Young Do had followed Piper to the broadcasting room. The pair had begun wordlessly rifling through the files kept there, looking for any scrap of information that could put them on the trail to Eun Sang. Young Do was paying attention to a particular paper in a file, drawing Piper’s gaze.

“Did you find something?” She wondered.

Hyo Shin strode into the room, whipping the paper out of Young Do’s hands. “Who gave you permission to look through this?”

“Sorry, Hyo Shin-ah,” Piper spoke. “I meant to text, but I kind of got distracted.”

“We’re in the middle of an investigation.” Young Do remarked, flipping through more of the files in the box. “Did Cha Eun Sang leave anything behind besides that?”

“What are you talking about? What kind of investigation?” Hyo Shin wondered.

“Hyung, I have a favor to ask you.” Tan spoke as he joined them in the room, handing Hyo Shin his own sheet of paper.

Hyo Shin looked around to the students in his broadcasting room. “Is today something special?”

Young Do took the paper from Hyo Shin, “Cha Eun Sang didn’t come to school today, and I don’t think she will be here tomorrow.”

Piper swiftly took it from Young Do. It was a copy of Eun Sang’s passport. Why did Kim Tan have this? The paper was yet ripped from her hands as Young Do reclaimed it.

“Is something going on?” Hyo Shin questioned, his eyes holding a hidden question for Piper to see if this had to do with why she had been so upset. She gave an imperceptible nod.

“Find out if there are any documents about leaving the country.” Tan besought his friend. “As fast as you can.” He patted him on the back, “Give me a call.”

Tan walked out, leaving the three behind in the broadcasting room. Hyo Shin turned to Young Do, taking the paper back once and for all.

“You don’t plan on leaving until I shove you out?” Hyo Shin questioned him.

“How can you discriminate right in front of my face? It hurts my feelings.” Young Do whined, leaving nonetheless.

“Piper-ah, this has to do with you being upset.” Hyo Shin half asked, half stated.

“This is one of the causes, yes.” She nodded. “Can you do it? Can you find the information that Kim Tan wants?”

He gave a small grin. “It’s like you don’t know me at all. Do you want me to call you first?”

She returned the expression. “It’s like you don’t know me at all,” she echoed.

///

True to his word, Hyo Shin told Piper first that Eun Sang hadn’t left the country. Eun Sang’s old phone was disconnected, but she still had her Facebook profile active. She had made the settings ultra-private, but Piper was still on her friend’s list.

She called her eldest brother – time zones be damned – and had him instruct her step by step the way to track the last IP address of the computer or smart phone she used to log into her profile. Peyton had acquired the skill during his high school days; like Piper, the eldest McPherson had a rebel streak.

Within ten minutes – it would have been less if Peyton hadn’t kept pausing to try to lecture his sister on the difference between right and wrong – Piper had the name of the small seaside town Eun Sang was now in. There wasn’t a home address, but it was close enough.

Piper grabbed a small bag and threw a change of clothes in it, just in case she arrived late and had to stay the night somewhere.

“I’m taking the car!” She shouted to whoever was in the house as she grabbed the keys to the car she and her brother shared, her purse thrown haphazardly over her shoulder.

She tossed her bags carelessly into the passenger’s seat, quickly plugging the information into the GPS and revving the engine. As she took off down the road, she was overwhelmed by a feeling of victory. She had no doubt she was way ahead of Kim Tan and Choi Young Do.

“Take that, ing ‘first tier’ money!” She shouted, pounding her steering wheel for emphasis. “Who needs a big name, a bottomless bank account, and a squad of lawyers when you have super illegal skills?! it!”

The drive seemed like it took forever – the amount of missed calls from her parents, brother, and Hyo Shin reminded her how much groveling she’d have to do when she returned home.

She arrived in the town around dinner time, and quickly set about asking people if they knew the girl in the picture on her smart phone. She was met with many ‘no’s, until luck introduced Piper to Eun Sang’s new neighbor.

The address in hand, Piper dashed towards the small house. It was an easy find, and Piper knocked as calmly as she could on the door.

Piper had pretended she understood why Eun Sang felt she had to leave. Kim Tan’s dad had money, power, and the ability to make her life hard. However, if there was one thing Piper knew for sure about her friend, Eun Sang was utterly self-sacrificing.

Seeing the aftermath of Eun Sang’s departure – Tan, Young Do, Chan Young; all of them upset and worried – made Piper realize that even though the McPherson’s didn’t have money or power, there was one thing being a McPherson had granted her. Stubbornness that could rival the will of kings.

She’d been silent as her friend made the decision to leave in order to protect her family and Tan, but she’d regretted that since the moment she promised Eun Sang to look after Tan. Why should she take care of Eun Sang’s boyfriend? That was Eun Sang’s job, not Piper’s.

Eun Sang was scared; Piper understood that. But she also knew you couldn’t go through life being ruled by your fears. Sometimes, you had to be recklessly courageous. Particularly if it was for love – even young love – especially first loves.

The door to the small house opened, and Eun Sang’s eyes widened when she saw her friend standing there. Her eyes darted nervously around the surrounding area, as if attempting to find hidden cameras.

“I’m not important enough to have them put someone on my tail,” Piper assured her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Kim Tan’s dad won’t know I’m here.”

“How did you find me?” Eun Sang wondered, still in shock as she pulled gently out of the hug.

“You should have deleted me from your Facebook friend’s list.” Piper quirked a grin at her. “You don’t even want to know the illegality of the methods I used to track you down.”

