Twelve

Twelve— Free Fall

It was almost eleven when Andrea drove into the parking lot of the condominium. She took her purse and was about to go out of the car when she caught a glimpse of a shadow on her rear view mirror. She immediately checked the left side mirror then the other but it didn’t appear again.

Why does it seem like someone is following me?

She got out of her car, locked it and replaced the key in her purse. Her heels thumped on the floor as she made her way to the stairs just a couple of yards away. She was well aware of the eerie silence making her pace turn up instinctively.

Someone is definitely watching her and she could feel it. Even though she rarely gets too scared about such things, that night, she broke into cold sweat and her heartbeat picked up almost painfully in her chest. She was dead scared. The absence of people around terrified her a lot more.

Andrea took off her shoes and ran for the stairs but at the last few steps, she was literally swept off her feet and all of a sudden, her world turned upside down. She grabbed on anything she could which happened to be the heavy jacket her abductor was wearing.

“Who are you?!” She hissed at him as she struggled against the pair of arms holding her tight.

She was being carried by the shoulder, away from the stairs. She threw punches on his back but he didn’t even flinch. Her struggles went on until he realized where he was taking her. Tears started to fall for the first time in a long time as her punches weakened. It was all like the nightmare she tried hard to push away… happening all over again.

The subtle ping sounded like a loud gong in Andrea’s head. She pressed her hands tightly on her ears as she begged for it to stop. There is a reason why she is claustrophobic but no one knew about it because it is a weakness. She should remain as the woman without any vulnerability in the eyes of others.

He threw her inside the elevator and she hit her back on the steel wall. Having been released, she tried to kick him away but the man held on her legs which left bruises on her white skin. She looked at his face but he was wearing a black mask and all she could see are pale blue eyes in the darkness of his hooded jacket.

He took her face in his hand and let his thumb and index finger dig on her cheeks. He leaned close to her and she could clearly see the evil through the sky blue orbs staring her down.

“Who are you?” She said, surprised by her cracking voice.

His eyes narrowed as if to smirk at her. He loved seeing her scared and weak in front of him. More than that, he loves seeing fear.

Suddenly, he took out a small, shiny knife from the pocket of his jacket. He placed his hand on her neck to restrain her from moving. And then he pressed the knife on her trembling lips, satisfied at the dread shaking her whole being.

“What the—“

Andrea’s attacker turned at another man’s voice and saw that the elevator doors opened and a tall young man was looking at them with terror. He immediately let her go and pushed the younger forcefully onto the floor, dropping the bag of food he was holding.

“Andrea, are you okay?” Sehun called out at Andrea and hurriedly stood up to go to her but the attacker stood between them.

“Isn’t your boyfriend older than this punk?” The mystery man’s voice was almost in a whisper.

“Get lost.” Sehun warned.

The man spread his arms at him as if to mock him and taunt him which easily made the younger a lot angrier. When he was about to launch into an attack, a security guard showed up. The attacker looked around and saluted Sehun before disappearing far into the night. The guard chased him and Sehun ran to Andrea’s aid.

“Are you o… okay” Sehun kneeled in front of her but didn’t dare touch her.

Andrea pressed her lips tight as if to stop the tears from falling but they didn’t stop. His heart clenched as she tried to get up through her shaking legs. Without thinking more, he leaned close to her… close enough that he could feel her uneven breath against his lips.

He looked at her and tried to see through her. There was something happening in him seeing her without her usual tough self. Her eyes however, remained down as the tears started to slow down to a stop. He raised her hand to her cheek, caressed the bruise and wiped away the last of her tears.  He went back to get the bag of food then to her, carrying her in his arms.

“Not the…” Andrea whispered.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take the stairs.” Sehun told her.

Andrea was well aware of what was happening but she was too weak and too scared to act tough. She was faced with her greatest fear and almost died out there that she thought it was just fair for her to let her guards down for a while.

Not to mention that Sehun arms were extra warm that night.

**

“Time to go home, kids!” Suho was up early, clapping his hands together to wake the boys up.

He was told that morning that their unit was cleaned and fixed already. Most of them were still half asleep as they dragged their things behind them and unconsciously walked in a line like cute little ducklings to their dorm. Andrea was already up, sticking to her waking time even with her face all swollen. She wore a mask that covered most of her face but her eyes still gave her away.

“Thank you so much for your kindness, Andrea.” Suho said, offering his hand to her.

She briefly shook it and her hand quickly retreated into her jacket’s pocket. Suho smiled at her despite knowing what happened to her last night. He understood well that Andrea didn’t want to open it up so he respected that.

“You’re always welcome here, Suho.” Her voice was a bit low to mask the hoarseness in it.

