Hanyeon purses her lips as she considers her own reflection in the mirror. As she fingers a lock of long hair, she mulls over what has been bothering her for the past few days - ever since she entered that bar and took that poor guy. Who knows where he is now? She's sure that witch Isabella has something to do with it, but she has no proof. Something about the woman struck her as weird when she first met her, and it seems like her gut instinct was right. 

She should never have trusted her.

Heck, she should never have been so stupid as to agree to such a hare-brained scheme! What had she been thinking?! She stares into the mirror, and her large orbs stare straight back at her. The guilt that she can see hidden deep within the depths of her eyes sends chills up her spine.

A sudden rush of fear fills her, and she yanks on her hair impatiently. Her fingers settle on the edge of the sink, and her gaze falls to her fingernails. What has she become? She's even afraid to meet her own gaze. The guilt fills her, and at times threatens to overflow, too. Poor Lee Joon. And poor MBLAQ - she just sent them to a torture camp, she's sure.

Crystalline, a drop of water makes its way slowly down her nose and into the sink. As she sees it fall, she straightens her spine and shakes off her irrationality. It'll do nobody any good if she crouches in her toilet and sulks on her own. If she wants to help the people she stupidly put into harm's way - into Isabella's way - she needs to get off her sorry backside and get out there to actually do something useful.

Jaw set, she steps out and makes her way out of her apartment and to the bus stop nearby. The tree next to the little stand has started shedding its leaves, and she spots a good few dried auburn leaves on the cement near the dark trunk of the tree. She feels a pang - the year has flown by so fast. And time is only going to keep passing, so she'd better do something about the trapped idols before it's too late. Steeling herself, she looks up Isabella's street on the map provided near the bus stop. She will do this.

"Are you Hanyeon?" a voice asks from behind her, and she turns to find two young girls around her age smiling back at her.

Nervous, she replies, "Yes." She doesn't remember seeing these girls before.

Both have blue hair, she notices. One has blue undertones while the other plainly just has blue hair. They look impressive together, and she wonders if they're a pair of good friends who just decided to dye their hair the same colour. They look comfortable with each other, which leads her to think that might be the case. 

The girl with undertones smiles reassuringly at Hanyeon. "Well, aren't you the girl who replaced Sofia at The Velvet Room last Saturday night?"

All the blood drains from Hanyeon's face.

Arie, beside San Shi, feels a little sorry for the girl. She looks truly panicked right now, her eyes widening until they nearly bulge out of her head. Arie herself doesn't feel comfortable with her new role. Of course, she volunteered for the job of being a spy in Isabella's world, but now, actually facing that situation, her skin crawls. She'll have to serve Miyu's evil cousin, and mistreat the idols - her dear Cheondoongie - and worst of all, she'll have to pretend that she wants to do it. Then again, it gives her an opportunity to have a say in how her "prisoners" are treated. If she's the one in charge of their security, even for a short while, she could help them.

And that's the most important thing, she reminds herself.

"Don't worry, we're not the authorities," Arie tells Hanyeon honestly. "Actually, we're just friends of Sofia's."

Hanyeon looks like she wishes she could crawl into a hole and die right now, San Shi thinks. Pity swells in her heart, but then she tells herself that this is the girl who kidnapped a poor guy in cold blood. Whatever her reasons, she's guilty of the crime, and that gives both Arie and San Shi enough reason to make the girl squirm - just a little.

Her face grimly set, San Shi says, "Sofia's in trouble for what you did that night, you know. It's not that we want you to turn yourself over to the police, but we want to meet the person who set you up for that job."

"You know," Arie adds, "to make sure that the idols get returned to their rightful places before our friend gets into even more trouble."

Hanyeon nods, her face regaining a little lost colour. "I promise, I thought she would have returned them by now! I swear, she told me she only wanted a few minutes with Joon - she claimed she knew him and that he was meant to be with her!"

San Shi a skeptical eyebrow. "Who's this 'she'?"

"Isabella," the girl replies, her face losing its paleness the more the talks. It's as if she's getting a load off her chest, and these girls seem to believe her. The knowledge is freeing. "Actually, I'm on my way to hers right now. Do you want to come along?"

Arie grins, and San Shi hides a triumphant smile. "Sure, we'd love to," they say in unison.

