Painful Love

Chapter Two (Part I)

She smiled. Ha-Neul's voice didn't sound harsh or rude, unlike the footsteps that she was used to. She wondered if she could spark up a conversation with the stranger, and although she couldn't see his face, Zarah assumed that he had a nice look. This was the first time since she got here that she had someone talk to her this much. "Wanna play a game?"She asked while leaning forward with a cheerful voice and a smile on her face. She heard a step, and then the smell got closer, and she knew that he had stepped closer to her. "A game?" curiosity was written all over his voice. She nodded her head vigorously. "You are tied up in a room that you have no idea what it looks like, and you want to play a game?" He asked, confused.

"I have no memories. What else is there to lose?" She asked with a smile. The man shook his head in disbelief and wondered what kind of a human she was. With all the victims he had ever come across, this woman was different, and he couldn't decide whether she was dumb or brave. "Okay, what kind of a game do you want to play?"

"You really are going to play?" She said, clapping her hands. He couldn't help but laugh. When was the last time he laughed, genuinely laughed? "Yes!" He let out softly.

"It's a guessing game?"

"You just made this up, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, but it sounds like a real game, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I think so. So how do we play this game?"

"Since I don't know anything about myself, you are going to have to try and guess what my room looks like?"

"You want me to describe your room?" He asked, bewildered.

"You already know how I look like, so you can't guess that." She said with a frown.

"And what were you going to guess about me?" He asked with curiosity.

"I was going to guess how you look like."

"Oh yeah?!" He said and tilted his head to the side slightly. She shook her head, yes, and she suddenly felt a presence beside her. She frowned, and she went to reach out her hand, but she pulled it back.

"Are you sitting on the ground?" She asked, shocked.

"Yeah, looks like I'll be here for a while, and plus, there are no chairs in the room."

"Well, you can tell my precious to bring you one." He was confused for a second before he spoke up, tried to figure out who my precious was, but none of his guys were named that although they never use their real names, and he highly doubted that he told her his name. "My precious?" He said questionably. She let out a chuckle and said, "Yeah, have you ever seen the movie The Lord Of The Ring?"

"No." She took a pause before she said anything and just let her mouth stay open. Her legs were straightened out in front of her and tied together. "You don't watch movies much, do you?"

"Why do you say so?" She smiled sadly and shook her head no as if saying forget about it. "Nothing."

"I'm still waiting for you to describe me." He spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Oh yeah!" She was back again with the cheerful voice. "Okay." She smacked her lips. He smiled again. "You are maybe 5'9, dirty blonde hair, big bright eyes, definitely fit, straight nose and nice not too small red lips. Wide shoulders, nice legs. Oh, and you are from Russia." She finished with a smile, leaned her ear to the left, but she was met with silence. After a moment, she frowned and tried to turn her body to the left, but she forgot that her hands were tied for her to separate them completely. She only had room to clap. "Ouch!" she let out after the rope pierced her skin. "Are you okay?" The man beside her spoke.

"Yeah. Sorry if I offended you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you didn't say anything after I was done talking."

"Well, I didn't know I was supposed to say something?" He said, unsure.

