The sudden intruding light pierced my eyes, forcefully waking me up with a groan. A familiar figure stepped down the stairs, each of his steps echoed through the small, dim-lit room. He pulled a wooden chair from a corner and placed it directly in front of me and sat so that now we were on eye-level.

“Good morning.”

I kept my head low, cringing at the all-so-familiar voice. The voice I hate the most – though loved.

“Yonghee...”

“Don’t utter my name with your filthy mouth, you .”

“I heard from the guys that you refused to eat.”

Silence.

“I just don’t want you to starve to death,” he placed a bowl of plain porridge onto his lap.

“Well I do.”

“Don’t be stupid,” his cold words grazed my heart. He let out a long sigh and picked up a mineral water bottle from behind him. He uncapped it and held it in front of my face.

I continued on tugging onto my chained wrists. My body was aching from sitting all the while on that cold, wooden chair.

Youngjae placed the mouth of the bottle over my lower lip. “At least have a drink. You’re dehydrated.”

I turned away in disgust.

“It’s not like I injected any poison in it,” he sounded almost losing his patience.

“If you did, I would gladly drink it,” I raised my head to finally face him, “dying of poison in this hell would be much better than surviving through all this as a pathetic .”

Youngjae clenched his jaws as his whole body tensed. He broke the cold eye-contact and stood up. As he turned his back on me, I held back the surging tears.

“You didn’t have to do all this. Is it for the money? Are you stuck in a debt? We could’ve talked about it. Yongguk-oppa and the others would gladly help you go through with it.”

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he uttered slowly, with his back still turned away, only slightly turning his head to a side.

“I shouldn’t have trusted you,” I spat bitterly.

Youngjae looked away.

“They all trusted you. They’ll come to your rescue. All for one. Just like you planned, you selfish bastard. You betrayed your brothers for money.”

“You don’t understand—”

“You betrayed me.”

“You won’t understand,” he raised his voice slightly, “It’s part of my job.” He went for the stairs and pondered for a moment. His eyes searched mine, but I looked away. “You getting caught isn’t part of the plan. I’ve warned you before to never interfere with your brother’s business. If only you had listened to me, none of this would happen.”

“If only I didn’t care for you, none of this would happen,” I retorted bitterly.

He gripped onto the railings tightly, clenching his jaws. “I didn’t tell you to care for me.”

“Neither did you tell me to love you. But I still did.”

It was already their 5th can of beer respectively. Youngjae groaned and laid down on the cold rooftop. He pulled Yonghee closer to him. She let out a soft chuckle and snuggled closer, resting her head on his chest. Youngjae wrapped his strong arms around her body, pressing his cheek against her dark hair. Their heartbeat was in sync, both of them enjoying each other’s company.

“Your brother will kill me if he finds out,” Youngjae mumbled against her hair.

“Hmm. Yeah, he probably will,” she teased, drawing circles on his clothed forearm.

“Himchan-hyung would probably chop my head off. He doesn’t seem to like me that much.”

“Don’t worry,” she smiled assuringly, “you’ll gain his trust, eventually.”

Youngjae let out a low sigh, her hair.

“Take me away, Youngjae-ah.”

“Hyung,” Zelo’s face showed intense panic. 4 pairs of eyes turned to look at him, waiting for what he wanted to say. Preparing themselves for the very worse.

“Yonghee-noona is missing.”

 “I don’t want this kind of life anymore. Take us all away from here. Take us to where we’re free to go anywhere we want – to where no one would scatter away at the very sight of us. I want us all to start over. Each have a better job. Each build our own family. We’re not aging any younger. We can’t go on living like this – being feared is a score, but do I really want to live my whole life like this? I don’t want to go through my old years without being able to go to the hospital in fear the police might hold me prison.”

“You have to let me go,” I was already to the extent of begging. The chains shackled as I tried to tug my wrists free. “Let me tag along just so they’d see I’m fine.”

Youngjae smirked, alongside with two other men by his sides. “We’re kind enough keeping you alive,” one spat out. “And ,” the other snickered.

“We’ll get the money and then you’re free,” Youngjae explained simply.

She rested her palms on his waist, “I want to be somewhere safe – with you.”

 “You won’t harm them...would you?”

 Youngjae grimed. He asked to be alone with me for 5 minutes from the men. They cursed under their breath yet obeyed. The basement door slammed shut, leaving us in utter darkness.

“I’m not promising you anything,” his cold words pierced through the eerie darkness as I failed to see his expression.

“They died.” I started off straight, “In my dream...they all died. They all died saving you,” my voice came out hoarse due to the lack of water intake. “I watched them die one by one.”

Youngjae remained silent. It was as if he wasn’t even there, given the familiar silhouette remained in front of me.

I shut my eyes upon the ugly memory of the nightmare. “You died.” I paused to stable my breathing. To control my emotions. “And I hate myself for being extremely upset about that.”

Youngjae smiled back, brushing the back of his palms against her face. Adoring every single detail on it. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned closer, planting a soft, warm kiss on her forehead. He trailed down slowly and pecked her nose.

My eyes began adjusting to the darkness as I got a glimpse of his face. It could’ve been the shadows. It could’ve been the slight streaks of light. It could’ve been hope.

But I saw his face showed sadness – his cold, mean facade was gone in that split-second.

Alas, he brushed his lips softly against hers, enough to trigger emotions. Enough to show his true feelings. He opened his mouth to speak, his warm breath hit the other’s wanting lips. “I love you, Yonghee.”

The door was thrown open with an ugly creak. “Time’s up,” a thunderous, deep voice called out, “Now’s time for real business.”

Youngjae gained his posture. He remained standing, staring down on me. With that cold expression of his I could never get used to.

“Hurry up, kid,” a man snarled from the basement door.

Youngjae leaned closer and whispered softly against my ear.

He took in a deep breath – and that was the last time I saw him.

-

Yongguk let out a relieved sigh as he held a beaten Youngjae close to him. A deal’s a deal. The other gang received the money, so they returned Youngjae.

Yongguk patted Youngjae’s back, welcoming him, signifying everything’s fine now. Himchan stepped closer and gripped onto his shoulder. “Where’s Yonghee?”

As those words were uttered, quick footsteps were heard, filling up the room were dozens of armed men. SWAT.

Both gang were startled and panicked.

Then Yongguk’s eyes fell to his trusted companion’s smirk.

A uniformed man wa