“Hani..”

“Hani-yah. Pssst.”

“Hani! You have to wake up!”

“Hani, wake up!”

I snapped my head up immediately, the whispering noises echoing in my head were ridiculously loud; as if whoever that was talking was tremendously close to me.

My body unconsciously straightened in my place, which I realized I was sitting down, instead of lying on my bed. I felt a burning squeeze in the bottom side of my back, an inch away above my . I let out a gurgling noise from the back of my throat at the immense pain, and on reflex, my body jerked to the right; and my head made a huge contact with a big pole made of iron.

I whimpered at the pain spreading in my head, but it wasn't normal pain from a simple contact with iron. It felt more like I just reopened a new wound, a gash or something smaller; and I could feel a warm sensation of something gooey falling down my eye, passing down to my chin.

I was more hyper aware of my position now, and I realized my hands were bound behind my back by some sort of cloth.

“Hani.. are.. are you awake?” I snapped my head to my right at the voice, in spite of earning an immense feeling of pain when I did that just seconds ago. I opened my eyes slowly, realizing that all of this time I had been closing my eyes.

The first thing that my eyes landed on was Kai, bruised and wounded and bloody. He was sitting beside me, ten inches away. He was also sitting down with his legs outstretched in front of him, and his wrists locked behind a dark, metal pole. I glanced away from him to look at myself, and I realized I was leaning against the same pole that I smacked my head on. My clothes were battered, and I could catch smears and smudges of blood over my jeans, my t-shirt and the tips of my hair which was not in a bun anymore.

There was a numb feeling in my back, in the joint of my spinal cord and . A warm liquid, which I was so sure was blood; was dripping down the right side of my head, and I couldn't feel my fingers.

“I’m so sorry, Hani!” Kai choked on his words, and I turned to look at him with horrfied eyes. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, glinting and enlarging the purplish bruises decorating his tanned cheeks. It made my heart break.

“I brought you here, it's-it's my fault you're bruised and so wounded,” Kai hiccupped, his tears reaching down to his chin and tainting his bare chest. “They-they did awful things to you, and I just watched.”

“Why can't I remember..” I mumbled, my eyes large with horror as they kept looking around me in panic. We were in some kind of a warehouse, which was entirely surrounded by brick walls. It was spacious and empty; and I believed this place could fit dozens of trucks. Kai and I were the only ones tied around those poles, and there were other poles stretched around the warehouse and releasing a horrifying feeling from within them. The feeling felt like I’m watching a horror movie where I’m waiting for the suspense to unravel. There was a single door in the distance; which looked too small from where I’m sitting at.

“The injection..” Kai spoke while sniffling, large amounts of tears still falling down his cheeks. “It dulls your senses, and all of your organs go to sleep. The injection lasts for one hour.”

“They hit me while I’m unconscious?” I spat while lunging forward in anger, and that movement caused me to whimper and fall down sluggishly back on the pole. I didn't miss the wince coming out of Kai’s lips.

“Yes. I’m so sorry, Hani, it's all my fa—“

“Don't say anything!” I snapped, raising my angry eyes and aiming it directly to his eyes. Kai’s whole body tensed, and I could see the sheer horror in his eyes. “Don't say.. don't say anything. This isn't your fault, I’m sure of it.”

I waved the surprise in his eyes while shifting into a more comfortable position. “I know that you must have been forced into this, Kai. I trust you, and your tears aren't something you can fake. So don't apologize,” I continued, planting my head back at the pole behind me. There was silence between us then, and I closed my eyes in hopes to silence the numbness spreading in my body with the pain in my head. The blood had stopped pooling over my chin by now, but the pain was still throbbing.

“Hani..”

“No, Kai. Stop apologizing, please. It breaks my heart.”

“Why?” I opened my eyes and swiftly glanced back at Kai, and I caught the sight of his still teary eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows at him, not understanding why he was asking that. Why, why what?

“Why does it break your heart, Hani? Aren't you a little angry?” Kai’s eyebrows furrowed as well; and I realized he was as confused as me; just on different aspects.

“Actually, I’m angry that you had to take me hostage, because that was a cowardly move. But I cant judge you; whoever your Wielder is, they have your card, and it may cause your death. I’ve told you before, you can never take death lightly; you have to be selfish. I guess I’m pissed, but not at you,” I blew out a deep sigh, wiggling my wrists together because the knot was too tight, and they were itching me to the point it was painful. I was one hundred precent sure my wrists were turning blue.

I stared at Kai again, and I saw him shifting to rest his back on the pole while closing his eyes. I had a clearer view of his jawline, and I noticed the bluish bruises near his ear. My heart thumped, and I guided my eyes up to stare more closely at the condition Kai was in. His black, lush locks were dirtied and brown; and I had the idea it was because of blood. His hands were turning red because the tight tie of the cloth was cutting off his blood circulation; and his wrists were turning blue. My heart squeezed, he was in the same condition I was in, though his wounds weren't healing which would explain they had played with his card as well.

“Why are you tied up as well?” my mouth blurted out, and Kai snapped his eyes open to look at me with a sniff.

“They tied me up against a pole so that I won't be able to teleport to them alone, since teleportation works with physical contact—“

“No, the boys told me you can teleport anything you want even if it's not beside you,” I cut him off with a frown, and Kai’s eyebrows furrowed.