Relieved, Hanyeon waits with the two blue-haired girls at the bus stop for the bus that would take them to Isabella's.




The girl with the brown bangs strolls over to her two other friends and neatly drops herself beside them, surprising them both. They both have very different reactions; on her left, Ga Young pulls her nose out of her newest book and glares at her, before heartlessly jabbing her in the ribs. On her right, Kirara pauses midway through moving her pencil across a piece of blank paper and looks up slowly at Chun Mi, before smiling and calling out a greeting. The three girls are as unlike each other as can be, but they're all drawn together by their passion for the arts. 

Kirara, like her famous brother, is an artist. Her specialty is painting. Nothing pleases the long- young girl more than using her fingers to draw a brush across blank canvas, bringing to life a picture out of a mixture of colours. She's talented at it, as her brother tells her. One day, she hopes to become a professional. But at nineteen, she knows she still has time to wait patiently for that to happen.

Chun Mi, in the middle of the trio, is a writer. She can put images into anyone's mind with her manipulation of words. Her notebook, filled with ideas, travels with her wherever she goes. Boredom is never a problem for her - when she has nothing better to do, out comes her book and pen and she starts penning down whatever comes to her mind.

Ga Young is also a writer, but nowhere near as serious as her friend. Her father is rich and owns a financial firm overseas, and growing up as a rich businessman's daughter has had its effects on her. She's a little flighty and doesn't always spare a thought for the feelings of the people around her. But writing takes a special place in her heart as her hobby - it makes her relax.

The three meet up every few days to share their thoughts and ideas, and basically to just chat as friends do. Theirs is an easy friendship, none of them giving too much, and none of them taking too much from it either. 

"My cousin's coming to join us today, I'm trying to pique her interest in writing too," Chun Mi remarks to the other two, who glance up from their work.

Ga Young wrinkles her nose. "Your cousin Ji Yeol? I don't get along very well with her..."

Chun Mi throws back her head and laughs. "I know. You think her a spoilt brat."

"Well, she kind of... is a spoilt brat," Kirara says from her other side.

The brunette shrugs her shoulders and leans back. "Well, my cousin's also bringing a friend of hers. The pair doesn't go anywhere without each other - they're like two peas in a pod."

"Wait," Ga Young mutters, turning her body to face her friends more fully. "Isn't this Ji Yeol, Kiseop's little sister? The one from U-Kiss?"

Nodding, Chun Mi grins. She knows she has her friend there - her friend is a huge fan of Kiseop's.

As expected, the girl has an outburst of fangirling, and the other two girls brace themselves. "I somehow don't think she minds my cousin coming over to join us now," Chun Mi murmurs to her older friend, and both laugh.

"Yah," Ga Young protests. "You should tell her to come over more often!"

"Why don't you invite her, then?"

"Unnie?" 

The three girls twist around in their seats to glance behind them. Chun Mi's cousin Ji Yeol stands with her two friends a few steps behind them, Ji Yeol with a huge smile on her face. Her short raven hair sways slightly in the breeze. Of average height, she's another girl who has grown up wanting for nothing. Her friend, whom she introduces as Hee Min, never seems to be able to stop babbling. And behind the pair of them...

Ga Young whips her head around to face her friend. "You never told me that Kiseop's coming too," she hisses, giving Chun Mi a sharp pinch.

Meanwhile, Hee Min grabs her friend's hand and flounces over to a seat opposite the three girls already seated. Kiseop, looking slightly out of place, has to seat himself in the remaining seat next to her. 

"I'm sorry for crashing your meeting," he apologises gallantly. "I've just a little time on my hands right now and I wanted to spend it with my sister. So she dragged me here."

"Oh, it's not a problem," Ga Young assures him, batting her eyelashes. 

Chun Mi tries to cover her face, appalled at her friend's behaviour. Talk about getting swept off one's feet... 

"MBLAQ got kidnapped," Hee Min babbles on, a wistful look on her face. 

Kiseop looks uncomfortable. "I hope they're alright - I was close to them. They're decent people."

"You know MBLAQ?" 

He nods, and becomes aware of two pairs of adoring eyes staring at him. Blushing slightly, he decides to look at his feet.

Kirara speaks up. "Are you sure they're kidnapped? I've heard it could be a publicity stunt."

