Most of my shift is uneventful.

  At around seven, an hour before I am off of work, the hostess Lucia comes over to her. Lucia is a nice girl. She's in her late twenties with bright pink hair.

  "Hey girl, I just sat at table twenty-three, and they're asking for you, " she says with a wink.

  "Okay, thanks! I'll be right there." I tell her as I pick up table twelve's pot roast, quickly drop it off, and make my way over to table twenty-three, where I see the guys. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask with a smile. They look great. Han looks like he just came from the gym, wearing sweats and a tank that shows off his biceps. Kai wears jeans and a black T-shirt, while Jae wears jeans and a blazer.

  "We just wanted to see you, princess," Kai says to me with a smirk. "You just wanted to spy on me because you don't like that I have a male coworker," I tell him, my hand on my hip.

  "Yes, so what?" He asked, eyebrow raised. I sigh. "You should trust me, you know," I tell them softly.

  "We trust you Pip, we don't trust other people," Han told me, reaching out to take my hand gently, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand.

  Smiling softly at his comforting gesture, I ask "I know... So, what do you want to eat?" The guys each order a burger and fries, making my job pretty easy. "We will drive you home after your shift," Jae tells me as I drop off their food a while later.

  "I can take the bus. You don't have to wait here for me. It's going to be an hour," I say with a shrug. "We'll wait," Jae says, shaking his head. His tone tells me not to argue, so I nod and walk back to pick up the check I need to drop off at table three.

  I hear my phone ding, so I take a moment while I'm in the back to check it. It's my dad, telling me he isn't coming home this weekend after all. He's been gone a month. Rolling my eyes, I stick my phone back into my pocket, annoyed.

  I finish deserving tables and cleaning up, count my tips, and then I'm ready to go. The guys are waiting outside for me when I walk out, leaning against the black SUV they often drive.

  "Are you hungry, Pip?" Han asks me as I approach them. Before I can answer, my stomach growls loudly, making him laugh. "Let's get you some food on the way," Jae says, opening the back door for me. I nod and climb in, rolling my eyes when he buckles my seatbelt for me. Secretly, I like it and think it's cute.

  Kai is sitting next to me, and he takes my hand in his, kissing it gently. "There's a carnival in town this weekend. We want to take you. What do you say?" He asks me, a smile on his face. I nod excitedly. The guys know how much I love rides and carnivals. We used to go every year together.

  "I would love that," I tell him.

  Jae drives us to my favorite pizza-by-the-slice place, which is in a horrible area of town. It's late and dark. I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach for the door handle when Kai grabs my wrist carefully.

  "You wait here with me, Pip." Han winks at me as he and Jae get out of the car and walk up to the window to place the order. They come back only a few minutes later with two slices of my favorite pepperoni and jalapeno pizza.

  I took the paper plate excitedly. "You remembered my favorite," I say, slightly surprised. I take a bite and nearly burn my mouth, but it's so worth it.

  "Of course, we remember," Jae says with a laugh.

  I finish my pizza before we get to my house five miles away.

  ---

  The rest of the week goes by smoothly. The guys come to the diner and drive me home every night that I work. It's now Friday and I only work until five today, since we are meeting up at seven to go on our date.

  I take a quick shower and take my time getting ready. Since we are going on rides, I decided to wear a pair of light-wash jean shorts and a white T-shirt, with my favorite white Adidas. Simple. My hair was curled and styled in a half-up and half-down do.

  Just before seven, the doorbell rings and I open the door for them, taking in their attire. They look so good in their button-down shirts. "Hi," I say, shyly. I bounce on my heels nervously until Han wraps his arms around me. "You look so beautiful." He whispers in my ear.

  Kai hands me a bouquet of roses. "They're so pretty! Thank you." I tell him, going to put them in water in the kitchen. Jae helps me get the vase from the top shelf. "Let's go!" Kai says excitedly once I finish.

  -----

  "What do you want to do first, princess?" Kai asked, putting his arm over her shoulder as we waited in line to get their wristbands. I look up at him, shrugging. "I would like to go on the typhoon." I told him, pointing to a ride that has the shape of an 'X'. It spins upside down in large circles.

