He didn't want to check the clock and see what time it was. He would much prefer to stay in the state of ignorant bliss that he was currently in. It was nicer. It was way more peaceful too. He just wanted to stay locked away with Elizabeth curled beside him in bed. She had rolled off of him in the middle of the night, face down with an arm dangling out of bed and another under one of her pillows. While he slept with just one pillow, she insisted on having at least two, claiming she couldn't sleep almost flat on a mattress. He remembered the first time she'd stayed, unable to get comfortable until he had asked her what was wrong.

He'd given her his pillow, but she had insisted she was fine. He'd pushed it under her head as he slept without one and then, the next day, he'd had new bedding delivered with extra pillows for Elizabeth. She hadn't said anything when she'd seen it. She'd just ran a finger over it and smiled down at it and he saw then that no one ever did anything for her, not truly. He had wanted to break that pattern. He wanted to be the one who did everything for her and gave her everything she needed. He swore that he could be that man, but as the games loomed closer, he started to doubt himself. He couldn't have both worlds that he wanted. They were about to collide and that thought terrified him because he knew what he could lose. He could lose everything and he hated the idea of that happening.

"You're thinking."

He heard her mutter, but she was still sleepy, her voice hoarse. He remained on his back but let his head drop to the right so that he could look at her. She still had her back to him. "How do you know that?"

"I know everything," she mumbled and he chuckled at that. He didn't think he had laughed as much as he had since Elizabeth had come into his life. Despite all the hardships, she still had the ability to put a smile on his face. She rolled over then, tugging the duvet up to her chin and blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," In-ho promised her, but he didn't know if that was necessarily true. "I'm just apprehensive, I suppose, about what's to come. A part of me wishes that I could skip the next week and just be back here with you."

Elizabeth searched his face and wondered just why he had to do this. If what he wanted was to be back home with her then why did they even have to go? As much as she wanted to support him, she too was apprehensive, not about herself, but about him. She worried what the games would do to him and he wanted to be there with him to show him that she wasn't going anywhere and that he always had her. She wanted to be his rock. She wanted him to lean on her. She just knew that he was too stubborn to do that.

"What if, after this, we went away?" Elizabeth asked from him and he moved onto his side, hand going to hold his head and supporting his weight. Elizabeth mirrored his movements, the duvet slipping down her naked arm. Lifting a hand to it, he moved his fingers to dance along her skin, seeing the way small goosebumps formed on her flesh. "We could leave, just you and me, and go anywhere in the world…escape all of this…leave it all behind…just us."

In-ho let out what sounded like a content hum as he kept on moving a finger up and down her arm. "And where would we go?"

"Where would you want to go?" Elizabeth wondered.

"I've never really left the country," he admitted to her. "I've never let myself dream that I'd be able to go anywhere in the world. I'm not as well travelled as you are so you pick. If you had to go somewhere, where would you go?"

"Italy," Elizabeth answered him and he drew her to him, her cheek pressed to his chest and his arms wrapped around her. She let a hand settle on his naked stomach underneath the duvet and he shuddered for a moment at her cold hand. "I loved living in Italy. Robert would work so often that meant I had the apartment to myself for the most part and I'd just wander the streets…spend hours cooking the most intricate dishes with the balcony doors open and the heat coming in…and then there would be days when I would go this park and I would just sit and read until the afternoon sun became too much. I felt like it was one of the few places where I could truly get lost and forget everything."

In-ho had to confess that sounded particularly nice. He couldn't imagine going somewhere and feeling so free, like he had no weight on his shoulders. "Then after this, why don't we go to Italy?"

"You'd really want to go?" Elizabeth asked, tracing absent-minded patterns on his chest.

"I want to go," he assured her. "I want to go and I want to get lost with you for a while. I want it to be us, no work, no distractions, no deranged husbands or selfish parents. I just want you, Elizabeth."

She grabbed hold of him tightly then, her grip full of so much emotion. She wanted to tell him that they could go now. She wanted to tell him that they could leave now and not come back. She wanted to make him pack a bag and she would take him now. Forget work. Forget the games. Forget everything. She wanted to tell him that they could have it. She wanted to take him away from this because, no matter what he said, she knew that, somewhere deep down, he wished things were different. And she wanted to tell him that they could be if he let them be.

"I know you're thinking now," In-ho said. "You go quiet whenever there's something on your mind."

Elizabeth didn't deny that. Instead, she just moved so that she could look him in the eye, hand on his chest to steady herself. In-ho raised the back of his hand up and brushed her hair from her cheek, pushing it behind her shoulders and then using his thumb to push at the small strands at the corner of her hairline.