"You are a good liar. Very." She said the last part under her breath. She cleared her throat and continued saying, "It's your turn!" He was surprised by how she was handling the situation she was put in. That was the first time he got a different reaction from everyone that he had ever kidnapped. The response was usually; a fearful "Who are you?!" or an angry "who the f**k are you?" and then the series of pleading or curses came out from the other person. He was really trying to figure out whether she was trying to trick him and whether she was trying to get at something, but so far, she seemed to actually enjoy his company. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I haven't been in that many rooms for me to describe one for you." She pouted her lip. He could tell that she wanted to say something, but she was stopping herself. He wanted to ask, but at the same time, he didn't want to come out so friendly. That wasn't one of his characters. He has never had friends, and he wasn't about to start making one now. After a few more minutes of silence, he got up, and she said something that he had never heard before, which was, "Thank you." He stopped for a second to contemplate whether to ask her, "what for?" or not, and he ended up deciding against it. The moment he closed the door behind him, she remembered the smell from the cafe. She tried really hard to remember his face but only ended up with a headache. She seemed to remember smells. After a few days of being in her apartment from the hospital, the scent around her house smelled familiar. She placed Ha-Nuel's bouquet, but she couldn't remember where she met him. For the next two days, nothing changed. My precious was still the same cold person. She could literally feel the chills whenever he opened the door, and he didn't have to say anything, which he had never uttered a word to her before, to know that it was him. With as much strength as she could master, considering that her hands were tied up, she tried to do excises. Although the doctors said that she wouldn't walk again, she refused to believe them. She wanted her life back, and the fact that no one knew who she really was apart from her name was more of the reason she should remember who she was. She wondered if she was the type of person that got depressed because, so far, she was doing a pretty good job of staying strong. When the door opened again that evening, she couldn't help but sigh. It was the strong-scented man. "Stand up!" He said with a firm tone. She bit her lip and stayed still. "I said stand up!" he said a little bit louder, and for the first time, she heard my precious voice, "Uh boss! She can't walk."

"What the f**k do you mean she can't walk?"

"She uses a wheelchair." She heard what sounded like a punch, and then the man spoke, "and you still f*****g tied her up like a f*****g animal?" He shouted, and he noticed her flinching at his outburst. He went to walk closer to her, but she stopped him by putting her hands in front of her. "What are you going to do?" She asked with a shaky voice. He stopped in his tracks, and he felt his forehead wriggle, and he almost felt rejected. "I need to transfer you to another location. I was going to help you up."

"Oh no, it's okay. My precious can do it," she said nonchalantly. And now he really felt rejected. He smirked as he shook his head. He motioned for the guard to move her, and he watched as he carried her. She didn't look frightened. When they got in the car, he asked my precious to remove the piece of cloth wrapped around her eyes, and when it came off, she went straight to scratching her eyes. He watched as she tried to open her eyes but kept on closing them, the car was moving, and the sun was bright that day. For a few minutes, she struggled to make her eyesight straight, which he found cute. 'Cute.' He thought. 'I don't think if I have used that word before.'

When she finally could see clearly, the first thing she saw was the trees that passed by. She smiled at the view before her, and at the corner of her eye, she noticed someone looking at her, turning; she was met with blue eyes and frowned at the darkness in his orbs. She proceeded to turn to her left, and she was met with a baldheaded guy. She couldn't help but laugh. The baldheaded guy turned to her and, with a raspy voice, asked, "what's so funny?" and the laughter increased. 'With his wide-looking eyes, he looks just like my precious,' she thought. He turned his whole body to look at her as if she was crazy, and by now, she was clutching her stomach from laughing so hard. As she turned around to look outside, she noticed a smile on the man sitting opposite her. She started noticing how bad she smelled, so she started counting the trees to distract herself. Not long into the ride, they entered the city. An hour later and the car came to a halt. They stopped in front of a massive house in the middle of nowhere. When the door to her side opened, and she was met with the man that she had yet to know his name, she flinched back. He frowned but asked my precious to assist her out. As My Precious was carrying her up the stairs, she whispered a soft thank you, My Precious stopped mid stairs to look down at her, and she couldn't help but smile, "for making me laugh," she clarified. Placing her on the bed, my precious walked out of the room and shut it behind him. A few minutes later, the blue-eyed man walked in. For the first time, he noticed the wound around her wrist where the rope was tied. It looked like she was constantly applying pressure trying to untie herself. He took a step toward her, and she scooted backward on the bed, "I am not going to hurt you," he said simultaneously she let out a fake chuckle.

"That's not why. " She announced.

"Then why?" He asked with a frown.

"Because I stink."

"And my precious is allowed to come close to you because?" He asked, and she smiled. She couldn't believe that he actually called him my precious. "At least he knows how I spelled like before I got stinky."

