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SEVEN

  After my shower, I look out of the window. My room overlooks the backyard of the estate. I see a pool, a utility shed, and grass that goes on until the tree line at the back of the property. There's a tall black gate surrounding the property, with armed guards that patrol. Since it's early morning, I see only one guard patrolling the backyard around the perimeter. I can get past him.

  Getting dressed in simple black leggings and a dark green cropped shirt, I slip on my Adidas. I know there is a conference room downstairs that has a door to the backyard. No one will see me slip out that door. I'll just have to time it when the guard is on another part of the extensive property. Watching until he is at the end of the property near the tree line, and that's when I slip out. I run as quietly as I can to the right side of the property. Hiding between the metal gate and brushes. Luckily, the bushes continue along the perimeter of the property. I can hide between the bush and the gate while going along the perimeter, looking for an easy way out. If I can't find some sort of door or hole in the gate I can slip out of, I'm going to climb it. It doesn't seem impossible, but it would draw more attention.

  I make my around the perimeter, monitoring the guard. When I get to the back wall of the property, I notice there's a door in the gate, and it locks from the inside. This is what I was hoping for.

  I look back to check the guard's location and notice he is near the pool, the complete other side of the yard. How did I get so lucky? As quietly as possible, I slowly turn the handle and open the gate, jumping as a loud alarm sounds as soon as I push the door open an inch. There's yelling as more guards come from other places on the property. Crap! I ran for it, running into the tree line and turning right, hoping if they were to chase me, they would keep straight. I continue to the right, then turn left, running through the dense trees. I wince as a low-lying twig snaps back and cuts my face as I push my way through the trees. There's moisture dripping down the cheekbone telling me I am bleeding, but I don't have time to stop and check it out. Hearing the guards behind me in the woods, they're yelling, but they aren't speaking English. I jump into a big bush as I hear them coming closer to me. I hold my breath. There are three guards right in front of me, all arms with large guns. One is on the phone, and I'm sure I know who with. Shit!

  I jump as I hear barking loudly behind me. A giant dog is barking at the bush. "Come out. I don't want to send the dog in to get you, but I will." The man threatens, his accent heavy. The dog lunges at the bush, but the leash held it back in the man's hand. "I will let go of the leash in five seconds." He threatens again. I stand, my hands up. No way am I getting attacked by a giant dog.

  The man on the phone says something before hanging up the phone and speaking to the others in Korean.

  I glance to the side, wondering if I should run. Surely the guys wouldn't let the guards have a dog attack me, right? Or shoot me? I doubt they would.

  "Do not move." Another guard says. I look over at him and see he has a taser pointed at me. My eyes widen and I nod quickly.

  "Our orders are to bring you back to the house. You will walk with us or we will use whatever means necessary to bring you there." He told me. His scarred face is blank, as if this is an everyday occurrence for him.

  We make our way to the house and I am sitting in the living room, guards still surrounding me. The front door slams open, hitting the wall as the men come filing into the living room. I stand up, ready to defend myself. They had to understand that I needed to try!

  Kai is the first in the room, no surprise, but the others are right behind them. They are all wearing similar angry looks. "We weren't even gone an hour!" Jae yelled as they approached.

  "I'm sorry, but I had to try. I can't just stay here without trying to escape. You're keeping me locked here. You took away my education, my job, my phone!" I tell them, giving Kai a pleading look.

  "And are you not treated like a princess?" He asked, his accent a lot more prominent than it usually was when he was angry.

  "That doesn't mean it's okay to make me stay here," I whisper. Yes, for the most part, they treat me well. The cute pet names surprised me with my favorite foods and candies and spending quality time together, but that doesn't change the fact that I am stuck here.

  I wince as he speaks to the guards in Korean. They leave the room, leaving me alone with the three men. "What was your plan?" Han asked, stepping forward and stopping in front of me. I stay silent.

  "Answer me." Han raises his voice for the first time, causing me to flinch.

  "Run," I whisper. "I don't know here. Just away." I can't look at them as I say it. A loud noise causes me to jump. Jae flipped over the coffee table, the glass shattering.

  Kai takes a step forward and I take stop steps back. "No no no," I whisper, shaking my head "Please Kai, I won't try it again, I won't! I promise." I trip over a blanket from our slumber party last night and land on my butt on the floor.

  "I know you won't," Kai said, his voice confident as he walked over to me.

  My chest heaves. I can't breathe. I know I am having a panic attack.

  I'm gasping for air, holding my chest when Kai squats down in front of me, Jae and Han move closer but are still standing.

  "Breathe slowly." Kai soothes me, reaching out to rub my back. "Slow your breathing. Breathe with me, pretty girl." Kai takes a deep breath in and slowly lets it out. I copy his breathing for a few breaths and finally get my breathing under control.