"I know that you're going to say no because for some reason you think you have to do this," Elizabeth said. "And I have no desire to argue with you today of all days, but if you decide…if at any point you decide that you want to go…leave…go to the airport and get the first plane out of here, Italy or not, then I'd do it, you know that, don't you? I'd leave for you. I'd leave if you asked me to."

He gulped at that and a breathless moment passed between the two of them. How did he tell her that was what he wanted more than anything? How did he tell her that he'd thought of nothing else but leaving and taking her with him? But he couldn't say that because he had a duty to fulfil and that had to come above his own selfish desires.

"You don't realise that you're dangerous to me, do you?"

"How so?"

"Because you make me think that I could be the man I used to be," he said. "And I haven't been him in so long."

Elizabeth sniffed and moved her fingers to her hair, raking through it. "You know, after everything that Robert did to me, I changed too. I'm only just figuring out who I really am and you…the games…losing your wife and your family…no one expects you to be the same man either, but I think you still need to figure out who you really are, In-ho. I think you need that more than anything."

He suspected she had a point, but he didn't want to admit it to her. He just nodded his head and clasped hold of her cheek, drawing her face towards his and kissing her gently. He knew that the next week would be difficult, but he had to see it through. He had to make sure everything went to plan and then, after that, maybe he would see if there was a way forward.

…

"This is impossible."

"It's not impossible. It is actually quite doable."

"No, it isn't," Elizabeth protested and she tried to toss another stone into the air and catch it, but she missed. "I can't even catch one, how are you supposed to catch all of them? Never mind tossing them from your palm to the back of your hand."

"Come here," he said.

He had found it quite amusing how determined she was to complete the game. He had been teaching her gonggi for around ten minutes, but for the last forty minutes she had sat on the wooden floor and tried to complete the game herself. He'd sat behind her on the sofa, phone in his hand as he read through the final details and let his eyes flicker up and onto the back of her and chuckled silently as he heard her cursing. He found it rather entertaining if he had to be honest with himself. He didn't dare tell Elizabeth that, however. She seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated, huffing to herself whenever she missed the catch.

He slid off the sofa and sat on the floor next to her, legs crossed. He took the stones from her and rolled them to the floor. "You need a good first roll to make it easier to pick up. Try and pick up the stone in the most awkward position first and then watch," he told her and she watched him do just that before he tossed it into the air and swiped the rest from the floor. He completed the game in almost no time and Elizabeth watched as he tossed the stones into the air from the palm of his hand and caught them on the back of his hand. But, as he was about to try and throw them again to catch them in his fist, one fell to the floor.

"I told you it wasn't easy!" Elizabeth exclaimed as he abandoned them on the floor and he let out a dry laugh.

"Yeah, but I still managed to get further than you have since you started."

"But you also played this when you were younger," she pointed out. "So you've had more time to practice, plus you're much older than me so you've got an advantage there too."

His lips remained arched at her comments and he just shook his head at her. "You're right, you really are a sore loser," he said to her and she nudged him in the stomach as she adjusted the skirt she wore around her, letting it fan out.

"I just don't like getting beat at things," she admitted. "I don't think that makes me a sore loser."

"Then what does it make?"

"Determined to win at any cost?"

"And you then sulk when you don't, therefore, making you a sore loser," he said to her and she just rolled her eyes at him. "But, if it's any consolation, you look very adorable when you're mardy."

"Would you stop saying I look adorable?" she urged from him. "I do not look adorable at all."

"Trust me, you do," and he kissed the side of her head before moving to his feet as she threw the stones to the floor again and he knew she now had a point to prove. He just shook his head but the smile stayed on his face as he checked his phone again. He only had two hours before he had to go to the meeting point and he had to get changed and meet his driver at the allotted slot. There was no chance he would be getting picked up from his apartment. He knew better than to do that.

They had spent the day indoors, enjoying a lazy morning and Elizabeth had make brunch for them. He had then told her about some of the children's games that would be in the games before he had taught her gonggi and had found it more entertaining watching her try to complete that then do anything else. It had been a perfect day so far. It had been easy and simple.

"After the meeting tonight," he began as he stood and Elizabeth placed the stones down, looking up at him from where she sat on the floor, giving him her full attention. "I will come back here and pick you up. We'll go to the ship together, but there…well…there will need to be a reason why you are coming with me and why I am keeping you close. No one can know who you are or our true relationship."

"I know," Elizabeth promised him. She knew that confidentiality was key in all of this.

"And that's why I think it would be for the best if you posed as a VIP donor. None of them are ever challenged by anyone and they also hold a lot of power…and, of course, they have their own residencies on the island so no one would question you leaving the facility at the end of each day," he said in a detached voice. She found it amazing how he could go switch to business after they were just laughing about gonggi.