She walked the leader to the door as Sehun trailed behind them. His eyes never got off her as soon as he saw her already up that morning. But as much as he didn’t want to leave her side, he has to. He has to know who did this to her. She can’t be safe as long as that man is still out there.

“Take care, Andrea.” Sehun whispered as Suho went ahead.

“Thank you, Sehun. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself now.”

Sehun sighed, knowing perfectly well that she can’t. As he lay in his own bed, he thought of her and that deep terror in her eyes last night. Had he not gone out to look for Chen and bought food, something bad would have happened to her. He continued to stare blankly at the ceiling when a small stuffed pokeball hit his face.

“Rare pokemon caught! Special skill: dances on water.” Chanyeol laughed at his own pathetic joke.

“I didn’t notice you there.” Sehun sat up and started fixing his things.

“I’m a six feet giant with extra-large ears. How did you not see me come in?” The giant yoda was displeased.

Sehun rolled his tiny eyes at him and threw back the toy. Sometimes he wonders how come “maknae” is only determined by age and not mental maturity. If so, he would have been one of the oldest. As Chanyeol continued to bug him, Sara stormed to their dorm.

“Everybody in the living room. NOW!”

“Yah… keep it down.” Kris said, mistaking the huge couch as his bed.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I bother you, Kris?” Sara mellowed dramatically and quickly turned to beast mode again, “Because this is definitely YOU KISSING A GIRL!”

All the members gathered to look at Sara’s Instagram where a video of a couple making out was playing. It already hit over two thousand views thirty five minutes into posting it.

“Yeah, that is definitely Kris.” Baekhyun said.

“Is this your girlfriend? She looks hot.” Tao asked.

Kris got up completely confused out of his wits and took the phone from them to see for himself. His swollen eyes slowly widened as he watched himself on the video. It was taken from a yacht owned by his family and was supposed to be private. How the hell did it make it to the public?

“But I can—“

“All your fans have exploded. Gosh. I just came back and this is what I get. And what is this rumor I heard that you moved out of here??” Sara was too restless to even sit down.

“Actually we lived next door with Andrea.” Xiumin raised his hand.

“With who??! What were you thinking???”

“Oh and Chen went missing for two days too.” Lay added.

“WHAT?!”

They slowly filled Sara in with details of everything that had happened to them in the past week. The manager couldn’t believe that after getting sole management over the boys, all these happen under her watch. The boys insisted that they had contacted her but she never got any of their messages. She was sent to an endless training overseas that didn’t really help at all.

Later that morning, all twelve of them including their manager went to the company for a meeting. Apparently, they were into more trouble that the head for external affairs had to talk to them personally. All of them filled the seat around the table as none of them dared to speak. Even Chen’s mouth was shut the entire time.

“So, since all of you are here, I’ll get straight to the point.” Mr. Kang is a well-built handsome man in his early forties.

He took out a folder from his bag and handed it to Sara who then immediately read what was written inside. Some of them glanced at their manager for any hint of what was happening until Mr. Kang caught their attention.

“You have made some serious violations over the past few days and the boss isn’t happy about it. Your most recent TV appearance has raised some speculations that you are having internal crisis.”

He looked at Chen who was missing that day and stared him down like he was going to eat the poor boy whole.

“Mr. Jongdae Kim, you are grounded.”

“What. Like a kid?” Chen spoke before he could even stop himself.

“Yes. You shall not go anywhere else other than to schedules. You failed to explain your sudden disappearance which compromised the whole EXO. You should be thankful that’s all you got for endangering the reputation of the group and the company.”

Chen looked away, clenching his jaw. Kris rubbed his forehead and sighed, making Mr. Kang turn to him this time. All of them knew that if the girl happens to be his girlfriend, it’s going to be a violation of a major clause in their contract.

“As for you, Mr. Wu, you are lucky to be spared too after a breach of contract. Like Mr. Kim, you shall not go anywhere else unless assigned by the company. And, you will not receive any pay for the next two months. The company is losing investors as we speak because of you.”

Mr. Kang looked around but no one dared to raise their heads. Sara felt so sorry to the boys as she knew that they didn’t want any of those to happen.

“This is unfair.” Sara said but Mr. Kang merely looked at her.

“As for the rape case filed against you, I was notified that it is petitioned to be reopened. But until then, all of you must continue with your schedule as planned and make sure that your fans love you enough. Good luck.”

After dropping the bomb on them, Mr. Kang went out of the room and left the whole group as casualties. They probably can get over breakup issues, dating issues and whatnot but knowing that the nightmares are gonna start again soon, it is something they probably won’t be able to go through easily.

Chen looked at all of them and realized what was happening. Andrea is not waiting for his decision. She is forcing her to make a decision.