  "Yes! That's my girl." Kai explained excitedly.

  "Are you sure about that one, babe?" Han asks nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Once they got to the front of the line, Jae asked for four unlimited wristbands, and the young man putting the wristbands on guests stepped forward. "Ladies first." He said with a small smile.

  Before I could step forward, Kai grabbed the wristband out of the guy's hand. "Nice try." He told him before securing the wristband to my wrist. I rolled my eyes. "Are you always going to be this possessive?" I asked him, putting a hand on my hip.

  "Oh, baby, you haven't seen me possessive yet." He tells me, making my eyes widen.

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  -----

  The date goes well. We went on most of the rides and ate corn dogs, funnel cakes, and ice cream. The guys won me a few stuffed toys. Kai was especially good at the ax-throwing game. Finally, around nine-thirty, as we are sitting at a table finishing our ice cream, Han stands up. "Alright, the little princess is getting tired." He says, pulling me from my dozing. "Am not," I mumble, embarrassed.

  "She's so cute when she blushes." Kai coos, pinching my cheeks. I push his hands away.

  Suddenly, a loud popping noise sounds through the carnival. I flinch, thinking maybe a ride has malfunctioned. Before I could react more than that, Kai grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me underneath the picnic table we were sitting at. More loud pops happen, and people are screaming and running. I realize that the pops are gunshots. Before I know it, it's quiet. I register a pain in my arm, but I am shaking and in too much shock to do anything.

  Jae's face comes into view as he leans down to look at me. I pounce at him, jumping into his arms. He catches my shaking form and stands, lifting me with him, one hand under me and the other hand on the back of my head.

  "It's okay, you're okay." He whispers in my ear. I turn my head to look at the others. He pushes my head into the crook of his neck so I can't see anything, but not before I see Han holding a handgun. I whimper as the pain in my arm increases now that the first round of shock is wearing off.

  "Is she hurt?" Kai asks from somewhere close to my left side. "Let's get to the car," Han says, his voice sounding business-like. I hear a zipper to my left and suddenly I am being covered by something that smells like Kai. He must have put his jacket over me.

  "Princess, we are going to the parking lot now. Can you tell me if you're hurt?" Jae asks. I turn my head to look at my arm, but it's too dark in this area to see. What I see is Kai next to me, gun out on high alert as we quickly make our way to the parking lot. I don't see Han, but I hear his footsteps in front of us. "My arm." I whimper, trying to make my voice strong but failing.

  Jae says something quickly in Korean, and Kai responds. It feels like forever before we reach the car. Kai opens the back door and Jae sets me in the backseat before running to the driver's side and getting in. Once everyone is in the car, we speed off just as the police sirens start in the distance.

  "Is she okay?" Han asks, turning to look at us from the front seat.

  Kai gently takes my arm and winces. "I checked out the bench she was under, it had been hit a few times. It looks like she has splinters from the wood. They're pretty big and deep. Not a lot of blood, though." He says. "I am going to kill them all." He adds in Korean, his accent slightly thicker than normal. "I'm not going to make it quick. I'm going to tie them up, I'm going to take my blade and I'm-" Jae cut Kai off "She doesn't need to hear this," He cuts in. Kai gives me a small smile while I gape up at him, wondering if he's being serious.

  Guns, they had guns! I pull away from him. "Y-you shot at people! On our first date." I say, glaring.

  "They shot at us first." Kai scoffs. When my glare intensifies, he sighs. "I'm sorry that I shot at someone on our first date." He grumbles, making Jae and Han turn to look at us.

  "Did he just apologize? And for violence? His favorite thing?" Han asks. "That's the power of our princess," Jae responds.

  The three of them talk in Korean for a while. Han takes out his phone and makes a call.

  "Where are we going?" I asked when I noticed that we weren't going toward my house.

