I quietly peek into the hallway from inside my doorway. That guy Doyoung or whatever was supposed to be next door, but it was way too quiet. When I see him creeping outside of his room, occasionally looking behind him cautiously, my suspicions of him only grow. “I knew it.” I mumble to myself, watching as he presses the up button to the elevator at the end of the hall. Once a traitor, always a traitor, right? I duck back into my room as he enters the elevator, turns around and waits for the door to close. When he’s gone, I step out into the hallway, quietly closing the door behind me and tiptoe over to his room. I wasn’t going to follow him, in fact I couldn’t. Not like this anyway…but my mind began to wander to the kid that everyone seemed to keep forgetting about. I quietly push open Doyoung’s door and peek in on the kid. He was asleep and he looked pretty comfortable. I exhale and just stand in the doorway, watching him. Who was he? I mean, Alex only has one kid, right? And I don’t think any of the others have children…anyway, I felt bad for him. Everyone was so worried about Taemin and they just brought another kid his age into the same type of danger. I walk over to the bed he was laying on and simply pulled the covers up and over his shoulders, then smooth out his hair. He was probably super afraid, but how could he sleep in a time like this? I smile at his pure naivety. He was still a kid after all.

Then my mind began to wonder back to Doyoung. Why had he left the kid here like this? And where was he going so late? I didn’t know this place like the others and I only know so much about what goes on in this place, and none of it is good. I found it pretty hard to trust that guy anyway, something about him just wasn’t right…but who was I to make hasty judgements? And Rachel seemed to have a pretty decent amount of faith in him. How did they even know each other? And how do they get along so well if her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, hates him? There were so many questions going through my mind but now probably wasn’t the time to go looking for answers. Instead I consider warning the others about Doyoung. I don’t know where he was going, but the others made it pretty clear to stay out of sight, and he was pretty much out in the open. I pat the kid’s back once more and stand, getting ready to leave and search for Rachel’s room.

“Where are you going?”

I turn around to see the kid sitting up and rubbing his eyes. His hair was tousled only on the side he was laying on. I turn to him, shocked and unaware of what to say. “I’m uh- I’m going to look for the others.” I tell him. He looks around the room groggily. “Where’s hyung?” he asks, still sitting up in the bed. For a moment I don’t say anything because I don’t know anything about the kid. His hyung could be anyone…

“He was just here...” He adds, now looking at me.

“Ah…” I say. He must’ve meant Doyoung. “I don’t know where he went. Maybe…..bathroom break?” I tell him, unsure of what else to say. The kid sighs and throws the covers back. “Where’s Taemin?” he asks me, leaving me stunned.

“That…I uh…”

“Jisoo hyung said he would be here but he’s not.”

“I’m sure he’s somewhere around here…we just have to find him.” I assure him, but the kid doesn’t seem to be falling for it.

“He was taken by those men. What do they want with a kid anyway?” he asks. “And why did they burst into the house like that? And where is….” He pauses for a moment, as if he had forgotten what to say next. I had to remind myself that this kid was only like 6 or 7. “Ah…” is all that manages to come out of my mouth. I’m not use to dealing with children so I didn’t really know what to say or do. The kid gets out of the bed. “I have to find Taemin.” Is all he says. I wanted to ask him exactly what he thought he’d be able to do at 4 feet, but I restrain myself, and I couldn’t let him roam around this place alone. “Let’s not be too hasty.” I tell him. “First, let’s find the others. I can’t leave you here alone and I have to warn the others.”

“Warn them?” he asks.

I grab his hands and kneel down to his height. “You and Taemin are friends, right? That’s why you want to find him?” I ask him. He just nods. “I thought so…but you’re still just a kid yourself and sometimes you have to just sit back and let the adults do the heavy lifting.”

“Like you?” he asks. I’m taken aback. I wasn’t quite sure what he was implying….but maybe I was just looking too deep into his words. “Well…not exactly like me, there isn’t much I can do either…”

“Because of your leg?” he asks and I just nod.

“Then what do we do?” he asks. I shrug. “….the best thing to do now is to just stick together…find the others…” I conclude. I let go of one of his hand and stand with a sigh. “In fact, I don’t exactly know what to do either kid…” I add before starting towards the door.

