“Today marks the 5^th day daughter of Kwon Jungmin has disappeared. Investigations have begun and police are on the lookout for her. It is estimated that it’s been a kidnapping and the suspect is to be fined $500, 000 and 22 years in prison. What will become of Kwon Jungmin, CEO of the largest company in South Kor-” Tao turns off the television. Silence followed even with the rest of EXO in the room.

“We need to switch hideouts. This one’s too close to the city.” The rest of EXO nodded in agreement. They weren’t threatened, however; the safer the better.

“Tao’s right. We should use Kris’, his is surrounded by the woods.” Xiumin added in.

“Alright everyone. I think we’re all in agreement here. My place, tomorrow.”

I was dragged into a black SUV, half-asleep. I know these people hardly know me, but I wasn’t exactly a morning person. I was pushed into the back seat followed by Lay and Krystal. I was shocked when a blindfold was place over my eyes.

“Sorry, ____.  We just have to be extra careful.” I calmed down at Krystal’s voice and nodded in understanding. After what seemed to be half an hour, the car came to a stop and I assumed we have reached Kris’ place. My blindfold was taken off, and my eyes struggled to adjust due to the blinding sunlight. Once my vision was clear, I took notice of my surroundings. There was the house. And then there was forest. Lots and lots of forest.

Everyone made their way out of the car. Within minutes, the beautiful sun disappeared behind thick gray clouds.
“Why is it so gloomy all of a sudden?” Krystal looked up at the sky with a pout.

“Just another day of Korea’s bipolar weather.” Victoria answered as she walked up to the porch. “Don’t worry, it’ll be sunny in a matter of minutes.”

A sudden light bulb went on in my head. Kris’s house is surrounded by thick forest, there’s no way that there’s surveillance.

“Krystal… can we go for a walk in the woods?”

“I don’t think so.” Lay intervened.

“Calm down, Lay. Where would she go in a thick forest?” Krystal retorted. Lay knew she had a point.

“Keep an eye on her.”

“Of course.” Krystal replied half-sarcastically with a smiling face. “____, let’s go.”

I had to think and I had to think fast. I hated the fact that I was tricking Krystal but this was my best shot. We were both far enough from the others by this point. I spotted a pebble on the ground and discreetly picked it up. With enough strength, I threw the pebble at a good distance making it hit a tree. Krystal quickly faced the direction the noise came from.

“Wait here. I’ll go check it out.” I nodded; knowing exactly what she was headed for was nothing. I waited until she was far enough until I sneakily backed away and made a run for it. This is it. I didn’t care where I was heading, as long as I was free. Sorry, Krystal. I’m so sorry. Thunder roared which caught me by surprise. No. This isn’t happening to me. Please, pretty please don’t rain. And then it rained. Heavy drops of rain poured. I stopped under a big tree to catch my breath before making a run again. I really should’ve taken gym class more seriously.

I ran for a couple of more minutes and slowed down to a walk. I was pretty far out at this point. I smiled in relief. Freedom. All too suddenly, a dampened cloth covered my mouth. I struggled and panicked, my vision blurred, and I out.  The taste of freedom was brief.

I woke up in a bedroom, this one more luxurious than my last one. My wet clothes were still wrapped tightly against my skin, which created an uncomfortable feeling. My head ached and my eyes were adjusting to the lighting in the room. Across from me, I can see Lay sitting in an armchair. A part of me was baffled at how much this could fit a drama but that thought faded away when he stood up.

“You think she’ll be alright?” Krystal asked with a concerned face.

“She’s in deep .” Luhan answered. Krystal looked at him with furrowed brows, “Just saying.”

“If you think about it, she’s actually kinda interesting.” Kris intervened. Everyone looked at him with a confused expression. “I mean, think about it. Have you ever met anyone who defied Lay?” Kris looked at the others, waiting for some kind of answer, if any at all. “No, didn’t think so.”

Lay walked closer, intimidating me with every step he took. I didn’t move an inch though. My body was rooted to the bed I was on, once again it’s like his eyes have paralyzed me from moving.

“You are one stubborn little princess.” I narrowed my eyes at his words. “I gotta give you a round of applause though; you’re the first to ever challenge me. And this will be the last time.”

“I’m not scared of you.” Lie.

“We’ll have to work on that.” He stretches his arms as if he was ready to make a blow to my face. I shut my eyes tightly; afraid of what was to come. My wrists were suddenly tightened together by a piece of rope. I opened my eyes and realized my hand was being cuffed to the bed post.

“What? What is this? Let me go.”

“No can do, princess.”

He started walking away, “Wait, no, you can’t just leave I’m still wet-” aaaaand the door shuts.

“Lay, you can’t just leave her in there. Her clothes are still wet.”

“They wouldn’t be if you watched her, Krystal.”