  "Our house. The doctor is going to meet us there to check out your arm," Jae tells me, glancing at her. "Don't worry, he's just going to take a look at it, remove the splinters and clean it." He tells me, knowing my fear of doctors and needles. When I was fourteen, my grandmother went to the hospital for an infection. She had told the doctor that she was allergic to the prescribed antibiotics, but they mistakenly gave them to her, anyway. She died from anaphylaxis that night. Ever since then, I have refused to see a doctor. I don't trust them.

  "You know we won't let anything happen to you. We know this doctor well, and we trust him. And he knows I won't hesitate to slit his throat if he even looks at you funny," Kai tells me casually, making my eyes widen.

  "I know your medical records." He continues. "I hacked the insurance database. I needed to know everything about you. You were diagnosed with pharmacophobia, the fear of medication. You have severe anxiety, diagnosed after what happened at the party. You were diagnosed with PTSD too, they prescribed you medication that you don't take for it. I also know you're allergic to latex and penicillin. I won't let anyone near you with either." He tells me, looking me in my eyes so I know he is serious, and I trust him.

  It isn't long before we arrive at their house.

  The gates in front of the house open as we pull up, and another car pulls in behind us. I look at Kai. "It's the doctor." He says, taking my hand gently. "I'm scared," I whisper to him. He smiles at me. "I'm the scariest one around here, and you have me to protect you." He told me and I believed him.

  I was taken into a large room on the ground floor that was set up like a clinic. There was a large leather chair, similar to the kind you see in blood banks, as well as a hospital bed in the corner of the room. The smell of anesthetic made me scrunch my nose and hold on to Kai tighter. Who in their right mind would be trusting of the diagnosed psychopath?

  "Miss, please have a seat so I can take a look at your arm." The older man in the white coat said. He looked kind and reminded me a bit of my father. He was in his fifties, white, and had a greying mustache.

  I hesitantly sat down in the chair, Kai leaned against the left side arm of the chair, while the doctor pulled up my right sleeve and checked my arm. "Ouch, this looks painful. Let me give you something for the pain before we get started extracting the spinners. They're pretty large." He told me, reaching for his bag.

  "No!" I exclaim nervously. "I don't want any medicine," I tell him. "It's going to be painful to extract these." The doctor tells me. He turns to look at Jae and Han, both standing behind the doctor with crossed arms. "Baby, please let him give you something for the pain. It's going to hurt," Jae tells me and sighs when I shake my head. "She doesn't want it. It's her choice." Kai said with a wink in my direction.

  The doctor gets started on pulling out the splinters, and it is extremely painful. Some sprinters are very thin and long, while others are short. It takes about twenty minutes to get them all removed, and I have been crying into the arm of Kai's shirt the whole time while he rubs my back and tells me how strong and brave I am.

  "Now I just need to clean it. You don't need any stitches." The doctor, whom I have learned is named Lawrence, tells me. Jae and Han are whispering to each other behind the doctor. They keep looking at me. Once the cleaning is finished, Jae pulls the doctor aside and speaks to him in whispers.

  Kai sits beside me on the chair and effortlessly lifts me into his lap. "You did so well, my princess." He tells me, wiping away my tears. I hear the doctor and Jae walks back over to us. "Thank you for trusting me to protect you. I'm so sorry." He tells me, making my eyes squint in confusion. Before I can react, he has my arms and legs pinned, so I can't move. The doctor approaches the needle in his hand. I scream and thrash, but the hold Kai has on me is strong. The doctor injects a needle filled with medication into my thigh. It's over quickly. Kai is still holding me as the doctor puts away the syringe and picks up his bag to leave. Jae kneels in front of us and Kai lets go of me. I'm feeling weak and suddenly having trouble keeping my eyes open. "You're okay. It's a very mild sedative. It's very safe. I promise I would never give you anything unsafe." Jae says. I try to lift my arm, but it feels so heavy.

  "This is to protect you," Han adds, looking guilty. They all do.

  Kai's hand rests on my cheek. "Don't fight it, princess. Sleep. I'm going to watch over you. I won't let anything happen." With those words, my eyes flutter shut.