The next morning, Yeosang paces his room, waiting for Wooyoung to come, so they could plan their escape. It's almost time for him to come down so he gathers potential ideas ready in his head, ready to tell them to him.

When the door opens, Yeosang stands still. "Finally, what-"

He expected to see Wooyoung there, but instead his boss is closing the door behind him and walks towards Yeosang.

He points to the bed "sit".

Yeosang gulps, afraid of the man and does what he says.

He is handed his food "eat".

Usually Yeosang waits for Wooyoung to leave the room before he starts eating, but his boss' stare bullies him into eating straight away. Once he sees Yeosang taking an bite of his food, he heads to the door

"Wait!"

Yeosang wants to slap himself for stopping the man. He wanted him to go already but here he is stopping him. But he couldn't help asking. "Where is Wooyoung?"

What if something had happened to him? Did his boss do something to him? Was it so bad that he has to fill in for him?

Endless scenarios run through his mind and Yeosang can't help but worry for him. He was supposed to be distancing himself from Wooyoung, to stop his recent thoughts about him. He should be thankful that he's not here, since to gives him some practice in controlling his dirty thoughts.

But his heart still squeezed with worry.

The man raises his eyebrows "Why"

The fact that he only speaks in one word statements piles on to the fear he entices from Yeosang. It feels like with each word he becomes one stop closer to becoming a man eating demon.

"It's... just that it's usually him who brings the food... I was just wondering" Yeosang hates the way the fear is clearly evident in his voice, I makes it hard to defend or stand up for himself.

Wooyoung's boss only chuckles. "You don't need to know where he is" he says, then leaves the room.

What was that about? Now Yeosang is actually concerned about Wooyoung. What if he needs help?

He knew something so good couldn't last. As soon as he had the chance of escaping this place, Wooyoung disappears. Now there is no way he can leave with his boss around, and what about Wooyoung? He'll stay even longer under the control of his boss... is he gone under the orders of his boss? What if he's hurt?

Yeosang is so busy overworking his mind, planning and scheming to figure out where Wooyoung could have gone, he forgets to eat.

And when Wooyoung's boss comes in again hours later and looks at the untouched food, Yeosang says his last prayers because he's certain he'll be killed.

The strained smile he shows gives Yeosang shivers, and the chuckle he lets out makes his mind go blank in fear.

"Listen prince. You may not know a thing since you're fucking royalty. But wasting food wastes effort. And money."

Yeosang gulps as he takes steps closer to him.

"I might go completely penniless trying to fucking keep you alive." He cracks his knuckles. "That prize money might not even be enough to compensate all the money I've spent on you. I ought to just kill you now then, that bitch Jung isn't here to stop me anyway"

When he grabs his collar and swings his fist back, Yeosang cries out, covering his face with his arms. "Wait! I'm sorry, I'll eat it all I'm sorry" he begs. He still has bruises from fights with both Wooyoung and his boss, he'd definitely die if he got beat up again.

Nevertheless, he is still thrown onto the floor so roughly, it takes all his energy not to scream. But he thanks the heavens when he leaves the room. Yeosang stands up immediately, feeling dizzy from the hunger, and eats out of fear. He might vomit but he's too afraid to do that.

Thankfully for Yeosang, his last meal is given silently, with the boss just walking in then out.

Today was exhausting. Yeosang thinks. He's never looked forward to seeing Wooyoung this much, he can ask what he was doing, or where he went. Then they can carry on planning.

Yeosang sighs, waiting for the next day. He hopes he doesn't ever need to see his boss again. He shudders, at times like this, Wooyoung is definitely the good guy.

He was the bad guy before, but now Yeosang has decided that he's not anymore. He's more like the misunderstood guy, or the 'I've never hade the opportunity to be good but deep down I'm good' kinda guy. Yeosang is just glad this stressful day is over.

The next morning, Yeosang would have jumped out the window if he had one.

He stares at Wooyoung's boss (more like avoids eye contact) as he is given his food. He almost asks about Wooyoung again but he decides that it would be best if he kept his mouth shut. All he has to worry about now is staying alive, it feels like he's walking on eggshells.

