She was sleeping so soundly. She had a serene look on her face which somehow I never got the privilege to see before. She looked at peace. She looked happy. She looked contented. I can't even dare myself disturb her from her slumber. I feel that she is dreaming and that dream is too good to be true that she would prefer to stay asleep than wake up and face the harsh realities of the world. I can only interpret it that way. She's been here almost the entire morning. I never dared to leave her side. Key is an entirely different story. I know he's angry. He still is. He was hurt. He was torn, crunched and crumpled like a piece of used paper. I never felt like that before. No girl has ever made me feel like that before. Or maybe not.

"Would you like a glass?"

Key took the glass of iced beer I handed to him. It was barely dusk but I was on my third glass, he was on his second. We were stressed. Stressed from what was going on and the mere thought of it happening drove us nuts. The past has come to haunt us. Both of us were no longer connected to the main family but for completely different reasons. Key has his. I have my own. His reasons are unknown to me. I tried figuring it out by trying to fit the different pieces of the puzzle I can get from him but the only pictures I've been getting are pieces, not a clear idea about why he cut all ties with the main family. 

"I just don't get it you know. If they want my father back, why did they have go and bother me? They can go directly to him anyway so why mess with me? Why involve those people that are not connected to the us? I have all these questions up in my head and I don't see how we can clearly solve them."

"To be honest with you, I never thought it would come to this. You know that some of our relatives can get quite forceful but I never imagined it would escalate to such a level. I never got the impression they'll be doing this. But then again, I think it's because we were really young when we met everyone. We were too naive and innocent to understand the dynamics of the adults."

Key's bedroom door was slightly open and he had perfect view of his bed from the living room couch. I saw him look to that direction. Amber was still sleeping on his bed. I saw her unconscious on the pavement. I was on call when it all happened. It was purely coincidental that I saw her. The people were nice enough to call an ambulance. I called on Key and we talked with some of the people that were at the scene. They said that someone smacked Amber in the head with something that looked a stick. They said that everything happened all too quickly from the arrival of the dark van, to the running, to the head smacking and the grabbing of another girl in the car. There was no license plate on the car so it makes tracking them a lot harder.

"I was expecting they'll be doing something but I didn't see it would be this soon. I remember talking to my father. I actually didn't believe what he said when he cut the line. I was stupid enough to not believe him!"

"No one expected this to happen. No one wanted this to happen Key. Amber didn't want this to happen. She has no idea about our family. She might know something about uncle but I think that's as far her knowledge goes. I doubt she was able trace what uncle initially did before he had you. The family makes sure that no traces are left right?"

"He was still doing it even when I came along. Amber is the evidence to that."

As we were talking, Key slightly stood from the couch. I heard rambling in the room and realized Amber might have woken up. We gave her aspirin for the terrible headache she was having. A faint sound of a turning door knob was then heard. She went out of the room rubbing her eyes.  She didn't say anything, nothing. She just headed for the kitchen and washed her face and later spoke, "I should get going. Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you until now. I will consider this incident as a debt to you guys. This will be the last you will see of me. Thank you for the help."
She bowed. "What makes you think I will let you get out of here so easily?" Key responded.
"Key, not now."
"No. It's fine, hyung."

Amber averted from Key's gaze and looked to another direction. "You saw what happened. You are now involved in this. Even if we let you go, they saw your face. They know who you are. I--We can't let them abduct another innocent person. The less people they get, the better."
"I can't stay here forever. What will my brother say? What will I say to him?"
"I don't know. Make up something. You're good at acting anyway. Tell him you decided to take a break and went abroad. I don't know! Just think of something that he will buy. We need you here for the time being. If clothes are an issue, you can afford a set of clothing good for two weeks right? Just put those in intervals.."

"Two weeks worth of clothes and put them in intervals? What do you expect from me? Stay here for a month? Two months? How long do you plan to hold me in here?!"
"As long as necessary."
"I can't believe this." Amber replied in disbelief.
"Okay. First of all, the two of you, relax. Amber, I know this may seem too much but Key and I are just taking the necessary precaution. Eunji was already kidnapped. We can't risk you getting kidnapped as well. Until now, we have no lead to trace the van."
"Fine. Where's my phone? I need to call Donghae oppa."