"I sat next to you before for more than ten minutes." He spoke and watched her face turn into confusion. "Don't tell me you forgot?" He said, pulling his head back a bit. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and she smiled when she registered the obnoxious smell. "I don't like your cologne," she said, ignoring his question. "Don't move," he said as he finished the gap between him and the bed. He pulled out a knife, and her heart literally stopped, and with her breathe on hold, she watched as he got on the bed to get to her and proceeded to cut the rope around her wrists. He looked up at her and whispered, "breath."

"Huh!" She said right back. He breathed in loudly and out and said again, "Breath, Zarah, breath." And breathing out, she found herself gasping for air. "What's your name?" she asked, but she didn't get an answer. She nodded her head as if to say that she understood and continued, "can I give you a name then?" He shook his head, yes, and she thought for a second. "Something Russian, mmmhhh." She muttered and then said, "Alexei. Alexei Popov," she finished and nodded with a questionable look, asking him if he liked it. He smiled and nodded yes. For the next week, she saw Alexei every day once per day. He didn't talk much; he would just open the door, look at her for a few seconds, and shut the door behind him. She was delighted to see new clothes. She showered three times per day since coming to the house. She no longer had ropes around her arms, but she figured because Alexei thought that she wouldn't do anything given her situation. She wondered if he looked down on her, not that it mattered, but since she got kidnapped, she had to try extra hard every day to be in a good and positive mood. Although she was living by herself, she always looked forward to the FaceTime calls with Ha-Nuel. She knew for some reason that he would always be there; he never missed a day, like an alarm, at 8pm on the dot, her phone would ring. She wondered if he went back to Korea and if he was doing okay. She had so many questions, but she was waiting for the right time to ask them. Looking at my precious, he seemed like a type of person that only received orders and obeyed them. He still brought her food, and although they were far from being friends, the cold atmosphere disappeared a bit which she was more than glad about. When Alexei opened the door today, though, he looked bloody. "Wait!" she shouted out before he could close the door. He extended the door to look at her, and she frowned. "Come on in!" she said. He walked in the room hesitantly, and she pats the space beside her on the bed; he went and sat. She reached out from underneath the bed and pulled out a first aid kit, and opened it. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to disinfect your wounds, or otherwise they'll leave a scar." She said as she moved closer to him using her hands. With her legs dangling on the side of the bed, she wiped the blood off his face. He was looking at her, reading her, but there was nothing to read. She wasn't an open book like most women. "You got beaten up pretty good," she spoke up after a while. He clenched his jaw, and she paused what she was doing for a second and looked in his eyes, "sorry, I was trying..." she stopped herself and pulled out a disaffection liquid. "It's going to sting a little," she said. As she applied it to his face, she bit her lip. For a second, he thought about kissing her. She looked down after she was done and then up again; clearing her throat, she said, "take off your shirt." He looked at her, and he couldn't believe what he heard, he pulled his head back, and she put her hands up, and in synch with her head, she shook her hands and head, "no no no, it seems to me that you might have more bruises, your shirt is pretty bloody." He waited for a second and started to unbutton his shirt. She turned to the other side where she put the aid box and murmured under her breath, "as if you would sleep with me, I bet I won't even be the last person you would want to sleep with," she finished with a scoff. Although he heard her clearly, he still asked, "did you say something?" She whipped her head back to him and shook her head no. She looked at his body, and she was impressed. The guy was fit. She involuntarily bit her lip at the tattoos-covered chest before taking in a deep breath. There was something about the tattoos that she found attractive. "You like what you see?" he asked with a smirk. She looked up at him and shook her head with a smile. "I don't see any cuts. You can put your shirt back on and go." She turned back towards the aid kit and closed it. When she turned back around, he was still shirtless, but this time he was standing. He was really going to lose it. It had been a week since he last had s*x, and looking at her biting her lip, all he could think of was how it would feel like if he was the one biting them. But he seemed to have respect for her, and victims were off limit when it came to s*x; that was why he had strip clubs, an endless supply of women to f**k. "What's your dirtiest s****l fantasy?" He asked with a low tone as he leaned in towards her, and she choked on her own saliva, which caused her to cough. "Are you okay?" he asked and placed his hand on her back. When she realized how close he was, her first instinct was to move away. He smiled and put his hands up. He stood back up again and took a step back from the bed. "Come on, tell me." He persisted. She thought for a second, and she figured she could use the opportunity to her advantage. It was a gamble, but she was willing to take the risk.

