Birds.

Dozens of them hung in cages over Madeleine's head, and as she stared the bottom dropped out of two cages, and four pigeons swooped down to Madeleine's level, their feathers brushing her head as she ducked and let out another sudden shriek. Looping around the enclosed space, the birds rounded back towards her. Squirming, she scraped her chair backward, desperate to get away, nearly losing her center of gravity and toppling over in the process.

One of the birds landed right in front of her, and she screamed again, the echo reverberating in the otherwise empty space. Looking down, she noticed the trail of bread crumbs scattered underneath and around her chair.

What in the actual hell was this?

Squeezing her eyes shut, she bunched her shaking arms closer to her sides and tried to control her panicked breaths. Maybe if she didn't make any sudden moves...

"Birds. She fucking tore Ga Eul's clothes off, and that's your master plan?" Yi Jeong aimed his question at the mafia prince who was commandeering the feed from the camera in Madeleine's holding cell.

"She's terrified of them. Look at her." Inexplicably calm for someone who had just drugged, kidnapped, and trapped his ex-lover in a scene from her worst nightmare, Woo Bin kept his gaze on their panicked captive. In a matter of minutes, she had graduated from screaming to sobbing uncontrollably to shrinking silently into herself.

"Where is Jun Pyo? I thought we said 8 in the morning." Yi Jeong paced across the small room Woo Bin's men normally used to monitor interrogations. Unfortunately, they would only go so far today, Madeleine being a woman. A poor excuse for one but a woman nevertheless.

He'd like to unleash Jan Di on Madeleine and see how many broken bones she ended up with, but the four of them had ultimately decided it best not to drag her into the mess, even though he knew her hands must be itching for revenge as much as his own.

"He had to drop Jan Di off at the wedding planner's," Woo Bin answered. "Jan Di's spending the entire morning with her and the witch."

"We could hand her over to the witch," Ji Hoo suggested as he leaned against the wall with his eyes shut. Someone who didn't know him might have thought he was sleeping, except that he visibly flinched each time Madeleine had another outburst.

Turning his attention back to the screen, Yi Jeong muttered, "They'd certainly be suited for each other."

"Welcome to my side of town, princess."

The familiar voice cut through Madeleine's deafening thoughts, but from where she didn't know. Glancing up, she saw only the bird cages, some of them hanging open, some...yet to be released…

Averting her gaze, she swallowed. It must have been an hour or so since she had woken up in this surreal prison, though it felt like ages.

"Y-yes?" Clearing her throat, she whispered hoarsely, "W-who's there?"

Jumping as she felt a sudden presence behind her, her fearful eyes met Woo Bin's angry ones.

Even though she knew he might very well murder her, his presence relaxed her just the slightest bit. A floating feather landed on her lap, and she stared at it as Woo Bin brought around a wooden chair to sit in front of her. He wore all black—black leather jacket, black jeans, black dress shirt. A single silver chain glittered on his neck in the dim light. Her gaze drifted over him and down, down, down until it zeroed in on the gun in a holster on his side.

"W-what are you going to do with that? Shoot me with it?"

"I ought to, but no. For you, I have something much more special planned."

He wasn't alone, she realized as she heard several pairs of footsteps come up behind her, and soon the remainder of the infamous F4 stood in front of her, none of them looking very cordial.

"This is how this works," Woo Bin continued. "We ask you a question. You answer truthfully and don't leave anything out, you'll be home in time for lunch."

"And if...if I don't?"

"We release the rest of them." He jerked his head up. "And leave you here. Police ought to find you in a couple of days."

"I'll tell the police everything. I'll tell them—"

"Tell them what?" Yi Jeong interrupted. "Your boyfriend locked you up in a room full of birds while four of Korea's most beloved flower boys interrogated you? They'll believe that, I'm sure."

One bird crept around the side of her chair and pecked at the bread crumbs right by her feet. She flinched when she felt its feathers brush her toes.

Of course Woo Bin would get pigeons. Even if they had brains enough to be scared of her, they wouldn't be. They were too used to people.

"C-can't we go somewhere else to t-talk? I'll tell you a-anything—"

"Why?" Yi Jeong interrupted. "Feeling attacked? Vulnerable? Scared maybe?"

"Karma's a witch." Jun Pyo gave her a pointed look.

Clenching her fists around the chair arm, she attempted to pull herself together. Looking straight at Woo Bin, she replied, trying to even out her tone, "You always wanted me to meet your friends. Looks like I am after all."

"We already know what you did to Woo Bin, so you can shut up with the cheap shots," Jun Pyo growled. "Or would you like someone to shut that mouth permanently?"

"Everyone knows," Ji Hoo offered, squinting up at the cages hanging above her.

"Everyone?"

The four men exchanged a knowing glance.

What had they said earlier? Her boyfriend locked her up. Her gut clenched even tighter, and it wasn't from the birds.

"But...but you promised!"

"I promise a lot of things. But as you can see, I'm also full of shit," Woo Bin replied. He tossed a newspaper on her lap, open to the society pages. At the top, there was an article on the exhibition, and below that she saw a collection of photos of her and Woo Bin, along with a headline her parents and So Yeong-cheol would kill her over.

