Leo let the journal fall on his lap. He stared at his hands that were shaking with rage on top of the little book and tried to control himself. Calm down. There was no reason for him to get so angry. Attempting to keep his cool, he reached up and gripped his hair so hard he nearly pulled out a few chunks of dark strands and shut his eyes tight, trying to erase the tint of red he suddenly began seeing. Far from distracting him, Jiyong’s face swam before his closed eyes and smirked at him, taunting him. You’ll never escape me.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF REASONS TO GET SO ANGRY.

“Leo-ah?” Leo opened his eyes and turned to see N and Ken standing beside his bed. When they saw his face, they took an instinctive step back. His pallor was deathly pale; the only spot of color was the red flush of his cheeks. His eyes were narrowed to slits, the slivers they could see so livid with fury it was like looking into two pits of the deepest part of Hades. His lips were pressed together, his expression daring any single person to come within a ten-foot radius of him, making it somewhat unfortunate that N and Ken were already closer than that. To avoid his furious gaze, the two of them glanced down, not missing his clenched fists shaking on top of what looked like a notebook on his lap.

Leo didn’t give either of them a chance to talk before getting to his feet and towering over them. He crossed his arms as tightly as he could as if protecting himself before moving deliberately toward the door. He shoved Hongbin and Ravi out of the way as they appeared in the doorway, making them stumble into each other and stare after him in astonishment.

"Wait! Leo, Ken wants you to apolo—aaaand he’s gone.” N called glumly after him as he disappeared into the hall. Ravi and Hongbin joined them, both of them rubbing their shoulders.

"What’s his problem?”

"I don’t know.” Ken sounded slightly alarmed at the amount of anger he’d seen in Leo’s expression. “He was reading this though.” He reached for the notebook that had slid off of Leo’s lap and onto the floor where it was now lying, pages spread out forlornly like they wanted to take flight. He picked it up curiously, flipping through it for a moment before realizing what Leo had the night before. “It’s Hyuk’s.” He said, stunned.

At these words, N snatched the notebook out of his hands and flipped through it himself. The other three crowded around him to read with him. They skimmed the entries quickly, N reading aloud the same words Leo had.

Woohoo! Today I start my 10^th journal! I don’t know, when I was buying this notebook, I started thinking that maybe I’m getting too old to keep a journal, don’t you think? I mean I’m already 15. I’ll even be 16 soon! Can you believe it? It’s hard to believe I’ve been writing since I was ten. Okay, so maybe I’m not too old, but if Ken-hyung ever finds out about you, I’ll never hear the end of it.

Ken gave a watery sort of chuckle, reaching up to wipe a stray tear that had somehow made it’s way down his cheek. N continued to flip through the pages, finally ending up toward the end.

... Okay, I’m just going to write it. 1, 2, 3, Jiyong got me a job as a...a stripper. In a club.

N stuttered over that entry, almost believing he’d read the words wrong. He backtracked and found that indeed, he had read those words correctly. They all swallowed hard and glanced at each other. N continued in a shaky sort of voice.

He said he wanted to see him in the alleyway by his apartment where we first met, which honestly scares the sh** out of me. He looked really angry last week, and I don’t want him angry. The last time he got mad at me, he brought a knife.

Okay, I’m leaving now. Everyone’s asleep. Wish me luck.

Even N’s dark complexion went pale. “Oh my G-d.” He whispered. “Leo’s not stupid enough—”

"Did you see him?” Ken squeaked. “He’s gone to find Jiyong, I’d bet my life on it.”

"As long as he’s not betting his life on it!”

Ravi’s stomach dropped right into the pits of Hades that N and Ken had seen in Leo’s eyes. “He knows where he lives.” He whispered. They all looked at him. He looked right back at them with fear in his eyes. “Holy sh** he knows where Jiyong lives!” His voice rose to a shout. “We’ve got to get him!”

Without thinking about it too hard, the four of them surged to their feet, eyes filled with as much determination as Leo’s had been with anger. Four uniform-clad schoolboys rushed toward the door, but only three passed through it.

Ravi hesitated. In their rush, the other three didn’t notice he was no longer with them. He looked down the hall at the phone they sometimes used and pulled the business card out of his pocket once again. He swallowed hard and clenched his fist, crumpling the paper slightly, and looked toward the stairs, where the other boys had just disappeared down. He turned in the opposite direction and ran for the phone.

“Seoul Police Department, how may I help you?”

Ravi’s voice was raw and desperate. “I need to speak with Detective Choi Ilsung right now! It’s an emergency!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but Detective Choi is leaving for the night. Is there anyone else I can put you through to?”

“If he’s still there, I absolutely have to speak with him!”

He heard a sigh. “One moment please.” The soft music from his last call filled his ears and he shifted from foot to foot, praying the detective would answer.

“Yes?” The detective’s voice was more than slightly impatient.

Ravi could have cried hearing his voice. He needed someone else to take charge right now; they couldn’t deal with this on their own, no matter how independent they thought they were. They were just kids. “Detective, this is Wonshik.”

“Wonshik, I’m sorry, but can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

"Please, sir, please, it’s Le-Taekwoon.” Ravi choked on his words, tears rising in his eyes when he thought the detective might hang up. By now, he was hyperventilating, trying not to panic or pass out, and thoroughly confusing the man on the other end of the phone. “Taekwoon...journal...find Jiyong...my G-d we need help!” He cried frantically.

“Slow down, Wonshik. What’s going on?” the detective sounded less impatient now. “Take a deep breath and tell me—slowly—what happened.”

Ravi did as he asked and said quite calmly into the receiver, “Detective, I think Taekwoon went to find Jiyong at his apartment. He’s...he’s...my G-d I think he’s gone insane!”

He’d finally said the magic words. The detective didn’t ask questions (for which Ravi was extremely grateful) and sprung into action. "Okay, Wonshik. I want you and your friends to stay put. My team and I will go to the apartment and find Taekwoon.”

However, Ravi was no longer on the phone. As soon as he heard the words “Okay, Wonshik,” the boy had thrown the phone down and ran out the door to follow his friends.

“Hello?” Detective Choi called into the phone for a few seconds before realizing that Ravi was no longer there. He threw the receiver down in much the same way as the boy on the other end and cursed before running out of his office, all thoughts of going home and eating dinner with his wife utterly vanishing from his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So what's Leo planning on doing? I guess you'll have to wait and see...