Hongjoong.

That was all that flooded Ara's mind as they raced up the steps to her floor, past the police car parked outside the place. Ahead were two cops knocking on her door, until a few of the neighbours opened their windows to have a look. "Miss Kim? Miss Araminta Kim?" they called out loudly.

"Is something the matter?" she rushed up to the two officers. "I'm Araminta Kim."

One of the cops looked at her from head-to-toe, questioning. "We've been trying to contact you since morning but you were unreachable,"

Jongho cleared his throat, "I'm her friend, we were out of town for camping - there was no reception I think."

The cops seemed to buy it, neither did they notice the saber dangling by his belt. "I see, may we come inside? It's about your brother," they told her gruffly. Ara's heart dropped at the mention of Hongjoong, her worst assumptions were true. 

Still she tried to keep calm, "Y-yeah sure..." she unlocked the door to the flat, and inside was untouched, everything perfectly in place and just as how she had left it the day before they left for Faerie. Her unmade bedsheets, the blinds half-opened, Hongjoong's sketches scattered on the table in an order only he knew. Nothing made it seem like something had gone terribly wrong.  

The officers handed her Hongjoong's phone they had found and briefed to her what had happened. "Your brother has gone missing since this morning when his coworkers found his phone in their office, they were supposed to have a presentation today but he's disappeared. We tried reaching out to you before we called up our men to hack his phone-"

But Ara wasn't listening anymore, her finger automatically swiping for Hongjoong's password, the one he had intended to change after finding out Ara knew the pattern - and he never did. The screen instantly showed that the phone was still on record mode, and she paused it. What happened before this? She thought.

She replayed the audio from the start, with Hongjoong's familiar voice came out as he spoke and Ara's stomach twisted - and then the audio changed. There was an opening of a door, Hongjoong's voice fading at a distance as if he was walking away from his phone and the muffled conversation took place.

"A-are you looking for someone?" Hongjoong asked. "What are you doing? Stand right there, or I'm calling the cops-" and it was followed by static silence, as if he had vanished from thin air. 

Ara gasped sharply, but not because of the recording but something else. The surrounding sounds ceased and all that was left was ringing in her ears, then the voice spoke. 'You have what I want, and I have what you so dearly want as well. Bring it to me, and you can have him back before it's too late.'

"Ah!" the phone dropped onto the floor from where Ara had lost her grip, her body felt flimsy like jelly as goosebumps crawled up her back. Jongho steadied her, concerning eyes scanning her face to make sure she was okay. 

"Ara?" he asked. 

The officer's brows furrowed, "Are you alright, Ms Kim? Perhaps we should get you checked out at the hospital-"

"No," she answered. "I-it's just a headache since we just got back. My brother isn't really one to disappear without informing me beforehand...I think I may need some rest, do contact me if there's any updates,"she tried to sound as believable as possible, despite being shaken to her bones. The snake-like voice haunting her ears.

Both the officers exchanged doubtful glances, and with a squeeze of his hand, Jongho knew when to stand in. He cleared his throat, "It's okay, Ara can rest. If you want any explanations you can ask me, officers." Ara knew he had put on his 'faerie' voice, the one he altered whenever he wanted to persuade people to do what he wanted; in this case it was driving the cops away. 

It took a few seconds for Jongho to come back in, "Okay they're gone, Ara what is going on?" he asked when he noticed Ara sitting at the edge of her bed, head in her hands. She felt like her head was spinning, as if it hadn't spun enough since travelling to Faerie. You're supposed to be the hero, she told herself harshly. Heroes don't cause others harm.

"She has him, Serafia somehow kidnapped Jjoong," she said. "She spoke in my head just now, she knows I have Yunho's last breath and the ring." In her hands, she clutched the ring and vial. How was Serafia was able to find out about Hongjoong was beyond her. 

Jongho gulped, "But Hongjoong couldn't have told her, unless-"

"No," she cried, face turning white. "That... wouldn't hurt him," but Ara knew it was wishful thinking, she just refused to imagine Hongjoong in any pain, pain that she had caused. Her cold hands caught Jongho's, "She wants to exchange him with the vial and the ring, that's exactly what she wants,"

"But it could be a trap, she could be setting us up," Jongho reasoned. "We need to think this through, a backup plan-"

"My brother is in danger!" she snapped, unable to control her frustration any longer. "And it's all my fault, I should have been the one getting taken away because he has nothing to do with this,"

"Ara, I know," Jongho said patiently. "Jjoong's my friend too, and we're not going to abandon him but we need a plan. Remember, Serafia is an Unseelie faerie, worse and more cruel than anyone from Seelie. We need to be careful with this, even if it means giving her what she wants she can always double-cross us - you and Hongjoong both could get killed."

