As fit and healthy as a lot of us can be, climbing up the stairs was tiresome just after three flights. As soon as we reached the fifth floor, we stopped to take a breather.

"Who am I kidding?" said Zoey as she leaned upon the stair rail. "I’m so tired."

"Tell me about it," I said, taking in deep breaths.

"Do we really have to go all the way to the manager’s office?" Jisoo asked. "Wasn’t Lee making her way down when we called her?"

"She was," I answered. "If you ask me, we can start looking on this floor, or we can split."

"I say we stick together," said Seunghoon. "I’ve a feeling taking Johnny down will need some team effort."

"Spoken like you’re leading the SWAT team," Mino teased. "Splitting up might be easier, but we’re only a few of us, so we need to stick together."

"That’s fine," I said. "I really wish we knew where she could be."

We heard footsteps coming from upstairs. We looked at each other before darting down the hall, to hide round a corner. Seunghoon who was close, took a peek. The footsteps grew louder.

"Can it be Johnny?" Zoey asked.

"I doubt it," Mino whispered who leaned against the wall next to her. "That sounds like a lot of steps."

"Ssh," Seunghoon whispered. "They're almost here."

We all became silent, and a lot of us held our breaths. The sound of footsteps became heavier. We could tell it’s the security guards. We were lucky they didn’t stop on the floor we are on as they continued down the stairs. As the sound of their footsteps grew fainter, we slowly started to relax.

"That was close," said Jisoo. "For a moment there, I thought they would come to this floor."

"Now the harder part begins," I said. "Finding Lee."

"Maybe you can call her again," Seunghoon suggested.

"Even if we do, and Johnny does have her, he'll know we’re coming for him," said Mino.

"Are you saying we should look for her the old-fashioned way?"

"I think we call anyway," said Zoey. "He obviously knows that the only way to draw us out is if he has Lee."

"Or he might call us instead," said Jisoo.

"Well, he would've called first if he wanted to draw us out," I said as I held my phone in my hand.

"So what should we do?" Mino asked.

I put my phone back in the pocket. "We just have to look for her the old-fashioned way," I answered. "If we do call, he'll be expecting us and who knows what he might do."

"So you want to catch him off guard?" Jisoo asked. "Will that even work?"

"It will be bad for us if we call. That way he will know we're agitated."

"I like your thinking," said Zoey. "But then that means, we've to work quickly and find them."

"Let's start here, then," said Seunghoon.

"What’s on this floor anyway?" I couldn't help but ask as I felt like the place is pretty much empty.

"There are rooms that were once used for practice till they moved them downstairs. They plan to renovate and make offices here," said Mino.

"Is this the only floor where renovations are taking place?" I stood in the middle of the hall to take a good look beyond.

"As far as I know, yes."

"This feels like the perfect place for Johnny to keep Lee. The place is quiet, and it’s the only place where there’s nobody around."

"Well, the bodyguards should’ve thought of that before bypassing this floor," said Zoey.

"Maybe they did, and they couldn’t find anything to convince them that someone could be hiding here," said Jisoo.

"Well, let's see if we can find something," said Seunghoon. "But the rooms should be empty."

As we were about to make our way down the hall, I stopped. I hear something. Mino who went ahead of me, noticed and stopped also.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

"Everyone, hide," I said quietly.

"What? Why?" Zoey asked, turning to look at me.

"Someone’s coming," I answered.

We all paused. We could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Likewise, we tiptoed quietly down to the first door down the hall. Seunghoon who is the first to reach it, opened the door and in a line, we all entered the dark room. The place smelt of dust and the air is stuffy. The windows haven’t been open for a while.

Seunghoon is the last to enter and closes the door behind him. We’re almost in the dark, but light came in through the translucent glass window on the door.

"Can we turn on the lights?" Jisoo asked in a whisper. "It’s dark in here."

"We can’t," said Seunghoon. "There’s a translucent glass window on the door. If we turn on the lights, the person down the hall will tell someone is in here."

"Ssh," said Mino. "Do you hear that? The person is coming."

We all kept quiet. Who could it be? Could it be Johnny? What if it’s one of the guards? If it’s the latter, we'll be in big trouble and will be escorted back to the studio. If it’s Johnny, we need to be careful.

Seunghoon slowly opened the door so as not to make a sound. The rest of us stood there, waiting for confirmation if the person out there is a threat.

We hear footsteps come closer, and I see the person through the glass, bypassing the door. I turn to look at Seunghoon to see any reaction on his face. Before I ask, he already made a move by drawing the door wide open and stepping into the hall.

"Hyung?" Seunghoon called out.

"Goodness, Seunghoon get back here!" Zoey whispered to him.

"Seunghoon?" came a familiar voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Don’t worry, guys, it’s GD," Seunghoon came back into the room to address us.

"Uh?" Zoey and I can’t believe it.

"Oh, oppa," said Jennie stepping out of the room to join Seunghoon in the hall. "How did you find yourself here?"

Mino, Zoey and I also stepped out of the room. G-Dragon stood there in a red fresh paint jacket with a black jumpsuit and a white shirt on. He’s just as surprised to see us.

"What are you all doing here?" GD asked. "Aren’t you supposed to be recording in the studio?"

"Well, to answer your first question, we’re out here trying to look for Johnny," said Zoey, folding her arms. "For the second one, we finished recording the song."

