[Heena]

“Be careful on your way home. It’s so late. Actually, do you want me to come pick you up?” Kai worried.

I laughed lightly as I grabbed my jacket and left the dance studio. “Stop worrying so much. I’ll be fine. It’s literally a ten minute walk.”

“Alright, but stay on the phone with me baby,” he said softly. “What if something happened to you… I would die.”

“What a drama queen,” I teased. “And don’t call me baby. That’s weird.”

“But you are a baby,” Kai laughed.

I was about to protest when a gloved hand clamped over my mouth and grabbed my wrists, pulling me into the dark ally way. My phone clattered onto the ground. I tried to scream, but his hand was too firmly on my mouth.

My heart was racing uncomfortably. I felt panic rise inside of me. I was so scared I couldn’t even cry.

At the end of the ally, he kicked open a door and pushed me inside. He flipped on the light switch and pulled off his mask.

Kim Taehoon.

The guy who lost to Kai for the dance competition.

“What do you want from me,” I tried to demand, but my voice just trembled.

“Ah, I don’t specifically want that much from you,” he said, pulling off his gloves and advancing towards me. “You just unfortunately happen to be the cute little girlfriend of Kai. What I want is to cause him as much pain as possible. I wanted to crush and destroy his most beloved thing. And looks like I got a hold of that pretty easily.”

“You’re sick and disgusting,” I said in a low voice. “Just because you lost to him…”

He crouched down in front of me. “That’s what you poor kids don’t understand. To you plebs, it’s just a competition, but for us, it’s our pride, our reputation, our status. He destroyed all of that for me.”

I spat in his face, “Well the competition doesn’t lie. It just showed that Kai’s better than you.”

He slowly wiped my spit from his face, chuckling. “You’re a little feistier than you look. But let’s see how defiant you are once I’m done with you.”

His hand shot forward, grabbing my shirt collar and ripping open the first few buttons.

“Mm, what a nice rack for a girl with such a cute face. Well this’ll be fun,” he grinned. “Shall we get started?”

I woke up screaming, gasping, crying. I buried my face in the blankets, unable to control my sobs.

“Heena, Heena! What’s wrong?” Zelo demanded, bewildered. He got up from the ground where he had been sleeping and the desk lamp.

He sat down next to me, smoothing my hair, “Heena, it’s okay. It’s okay. Just a dream.”

“Zelo,” I gasped, looking at him with shaking eyes. “I can't forget it. I can't. I can't…”

He hugged me tightly, “I’m sorry Heena. I’m sorry. I won't ever let that happen to you again.”

The door opened and Daehyun walked in, looking tired, but as soon as he saw me, he rushed to my side.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“Nightmare,” Zelo said quietly.

Daehyun sat down silently on the bed, gently patting my knee.

I pulled away from Zelo, suddenly realizing something.

“Wait, promise me something, both of you,” I said, desperation creeping into my voice. “Please.”

“Anything! What?” Daehyun said, wiping tears away from my face.

“I know what the others are gonna want to do when they hear about Zelo and Taekyeon. But please… don’t do anything stupid. Please,” I said, my voice gradually becoming a whisper. “Please.”

“Don’t worry,” Zelo said softly. “Of course we won't.”

“Yeah Heena, don’t worry about it,” Daehyun said softly, rubbing my arm softly. “I’ll make sure nothing happens.”

“Try to go to sleep again,” Zelo said, patting the pillow. I lay down, closing my eyes.

Daehyun hummed a soft tune and slowly, I drifted back into sleep.

[Zelo]

“Seeing her like that…” Daehyun whispered, his voice pained.

Heena had just fallen asleep and we were sitting in the living room, too stressed to go back to sleep.

I clenched my jaw, unable to say anything.

“Thank god Kai isn't here…” Daehyun sighed. “He would lose it if he saw Heena like this.”

“We can't let Kai ever see her when she’s like this,” I said. “He’d go mad.”

“We have to protect her… and him,” Daehyun said, suddenly sounding tired. “Both of them, they’re too fragile.”

I put a hand on his shoulder, “Let’s try to get some sleep. No use getting more stressed out about this.”

He nodded and stood up. “Night.”

“Night.”