"If you answer mine, then I'll answer yours," she said playfully. Alexei nodded yes, and with a deep breath, she asked, "when are you taking me home?" and the air instantly changed. She continued, "I really don't know why you kidnapped me. I don't even remember my own birthday, so why would anyone gain from a girl that lost her memories?" That was news to him.

He never asks about the history of the victim. He just goes in, does the kidnap, and delivers the package. Although he would be the one to oversee the kidnap location, from time to time, he would be ordered to keep the victims for a little while before he passed them on to someone else. However, her case was different. He had never held a victim this long, and he wondered why but he just got his answer, it's probably because to lure in the intended target, but things clearly aren't going very well given that the trap had been looking the same for a while now. He put on his shirt and left the room without another word.

She had a decision to make. Whether to stay within the four walls, she looked around the room, or she found a way to get out, but where would she go? She knew nobody, and she didn't even know where she was. She hadn't seen her wheelchair the entire time she was there. She looked down at her feet, and a smile stretched across her face as she was able to wiggle her toes. She wanted to tell Ha-Nuel so bad, but he was nowhere to be found. Crawling by the window, she looked outside, and as far as she could see, there were no houses, only a dirt road. She closed her eyes and imagined her room, her own bed, the kitchen that was so colorful, and her bathroom. She missed her home. She was tired of being kept captive.

Waking up to loud screams, Alexei was startled only to find that they were coming from Zarah's room. It sounded like someone was hurting her, and in a rush, he ran to her room, turned the lights on, and he discovered her on the bed tossing and turning in place. He figured that she was having a nightmare. "No, stop, please stop!" she was begging. When he got closer to her, she was covered in sweat. "Zarah!" He called for her, but nothing happened. She was crying. "Please stop. It hurts!!!" His heart clenched. He tried to shake her, but she was still begging for it to stop. It was like she was stuck in whatever world she was in. She arched her back painfully, and she let out the most excruciating scream he had ever heard. "WAKE THE f**k UP, ZARAH!!!" He was screaming now as he shook her vigorously but nothing. Her whole body went stiff, and he noticed that she wasn't breathing. He got up trying to think what to do and out of nowhere, in burst my precious. He looked at Zarah and looked at his boss. "She's not waking up?!" he asked worriedly. Alexei nodded his head yes. My precious ran out of the room, and in seconds, he came back with some water. He poured it over her, and like coming out under the water, she sat up on the bed gasping for air. She was crying. When both men tried to go near her, she moved back, fear written all over her face, and they looked at each other. "What happened to you?" Alexei wondered. He had nightmares, but he has never had one near as severe as he had just witnessed. She was crying hysterically. My precious went outside the room, and he returned with a bottle of water. Slowly and carefully, he extended it to her. She looked at the water bottle and then back at my precious, and with an awkward smile, he nodded his head. She reached for the water, and in a gulp, it was gone. "Another one?!" He asked. Although she was still shaking, she couldn't help but smile. That was the first time he had ever talked to her. She nodded yes, and in minutes, she was drinking a third bottle of water. An hour later, she was still in the same position, and both men were sitting at the edge of the bed looking at her. She moved, and both of them moved in synch. "What are you trying to do?" Alexei asked.