"Oh, that’s good to hear. But I thought you were kept under guard."

"We were," said Mino. "But we had to sneak out to find Johnny."

"We think Johnny has Lee," I added. "She never came back to the studio. When we called, she said she ran into him, and she sounded like she was running away."

"That’s not good," said GD. "I also came up here to try and find him."

"Really?" Zoey asked, raising an eyebrow. "How can we be so sure that you're looking for him?"

G-Dragon and so did the rest of us turn to look at her, wondering why she could ask such a question.

"Don’t get me wrong, guys," said Zoey as she noticed the looks, "but didn’t GD bring Johnny here in the first place? So how can we tell you aren’t just going to lead us into a trap?"

"And why would I do that?" GD asked, not believing the words coming out of Zoey’s mouth.

"Aren’t the two of you best friends?"

"Not after what he has done."

"Yeah, right. We warned you about him, but you didn’t listen to us, did you?"

"Zoey, enough," I intervened. "Telling him that we told him so right now isn’t going to help us find Lee."

"If you ask me, he’s to blame."

"I didn’t know he was going to pull off something like this," G-Dragon defended himself.

"Wasn’t the crowd he drew towards us last night evident enough that Johnny is crazy? Yet you brought him here on the grounds that you two are friends."

"Zoey, calm down," said Mino as he came and held her shoulders. "GD never knew Johnny would take things too far. We should listen to Sam and find Lee first."

"Fine," said Zoey. "But after we find Lee and Johnny should at least be arrested, I’ll make sure to claw your face out, GD."

"Won’t that also get you arrested?" Jisoo asked.

"I accept," said G-Dragon.

"With that on stand-by, what are you doing here GD?" I asked, turning to look at him. "Did Johnny communicate with you?"

"No, he hasn’t," he answered. "I tried calling him a few times, and he hasn’t replied. I thought of looking for him, but it's been difficult since the guards don’t want anyone wandering around. I managed to get away as I was held in the lobby. Likewise, I thought of coming to this floor, since the rooms aren’t being used."

"Well, you found us at the right time," said Seunghoon.

"Let’s start looking in every room," I said. "And hope we get lucky."

"Well, they’re definitely not in this one," said Zoey as she looked at the door of the room we were hiding in. She started her way down the hall, bypassing G-Dragon. I noticed the look she gave him.

"Someone will undoubtedly claw your face off when this is over," I said as I stood next to him. The others had gone ahead, following Zoey.

"Can’t argue with her. I should’ve listened to you guys when you said he might not have changed after all these years."

"Oh, we know because he always gets to troll us all the time online."

"I’m sorry for not believing you at first."

"Don’t apologize to me. You’ve to apologize to the rest of The Toxins, especially Zoey."

"No doubt."

"Come on, we better get moving."

GD and I join the search. Seunghoon and Jisoo had already entered one room. We approached the open door, and the lights were on. There isn’t much in the room. There were a few things lying around and furniture that had been covered with white cloths to prevent the dust settling on it.

GD went ahead, and I followed him to the next room where there’s Mino and Zoey. There were boxes and furniture covered in cloths all around.

"It seems they are about to set this place up," I said as I went back into the hall.

"Should we enter the next room?" GD asked.

"Sure."

GD went on ahead, opened the door and turned the lights on. He stood there as he looked, and I joined him. There’s nothing much to see with only two carton boxes and pieces of paper on the floor.

"Nothing, here," he said as he slowly started to close the door. Then I caught a glimpse of something through the corner of my eye.

"Hey, wait," I said as I also held the door to stop GD from closing it. I draw it wide open and look inside the room. My attention is drawn towards the two large carton boxes.

"Sam, there’s nothing here," said G-Dragon.

"I thought I saw the box move just now."

"Move? Aren’t you just seeing things?"

The box did move. My eyes widened, and I turn to look at GD, whose mouth is agape. He saw it too.

"I’m going to see what’s in there," I say as I enter the room.

Before I could go any further, I felt G-Dragon take hold of my hand. I stop and turn to look at him.

"I’m coming with you," he said.

I nodded. I turn towards the box in the room and the both of us slowly approach it. We pause at the same time when the box moved again. We continue our approach and as soon as we’re close, I lean forward and find that the top of the box is covered. The box gently shook again. I draw out my hand to uncover the box but G-Dragon is quick to grab it to stop me from doing so.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. "What if there’s something dangerous in there?"

"Well, whatever it is," I said, "it’s pretty small."

"So? It might be a snake left there by Johnny."

"What makes you think there’s a snake? Did you see him carry one?"

G-Dragon shook his head. "It could be anything in there."

A soft little ‘meow’ came from inside the box. I gave a mocking look at G-Dragon, and he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. I went on to open the box and inside it is a small, black, furry kitten. It looked up at us with its cute, sparkling green eyes and meowed again.

"If I know Johnny, he wouldn’t leave a cat in here to try and scare us," I said.

I bent over to get it out of the box. At first, it backed away into a corner and I knew I had to let it trust me first. I gently let my palm touch the top of its head and started to pet it. Soon enough, it purred and rubbed its ears around my hand. I soon brought in my other hand and lifted it out of the box.

"Wow, you’re good with animals, aren’t you?" GD asked as he continues to look on.

"Kittens aren’t so bad," I said as I