----Chapter Thirty----

When she comes to, she first thing she notices is her pounding headache that's threatening to tear her skull apart. When she tries to reach for her head to massage her temples in hopes it would help until she can swallow some Advil, she realizes she can't move her arms as her hands are tied behind her back.

Her heart stops for a moment, a moment where the world pauses and her mind blanks out. Then the moment passes, and her breath quickens, each puff of air she takes more sporadic and shaky.

Why are her hands tied?

She blinks and tries to check her surroundings, to find some sort of clue as to what might've happened to cause her hands to be tied. Her memory is a bit fuzzy. Blurry, almost out of her reach.

However, she can't see anything. Everything is dark.

Maybe it's night and there aren't any windows...? But as she starts focusing more, she feels a soft tissue over the upper part of her face...

There's a blindfold over her eyes, a rugged tissue digging into her skin. And now that she can feel it, she wants to scratch her skin so badly. But she can't move her arms.

And when she swallows, to maybe try to call out after soothing her dry throat while trying to keep the fear at bay, she realises that something is stuffed in .

She almost loses control of her emotions then, almost lets fear take over.

Tied. Blindfolded. Gagged.

What is going on?

She tries to move, her body is laying down...on something soft. Carpet?

Panic settles in as she finally remembers blacking out backstage at the concert, fragments of brief scenes flashing into her mind as she hyperventilates.

That's the last thing she remembers. The concert. She was stalling backstage, watching Blinks in the crowd as they left, lingered to chat, or relished in the after-concert glow, and when she finally started heading back toward their dressing room...

Nothing.

Where is she? What happened?

She tries to free her hands, twisting and pulling until her skin burns, but whatever is holding them isn't giving way. Still, she doesn't give up, refuses to stop. Stopping means losing control of her sanity, but her body is slowly betraying her. It can't keep up with her stubborn perseverance. She's soon sinking down in lethargic exhaustion, her left-over energy depleted.

Her breathing is harsh, but she tries to calm it down. It's all she hears, and she wants to check if she can figure out where she is, and any ambient sounds she could hear might give her some clue.

It takes her a long time to get her heartbeat down, using all kinds of yoga breathing techniques. She's terrified, but she needs to get a grip, refuses to let the fear rule her.

When the sound of her breathes stop reaching her ears, she's greeted by absolute silence.

No sound. No distant noise either. No footsteps, no ticking of a clock, no muffled voices, not even the humming of a fridge. Nothing.

It's creepily eerie.

With some struggle, she succeeds in getting up to her feet as she discovers her legs aren't tied. She manoeuvres around the area she is, trying to explore as best as she can with tied hands. One extension of her leg and she hits a wall, her back leaning against the opposite one.

She twists and her legs immediately hit another wall.

After some consideration, she jumps and feels something brushes against her head.

She forgets to breathe and wishes she could use her hands to figure out what it was, and to sweep her head from any leftover feeling of the thing.

Hopefully it wasn't a bug! Please don't let it be a bug!

It didn't feel like a bug, but it happened so fast... She isn't sure if seeing nothing is a blessing right now. She wants to know, but maybe it's better to remain in the dark.

Maybe.

Still, she doesn't give up after that little commotion and after a few turns and a few more tentative leg movements, she concludes that her location is a small, enclosed space.

Someone took her from the concert's venue to dump her in this closet of sorts.

Who?

Why?

Why, why, why.

--

She's sitting on the ground, hours later when she hears something.

Footsteps.

Adrenaline rushes through her, and she waits, her heart hammering in her chest like it never had before.

She much preferred the silence, after consideration.

She waits, trying to guess the various noises she hears. Keys being dropped? Shoes being taken off? Then nothing. Until she hears a creak close by and she knows, even if she can't see, that someone is standing close. On the other side.

She whimpers, muffled by whatever cloth in .

The sound of a door sliding open, and fainted footsteps approaching.

"Rosé. You're awake now, aren't you? That's good. And it's perfect now since you're finally here."

The voice is adenoidal, almost like he's pinching his nose as he speaks.

"You're safe here, those people won't hurt you anymore."

Who he is?

What is he talking about? What people?

Moreover, she's not safe, being tied and locked.

She wants to go home.

"I know you don't believe me yet. You've been brainwashed. You'll have to stay in the dark a while longer to be free, but the strongest flowers bloom even in the dark, you know. Everything will be fine."

She tries to scream, but she barely hears the sound of her voice, muffled by the gag. The door closes again and she's left once more alone in her closet, as she's come to call her locked space in her head.

Her little prison.

--

How many hours pass this time, Chaeyoung doesn't know. Her hands hurt, her arms are numb, not to mention how thirsty and hungry she is. And terrified. The fear hasn't left her even after the man closed the door and left her alone.

He sounds crazy, and she doesn't know what he plans to do later. Why he did this.

Why her.

He's been listening to Blackpink songs since he first talked to her. She heard Whistle at least five times through the closed door.

She can't keep sitting in her little corner or she'll go crazy soon. But what can she do?

The idea of throwing herself against the door she now knows is to her right grows in her head like weeds, unwanted but tenacious.

She wanted to wait until silence reigns once more, but who knows when that'll be? The TV always seems to be on and when it isn't, music is. She has no notion of time, if it's night or day, or even how long she's been in there.

But she can't stay eternally in there, she can't! Who knows what could happen during that time?

Staying passive isn't an option if she wants to leave, but she can't risk ending up more tighten up than she already is if she gets caught doing anything that looks like breaking free. At least her legs are currently unrestrained, but if she tries something and fails... they could end up bound too, and that would leave her completely helpless.

Too many contradictory thoughts are fighting for dominance in her head that's still throbbing painfully, and Chaeyoung feels too weak to think rationally.

In the end, she doesn't have to make any sort of decision as the door finally opens and she hears the same voice.

"Rosé. It's time to eat. Come."

She flinches when his hands grab her arms, but he's strong, or maybe she's just grown so weak that he drags her out without any resistance from her part. Not that she has any fight left in her at this point.

Besides, she knows kicking him won't do anything, not as long as she can't see, so no matter how tempting it is to fight back even if it fails, she abandons tha