Sulli pouted as Taemin lowered her down gently onto one of the chairs in Victoria’s ddukbokki stall. All of them took a seat around the table.

“Grrrr…”

“What was that?” Luna said her eyes widened in fear.

“That… would be my tummy. Sorry guys,” Sulli blushed.

“Hahaha, why don’t you just eat some ddukbokki? I don’t think Victoria noona will mind…” Taemin smiled as he pushed the plate of cold ddukbokki towards Sulli. Sulli’s eyes started tearing up.

“Did I say something wrong? Mianhe! Sulli ah, don’t cry…” Taemin said as he rubbed Sulli’s back.

“Ani… this is entirely my fault. If I went to school, I wouldn’t be hungry at home and I wouldn’t have came here and I wouldn’t have forgotten my wallet and ran back and left Vic unnie all alone and... and Vic unnie would be safe and you guys would be at home, happy right now! Jeongmal jeongmal mianhe!” Sulli said in between sobs. Taemin straight-away pulled Sulli into a warm hug. Luna and Minho couldn’t help but smile at the cute sight in front of them. When Taemin finally let go, Sulli was as red as a tomato.

“Mianhe. I hugged you cause… cause… you looked like you needed one because you’re scared, you know?” Taemin stuttered as he scratched the back of his neck. Sulli just looked down and smiled.

The awkward silence was then broke by Minho who suggested that they should try to contact every person they know that also knows Victoria. They all agreed and started to dial every number they could find. All of them were focused on trying to find Victoria’s whereabouts.

“Taemin ah, why are you smiling? Did you find anything?” Minho said, looking hopeful for good news.

“Ani, uh… someone sent me a funny… photo,” Taemin replied as he turned back to his phone. Minho sighed and shook his head.

It was soon 6pm and unfortunately, no one knows where Victoria has disappeared to. They finally decided to call the police. Taemin then took the initiative to call them.

“Hello? Uhm…I would like to report a case of my missing friend. She was last seen this afternoon at her ddukbokki stall. There was also a knife and drops of blood leading towards an alley near her stove. Uh… she was last seen wearing a pink shirt with a white hello kitty apron over it and jeans, has big eyes, bangs and she’s about 168cm tall. Yea, that’s about it. Ne. … Ne. Kamsahabnida.”

“They said they’ll take action and will inform us if they found anything,” Taemin said. All of them nodded.

After a few minutes, Amber, Krystal and Jonghyun arrived and took a seat.

“Where’s Onew hyung?” Minho asked.

“He went home straight,” Jonghyun replied.

“By himself?” Sulli asked, worried.

“Yea. What’s wrong?”

“But it’s getting dark!”

“So?”

“It’s dangerous! What if he disappears too?!”

“He’s a guy, Sulli. He’ll be fine!”

“Give him a call! Check on him! Make sure he’s okay!”

“Jinri ah, relax!” Krystal said as she put her hand firmly on Sulli’s shoulder.

“I can’t! Anything can happen to anyone! There are 7 more pages! 7 more people!”

“Alright, alright! I’ll give him a call.”

Jonghyun dialed Onew’s number and put his phone on speaker so everyone could hear their conversation. They waited for a few seconds before the call ended.

“See?! He might be in danger right now! Oh my god!” Sulli exclaimed as she got out of her seat and started limping around their table anxiously.

“Chill, he might be in a packed train and can’t pick up the phone or having dinner, Ssul. Sit down, your sprained ankle might get worse.”

“Come on, Ssul. Let’s all go home and have some rest. All of us must be tired from this…” Amber suggested.

“No! What about Victoria unnie?!”

“We might not be able to find her now, Ssul. It’s dark and it’ll put all of us in danger,” Minho said.

After a while, Sulli finally sighed and gave in. All of them said their goodbyes and headed home with heavy hearts. Amber dragged Sulli home as Sulli was weak and tired from all the things that happened that afternoon. Plus, her ankle was hurt.

All of them expected to get home and have a rest and forget the problem their facing now but Amber and Sulli won’t be having much rest as they entered their apartment which had been ransacked. Both their jaws reached the ground as they stared at the mess in front of them. Amber quickly rushed to put all the stuffs back to where they belong to see whether anything important got stolen. Sulli stood rooted at the doorstep, not able to move. All these are happening way too fast for her and she could not really understand why they were happening. First, Victoria disappeared, leaving a bloody knife. Now, her house got ransacked and 7 more horrifying pages are awaiting her. After a few minutes, Amber finally pulled her in and placed her on the sofa.

“Nothing got stolen.” Amber said and headed to the kitchen.

“Thank god,” Sulli thought. Her lips were dry. Her face was pale. She felt as if all blood drained from her body. She was scared. She knew bad things would happen to her and most importantly, the people close to her. Her heart won’t stop pounding. She did not know what to think anymore.

“Hey, I made you some hot chocolate and got the first aid box,” Amber handed the cup of chocolate to Sulli and sat down. Sulli took a sip of the delicious warm liquid, gaining back her composure and a wee bit of her energy. 

“Eotteokhae?” Sulli asked as Amber took out the bandage and carefully secured it around Sulli's injured ankle.

“I don’t know, this is really weird. Let’s just sleep and take a break. We’ll just face this together, okay? All nine of us.”

Sulli nodded and slowly finished up her hot chocolate. It wasn’t long before they were ready for bed. Sulli slowly put her head down onto her pillow and lied down. Then, she heard something ruffle under her pillow. She raised her head and pulled it out. It was a piece of paper. The exact same one. Only, with Onew on it.
 

Hey guiseeeee! Is this too short? Mianhe.. I'm so sorry for not updating for months... I'm really bad at updating fanfics regularly. :( Hopefully, this would change as I really like this fic. I hope you guys do too! Hehehehe sorry if it's bad... Anyway, thank you very much for reading and loving taelli ;D ♥ saranghaee and kamsahabnida! 

- aiscream                  26/6/13