Nayeon fiddled with the hem of her chiffon dress, as she waited for the bridal room doors to open and reveal the one she was waiting for.

She remembered how her heart had thudded as she had settled into the car earlier with her father, on their way to the venue. How despite trying to convince herself otherwise, everything had felt wrong.

“What if I tell you I don’t want to get married, Dad?”, She had asked, only half-joking, as they had made their way inside the hotel and towards the bridal room, where she was to wait until all got ready and she finally had to walk down the aisle. (She had wondered then, if Kyungsoo was there already, if maybe he wouldn’t show up, and about Chanyeol and Junmyeon who she had seen outside the house from her window after she had gotten dressed and was being touched up before leaving and if they knew about what was going on)

Kim Minjun had halted turning to her with an expression she hadn’t expected: one filled with seriousness, and….was that anger? “No, Nayeon”

“No what, Dad?”

“No, you can’t. You have to get married”

Her heart sank. This was more serious than she’d thought. There were certainly external forces at play, that were beyond the control of just her father, which made him concerned and agitated enough to refuse something to her so plainly. He’d never done that before.

And it also made her decide what she really wanted, or rather did not want.

“Right”, She smiled weakly, not wanting to give him any more cause for concern or suspicion. She was in a daze then, the wheels in her head turning as she thought of alternatives.

“Nayeon”

“Huh?”, She looked up breaking out of her reverie as they entered the room, and her stylist got her train and dress arranged. He gestured for the stylist to leave one she was done, and then they were alone, her father looking at her with so much adoration and a hint of guilt.

He stepped in front of her and held her hands. “You know I love you more than anything, right?”

“I do”, And she did. “I love you too”

“I hope, I know, you will be very happy”, His voice was tinged with determination, as if he would make sure of what he had just said, and that only made Nayeon sadder. Clearly much there was too much at stake for him to freely give her a choice. She thought about her uncle Chansung, who she had only heard of and saw in papers and tabloids. She wondered if he would be at the wedding today, and hoped he would, as she decided what the best course of action would be. One that involved enough and still left out way too much.

She smiled anyhow. “Of course”

Once he’d left, her heart rate had picked up. She almost wanted to give in to her cowardice, take the easy way out but something kept her brave. She dialed Jinyoung first and asked him to be discrete about what she was about to tell him. After he’d gotten over the initial shock of her decision, she’d asked him for his help and given him necessary instructions.

Chanyeol was next. The happy virus sounded like he’d contracted a disease that kept him from being happy when he picked up, but that changed dramatically when she told him of her plan. He sounded so relieved and grateful, and it shamed her as to how nicely he’d treated her despite probably hating her for what she was doing.

As she’d ended the call after telling him as much as she knew, she had asked him to ask Kyungsoo to meet her in the bridal room. She’d then dispatched her stylist, who she felt she could trust to bring some more appropriate clothes for her and pack up some things that she needed, and with info from Jinyoung went on to call the hotel where she knew Seungwan was being kept.

She had told Chanyeol not to tell Kyungsoo anything yet, that she would talk to him herself.

One last time.

The door opened to reveal Kyungsoo, who looked sound first for confirmation and on spotting Nayeon, the tension creases on his forehead eased and got replaced with confusion and mild surprise.

“Hey, you wanted to talk?”, He came in, and as he approached her, Nayeon found he still took her breath away. Especially today, with his tux and immaculately gelled hair, he looked no less than a prince. Just not your prince, she told herself.

“You look beautiful”, he said without any emotion as he approached, looking like he was in a hurry to hear what he had been called for as he glanced at his watch. “What did you want to talk about? The ceremony’s gonna start in a few minutes”

Nayeon smiled weakly, trying not to feel anything at the lack of emotion, at the lack of everything really, between them. “I need you to trust me on this, okay? Promise me you will?”

“Yeah, okay, I promise”

“I can’t marry you”, The silence that came with her words felt heavy on her heart. A part of her told her she was making a mistake, that she was going to regret it, but what was life without a few regrets right?

His face turned stoic. “What?”

She told him what she’d told Chanyeol, about Seungwan and pain flashed on his features for a moment but he covered it up quickly. She explained to him the plan she’d thought off, of sending them out of the country and he listened to her quietly throughout, his face blank.

“No”, He replied after a minute’s silence, when she’d finished what she wanted to say.

“What?”

He turned to her. “No, we can’t Nayeon. This isn’t child’s play, even if your father does let it go do you really think your uncle will? I can’t take that risk. I will be running for the rest of my life”

“No, you won’t”, For the first time in her life, the undue publicity she got was going to save them, her uncle wouldn’t go after her. And this was all going to be her doing. Kyungsoo refused still and they argued a bit more.