  "We are going to clean this cut and sit down for a conversation." He tells me. I'm not sure why that scares me, too.

  Once we go upstairs to the bathroom, Han cleans the cut on my cheek. "That might leave a scar." He comments, blowing on it to ease the stinging of the disinfectant.

  "Nice job, princess. Permanently scarring yourself, trying to get away." Jae says with an eye roll.

  I look away. "Did you think I wouldn't try? Wouldn't you try to escape?" I ask quietly.

  "We treat you like a fucking princess. We love you. If you would stop being so stubborn, you would live a privileged life, better than the one you had before. You would have some freedom. But you pull this running shit the second we leave you alone for the first time. Maybe we've been too fucking nice. You know most people are afraid to even speak in front of us? I'm thinking you need to see that side of us and maybe you'll finally fucking behave." Jae told her, his voice hard.

  "I think it's the opposite," Han speaks up. "I think we need to show her more of the side that only she gets to see," He said, putting a band-aid over her cut.

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  "We showed her that last night, and look what happened," Jae replied, shaking his head.

  "Last night was a lot. And she's right. We expected she would try. We can't blame her for it." Han continued. I look up at him and give him a small smile.

  "She doesn't need more punishment. She tried to run, she got it out of her system. Right?" Kai asked, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. I nod quickly. He leans down, meeting my eyes. "If you try again, I won't be lenient. This is your one free pass." He told her, voice very serious. "I know," I whisper.

  "She's upset that she wasn't in school today. It's going to be an adjustment for her. We knew that. Let's forget this happened and spend the day with our princess." Han says, gripping her chin gently. He turns my head to check his work on the cut before nodding, satisfied.

  "Go change into house clothes," Han tells me, patting the side of my upper thigh gently.

  The guys are very strict about not wearing outside clothes or shoes in the house. Once you wear the clothes outside, you have to change into 'house clothes' when you get back. I find a pair of comfy pink sweats, a grey tank top and a black sweatshirt that I'm pretty sure is Kai's. I check my reflection in the mirror and wince at the cut. It is a horizontal cut about two inches under my eye that is about three inches long, spanning my entire cheekbone.

  The next two weeks pass by quickly. The rest of the day that I tried to escape, Jae was pretty frosty with me, obviously holding a grudge, but by the next day, he was back to his normal self. Han and I continued training, and Kai and I have been spending time reading together. We discovered we both really like reading. We sit together for hours on the couch; me lying with my legs in his lap as we silently read. Sometimes I look up to find him staring at me, so I think I read more than he does.

  Jae and I have been swimming together. It has been nice to spend time with the guys individually. I have always had a crush on them, but I think I am falling for them.

  The last three days they've been really busy. I have spent a lot of time on my own, watching YouTube videos and trashy reality TV. They've been not getting home until dinnertime and are driving me crazy! I am so bored. Most of the house staff doesn't speak, or at least they don't to me, so there is no one to talk to.

  I've been watching way too much YouTube lately, mostly pranks, and decide, in my complete and utter boredom, that I need to try one of these on the guys. There are not many pranks that I think I can pull off, or have the props for, so I settle for an easy one.

  This could be a death sentence, I realize after I finish painting the hickey on my neck with my eyeshadow pallet. I watched a tutorial on youtube and it looks authentic. I've only had one hickey in my life, and it was on my shoulder. Kai gave it to me while I sat between his legs while we all watched a movie three days ago.

  The guys are home, and I can hear the front door open and close. I stuff my makeup and brushes into the vanity drawer, knowing that their first stop after changing to their 'at home' clothes is always my room. I jump into my bed and start a random reality TV show episode and fast forward it to midway through, so it looks like I've been watching it.

  After just a few minutes, my bedroom door opens and the guys walk in.

  "Finally home to my wife!" Kai exclaims, jumping stomach first onto my bed, and landing on my legs. I let out a laugh. He has been referring to me that way a lot lately.

  "I missed you Jagiya." He tells me, kissing my legs through the blanket. "I missed you too, all of you," I whisper. My hair is down so they don't notice the fake hickey at first. It's kind of on the side of my neck, under my hair.

  "Mohae?" Han asks in Korean.

  "Just watching this show," I answer casually.

  Jae and Han make their way to my bed and plop down on either side of me. Kai is still lying horizontally across my legs at the end of the bed. Han turns my head to face him, and leans down, kissing me. They're always touching me now. Even just holding hands or putting a hand casually on my thigh.

