by the way." Seunghyun's face splits into a wide smile. He's gotta be kidding. It's not kicking that hard yet. Maybe he just wants the baby to be a boy.

My head suddenly became clouded with thoughts. I'm nearing my 16th week of pregnancy and haven't heard Jiyong's say on what he prefers the baby to be— a boy or a girl. Normal parents should talk about it. Normal parents should get excited to know so they can finally decide on whether to buy pink or blue onesies. By now, one of the rooms in the house should have been prepared for the baby.
But we aren't normal to start with, and I'm starting to pity this life inside me.

"Girls can kick hard, too, FYI." I sneered, noticing Seunghyun looking at me. I tried hard not to let go of my smile, afraid he'd notice my head is fogged with thoughts of Jiyong again.

"You mean you?" He raised a brow.

"I mean CL." I told him with a smug grin until the door burst open with the girl who kicks hard suddenly barging in.
Speaking of the devil.

"Holy !" She gasped as she circled around me. "You're fine right? Huh?" She stood to my left and gripped my hand tight, scanning me from head to toe, before she glared at Seunghyun accusingly. "You were with her! How could this thing happen?"

"CL," I tapped her hand. "I'm fine. It's not Seunghyun's fault.

"You sure you're okay? How bout the baby?"
I nod and she sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

"Now that you're here, I need to be going." Seunghyun stood up and ruffled my hair. "Take care."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To meet you-know-who." CL answered for him. "You see, they're some sort of BFF's now."

I had to purse my lips and nod, and then force myself to laugh at her joke. But it makes sense.
Kwon Jiyong became that "He Who Must Not Be Named" character in my life now, reminding me of a fictional villain of a series I've read when I was young.

To my surprise, Seunghyun just ignored CL's jest and asked me, "Anything you wanna pass on?"
I shook my head. "Don't tell him about what happened to me." I looked up at Seunghyun. "I'm fine, anyway."

Seunghyun took a deep breath before agreeing.

"Gotta go. Let me know if you're getting discharged."

"Don't worry. I brought my car. I'll take care of everything," CL said as she formed a salute. 

"I'll call you when I'm home." I added.
Seunghyun nodded and soon he rushed out of the room.

"Phew," CL dropped herself beside me and hugged me. At regular times, I should have jokingly kicked her and pushed her away. But I needed this now. Someone's presence. Someone I could trust. I hugged her back and soon, tears were rolling down my cheeks.

"Shhh... Everything will be alright." She cooed. I shut my eyes, recalling the scenes before I fainted earlier.

"Shh... Everything will be alright."
It was the same phrase. While CL's sounded comforting, earlier, it wasn't. How could such words send chills down my spine?

"Something flashed in my head before I fainted," I revealed and CL pulled away, looking around before facing me once more.

"Listen, as much as I want to know what happened, we can't be that reckless right now. Let's talk about it when we get home, okay?"

I nod. She's right. While I contain myself from being careless, I leaned back on the head rest, my hand instantly caressed my firm, and a bit rounder belly. I need to remember what I saw earlier. They were tiny flashes, small fragments. While I resent my dad for the mess I am in, there was another man whose voice kept ringing in my ears.

It was my godfather's. 
It was General Lee's.

--------------------------

"S-s-ir..." the young reporter named Jinwoo hesitated at first but finally mustered up his courage to tap Jiyong's shoulder. When Jiyong finally looked up at him, he flinched back a bit but quick to raise his mug. "C-c-offee?"

Jiyong shook his head and inserted his phone back into his pocket, his earlier conversation with Seungri making it hard for him to focus. 

He stood up. "Don't you think you're having too much coffee?"

Jinwoo's face became bewildered. "S-s-ir?"

"You still stutter when you talk to me." Jiyong told him coldly making the latter swallow hard.

"Ah... T-that..."

"So you're still scared being around an someone like me?"

"No! Please don't take it that way! It's just that... Up until now I still can't believe I'm working with you. You know I've always been interested about The Lair. Even if no one believed me, and perhaps no one's gonna believe me now, I think I've already proved them all wrong. I will work harder to let the whole country and the world know that the aids really exists!" Jinwoo bowed deeply before him. He chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Just call me hyung." He told him as he walked out of the room, not noticing how the young man behind him jumped up and down in joy before rushing back to the other two who were working on their computers.

They have been continuously looking for the missing members. Tracking them down one by one was not easy, mainly because they either had turned their communicators off or they got rid of them on purpose. For the past few weeks, Jiyong and Youngbae were able to retrieve seven communicators upon tracing the members' last whereabouts but other than that, there were no traces left by the members themselves.

The number of missing aids rose to a near thirty and locating them all was almost impossible, until last night.

Taeh