Third person's POV
Mina slowly opens her eyes, feeling this massive headache from some sort of chemical smell that is still lingering in her nose. Her arms and legs feel numb as if they don't belong to her, her mind is still processing of what is happening.
Shakes her own head a few times to bring some senses back, Mina realises she is in a standing position with her arms raised above her head, she quickly looks up to see each of her wrists is tied up tightly with a rope, the other end of each rope is bound to a big wooden bar across the ceiling. She looks down to see her legs are also tightly tied up together by a rope around her ankles, her shoes are gone, her feet barely touch the ground. Her body is shaking, feeling every bits of the cold, she checks her clothing, in this freezing cold night and she is now only has a half knee length shirt on top of her underwear and bra.
Knowing that she is in danger, Mina alarmingly checks her surroundings. The place looks like an abandoned barn, with old farming tools in a corner, some haystacks in another corner. She tries to move her wrists to loosen the knot, only to feel this burning pain breaking her skin from the very tighten rope. Gathers all her left over energy, Mina screams for help, 'Help...can anyone hear me? Please help! Chaeyoung, where are you? Help me...Chaeyoung!'
The old barn door creakily opens, 'There is no use of screaming for help. The closest house in this area is ten minutes away from here by car, no one will hear you. I suggest you save some energy, because you are going to need it.' A cold, emotionless voice tells Mina,
'So...Somi?' Mina is in shock seeing Somi standing right there at the door,
Somi slowly walks over to Mina, her hand is holding a whip, spinning it around in the air as if it's her favourite toy. She stops right in front of Mina, her eyes are wild and dark, she clicks her tongue, 'Tsk...tsk...tsk...how naive are you? I told you Chaeyoung was with me and you believed that? Eventhough Chaeyoung told you to wait for her right there?'
Mina is still in disbelief, 'Somi, what are you doing? Why did you trick me? Why did you take me here?'
Somi laughs out loud, 'Don't you get it, Mina? I planned this for awhile now, simply because...I hate you, Mina, I hate you to the point that I can kill you right here, right now.'
Shivers run down Mina's spine hearing the cold, psychotic tone from Somi, she is unable to speak a word,
Somi leans her face real close to Mina's face, smirking, 'Awww...don't be scared, Chaeyoung's Princess. I won't kill you just yet, I'm going to enjoy hurting you first.'
Mina could see that this Somi is different to the Somi that has been around with their group of friends in the last few months. This Somi is dangerous, full of hatred and on the verge of losing sanity,
'Somi, let me go. Don't do this! I thought we are friends.' Mina says, trying hard to keep her voice from shaking,
Somi laughs psychotically, 'Mina, last few months were just an act. I'm quite an actress, aren't I? You all believed me. You really thought I could be friends with you? After you took Chaeyoung, the love of my life away from me?'
Somi continues to talk while slowly walking around Mina in circles, her hand is still spinning the whip in the air, as if trying to scare her captured prey even more, 'That's not all, Mina. I hate you because you are so rich to the point that it's unfair to everyone else. I hate all the expensive, brand name clothes you wear, I hate all the fancy food at those crazy rich restaurants that you eat. That's why I leave you wearing only a shirt right now, and I won't give you any food or drink, so you will know what it feels like to be cold without any proper covering, to be starving without any food.'
Somi stops right infront of Mina, she glares at Mina's face, 'I hate your pretty face, I hate the fact that you are always the center of attention everywhere we go, so Mina, soon enough I will leave a few scars on it, just so that you are not pretty anymore...'
Mina is starting to feel the fear creeping up inside her, she is in complete silence, too scared to make a sound,
Somi continues, 'I also hate how you are so talented at dancing, making everyone looks at you with envious eyes. And that's why Mina, I'm going to have to break your legs as well, just so you can't dance anymore.'
Mina is now shaking in fear, cold sweats are visible on her forehead,
Somi looks at Mina with full anger, 'But the biggest reason why I risk everything to do this is because you stole Chaeyoung from me. I hate it everytime she calls you her Princess, I hate it everytime she calls you her Baby. I absolutely despise it everytime she cares for you, pampers you with so much love and adoration. As if you haven't gotten everything in the world already, Mina, you have to steal the only thing I have ever wanted. Chaeyoung is my one and only love, I begged her almost every day to love me back for the whole five years in Australia, but she refused it. And you just showed up out of nowhere, snatched her away from my hands just like that. So Mina, don't blame me, don't blame me if I hurt you badly.'
She holds the whip up right infront of Mina's face, 'You see this whip? I actually bought it for myself. Everytime I think about Chaeyoung and you, my heart hurts like a knife is slicing through it, so I whip myself with this, the pain on the skin somehow takes away the pain in the heart. But then one time, I realised, why am I hurting myself? The one should be hurting is you, Mina. So, I'm going to use this whip on you... oh let me tell you, it's painful, once the whip touches your skin, red visible marks will instantly show up, sometimes it even makes you bleed. You will scream, you will cry tears of blood, you will beg me to stop, but Mina...I'm never going to stop.'
Somi then proceeds to stand behind Mina, places all her anger, jealousy and hatred into her hand, strikes the whip with full force straight onto Mina's back. One, two, three then four, five strikes, the whip rips Mina's shirt at every contacts, deep red painful visible marks instantly show up on Mina's soft milky skin,
Mina screams in pain at each strike, her arms and legs are bound by the ropes, so she can't move, she can't avoid, she can only close her eyes tightly, standing still and take the full force from the whip,
Mina's tears are falling nonstop from this immense pain that is on her back right now, the pain that is too much for her fragile body to take, the type of pain that she had never imagined that she has to face one day.
