The train ride to Busan took a few hours, and we arrived at the central station in the early afternoon. I had visited this city before and knew some of the streets and buildings. Since we had missed today’s ferry to Japan by an hour, we had to wait for tomorrow. It wasn’t exactly a good idea to stay in South Korea for longer than necessary, but it wasn’t like we had a choice and so we went looking for another hotel that wasn’t all too expensive.

When we finally found one and had checked in, we stayed in the room for a while. Everything had gone smoothly since we had switched from car to train, and yet I couldn’t help but feel worried about tomorrow. We would have to be at the harbor at around 10 am while the ferry itself would leave at 10:30. I hoped everything would go well… Minho might have some of his people watching the border.

“I’ll go buy some food. You stay here,” Baekhyun said, glaring at me when I was about to retort. “Don’t think about it! It’s dangerous to be outside as long as we don’t know who we need to look out for. I will be back soon, I promise.”

I didn’t like the idea to be separated from him, even if it was for a while and my aversion was easy to see when I frowned. “Then hurry up, please. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

His cool eyes warmed when he gazed at me and stepped closer to me. “I will,” he mumbled, ruffling my hair and smiling playfully at me. “Didn’t know you were so clingy. It’s kinda cute, though.”

“I’m not clingy!”

“Yeah, yeah. Of course you aren’t,” he countered sarcastically. His smirk widened when I didn’t answer. He leaned forward until our noses were almost touching, my eyes widening as I stared at him, involuntarily flitting down to his lips. They were so close I felt his breath on my skin. Knees going weak, I swallowed, tearing my eyes from the sight with some difficulty.

“B-Baekhyun, what are you doing?” I managed to sputter, my cheeks blushing.

“Nothing at all,” he grinned cockily and evaded my fist when I tried to hit his chest.

“You stupid… stupid…” I trailed off, trying to rack my head for an adequate insult, but didn’t come up with something until my eyes landed on the ceiling. “You stupid lamp!”

“What?!” he said, looking at me like I had lost it. He needed a few seconds to process I had just said something so stupid. Then, he began to laugh. It was the first time I had ever witnessed him laugh genuinely and so I stood there, frozen like a statue, staring at him in awe. His laughs sounded endearing, making a smile bloom on my lips. When he calmed down, he said, “I’m glad you think so highly of me, Hyorin. Really, you’re the first person to call me that.”

“Uh…”

“That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

I narrowed my eyes, folding my arms. “Mean.”

“I never said I was nice,” he countered, raising his eyebrows teasingly. “Anyways, I really should get going now,” he finally said, taking his jacket and putting it on, hiding his hair beneath a baseball cap.

“Stay safe, okay?” I wanted to hug him, biting my lips as I walked closer and glanced at him hesitatingly. I didn’t need to say anything for him to know what I wanted and found myself embraced by him. He patted my back reassuringly.

“You are a clingy little kitten,” he murmured with his face buried in my hair before he let go of me, an unusually warm spark shining in his eyes. “See you later.”

With that, he opened the door of the hotel room and left. I sighed to myself, looking after him for a moment. Although he was more than capable of defending himself, I was concerned for his safety. Minho was ruthless; and when I remembered how his men had ambushed us in the hotel room at night, then I was convinced every single person who worked for him was just as cruel as him. They had to know about his crimes when they were in cahoots with him.

Since I was alone, I didn’t know what I could do to pass the time. I didn’t have my phone with me, so I couldn’t use the internet. In the end, I decided to watch tv and got comfortable on the bed, leaning against a pillow and pulling the soft blanket over my legs. It was a double bed yet again—how suspicious. It couldn’t be a coincidence we always ended up in rooms like this.

“I wonder if Baekhyun picks them on purpose?” I whispered, blushing. I hardly had paid attention when we checked in and didn’t remember if there were other rooms available. “But why would he?” His behavior lately led me to think something was going on with him. He seemed more interested in being close to me than ever before and while it made me happy, I wondered about the intention behind his actions. I had been aware of my blossoming feelings for him for quite some time. My heart palpitated like crazy in my chest when he teased me, sometimes I thought it would drive me mad. But what did he think of me, in turn? Not that I was anyone special, I didn’t have a cool superpower like him and I wasn’t particularly strong either. What could possibly cause him to stay close to me?