Unless the F4 killed her first.

"Where did you get those photos?" she demanded, kicking at her restraints.

"You gave them to me."

"What?!"

"You don't honestly think I didn't have my bodyguards following us the whole time, did you?"

"Your bodyguards were taking pictures of us?!"

"No. But they caught a couple of people who were. I've got all the files. I gave some of them to a reporter friend of mine, but I have more. Some of them I'd like to see you explain to your dear father. There's a few nice shots through the window of a hotel room."

"You're a bastard," Madeleine spat.

"And you're in the papers with the wrong man this morning." He stood up, and his voice took on a more menacing quality. "So tell me. What were you intending to do with these?!" He slapped some photos down on the ground and spread them out.

All of them had the same subject: a girl in a shredded dress.

"Nothing."

"Like hell you were doing nothing!" Yi Jeong grabbed her shoulders and shook her, nearly tipping her chair over. "Don't think you have the right to even look at her!" Grabbing her throat with his right hand, he pressed on her windpipe so hard she thought she might black out. "Who put you up to this? Was it my grandfather? Was it?!"

"I...c-can't..."

"Answer me!"

"Yi Jeong! You don't want to kill her...Just...you're just going to hurt your hand."

Already lightheaded, Madeleine gulped down air when Woo Bin forced Yi Jeong's hand away. Coughing as she lowered her head, she saw the So heir shaking out the hand that had been on her throat.

Oh, right. His injury.

"I was..." she rasped, "just trying to scare her...Those photos...I was going to send them to her apartment. To make her think I would turn them over to a reporter."

Yi Jeong spun back around, and she backtracked. "I wouldn't have actually done it, I swear! That's why I got rid of the originals. You can't even really tell that's her!"

"I don't believe you."

"Why should any of us believe you after what you did to her? After what you did to Woo Bin?" Jun Pyo demanded.

"It's not like that. I don't care about her," Madeleine muttered.

"You don't care about anyone," Woo Bin replied. "Then what is it? Did Harabeoji So promise to make your career? Did your father put you up to it?"

"Why don't you ask Yi Jeong about his father?"

"What about his father? Don't tell us you were with hi—"

"Of course not! It's my mother's damn fault!"

Yi Jeong spoke up again.

"What does your mother have to do with you attacking my girlfriend?"

Madeleine shifted nervously, realizing she might have said too much.

"Well. What does she have to do with it?" Yi Jeong repeated.

"I...She...She was your father's first love."

In the dead silence that followed, Yi Jeong went completely pale, though from rage or shock, or a combination of both, she couldn't tell.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jun Pyo asked.

"My mother never wanted me. She's been hung up on him all these years. They were lovers, back when they were in college. Ask your father. He'll tell you."

"She's telling the truth," Woo Bin informed them.

But how did he…

"How do you know that?" Yi Jeong broke out of his musings to turn on his friend.

"He told me. He also told me about something else I think Madeleine knows about. Care to enlighten us on what you're father's been plotting with my uncle?"

"You know about that?" Madeleine gasped.

Woo Bin glared at her.

"Not until recently, no."

"You're just going to be implicated, you know, now that you're with me. You just made it look worse for yourself! Why do you have to be so bloody selfless all the time?!"

"See that's where you're wrong! Your father had this all figured out, didn't he? Blackmail So Yeong Cheol with their relationship to get you married off so he could steal from the old man right under his nose. But I had a little talk with So Hyun Sub the other day, and when all of your father's schemes come to light it may also come out that I was giving intel to him about it for the past four years under the pretense of being in a relationship with you."

"But...you weren't?"

"No. But that's the official story, and the official story is the only one that counts."

"You'd turn on your own family?" She couldn't quite believe him.

"My uncle, who has no short history of run-ins with the law. It's a well-known fact my father isn't exactly on agreeable terms with him. And just to make one thing clear, Yi Jeong is my family, and anyone who messes with my family pays. Now...What do you know about it?"

"In other news, world renowned potter So Yi Jeong has announced his engagement to his secret girlfriend of four years, Miss Chu Ga Eul, a kindergarten teacher at Shinwa. The two have known each other for seven years. Miss Chu is best friends with Shinwa heir Gu Jun Pyo's fiancée. Gu Jun Pyo vocalized his congratulations and support of the couple yesterday evening at the Woo Sung Museum. The wedding is expected to take place sometime early next year, according to So Yi Jeong's comments at the exhibition. However, an exact date has not yet been confirmed by his publicist. Miss Chu has declined an interview at this time."

Hearing her name on the news again only confirmed how surreal Ga Eul's life had become in the past few days. She couldn't escape it now. She was slowly being sucked into that other world that once she had only caught glimpses of, a world that had become her own overnight. She could no more escape So Yi Jeong the celebrity than she had been able to escape So Yi Jeong the man.