Eventhough her tears won't stop falling, she doesn't make a single crying sound, she bites her lips, holding it in. Her stubborn self would not let Somi feel the complete victory.
Somi stands infront of Mina, she holds Mina's jaw with her hand and forcefully lifts Mina's face up, 'You are quite a fighter, aren't you? I thought you would be begging me to stop by now.'
Mina takes the opportunity to bite Somi's hand real hard, made it bleeds where her teeth marks are. Somi quickly withdraws her hand, wincing her face in pain. Somi turns insane, she angrily shouts at Mina, 'You are asking for it, Mina. I'm going to have to hit you harder.'
Somi is then continuously whipping at Mina's back without any mercy. The whip leaves many deep red marks, some even breaks Mina's skin, blood stains are everywhere on Mina's shirt.
Somi stops when she had enough, she is tired from all the whipping. She proceeds to just walk out of the barn, lock the door and she's gone, leaving Mina there by herself, all shaken up.
Mina is hungry, cold and scared. The immense pain on her back is not subsiding anytime soon. She regrets trusting Somi, regrets following Somi's instructions and walked into that alleyway, regrets that she didn't listen to Chaeyoung and just stayed right there where Chaeyoung told her to. She misses Chaeyoung so much, she wishes that she is in Chaeyoung's arms right now, Chaeyoung would not let anyone hurt her like this, Chaeyoung would gently soothe the pain away for her. Mina is starting to sob thinking of Chaeyoung, her personal safe place, 'Chaeyoungie...help me! It hurts so much... I don't think I can take it anymore... Chaeyoungie, please come!... please save me!'
Next morning, Chaeyoung is still lying on the bed, hugging the photo frame. She couldn't sleep at all, she stayed up all night thinking hard about all the possibilities and about anyone who could have kidnapped Mina. She is worried sick for her Baby's safety, anxiety is killing her slowly.
The door bell rings, Chaeyoung drags her feet to open the door, 'Chaeyoung, look at you, you look dead. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday, have you? Here, I brought some breakfast for you.' Somi says to Chaeyoung, all caring and loving, as if she has nothing to do with the missing of Chaeyoung's source of happiness.
Chaeyoung just ignores her, she walks over to the sofa, plops down on it, still hugging the photo frame in her arms. Somi walks over, sitting down right next to Chaeyoung, 'Don't be like this, Chaeyoung, it's not the end of the world. I'm always here for you, lean on me whenever you need to.'
Chaeyoung doesn't say anything, she is staring at the ceiling, her mind is still working with full capacity, then a thought suddenly crosses her mind, 'Wait a second, Somi was the only one who didn't answer her phone yesterday when Mina went missing. Could it be...? But no, that's just absurd.'
Seeing that Chaeyoung is not responding, Somi reaches her hands and cups Chaeyoung's cheeks, 'Chaeyoung, at least eat something, you look like you're about to pass out.'
Chaeyoung immediately notices the bandage on Somi's hand which Somi used to cover Mina's teeth marks, she slowly sits up, 'Somi, what happened to your hand?' She asks,
Somi is slightly panic, 'Uhm...uh...it's uhmm...I accidentally cut my hand, yes, I cut my hand.'
'Why is she panicking?' Chaeyoung is thinking to herself, but she keeps a straight face, not letting Somi know her thoughts, 'Oh, you cut yourself. Be careful next time, Somi.'
Chaeyoung continues to ask, 'Have you been contacted by the police yet?'
'Why would the police contact me? I don't do anything wrong.' Somi answers, trying hard to stay calm,
Chaeyoung saw the slight changes in Somi's face and expression, she is now suspecting Somi even more, 'Why so defensive?' Chaeyoung thought, but staying normal on the outside, 'The police will just contact and interview everyone who knows Mina, that's all.' Chaeyoung tells her,
Somi is starting to feel uneasy, 'Uhm, Chaeyoung, I gotta go. See you later, ok?!'
'Uhm, see you later!' Chaeyoung says,
Somi quickly walks out of the door. Chaeyoung puts her jacket on then follows behind Somi, carefully not to let Somi see her. Somi is now walking to the other side of the road, gets in a red car, and drives away,
'I thought she said she doesn't have a car.' Chaeyoung wishpers to herself, and quickly waves a taxi, planning to follow Somi, but the taxi just passes by her, 'Damn it!'. She frustratedly shouts,
She waves another one but the same thing happened again, the taxi didn't stop. Somi's car is now very far from where she is standing, she could lose sight of it any time soon,
Luckily another taxi just stops right infront of her, she quickly gets in, 'Please follow that red car. Please be quick, don't lose sight of it.' She tells the driver.
'Which red car?' The driver asks because he couldn't see any red car ahead on the road,
'It just turned left on the corner, I'm sure of it. Quickly please! We have to catch up with it no matter what. Please!' She pleads,
The driver immediately presses his foot on the accelerator, driving faster than normal, hoping to catch up with this red car,
'Please God don't let us lose sight of Somi's car. It's possible that she's heading to where Mina is, I can feel it. Please God let me find my Baby before any bad happens.' Chaeyoung is desperately praying, hoping to find her Baby safe and sound.