Scars were left, but that could be healed with a gentle of care and love. All six boys returned to Korea the next day, much to the relief of JYP and everyone else. Hugs were given and food was served. Wooyoung and Junho ate the most, relishing themselves with all the food they missed. All the merry-making put smiles on the boys' face and it stayed there until it was time to return to the dorms. That night, after a good hot bath and snacks were brought forward, the six of them sat in the living room, huddled warmly together and watched an action movie. It had been ages since any of them actually watched a proper movie until the end.

Popcorns and ice cream were passed around, but the ice cream ended the moment it arrived in Wooyoung's hands. He refused to share it, claiming that it had been weeks since he touched a bowl of ice cream so he deserved all the scoops they had left. Not wanting to argue against that, the rest of the members were content with only popcorn. Two hours later, they were finally done with the movie, 'Nerves of Steel'. It was an old movie, so nothing much could be said about it. Junho and Wooyoung decided to watch a romance movie after that, and thus Titanic was produced.

By midnight, when all of them were tired and sleepy, it was time for bed. Chansung helped his lover up with his uninjured hand and brought Junho to his bed. Chansung wasn't too sure of the idea that everything was really over. The news came out about a mass murder in Thailand and they knew instantly that it was Woody. According to the news, the criminal will be sentenced to a mandatory life imprisonment of eighty years. Woody would probably rot in jail. Before they went to bed, Chansung kissed his baby good night and tugged him in, making sure the older was warm and comfortable. And then he settled next to Junho, pulling the older into his embrace. Gradually, they fell asleep.

Minjun and Taecyeon each went to their beds, and Nichkhun carried the already-sleeping Wooyoung to his bed. Once he felt sure Wooyoung was comfortable and snuggled up, he laid down next to his lover and promptly fell asleep. At three in the morning, Nichkhun was awoken by the muffled sounds of someone . He wiped his sleepiness away and saw the person next to him rolling his head on the pillow, as if trying to chase away a bad dream. Nichkhun gently shook the younger boy, not wanting to startle him.

But Wooyoung, thinking it was Woody, woke up with a start. "NO!!!" He screamed and started thrashing about, almost kicking Nichkhun off the bed. The Thai tried to calm him down by placing both arms around the younger boy.  Wooyoung started shaking violently as if he was on fits. This got Nichkhun very worried. 

"Wooyoung! Wake up! Baby, can you hear me? Wake up, love." He called out again and again. "You're safe....it's okay. I'm here. It's Khun." The mentioning of his own name managed to calm Wooyoung down a little.

Senses finally came back to Wooyoung's head and he opened his eyes, to find Nichkhun looking worriedly at him under the dim darkness. "Khun..." He teared up and gripped Nichkhun's arms tightly, almost digging his nails into the other's skin. The Thai brushed off the pain and stared into Wooyoung's eyes.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Nichkhun asked, using a free hand to pat Wooyoung's head gently.

"It was dark...." Wooyoung muttered, whimpering slightly. "I saw people all around me. And I couldn't get out. I was so scared." He sobbed silently, still holding on to Nichkhun's arms but a little gentler now. "I don't know if I could....be okay again. Will the nightmares come back everytime I sleep? Is it really over?"

Nichkhun pulled him into a tight embrace and told him that everything will be alright. "I will make it better, Wooyoung. I promise you this. If you feel scared and lost, you only have to call me and I will come running to you. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Wooyoung replied softly and he sounded so adorable. Nichkhun ruffled his hair, causing the younger boy to feel sleepy again. Wooyoung yawned, stretching his arms and legs to release the numbness he felt.

"Lie down, baby." Nichkhun said, soothingly entrancing the boy back to his pillow. Wooyoung laid down and looked up at the face of the person he loves. He said nothing as Nichkhun tugged the blankets around him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. He waited for the Thai to lay back down against him and Nichkhun instinctively pulled Wooyoung close against his chest, breathing in the scent of Wooyoung's lingering shampoo smell.

