Dawn was about to enter throw the windows and Taeyeon was digging an hole in her living room, furiously going back an forth, an absent look on her face, eyes red and burning as living fire.

“Tae, please you have to stop, you going nuts isn’t going to help her.” Yuri had been trying to get her to rest all night, with no results. Her mother was looking at her with this heartbreaking glance, full of pain and empathy.

“Why are they not calling? They should already ask for the ramson right, right?” Her voice was losing her strength, hoarse from crying till she didn’t have any left.

Jessica huffed and went to interrupt her walk, embracing her shoulders. “Honey you need to calm down, we are all desperate but when something will happen they’d let us know surely. Please sit down.” Taeyeon followed her to the couch, her head founding a place between her hands.

“I… can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop picturing how scared she must be, how much she is suffering. What if they hurt her? What if…” Her voice cracked into . She glanced at Tiffany that cried herself to sleep on the couch.

Her friends shared a meaningful look. Jessi kept caressing her back.

“Try not to ok? She is so strong, she is probably annoying those guys with her high-pitched angry remarks. They’ll deliver her back home in a moment.” Yul tried to ease the tension and Taeyeon broke into a chuckle. “And she’ll surely scold us for not sleeping and taking care of ourselves when she is back.”

The blond raised her head a little, her hands trembling a bit were almost immediately filled with a hot cup of fuming tea from her mom. She smiled a tense little smile and told herself to be strong. “She’d want me to keep it together.” She realized with her own conscious. Sipping at her tea slowly she pictured that angry face directed at her, cheeks and neck red with rage, brown eyes almost closed judging her.

Sunny was far stronger than she will ever be, she is resolute, analyzing, smart, quick thinking and hella scary when she wanted to be. It was like a mantra she let her brain eat to keep her cool.

But her phone was quiet, every phone was death quiet and she was going crazy.

“They have the money, that’s what they’ll want ok? It’ll be over soon. But all of you need to sleep love, ok?” Her sweet mom was caressing her hair, eyes almost identical to hers had the same frustration she was feeling into her veins.

So, this is like having no control of your life?

“All of you need to be in your best conditions for that little girl, she is going to need all of you.” Taeyeon clenched her teeth, replaying Sunny’s telling her to go to sleep and rest, because they had to do good on their presentation into the morning.

“She is suffering now mom, I am not letting her suffer alone. She is scared now, I am not letting her be scared alone.” Her eyes filled with tears again that she wouldn’t let fall, she heard two different gasps. One of surprise from her mom and the other of tiredness from Jessica that was still embracing her.

She didn’t care if her mother starts to suspect something about their relationship, she didn’t know how to think at anything that wasn’t Sunny right now.

It was late, why didn’t she asked her to sleep at her ing house?

Her head hurt like hell, her fingers too, she had broken nails and a sense of nausea. They had her in the back of a car, blindfolded and bound as a salami. Her tongue felt like paper and her head started to spin like a spinning top.

Fear got her heart in a crazy tachycardiac situations, adrenaline pumping fast into her veins. Trying to put all the pieces together she replayed the event into her head. The car being stopped by someone jumping in front of it, Jimmy braking hard, then it all happened too fast. The chauffer was put down with a quick hit on his head, she remembers herself screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to get her phone and call the police, just for a man to jump on her and put her to sleep with something on .

She started to cry right away, big tears wetting her blindfold, her teeth grasping her chapped lip to not let sobs escape . She was being kidnapped. Sunny wanted to scream again, to call for help but she calmed herself down almost immediately. She wasn’t going to let them have an excuse to beat her up.

Trying to find some kind of calm she slowed down her breathing, thinking about the situation with more profundity. They didn’t let her see their faces, they didn’t hurt her or Jimmy badly, they seemed well organized and fast. She came at the conclusion that they were professionals, and that was the best thing in her situation.

Then her thought went to her dad, his unnerving gaze not moving not even for her princess being taken away into the night. She pictured him handling it as one of his business transaction, as she was a package of actions to be bought back. She couldn’t miss the warmth hold of her mom more.

