Uhhhh. What just happened? I felt horrible and my throat felt terribly dry. I slowly opened my eyes just to be greeted with darkness. I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness and realised that I’m in a small room with only a door at the corner. I tried touching around but everything felt cold assuming the dark room was just cement. I tried to get up to the door, but only to fall back down. My head was spinning and a splitting headache came striking. I held out my hand to the back of my head and there was a definite bump there.

How long have I been knocked out? I fished around for my phone but to no avail. Of course they would take it with them. Whoever they are? Why didn’t I wear any watch? I should have listened to Yoongi oppa, he always asked to wear one. Now I don’t even know what is the time.

Jimin must be waiting for me. Everyone must be worried, waiting for me. Damn it. Who the hell did this? My head hurts so badly. Who would do this to a high school girl?

Wait. Could it be vampires or werewolves? Have they found out who I was? It is just a day away to my birthday. Are they doing this for my blood or whatever other reasons?

As I was focusing on my thoughts, the door cracked open. I instinctively hugged my body and tried to adjust to the now blinding light. Two guys entered but I couldn’t really see them clearly, trying to get a better look, I squinted my eyes.

“Hana! You’re finally awake. It’s already midnight. You’ve been out for too long.”

“Oh Sehun?”

“Look at you, recognising my voice right away. I guess you were pretty infatuated with me back then. I should have used that chance on you instead of harassing you.”

I shuddered at his voice as he walked closer.

“Hana, I’m here too. Finally I got to see you for a longer time,” said Chanyeol in his deep voice.

“What are you guys doing? Don’t you have an image to maintain? Kidnapping a high school girl would not do you any good.”

“I told you I’d be seeing you again. I never really back on my promises, princess,” said Sehun, now already squatting in front of me. He put his hand on my cheek but I quickly pulled away, glaring at him.

“Come on Hana. Don’t be too hostile. It’s not like we don’t know each other,” added Chanyeol.

“Yeah sure. Only that every time we were interacting, it’s not in good terms. So go figure.”

“That’s what you think. It’s different from us. You’re like our heaven. Can you smell yourself? It seriously is so strong and good. Can’t wait for tomorrow, just less than 24 hours to go. And it seems like those blood ers couldn’t wait to taste you themselves,” said Sehun as he pressed on the bite scar. I winced at the pain and pushed his hand away.

“My brothers will save me like they always have. We were supposed to meet, so I’m pretty sure they had already figured out that I was gone. They will find me soon enough,” I said confidently, more to convince myself than them.

“Well I’m not sure if they could or even if they would, will they make it in time. We are quite far and for them to know this place, it’s pretty tricky to solve.”

“Well Namjoon oppa will figure it out. Plus they are vampires, they will reach here as fast as they could, Kookie would and others will follow after. I’m sure they are way faster than you werewolves.”

All of a sudden, Chanyeol snapped and growled, his eyes changing. In a split second, he turned into a wolf and was charging towards me. I hugged my body tighter and closed my eyes, waiting for the impact.

“Hyung, stop!” I heard Sehun growled.

I opened my eyes and saw Sehun standing protectively in front of me. Chanyeol just continued snarling, looking directly at me. I just looked at the scene before me, perplexed.

“Hyung, I said stop. We’ve gotten worse insults than that. You should know better.”

“But she’s comparing us to those blood ers,” said Chanyeol as he turned back to his human form.

“Well hyung, all the fans always compare us anyway. You know we aren’t supposed to do anything to Hana til tomorrow. She needs to be in one piece. Youngmin sajang-nim will be really angry if something were to happen to her.”

“Fine. You’re right. I might not be able to do anything to you now Jung Hana. Just you wait tomorrow. Comparing us to those blood ers,” snarked Chanyeol before he left, leaving just Sehun and me alone.

I just blinked to where Chanyeol stood, as I felt the tears threatening to fall. Whereas Sehun just stood frozen before slowly turning to look at me. I looked back at him, not understanding his expression.

“Thank you I guess, for stopping Chanyeol.”

“I’m just following orders. It would definitely be worse on our end if you were harmed.”

Sehun sighed and sat few feet away from me. He looked more exhausted than myself, as if he had been going through some torture regime.