Ara realised that too, the odds where they'd walk out in one piece was unlikely. "What do you mean?" she asked her friend.

Jongho fished out the rose gold acorn from his pocket, "Serafia doesn't know about me."

When Mingi stepped out on the other side of the faerie portal, he didn't expect to be end up in a lady's dressing room. 

He had his eyes closed and the next second he opened them was because of the familiar scent of perfumed orchids entered his nose - the very one his mom had released as part of her new fashion line that he didn't particularly like. Panicking, he pushed past the curtain of fabric that shielded him inside the narrow compartment-

"AHH!" a random woman screamed and it drew several curious heads to turn, staring at Mingi who was clearly not supposed to be at lady's section of the store. 

Ah crap, he thought. "Ahem," he cleared his throat, shuffling towards the exit of the store. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention or worse-

"It's him! Song Mingi, the CEO's son!" a teenage girl squaled amongst her friends at the clothing aisle. Soon they started marching towards him, and Mingi knew exactly where this was going and it almost made him feel like life was normal again. More people started taking out their phones, holding onto the magazines where his face was plastered on, some asking him to sign them. 

Flustered, he pushed past the glass doors and ran across the street, where the Bellamy & Co. building was located. How he had ended up there, he wasn't sure. Jongho and Ara were nowhere to be seen either, apparently he was the only one left stranded. He would need to call them later. Mingi also knew that him standing in the lobby in his brightly coloured suit attracted more attention than he wanted, especially not with his phone ringing loudly. 

He fumbled and answered, "Hello?"

"Mr Mingi!" it was a voice behind him that called out, he spun around and to his dismay - it was Eric, one of his mother's secretary team. In his horn-rimmed glasses, dapper suit and briefcase, while he held his phone to his ear. So he was the one calling.

"Eric?"

"I have been trying to contact you since yesterday, I almost notified the Chairlady!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were in danger, or you could have been held hostage while the Chairlady was away-"

"Eric I'm fine," Mingi assured him, glancing around at the people giving them questionable looks. For someone hired to manage things, Eric wasn't exactly calm at that moment. "Just...order a cab for me back to the suite, I'm tired." he was telling the truth, he had been holding off the sting in his head from both the concussion and returning from Faerie. Plus, he was starving. 

"Y-yes of course," Eric adjusted his glasses and leaned in closer. "I've also done what you told me to find, about...ahem." he beckoned, and Mingi recalled the order he had given the secretary a day before. 

He nodded, and both of them made their way to the parking lot. 

The ice cold water of the shower woke Mingi up entirely, and it was rather awkward to be sitting across the mahogany coffee table with Eric, in nothing but a bath robe and damp hair (though Eric had insisted it was fine). The secretary took out his Ipad and pushed it towards him. "You asked me to find out about  Adamas' current stockholders, I tried reaching out to a friend of mine to dig around- and it seems like Chairman Jeong is still the biggest stockholder of the company,"

"But Sera- I mean, Sofia Jeong isn't listed here," Mingi said after having a look at the softcopy Eric had provided. That's odd, he thought. "Isn't she his wife? And...why is Yunho's name still listed as the second largest stockholder?" Indeed, Yunho's name was listed directly below his father's, followed by more than half the shares of the company while Sofia Jeong's name was nowhere to be seen when Yunho had been presumed dead for almost a decade. He wasn't dead, Mingi reminded himself, but no one else knew that.

Eric nodded, "Apparently the Chairman had already prepared a will, that in an occasion if he passes away, all of his shares would be inherited by Jeong Yunho but with what had happened...the will states the subsequent shares would be donated to charity unless another legal document signed by Jeong Yunho could be used to ratify the decision,"

"That means Sofia Jeong won't get anything regardless," Mingi realized. He pieced the clues together, now understanding the context behind everything. "Wait does  that mean the only way for her to inherit the money...would have to be for Yunho to allow it?"

"Yes I suppose so but that doesn't make sense now does it?" Eric frowned. "All this does seem very odd, I mean, why would such a will exist in the first place? Jeong Yunho is dead."

But Mingi was no longer listening, everything made sense now. The Chairman's delusion, why Yunho had been kept half-alive by Serafia all these years -  it was for him to be of legal age to sign over the company to her. 'To cheat one's death at angel's will, innocent blood again shalt be spilled', he remembered the incantation.

He needed to tell Ara.