"I need to use the restroom." She said, and with horror, she watched Alexei stand up and walk towards her, she tried to protest, but he carried her to the restroom. He stood by the door, looking at her. "I really need privacy. Please." She said softly, and he turned around. Awkwardly, she used the restroom, and when she was done, she tried to get up, but she fell back on the toilet seat. He turned around in a rush and helped her stand up. Standing behind her with hands wrapped firmly around her waist so she could standstill by the sink, she washed her hands. She was wet as if she had been rained on. Alexei carried her back to the room when she was done, but they went past the bed and out and entered the room beside hers. She looked around, and she was surprised at how simple the room was. There was only one big bed at the center of the room with dark red walls and white sheets. After setting her on the bed, he went to the restroom, and a few minutes later, he came back and carried her again. "Seriously, Alexei, it's okay. I can manage." She said, but he didn't say anything. He set her in the vast jacuzzi with water in it, "ya! ya! ya!" she screamed. "Call for me when you are done," he said and closed the door behind him. An hour past and he was still standing at the bathroom door. He heard some movements, and he rushed in the bathroom only to find her naked by the floor, but that wasn't what surprised him, her back was facing him when he entered, and her back was full of scars; some seemed to be burnt marks and some almost looked like whip marks.

Nonetheless, her back was covered with scars. She turned her head towards him and shouted, "Alexei! Privacy!" she exclaimed. "Sorry, sorry!" he said and took a step backward before closing the door. He frowned and wondered what had happened. He remembered her arching her back, and he wondered if she remembered something from her past. Since she had no recollection of her past, he wondered if the nightmare was a memory that came to her as if it was just happening. His heart clenched, remembering the scars on her back. After thirty minutes, he heard the doorknob twist, and when he opened it, she was sitting on the floor with his t-shirt on and sweatpants that clearly looked to be too big for her. He shook his head and carried her to the bed, and in a matter of seconds, she fell asleep. 'She did look tired,' he thought to himself.

Ha-Nuel was back at Zarah's apartment. He was practically living there now. He got into a fight with someone who he thought might be responsible for Zarah's kidnap. He was right; getting behind Marce's father proved to be very useful. His father would lose his mind if he found out that his heir is dealing with the gang, but love makes you do that sometimes. "Love," he spoke those words as he looked himself in the mirror with a bruised face. The guy was no match for him, but he did underestimate him. The word seems to be so strange. After watching his parents fall apart, he vowed to never get married. For him, marriage meant heartache and pain for everyone involved. Marriage destroyed people. He was well known given that he came from a wealthy family, news about him traveled fast, but here in America, no one knew who he was or what his parents did for a living. It was nice, he didn't have to worry about someone following him around, and with what he was doing at the moment, it was a good thing that he was in a whole different country. Through the channels that Marce's father introduced him to, he came to find out how bad human trafficking was. The man was a bastard, and his son either doesn't know it or pretends to not know, and he wouldn't even feel sorry if he killed him. He deserved to die. Although his life was far from perfect, he came to realize that people have it way worse than he did. He asked around about someone that specialized in kidnapping, and that was another thing that he loved about America. People seem to focus on one thing at a time, they would devote years to one craft and get really good at it, and even though that was the case back in Korea, in a dangerous world such as of a gangster, no one dares to cross anyone in fear of getting killed. The man had no name. No one knew his name. All he was known as was the kidnapper. He went to the bar that he frequented, and he never used the front entrance, so he had to spend a week to figure out how he would get close to him, but good for him, he was a creature of habit. Ha-Nuel got a job there as a waiter, and he convinced the manager to allow him to be the kidnapper's server. He only requested one person to serve him, and so when Ha-Nuel had the opportunity to, he was elated. He never meant to get into a fight. He only had a straightforward goal, which was to track him, but as it turned out that the guy had significant anger issues. When he spilled the drink on him, on purpose, he received a punch in a moment. He was taught to always have the last straw. And so he was on top of the kidnapper in a matter of seconds that his bodyguard rushed in the room while the women that were around him stood on the side screaming. In the end, he accomplished his goal. As he looked himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but worry, if he really did have Zarah, given the impression that he had gotten, then Zarah was in more danger than he instigated, and he better act fast if he still wanted her alive. Going back to the bedroom, he opened his computer and connected the tracker, and sure enough, the blue signal was blinking on the screen.