“Are you alright?” I tried asking, hoping I could get to his good side.

He just groaned and stared ahead blankly. I just looked at him, trying to figure out where did the confident, spiteful Sehun went. Now he just looked drained and scared even. Well there is no surprise there I suppose, SM does have a reputation of having bad management and they only see their idols as money, not human. Even eomma left because she was treated badly and with them wanting to lay claim on me is definitely a solid reason to finally leave, even though it still led to their death.

“Is it hard for you?” I tried again and this time Sehun looked at me, surprised.

“I know how hard it is for my eomma. I heard about the things she needed to do while she’s with them. Eomma always talked to appa about it especially in the middle of the night, I think she was traumatised that she still had nightmares despite already leaving. Though later, they still came for us and killed them.”

He grimaced at the thought.

“Your parents died in a car crash.”

“That’s what they want everybody to believe. But I remember clearly what happened that night, and Bang ahjussi knew about it too.”

He just looked at me, soulless.

“So you approaching me nicely at first, then suddenly changed into a jerk who is bullying and harassing me, is part of the orders?”

“You don’t anything about us. We don’t have much of a choice being us.”

“True, I know nothing about you guys apart from what you showed, but I do know we all have the right to choose what we want to do, what we want to believe in, not just follow orders around especially when it’s tugging on your conscience.”

“I know that too!” snapped Sehun. “But you yourself just said that your parents were killed. So do I have much of a choice now.”

I just looked at Sehun, not knowing what to say. If he wasn’t just now, he definitely is in fear now.

“But you’re right. From the start, I never wanted to do this. We were ordered to keep an eye on you, and slowly the orders just got ridiculous. Honestly, it was hard enough for us to go through with the act to make you scared, to make your life miserable. Even though sometimes, with the orders and the threatened to our life, we were confused on what was right, like the ‘want’ in us got real. Honestly, I don’t know myself anymore, at one point I don't want to do this but then at another point I seriously do want to taste you. Compared to my hyungs, I’ve been watching you more than them, because my heart asked me to do that, to continue to just look at you and protect you, though all I did was otherwise. I’m glad that Bangtan always get to save you and I envy them for having you.”

I gaped at Sehun’s sudden confession.

“I always wanted to be your friend or more even. I know how the girls always bothered you. Put that together with what I did your school life is really miserable.”

“You know, if all of you would stand up for yourself, like unite and hold each others hand, I mean you like an alpha to me. If you could just gather your hyungs and all the other idols and staffs to follow you, to be the new alpha of SM, I’m sure you can take over or rule over your Youngmin sajang-nim. You guys have more back-up behind you anyway, like your EXO-L and all the other fandoms.”

“Have you not been listening to yourself, your parents got killed, remember?”

“I know. But what if you gather enough people, power, I’m sure you can do it. We can help you out if you want. Just let me talk to my brothers nicely first. Tae has been wanting to kill you from the beginning.”

“Tell me about it. I can hear him clearly. Well that’s for barging into our minds uninvited, hence really, hurm, bad thoughts,” he whispered that last words.

“Sure, whatever. I won’t ask whatever you’re thinking. But you’ll think about it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I'm telling you all these things,” said Sehun getting up. He looked hesitant still, but I think I might have just got into his good side.

“If you didn’t harass me or anything and just being the cool oppa that I know at first, I could’ve liked you Sehun oppa,” I said looking at him with a genuine smile.

For the umpteenth time, Sehun oppa looked surprise and his expression slowly changed to somewhat sad or guilty.

“But too bad, you’re too late. Someone else had captured my heart.”

He snickered and his expression finally softens.

“Is he the lucky one who get to taste you?”

I nodded and smiled brightly.

“So what does that mean, like you guys bonded or something? Who was it? Jeon Jungkook, Kim Seokjin or that animal mind reader, Kim Taehyung?”

“Hey, that is my brother you’re talking about, but it’s none of them. It’s Park Jimin. And bonding or not, we are unsure for now because of my vague status currently.”

“Well try thinking about him and if you see his mind, his point of view, then maybe you can communicate telepathically. That’s what it means to bond, you guys are one mind, one body, and well at least that’s part of it.”

“Really? Thank you so much Sehun oppa. Are you helping me now?”

