I glared back into those insidious orbs that sparked with a triumphant malice. My skin crawled. “Don't. Touch. Me.”

He chuckled and reached into my jacket pocket for my phone. He glanced at it before removing the battery, which was crushed underneath his shoe before the phone was put into his dark leather coat. My gun was removed, unloaded, and thrown across the room. Disgust grew in my gut when he began to feel around for anymore stowed away weapons. Some of the places he searched were unnecessary.

But this was UKnow's shining hour. He had me with no where to go, between him and a wall. The one time I fought against his touch, his hand curled around my neck, squeezing the air out of me. “Try anything, Detective, and you'll wish that I'd killed you first.”

Without warning, he gripped my shoulder and turned me over so my stomach was pressed to the wall. Arms were wretched behind my back and a pair of cold iron cuffs were clasped to my wrists. Then, my head was pulled back from the wall and light disappeared as a cloth sack was thrown over my head.

“Can't let you know where we're going,” UKnow hissed into my ear. “You didn't honestly expect us to stay here, did you?” He chuckled darkly, loving that I was completely in his mercy.

One hand gripping my upper arm, the other my opposite shoulder, he steered me down stairs, up stairs, outside, inside. Down more stairs and ascending more. Left turns and right turns. Sudden breaths of fresh air and of stale odors that had been undisturbed for a long time. City noises were distant. Doors creaked open and close. Light flashed by. It was a dizzying maze of directions I tired desperately to keep track of, but soon lost track of. It felt like he was purposefully confusing me even when I was blinded.

We traveled up several flights of stairs, my feet stumbling blindly as he hurried us along. Another door and a sharp turn and the sounds of our movements were close to my ears. A narrow hallway, maybe. UKnow's hand on my arm gripped he harder and the rattling of a key in a lock before another door that I was forced through.

In one swift motion, one of my hands was uncuffed. “Take a seat, Detective.” And I was shoved the ground, atop what felt like the springy surface of a mattress. Then, the cuffed hand was jerked up and latched to something else. The cover was removed from my face and I blinked at the sudden entrance of light. Immediately, eyes flickered around my surroundings.

It was an old apartment with a united dining room, kitchen, and living room. The paint was chipping from the walls, chunks of plaster was missing. The light above the dust-covered table hung my a single wire with a simple shade that was supposed to classy it up a bit. The floor tile was chipped and worn. And, indeed, it was an old, stained mattress I sat on. My hand—latched to an old heating pipe.

“Make yourself at home,” said UKnow, shrugging off his coat to lay it across one of the chairs. He turned back to me. “Do you want anything to eat? I stocked up.” He threw a pointed glance at the ancient refrigerator in one corner.

“You son of a ,” I growled between clenched teeth.

“I don't believe I have that,” he replied smartly. “Any other requests?”

I glared at him, feeling my body begin to quake. “If you take advantage of me—”

My sentence went unheard. Quick as a cat, he was upon me, one leg pinning both of mine as his body crouched above me. A sickening grin across his disgusting face. “I could very well take advantage of you, couldn't I?” he whispered. “No one would hear you scream; I could do all I ing wanted to do with you.” I snickered. “All I ing want to do is —”

“Stop it!” I shrieked, trying to kick out from underneath his form. Twisting violently and jerking against the pipe that held me in place. “Get the away from me!”

The smile had left his face, replaced with a terrifying glower I had never witnessed before. He shoved back from the wall to his feet. He paced a small circle before turning back towards me.

“What kind of man do you think I am?” he snarled. “Have I ever been convicted of ? ual assault? Have I? Huh?” I drew back against his sudden sharp tone. “Answer me!”

“No,” I answered, voice cracking on the one word.

“Exactly,” he hissed. “I'm not some disgusting parasite who finds it a thrill or a pleasure to women, who...destroys them in such a way. I'm not that kind of man, Detective. I'm a gentleman.”

“Yes, because a gentleman cuffs a woman to a wall,” I sneered.

That confident smirk returned to his face. “That's so you don't go running off.”

“I can scream.”

“Go ahead,” UKnow challenged. “This place is completely vacant. No one will hear you, but me.”