Before both of them returned to their sleep, Nichkhun said, "I love you, Youngie. More than anything in this world. I promise that nothing bad will ever happen to you again. I don't want to lose you anymore. It might take some time for you to open up to me again after all that pain and trouble that you've been through but I would do anything to make that pain go away. Good night, baby." He placed one last kiss on Wooyoung's forehead, and then both of them fell asleep.

_______________________________

Morning brought about a fresh start. Still not used to the change in environment, Junho and Wooyoung simply cuddled up against each other on the couch the moment they woke up and watched television. This brought about a wave of jealousy from Chansung and Nichkhun, but after Taecyeon convinced the two of them that there was nothing odd about seeing those two together, Chansung and Nichkhun calmed down a little. No one could blame Junho and Wooyoung. They had been supporting each other since the day they were taken. 

Minjun suggested going to the mall that day and the boys got ready for a day out.

Clothes were purchased for Junho on Chansung's expense, and Nichkhun took Wooyoung to the younger boy's favorite ice cream store. It was another merry-making day to throw away any painful memories of the past few weeks. The boys also gave fanservices to eager fans, though Junho and Wooyoung tried to worm their way out of this. They weren't ready to face a large crowd around them. The insecurities they felt were still big. By evening, all six of them squeezed into Taec's car and drove home to a nice buffet of meal at fellow brothers, 2AM's dorm. 

Questions were asked on how the boys were treated, and though Minjun warned their fellow mates not to ask such question, Jo Kwon insisted. At the end, Wooyoung decided to explain everything.

"We were chained on our ankles. And had two meals a day. It was the hardest for the first few days. We became thirsty very fast because of the heat outside and the smell of hanging meat around us was unbeareable. By night fall, we had to sleep on cold hard concrete floors, so Junnie and I took turns to sleep on each other's tummy. But the grumble of hunger soon made that difficult. A few days passed without an event, but one night...." Here, his voice went lower, and his eyebrows furrowed. Nichkhun told him it was okay to stop but Wooyoung insisted on telling them.

"One night, we heard a noise. Footsteps. Screams. It was a woman's scream. And it lasted for a few minutes before everything went silent again. I didn't know what was going on, but we were scared. Very scared. Since that night, we could hear screams almost every night. It always lasted for a few minutes, and then it stopped. I began to believe that we were not the only prisoners. There were others. But we couldn't do anything to help them. We couldn't even help ourselves. So we tried to sleep through it every night, pretending not to hear a thing." Wooyoung looked over at Junho and saw the tears in the younger boy's eyes. He Junho's arms gently.

"Youngie ah..." Junho mumbled, feeling hot tears flowing down his cheeks. Wooyoung was always so gentle, so caring....

"You called me hyung back then and now you switched back?" Wooyoung chuckled, feeling amused. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, after a few more nights, we got used to the screams. But then something else happened, and this time, it happened to us. A couple of men came in. They woke us up from our sleep and began to harass us. We both knew what was going to happen next when suddenly ed our shirt. We screamed at them, kicked as hard as we could, and then I told them to stop. I made a deal."

"Wooyoung told them not to touch me." Junho cut in, his voice a little croaky. "I didn't why he did that." He wiped away his tears. "But they agreed to it. They pushed me aside and started touching Wooyoung everywhere. They undid his zippers, pulled his pants off and inserted dirty things into him. It was horrifying. I had to sit there and watch them and my knees felt weak. I couldn't get up to help him. I could only hear his screams ringing in my ears. A few others who wanted to join in the fun stucked down their into his mouth and gagged him. I didn't know what happened next, but I remembered darkness engulfing me."

"And when it was over, I was sore and tired and parched. I simply laid there like an idiot, giving up on life. Junnie took care of me after that." Wooyoung continued.

"They came in again the next night, but this time they took him into another room, and I was left in that stinky place, worrying about his life. I heard screams, but they were muffled. The walls were thick, but not thick enough. It scared me. Truly."