Her mind passed almost naturally on the last time she was held, Taeyeon grinning face filling her still tearing eyes with stubbornness. She could almost see Tiff crying her lungs out and that procured a sharp pain into her chest, but the lost look she imagined on the blond face made her lose her breath and restart to cry.

She had still the hoodie on, and the faint scent of vanilla and citrus made it easier to fantasize of begin held tight, arms locked on her tummy, a cold nose brushing against her nape and a deep voice mumbling about why there couldn’t just be a better Batman than The Dark Knight, and that she was obligated to watch the trilogy.

The smile that formed on her lips was a desperate one. Sunny decided right there that when she was back, because she was going to be just fine, they would see whatever the hell that was.

She just wanted to feel safe again, to feel the warmth of her arms.

Clenching her teeth hard, shallowing the hard lump into she put her mindset in the right setting, the fighter one, the one who doesn’t give up, because she was going to be just fine.

It was lunch time when she woke from her tiredness induced coma, her head hurt, her eyes hurt like hell and felt like there was sandpaper in it. Gulping two glasses of water abruptly she remembered everything. Those two minutes of blessed ignorance were gone, giving space to the cruelty of reality. She felt like screaming at the top of her lungs but instead bite her lips to blood.

Taeyeon watched the rain drops sliding on the kitchen window, feeling her anxiety crawl back, checking her phone hoping for a miracle, for some news. There were none, it was all silent.

She felt like drowning and the world was silent, it was simply not fair.

Tiffany wasn’t on the couch anymore, she wasn’t anywhere in the house. Probably gone to Sunny’s house and then to her own house. Yuri and Jessica were still asleep on the floor, wrapped in the blankets like burritos.

She wished it all to be just a nightmare, that she was going to wake up at least with an message from the girl, telling her whatever silly story about her cats was.

Her heart hurt scrolling on their chat, the word idiot probably the most used one, against her of course. Her lips tensed into a smile, that girl was too stubborn, she could face anything. The smile turned into a pained grin, her cheeks not really following the movement, it was to stop the ugly cry that was about to escape.

Her mind going in automatic to few days back, at her house as usual, it was raining bad, their shoulders brushing, sitting side to side on her bed with a cup of hot chocolate both. They were watching Mulan, because what was better than a Disney film on a rainy day.

“When I was little I used to redo the scene when she cuts her hair, and I did it in front of the mirror, being all dramatic too.” Sunny giggles in the middle of her story, she could picture it, a little bunny trying to cut her hair with a plastic knife. “And then my mom would come into my room and ask if I really wanted to have short hair, they almost reached my you know?”

Taeyeon simply nodded, she had all her attention, Sunny didn’t like to talk about her mother. Her death devasted her, losing someone at a so young age.

“But I didn’t want to have short hair, and I always thought they would expose my round face more.” She stopped to sip at her drink, studying the blond face with a question in her eyes.

Taeyeon grinned. “You were kind of right.” Her grin only got wider when a glare was sent her way.

An huff and then she started again. “Anyway, I told her that I did it only so I could be a boy for a while and follow Daddy at the company. I guess I missed him at five, when I didn’t know better.” Her voice dropped a bit and she just kept listening, hoping for a happy ending of the story. “Then my mom used to kiss all my face, in the fastidious way only a mom could reach. And she told that I’d so bored at the meeting and that Daddy loved me too much to bring me along.” The story was apparently finished, but Sunny eyes kept shining, a sweet sad smile on her lips.

She felt her longing deep inside and hooked their pinkies together.

Sunny glanced at their hands and seemed to make up her mind on something. “Do you miss your Dad?”

That made her widen her eyes, she too didn’t like to talk about her dad. Taking a breath she turned again her focus on the TV, her mind elsewhere. “I… don’t. I mean I didn’t really got to know him, he just left my mom when I could barely stand on my feet.” She felt brown eyes burning holes on her temple but couldn’t detach her stare.