I got lost in my thoughts and didn’t pay attention to the tv in the background anymore. Some kind of documentary was on, but I could care less right now. A sudden loud bang scared the hell out of me, making me shoot up from the bed in an instant. Wide-eyed, I stared at the door that was about to give in to the relentless assault on the other side.

“A-Again? How did they find us so quickly? We lost them in Gwangju!” I hissed, desperation seeping into my heart. “This can’t be happening!”

I couldn’t go anywhere, I was trapped like a little mouse. And what could a person like me do against several armed people? I had no chance of winning a fight against trained guards, much less a whole group of them. I ran over to the window, but as I looked outside, I immediately ruled out jumping. It was far too high; I would break my neck.

Before I could think of another solution, the door gave in and three men stormed inside, closing the door behind them and locking themselves in with me. I had no way out of this. The malevolent sneers on their faces proved they knew as well as I did that I couldn’t do anything to stop them. Where was Baekhyun? When would he return?

“We finally found you, Hyorin. You’re good at hiding,” the tallest of them hissed. He had black hair and wore dark clothing, just like the rest of them.

“Who are you?” I breathed, walking backward until the wall stopped me. One of them, a slightly less tall one, walked over to the chair in the room, sitting on it and getting comfortable. His posture would have looked lazy if it weren’t for the malicious stare he threw me. I shuddered.

“We’ve been sending you a few letters before. Maybe you remember them,” the one on the chair snarled. Shock coursed through me and my heartbeat accelerated in panic as I realized who they were. They had been sending me the death threats and now they had found me, all alone and vulnerable. I had been wrong when I thought they were my uncle’s men, but this wasn’t any better. Maybe it was worse.

“Unfortunately, your dear uncle didn’t react to any of the demands we sent him. That means we are going to go through with our threats. You are going to die,” the third of them said. “It’s nothing personal, Hyorin, but your uncle has to pay for what he did.”

My thoughts were racing as I tried to comprehend what he was talking about. Did he know about the experiments? Was that the reason they were after me? Before I was able to reach a conclusion, he closed in on me, standing directly in front of me. His eyes were blueish, their coldness leaving no doubt he would kill me.

“W-Why would you want to kill me j-just because you hate my uncle?” I forced out, his proximity intimidating me. I could have sworn the air around us turned colder as he stared at me and I shivered. “I’m not like him.”

My words enraged him further, prompting him to do something unexpected. His hands gripped my wrists, pinning them to the wall. Where he touched my skin, a terrible coldness spread through my arm, numbing it. I looked at my arms in disbelief, seeing tiny white frost flowers covering them. Was he… freezing me? I stared at him with wide eyes as the coldness took over my body. “You’re like Baekhyun,” I whispered. My words resulted in him getting angrier and I cried out in pain when the cold became unbearable.

“You used him all this time; he was a tool to you. We will do him a favor by killing you,” the stranger snarled. “We will free him.”

“No, you don’t understand! I’m not your enemy,” I tried to explain, but the three men didn’t care for what I had to say. The frost flowers climbed up my arm, reaching my heart. The burning cold seeped through my body and I slowly lost control over my arms. I couldn’t hold back a scream when he used his ability to worsen it. The pain was hard to take, and I feared he would kill me soon if I didn’t do anything.

Just at this moment, the door was kicked open. I had never been so relieved to see Baekhyun. His eyes were murderous as they took in the scene in front of him and he reacted. The three men stared at him in astonishment, not having expected him to appear so suddenly.

“Don’t touch her!” he shouted furiously, lifting his arm to shoot a beam of light right at the guy who attacked me. He got thrown to the wall, groaning in pain. In the blink of an eye, Baekhyun stood in front of me, shielding me with his body. He’d noticed my arms turning blue from the cold and nearly lost his temper. The lights flickered, turning on