“Here I am trying to save you from slavery and you’re refusing?”, It was starting to get on her nerves now. She had expected he would jump at the thought of being freed from his misery, but it was turning out to be the opposite. She was trying to be the bigger person here, but he wasn’t making it easy.

He sighed, finally giving in. “Okay, but I do feel like it’s going to blow up in our faces”

“No it isn’t”, Jinyoung arrived just in time with the tickets and a bit of her luggage. And the weight of what they were about to do finally settled on Kyungsoo’s senses. “We’re really doing this huh?”

“Just…just ask Seungwan to not say anything okay? And don’t come back until you receive confirmation from me”, She would find a way to contact them, one that did not involve the net or phone. They were supposed to stay off all kinds of radars while they were away, and not to contact anyone, lest their whereabouts be known to the wrong people. “I’ll handle everything else here”

Chanyeol called, saying he was waiting at the backside of the hotel, having comeback from picking up some travelling necessities for Kyungsoo from his house that Jongin had hurriedly packed. Nayeon told him the other way out of the bridal room, that connected to an adjacent lobby, away from the main one.

The three of them stood awkwardly for a minute, none sure what to say in goodbye until Jinyoung finally broke the silence saying he was going to get the car ready for Nayeon and went out. It took him some effort to leave them alone, Nayeon and even Kyungsoo could tell that.

“So I guess this is goodbye, huh?”, Kyungsoo asked, still reeling with the thrill and absurdity of the situation.

Nayeon looked at him. It was probably the last time she was seeing him, and even though she’d made peace with the fact that she didn’t love him, the thought of never seeing him again still left a hole inside her. She’d liked him for so long, in fact liking him was all she’d known for the better part of her teenage years and now there was going to be nothing. It left a strange emptiness, and she wondered for a second if it was too late to turn back.

She went ahead and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, swallowing a lump in . “Thankyou”, Her eyes gleamed with moisture.

He held onto her hand and looked her, really looked at her, for maybe the first time. “Thankyou too. I’ll….I’ll never forget you”

She smiled weakly, brushing away one traitor tear that had escaped and rolled her eyes. “Oh please oppa. I can tell how happy you are to be rid of me. You could pretend to be a little sad, you know”

He chuckled and she chuckled too, and she felt sad that this was only real conversation they’d ever had, one where he wasn’t pretending or trying to be something he didn’t want to be. She wished she could have realized it earlier. How nice would it have been if they’d had more time to chat like this, like friends and not people who were under duress.

“Anyway, go on now, I still need to keep my makeup on for the cameras”

He smiled at her, a genuine one, and her heart fluttered still. Giving her hand one final squeeze, he went away. Onto a better life, she hoped, as she would too.

And she steeled herself for running, changing out of her bridal wear. She knew the cameras would still easily locate her, she would make sure of it, but it would still give her greater freedom of movement to not be in a dress. Feeling strangely light, she ran into the lobby, amidst the cries of reporters and flashing cameras outside and she smiled.

To a better freedom.

_

Baekhyun tried on the next dress of the two that were in the bag, gritting his teeth. He came out furiously brushing away the hair from the raven wig he was wearing, and looked to Jongdae and Taeyeon for approval, who half-attentively gave it with their nods. Jongdae hadn’t approved of the first dress in the bag saying it revealed too much of his hairy legs, and he’d grudgingly changed into the other one. Oh how he wished they’d thought of something else other than this nonsense but well, time was of the essence.

They hadn’t had much trouble guessing which room of the east wing Seungwan might be kept hostage in when they arrived, with the two hoodlums standing outside it, down the hall from their room, they might as well have been holding banners saying we’ve kidnapped someone and are keeping watch.

The only problem was how they would get her out. Even after all the details of the hotel and the help Nayeon had provided, it had been a feat to come up with a good idea. Which in reality wasn’t good at all.

After he’d changed into the red maze of satin and lace that was apparently a dress (he wondered how women were able to wear the itchy things, even though he was the one who’d bought them for the Spring Fest plays).

“You’re the one who bought them, stop whining and carry it like you mean it!”, was Jongdae’s comment when he saw Baekhyun’s expression as he got ready to go out and distract the hostage keepers. “Don’t try to be cocky okay? If there’s even a hint of danger you abort mission and tell us. We can’t have Seungwan in any more trouble than she already is”, Taeyeon told him as he was about to leave. Baekhyun made a face at her and grabbing the sunglasses from her hand, he donned them on with a dramatic flick of his wrist. “What do you take me for, huh?”

“And here we go with the theatrics”, Jongdae muttered under his breath at Baekhyun’s excessive gestures and Baekhyun just glared at him before moving out of the room.

He went down the lobby, talking on his turned-off cell to his – her – friend in a high pitched voice. All those years of doing parodies and imitations were finally paying off.