“I am sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you about him.” Taeyeon shrugged.

“It’s okay, you know what? I don’t care about him or why he left us, I hate him for making my mother suffer so much, for leaving her alone with a kid to raise alone. I truly believe he is just a bastard, he doesn’t deserve my consideration.” And then she turned to look at shocked wide eyes staring at her. They made her consider something that sometimes crossed her mind, during her long imaginary journeys.

“About disgusting men, I hope that if this doesn’t… well doesn’t work in that way, we could stay friends? I think I need to make sure no one make you suffer like that, that you don’t get a man like my dad, you know?” Her cheeks got in flames, God why she was that cheesy.

Sunny blinked, a confused look flashed on her face. She unhooked their pinkies and squeezed her hand. “I am not letting you free yourself from me, you are just not allowed to be without me.” Taeyeon felt the breathe leave her lungs, the sincerity in her voice unsettled her. “Now, what is this… and in what way could not work?” She chuckled an incredulous laugh.

“If… if you realize you only like… well ?” She didn’t even close before a slap made contact with her head. “Hey!”

“You just ruined another moment do you know that? You were being romantic, I was feeling the atmosphere. How the two personality can fit in that short and thin body eh?” The angry vein on her neck actually started to pulse and she couldn’t stop herself, a deep uncontrolled laugh left , making the other girl pout, put her cup on the nightstand so she could cross her arms.

“I am sorry… but you sound so serious about this.” She couldn’t stop giggling.

“I am serious!” Sunny huffed again and then returned her attention to Mulan saving China, a scowl still on her face.

When her laugh finally subsided she delicately uncrossed those arms, feeling them stiffen under her hands, Sunny trying to hold a giggle and put force on the arms at the same time. Eventually she succeeded, taking a hand in hers she brought very close to her lips, the most convincing look on her face and then she filled it with the cup of chocolate. “There drink, recover the sweetness.”

A grin started to spread on then Sunny snorted, shacking her face side to side. “I am going with , honestly.” She slowly sipped meanwhile leaving her with wide open.

She needed to up her game then. With few daring and ungraceful movement she put herself with her back touching the header of the bed and Sunny back on her front, her arms already embracing the girl on her tummy. She felt the brunette make herself comfortable, her head resting on her shoulder, a little sigh leaving .

“Better?” Taeyeon whispered on her ear, seeing goosebumps rise on her neck, smiling at the sight. She still smelled like a mix of flowers, impossible to recognize which ones.

“Hmm I’ll reconsider the thing.” She chuckled and kissed her head.

Her lips curved up at the memory, she said that she wasn’t going to free herself that easy, and Taeyeon believe it with all her soul.

She needed to.

The room they had put her in was more like a hole, a hole hidden somewhere, maybe in a house. There weren’t windows, the only light she had was a neon light on the ceiling. There was a bed, a mattress on it with a old blanket, for the moment she didn’t even touch it.

She didn’t saw their faces for all the way to the room, she was literally brought the bride way until they put her on the bed. She didn’t even open , trying to not flinch at their rough touch, again she wasn’t going to give them a pretest to beat her.

Then they took the blindfold off but she closed her eyes shout, shaking her head. She heard them laugh, at least two.

“Oh we got a smart one, calm down baby you are not going to see anything, we just want the money. Your dad’s full of it, I am sure he could spare us some. Open your eyes.” The deep, terrifying voice made her obey, they had masks on. Sunny bit her lips hard, she wasn’t his baby. “Alright then, if you behave and your Dad doesn’t try anything we won’t touch a hair on your pretty hair. But be sure, I am not afraid to cut a little ear and get a little blood on my clothes. Understood?” She shallowed hard and nodded. “Right, so be a good girl eh?”

They left her in the semi dark and tears came again, she was trembling, felt her limbs not responding to her will. She wanted it to be a nightmare so much.

, that was harder that she thought.