“Fine,” I said. “But Park will find me.”

UKnow shrugged, leaning back against the table. “I most doubt that. He'll give up after a few months. Shim might look a little while longer, but you know who I think will never stop searching? Kim Junsu.” The very name leaving his mouth sent my skin prickling. “That man has a lot of lost love towards you. And you know what I think? I think you feel the same way back to an extent.”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Then, why'd you high-tail it to come and save him?”

“He's my best friend.” There was no point in keeping it from him now; he already knew. “Why wouldn't I?”

“He looked like more than a best friend when you two lip locked that one time.” I stiffened and UKnow smirked. “I have to say that was rather...attractive. Seeing that more vulnerable side of you.”

“Yeah, I'm sure you really got off on it.”

UKnow chuckled. “As much as I like seeing you all desperate and helpless, I prefer the Detective Kim whose viscous and downright mean, barking orders and kicking some criminal's . You're a rare find.”

I humphed and looked away, ashamed that such a bastard was complimenting me so freely. UKnow sighed and got up from his position on the table to head for the room across from the wall I was chained to.

“Why am I here?” I asked suddenly. “What do you really want with me if you're not going to use me...for your own purposes.”

He turned his head, hand resting on the edge of the wall. “I'm lonely,” he answered simply.

“Lonely?” I asked, unable to hide the disbelief in my voice. “That's it?”

A less arrogant smile came to his face. “I'm saving you from higher purposes.” And that was all that was left for me to figure out.



I awoke with a start, the kink in my neck stinging with the sudden movement. I went to rub it with my right arm and found it caught above my head, the shoulder stiff and numb. Confused, I looked around before it all came crashing back to me.

UKnow had complete control of me in this apartment that smelled like rotten socks and piss.

Jerking at the handcuffs lamely with a stiff arm, I rubbed at the hitch in my neck and tried to think of a plan. The light outside the window above the table was shrouded with shades, but I could see the gray cracks of light that signaled that dawn was just approaching. Sitting below the window was UKnow, eyes staring off into something in the table surface, hands folded on the table. As if feeling my look, he turned and I averted my eyes.

“Good morning,” he said. The thoughtful, sober look of his face was replaced with the smug, chipper one I had come to hate. “I'm sorry for the uncomfortable sleeping position, but it can't be helped.”

“Didn't you sleep?” He was in the same place he had been before I'd finally nodded off what must have been a few hours ago.

He smiled and shook his head. “I don't sleep much, if at all.”

“Kinda a bad habit for someone who has such a important and precise job, isn't it?”

“When you see as much as I do in a lifetime, you don't want to sleep.”

This statement took me off guard. It was like he was opening some slight glimpse into his personal life, something I could grasp onto. I took a chance. “Like...what?”

His eyes narrowed at me. “I'm not stupid, Detective. You don't get to know who I am because of me. Figure that out yourself.”

“You already know about me. Why can't I have your real name?”

“UKnow is my real name.”

“That's doubted.”

He got up from his seat with a sigh and said, “the man that held my old name died a long time ago. There's only UKnow now.”

“How did you become UKnow though?”

“That's none of your business at the moment,” he stated, buttoning up the last couple buttons of his white shirt. “But I want to know...did the man who stabbed you ever get convicted?”

The question was so sudden it took me a moment to process. Then, when it did, that cold unconscious fear set in. Something I couldn't control. But I tried to play it cool. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“The man who held you and your friend at knife point,” UKnow clarified as if I was having a hard time remembering. “You lived—”

“Shut up.”

“So you do know.”

“Shut up.”

“It still hurts sometimes, doesn't it? Certain triggers and your hand goes right to your belly. You got lucky, didn't you? You survived.”

“Leave it alone.” My chest was constricting and the breaths entering my lungs were wheezing. I hadn't had an attack in several years, it could not happen when this bastard was looking at me.

“Fine,” he said suddenly. “See what leaving things buried does to the soul, Detective? It eats away at it.”

I couldn't respond, too busy holding back shameful tears as I stared hard into the floor at the foot of the mattress. I knew he was right.

----

Special thanks to everyone for the constant support!