Three more days pass with Wooyoung's boss coming in and out. Yeosang is going crazy.

One, because he has no idea what has happened so Wooyoung. And two because he hasn't talked to anyone in days. Usually he could get some sort of interaction with Wooyoung, whether it be a conversation or a fight. Anything was fine. But Yeosang is too afraid to open his mouth around the man, so he hasn't got any social interaction.

Not to mention the scenarios and fears that have been piling in his head as the days go by. Wooyoung is a stubborn guy right? He would have been back by now right? If an outside person saw Yeosang they'd think he's a psycho, with the way he paces the room, trying to connect the dots of Wooyoung's disappearance. His hair is disheveled from him countlessly running his hands through it.

~

Five days.

Five days too many without Wooyoung.

Five days later when Wooyoung walks in, Yeosang doesn't stop himself from running towards him.

And punching him.

Only on the shoulder though. So it doesn't hurt much, despite Wooyoung's loud wince. But Yeosang doesn't stop there. He currently was at the peak of a mental breakdown and Wooyoung just walks in and completely stops it.

He shoves Wooyoung. "Where the fuck were you?" Another shove. "Do you know that your boss has been with me this whole time?"

Another shove, Wooyoung stumbles a bit this time. "I thought you were dead"

Wooyoung stares at Yeosang, who is fuming, then smiles, which only adds to his anger. "Why are you smiling? Is this your idea of a sick joke?" He moves to shove him again but Wooyoung catches his wrist.

"Why do you want to know where I was? It sounds like you were worried about me" he laughs, not mockingly though, but genuinely amused at Yeosang's reaction to his absence.

"You were gone for a whole week without even saying beforehand!"

"So?"

"So! I had you boss giving me meals suddenly, he almost killed me one day, it was fucking stressful I almost just let him beat me to death. And on top of that, having no knowledge of where you were, why you were gone, if you were ok... it was killing me. It killed me that the one person I fell for suddenly disappeared without a trace!"

Yeosang had been so into his rant that he only realised what he said after looking at Wooyoung's eyes widen. He is still holding his wrist so Yeosang rips his hand off his grip and looks down.

Shit. What did I just say. Yeosang had never even thought about falling for him so why did his mouth spill out a false confession? He needs to fix this fast before Wooyoung misunderstands.

He gulps when he meets Wooyoung's eyes. "I mean, not fell for... I've just like felt like we've become aquatinted now, Right? We're kind of working together now, in a deal..." Even Yeosang doesn't believe himself.

That doesn't stop Wooyoung's heart from hammering in his chest. Since when had he done anything to make Yeosang not hate him? All he remembers doing is constantly hurting him. His insides rumble in guilt.

Wooyoung nods in understanding, it made sense that Yeosang got worried that he suddenly disappeared, especially with his boss replacing him. He would've been angry too, so he just takes Yeosang's words as insignificant ones that were spewed out in the moment. Yeosang seemed like he didn't mean them anyway so he figures they really were meaningless.

He clears his throat and takes a step back, they are too close right now. Yeosang gets the hint and is more than happy to take a step back too.

"I went out to meet someone" Wooyoung starts, looking at Yeosang carefully, who is now listening intently. Before he can ask who he met up with, Wooyoung continues. "It's someone who can help us escape, I've told them about you and our plan, we just need the right opportunity to leave"

Yeosang blinks rapidly "then why were you gone for days?"

"I didn't want to look suspicious to my boss, so I said I'm going on a mission, one that would take days. He was more than happy to let me go".

He nods in understanding. Smart. Wooyoung is putting a lot of effort into their deal. More than Yeosang had expected he would.

In that moment, neither opened their mouths. And Yeosang's own confession doesn't come as a surprise to him anymore.

Wooyoung looks at Yeosang, who is looking at him as if he'd saved the world. He has barely done anything remotely amazing, he's just trying to keep his end of the deal. But something in the way his eyes, which were glazed with curiosity, stares at him when he talks, makes his heart flutter. He has never had anyone be so interested in what he has to say, it makes him unconsciously look forward to seeing Yeosang every day.

Wooyoung had fell for Yeosang without even realising.