A/N: First off, I'm so sorry this update took so long >.< I've been busy with exams and then I took a very long holiday abroad, away from my laptop.

A big HUGE thank you for the subscribes and the upvotes!

~~~~~

Minseok had no idea how he ended up lying in the middle of the road.

It probably had something to do with falling off of Jongdae’s balcony, but he couldn’t quite fit the pieces together. How far had he fallen? Two feet? Ten? A thousand?

A million?

“Xiumin! Oh, my gosh…are you okay? Are you dying? That would really !” Jongdae’s voice rings through the cool night air, his body a blurry silhouette in front of a bright room on the second floor of the apartment building. He sounds as if he’s trying desperately to figure out whether he wants to laugh or cry.

“No.”

“Oh good! That’s…that’s good!” Jongdae bursts out laughing. “I’m coming straight down!”

“Dammit, Jongdae…” He is already shaking dust and gravel off of his sweater when his friend arrives. “Why am I not hurt?”

“You’re bleeding a lot, actually.”

“Oh.”

Faint recollections begin to flow back into his head after the shock of the fall fades away. They seem hazy, as if they could have been a dream.

Minseok raps on Jongdae’s door. He can hear loud, agitated voices trampling eachother inside the room. The door opens, to reveal Jongdae’s worried face, pale and tired looking, but it lights up slightly at the sight of his friend.

“Oh, Xiumin! Thank God you’re here. Come in quickly!” He shut the door behind him and took in the sight of the room. Jongdae’s usually quiet, empty apartment was teeming with people, many of them police workers, some reporters, and a woman who was quietly sobbing on the couch, her face buried into a pillow.

One of the reporters approached him to ask questions, but Jongdae pushed her away. “I need to talk to you. Somebody’s gone missing. As in, totally disappeared with absolutely no trace.”

“What? What do you mean, gone missing? Who?”

 “Lu Han. He left a-”

“WHAT?” Minseok’s heartbeat sped up. “Luhan? But how? Why?”

“That’s what we don’t know! You see, he left a n-”

“But he couldn’t. I saw him today. And where the HECK have you been, exactly? I’ve been freaking out about you all evening. You weren’t there, I thought you…I don’t know what I thought, but it was scary! Just…just what the hell is going on, exactly?!”

Jongdae sighs. “I’m sorry about that, really. There’s an explanation, but there’s no time for that now. The biggest problem is Lu Han. He had left a-”

A reporter jumped in between them, cutting Jongdae off for the third time. “Could I have a statement from both of you, please?”

“NO, YOU CAN’T.” Jongdae took a deep breath. “Xiumin, Lu Han left a note saying that you would know where to find him. That he would message you, and that he would only be gone for a few hours, but he’s been gone for eight now. That’s why we need your phone. I wasn’t going to tell you until tomorrow, but…”

“But that’s impossible. Lu Han told me today that he wouldn’t contact me anymore. Not even through text message. I haven’t gotten any texts today except from you and Baekhyun.”

“You’re kidding, right? You had to have gotten the message. That was our only lead, that was the only bit of hope we had, that was-” Jongdae starts to nervously shake his hands, biting his lip. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know! Have you contacted Sehun? He was going out with Lu Han after classes today. He probably knows.” Minseok can’t see straight. His thoughts are racing and he feels as if he might have a panic attack. Not Lu Han. Not him. He’s got to be somewhere…anywhere…

“Sehun says he didn’t show up to meet him.”

“WHAT? But I saw him! Literally two minutes before he was going to meet with Sehun!”

“Then you were the last person to see him. Nobody knows what happened to him after that. We’re stuck, that’s it. Lu Han is gone.” Jongdae sits down on the counter, looking helpless and hopeless. Minseok feels the same.

The whole room goes quiet, except for the quiet sobs of the woman Minseok assumes to be Lu Han’s mother. Jongdae shoos out the reporters, and the police workers thank him for his help and leave behind them.

Jongdae walks out onto his balcony, and Minseok follows him, still not quite sure if he’s breathing or not. It doesn’t seem real. It couldn’t be real.

His friend is leaning against the railing, which is so old and rusty that simply brushing it leaves a layer of silvery red on your fingertips. Plants are also starting to creep up the worn metal, the old paint long gone. Jongdae always talks about how he is going to rebuild the railing when he gets the money, and paint it bright orange so that it can light up the city. His grey sweater is probably already ruined, but Jongdae obviously doesn’t care, so Minseok decides not to care either.

“They searched everywhere. All day. They called ev-everyone who might know, a-and no sign of him.” Jongdae is about to break down for the second time.

“There’s nothing you can do. It’s not your fault, Jongdae.” The two of them look out over the city skyline, radiating light pollution that outshines the stars. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I was supposed to have your message, I was the last to see him, I should have done something. I should have been there, I just…I just still don’t understand.”

“You’re wrong, Xiumin. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

“What? No, it’s n-”

“It is. It’s my fault. Lu Han is gone and it’s my fault. And you know why? Do you know why?” Jongdae’s voice breaks and he kicks the railing as hard as he can, over and over, ignoring the ominous noises coming from the joints. “Because-”

The railing gives way.

“OHMYGOD!” Jongdae screams and jumps away from the falling bars. “Get away from there!”

He’s too late.

“Dammit, Jongdae!”

“What the heck were you thinking? Why didn’t you get that balcony replaced earlier?” Minseok tries to be angry but honestly, it’s much too funny. Both of them break down in laughter in the middle of the road, not really caring that Minseok might have died, because he didn’t. So who cares?

“I should have gotten that on video. Why on earth didn’t I get one of those cool 24 hour surveillance systems?” Jongdae moans, deeply regretting his life decisions.

“Because you’re broke.”

“Righhhhhhht.”

The sound of rolling tires approaches and they realize it would probably be a good idea to get off the road. They only miss getting run over by a couple of seconds, but both of them are still too intoxicated with laughter to care.

“You’re lucky I didn’t break my phone in half. Actually, you’re lucky I didn’t die, really. Because, like you said, that would really .” Minseok pulls out his phone to check it for damage. The screen is badly cracked and the case is broken, but it turns on. “Oh , look.  A new message.”

His face goes pale.

So does Jongdae’s.

“If you tell me that that message is from Lu Han, I’m going to murder him. And you.” His voice has gone quiet.

The two of them stand awkwardly on the sidewalk, one staring at his phone and one staring at the bloodied hand holding it.

“…oh.”

~~~

I promise the next update won't take as long :)