She was running. She could feel her legs getting tired. The air around her was thick and nearly suffocating her to the point where her chest was starting to hurt.

Tiffany breathed in deeply as she pushed herself further to create more distance from the rushed footsteps behind her.

She knew she had to run, or she’ll be captured and god knows what would happen to her. The fear and vulnerability left her in a panicked state as she tried her best not to look back at whoever—or whatever—that was chasing her.

The place she was at was dark and so badly illuminated that she had to strain her eyes in order to be able to look around. It almost felt like nothing was here, maybe because she just couldn’t see anything.

She could fall any minute from tripping over something on the ground but that was the least of her concern as she felt her legs start to give way.

The very last thing she thought that would happen to her was the opened door where light was shining brightly in front of her. With hope gathered, she struggled to pick up her speed.

She was so near. Just few feet away from the door—the way out.

But before she could even step out, a blunt force hit her on the back of her head.

Tiffany gasped loudly as she tried her very best to steady her breathing. The task seemed hard for her as she felt like there was something heavy on her chest preventing her from breathing properly.

“Oh—Oh god! You’re awake!” She heard someone yelp before footsteps rushed towards her.

With wide eyes, she looked at the doe eyed stranger and tried to convey her message that she was having difficulty breathing as her hand went up to her chest.

The stranger furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hand on top of Tiffany’s, causing her to flinch slightly due to the temperature. She didn’t remove her hand away from underneath the stranger’s since she was still feeling extremely uncomfortable on her chest.

“It’s alright. You just had a nightmare and you’re having a panic attack. Right now, I want you to relax and try to take in deep breaths, alright? Can you do that?”

Tiffany nodded slightly and did what the stranger had told her to.

“Alright, breathe in and out slowly.” The stranger instructed as she kept her eyes on Tiffany, noticing how the brunette’s breathing started to slow down, her chest heaving up and down. “That’s right, keep going. Don’t think about anything else.”

Tiffany kept her breathing steady as she blocked out whatever that was on her mind previously. Within a few minutes, she managed to set her breathing back to normal pace and her heart palpitations started to recede.

“Are you feeling better?” The stranger asked her.

“Y—yeah,” She croaked. The stranger noticed the look of discomfort on Tiffany’s face when she swallowed and immediately went to retrieve a glass of water for her.

“Here,” She handed the glass over to Tiffany who managed to mumble out a thanks after struggling a little to sit up from the bed.

After she quenched her thirst, Tiffany looked around the room she was in and finally noticed that she was at an unfamiliar place. Memories started flooding back her mind as she subconsciously backed away from the stranger who was still smiling kindly at her. “W—Who are you? Where am I at?” She asked timidly as her hands gripped the blanket covering her legs.

She blinked as her eyes scanned her surrounding and finally noticed the uncomfortable feeling around her head. One of her hand came up and felt the bandage wrapped around her head.

The smile on the stranger’s lips fell as she looked partially concerned—in Tiffany’s eyes—before she answered tentatively, “I’m Yoona, a… doctor around here…” Before Yoona could finish her sentence and answer the pending question of Tiffany’s whereabouts, the door suddenly opened and Tiffany thought she had seen a look of relief on Yoona’s face.

“Yoona, there you are! I was just wondering—” The tall woman who had strutted in paused what she was saying as her eyes trailed over to Tiffany before returning to Yoona. “She’s awake?”

Yoona nodded, “Yeah, only a while ago.”

“, do we have to—”

At that, Yoona shook her head and stopped the taller woman from speaking, “No, she just had a panic attack and I don’t want that to happen again. She needs to be stabilised and taken care of first.”

“Alright, I understand. I, umm—” The tall woman then looked back at Tiffany and the latter frowned back at her, wondering what the two strangers were talking about. Before Tiffany could process what was going on, the tall woman had walked over to her and stood beside the bed. “Hello, I’m Sooyoung. It’s great to see that you’re awake, Tiffany.”

Tiffany was actually thinking the two girls in front of her was friendly, but after hearing her name from the tall woman, she wasn’t that sure anymore. “How do you know my name?” Tiffany questioned forcefully.

Sooyoung’s eyes widened, “Uhh, I…”

“You must be starving right now. Why don’t you go get her something to eat, Sooyoung?” The other woman cut in seeing that Sooyoung was in a sticky situation.

Sooyoung gave a look of gratitude to Yoona before she went to the door, “I’ll bring something up,” and then she left the room.

Yoona glanced at Tiffany who was still staring at her before she went to the desk that was filled with packets of medicines and some documents. “Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Any pain or discomfort?”

At the mention of pain, Tiffany’s attention then went back to the bandage around her head, remembering that she was hit there. Indeed, she felt a slight pain there as she pressed faintly onto her wound and winced.

Yoona heard the sound made from Tiffany and immediately took a packet of medicine before walking towards Tiffany. She pushed one tablet out of the pack before handing it out to Tiffany who didn’t take it from her but instead, just stared at her with questioning eyes. Yoona sighed, “It’s painkillers. Take it. I know that you’re hurting.”

Tiffany gritted her teeth, “I’m not going to take it until you tell me who the hell are you, why am I here, and where is this place. I need answers.”

