• Hyuk's POV •

'Now... Do you remember what you did to me?' Taeun stared expectantly at Hyuk. Lee Taeun... a girl Hyuk had long forgotten... after leaving his past behind...

~ 14 Years Ago ~

'Taeun Noona! What is that?' A 5 year old Sanghyuk ran up to a 7 year old Taeun and Taemin. Both kids smiled at Sanghyuk and patted his head, ' Today is Taeun Noona's birthday! I got her this present!' Taemin showed Sanghyuk a beautiful crystal ball. Sanghyuk was mesmerised by the sparkle it brought and wanted to hold it. But Taeun wouldn't let him because: 'Your too young! Why don't you wait till you're a little older before I let you touch it okay?' Sanghyuk turned grumpy. He just wanted to touch it! When the siblings walked off to their mother, who was calling them. Sanghyuk quickly jumped onto the bench and grabbed the crystal ball, playing with it. All of a sudden, Taeun appeared behind Sanghyuk and tried snatching the crystal away from Sanghyuk. 'Give it back, Sanghyuk! It's mine!' shouted Taeun. Sanghyuk refused to let go of the ball and in a split moment, the ball escaped from both their hands and before both could react... the crystal ball hits Taeun in the face, shattering into a million pieces.... with blood tracing down her face as though she was crying drops of blood.

Hyuk could still remember her scream to this day, no matter how hard he tried to forget his past, somehow, this one single memory of her scream seemed to forever follow Hyuk. Taeun stared blankly into the blank space while smiling innocently at Hyuk. 'T-Taeun Noona.... w-why did you k-kidnap me?' stuttered Hyuk. Taeun stood up and walked towards the door. She went outside for a few minutes and came back with a chess board. 'Let's end this horrible nightmare shall we?'

• Hongbin's POV •

Hongbin stared at the space in front of him. He couldn't remember meeting this Lee Taemin. Hongbin couldn't help but worry about Hyuk. Even though he himself is in danger, Hongbin kept thinking of Hyuk in his mind. Hongbin groaned in frustration when his eyes landed on the cup of blue liquid that was sitting on the floor, taunting him like: Come on! Drink Me! Hongbin couldn't contain his thirst and reached out for the cup. It hurt to move his hands when he's all tied up but Hongbin tried loosening the rope. When he finally reached it, he brought it up to his mouth and was about to take a big mouthful when he smelled bleach. Wait... bleach?... Hongbin stopped just as the cup touched his lips and threw the cup away. Hongbin stared at the light blue liquid and thought about how he had almost killed himself! Hongbin was about to curse out loud when it came to him. 

Bleach... Hongbin had a vague memory about a guy... a guy in his last year of middle school. That guy had tried committing suicide by drinking bleach... but he failed... and he got bullied... ! Could it be?... Hongbin had a vague idea on who it might be... but to think that... he would do this to him!

'Well? Can you remember me?' Hongbin turned around to find that Lee Taemin had returned. Hongbin eyed him as he walked over to the cup of bleach Hongbin had thrown away. 'Really... you tried to drink this? It doesn't taste nice at all...' Taemin was about to clean up the mess when Hongbin spoke, 'How was it for you? Lee Taemin, last year of middle school.... you confessed to me on the day of graduation... y-you were the one who tried to commit suicide by drinking bleach!' Taemin stopped his actions and turned to Hongbin, 'Yeah... I did all that... Do you know how long it took me before I had the courage to confess to you? I can't believe that I confessed to you... only to be humiliated further...' said Taemin. He walked up to Hongbin, grabbed his face and said, 'It was because of this face, I actually had the motivation to keep living. I kept thinking one day, the kind, handsome, Hongbin would accept me. But you didn't... You left me alone and allowed them to do things to me!' Hongbin had no idea what Taemin was talking about. He did not tell anyone to do anything to Taemin! Taemin sighed and said, 'Let's start from the top shall we? Let's see, it was about 8 years ago wasn't it?'

