Taken

Chapter 9

Haejae slowly opened her eyes. Even though her head was still pounding hard, she tried hard to wake up. She could see a feminine silhouette in front of her. The figure was very familiar. Her eyesight was getting better and better now; that she started to recognize the person. Haejae blinked twice and looked around. She was no longer captured in the dark room. EXO M weren't there either. Instead, she found that she was lying down on her family room's couch, facing her mother's back behind the kitchen counter. "Mom?" she croaked her voice thick of sleep. "Is that you?" "Of course, it's me dear! Dinner will be ready soon! I'm making your favorite," she replied in a soothing voice. "Haejae, dear, come and help me get the table ready," said her mother. "I want to, Mum... But, I can't move..." The girl tried to get up from the couch, but she couldn't. "What are you talking about? Of course you can!" Her mother replied. "Mom, why is it cold in here? It's too cold!" Haejae could see the puff of smoke coming out from her mouth as she spoke. "Cold?" the middle aged woman turned her back. She was looking at Haejae with a puzzled face. "Mom, I'm... I'm freezing!" Suddenly, Haejae heard buzzing noises nearby. It sounded like a group of people chattering animatedly. The voice got louder and louder every second. "M-Mom? Did you hear that? Who's that?" Haejae tried to make up what her mother was saying. She could see that her mother's lips were moving, but her voice was inaudible. The buzzing sound was getting clearer and clouding her mother's voice. She tried to call her mother, but she couldn't find her own murmur.

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The buzzing sound rang in her head, louder than before. Haejae mumbled as she subconsciously hugged her knees to her body. She wrapped herself in her arms in effort to get warm. The girl opened her eyes, little by little. The coldness was so extreme that it was jabbing through her bones. A puff of smoke can be seen every time she exhaled. Soon enough, she became aware that she was trapped inside a box. It was a small, narrowed square space that fit her body perfectly, she barely able to move. She touched the icy glass walls surrounding her; it was then she realized that she had been trapped inside a freezer. As she gained total consciousness, the physical pain started to climb back on her body. "Ugh..." she gritted her teeth. The wounds on her back were once again sparking aches all over her body. Her chest and abdomen were pretty much in the same condition, she felt like crying every time she caught her breath. The voices came back. Carefully, she turned her head to find out what was happening outside through the glass wall. Haejae could see the six members of EXO M were standing in a group in the middle of the room, surrounding a table with a familiar brown sling-bag with double pockets at the front. She heard them talking to each other, and even though a little bit muffled, she could notice what they were saying rather well.

Letting out his carefree laugh, Luhan pulled out a few photographs from Haejae's bag "She's got lots of your photos, Tao!" "Where? Let me see them!" Tao tried to grab the photos out of Luhan's hand, but Luhan was faster. He avoided Tao's hand, and kept the photos in his grip. "I'll take this, you can see them later." The youngest member pouted, and moved to stand beside Kris. "Fine, I've still got this, anyway!" He twirled a mechanic pencil in his hand. Luhan took out some more stuffs out of Haejae's bag; a magazine, tabloid articles, more photographs of EXO were scattered on the table. The boys were checking out all the EXO merchandise the girl had in excitement. Suddenly, Luhan let out a loud chuckle; his hands were digging deep into the bag before he took out a professional camera with 300mm telephoto lens attached on it.

"Let me see!" said Yixing. Luhan passed him the camera, "Oh, look! The memory card's still inside!" He said as he scrutinized the camera in his hand. He turned it on and browsed through the pictures. "Ha! You were right, Chen!" Yixing said as he passed it to the quiet boy beside him. A smug smile appeared on his face, as he, too, scrolled through the pictures. "Job well done... yet again," Kris patted Chen's back. Chen shrugged, "Oh, well... What can I say. She's too easy to be recognized. First, i saw her 3 weeks ago when we were here the last time. She was always there on every single performance we're in. Then, on the parking lot. I also spotted her, practically camping out in front of our dorm and company building with her bunch of noisy friends," he explained. "Too easy to be recognized?" Xiu Min asked. Chen smirked, "It's her fault that she always wears this ratty sling bag and puts that mechanic pencil on the front pocket of her uniform." he pointed at the pink, transparent mechanic pencil in Tao's hand. "The bunny cap made it even easier for me." Kris took his chance to scroll through the pictures. He stopped on a picture of him, taken from the back. "They're all the same..." he scoffed coldly. Meanwhile Tao was sighing deeply; he looked bored, "Can we go home? I'm hungry. And we just got here this morning, I miss Kyungsoo's cooking..." He whined. "As soon as we finish this. But, it's been a great day off so far, don't you guys think?" Luhan chuckled. "Wait, who's this?" Xiu min took an old photograph out of the pile. Kris took it and examined it carefully.

"No!! Let me out!" Haejae started to panic seeing the leader had her most precious possession in his hands. She hit the glass wall as hard as her injured hands could. "NO! MOM!" Kris, heard Haejae was making noises, looked back over his shoulder to the freezer box where the poor girl was curling in. He gave the freezer his infamous side-eyes before he walked toward it. His steps were relaxed, a smirk rose on his face. Ignoring the pain and the cold that was creeping all over her body, she screamed, "Please!" she fisted the wall once again, "I-I'm your biggest f-fan... Let me out..." Kris bent his tall body a little bit and looked inside the box. "We know what you did," He said while putting on a frosty smirk. In the midst of the hostile cold, Haejae could feel that the quivers in her body doubled. Trembling, she tried to utter her words, "I-I'm not... w-who do... you t-think I am..." She had to persuade them, no matter how painful it was for her to speak, it was the only hope she had left. "I-I know you... are good p-people." Her teeth made crackling sound as she was shaking heavily. Kris paid a close attention at her and looked through her eyes sharply, like they were about to slice her soul onto pieces. A thud was heard as he put his hand on the freezer's lid and said, "This isn't the first time we heard such thing from people like you," He stressed out the last words. Haejae shivered again but she tried to defense herself. "J-just let me... explain..." Kris was quiet for a while, as if he was taking into account of what the girl in front of him was saying. But then he let out a laugh; the kind of laugh that worsen the quake in Haejae's body. "Okay, let's see what you have there, girl," with a creak, he opened the lid. The rest of the members ceased picking out the photographs and paid attention to what their leader was doing. Kris let the door hung open. Haejae, with fear on her face, braced herself to climb out of the freezer. Dark blue bruises were starting to gradually appear on several parts of her body, caused by the frigid temperature in that glass box.