“That’s true, but that requires a high mental state of calmness, meditation helps; but I don't think I’m in a state to do that. They know that as well, that's why I’m all bloody and tied up to a pole which stretches to the ceiling of the entire warehouse. So if I thought of teleporting, I'll be forced to take down the entire warehouse with me. In my condition, it's impossible,” Kai explained, his eyes unconsciously looking up at the ceiling with panic he tried so hard to hide away from me, but I caught it, and I couldn't help but soften.

“Hey, hey, Kai,” I called out for him to look at me, and when he did that, I could still catch his panic.

“Listen, we will get out of here, okay? I will get you out of here.”

“How?” his voice cracked at the said word, and I didn't sense such vulnerability in anyone as much as I felt in that single word coming from Kai’s mouth. My heart quivered and I felt my entire body shaking.

“We will try anything, okay? And we have the boys. I’ve been gone for a long time and I’m sure Joonmyeon has already went up to check for me on the rooftop. Have faith in us, alright? I will get you out. I just have to figure a way to cut through this cloth around my wrists..” I tried standing up on my legs with my hands behind me, and my back arched backwards as I tried doing so. I dragged my legs up further, and slowly; I was standing on my two feet with my hands behind my back. I turned around the pole in a whole circle when I realized I was able to move the cloth as well.

I took a whole stare on the entire warehouse from my new angle, before twirling back to my old side, staring down at a hopeless Kai who the light in his eyes seemed to dim and dim until all there was left was nothingness. I moved my fingers around, checking for any pain. Finding nothing; I stretched my fingers and tried to untie the knot with my nimble fingers, but it was tight enough to render me helpless, especially that I don't have nails to help me.

“Urgh, this is hopeles—“ my words were cut off when the door of the warehouse snapped open, snapping my heart with it in two.

I glanced up with wide eyes filled with horror and fear, my heart thumping and thumping and thumping until I could feel it ringing in my ears. Three, four, no five men entered the warehouse, most of them were bald and the last one having little hair grown into the sidelines. My eyes widened even more when I caught a familiar face.

“Rav! You !” I yelled unintentionally, and I could see Kai gulping from beside me at the sheer fear spreading in his whole demeanor.

“I told you I have someone on my back,” Rav let out an annoying laugh filled with obnoxiousness that rang throughout the entire place. I winced, and I didn't miss seeing Kai wincing as well.

“This is the person who took your card, Rav? What a total joke,” a tanned guy, as buff as Rav, with ear piercings and drawn eyeliner on his eyes, sneered loudly, glancing at Rav like he were an absolute idiot. Kai’s whole body tensed at the guy’s voice, and I realized this was Kai’s actual Wielder.

“What do you mean? This joke has four Exo cards! Now five with mine!” Rav barked at the guy, rage in his eyes, and I couldn't help not to flinch when I felt his rage as well. The guy, Kai’s Wielder only rolled his eyes, walking ahead of Rav and approaching me with predatory steps. I unintentionally gulped, and tried glueing myself more into the pole.

“You're an idiot for letting her take yours. We couldn't believe we found two; now we have to find one of them all over again.”

“It doesn't matter now,” Rav calmly argued, giving Kai’s Wielder a nonchalant stare before looking back at me. “She's like a bottle, a vessel of all cards. We can keep her and strip her of her cards. There are five of us now, the cards she has are perfect in number,” at that, Kai’s Wielder grinned a Cheshire cat-like grin, and slowly lifted his fingers to trace the side of my face.

“Hmm. That sounds like a nice plan,” he grinned more, his straight teeth looking sharper than a shark to me at the moment. “Say, girly; how were you able to catch five of the Exo cards so easily when we, who have been alive for over thirty years had only managed to catch two?”

I didn't reply to him, and I realized that was a huge mistake, because in seconds; the guy’s fist made contact with my cheek. “Answer when I ask!” he barked, eyes wide and filled with crazy excitement and filth that made me shiver in fear.

“I—I don't know..” that simple answer gave me immense pain from my slapped cheek, and I tried rotating my jaw to ease the pain. It only made it worse. It dawned to me that they were some kind of a cult, searching for the Exo cards so they can all keep them separately, and thats being the main reason why I’m here now as well. They wanted answers; answers  I can't give.

“Hmm,” the guy breathed through his nostrils, blowing his breath over my face afterwards. “I don't like small lying girls..”

“Leave her alone!” Kai yelled, and in minutes; he arose on his feet. One of the guys raced forward to send a bone-cracking punch to Kai’s stomach, a punch in which caused the boy to lunge forward in pain.

“No!! Leave him alone!!” I screamed immediately at the sight, and my body intuitively lunged forward as if to help him, but his Wielder pushed me back using my shoulders with a loud growl. I involuntarily glanced up at him, and despite not being able to see myself; I was aware of the fear reflecting in my eyes.

“What do you know, Kai-yah, your feelings might just be reciprocated,” the devil cackled like a sick, old man in horror movies. I didn't understand what his words meant exactly, and when I looked at Kai; he was too pained to make an expression.

“Jihoo! Don't play any games and get to the ing point!” Rav roared in annoyance, and if there was a wall near him, I was sure he would have sent a fist towards it. I gulped and stayed silent; raising my eyes for a minute to watch Rav and Kai’s Wielder whose name is Jihoo apparently, talk in raised voices, almos