  The kiss lasts a while. I try to take control of the kiss, wondering if he would let me out of the three. I feel like he's the most likely to let me, so I put my hands on his shoulders and push him as I sit up and straddle his waist, never breaking the kiss, my tongue running along his as he lets me take control It isn't long before he steals it back though, turning and slamming me down on the bed, running his tongue up the side of my neck, the opposite side that the fake hickey is on. Honestly, I am so into the kiss I completely forget that I'm in the middle of pranking them.

  As he moves to the other side, he pauses. "Fucking hell, Kai," Han comments with a chuckle. "What did I do?" He asks, sitting up. "Marked her. I know that's your thing, but damn, that's a dark one." Han said before placing his lips back on hers. I was over the prank already. I just wanted to get back to kissing Han.

  "I didn't leave that there," Kai said, moving closer, hovering above her. "I only left one of her shoulders. Must have been Jae." He said, looking at it. "Impressive." He complimented, tapping his shoulder.

  "That wasn't me," Jae said, turning to look at it too. The three men froze, Han pulling his lips from mine. He gripped my jaw tightly and turned my head to the side to make the hickey more visible. "That isn't fucking funny. Which one of you idiots did this?" Han asked. "Good fucking question," Kai said, leaning forward to get a better look. Han let go of her jaw when Kai brushed his hand away. Kai's grip was tight but not painful as he turned her head from side to side, inspecting her entire neck.

  "If you tell me now, I won't lock you in the basement for the rest of your life," Kai told her, looking into my eyes, his eyes were dark but still had enough shine to let me know I was still talking to Kai and not his alter ego. I almost laugh, but I have to keep it together. I didn't do all this to tell them after half a second.

  I try to sit up, but Kai puts his hand on my chest, holding me down. All three of them are hovering over me, waiting for my answer.

  "It's a burn." I blurt out. "From curling my hair," I tell them. "Hmm, but your hair is still straight," Jae said, rolling his eyes. Shit.

  "I-I stopped when I got burned. It was right when I started, so my hair didn't get curled." I lie.

  Jae looks at Han. "Round up every guard who had access to the house today. We will question them all." The two stand up, ready to go round up potential suspects.

  "I hope it was worth it. You just signed someone's death certificate." Kai told her with a cruel smirk.

  "Wait! Wait!" I say as Han and Jae walk toward the door. "I-it's just a prank. It's makeup." They walk back toward me. Kai rubs his fingers over the fake hickey and looks at his hand to see if there's any transfer. "See!" I exclaim, grabbing his hand to look at it, except it's clean. My face falls. "Liar." Kai growls. "No-! No, get a makeup wipe on my vanity! It's fake, I swear." I yell as Han and Jae try to leave again. I try to get up, but Kai holds me down. "Kai, I swear, I was bored, so so bored and I've been watching YouTube all day and the prank looked fun! I was just trying to brighten up the boring day." I tell him, getting frantic.

  Han suddenly comes back with a makeup wipe. I try to take it from him as he extends his hand toward my neck. "Don't touch it." He tells me with a growl. I freeze and let him wipe at my neck with the makeup wipe until he is satisfied. "It's makeup." He says, glancing at the others. "Babe, what the hell?" Jae asks, sounding relieved.

  Kai is still holding me down by my shoulders when I try to sit up. "You're still mad," I whisper.

  He grips my jaw again, turning my head to the right. He leans down and starts sucking on the spot where the fake hickey is. I wince at the pain. He is going a bit harder than usual, probably trying to match the deeper purple I used with the eyeshadow.

  Once he's satisfied, he pulls away, admiring his work. I turn my head to look at him. "No one except me, not even you, gets you to leave marks on what's mine. This is mine." He tells me, poking the hickey, making it ache. "Understand?" He asked, making me nod. "Words." He growls. "Yes, I understand," I breathe.

  Kai gets off of me and Han grabs my arm, making my eyes go to him. He skillfully flips me over on the bed so I'm laying on my stomach and lands an open-handed hit on my butt. He swats me four more times before I can react. It was quite a hard hit; the sound echoing off of the walls. When he lets go of me, I spin around, sitting on my butt on the bed, wincing at the pain, my mouth open in shock.

  "That's for ruining our make-out session with your games." He tells me. My eyes fill with tears, not at the pain but at the embarrassment of being spanked! In front of two other people. Kai chuckles. "Don't be embarrassed, princess." He says, touching my burning face. My entire face is red. I can feel it.

  "That wasn't very smart," Jae tells me, lying on the bed again. "I know, I was just trying to have fun," I tell them, touching the new hickey on my neck, wincing at the pain. Kai pulls my hand away from the Hickey. "Next time, it might be smart to try a prank that won't send us into a murderous rage, considering we are capable of murder," Kai advised me, poking my nose gently. "I'll keep that in mind," I whisper.

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