A black car. 

Men in suits, each equipped with a handgun and dark sunglasses to shroud their identity.

Strong hands with a death grip on my arm basically dragging me into the backseat.

A blindfold presented to me by one of the men, who had seated himself in front of me in the custom SUV, one of the rows of which had been turned to face the back seats. "Put this on."

It wasn't a question. I shuddered, scared.

"Wh-Where are you taking me?" I received the blindfold but hesitated to tie it around my head, glancing down at it before looking up at the man who had given it to me. Surprisingly, he whipped off his sunglasses and folded them into his breast pocket so he could meet my terrified gaze with icy but understanding blue eyes.

"We're taking you to the Lee Manor. Please don't be scared, and put on the blindfold." He nodded at the cloth I held in my lap, his voice softening slightly.

"Could I not?"

"I'm sorry, but for confidentiality reasons, you must wear the blindfold, Miss Young." Leaning a hand on his thigh and reaching the other across the seats to close the door, it slammed shut and made me flinch.

"Confidentiality reasons? What—"

"Miss Young, put on the blindfold."  His voice turned as icy as his eyes in a split second, and my stomach fell as he spat the command.

I raised the cloth to tie it behind my head.

Was I really being kidnapped right now? It was hard to believe, like this was a scene straight out of a thriller movie and the director would yell 'cut' at any moment.

"Do you have a phone or means of communication with you?" I could feel his azure eyes darting over my pockets, visually searching me.

"No," I answered truthfully. My only means of sending an SOS text was at the station, so I mentally gathered all other possible routes of getting help. These men were too strong to physically overpower, and they had guns, so fighting my way out wasn't an option.

My seat lurched forward under me as the sound of asphalt moving under the tires told me that we had started off. We were leaving Hyunjin's house, and by the way we slowed to a stop before continuing forward, we had already exited the cul-de-sac and were out on the main street, passing the stop sign.

Did Hyunjin know I was being spirited away right in front of his house? I gritted my teeth in regret. If I had screamed before they dragged me into their car, he might have heard me. Now, Hyunjin was probably asleep, and he wouldn't notice my car still parked out front until morning.

But morning would be too late.

We stopped and jolted forward again before gliding consistently on a long stretch of road, maybe a highway leaving the city. Not being able to see what was moving around me made me a little dizzy, and I held my stomach, getting motion sickness.

I couldn't see, and my mind, like my sight, was enveloped in darkness. I tried to count time to see how far away they were taking me, tapping my finger on my thigh to keep track of seconds.

60 seconds.

3 minutes.

20 minutes.

I think the man had noticed, but it didn't matter anyway as I lost track of time around 30 minutes and just sat in darkness for the rest of the time, which felt like silent, horrible eternity.

The absence of all light and sound except the white noise of the tires' friction on the pavement left me to my own, hopeless thoughts. 

I was being kidnapped right now, they were taking me too far out of the city to keep up with, and I would probably die a miserable death in the middle of nowhere. 

Other than my mom, my cat, my immediate family and close friends, two other people flashed through my mind that I would never get the chance to say goodbye to. 

Felix. I would never see his bright smile again, it would cease to light up my life, if I still had one by the end of this. His eyes would never again sparkle when he looked at me, something he shared with the other person who filled my thoughts. Hyunjin. I would miss them both so much—

But I caught myself before a tear could escape my eye. I was probably being overly dramatic, letting Hyunjin's personality rub off on me too much. 

I would be fine... right? 

Right...? Damn, how I wanted the director that I made up in my head to yell 'cut' already.

I flinched as the deep voice in front of me eventually reminded me that I wasn't alone in the darkness with my thoughts, and at first I thought my precious movie director had materialized, but once I realized that he wasn't saying 'cut' or anything close to it, my heart sank back.

"Are you alright?" His words didn't carry a tone of concern, I could tell he was just going through the motion of worry. But the small inkling of kindness that softened his voice as he followed up comforted me a little. "Are you getting dizzy?"

I shook my head, which made me more dizzy. "I'm fine." I tried to sound cold, unfazed, but the crack in my voice betrayed that I was still extremely scared.

The man gained a heart upon hearing my terrified tone, and I heard him heave a deep sigh. "Take it off, then."