I handed Amber her bag which Key recovered several feet from where she laid unconscious. She scattered through her designer bag and entered Key's room once again, perhaps to talk to Donghae. Key just sat on his couch quietly while I took the glasses and placed them on the sink. 
"I know we talked about this but why does she have to stay with me? Can't we get a nearby apartment and have her stay there? You have the money. You can easily buy another one. Better yet, why not have her stay with you?"
"Don't you realize that my place is a lot closer to where the incident happened? Nope. We can't risk that. Besides, I am out of the house most of the time. I can't leave her on her own. Also, dragging her along with me is not an option either. If she's with you, things will be a lot easier. You can easily bring her to the hotel with you if you have work or bring her inside the agency and say she's a close relative or something."
"You're passing unto me a job that is never supposed to be mine."
"When did taking care of her became my job? She was a lot happier when she was with you."

Our conversation was cut short when Amber banged the door open. She talked to her brother and said that she will go out of the country for a while as a little break from their work. It works in favor of us since she mentioned that her brother believed everything she said.
"I can't stay in these clothes very long. I need to buy clothes but with the looks of it that you don't want me out of your sight, I need someone to accompany me."
"I can't. I have somewhere to go to actually. Why don't you go with her Key? That'll be fun, right?"

Without another word, I scrambled out the door and leave those two behind. It's becoming really funny and really painful looking at them. I know they want to talk but it appears neither one of them has the initiative to start. "Aigoo, I should get going."

---------------

How I ended up here is purely Jonghyun hyung's fault. I can't even fathom how it happened but dear Lord, she is taking forever to shop. She was never like this when she lived with us. She just wore and bought whatever. Can't she just do that so that we can go along? She is literally looking at every darn rack and looking at every piece of clothing. "Can't you hurry at least?"
"You can go ahead if you want to."
"You know I can't do that!"
"Then wait."
"Ughh!"

I headed outside the store. I waited for almost another half hour before she came out with four paper bags. We went to an all apparel store that sold underwear to shirts and pants and shoes. I think she got what she needed. "Are you done?" I asked and she only gave a slight nod as a response. It would be better for us to walk. The store that we went to was just a few blocks away from my place so walking wasn't really an issue. Being with her is the main issue. It's not exactly the most ideal situation to be in for my case and it is highly uncomfortable on my part to interact with her like this.

Eunji's bag was in my living room, near the television set. It was the only thing she left behind. At first I didn't know it was hers but after Jonghyun scanned through some of the bag's contents, I saw the pink and orange floral wallet. I immediately recognized it was Eunji's. "You can sleep in my room for the time being. I can sleep on the couch."
"No. I sleep on the couch you go to your room. It's your room after all."
"Don't let this turn into a discussion. I'll sleep on the couch. Put the stuff that you bought inside the room and get changed. Take a shower if you like. I have an extra toothbrush inside my medicine cabinet. You can go and use that."
"Thanks."

And she did. With a loud bang and a locking sound, she was inside my room. I said what I said. It was awkward being with her like this. I take responsibility for looking after her. My family isn't really the most forgiving family out there and I bet if they get the chance, they'll get Amber as well. As Jonghyun hyung said, we can't risk getting more people abducted. So yeah, I had no work that night. Initial preparations were done with our debut. We're just on call whenever we are needed for whatever changes there might be for our debut album. With nothing to do, I the television and watched, switching from channel to channel. Nothing interesting was on though I did stop on one channel that was showing James Bond. It was already halfway done so I watched the remainder in a total of one hour and ten minutes. The sun set soon after and my grumbling stomach was the only one that forced me out of my seat.

I haven't had lunch. Two glasses of beer were the only contents of my now empty stomach. I headed to my kitchen and realized there was nothing else but a few vegetables, eggs, and quite a number of beer cans and soju bottles. I opened my small pantry and there were instant noodles, rice and a few spices. "Oh well, might as work with what I have."
I grabbed the noodles and boiled them. Ramyun sounds appealing to me. I cooked some rice with my rice cooker and I cut up some carrots and squash to make vegetable pancakes. I had no flour but the egg can suffice.
And in a good half hour, I was able to come up with a decent meal. I looked at it and stared back into my room. Amber hasn't eaten the entire day as well. "I wonder if she's asleep. Ahh! What am I thinking?"
I took a scoopful of rice and the ramen and placed them into two separate bowls. I initially checked if she was asleep and no, she wasn't. I opened the door slightly and carried the food with me. She was surprised to see me. "Eat up. I can't let you running on an empty stomach."