"NO!" Hee Min reacts very explosively, making the three older girls and Kiseop wince. Ji Yeol seems not to notice. "They would never do anything like that just for the sake of publicity, they're MBLAQ, they -"

"Relax," Kirara intervenes. "I was just saying."

"Well, don't say unless you're absolutely sure!" she retaliates. 

Ji Yeol rolls her eyes. "Then where's your proof that they got kidnapped?"

For a minute, Hee Min is speechless, and Chun Mi takes the opportunity to steer the conversation away from such a sensitive topic. "Kiseop, how's promotions going?" she asks, the first thing she can think of.

He frowns. "Well, security has increased tenfold, and we've had to cancel a couple of fanmeets. Other than that things are as busy as they always have been."

"At least you haven't been kidnapped. Poor MBLAQ has to endure that and more - who knows what their captors are doing to them!"

Ji Yeol looks annoyed. "Listen, Hee Min, there's nothing you can do about them now, so why don't you -"

"You're right! I should go and track them down, and see whether I can find them, shouldn't I? I'll bet they would love me forever!"

Chun Mi stares at the younger girl in disbelief. What kind of reasoning is that? She's not sure what she should say - if she should say anything at all - and so she just sits there as silence descends upon the whole group. Then Hee Min jumps up and runs off.

The brunette blinks in surprise at the sudden turn of events. Uttering a few choice words, Ji Yeol stands up and drags her brother up as well, before the pair of them hurtle off after the hastily retreating figure of Hee Min. 

"Who knows what she's up to this time..." the girls hear her mutter before the siblings are off.

Ga Young blindly follows after the boy. Resignedly, Chun Mi exchanges glances with Kirara, and the pair of them pack up their things and take up the rear - albeit at a more leisurely, unhurried pace.

"What did he mean when he said that, anyway?" Ran asks, curious.

As they amiably amble along the road in the direction of Miyu's house, the three of them - Ran, Minhei and Miyu, have struck up a conversation. Ran feels at ease with Minhei, and latter seems to be alright with the newest girl, and that's good enough for her. It's time to fling aside her shyness, she decides. Be more adventurous, she tells herself. And that's what led her to ask the question that brought a blush to the youngest's cheeks.

"Well, he was referring to something that happened ages ago," she starts. "I was in the main hall waiting for Sofia to come down so we could go out, and he came at me out of nowhere. He claims it was my fault, but I think he tripped me, and I fell onto him. It was a little awkward, and he's been teasing me about it ever since."

Minhei chuckles. "He's good looking, you know."

"No way, I'm not ever going there," Miyu denies vehemently. "Sofia would kill me."

Ran grins. "I think Sofia could really kill you - she learnt Tae Kwon Do at my dad's dojang, and she's really good. I would be afraid, if she promised to murder me!"

"I agree, she thrashed me once for an exam, and I couldn't move my arm without it hurting for a week!" Minhei adds.

Miyu grimaces. "That bad?"

The oldest merely nods.

"Why are you looking for her, then?"

Ran answers this time. "Minhei's looking for her to thrash up these bullies."

"Bullies?"

Minhei rolls her eyes. "Well, they're not so much bullies as criminals. I don't know if you've heard, but MBLAQ got kidnapped and -"

"Oh, I've heard," Miyu says darkly, and the other two exchange glances at her sudden change of tone. Noticing this, she explains, "Sofia's been blamed for it, although it's not her doing."

"Actually, I promised my friend that I would help her out. Her name is Sandara Park, you may have heard of her - she's from 2NE1. And her brother Cheondoong has been kidnapped. She's under tight scrutiny and isn't able to help him herself, so I promised to help her."

Ran nods sadly, and Miyu replies, "I can't make you any promises, but we're also trying our best to help them out. Sofia's in danger too - she could get arrested at any time. So we're trying all we can to help the kidnapped idols break out. If you're interested, you could join forces with us and help out. We could use all the help we could get."

The two glance at each other once more, before nodding decisively in unison. "We'll do it."

Miyu looks relieved. "Thanks. Anyway, let's keep heading to my house, and I'll fill you in on all the details there."

"Just curious," Minhei says then, "but how are you so sure that you can break them out?"