“I-” Lay was right. But still, Krystal felt bad for you despite the fact that you tricked her.

“Besides, we don’t have any clothes for her.”

“Kris-”

“Uh, actually I emptied my closet months ago cause I didn’t know we’d be using my place.” Krystal looked at Kris with an annoyed expression.

“Lay, let her wear your shirt.” Xiumin suggested.

“Why should I? She did that to herself.”

“C’mon, the poor girl’s probably cold.”

“Why don’t you then?”

“Cause you have two shirts on, genius.” Lay did have two shirts on though and he was pissed at that decision in the morning.

“God ing damn it.” At those words, Krystal knew Lay had given in.

I struggled as I try to free myself from the cuffs. Damn, it was no use.

“Stupid metal post! Why can’t you be made out of wood or something?!” Suddenly the door opened and Lay entered. I was about to shout at him when he started ing his white flannel shirt. What made it more awkward was that he was just standing there staring straight at me with his piercing eyes as he did so.

“W-What are you doing?” Was he going to- No, he wouldn’t. Right?  He smirked, catching how my eyes widened at the sight of his chest. The soft fabric hit my face at an amount of speed as I was deep into thought.

“Put that shirt on, stupid.”  I used my free hand to grab the shirt which smothered my face. I was distracted by the skintight wife-beater he had on and not to mention his toned biceps. Focus ____, focus. But he did look incredibly good with that shirt on.

“Don’t you guys have any other clothes-”

“Or you can just stay in those clothes. Your choice, princess.” I was a bit uncertain. But I know that anything at the moment was better than these wet clothes.

“Well… how am I supposed to change being cuffed to this?” He quickly unlocked the cuffs, freeing my hands. Then he stood there. I cleared my throat as a sign for him to leave. He smirked again, oh that rotten smirk, and turned around.

“Can’t you just leave, there are no windows in this room.”

“You have 10 seconds to get changed. 10…”

I scoffed, “You’re kidding me right now.”

“9.”

No way was he kidding. “Wait, wait. Count slower!” I ped my skinny jeans, knowing that they were going to be the hardest thing to take off. Struggling, I finally took them off.

“7… 6…”

I quickly and easily took off the v-shirt and slipped the flannel on. I hastily tried buttoning the buttons, but my hands were trembling from panic. Never hated buttons so much in my life.

“5… 4… 3…”

I was still only halfway. I can already feel the sweat forming on my face. As fast as possible, I tried to button enough so the shirt would cover my chest area.

“2… 1.”

Success. I was afraid the shirt would be too short, but it was at a tolerable length reaching my mid-thighs. Lay swiftly turned around.

“Not bad,” He looked my body up and down, which made me a little conscious and uncomfortable, “Not bad at all.” Honestly, he wasn’t so shabby himself. In fact, if I wasn’t as poised as I was, my legs would be wobbling just looking at him. “Oh. And we found something that might belong to you.” He reached into his pocket and grabbed a familiar necklace.

I touched my neck. It was bare. “My necklace!” I reached for the necklace in Lay’s hand, but he swiftly put his hand higher.

“Give it back!”

He stepped closer to me with a challenging look in his eyes, “Make me.”

I jumped, but to no avail. I was too dang short. Curse the lord for making me short.

“Please give it back.” I tried ‘polite’.

“Why do you wear such a trashy thing anyways?”

What did he just say?

“You look like you wanna punch me right now,” he smirked, “Go ahead.”

As ungirly as I felt, I couldn’t stop my anger from overcoming me. Looks like we’ll have to try ‘rude’. With outstretched arms, I attempted to punch him in the face. But of course, he countered grabbing my hand and turning my body around. My back was now against his chest, I can feel his breath so close to my ear which gave me this weird feeling.

“This was your mothers, wasn’t it?” He was purposely trying to get me upset, and I was stupidly falling into his trap. Without warning, I shoved my elbow into his stomach causing him to groan a little. I turned around, jumped onto him and reached for the necklace.

Too much happened and I found myself lying on top of him.

On the bed.

 Face to face.

Maybe it was the uncomfortable situation we were in, or maybe I was in a tight position. I didn’t want to admit that his eyes were the reason why I always stopped moving. No. And maybe it was because I was a bit dazed as well, but I also saw a difference in his eyes. For the first time, they were… soft. That quickly changed though, as he flipped me over. Now him on top of me, and his eyes were back to the dangerous spark they held.

“If you want your necklace, behave.” I didn’t utter a single word back to him, I couldn’t. He leaned down, his lips so close to touching my cheeks as he huskily whispers, “Sleep tight, princess.” He leaves, but not without another y stupid smirk.

Lay closed the door and leaned against it. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. No way. No way do I like her. This never happened before, so why the hell was it happening now? Lay was in trouble.

“.”