"Whatever you say," Elizabeth said.

"You're not going to make this difficult for me?" he wondered and she got to her feet, holding the sofa behind her to help haul herself up.

"Contrary to what you may think, I don't always like to make your life even more difficult than it is," Elizabeth said and she saw the hint of a smile on his face. "So, yes, I will be whoever you want me to be."

He just gave a curt nod and disappeared into the bedroom without another word. Elizabeth huffed, wondering if he wanted her to follow him or if he was just being annoyingly secretive. She wasn't entirely sure, but she didn't bother to argue with him over it. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water before footsteps came back into the living room. Turning round, she saw him heading towards her with a box in his hands.

"You don't understand how badly I want you to stay safe," he told her. "And these games…they have not always been safe in the past…and no one can know who you are because if they did then it could jeopardise everything and I can't risk you, Elizabeth. I can never risk you."

"You don't need to think that way," Elizabeth urged from him, hand going to his arm. "I'm going to be fine, In-ho. Nothing is going to happen to me."

He pursed his lips and didn't affirm her comment. Instead, he just looked to the box and her eyes followed, glancing at the lid of it. He lifted the lid of it and dropped it onto the worktop next to him. Moving the tissue out of the way, he revealed a golden mask with intricate detailing. There were two slits for the eyes and one for the mouth, but that was it and they were so small she wondered if she'd be able to actually see or talk through them. She looked at the raised contours of the mask and realised that it was some kind of animal, the detailing intricate. In-ho watched her finger move over the edges of it.

"A swan," he told her. "Graceful creatures, but vicious when provoked. It reminded me of you."

"I don't think I've ever been called graceful before," Elizabeth told him.

"I find that hard to believe," In-ho said. "I remember when I first met you, it was like you glided across the floor…like some kind old school Hollywood movie star…like there was an air of mystery surrounding you that no one could get close to."

"Not true," Elizabeth said. "You worked me out."

"No. You let me in," he contradicted.

She smiled at him again and he picked the mask up out of the box. Holding it up, he motioned for her to turn around and she did. He slipped it on over her face, tying it at the back of her head into a neat bow, making sure it was held in place before he let her go and urged her to turn around. She faced him and he let his hands rest on her shoulders, eyes flickering over the swanlike features etched in gold. "Exquisite," he breathed out and Elizabeth could feel herself blushing underneath the mask, grateful that it hid it from him and he couldn't see. She just narrowed her eyes, trying to get used to the slits that she was supposed to see out of.

"You bought this for me?"

"I had it made for you," he clarified. "I knew that there would be no stopping you from joining me and so I did what I had to do to protect you."

She smiled at that and moved her hands to his elbows, taking hold of him. "I'd kiss you if I could," she said and he quickly reached around her then, taking hold of the mask and moving it from her face, settling it down in the box.

"I don't see an issue now," he said and she laughed at him before pressing her lips to his. He let himself get caught up in the moment for a short while, enjoying the feeling of her pressed against him. But he knew that he had to get ready. He knew that he had to go. He pulled back from her, still keeping her in his arms and leaning slightly away. She frowned, a hand slipping to his neck and rubbing it softly.

"You need to go, don't you?" she checked.

"I need to go," he confirmed.

"Promise me that you'll be careful," she urged from him.

"I'll be careful," he said. "It is all under control. And when I come back…we'll leave…"

Elizabeth just nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and enjoying the final fleeting minutes she had with him in normalcy.

…

He knew that Elizabeth had stared at him once he had changed into the grey suit and had tugged the black coat on over it with the hood. He had left the mask off for the time being, but he carried it in his hands and knew that she was looking at it. He wondered if she was becoming more apprehensive as time went on. He would understand if she was. It would make complete sense and a part of him hoped that maybe it would scare her away, but it seemed that she was still determined to go with him.

He had left her with a quick peck to her lips, sat on the sofa with a book in her lap and her case packed and ready to go by the door alongside his. He'd looked over his shoulder before leaving through the door, almost like he wished he could take a snapshot of what she looked like at that moment.

Driving through the streets, he parked his car in a quiet car park before the limo turned up with his driver. As opposed to sitting in the back, however, he climbed into the front seat, mask firmly attached and hood over his head. He gave the driver a greeting with a subtle nod which he returned. Heading through the streets of Seoul, they waited until they had the text message to tell them that 456 had gone to the club and had brought some friends along with him. In-ho text back, telling the guards to deal with the friends and bring 456 to him.