"They took me into a room with metal tables inside. I guess it was easier for them to me there. And then when they were done, they would toss me into the meat room and I would be as sore as I was yesterday. Since this went on for a week or so, I got so used to the pain, it felt like nothing. I felt numb. The only thing that could keep my mind off this was the fact that I had been trying to break the chains around our ankles. It was showing results. The chains became thinner by the day"

"And we became hopeful. On some days they would send in poisoned food, and it would cause us to suffer such bad stomachaches that by the end of it, we became dry and frail from the lack of water." Junho remarked sadly, remembering how cautious they were after the first ordeal. "Wooyoung always made sure the food was not tainted before we eat after that. We didn't want to face the same problem again."

"On those days, I couldn't do anything useful. I could only curl up into a ball and pray for the pain to go away. After about a month of enduring this, I finally managed to break our chains. We waited for the right moment and then we escaped when it was the darkest outside. The outside air tasted so sweet. We saw the city and made our way for it. By the time the sun was almost rising, we finally arrived in the city. An old man showed us kindness and took us in."

Jo Kwon, Seulong, Jinwoon and Changmin stared at the two boys after that, not sure of what to make from that whole explanation just now. They were muted speechless. Minjun cleared his throat and diverted their attention to him. 

"Well, no one wants to know what happened to us four while we were?"

Seulong nodded his head first. "Yeah, it took you guys such a short time to find them. How did you manage?"

"Luck, I guess. And pure brilliance from Khun's brother. If he wasn't someone I know, I could have sworn he would be a cop, working undercover."

Nichkhun snorted at this, amused at the thought of his brother for being such a saint. True, Nichan had made good plans, but a cop? Well, not in a million years. Minjun simply ignored the Thai and continued, "When we arrived at the airport, Khunnie here got a call from Wooyoung. It was big shock for us, and also a relief when Khun informed us that Wooyoung and Junho had escaped. Finding them would be the only concern. While we were on our way to the market, Nichan accidentally knocked Wooyoung down. This was pure luck. No two ways about it."

"I was running from a couple of bad guys at the time. They almost caught up to me until BAM! I was hit." Wooyoung added, showing them the scratch on his arm as a result of the accident.

"We had to take him to the hospital. He told us Junho was hiding in some old man's house. And then he told us what those bastards did to them. In all truth, I've never seen Nichkhun so angry before in my life. Also, I've never seen a person recover so fast after a bloody accident."

The boys turned to Wooyoung, who only smiled sheepishly.

"He was limping at first and then when we weren't looking, he looked fine again." Minjun added.

"It's all in the mind, I guess. Or maybe I got used to it."

"But I was glad he was safe. We went to look for Junho after that and found out those men had taken him. Since we had no heads or tails about what to do next, we returned to Khun's house for the night. The next morning, we woke up early and got prepared to look for Junho. A package arrived at the Horjevkul's house, and we were shocked to find snippets of hair and a torn shirt inside."

"They -ed me the night before." Junho interrupted, his bold explanation surprising everyone. But he looked like he hadn't a care in the world. "Ripped my shirt off and cut off my bangs. I had to hug myself just to stay warm all night."

Minjun waited for Junho to finish first and then continued, "We went out after that. Took Nichan's car. When we arrived at a petrol kiosk, he suddenly pulled, me, Khun and Taec out, saying there would be a change in plans. The first plan was to split us up into two groups. One would go over to Woody's office and find any documents that could serve as evidence later, and the second group would go to the market and ask around for information."

"Why the market?" Jinwoon asked, folding up his legs and resting his chin on his knees. The story was getting exciting.

"I told them the place had a lot of meat in it. So I assumed it would be a warehouse for meat. And maybe someone from the market should know about it." Wooyoung chipped in, leaning his head against Nichkhun's shoulder. The Thai welcomed it, patting the boy's head gently.

"Taec and Chan separated from us.There were the group which was supposed to sneak into Woody's office and steal some documents. Khun, Channie, Youngie and me went to the market. We didn't mention the change of plan to Youngie. There was actually a camera in the car that was recording us. And we knew that the bad guys knew what we were doing and where we were going. Youngie was the bait to lure them out."

