Baekhyun quickly ran out of the room, not minding the people around who looked surprised seeing him suddenly running. He was still gripping Jongdae’s phone on his hand. Sehun must have heard him cursed, and he assumed that the other man would realise that the situation wasn’t good. Baekhyun barged into the women’s toilet as soon as he reached there before frantically pushing every single door inside.

His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach.

Because no one was there.

Aerin wouldn’t use the toilet in the other floor, right?

The man quickly ran back to the great hall, ignoring some people’s bow while passing him. . He scanned around the hall, hoping at least to get a glimpse of her, hoping that the fear bubbling on his chest was just nothing but an empty imagination. But no, he searched everywhere but he still couldn’t find the same navy dress he’s been keeping by his side all this time. Baekhyun wanted to call her name but for sure he didn’t want to cause a ruckus on the event. His heart beat so fast and he suddenly wanted to throw up. No, Aerin should be okay. She had to be okay. Where was she? She would still be here, wouldn’t she? Who are those people? What do they want? Baekhyun couldn’t just ignore the conversation he had with Jongin when the older told him about the reason why he was overprotective of the girl and he couldn’t help but shuddered.

Baekhyun never felt this scared before.

He took a deep breath before leaning on a pillar in the corner far from the crowd, trying not to get any attention as he put Jongdae’s phone back to his ear to call the number earlier.

“Sehun, Aerin disappeared.”

Aerin started to feel her tears prickling, trying to escape from her eyes. She was scared and shaking. But at the same time, she knew she needed to be strong and stood up for herself. Looking scared would only make these people satisfied, and crying would definitely make them feel victorious. No, she wouldn’t surrender and give them that satisfaction. She needed to look tough, at least—she hoped—at least until someone came to save her.

The girl still felt a bit dizzy. She didn’t remember how she got there. The only thing she remembered was when she saw how these men were already waiting across the toilet alley when she got out. She didn’t see them suspicious as there were a lot of people she didn’t know, and also they were wearing suits just like any other guests. It was when she walked pass by them that she suddenly felt her hand was gripped and a fabric covered and nose. The next thing she knew, she felt too weak and she wasn’t in the party venue anymore.

She was now sitting on a couch inside a large room, with her hands and legs tied with rope. The men untied the blindfold from her eyes as soon as they threw her on the couch. They roughly tear off the tape from earlier, leaving her still wincing in pain caused by the burn on her skin. The men were now standing far, only watching her in silence. There were four of them inside this room. One of them was busy talking to his phone, and she heard her name was mentioned on the conversation once or twice. Instead of looking at the blank-faced men, Aerin took her time to look around her surrounding, trying to figure out where she actually was.

The room she was in looked just like a common working room. A grande one, polished with luxurious furniture in every corner. There was a wide screen perched on the wall, a huge bookshelf on the side, and there was also a cupboard on the other side, displaying metallic things—wait, when she took a closer look at it, she realised that those were different kind of guns being displayed on the shelves. She really had no idea where she was and what these people actually wanted from her.

“Hello, Lady Kim.”

Her attention suddenly turned to the foreign voice coming inside the room. Another man with a suit, slowly walked to her direction before taking a seat across her. It looked like he was the leader, judging from the way the other men slightly bowed to him when he came inside. Aerin literally scoffed. Was this what a criminal looked like these days? Looking expensive, neat, even polished with designer suits. The older man signed to the others to get out from the room. Aerin slightly panicked, but no she tried not to show it.

“Untie me,” Aerin suddenly said lowly, eyes on the man sitting across her. For someone who was scared, she surprisingly sounded calm and composed. She didn’t even know where she got the courage from, but looking at the way she was treated, her guts told her that they wouldn’t hurt her. For now. At least not until someone else with more power appeared.

The man cooed, making her looked at him disgustedly. “Aw, does it hurt, Princess?” He suddenly stood up from his chair and sat on the couch beside her. “I will untie your legs, but I’m keeping the one on your hands, okay?” He said mockingly. “Just to let you know, there are a lot of my men outside, so you have no chance to run away.

“What do you want from me?” She hissed.

“Well, I think there’s nothing to hide from you anymore, so before we bring you to the one who asked for you, I want to finish our problem with someone else first.” He smirked before standing up. But she really didn’t get what he meant.

“Let go of me you er!” She felt her heart fell when she heard another faint voice. But this one, she easily recognized it. Aerin turned her head towards the door, waiting to see if the owner of the voice would come into the room. Her heart beat fast, because somehow that voice didn’t sound like it was going to save her. She waited, but the door didn’t even move, and the voice, the footsteps sounded like it’s going even further.

“Lady Kim,” The girl turned her head again towards him, didn’t even try to hide her disgust when she saw the man smirking at her. “I told you that we are going to take care of some problem first. It might not be about you, but I think it’s going to be interesting for