Minho is slapping his employee continuously.

“You ing dump son of the ! I told you to beat her why did you let her escaped!!” Minho scolds. He kicks in the stomach of the guy who is kneeing in front of him.

“I’m sorry Boss. I’m sorry Boss” The guy says and bows non-stop. “That girl is very tricky. She tricked me to fight with her, she said I’m not a man if don’t.”

***********flash back***********

The guy hangs up after hearing Minho order. He turns to look at Amber. He smirks and steps toward where Amber is suspended up. He grabs the baseball stick that he left on the floor.

Amber hears the steps moving closer. She hears something is dragging on the floor. She can tell it’s a wood stick by the way it sounds. She can visualise the guy is approaching and going to hit her. She plans to kick him when he is getting closer but the problem is her eyes are blindfolded. It would be useless if she just kicks everywhere. If she misses her kick, the guy would be provoked and would beat her more.  She suddenly receives the baseball stick in the stomach. It hurts so bad that Amber breaths heavily after her scream.

Then the guy throws stick on Amber’s head.

Amber closes her eyes firmly because of the pain. She grinds the teeth to endure. She shakes the head to push the hurtful feel away. But it hurts even more.

The guy holds Amber’s chin. “So how does it feel?”  He asks and smirks with satisfaction.

“Drop your stick and fight with me.” Amber says.

The guy smiles. “You smart little one. You think I don’t know that you are trying to make me untie you and so you can escape.” He hits on Amber’s cheek.

“I swear to God I’ll beat you up before I get out of here” Amber says

“You think you can match with me huh? Do you know who the I’m?” The guy punches Amber in the stomach.

“No, I don’t know that you are an ing thing” Amber replies

The guy use the baseball stick to hit Amber continuously.

“If you are a man, let’s fight with bare hand.” Amber proposes.

The guy looks at Amber. He is hesitated for a few seconds. Then he unties Amber. He wants to teach Amber a lesson because the way she said it’s like he could be defeat easily. He thinks she could not do anything to him. He has fought many times already, so he thinks that it wouldn’t be hurt even if he gets punched. She is a girl after all and he is a gangster.

Before detaching Amber, the guy puts the hood on and uses a tissue to cover his mouth so Amber could not see his face.

Amber feels very painful but she has to do her best in order to escape.  As soon as the guy releases her, Amber takes advantage to kick in his middle part. He immediately folds on the floor. Amber quickly grabs the baseball stick and gives him a sound beating until he is scrawling and begging to stop. Then Amber throws the stick and runs away when he is painfully yelling out loud.  She has to save the energy to run back home because she has no idea where she really is. She gets out of the warehouse. She sees everything around is like in the forest. She has no idea which direction she should go. She has to step forward no matter what. She has to go as far as possible or the guy would catch up. She wishes to have the cell phone so she can use the GPS function to find the way out, but her cell is dropped at the warehouse and the guy confiscated her phone earlier. After a few hours of walking, Amber hits the highway. Fortunately, a taxi passes by. She takes it to get home.

***********end of flash back***********

“Mom, where is Amber? How is she?” Krystal asks when she gets in the house.

“Shuttt not too loud. She is resting in her room.” Mrs. Jung says. “She is very injured”

“Really?” Krystal worries. “Did she tell you what happened?”

“She said this morning when she went to buy the milk, she saw a kid got bullied by the gangsters. So she fought with them to protect the kid. Then she brought the kid to report at the police station and help him to find his way to home. She said that was why she got home late.” Mrs. Jung tells Krystal. “I helped her to apply the medicine already. Go see her if you want but don’t wake her up. She needs a good sleep to recover. I’ll make the porridge so she can eat after”

Krystal nods. “Mom, can you make pasta? I think Amber really misses it.” Krystal asks.

“Ok. I’ll go to the supermarket and buy the ingredient after.”

Mrs. Jung does not fully believe what Amber said because the injuries seem to be more serious than a normal fight. So she doubts that something bad happened. Since Amber is too injured, Mrs. Jung lets Amber rest first. Plus, she also wants to talk with Mr. Jung about it before asking Amber for more detail.

Krystal enters Amber’s room. The last one uses the blanket to cover from head to toes because she knows Krystal would come to see her.

Krystal has a bad feeling and is more worried. She knows Amber too well. If Amber is trying to hide something, it means the truth is really bad to be seen. Krystal sits on the edge of the bed. Her hand is holding the blanket. She wants to pull it down so she can see how Amber is. But she is afraid to see Amber in a very bad condition. Krystal pulls the blanket down and finally seen the wounds on the forehead. She feels really sad because Amber doesn’t look good at all. She touches Amber’s lip where still has the blood mark. Krystal mostly tears up. She caresses Amber visage. She wishes she has the magic power to erase the pain.

Amber is sleeping but she can feel the hand caressing her face. She catches Krystal’s hand and puts it on her chest. “I’m ok” Amber mutters.

“Where did you go for being beating up like this?” Krystal asks. She is tearing up.

Amber wipes Krystal tears.

“It’s nothing don’t worry.” Amber reassures Krystal.

“Do you know how worried I’m? I searched you like a crazy all over the city. Minho and I even go to the hospital. Someone at the corner store saw you and a guy went on a car and you seemed unconscious. So the story you told to my mom wasn’t the truth. What really happened?” Krystal asks.

Amber shakes the head. “Nothing”. Amber hears Minho name, but she is too tired to discuss about him.

“Stop lying Amber. I know something happened to you. Please tell me the truth. You are making me more worried now. Am I your girlfriend or not? Can you just tell me what really happened to you? What if it would happen again?”

Amber doesn’t say anything. She continues to sleep. Amber doesn’t want to make thing complicated. If she tells the truth Mrs. Jung would ask her to report to the police. Then she probably would not be able to return in the U.S. if the cop asks her to stay for more investigation.

At this point Amber doesn’t know if she should go back to U.S because she is too injured and may not fully recover in time. She is afraid that her mom sees the injuries and do not allow her to go to Korea anymore.  Amber keeps the eyes close and trying to sleep. She hopes everything would be back to normal by the time she wakes up. It’s like a nightmare for her; being kidnapped and beating up, then runs her off and escape from the gangster.  Amber thinks the guy who beat her sounds familiar, she may has heard his voice somewhere but she cannot remember where exactly.