Wooyoung stared at his hyung with wide eyes, realizing what all those hushed discussions were about. They used him! Feeling cheated and hurt, he scooted a few inches back from everyone and sat there sulking, his face buried between his knees. The rest felt sorry for him and Minjun abruptly apologized for it, eventhough he wasn't the only one who agreed to it. Wooyoung didn't care about the others using him, but he was shocked that Nichkhun had actually allowed it.

As if Nichkhun could read his thoughts, the Thai took a seat next to him and whispered into Wooyoung's ears, apologizing for his actions. "I'm so sorry, baby. I didn't want to let it happen. Hell, but I let it happened anyway. I regretted for ever allowing it after that. Will you forgive me?" He saw Wooyoung numbly nodding his head, and then he scooped the boy up in his arms. "Oh, I love you so much, baby." Wooyoung relaxed his body slightly and nuzzled his head against the Thai's chest, breathing in the scent of lavender from the soap Nichkhun used.

The others watched them quietly with a smile on their faces and then Minjun continued, "At the marketplace, we were embroiled in a fight.. About thirty men against the four of us. That was our chance to let them take Wooyoung. We saw it coming. So before we let Wooyoung disappear without a trace again, I stucked something into his back pocket. It was a tracker. And it led us to him. That was how we managed to find them."

Junho stared at Minjun, amazed at how well the plan was flowing. All of that action and he wasn't even around to witness it.

"Sweetie, if you don't close your mouth, a fly will enter." Chansung suddenly muttered, chuckling at Junho's awed expression. Junho quickly closed his mouth and leaned in closer to Minjun.

"Taec, take it from here. I'm done with our part for now."

Taec cleared his throat and started, "As for me and Chan-hyung, instead of going straight in and causing a ruckus like we were supposed to, he called a friend of his. Jeom. And when Jeom arrived an hour later, he brought about fifteen men with him. We were separated into two groups. Jeom and I, with some of his men,  went over to Woody's mansion and hid there. We were the ambush team. And Chan-hyung infiltrated the office with the other half of Jeom's men. Once they were done, we met up in front of the mansion and waited until Woody appear."

"How did this Jeom guy managed to find out where Woody lives?" Changmin asked.

"He was in the underworld society in Thailand. Sort of like the yakuza of the Japanese world." Taecyeon answered. "They could dig up information faster than the Internet. I was amazed myself. As I was saying, we hid nearby the mansion and waited for Woody. When Woody finally appeared, we followed him to the storehou---warehouse...um, factory, or whatever it's called." He said, swatting his hand in the air when he couldn't make out the name for the place. "We met up with Khunnie first. And he was in a mess."

"Ok, my turn." Nichkhun cut in. "Here's what really went down after we arrive at the hellhole. When we finally arrived, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to find Wooyoung and Junho. We had some time before Woody appears. So I suggested we go in first."

"This guy probably wanted us dead." Minjun chipped in.

"No, I didn't, hyung. I knew we could make it in time. Chansung and I had training in martial arts, and you weren't so bad yourself. We went in, kicked a few bad asses and managed to find the boys. But we got caught."

"I almost lost my head that day! Woody pointed a gun at me when I wasn't looking." Minjun exclaimed, rubbing his temples because of the pressure just by thinking about it.

"We wasted too much time searching around that we were careless at the end. But we did make some shocking revelations in that place. Woody was dealing with drugs. The meats stored there was merely a way to wade off the strong smell of first-class drugs. And then in one room, we found bodies hanging from the ceiling. It was bodies belonging to women. Missing women from around the world. Well hyung, you were smart to distract him." Nichkhun said, complimenting Minjun for the bold request. The others stared at Minjun after that, awed.

"I had to." Minjun said, "Or else all of us could have died. Woody's men tied us up after that, and then he dragged Nichkhun away."

___________________________

What happened outside while Channie, Junho, Wooyoung and Minjun were waiting in the room?

It's in the next chapter. I'll make it awesome.