                                                                                ~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The kid and I look throughout the entire corridor, but there is no sign of anyone. We were all on the same floor in the same network of hallways….Joon suggested it’d be best if we spread out a little so the Easterners wouldn’t recognize a surplus of activity in one spot, but there was no one aside from the kid and myself on this floor. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, trying not to get angry. They left us. Again. The kid just looks up at me without a word, then back down the long corridor. “Does your leg still hurt a lot?” he asks randomly. I shake my head, eyes still close, now to hold back tears. Why did they continuously do this? I mean, I’m injured a little, yes, and I can’t help much, but to leave without a trace? No one could drop in and let me know what was going on? What was I going to do now? I sniffle and look down at the kid. We’ve been through this entire floor a couple of times. They weren’t here anymore, and the best thing I could think to do now was to just get him to safety. “What do we do now?” he asks. I smile at him weakly and exhale once more. “I think I have a plan.” I tell him. “But we have to get you to safety first, okay?” I tell him. He looks quizzical, but he just nods and looks back down. We had to leave the building. We seemed to all be fending for ourselves now anyway. “Let’s go.” I say to him before starting back down the hall.

When we get to the stairwell, and just as I’m about to open the door, it flies open. I jump back in shock before I even have time to process the figure standing before me. I look on in shock, horror and fear all at once and the kid just clings to my side.

Kang Minji.

She looks from me, back to the kid, and I quickly shove him behind me, using myself as a shield. Minji scoffs and crosses her arms. “I’m not here to hurt you.” She says simply. This entire time I hadn’t even thought about her. In fact, I had forgotten she existed and now she was standing right here in front of me. I told myself before she left that the next time I saw her, I’d make her pay for all the things she made me endure in the “dollhouse”. Now, I wasn’t so sure. She takes a step towards me, and the kid and I shuffle backward, earning another scoff. “Would you relax? I’m not going to do anything!” she snaps causing me to jump and hug the kid closer. I couldn’t let anything happen to him. “Is that TaeGu’s kid?” she asks, arms still crossed. “Why?” I ask her. She just examines us for a bit. Why was she here? What was she looking for and why was she asking about Taemin? Was she in on this?

“I came with TaeGu. I wanted to help him get his son back.” She says simply. Now it was my turn to scoff. Was she serious? “Help him? Wasn’t it you who helped get him caught in the first place?” I snap. Minji looks at me in shock. “You litt..” she begins, jumping at me, and causing me to shuffle once more with the kid, but she retracts her fist and takes a deep breath. “I had nothing to do with that. I only did what I was told to by my boss and none of his instructions involved the abduction of a child.” She tells me. “Does Alex know you’re here?” I ask her. She rolls her eyes. “I just told you I came with Alex. He almost killed me, but he decided to give me another chance...”

“And now you want to make even by helping right your wrongs…”

“I told you I had nothing to do with this!” she screeches.

I just look at her in shock. There was no way she changed this quickly and there was no way I was going to take a leap of faith for her either, but if she wanted to help….

“And it’s not about making even. It’s about getting back at the man who ruined my life.” She explains.

I relax a little. Was she talking about Chief? I didn’t want to play right into her hands, but he did ruin a lot of lives…it only makes sense that Kang Minji’s could be one of them. “I just want to get the kid to safety.” I tell her. “What’s stopping you?” she asks, looking at me, still tense. I don’t move and neither does she. I wasn’t sure whether or not she’d shove a knife right into my ribcage when I got too close.

Almost as if she was reading my mind, she rolled her eyes and lifted both hands above her head. “I said I wasn’t going to do anything.” She says through gritted teeth. I grab the kid’s hand. “Let’s go.” I say to him, never taking eyes off of Minji. I shuffle past her while she stayed in the same position the entire time. When we safely reach the inside of the stairwell I walk the kid to a corner. “Just wait her for a second, okay? I’ll be right back.” I assure him and he nods. I turn back to Minji, who was still standing with her hands in surrendering position. “You want to help? Find the others. I saw Doyoung heading to the elevator at the end of the 3^rd hall. I don’t know where he was going but there were only two options.”

“Up or down.” She finishes almost as if in awe. “He was headed to the East Wing…”

I look at her in disbelief.

“I don’t know who he is, but he can’t be trusted.” She concludes.

“Like you can’t be trusted?” I remind her. She gives me a look before turning away. “Besides, Rachel trusts him and she usually has very good judgment.” I add. “Well, not just anyone knows how to get to the higher level so….looks like she misjudged this one.” She concludes, dropping her arms. I look back to make sure the kid was still there. He was. “Don’t worry, if the Easterners haven’t gotten him yet, I’ll catch up to him.” She assures me. “I know a shortcut. There are like a thousand anyway…” I nod at her as she starts down the corridor. “Oh! And I’m not doing this for you guys! I still don’t like you. I’m doing this for myself.” She calls back to me with a confident smile. I give her a fake smile back, before rolling my eyes. Now we were even accepting help from the enemy? “What is happening?” I ask myself before closing the door and taking ahold of the kid’s hand again. If I could just get him to safety first, then all will be well.