Finally, the limo pulled up on the sidewalk and In-ho smirked beneath his mask. Picking the one night of the year when he knew people would be dressed up in ridiculous costumes had felt the most apt. The guards would blend in seamlessly. He had no intention of leaving the car, however, and when the guards bundled a blindfolded Player 456 into the back of it, he knew that this was it. Everything he had been working towards was coming together.

…

Once In-ho had left, Elizabeth could only pace the apartment. She could hardly read her book because she couldn't concentrate. What if In-ho was caught in the trap being set up? What if he hadn't been one step ahead. But this was In-ho she was talking about. He lived his life one step ahead of everyone else. The fear she felt was unlike nothing she'd ever felt before, but she couldn't help it. Until he walked back through that door, she wasn't going to stop being scared.

Finally, at gone eleven p.m. she heard the lock to the door. Looking over to it, she saw In-ho walk in, coat and mask in his arms and a weary expression on his face. He had no time to say anything before she launched herself at him, arms wrapping firmly around him. Dropping his items to the floor, he returned the embrace.

"I know you said everything would be fine, but I wasn't believing that until you were back here," Elizabeth muttered against him. He smiled at that and buried his nose into her hair, letting the smell of her strawberry shampoo overwhelm him.

"Everything went as expected," he promised her that much. "Player 456 has rejoined the games. His team couldn't stop us and, in the end, I think he knew that this might happen judging by the tracking device he had planted on him."

"He had a tracking device planted on him?" Elizabeth checked, leaning back and looking up at him.

"In his tooth. It must have been very painful, but he's a very determined individual," he informed her. "Either way, it's been removed and the island will remain an undisclosed location. And, speaking of that, we should get going. Do you have everything you need?"

"I think so," Elizabeth told him and he helped her shrug into her coat before she tugged her ankle boots onto her feet. He took both of their cases and Elizabeth locked up, turning the lights off in the apartment and already counting down the days until she could see it again.

…

As soon as they had reached the island, things felt different. While it had once been abandoned and the two of them had been free to roam freely, that was no longer the case. They had taken a ship out to it with a captain who In-ho informed her they paid very handsomely for his silence. He'd taken one of the usual cars waiting at the port which was empty, but there were cargo boxes waiting to be dealt with. Elizabeth had changed into her pyjamas when they'd arrived, but she couldn't go to bed just yet. She was nowhere near tired enough for that. Instead, she had gone to the balcony outside the bedroom and looked into the darkness, unable to see anything past the fence.

"There is something that I need to discuss with you," In-ho's voice sounded out and he came up behind her, still dressed in his grey suit but without the mask or coat. "It was something I had hoped might not come up, but I think that, perhaps, I had been naïve in that assumption."

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked and he could hear her worry. He took a gulp and wrapped his hands around the steel post in front of him. He looked straight ahead too, wondering just how she was going to take the news. "In-ho, you're worrying me here."

"It's about the games," he confessed, but he imagined she had already figured that out already. "Player 456 is going to do all that he can to get them to stop and I know that. I know that by giving them all a vote after each round of games, it is risky. They could leave at any point, but we know that they won't. We know what people are like."

"We do," Elizabeth agreed with him on that point.

"And that is why I need to do everything in my power to ensure he doesn't come up with…alternative methods," his lips curled over the words, "to stop the games and the only way I can do that is by infiltrating the games myself."

Elizabeth's brows knitted together and she tried to piece things together. "But you watch every aspect of the games," she said.

"From afar," he agreed. "But there are places I can't get to or listen in to. That's why I need to do this, Elizabeth. I need to be close to him and make sure nothing happens that will disrupt what is going on."

And then it dawned on her what he was saying. Shaking her head quickly, she refused to believe what she was hearing. Turning to face him, her arms flapped around her wildly. "Go back into the games?" she checked with him. "Are you crazy? You can't go back in there. You said yourself how dangerous it is!"

"For an ordinary player, yes," he agreed. "For the man in charge? Not so much."

"And what makes you say that? What if you lose at one of the games? What if that happens and the guards end up…" she trailed off, unable to say it. Shaking her head profusely, she still seemed agitated with him and he could understand why she would be. He bit his tongue, just watching her as she looked back into the distance and he saw the way her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed.

"You're mad," he observed.

"I'm pissed off because you said that you'd been thinking that this might need to happen and you didn't say a thing to me," she shot back at him. "You never said a word and that's the thing that upsets me."

"If I tell you that I was trying to spare you from worrying?"

"It hasn't worked."