• Flashback •

 Hongbin was upset that his teacher had yet again refused to let him enter the sports event! Just because he had a pretty face...He was about to walk out of school but... as usual there was the regular crowd that was constantly blocking his way with their screams and presents. His friends had after school lessons so, he was alone. He was about to try to make a break for it when somebody tapped his back. Hongbin turned around to find a guy, around his age, but wore thick glasses and wore a huge sweater. 'Can I help you?' asked Hongbin. The boy shifted and looked down, unable to meet eyes with Hongbin. Hongbin recognised the boy to be Lee Taemin, his classmate. Hongbin remembered that he was often teased of by his name similar to the popular rookie of a Kpop band. 'I-I.... C-can I... Uh.... I w-would like t-to tell y-you that... I...l-like...you....' Taemin had stuttered the whole sentence out and Hongbin had some trouble understanding. When he finally understood what Taemin had said, he blushed to the core and couldn't believe what he just heard. He was confessed to. He was confessed to by a boy. Hongbin stared uncomfortably at the sky and scratched his head. Wow, he has never been in this situation before. 'Uhm... thanks for telling me but... I think it's impossible for us to be together because... you know, you're a boy and I'm a... boy too?' And with that Hongbin ran off. 

• Present Day •

Hongbin remembered that after that day, there were some rumours about Taemin but he hadn't bothered to care. Now that he thought about it, it was at that time Hongbin had moved from his old house so he had to transfer schools. He hadn't heard much from his friends there or anything at all about his school but he figured that everything must going fine. 'I'm diagnosed with Major Anxiety Depression, you know. I  cut myself to relief my stress and to seek some sort of happiness from cutting what I hate the most. Do you know what they did to me? Your fans?' said Taemin. Hongbin stared at Taemin's arms as he pulled up to reveal two corroded arms. Hongbin was shocked mindlessly as he stared at the scars that cut through the corrosive skin. 'They poured acid on me. Called me a , manwhore, ... just because I confessed. They said I was gay but I didn't care. Because I was willing to accept that the guy I liked doesn't reciprocate my feelings because we were of the same gender.' Taemin stopped talking halfway before punching Hongbin in the gut and shouted, 'THAT WAS UNTIL I REALISED YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND!'

• N and the other's POV •

'How are we supposed to find a "dead" guy?' asked N. Nobody could come up with a good idea. In the first place, they couldn't understand how their manager of 2 years can be dead for 5 years! It did not make sense! N was about to scream and shout when he received a message:

I am pronounced as one letter

And written with three, 

Two letters there are, 

And two only in me. 

I'm double, I'm single, 

I'm black, blue, and gray, 

I'm read from both ends, 

And the same either way. 

What am I? 

N stared at the message and couldn't under what it was asking. He passed the message to members when Leo received a new message:

I am the perfect hiding spot,

Full when need be,

But empty as seen fit

I not only fill myself with food,

But also timber, clothes and metal too

What am I?

Leo stared hard at the message and stared at Ken. Ken had been going online to find the answer to N's riddle. 'Well... for N hyung... it's an eye. The answer is eye. For Leo hyung... Oh? Hold on. I think I received a riddle too.' Ken opened up the new message and showed to the members:

The most prestigious art university.

N and Ravi immediately shouted, 'HONGDAE!' Leo smiled and said, 'I've solved mine too. It's a warehouse.' Ravi and N was about to run out the door when their CEO stopped them in their tracks. 'Woah... I can't let you get into harm's way. I forbid you from leaving this hospital ward.' The VIXX members were about to protest when their CEO silenced them. 'I don't want to send you directly to harm! Please! Just... understand...' N stared at the CEO. Gods.... he still blames himself for sending Hongbin and Hyuk to those schedules.... N decided to stay and accompany Leo, praying that Hongbin and Hyuk are okay. Meanwhile, Ravi was about to go ballistic when Ken held onto his arm and hugged it. Ravi almost wanted to pull away but noticed that Ken was already close to tears and decided not to.

• Hyuk's POV •

'What's the chess board for? Noona...' said Hyuk. Taeun continued assembling the chess pieces with great detail. When she placed the last piece on the board, she placed it on a makeshift table between her and Hyuk. 'Like I said, it's to end this horrible nightmare. I want to make a deal with you. If I win, you will give me your life, and your eyes. If I lose, I vouch on my life that you will get out free and safe. Both you... and your... boyfriend.'

• Hongbin's POV •

Hongbin groaned in pain at the punch. For such a flimsy guy, he sure can pack a punch. Taemin resumed to cleaning up the bleach and sat down in front of Hongbin. He took out a piece of rubber and Hongbin stared at it for a second before realising, it was his face. Taemin had reconstructed an exact replica of his face! Taemin took out a piece of knife and placed it on a table in the room. He placed the mask beside it and walked over to Hongbin,

'Since you and your boyfriend ruined my and my younger sister's life, I'll cut to the chase...

                        ...I'll take your life as mine instead...'

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Sorta... another cliff hanger. Hehe I'm guessing that Hyukbin would finally find some peace after 1-2 chapters. Don't worry!^^

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