Chapter Twenty Seven

 

The shop was in ruins. Everything that was previously organized into place were scattered about, fragile merchandise shattered on the floor, chairs' and tables' legs broken and shelves pushed over.

She walked around slowly, assessing the damage with horror when her foot slipped a little. Looking down, she saw she stepped on a small pool of blood and her heart clenched.

“Kai!” She cried out desperately. There was no reply.  She rushed over to the stock room and called out to him again. She heard mumbles coming from the far right of her.

She quickly navigated through the messy stock room and followed the noise. It became louder and louder until she came across a small homey section in the stock room. It looked like an average bedroom with a bed, lamp and night table. On said night table was a radio with its volume blaring.

“-Thank you for tuning into EXO’s number one channel for social information. We come to you withe an update on our monthly missing persons list. If you have any information about any of the persons on this list, please contact your local authorities. We thank you for your cooperation. To begin-“

She froze as the announcer listed numerous names until a few caught her attention.

“-Suho from Sector K, D.O from Sector K-“

So, they were still being looked for. That made her a little happy they hadn’t been caught yet by the government.

“-Chanyeol from Sector K, Luhan from Sector M-“

She whipped around to face the radio.  Chanyeol was missing? She leered in close as if she couldn’t believe her ears. No, he can’t be missing too.

“-Xiumin from Sector M, Baekhyun from Sector K-“

Baekhyun as well! She gasped and plopped down on the floor and placed herself closer to the radio. How could Baekhyun be missing? She just saw him a few nights ago. 

“And the new update to the list is Sehun from Sector K who didn’t arrive to work yesterday. If you have any information on any of these individuals, we ask you to please contact your local authorities-”

She couldn’t hear the announcer anymore. Her ear stopped functioning after she heard Sehun’s name. He was missing now. He was gone without a trace.  Panic started to fully set in.

He’s gone. She thought, I don’t know where he is, what he’s doing or if he’s even okay. Is he injured? Was he taken? Is it a false alarm? I mean, I just saw him the morning before. Her thoughts rolled over various possibilities before a familiar song played on the radio. She perked up and looked to the radio; it was the song that Kai danced to when he first showed her his dancing abilities. She immediately sat up and processed her surroundings.

The bed wasn’t made and looked rather messy. That didn’t seem like a thing Kai would leave undone.

“Kai! Are you there!” She yelled out and it echoed thorough out the stock room. She didn’t get any reply. She looked at the various trails that led away and picked one at random. After what felt like hours, she finally found her way back to the front shop, which was still left in the same mess she last saw it in.  She continuously called out to Kai but she only heard silence back.

 She conflused he was gone too. She felt her breathing shorten when her panic started to really consume her. She was alone. Sehun was missing and now Kai was. She didn’t know what happened to Sehun or Kai and all she had was an empty destroyed shop for a clue.  She glanced over to the register and saw it wasn’t touched, ruling a robbery out. And what about the blood on the floor?

She walked over to the small pool for blood she stepped in.  She followed the trail of blood away from it which led to fallen over tables and bookshelves. She started slowly piecing things together.

Was there a fight? Did Kai get involved? She thought. It seemed to make sense. Nothing was ransacked and things were more out of place and broken, which could be due to people pushing them over or falling onto them.  She looked towards the entrance and saw track marks made out of blood leading out of the shop. He was dragged out, Kai was beaten and then taken. She concluded.

She stood there staring at the door. What she was trying so hard to avoid, had happened. The people who helped her were taken and she could only imagine the worst that could happen to them as a result.

She was devastated. How could she have let this happen? She should have left before. She shouldn’t have gotten others involved. Sehun was right in saying she would be vulnerable if she left on her own. But now, she was on her own and the people she cared about on EXO were nowhere to be found.

She pulled her sleeve up and glared down at her mark “Are you happy now! “ She shouted down to the mark which had grown into a small tree. Oh good, She thought bitterly, I’m still on track.   She tried hard to control her tears as she thought back to her memories of Sehun with his determination and Kai with his wit and concern.

Suddenly a strange fire became enflamed in her heart.  Her tears were replaced with determination and anger. What was she doing, moping about and wasting time? How was that going to fix her problems? She needed to get herself together. She couldn’t break down, not now. Sehun wouldn’t have wanted that.

But, determination wasn’t enough to get her to leap into action. After all, just walking outside without direction would still get her nowhere. What was she supposed to do now? Her eyes rolled about the shop, hoping for a sign when she eyes met with a broken communicator on the floor. Something clicked in her mind.

She rushed over to the room which had the stairs to the flat. She quickly pulled them down and ran into the flat without bothering to pull them back up.  She ran as fast as she could into the kitchen and hasitly pulled the communicator off of the wall. She looked through the call history and found the number she was looking for and dialed.

PickupPickupPickup. She repeated in her head.

“Hello?” A groggy voice greeted her.