Turning my head in the direction of his voice, even though I couldn't see him, my brows furrowed under the blindfold in question.

By the change of direction in his voice, I could discern that he was looking out the window. "You can take it off, we're far enough out that you won't recognize where we are."

I ripped off the blindfold to find that my surroundings were almost as dark as my sight had been behind the cloth. It was the dead of night, and as I glanced out the window at the trees zooming past us in a blur, I knew he was right; I couldn't recognize anything. 

There were no landmarks, buildings or even other cars. We were alone on a narrow street where an occasional streetlight passed by, making me squint at the flash that brightened the inside of the car, allowing me to catch a glimpse of the man seated in front of me before his features faded out with the light.

His icy eyes stayed on me while his two suited and armed companions occupied the front, both silent as one drove and the other sat like a statue in the passenger seat.

I shifted uncomfortably under his glare. I cleared my throat, trying to break the quiet that weighed down the air and made me shiver.

"Are you cold?" The blue-eyed man barked out, but kept his hands folded in his lap, making it obvious that he wasn't going to do anything about it even if I was cold.

I shook my head again. He nodded complacently and looked out the window. 

"What's your name?" This was my awkward attempt at a conversation, one that I didn't really want to have, but I just couldn't sit in silence so heavy and filled with tension.

Glancing at me, maybe deciding if he should answer, the stoic icy-eyed man finally spoke. "Call me Agent Wang."

"Do... you guys work for the government?" I choked out. I didn't think I had committed any crimes recently; where and why were these men taking me?

"No," The blue-eyed man — Agent Wang — spoke. "We work for the Lee Estate."

Oh shit. I had gotten in trouble with some prestigious family who were going to ruin me, my life, my career, my dreams. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, overwhelmed with anxiety.

Who had I offended recently? No one who immediately came to mind... except... maybe Minho, but would he really take a pillow thrown in his face to heart??

Minho was from a prestigious Lee family, moderately well known in Seoul, but I knew his parents, and we had been friends for quite a while — he wouldn't pull this kind of thing as a prank. It was too low, even for him. Which sounds disrespectfully demeaning; it was meant to be.

The asphalt under us turned to rocks, crunching and popping under the wheels as we took a turn. The sound caught my attention and I looked up, glancing out the window to see our destination.

We had arrived at a towering mansion, the pillars and awning delicately carved with a greek architectural touch, the windows, glowing warmly from inside, were large and set with dark panes, contrasting the clean ivory palette of the outside.

A gold-plated gate at the entrance, the metal swirling with design, had opened for us, allowing the SUV to approach the roundabout driveway and spacious garage, which was lined with more black cars.

The other two agents dropped Agent Wang and I off at the front doors, and he grabbed my arm with a firm "Let's go." I shook my arm to silently assert that I could walk myself, and he hesitated before releasing his grip and walking behind me.

The front doors, tall and pristine, were like towering giants that personified my fear of what was behind them. The left one inched open, a woman peeking out before opening it wider and granting us entry. The inside of the mansion was more exuberant than the outside, the decor favoring the palettes of golds, soft, earthy tones of brown and whites, ivory and pearl.

"In here," Agent Wang boomed from behind me, nodding towards a room on our right, which I had almost passed in my aimless wandering. 

I looked back at him, and he nodded again, trying to reassure me, but it gave me no comfort. I gulped before stepping through the threshold, greeted by the warm light of a crystal chandelier hanging over the large living room. Two figures seated on the gold tufted couches in the center of the space caught my attention as Agent Wang shifted to stand near them against the wall, like a crossed-arm statue. 

Looking up from her examination of her nails to flash me a grin, the dark-haired woman sat up straight, tapping who I assumed to be her husband on his knee. He glanced up from the book he had drowned himself in, meeting my eyes before setting the book on the coffee table below him, showing slight interest in me over the enrapturing literature. 

The woman's grin turning into a sly smile, she crossed her legs, a flowing cream dress cascading over her knees as she daintily folded her red-nailed hands in her lap. She crooned my name with a devilish, conniving smirk, and I hated the way it passed her crimson lips.

"Hana Young. We're so glad you decided to come see us."