“Ellie . . . who is that guy? How come he knows you?” Krizzia asked softly as she looked at her.

            Ellie slowly stared at Krizzia. Somehow she wanted to answer but it was as if she had totally lost her voice. She then stared blankly again in front of her. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to say anything . . .  because she didn’t want to remember . . . remembering was too painful for her.

            Krizzia sadly sighed and then slowly went out of the van.

            “How is she?” Samar asked. She was already waiting outside.

            “In a bad condition, I guess. She’s not talking. She’s just staring as if she’s not herself again,” Krizzia answered.

            Samar shook her head. “Do you think we should call her parents? I am really as to who that guy is . . . How come he knows Ellie?”

            “No, don’t call Ellie’s parents. If you call them, they will surely make us take Ellie back to their home. Have pity on the girl. She’s just starting to enjoy life outside her prison. You wouldn’t want her to be locked up in her room again, would you?” Krizzia said with concern.

            Samar couldn’t help but smile bitterly “Prison? Yes, I wouldn’t want her to be locked up again. I can still remember her pitiful cries. Just thinking about it is already enough to make me cry.”

“So please . . . don’t call her parents. Let’s just deal with this problem . . . by ourselves. Her parents doesn’t have to know. We have to protect her, Samar. I don’t want her to go through the same phase again,” Krizzia uttered with sadness.

Samar nodded. “But what do you suggest we do now? Do you think we can just quit now? I don’t think it would be good for Ellie to stay here . . . I think that guy won’t stop until he proves to everyone who Ellie really is.”

“I’m really curious about him . . .Do you think we can talk to him again? I want to know who he is and how come he knows Ellie. I’m really surprised that he was able to recognize her, even though her name and even her face has been changed,” Krizzia uttered.

“What are you planning to do?” Samar asked.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Krizzia answered.

Samar nodded. “All right. But be careful when you talk to him. Don’t give him any information about Ellie.”

“Don’t worry. I will surely be careful with my words. You just stay here and look after her. If you need me, just call me on my phone okay?” Krizzia uttered again before finally leaving.

----- Near the DBSK boys’ van…..

“I thought we already talked about this? You said that you would leave her alone. Is that your way of keeping your word?” Micky angrily uttered as he faced Jaejoong.

“I’m sorry . . . but I’m already sure she’s Lena. I can’t just stay silent and not know the truth. Do you know how long I have been searching for her . . . how long I have been missing her?” Jaejoong replied with a raised tone.

Micky shook his head in disbelief. “So you’re just going to keep on talking about that topic over and over again? Aren’t you tired? She’s been gone like . . . what? . . . six years already? And if she’s really your friend . . . how come you don’t even recognize her? How come she doesn’t recognize you? Wake up, Jaejoong. Maybe you’re just seeing some similarities in Ellie . . . but that doesn’t mean she’s Lena. I understand how you feel. I really do . . . I know she means a lot to you. But . . . face the truth. You don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

Jaejoong angrily walked up to Micky. He then grabbed him by his shirt. “Take back what you said! She’s not dead. She’s alive. I know she is. You don’t have the right to tell me that she . . .” he suddenly stopped. Somehow he couldn’t say that word. It was too painful for him to even imagine such a thing.

U-Know quickly came in between Micky and Jaejoong. “Jae, let go . . . please,” he said in a low voice as he tried to pull Jaejoong away from Micky.

Somehow Jaejoong came to his senses and slowly released his grip on Micky. “I . . . . I’m sorry,” he uttered with pain in his voice.

Micky suddenly felt sorry that he had even mentioned such a thing. He knew that he had totally gone way out of line. All of them knew how hard it was for Jaejoong to even talk about Lena. She was someone very important to him. Someone that he had been searching and waiting even before he became an artist.

Jaejoong suddenly felt helpless. He felt like his whole body was going to give up from all the mixed emotions he was feeling. He then leaned on the side of their van and just started to stare at the ground he was standing on.

Micky, Xiah, U-Know and Max felt like their heart were being slowly crushed as they silently watched Jaejoong. They could only imagine the pain that he was going through.

“Can we talk?” a girl’s voice suddenly said that caught everyone’s attention.

Jaejoong suddenly looked at the girl. “You?”

Krizzia slowly moved closer to where the DBSK boys were all standing. “Congratulations . . . you have certainly succeeded in making Ellie have a bad mood again. So I don’t think this would be good for your activities today,” she said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Jaejoong suddenly looked away. He knew what he did could have some major consequences.

“Who are you?” Krizzia asked all of a sudden.

Jaejoong quickly stared at Krizzia again. “Why are you asking?” he asked back.

Krizzia just shrugged her shoulders as if pretending that she didn’t care. “Nothing. I am just curious I guess. You have really made her so upset.”

“Did I really make her so upset?” Jaejoong asked again as if he wasn’t himself.

Krizzia looked at the other DBSK members, as if asking what was going on. Jaejoong was obviously not himself as well.

U-Know sighed. “Sorry . . . but Jaejoong is kind of not himself. You see . . . he thinks that Ellie is his long lost friend . . . Lena. It seems he’s seeing some significant similarities in Ellie that he’s actually believing that she’s the best friend that he lost more than six years ago,” he tried carefully to explain.

