“Jiyong.. are you there? Are you alright?” Youngbae's voice sounded worried. “Huh? Yeah..” Jiyong said distracted. Jiyong was looking at the corner of the living room, dumbfounded. The boy was cowering in the corner, baring his teeth, growling almost inaudibly. Now there was nothing to hold him back, he could attack Jiyong at any moment. Jiyong tried to remain calm so he could think. “You ahm... you can fix up a leg that has been caught in a bear trap right?” he whispered into the phone. “What?! Is your leg caught in a bear trap?! Jiyong! You sound weird, tell me what's going on.” Youngbae was really concerned. The boy's growl grew louder, the talking was apparently not helping. “I can't really talk right now, just bring your medical stuff ASAP please. Thanks.” Jiyong hung up and put the phone slowly in his pocket. The boy was monitoring his every move. He was obviously terrified, examining his surroundings with fear in his eyes while still keeping a close watch on Jiyong. It would take Youngbae at least an hour to get there, the cabin was so remote. How was he going to keep them both alive until then? Think Jiyong, think!

For some reason a memory of his mother popped into his head. Jiyong had been orphaned at a very early age and had gone through life with practically no family to speak of. It had made him withdrawn and isolated until he discovered he could put on a mask, an alternative reality Jiyong, the Jiyong everyone thought he was today. Seunghyun had taught him that back at the orphanage. He was the only one he was real with, he had known him before he invented the successful better version of himself. They had been brothers in arms. Life at the orphanage had been tough, Jiyong didn't think he could ever have survived it without Seunghyun, he owed him his life and there was nothing he wasn't prepared to do for him.

It had been ages since he last thought about his mother. Why now? Maybe because his life was sort of in danger. Was this what people were talking about when they said they could see their lives flashing before them in near death situations? He saw his mother's face as she bent over him in his crib, he must've been not older than 2 or 3 years old. She was so beautiful, it never failed to take Jiyong's breath away. He got a pang in his heart. This was why he didn't like to think about her too much, it hurt. She was singing him to sleep, as she always did. She had a wonderful voice. Her singing always made him feel calm, safe. Jiyong got an idea. Thanks mom!

Jiyong cleared his throat quietly, trying not to agitate the boy any further. What song to choose? He started singing the first song that came to mind. “You're my ha-ha-ha-ha-heartbreaker, naega mwol jalmothennunji.”, he sang softly. Last year Jiyong had branched out and started a singing career alongside his acting one. It had been quite the success and this song, 'Heartbreaker', had been a best seller. The boy was stunned, clearly not knowing how to react to this new development. Jiyong dared to raise his voice a little more, starting to do the accompanying dance moves, ”Jikut jikut jikuthae..”. It was working, the boy was mesmerized. As Jiyong did the 'running' move a smile spread over the boy's face, he snorted. Jiyong was relieved. The song came to an end, Jiyong panting after the sudden dance show. The boy giggled and tried to mimic him “HA-HA-HA...”, managing to startle himself with the loudness of his own voice. He started growling again, apparently blaming Jiyong for the disturbance. “It wasn't me, I swear. It was your own voice, silly!” Jiyong told him, chuckling. The boy's growl turned into whining, the injured leg was bothering him. Jiyong looked worriedly at his watch, still around 45 minutes until Youngbae would arrive. It felt like an eternity.

There was nothing else he could do, so he started the song again from the top. The boy wiggled his behind, excited. This was the strangest situation Jiyong had ever gotten himself into, and he had been in his fair share of strange situations. As the song ended once more, the boy pushed his nose out into the air, “ha-ha-ha-ha” he copied, this time at a normal volume. His voice was absolutely breathtaking, Jiyong couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. A frown spread over the boy's face as he pushed his nose repeatedly out into the air. Jiyong had no idea what he was doing. “ha-ha-ha-wrroff!” ending with a powerful bark, nearly knocking Jiyong off his feet with shock. “Okay, okay, I get it.” he said quietly, taking a deep breath. It was lucky that Jiyong had great stamina, since it looked like he would be forced to sing the song repeatedly until Youngbae came. “Ayo! Finally! Is this what you've been waiting for?”.

When Jiyong was about half way through his 11^th rendition of 'Heartbreaker' Youngbae damn near broke the door down, bursting in like a one man SWAT-team. Jiyong didn't think he would be a very effective one, he was way too cute to be threatening. The boy completely lost it, charging at Youngbae, but the moment he put weight on his injured leg he yelped and collapsed to the floor, nursing his leg, whining ruefully. Youngbae stood frozen in his tracks, mortified. His mouth moved like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out. “Okay..” Jiyong said releasing the breath he had been holding. “Let's all calm down” he said soothingly, starting to hum the tune to 'Heartbreaker'. “Come on, Youngbae, you know how it goes.” he looked pleadingly at Youngbae who got the hint and started humming along. He could see a million questions forming in Youngbae's head, but Youngbae understood that this was not the time, setting them aside for later. Now the problem was how they were going to get Youngbae close enough to the boy to be able to take care of his leg.

Jiyong and Youngbae started formulating a plan, communicating only with their eyes. Jiyong sometimes felt Youngbae could see right through him, see the real him. He had felt a strong connection to him ever since they first met, even though he had given Youngbae more than his fair share of grief while he was at the hospital. Youngbae had handled it very professionally, never getting pissed at him, appearing to be a mountain of patience, but also not letting Jiyong get away with his crap and calling him out on it. Jiyong slowly diverted the boys attention to him, singing and dancing, while Youngbae sneaked behind him, trying not to make a sound. Jiyong could see he wasn't even breathing. He had a needle in his hand, he had already removed its protective cap, ready to inject. The boy noticed nothing, focused on watching Jiyong, his body wagging slightly.

Youngbae suddenly struck. Half a second before Youngbae reached him, the boy noticed that something fishy was going on and started turning around. Jiyong felt as if it was happening in slow motion, fearing the worst. The boy was clearly bigger and stronger than Youngbae, maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Youngbae had thrown himself on the boy and they wrestled fiercely around for a moment before the boy fell motionless to the ground. He was out like a light. Youngbae smiled triumphantly. Jiyong ran to him, examining his arm concerned. The boy had managed to scratch him before he had succumbed to the tranquilizer. “Oh, that's nothing. Just a little scratch, don't worry about it.” Youngbae said beaming, still on an adrenaline high after the scuffle. “How long do we have?” Jiyong asked, looking at the poor unconscious boy on the floor. “About 2 hours.” Youngbae answered, opening his medical bag and getting right to work.