The younger girl gives her a sad smile, her mind recalling the night before, when Jin had asked her something similar. The pair of them still hadn't come to terms with each other after that, and it was straining on her. She'd never fought with him before. 

"The person who has them in her custody happens to be my cousin."

"Oh," is the only way both of them can respond.





Sung Kyu propels himself off the wall and gets ready to grab her as she walks by. Peering out from his shady corner, he sees that she's surrounded by other girls, though. Scowling, he pounds on the wall. So much for his plan. Clenching his fists, he decides to return back to his own place - he can always come back later to get a hold of her. Preferably not when she has people around her to witness it.

He shoves his fists in his pockets and starts picking his way back down the road as the girls head to her place. At the very least, he thinks bitterly, he knows where she lives. If all else fails, he can always pluck her from her bed as she sleeps. Not that it'll be easy - he knows she wakes easily. She just might wake the whole neighbourhood if she feels like she's in danger...

She owes him. He's saved her life a million and one times, and although she's helped him out of a few tough scrapes before, he figures she still owes him. And he plans to make her tell him what she's up to. 

Ages ago, the very first time he saw her, she was busy digging a grave for herself. Quite literally, too. She was on her hands and knees and digging into a little cave at the beach while someone he assumed to be her mother was reading a book further down the coast. Unattended, she was in a precarious position - one slip and she would tumble down the rocks into the choppy sea. He knew the waves hid the sharp rocks that lay lurking beneath the surface, waiting to claim their next victim...

As he watched her innocently playing away, he realised that he didn't want her to meet that fate. So he had roughly clasped her by the arm and dragged her out of her little hole - not a moment too soon. Just as she stepped off the lip of the hole, a stone dislodged itself and rolled down, causing a little avalanche that took away most of the ledge that she had been balancing on. Shocked at how close she had been to death - if he had left her there a moment longer, she wouldn't be alive - he had berated her quite harshly.

And she had started crying. He had had to calm his emotions and help her calm herself down. He hadn't known it at the time, but she was only four years his junior. After that incident, the pair struck up an unlikely friendship. She loved exploring, and never ceased to stick her nose in the biggest pots of trouble. Often, he was the one to pull her out. It was a challenge, but worth it in the end.

He'd been in a relationship once. It didn't ashame him then, that he wasn't much like most people. A guy, he preferred guys. He was lucky once to find another guy, slightly older than him, who felt the same way about him. Their relationship was steady for a long while, but then things started to go awry. Long story short, the boy broke his heart, and he's still picking up the pieces now.

Sometimes he wonders if love is really as good as they cut it out to be. Whether it's worth it to trust everything to a single somebody, whether there's really such a thing as true love or true happiness. He doesn't believe in any of that now. Life is life, and life is unfair, cruel, not kind to many. All he can do is stumble along and hope for the best. Although, the boy destroyed more of him than he let on. Right now, it was still a challenge for him to gaze at someone and match them stare for stare. His confidence had been shattered the instant his boyfriend broke his heart.

The girl was a huge help to him then. Hyper and mischievous, she got into endless trouble and he nearly went crazy trying to help her out. It was a distraction, he realises now, although he didn't realise that at the time. She helped him out too, cheering him up with her lame jokes and listening to him when he needed to rant. To be completely honest, he was closer to her than he was to his own sisters. 

And then she disappeared.

He actually wasn't surprised, given what happened to her before she ran away. Something like that was sure to scar someone for life, and she was no exception. He can sympathise with her, though. And after he found out what she's up to right now, he's determined to source her out again and knock some sense into her.

Some things never change, he realises with a bitter smile. She's still running around blindly, knocking into trouble and attracting unwanted attention like a ray of light attracts moths. 

He can help. So he will.

With that thought in mind, he fades into the shadows of the coming night. 

New Characters:
Jennilyn - Im Chun Mi
zenlovers - Kaitani Kirara
cloudofloveliness - Kim Ga Young
yoimjj31 - Lee Ji Yeol
HadMeHypnotised - Park Hee Min

A/n: Yeps, I'm well and truly back - for the holidays, which end as June ends :P After that I've no idea how busy I'll be, whether I have time to write any more :/ sorry you guys. But I'm touched that so many of you remember and still bother to read this story P: It means a lot to me <3 Thanks for reading, commenting and subscribing! Do more of that please. Hehehe. Anyway, enjoy~