Krizzia tried to hide her shock after hearing Jaejoong’s story. “Six years ago? Could it be they really know each other? Could it be . . . he’s the best friend that Ellie had been talking about all these years?” she asked silently in her mind.

Micky saw the strange look in Krizzia’s eyes. He instantly knew that she was hiding something. “Why are you really here?” he asked.

Krizzia quickly turned to Micky and gave him a cold stare. “I just wanted to know why your friend disturbed Ellie.”

Micky smiled in a mocking manner. “Really? Or maybe you’re just here to find out something . . .”

Krizzia then gave Micky an angry stare. Somehow she didn’t really like him. There was something about him that somehow she finds so annoying. “I wanted to know your friend’s side and I just wanted to remind all of you . . . stay away from Ellie.”

“Uhmm. . . can I ask something?” Max suddenly asked out of the blue.

Krizzia then looked at Max. “What is it?”

“What’s wrong with Ellie? What’s the deal with her being touched and all? I just can’t seem to understand it, and the more I tried to understand . . . the more I get confused,” Max said softly.

Krizzia stared at Max. Somehow she felt that she needed to explain some important things as well.

“Ellie has a phobia. It is a very complicated condition,” Krizzia replied.

“Phobia? What kind of phobia?” Max asked again.

Krizzia sighed. “It’s called aphenphosmphobia. She’s afraid of being touched . . . by men. Every time a man touches her, she just goes into shock . . . either she just loses consciousness or the worst case, would be that she goes into hysteria. And when I say hysteria, it’s either she cries uncontrollably or she just screams non-stop. There are also times that she just freezes where she is standing or she just lashes out at everyone around her. She’s totally unpredictable. There was a time that a man in a supermarket accidentally touched her hand, and she just started screaming for help. And afterwards she just wandered off without really being aware of what she was doing. We searched for her for almost an hour. She had wandered all by herself and luckily we found her sitting in a corner behind an abandoned movie house more than 10 kilometers away from the supermarket. So you see . . . she loses herself, and that is why she doesn’t really want to go out of her house. And that is another reason why she didn’t really want to accept this job,” she tried to explain Ellie’s condition in the most simple and truthful manner.

The DBSK boys exchanged glances with each other. Somehow they suddenly felt pity for Ellie. They could only imagine how hard her situation must be.

“How did she get this phobia?” Micky curiously asked.

Krizzia stared at Micky for a few seconds. She was thinking if she really needed to answer that question.

“She got it during a traumatic experience during her teens. Please don’t ask anymore detail. . . I have already said all I can say,” Krizzia uttered seriously.

Micky nodded his head. He knew that Krizzia had already given them all the information that she was allowed to divulge. Aside from that he also wanted to respect Ellie’s privacy.

“So how come when Micky touched her . . . she didn’t react?” Xiah asked curiously.

“It is also a big puzzle for us. And it is why Ellie wanted to get close to Micky. She wanted to learn how he was able to touch her without triggering any negative effects,” Krizzia answered.

“Maybe she’s already cured or something and she just didn’t know it yet,” Micky uttered.

 “Did you see her reaction when your friend tried to approach her? That is the same reaction she has when someone tries to touch her. And frankly, she’s in a bad condition right now. She started to stare blankly at everything and everyone again. And she won’t talk either. So I don’t think she’s over with her phobia yet,” Krizzia replied.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm,” Jaejoong uttered slowly and with a low voice.

Krizzia saw the pain and loneliness in Jaejoong’s eyes, and somehow this touched her heart. “Who are you? I really pity you. . . Somehow I can feel your pain. And as much as I want to help you, but I love Ellie and she is more important to me than anything in this world. So I will never let you get near her again,” she uttered in her mind as she continued to watch him.

“Please tell Ellie . . . that I am really very sorry. I . . . I will never bother her again. I’m sorry . . . but I think I need some time alone,” Jaejoong uttered as he slowly turned and walked away.

Krizzia and the other DBSK boys just silently watched as Jaejoong walked away with his head and shoulders low in total sadness and confusion.

-------- Minutes passed….

Jaejoong was sadly staring at Lena’s picture. He had kept a small picture of her in his wallet for the passed six years.

And as he sadly gazed at his bestfriend’s picture . . . . Memories started to ran back into his mind….

Flashback……

Jaejoong was running beside Lena’s lifeless body which was being rushed into the emergency room. He didn’t want to let go of her hand. He couldn’t bear to let go. . .

Tears were flowing as he ran. He needed to be with her. She needed him.

But as soon as they reached the emergency room, he was immediately blocked by a nurse.

“Please you have to stay here. We will take care of her,” the nurse gently uttered.

Jaejoong looked at the female nurse with tears already clouding his eyes. “Please you have to save her. Please make sure she . . . she comes back to me. I . . . I need her. I haven’t greeted her a happy birthday yet. It is her birthday today, you see. Can you understand me? I have a lot to make up for. I . . . I . . . Lena, I’m sorry,” he uttered as he finally fell down on his knees and started to weep.

---------- Reality…..

“Lena . . . I miss you. Please come back to me,” Jaejoong uttered as he carefully returned the one and only memory he had of the girl he had been searching for