Chapter 18: Runaway.

Youngjae was gone. It was as if he had completely vanished from the face of the earth. No one had seen him in the past week, nor did anyone know where he was. Youngjae just turned off his phone and ran away. Every member, including Jaebum, have been calling him all through the whole week, checking every minute, ever second if he had turned his phone on. No one knew the reason of his rebellious and a little stupid act. No one knew what suddenly made him change his morals and home-based personality. Youngjae was the type that wouldn't run away from home, from comfort and food even if he was told that he would get a million dollars in return. No one except for Jaebum, of course. Jaebum perfectly understood why Youngjae wasn't coming home and why he wasn't answering his phone. After all, Jaebum himself was the reason, so there was no way he didn't know the reason for Youngjae's unexpected disappearance. But in front of the members Jaebum acted as if he had no clue where Youngjae was or why he suddenly became 'non-existent'.

"Where is that idiot? It's been a week! A whole week!" - Jackson shouted, as he ran his hands through his hair. Jackson's been walking around in the living room for a few hours now. He was losing his patience and was getting more and more worried about Youngjae and his well being by the passing day. 

"He's too innocent and sweet to live by himself! Bad people will try to take advantage of him!" - Jackson angrily mumbled under his breath, calling Youngjae's phone for the thousandth time just today.

"Wait did you guys call his parents and noona? Maybe he's in Mokpo?" - Bambam suggested, running out of places to look for Youngjae.

"Of course we did! They were the first people we called and asked!" - Yugyeom screamed. He's been cranky ever since Youngjae's 'departure', he'd scream and yell at anyone who dared to bother him or annoy him. And often times that person would be his roommate - Bambam. Just as Yugyeom was about to say something else, the very depressed Coco walked into the living room that everyone was currently in, and started to bark as if demanding them to tell her where they had hidden Youngjae. Even Coco couldn't be the normal hyper and weird Coco without her self proclaimed 'mommy' Youngjae. Mark quietly walked up to her and tried to pick her up. But Coco wouldn't let him as she kept barking and growling at him.

"Leave her alone." - Jackson said in annoyance, calling Youngjae again just in case he had his phone but of course it was still off and a plain female automatic female voice could be heard instead of Youngjae's young, fresh and energetic one.

"Try calling Jinyoung. Jaebum and him may have found something." - Mark said, taking his previous place on the couch. where he's been sitting ever since they figured out that Youngjae was missing. Jackson quikly dialed Jinyoung's number in hopes that maybe he was with Youngjae at the moment and that Youngjae was okay. But it was clear that Youngjae wasn't there with them as soon as Jinyoung picked up his phone with the very tired and stressed voice of his. Everyone went back to freaking out in their own way by themselves. Yugyeom was on the floor, staring blankly at a random reality show that was on. Bambam was on the couch with his eyes closed, still trying to think of places that his hyung could be at. Next to him was Mark, with his head in his hands, worried sick about Youngjae. Jackson was still angrily walking around mumbling something about how Youngjae was stupid and childish to do this. Coco was in Youngjae's room on his bed laying there with a sad face instead of running around the apartment while she usually does.

At the same time, Jinyoung and Jaebum were roaming around the big city of Seoul, looking for Youngjae. They were going to every hotel there was to go and searching for their missing main vocalist. They knew that Youngjae wouldn't do something really stupid and extreme like going abroad so he just had to be in Seoul or Mokpo, where he was from. Two of Got7's managers were already in Mokpo looking for Youngjae there, so Got7 decided to search through hotels in Seoul themselves. They decided to split into groups of two and 'hunt' for Youngjae taking turns. Today was Jaebum and Jinyoung's turn to visit random hotels and ask for people if some weird guy named Choi Youngjae was staying there. At first everyone was certain that Youngjae would be found pretty easily but everyday everyone was losing their hope little by little. Even Jinyoung, who never gave up on anything not even once in his life, was starting to believe that Youngjae has somehow magically disappeared for real. 

"Hyung, maybe he actually did leave the country? Maybe he's somewhere in Japan or China right now?" - Jinyoung suggested, tired from having to go to every hotel they saw in the street.

"He doesn't have his passport with him. Plus he's not the type to just make up his mind and then leave that instant." - Jaebum determinately said stepping into the new hotel that may or may not have Youngjae in one of it's rooms.