**

The next day was a free day for them. Some went out to see a movie, some stayed at home with the grounded people and the others just went on doing their own business. The youngest, on the other hand, made his way to 312 while flattening the slight crease on his shirt. Before he could even knock, the door opened and both of them were surprised by each other.

“H—hi.” Sehun smiled a little too widely.

“Hello.” Andrea greeted back and went to lock her door.

“Going somewhere?” Sehun asked, unconsciously scratching the back of his head.

“Uhm… yeah.”

The boy was suddenly speechless, not knowing what to say to make her agree to go with him. Andrea looked at him and patiently waited until he came to his senses. She owed him that much for saving her the other night.

“I… I heard about this new café downtown and I was thinking who to take with me… and I… thought of you.”

“Me.” Andrea said, pointing at herself.

“Yeah. Don’t you want to?”

Andrea thought of how dumb Sehun was for even considering inviting a woman out. She was aware of the controversy one of them is in right now, well because she paid a lot to get Kris’s video out. And now the maknae’s carelessness is just way beyond expected. She can simply call someone to take a photo of them while concealing her face and it’s news already.

“I don’t think your boss will be happy to know about this.”

She was sure of it. She’s their boss.

“Andrea, please. It’s a discreet place. I’ll disguise myself. If I have to cover up in foil, I will.”

“In foil. Haha Sehun.” Andrea did not recognize her own voice.

“So… am I hearing a yes?”

Andrea shook her head and went back to open her door again. Sehun’s smile dropped as he watched her get in.

“Yah…” He said quietly, “Please.”

“What? I need to wear something nicer. That café should be fancy, right?”

“Wh—y… yeah.”

Sehun’s smile reached his ears as he sat comfortably in Andrea’s car. He couldn’t drive his own car or the fans will recognize him immediately. He watched her drive in secret, noting how extra beautiful she is when she is focused on the road. The classical music playing was another discovery for Sehun too. Andrea is truly a woman of substance. At least that’s what our youngest thinks.

When they arrived at the cafe, a few people looked at them but mostly because of Andrea. A slightly hidden spot was available in the corner. Sehun pulled a chair for her and she smiled at his cordialness. The whole place was definitely not something Andrea would go to: cheap furniture, poor interior design, sweets filled menu. But as she watched Sehun happily order some kind of fruit cake for both of them, she had a little purpose for staying there.

Which is definitely NOT because she is attracted to the boy of any sort.

“Sehun, you are too nice. You should be careful.” Andrea warned playfully.

“If you can say that about me, then it’s safe to say I’m only being careless with you.”

Andrea shook her head and smiled while sipping from the four seasons based drink that Sehun got for her. She also tasted the chocolate cake and resolved she was definitely not fond of such sweetness. If you know what I mean.

After about two hours, they were back in Andrea’s car and threading through a block of flower shops.

“What’s your favorite flower, Andrea?” Sehun asked.

“Carnations.” Andrea said, “Wait, isn’t that…”

Sehun looked at her and was going to say something more when he noticed that Andrea’s eyes where focused outside. He followed his gaze and soon enough, he saw a familiar face in the crowd.

“Why is Kai here?” Sehun asked himself.

“I think he bought those carnations.” She answered, shaking her head a bit to go back to reality.

“I really think he has a girlfriend.” Sehun said.

“Really? Why so? Don’t you idols have that “no dating policy” thing?” She continued to drive past Kai and headed back to the condominium.

“Policies don’t apply without supervision.” He winked at her.

“So you all just break rules when no one is watching?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Depends if it’s worth it.”

Sehun smiled at her. He definitely has something going on inside him for her but he is yet to recognize it. He absentmindedly opened the glove compartment and saw a pair of glasses before Andrea could even stop him. He took them and tried them on.

“These don’t look like your style. Are these yours?” He asked while checking out his reflection on the rear view mirror.

“No. They’re Henry’s.” Andrea said nonchalantly.

“And Henry is..?” He looked at her.

“My boyfriend.” She answered without looking at him.

“Oh.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you defeat a rare pokemon.

**

Later that night, Andrea set out to visit Jessica. She hasn’t been there for a few days because of EXO, work, and that attack. She cursed herself for not being able to give time to the center of her universe. When she got to hospital that night, she caressed Jessica’s hair while she slept peacefully… still with no recollection of the evil that happened to her.

Andrea suddenly felt exhausted and wondered whether she’ll ever find peace in all this. For the first time since that rainy evening she found Jessica on the side of the road, she asked herself… is she doing the right thing?

“This can’t be.”

Andrea closed her eyes and tried hard to regain her composure. She reminded herself that EXO did this to her sister and that they should pay. She must not back down now or else everything she has worked hard for will be for nothing. When she opened her eyes, she blinked a bit at the light and her eyes bore on something in the corner of Jessica’s room.

Those pink carnations looked fresh in that vase, she thought.