Turning away from the television in the front of the grocery store, Ga Eul removed the rest of her grocery bags from her cart and continued on her way out of the store, grateful that with her street clothes and sunglasses she had not been recognized. Yi Jeong had been thoughtful enough to lay some clothes out for her on the bed that morning, and she had put one of his hoodies on for good measure.

She knew he had told her to stay at the apartment, but breakfast and lunchtime had come and gone, and still he hadn't returned. Unfortunately, it looked like he hadn't been at his apartment much in the past week, seeing how there was hardly anything to eat. Deciding she would surprise him with dinner when he got back, she had left a note and had snuck out the back entrance of the complex. The grocery store was just across the street. Now that she had everything she needed, she would be back in no time.

Turning toward the street, she crashed into a man leaving his car and dropped half of her groceries. As she scrambled to pick up her bags off the pavement, the stranger took her arm to help her up.

"Thank you," Ga Eul mumbled, straightening up.

Immediately, she snatched her arm away when she recognized the man standing practically on top of her, blowing alcohol-laced breath in her face.

"Su Pyo."

"Well, if it isn't Chu Ga Eul, all grown up. I thought you'd have servants to do your shopping for you now. Finally got wise like your friend, did you?"

Ga Eul blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, but you were something, Ga Eul." He leered into her face, and she stepped back. "You really had me fooled with that innocent schoolgirl act. That's why you dumped me in that club."

"Yah! You were the one—"

"I was too low class for you, wasn't I?" His gaze flickered to the groceries in her hands. "Going home to your pretty boy?"

Not replying, Ga Eul made as if to pass him, and he held out his arms, blocking her.

"Now wait, wait, wait a minute. I can see we didn't end on the best of terms."

"There was no 'we,' so I'd say we didn't end on anything," she replied archly. "I have nothing to discuss with you. Now please let me by."

Ga Eul pushed past and headed determinedly in the direction of the street, passing through the semi-darkness of the parking garage.

"Why?" His voice followed her, echoing off the concrete walls. "Now that you're So Yi Jeong's fiancée you can't give me the time of day? Did you meet him at that porridge shop too? Maybe give him some extra services on the side?"

He was talking too loud. People would notice soon, and she would be found out. She needed to shut him up—fast.

Oh, how did she get herself into these situations?!

Spinning around, she shoved him into a corner of the garage between the wall and a white BMW.

"Is there a point to this conversation or do you get off by reliving all of your failed conquests?" she hissed.

A lazy smirk crawled over his face—not the cute, teasing kind Yi Jeong often wore, but one filled with all the malice of a Disney villain getting ready to cook and eat a small child. Losing her grip on a few bags as he leaned over and pressed her against the car, she nonetheless held his gaze.

Su Pyo reached over her and ran his fingers across the top of the car. It felt violating in a way Ga Eul couldn't explain. "Can I say something honestly?"—he looked her up and down—"He had better fashion taste when we first met."

Her skin crawled. She pushed against him, but he was too strong for her.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae—"

"Sunbae? Is this a dominant-submissive thing?"

"You're disgusting. And get off of me before I call the police!"

Appearing not to hear her, he pressed her further into the car, lowering his head until she nearly gagged at the alcohol on his breath. Squeezing her eyes shut, she hoped to God he didn't kiss her. She might have screamed, but to be honest, she didn't want to attract any attention to them.

To her relief, he released her after a moment and stepped back, chuckling as she opened her eyes and stared at him indignantly.

"If you get tired playing Cinderella, let me know. We can do plenty of other things involving handcuffs."

"Bastard."

"Wow! She curses as well."

Ga Eul picked her bags up and turned away from him.

"You must be really good to get Korea's Casanova, if you know what I mean."

She shouldn't let any of his words get to her, especially not after all this time, but she'd felt like the swinging ball at the end of a pendulum the past few days, crashing into everything in sight, and before she could stop herself, she turned back around and delivered a resounding slap to his cheek.

"Let's get one thing straight. If you were the richest man in the world, I'd sooner be handcuffed to a car falling off a cliff than to do anything with you!"

Their interrogation had lasted longer than Yi Jeong thought it would, but Madeleine had at least been more forthcoming than he thought she would be. She could have been lying, of course, but he had a feeling she wasn't. Her defiance had slowly wasted into tired compliance over the course of the morning. He refused to think of her as remorseful. What she had done to Ga Eul could only be the act of someone utterly cruel and unfeeling. Yet her tears had seemed so real. Right at the end, she started crying and wouldn't stop, only managing to get out that she didn't know any more.

He still felt rattled by the knowledge of who her mother was, more so even than the shady deals her father had been plotting. Finally they were leaving, and he was eager to get back to Ga Eul. He needed to talk to her. He shouldn't have left her alone for this long. He wondered if she had eaten or if she felt okay staying by herself there. Well, she wasn't entirely alone, he reminded himself. Milo was there, and she could call anyone she wanted. He needed to call her. The adrenaline of the situation had really made him lose track of the time.

Whipping out his phone, he opened up his messages to text her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Ji Hoo, the usual unreadable expression on his face, holding his own phone out to Yi Jeong.

"You ought to see this."