He let out an exasperated sight. He didn't want to fight with Elizabeth. The last thing he ever wanted to do was fight with Elizabeth. "There will be orders not to harm me. I know that, in order for me to do this, there have to be some who know my face…who I trust with running things while I am gone…and truthfully, Elizabeth, I'm not entirely sure who I can trust in this except for you."

"Then don't do it."

"I have to."

"You always say you have to, but you don't!" Elizabeth snapped, finally looking back at him, eyes filled with anger and cheeks burning red. "You don't have to do any of this and you know that you don't. And going into the games…you said how the contestants can act…what if they do something to you…hurt you…you think I want to see you hurt?"

"I know that this seems scary," he told her. "But nothing will happen to me. I will make sure of it and you know that I am able to handle myself."

She did know that. She'd seen the way he'd beaten her ex-husband without even breaking a sweat. She kept quiet for another moment, but he could tell that she was still angry judging by the way she folded her arms over her chest and kept on looking away from him.

"And that is why…I would prefer for you to stay here if I do go in-"

"-Absolutely not," Elizabeth interrupted him. "If you go in then I am not staying away. I can come in with you. I can-"

"-Out of the question," he interrupted her once more and she huffed loudly at that, knowing that he wasn't going to back down based on the way he was firmly shaking his head at her. Elizabeth just shrugged her shoulders at him and looked away again. He reached for her chin, forcing her to face him, but her eyes kept flickering anywhere but his face. "Elizabeth, look at me," he urged from her and she reluctantly let her eyes settle on his. "I can't let you come into the games because it is far too dangerous for you. I can't be thinking about what 456 is planning and keeping an eye on you because we both know you'd attract far too much attention from people who would be more than happy to give it to you and I don't want that…you stand out like a sore thumb…"

"I can blend in."

"Darling, we know better than anyone that you don't blend in," In-ho said. "You're too well known. And some of the people in these games, I know who they are and what they've done, I don't want you anywhere near them."

"And you think I do?"

"I know you don't, but I can handle them and I can blend in seamlessly," he said. "I need you out here. I need you where I know you're safe. Go to the office if you must and watch, but do not get involved. I need you to promise me, Elizabeth."

She was quiet and he clasped both of her cheeks with his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Promise me," he urged from her and she exhaled a sharp breath but nodded once.

"I promise," she said to him.

"Thank you," he said genuinely. "It's only going to be six days and then it will be over."

She didn't want to bring up how it would start again at some point. She knew that he wouldn't appreciate that. But the fact was that it would start again. It would all start again and that terrified her because she worried just what it would do to In-ho. He ran his hands from her cheeks and down her arms, the silk long sleeved pyjamas she wore soft to touch. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he didn't give her much choice but to snake her own around his shoulders.

"You better be safe," she whispered in his ear. "I mean, it In-ho. If anything happens-"

"-Nothing is going to happen," he interrupted before she could work herself up again. He rubbed her back with his palm. "We're going to leave here and we're going to go home and book the first plane to Italy. We're going to escape it all, just me and you."

"Do you promise?"

"I swear," he whispered and he kissed the side of her head. "I'm never letting you go, Elizabeth."

…

He knew that he was groggy. He could feel his head pounding and he wondered just what had happened to him. He'd gone to the meeting point as arranged, but that was the last thing that he remembered. Why did he not remember anything? He let out a soft groan and struggled to open his eyes. They felt heavy, almost like someone had sewn them shut. With some effort, he managed to open them, but there was hardly any light. There was a soft glow from somewhere above and he blinked to try and clear his vision. Moving a hand down to his waist, he tried to grab his phone from his pocket, but there was no phone. He looked down and saw that he wasn't even in the clothes he'd left his apartment in.

He was wearing some kind of white tee with a grey fleece and tracksuit, white plimsols on his feet. He frowned and stroked the material, definitely cheaper than anything he'd worn before. "What the hell?" he whispered as he saw a number on the fleece. 289. What the hell did that mean?

He looked around then and almost did a double-take. There were hundreds of people surrounding him, laid down on mattresses and sleeping. Who were they all? How did he even get here? Where was here? He kept on looking around intently and realised that they were all on some kind of tiered bunk bed. Frowning, he shook his head and tried to move from the bed he was in, but his limbs were aching. He stayed sat up as much as he could without banging his head on the above bed. They were all wearing the same uniform that he was wearing.

But where was his phone? Why had he been drugged? He thought that he was just going to play some stupid childhood games. He figured it might be a start-up business looking for volunteers. But this didn't feel like that. It felt different.

Before he could move and explore where he was, the lights turned on and people groaned, a blare of music echoing through the room and he realised that whatever was going to happen, it wasn't going to be good.

...

A/N: we are in the games! Would love to know what you think!