He rolled his eyes but gave me a genuine smile.

“I still ain’t telling you where we are. Let’s see how Namjoon works this out. I still need to save myself, but you’re right if I could gather more followers, we might have the chance to overthrow Youngmin sajang-nim.”

“Good, that’s the spirit.”

“But I may still need to act my part but I’ll try talking to my hyungs. Thank you Hana and I’m sorry for all I’ve done to you. Also thank you for calling me oppa again.”

“Well as long as you’re making the right choice, all is well. I hope after all this is over, we could all be good friends.”

Sehun oppa just smirked as he left the room.

“And Hana, honestly I like you too, after watching you for so long, you’re really are a pleasant girl to be with. Bangtan and Jimin are seriously lucky to have you.”

I smiled feeling relieved, hoping I might have changed Sehun oppa’s mind. He is a good man after all, despite all that taunting and harassing he did.

“Remember tried reaching out to Jimin,” he whispered as he closed the door.

I tried sitting more comfortably after being left alone and focused my mind to Jimin. I think of all our memories together, his sweet confession, our first kiss we just had less than 24 hours ago and our ‘bond’ - the pain yet the energy I felt, Jimin’s soothing touch on my back and the sound of him having me.

“Where could Hana be? How long has it been?”

I heard Jimin said, as if I’m there, as if I’m Jimin. I saw Jin oppa walking in circles, Namjoon oppa fidgeting, Yoongi oppa staring ahead probably waiting for a vision, Hoseok oppa sitting calmly and maybe is controlling the environment, both Taehyung and Jungkook looked angry and worried.

“It’s about 12 hours. We can’t lodge any report yet,” said Hoseok oppa.

“Plus Bang PD is doing his best to locate Hana too,” added Namjoon oppa.

“Have you tried locating Hana’s phone again?” asked Taehyung and I saw Jimin went into Find Friends but the result was disappointing.

“Damn it, we should have picked her up. We know she’s in danger, what more with her birthday is less than a day,” said Jimin frustrated.

“Jimin, stop that. All of us couldn’t imagine that this would happen and whoever did this is smart. They knew we had some schedule to attend, hence the perfect opportunity,” soothed Jin oppa.

“. Why can’t I see it when I need it the most,” shouted Yoongi oppa suddenly.

“Yoongi hyung, you know how it is. It’s always when it’s most critical that you see it,” said Hoseok oppa.

“I know and that’s the problem. What if this time she’s too far away, would we get there fast enough? Even if Kookie can, what if they were all prepared for us, to fight us,” added Yoongi oppa, already terrified of what might happen.

“I’ll fight them all whoever they are. I’ll ing kill them if Hana noona is harm even one bit,” seethed Jungkook, everyone agreeing inwardly.

I took that chance to try talking to Jimin.

“Jimin.. Jimin, can you hear me?”

“Hana?”

With that, everyone turned to look at Jimin.

“Yes, Jimin. It’s me.”

“Is that really you Hana? Seriously? Where are you? How?”

“I guess we really are bonded, I suppose. Sehun oppa told me that if we really bonded, we could communicate telepathically, like this!!”

“Sehun? You mean Oh Sehun?”

Everyone looked stricken and Yoongi oppa cursed under his breath.

“I’m not sure where I am exactly but I’m in a room somewhere. Before anything, Sehun oppa is nice, I mean I think I managed to influence him to our side. It’s the CEO that we should look out for.”

“Jimin, what’s going on?” asked Jin oppa.

“Hana let me convey the message first.”

“Yup, sure thing. I’ll be here. Now and always in your mind and body.”

“Ughh Hana! This is not the time to be cheesy.”

I giggled while my brothers all just rolled their eyes and groaned.

“Well, both of us have bonded. I mean it happened, it’s successful. And apparently Sehun hyung was the one, who helped Hana, in telling her that if our bond worked, we could communicate telepathically. Hence, she’s here in my head and body and I’m there with her. But she has no idea where she’s at, only that she’s in a dark, cold room. Also, Hana thinks EXO are on our side now.”

“Pffttt. As if. I see their minds and I’m sure what they want was real. They are sick for thinking about Hana that way,” sneered Taehyung.