Meanwhile, Youngjae was inside the JYP building, in one of the many studios carelessly sleeping his life away. Youngjae needed to recharge himself after Jaebum brutally broke up with him. He needed to be alone for a few days to collect his emotions and feelings so that he could see Jaebum and not immediately cry. Youngjae knew that he couldn't stay at a hotel because the boys were going to find him if he did. He also knew he couldn't go home because his parents would be worried and also he would be caught by Got7 as soon as he arrived in Mokpo. The only place Youngjae could think of that his band mates wouldn't look for him was the JYP studio. No one would think that Youngjae would be dumb enough to hide somewhere so obvious so it was the perfect place to 'lay low' for a while and think about everything. Youngjae was really enjoying his time spent alone for an entire week. But he still wasn't ready to face everyone, including Jaebum.

The more Youngjae thought about their break up the more it didn't make sense. If Youngjae did actually treat like a brother, then Jaebum could've just said so and Youngjae would've changed immediately. What was it that made Jaebum ruin not only a relationship but Jaebum and Youngjae's strong and unique friendship, brotherhood? Was Jaebum possibly afraid of how people would react to two guys dating? Or was he embarrassed of Youngjae and his relationship? Was he embarrassed of Youngjae? What was Jaebum's actual reason to break up with Youngjae? The horrible possibilities of the real reason for their break up terrified Youngjae. What if Youngjae just wasn't  good for Jaebum? What if Jaebum actually found someone much better than Youngjae and that's why he broke up with him? Youngjae could actually see that new person. Someone who had a perfect clear skin, who was much thinner and fitter than Youngjae, someone who didn't have bad habits like singing in his sleep or about thousand allergies to things, including one thing that Jaebum loved the most on the entire world, his cat - Nora. That someone probably had a nicer voice and better dance moves. He or she could probably speak English perfectly and probably was really funny and adorable at the same time.

Youngjae sunk into the leather chair he was currently sitting in, imagining Jaebum's perfect match, someone completely different than Youngjae and someone much, much, much better than Youngjae. Someone, so patient and calm that Jaebum didn't have a reason to get mad at them, someone who shared Jaebum's music taste, someone who laughed at his lamest jokes and found Jaebum's stupid ugly faces the cutest thing in the whole world. Youngjae heavily sighed. Why couldn't Youngjae be like that? Why did Youngjae have to scare Jaebum away with his horrible looks and stupid personality? Why couldn't he notice how much Jaebum didn't like him and change in time so that Jaebum wouldn't leave him.

"Maybe Youngjae hyung's in the JYP building?" - Bambam suggested. They searched everywhere and the only place too look for Youngjae left was the infamous JYP building, that basically became their second home.

"Do you really think Youngjae's that stupid?" - Jackson said, feeling ridiculous for even thinking that Youngjae could be hiding somewhere so obvious.

"But that's the only place we haven't looked." - Bambam said, standing his ground and already getting up to leave. Yugyeom also stood up to go look for Youngjae with Bambam.

"Yeah, Bambam's right. Also what do we got to lose?" - Mark announced, joining the two maknaes. Soon enough the four of them were heading towards the way too familiar tall JYP building.

"I guess I'll look for him in the recording rooms." - Yugyeom hesitantly walked towards to the many rooms with the identical doors. Bambam went to look for Youngjae in the cafeteria and other rooms that were the for JYP's artists to rest and entertain themselves. Jackson went to their practice rooms, still whining about how stupid the idea was and how they should be with Jinyoung and Jaebum going to hotels instead. Mark decided to go after Yugyeom and explode recording studios. After going through about 10 rooms that looked exactly the same on the inside and not one of them had Youngjae inside it. The rooms were either empry or was being used by songwriters, producers or other artists. Already ready to give up, Yugyeom opened the next door, not exactly expecting someone to be in there. Youngjae was sitting on the producer's comfortable chair, with his hood on his head and his eyes closed, sleeping. Yugyeom was about to cry. All this time Youngjae was sitting on that one stupid chair that was probably really uncomfortable.

"What is this idiot doing here?" - Yugyeom mumbled under his breath and went over to his hyung that has been missing since forever. Yugyeom quickly went over and hugged Youngjae. Youngjae was awakened by Yugyeom's tight hug and was really shocked seeing the maknae standing next to him hugging so tightly that he could barely breathe.

"Yugyeom... I can't... breathe.." - Youngjae managed to let out. But Yugyeom only tightened his hug. He missed his weird hyung so much that he couldn't let go of him, too scared that this might actually be a dream, that he might be imagining all of this, just like he has been doing in the past week. Yugyeom would randomly see Youngjae and then run over to hug him but then Youngjae would suddenly disappear. Yugyeom was really afraid that this was also his head messing with him, which was why he couldn't let go of Youngjae.