“Chen!” She yelped and pushed the communicator closer to her ear, “Oh my goodness, I- I can’t- I’m so happy you’re there.”

“…Ileana?”

“Yes! Yes! It’s me, Ileana! Chen, please, I need your help.  It’s urgent! Can you please please meet me at the tea shop in a few minutes?”

“Ileana, “ he sighed over the line, “What’s going on, are you okay? Are you aware how early-”

“I know how early it is, but can you please meet me there, I really don’t have anyone else I can rely on right now.” She prayed her desperation could be heard over the phone. There was a small moment of silence.

“Chen? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I am. Okay, I’ll meet you there. But, there better be a good explanation for this!”

“There is , there is! See you soon!” And she ended the called frantically. She pushed the communicator back onto the wall and zoomed out of the kitchen.

She was about to go down the stairs when something caught her eye from the coat rack. It was the satchel she had picked up from the stock room a few days back. She hesitated before she grabbed it off the rack and continued her way down the stairs. She rushed out the shop’s back door and tried to maintain a somewhat normal looking pace so she wouldn’t stick out among the people walking by.  

What felt like forever, she ended up inside the tea shop. She looked around and saw Chen hadn’t arrived yet. She inhaled the wonderful scents of tea and pastries which made her stomach grumbled. But, she had nothing on her except for the satchel.

I wonder, she thought as she looked down at the satchel. She thought of Kai’s change purse and reached into the bag. Her hand found something and pulled it out. It was a small leather bag with a zipper. ping it, she noticed there was in fact money inside. She stared at it in shock and thanked the gods for the wonderful and mysterious satchel.

She walked over to the counter and ordered something for herself and Chen, a small apology for waking him up. She took what she ordered and placed them on a table and waited for Chen to arrive. Luckily for her, she didn’t wait long. Chen entered the shop, looking quite irritated and tired with a just rolled out of bed appearance. It didn’t take him long to find her and march his way over to her.

He looked like he was going to tear her a new one when he saw the tea and food on the table. He sighed before closing his mouth and plopping down on the seat in front of her.  He grabbed a pastry and shoved it into his mouth rather comically and took a long swing of tea. When he was done, he looked like a completely changed person and was back to his old careless self.

“Not a morning person?” She asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Never was, and never will be.” He replied, now leisurely enjoying his tea, “Thank you for the goodies, by the way.”

“Don’t thank me yet…” She mumbled as she looked off to the side.

“Right, care to tell me why you demanded I meet you here so early in the morning?”

She bit her lip lightly before letting go and meeting his eyes, “I need your help.”

“With what?”

“Sehun and Kai are missing.” She told him bluntly. He stopped drinking his tea and shot her a look. He lightly placed his tea down.

“Is that so?” He murmured and turned to his gaze to the window, “Baekhyun’s missing too.” He whispered, looking distraught.

“I know, I heard on the radio this morning.”  There was a small pause between them.

“I’m sorry Ileana, but what exactly do you want me to do for you?” Chen sighed out, “I don’t know where they are or how I can help you find them.”

“I’m not asking you to help me. But I want to ask you some questions that could lead me in the right direction.”

Chen looked at her confused, “And what are those questions?”

“You’re not going to like it but…it’s about that group you were with.”  Chen’s face immediately darkened.

“They have nothing to do with their disappearance, Ileana. Just forget about them.”

“How are you so sure-“

“They aren’t like that. They don’t take people without reason.” Chen firmly stated, almost glaring at her.

“What if there was a reason?”

“Like what?”

“The crystal.” Just thos two words and Chen’s expression completely changed. He looked on either side of them before meeting her gaze again.

“Get up and come with me. This isn’t the place to talk about this.” Chen finished his tea and stood up. She quickly finished her tea and pastry and followed him out. They walked down the street casually and without a word until she decided to break the silence.

“Where are we going?” She asked.  Chen looked over his shoulder and shot her a smirk.

“To my apartment.” 

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A-Yo What up ys ;)

I saw your comments and nearly died. Even for a dull-ish chapter, you guys are so awesome. :P I love you all. Thank you soooo much to all the subbies, commenters, silent readers (yes, even you...but you only get half my love. You're missing out!) lovelovelovelovelove to ALL!

Onto the update. YOU MAD BRO?

I can imagine all them Sehun and Kai lovers getting ready to shoot me.  Please don't shoot me. D:

And Kris lovers... this is for you

You're welcome. 

Oh, FAQ from a few of you: WILL THE OTHERS (i.e Xiumin, Suho, Chanyeol, D.O etcc) COME BACK? 
Answer: YES. How, why, when? ....NO COMMENT *Runs off Daehyun style*

Kay, much love to all. 

Giveaway of the day: *Throws an iron* Now, we can iron Krease together. ;)

kay buhbye now xoxox

 

ps: To all of those who have exams...