"Hey - hey, appa, where's Tori?" Nichkhun walked into the sitting room. The house was eerily silent. There was no sign of Tori, his girlfriend. He felt a twinge of worry. She was supposed to meet him after his club. 

He threw his sports bag down onto the couch and ran upstairs to his room. It was empty. Cold, silent and empty. He called out, for his girlfriend, for his father. His mother... was already gone. She died a year ago. He gulped back his tears and ran back downstairs.

"Tori - Tori! Where are you? Appa! Tori! Anyone?.." 

He ran outside, down to Tori's favourite place - the beach. He pushed past two tourists, still screaming Tori's name. 

"Tori! Tori, where are you? Appa! Where ar -"

"Nichkhun!" His father's voice. 

He was walking up the beach in his suit. Nichkhun started to run towards him, then stopped. His father's suit was damp, water dripping from his trousers. He came to a halt. He was coming from the direction of the rocky cliff. 

And Tori wasn't with him. He said that he would pick her up. She was supposed to be with him.

"Appa ... where's Victoria?" he asked nervously. 

His father didn't answer - instead he grabbed his son by the arm and started to drag him back towards the house, ingoring the stares and whispers from the tourists. 

*Back inside the house*

"Sit down, son." His father patted the chair next to him. Nichkhun didn't move. In his pocket, he his birthday gift from Tori - a red figurine of a dolphin. 

His father's face darkened. "I said, sit down!" He stood, towering above his son. 

Nichkhun sat down gingerly, and edged his eat away from his father. He jumped as the torrent of words began to flow from his father's mouth.

"My buisness is not doing well at the moment, son. I need you to help. I need you to train, become a man. I need you to take over my buisness. Learn how to do this. I am relying on you, son. Do not let me down. The factories watse is being expelled into the ocean. Do not question this. We are helping our planet. We are building our houses on cut down forests. Do not attempt to stop this. We are helping the human race. Do not question anything. I am right, and you are wrong. Do you understand?" 

Nichkhun nodded, mind whirling. He squeezed the scarlet dolphin. He bit his lip and opned his mouth to speak.

"NO, son. DO NOT QUESTION ME. As for your girlfriend ..." 

He fished out a wet newspaper from his back pocket, flipped to the middle page, and handed it to his son. 

Nichkhun froze. "No ..." he whispered. 

One the page, there was a photo of Tori, smiling in front of their school. The headline read, "Girl missing off the coast; presumed drowned."

"Last night, on the 24th of June, Victoira Song was reported to have walked to the caost to "go for a walk" then never returned. The Coastal lifeguards reported her missing, and were not able to find the girl. Victoria is therefore presumed to have fallen off the cliff and drowned ..." 

Nichkhun looked up, tears glistening in his eyes. "When ..."

His father sat expressionless. "You see now why you have to run my buisness. There is no excuse."

Nichkhun stood up, hands in his pockets. He sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up. He swiped away the tears. 

"F - fine, then," he choked out. "I'll do it."

Then, overcome with sorrow, he ran outside, collasping on the beach. "Tori ..." he sobbed out. "I'm sorry ..."