"Gyeomie, I need to... breathe." - Youngjae muttered again, patting Yugyeom's back. Yugyeom finally let go of Youngjae, deciding to trust his senses. Youngjae was actually sitting in front of him, very much alive. The only thing that was wrong with him was his worn out face and hoarse voice. On top of that he smelled like a 12 year old boy's sock that he has been wearing all week without taking it off once. Despite all of that, Youngjae seemed to be doing fine.

"Hyung, what in the name of God are you doing here? Do you know how worried everyone has been these past few days?" - Yugyeom said, hitting Youngjae's arm as a punishment for disappearing without anyone knowing.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? If you needed a break, you should've told us! We all would've talked to manager hyung and take a small break." - Yugyeom continued to scold his hyung. Youngjae was just sitting while trying his hardest to smile the whole time.

"Hyung, honestly tell me, why are you here?" - Yugyeom softened as soon as he saw Youngjae's stressed eyes and fake smile. Youngjae laughed awkwardly at his question but soon enough started to cry. Yugyeom started to panic, he didn't know what to do. What do you do when your hyung his crying? Yugyeom decided to just stand besides Youngjae and pat his back while he cried his heart out. The crying continued for a minutes. Youngjae kept crying, while Yugyeom kept awkwardly patting his back, while whispering "It's okay, hyung". Youngjae had to admit, it was 100 times better crying with someone next to you, than crying all by yourself in a big studio. Crying all alone depressed him more and made him want to pity himself but crying while Yugyeom was next to him whispering about how everything was going to turn out okay calmed Youngjae down a lot, making it seem like everything was indeed fine. Just as Youngjae stopped crying, Yugyeom stood in front of him and started singing a familiar tune.

"Don't be sad, no, no, no! You're not alone, no, no, no!" - Yugyeom was singing APink's song, while doing every move of the song's dance without missing a single step. The maknae really did deserve to be labeled a girl group dance king. Yugyeom's dancing made Youngjae, who seconds ago was weeping like there was no tomorrow, laugh cackle with his loud and piercing laugh. Youngjae loved how Yugyeom would literally do anything to make his hyungs happy. He would even actually jump off a cliff if it only meant his hyungs' happiness. To Yugyeom the rest of Got7 members were his best friends, teachers, business partners but more than that they were his brothers. And on top of that he was extremely close with Youngjae, which explained why he got all worked up at the news that Youngjae was missing or why he was so glad he had finally found Youngjae 30 minutes ago that he was about to cry. To Yugyeom Youngjae was someone he couldn't bare to lose. Youngjae was someone he could trust with his problems, someone he went to get advice, someone who gave tips when it came to singing and beyond that, Youngjae was someone Yugyeom could rely on at any given time.

"Do you feel a bit better, hyung?" - Yugyeom asked, taking a break from his A plus dancing to a girl group song. Youngjae smiled widely and nodded.

"I feel so much better. I'm so glad I have you, our Brownieeeee." - Youngjae beamed, pinching Yugyeom's cheek. Just like that Yugyeom and Youngjae sat in the studio until sun set and it was dark outside. Mark, Bambam and Jackson tired calling Yugyeom a few times but Yugyeom picked up the phone only to lie about now finding Youngjae in any of the recording rooms. It was nice for the two of them to just sit next to each other and enjoy each other's company. With no one else around them, they could be nothing but honest with each other, sharing every problem that was bothering them, confessing their deepest secrets and sometimes even talking about nothing but a small bug they once saw in their apartment's bathroom. Youngjae's ty relationship was no exception to their heartfelt conversation.

"So you two broke up? But why?" - Yugyeom, who always thought that Jaebum and Youngjae would end up marrying each other, was clearly startled by the sudden news.

"Jaebum hyung keeps saying it's because I've been treating him too much like my older brother and nothing else. But I think there's something else to it." - Youngjae truthfully admitted, opening every piece of him to his trusted donsaeng.

"But that doesn't make sense. Why would someone break up with someone because of that?" - Yugyeom asked, even more surprised by Jaebum's reason for ending things with his sunshine and meaning of life - Youngjae.

"I know but I guess it makes sense for Jaebum hyung." - Youngjae sighed, not wanting to think about Jaebum or their short termined relationship any longer.

"Hyung?" - Yugyeom called out.

"Do you wanna stay here for another day?" - Yugyeom asked, wanting to stay in the studio with Youngjae just a bit longer. Something about this room made Yugyeom feel very comfortable and safe. It made him feel somehow very calm, like everything was just right and he had zero problems.

"Why? Do you?" - Youngjae replied, already knowing Yugyeom's wish to stay one more day.