Realising that the brunette wasn’t going to take the pill, Yoona placed the medicine onto the nightstand and said, “You’ll get your answers soon enough, I promise. But right now, I think it’s best that you take care of your own body first.” She placed her hands into her jeans’ pockets.

Tiffany exhaled loudly—a clear sign that she was annoyed. “I don’t trust you on that since I was hit on the head before I woke up. You—One of your people captured me, and… and…” She remembered those other bodies that were lying around her the night she was captured. “There are others too,” She gasped out. “Where are they? What did you do to them?!” Tiffany burst out and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up from the bed and rushed towards Yoona before grabbing onto her collar and throwing her against the wall.

Tiffany was a little taken aback when the taller woman didn’t even flinch when her head hit the wall. “You need to tell me where am I, right now.” Tiffany demanded and clenched her jaw when Yoona still remained calm.

“I told you, you’ll know soon enough. I’m not in the position to say anything.”

“I’m not asking, I’m demanding for an answer.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Yoona looked so guilty that Tiffany had even thought that she was telling the truth. The hands around Yoona’s collar loosened as she slowly placed them down and took a step back. All this time, she stared at the ground before looking up at Yoona. “I just—I just want you to tell me. Please…” Her voice started to shake.

She didn’t know where she was. She was helpless and vulnerable. She knew nothing about why she was brought here. She wondered about her family, her friends, her boyfriend, about how worried they must have been. She didn’t even know how long she had been gone. “How long… was I unconscious for?”

Yoona bit her lip in guilt and answered, “Three days.”

“Three days…” Tiffany repeated, her eyes on the wall next to Yoona. At the mere thought of missing for three days from her loved ones, the anger that had dissipated earlier on came rushing back to her again. “So I’ve been missing for three days.” At that, she then looked back at Yoona angrily. “I’ve been here for three ing days! Do you even have any idea how worried my parents would be?” She asked before scoffing. “Of course you don’t, since you were one of them who kidnapped me.”

“I’m not—”

“You’d better tell me where I am or I swear, you won’t have it easy. Someone’s bound to find me, and by that time, you’d be rotting in prison when they do.” Tiffany threatened.

Yoona was silent for a while, looking conflicted. Tiffany knew she had the answers that she needed, but Yoona was still holding it in. “I can’t, I’m sorry... Look, I’ve already said it, but you’ll know soon enough—just not from me.”

Tiffany flexed her jaw. She knew she had no hope at finding answers from the woman in front of her, so she opt to turn around and quickly dart towards the door.

“H—Hey!”

She heard Yoona shout as she opened the door and ran out. She didn’t know the layout of this house she was in so she just ran straight down the hallway, hoping that she’d somehow find a way out.

This all seemed familiar to her as she thought back to the nightmare that she had earlier on. Being distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t see that someone was standing in front of her and it caused her to collide into the person.

Tiffany’s eyes widened when she felt hands holding onto her arms. . She swallowed whatever that was on before finding the courage to lift her head up. Once she did so, she looked into a pair of coal black eyes.

It was a girl. A girl with golden blonde hair and pale white skin. She was almost the same height as her, maybe an inch shorter or so. What Tiffany noticed right away was the cold hands holding her—they were as cold as Yoona’s.

“Hey, come back—” Yoona’s footsteps slowed down when she saw the scene in front. She blinked a few times before rushing towards the pair. “Taeyeon.”

At the mention of her name, Taeyeon glanced at Yoona before letting go of Tiffany and taking a step back to create distance between the two of them. “Yoona, why didn’t you tell me that she was already awake?”

Tiffany looked at Taeyeon nervously when she heard the cold and hard tone from the shorter woman. She noticed that Yoona wasn’t bothered by that as she went forward to hold onto Tiffany’s wrist—who tried to swing her hand away in a futile attempt.

“She woke up only a while ago. I need to get her stabilised first since she had a panic attack which was why I didn’t tell you right away.”

Hearing what Yoona had said, Tiffany then realised that the taller woman was actually reporting to Taeyeon. She glared at the blonde who stared back at her with hard eyes. “So you’re the leader, huh? You’re the reason why I’m captured here? You’re the one that brought me into this mess?!” She was about to go forward when Yoona was fast to react and had already pulled her away. She struggled against the strong hold on her.

“Stop it, Tiffany.” Yoona said to her.

“Why? Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve this?” Tiffany asked with angry tears threatening to fall. She stopped struggling to stare straight at Taeyeon. The walls around her crumble and she felt herself feeling helpless again. The tears finally fell from her eyes. “Please…” She pleaded. “Take me home, please… I swear that I won’t tell anyone that this happened. Just please…”

Taeyeon’s face remained expressionless. She looked at Yoona, “Take her back to the room.” She turned around and was about to walk away when Tiffany spoke again.

“Please! I’m begging you, don’t do this to me.”

Taeyeon remained quiet for a while before she turned back to look at Tiffany. Tiffany felt herself froze when those cold and empty eyes stared back at her, almost as if Taeyeon was someone who couldn’t feel any emotions.

“I’d suggest that you just stop begging because this is where you’ll be living now.” With one last look, Taeyeon then walked away, and that was when Tiffany realised that the woman really had no feelings or emotions.