“But he really did say sorry, and they were given specific orders and were under pressure by their management,” I said.

“Hana said that he apologised and he was given orders and was under pressure by the management.”

“Hana, don’t trust them. You might never know,” Taehyung said, moving closer to Jimin and locked his eyes with Jimin, as if hoping I would sense his seriousness.

“Okay Tae, I’ll be careful.”

“Alright now Tae, Hana said she’d be careful.”

“But whatever it is, Sehun really did help us. Any clue at all Hana, on where you are?” interrupted Namjoon oppa.

“The only thing that they mentioned was that here is far away from Seoul and that even if you guys figured out where I am, you won’t be able to be here on time,” Jimin conveyed what I said and Yoongi oppa just cursed harder.

“It’s okay. We will figure it out. I’ll relay the message to Bang PD,” said Namjoon oppa as he quickly dialled and left the living room.

“Apart from all that, are you doing alright Hana?” asked Hoseok oppa.

Not wanting to agitate them further, I don’t think I should mention about being hit.

“They ing hit you?” stressed Jimin suddenly.

Damn, this whole telepathy is definitely too transparent. Jungkook looking more bewildered slammed his fist on the table, which broke in half.

“Kookie!! Calm down. Your energy is too much for me to control,” shouted Hoseok oppa.

“But they ing hurt noona. I swear I’m gonna kill each one of them as soon as we get there.”

“Jimin! You’re not supposed to say that out loud. We could have a two-way conversation. You guys are stressed enough as it is. Go hug Kookie for me. He’s not doing any killing, not on my watch.”

“Do I really have to hug him now? What if he broke me into two?”

“There you go. You can talk to me telepathically without announcing it to everyone. You should have done that earlier, but the damage has been done. So yes go hug him now.”

Jimin groaned but hesitantly walked towards Jungkook.

“Take his hand and uncurl his fist.”

Jimin just did as I instructed and received a confused stare from everyone.

“Hyung, what are you trying to do?”

“Calming you down. Just do it. Hana is instructing me to do all this. Come on here, let me hug our maknae.”

Jimin pulled Jungkook into a hug and softly caressed his back. Jungkook just sighed and hugged Jimin back.

“Noona, we will come and save you. We always do and always will. They won’t hurt you any longer.”

“Okay Kookie. I know all of you will. That’s what I told them too. But Kookie, no killing,” Jimin conveyed.

“But noona.”

“No buts. Only attacked as self-defense and enough to knock them out or something. Not killing them.”

“Ughh fine,” said Jungkook as he broke the hug.

“Good boy. Now caressed his cheeks like you always do to me,” I said already laughing.

“No Hana, I won’t do that. This is not the time for you to be laughing. You’re hurt and cold.”

“Even though you guys are not together, you still managed to be cheesy and lovey-dovey. Glad that you are well enough to make jokes still, Hana,” said Hoseok oppa, annoyed but glad.

Jimin looked at everyone, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“I really need to work on talking to you telepathically,” said Jimin, shy.

“Bang PD was informed. They will check on all places that SM might have in the provinces. Is Hana still there?” said Namjoon oppa as he walked back to us.

Jimin just nodded, in sync with me.

"Hana, I know it’s cold and dark, but we need you to hang in there. We promise we will save you and get to you as soon as we could. And Tae is right, don’t trust them too soon. Can you act like the bond didn’t work? And tell us whatever info you received.”

I just nodded understanding.

“Hana, just stay put. We will get you back and if anything, if it’s already your birthday, just remember you are superior and stronger than all of them. Think you can fend for yourself, if it were to happen.”

“Yeah I guess so. I still remember a few things that appa taught me.”

“Okay good. But we will do our best to reach where you are even before the time. For now, just rest and try to get some sleep.”

“Okay oppa. Everyone please stay safe and be careful. I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Hana you’re the one who needs to be careful.”

“I will, Jimin. Don’t worry. Plus you’ll be here to warn me or anything.”

“You’re right. Don’t be scared, honey. I’m here. And we will come and get you. There’s no way we will lose, when it’s you we are fighting for. Now just lie down and close you eyes.”

I laid down as comfortable as I could and keep my eyes closed, listening to Jimin’s calming singing voice.