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Sungmi P.O.V

It was dark. Dark everywhere. I couldn’t se anything! Only darkness… “It’ll be okay, Sungmi… it’ll be okay,” I kept repeating to myself inside my head, while I were walking and trying to figure out how long I’d walked in those tunnels under the ground…

Wasn’t that… talking? Did I finally hear talking over me!? And… see light!? I started running, even when it felt like my legs would collapse under me any second. There was a way out of here now! After a while the light got clearer. It came from a capsule or something over me… I’d been walking in some sewers for a while now… I saw a tiny ladder, which led up to the capsule. My hands grapped around it but the rest of me hesitated… what if I still were there? Then it all had been in vain… but then… I needed to get away from this darkness. I took a deep breath before I started climbing. Up…. Up against the light…

Kyuhyun P.O.V

“Catch!” Leeteuk said before he threw a bottle of water to me. I smiled and got it before it ended on the floor.

“Thank you hyung,” I said. He smiled.

“You’re welcome maknae. You did great!” he winked and went to Yesung with some water. I sat down on the floor against the mirrors. Right after, Ryeowook and Sungmin joined me.

“It’s exhausting!” Sungmin said and acted like he was going to die, “wae Eunhyuk, wae!?!” I laughed. We had just been practicing A-Cha about twenty times in a row.

“Because we have to be the best this time hyung, that’s why!” Ryeowook said and laughed too, “now, act like you’re the oldest here!” Sungmin pouted but sat normal and took his water bottle.

“I need some fresh air,” I said and got up, “some one who wanna go with?” Both Ryeowook and Sungmin shook their heads so I just went to the door by myself.

“Yah, maknae! Where are you going?” Donghae asked and got to me. I smiled a bit.

“I need some fresh air,” I said smiling.

“I’m coming with you!” We went downstairs and took one of the back entrances as the medias didn’t knew about. It led out to a little backyard with a lot of containers and stuff. Yeah yeah, I know right? Fresh air? xD But it actually didn’t smell that much. I sat down on one of the chairs the staff had putted out here, Donghae on another. I took a sip of my water and smiled a bit.

“Why do we still need to practice it so much? We already made our comeback?” I asked. I hadn’t asked anybody else, ‘cause everybody was a bit stressed and would maybe just snap at me and such. Donghae sighed.

“Because we want to be perfect!” I laughed.

“Hyung, we are!” I said, just as something under me said a sound. I looked down and found a sewercapsule. Huh? Something… kind of knocked on it?

“Hyung, listen!” I said. He did so…

“It comes from the capsule,” he said, just as I got of the chair and removed it. The capsule twitched and got pushed up. I made big eyes when I saw what it was… it was a girl! And possibly the dirtiest and most wet girl I’d seen in my entire life. Her hair was in one big mess, she had mud and a lot of other things in her head and all over her body… I looked at Donghae who was gaping. Who was this girl?

Sungmi P.O.V

I hadn’t expected someone to stare at me the second I got the capsule pushed away… but there were. Two guys, both in some jogging clothes and looking sweaty. I bit my lip. What should I do now!?! Hurry back to the sewer and find another place to get out? Just as I thought of it, one of the guys started talking.

“W-who are you?” he said. I sank. How should I answer that? Yes, I understood him perfectly but… I couldn’t speak. Not anymore… I lost my voice in an accident three years ago…

“Hyung, I think she is scared,” the other guy said. The first one, the oldest I assumed, nodded. He sent me a smile.

“Don’t be scared. We’ll not do anything to hurt you,” he said gently and sat on his knees in front of me while he held his hand against me.

“Here, let me help you!” Confused, I just looked at his hand. Did he want me to take it? The younger got down too.

“He is right. We won’t hurt you,” he said, also in a gentle voice. I finally took the oldest hand. As it closed around me, I felt a wave of safetiness flow through my entire body. For the first time in my entire life, I felt safe. I couldn’t explain why I really felt it, I just did! I got pulled up and the two guys looked at me with smiles.