“He did not!”, He exclaimed in the most obnoxiously high voice he could muster as he came across the bodyguards, managing to get their attention as he had intended. They frowned from behind their shades, and he said a low ‘sorry!’ with a sheepish smile and a turn of his mobile-free hand. His fine, delicate, almost girly hands that his friends had always about. He would see how any one of them would ever make a joke of them again.

He swayed onwards, knowing both the hoodlum’s eyes were on him and turned down the next hall that showed up. Taking his cell off his ear quickly, he adjusted his dress up in the mirror around one of the giant bell shaped Egyptian pillars, feeling itchy. He especially couldn’t wait to take off the - he turned red in anger, embarrassment and frustration all at the same time – the ‘underthing’ on his chest. He wondered again what he had wondered when he had been putting it on (it was nothing less than a stretching exercise trying to get those straps to - ), what must Taeyeon think seeing him in this get-up? It wasn’t like she didn’t think lowly enough of him already.

But well it had been her idea, hadn’t it, distracting them? The only change Baekhyun had made in the plan was to be the girl himself instead of sending her into the lion’s mouth. She’d protested but stopped when he’d told her she had a more pressing job and that was to get Seungwan out while he took care of the guards.

He had to laugh at the casuality of his thoughts. If it weren’t for the dire circumstances, he wouldn’t even be in the same room as her. You have no right to think about her anymore, remember?

Swallowing back the ill thoughts, he put on his girl-façade again and sauntered back in the direction of the guards, acting lost. He made a show of looking and turning around, swaying as much as he could in the dress and when he was finally sure the guards must have spotted him, he turned in their direction slowly.

“Hi”, He smiled his best, which he knew could have similar effects on either , not just the opposite. “Umm, could you tell me where the restrooms are? I can’t find them” He pouted.

They pointed him in the direction, one of them returning the smile he was giving them and Baekhyun decided that guy was going to be his first target. He pretended to go that way and after a few minutes, that felt like hours, he turned back in their direction. “I can’t find it”, He smiled sheepishly, “Could one of you perhaps show me the way?”, He asked with light in his eyes and then added sweetly. “Please, oppa?”

They exchanged reluctant looks, and then a few quiet words. Baekhyun made sure to smile blindingly at the one he knew was more likely to fall prey to his antics, and right enough, once they’d had whatever useless discussion they did, the one Baekhyun had zeroed on stepped towards him leading the way.

Baekhyun walked slowly counting the cctv cameras as the guy matched his pace, who he discovered had apparently not had any action in years from the way his eyes kept roaming to different parts of Baekhyun’s body as they walked, (could the guy really not tell any difference? Well, shame on him) and Baekhyun felt the dilemma women must feel all the time. He thanked God he hadn’t let Taeyeon go instead, just the thought of the ugly hoodlum staring at her like that got his blood boiling.

Pumped with actual adrenaline and vendetta against the guy now, he got ready as they neared the restroom, the hapkido training he’d had coming to life as he pictured the move in his head. The guard turned and smiled at him, leading the way to the ladies room and Baekhyun smiled back distractedly, finding the nearest cctv camera. He would have a window of about one minute, once it revolved the other way, before it turned back again. Well, here goes nothing.

“Thanks so much for leading the way”, He smiled icicly.

“No problem, Ma’am”, The guy was smiling and Baekhyun picked up the hem of his dress in one swift motion before landing a high kick to the side of the unprepared guy’s head. The guard had barely registered what was happening, before he was going down unconscious, and Baekhyun held and dragged him into the ladies’ room, the door closing just as the camera turned their way. He let the guy fall to a side on the empty restroom’s floor unceremoniously and hoped he would last a while.

Taking another breath, he popped a quick message to Jongdae to be ready to go, and set out for his next target. He stood at the corner of the hallway, waiting for the guy to come around looking for the other one who he’d just dealt with. He would have to wonder where he went, no? For so long too? Apparently not, because impatient as he was, it got clear to Baekhyun that the guy wasn’t going to leave his post of his own accord. Trusting the room’s were as sound-proof as the hotel management assured the guests they were, and that there was no one roaming in the nearby hallways at that time, Baekhyun let out the shrillest scream he could manage, low-key plans be damned. He just hoped Jongdae and Taeyeon would be quick enough.

Soon as the curious guy came looking for the source of the disturbing sound, Baekhyun wasted no time in greeting him with a similar, if not better, strike and he was out like a light. Leaving him half-conscious behind a pillar, Baekhyun ran for their room, which he thankfully found empty except for his clothes, Jongdae and Taeyeon having vacated.

Cue the next, easier, part of the plan. Put on a cap, find the nearest fire alarm and set it off, leave in the frenzy. All, thankfully, went according to plan and Baekhyun was out within minutes with the crowd that followed. He hoped Jinyoung would do his work (that he had tried to lessen for him considerably), as he’d been assured by Nayeon he would, and remove any footage or evidence of them being in that hotel.

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