“Now. Tell us your name,” the younger said and smiled. I looked around. How could I? I found some coal-resudes in a corner and went shaking to them and took some pieces in my hand before I went back. Both of the boys looked confused when I carefully got on my knees again and started writing my name on the ground.

“K-Ka-Kang Su-Sungmi… Kang Sungmi?” the oldest said. I nodded and looked at him with a mild smile.

“You can’t talk?” he said. I shook my head. He nodded and looked at his friend.

“Let’s take her inside…” he said.

“What if she is a crazy fan?” the younger asked worried. The first shook his head.

“I don’t think she is…” he looked at me, “by the way. I’m Lee Donghae and this is Cho Kyuhyun,” he smiled. I nodded nervous. What would they do to me? And… what did they mean by ‘fan’?

“Yah, where have you two been!?!” a guy scolded when the guys went into a big room where there were mirrors on one of the walls. I didn’t knew what to do, so I just stopped before I entered the room.

“We… we met someone,” Kyuhyun-ssi said. Donghae nodded.

“Someone? Guys, we have to practice, we haven’t time to talk to everybody we meet!” another guy scolded. I bit my lip.

“Hyung, you don’t understand!” Donghae said and turned around, “Sungmi-ssi, please… come in,” he smiled gently. Nervous I stepped inside, looking down.

“Who the hell is she? And why are she looking like that!?” one exclaimed.

“Her name is Kang Sungmi… and she is dumb. She can’t talk,” Kyuhyun-ssi said.

“And where does you know her from?” a voice said from behind. We all turned around to see a nice-dressed man.

“M-manager hyung!” Donghae-ssi said, “w-we can explain!” And together with Kyuhyun they started telling how they met me… and now I knew why the capsule had been hard to remove in the start. When they finished, they man, their manager?, looked at me.

“You can’t talk?” he asked. I shook my head. He looked against the other guys in this mirror-room. “Some of you have a pen and some paper?” he asked. One of them went to his bag and came back with a notebook and a pen he handed to the manager who handed it to me.

“Where do you come from?” he asked. I stared blankly at the paper for a while. What should I write? I bit my lip before I sat the pen at the paper and wrote down the letters and handed it back.

“Sinuiji? Isn’t that in… North Korea?” he asked. I nodded and looked down. Okay, I wasn’t there anymore… was I in South Korea then?

“How did you come here!?!” he asked and gave me back the book. I just wrote some few words. I was so exhausted. “Sewers and tunnels under the ground?” he asked. I nodded. My legs were shaking under me and I knew that before or later I would break down. Right now, I just needed to keep myself on the legs. I looked at Donghae-ssi. He had been nice to me… he caught my gaze.

“You ran all this way alone?” the manager asked. I shook my head and made sign to him to give me back the book. I could tell him now as well as later, right? The worst thing was… that writing it got me to realize that I had lost them forever… I handed him back the book. “You ran away with your parents and brother… but they died…” he read. I nodded and felt the tears start running. My legs collapsed under me and I sobbed against the floor, waiting for him to hit me. It wasn’t right to cry. It was a sin. It was only babies who cried!

“Leeteuk, find out if one of the bathrooms are free. Ryeowook, go with him and get her some clothes,” the manager ordered. Both of the guys nodded and left the room. I felt someone lay something over my shoulders. A coat? I looked up and saw a blonde guy smile gently to me.

“We won’t hurt you…” And you know what? Again I believed those words.

I looked at the two bunches of clothes in front of me. In the first, there were my old, dirty clothes and the bag I’d carried all the way from Sinuiji. The other bunch was the bunch of clean clothes this guy, Ryeowook, had given me. I took the first piece of clothes and looked at it. It was a black t-shirt with some blue, yellow, green and pink criss-cross stripes, in size big… I think it was a boys shirt… there were also some black stockings… I slowly pulled on the clothes. After the long bath, I really could feel my sore muscles. It hurt… I took my old clothes and putted in a paperback I’d got, but the little bag, I took over my shoulder again.