An older woman stepped into Piper’s view, and she waved to get Eun Sang’s attention, signing something that Piper couldn’t understand.

“My mom wants to know if you’d like to stay for dinner,” Eun Sang translated.

“I would love to,” Piper grinned.

///

“Does anyone else know where I am?” Eun Sang whispered late that night.

She and Piper were curled up together, Eun Sang’s mother already asleep. Piper shook her head in response, but realized that without any light Eun Sang couldn’t tell.

“I didn’t tell anyone.” Piper informed her. “Though I don’t doubt Tan will find you sooner or later. It’ll probably take longer because he’ll go through all the legal channels. I don’t have any kind of legacy to uphold, so breaking the law wasn’t a difficult thing for me to do.”

“You have to stop him.” Eun Sang pleaded worriedly. “If he finds me, it’ll make things worse.”

“Why? Because of his dad? Are you really that scared of what he’ll do?” Piper wondered, but was met with silence. “Eun Sang-ah, Tan’s father already used your fears to send you here. He’s going to keep using them against you for the rest of your life if you let him. You did nothing wrong when you fell for Tan, but Tan’s father is punishing you for it anyways.”

“I know,” she admitted. “I was supposed to leave the country, but I came here instead. I am afraid of what will happen if he finds out where I am; I’m afraid of him hurting the people I care about in order to punish me.”

“Even if I try to stop him, you know Tan will never stop looking for you. Young Do too.” Piper added on solemnly. “They’re the boys that love you, but everyone knows that best friends are the ones that really matter, right?”

Eun Sang giggled and snuggled closer to her friend. “Thank you, Piper-ah. You always seem to know how to make me smile.”

“Did you expect anything different?” Piper chuckled lightly.

///

As expected, Piper was firmly scolded and lectured by her parents when she arrived home the next day. They were as understanding as they could be about her need to look after her friend during troubling times, but they didn’t think there was any excuse for taking off without actually notifying anyone first.

What Piper didn’t expect was the phone call she received the following evening.

“Choi Young Do,” Piper answered the call, immediately wary.

“How quickly can you get to Zeus Hotel?” He asked, forgoing any kind of pleasantries.

“Why?” She wondered. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

There was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. “I’m hungry, and I don’t want to eat alone. The dinner I was supposed to have got interrupted. Should we have noodles? Beef?”

This wasn’t about food, and Piper knew it. While his tone was light, his voice was heavy. Piper could only assume that he had either found Eun Sang, or something else had truly happened.

Piper held in a sigh, “I can be there in a few minutes. Order whatever you want.”

“I’ll tell the front desk attendants to give you the key when you get here.” He told her, hanging up abruptly.

Her inward debate raged on as she made her way to Zeus Hotel. The front desk attendants didn’t even bat an eyelash at her when she came to collect the room key, though Piper could have sworn she heard some whispering as she made her way to the elevator.

She had no idea what she was getting herself into when she slid the key card into the reader, and hesitated momentarily before turning the handle and swinging the door open.

Piper had no idea Young Do lived in the hotel – she was expecting a whole other scenario that would end with him getting slapped – and she was taken aback not only at the ‘lived-in’ look of the room, but of the mass quantities of food on the table.

“You said order whatever,” Young Do justified upon her arrival.

“I said whatever, not the whole restaurant,” Piper clarified, her guard still up.

The meal began awkwardly, the silence asive.

“So…” Piper began, attempting to ease some of the tension. “Have you found Eun Sang?”

“I found her. I heard you found her, too.” He told her. “I heard you found her first, in fact.”

“Yeah,” she smiled sheepishly. “I know someone who knows some things. I’m guessing since you know I found her first that you’ve spoken with her?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked, looking up at her.

“I promised her that I wouldn’t tell anyone. If you’ve seen her, then you know how scared she is of being found. Of what Tan’s father might do if he found her.”

Young Do paused, thinking it over. “Then Tan must not know, right? If Tan knows where she is, then his father would know soon.”

“I don’t know,” Piper confessed. “I haven’t really spoken to Tan since the day Eun Sang didn’t show up for school.” She hesitated, “I should probably go see him.”

Young Do, agitated, tossed his chopsticks onto the table. “Why?”

“I promised Eun Sang that I’d look after him.” She informed him. “Whether or not Tan found her, there really isn’t anything he can do. I’m worried he’s going to do something stupid. Something reckless.”

“And you think you can stop him?”

“I think if we both try – “

“Why would I help Kim Tan?” Young Do raised an eyebrow at her.

“Because, as much as you try and hide it, you’re a good person, Young Do-yah.”

He breathed in heavily. “Don’t say my name like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t give you an answer right now.” He confessed, referring to their conversation in the hotel’s café. “Not one that you deserve and not one that’s fair.”

“Do…do you feel…guilty?” Piper tested gingerly.

Young Do ruffled his hair. “I know Eun Sang likes Tan; I know that I’m not even a second choice. But I can’t help the way she makes me feel, and that you….” He trailed off, either unsure of what to say, or embarrassed to say it. “I don’t want to be any more unfair to you than I have been. It’s not something that happens often with me – I think you know that – but…it’s the only answer I can give you.”

Piper’s heart melted a little. It was better than flat out rejection, even though it wasn’t the answer she had been hoping for. Taking in a fortifying breath, Piper reached across the table to take Young Do’s hands in hers.

“I’m not going to rush you into answering.” She smiled softly. “But, in the meantime, help me look out for Tan. You can use whatever method you see fit, just help me keep him from doing anything stupid.”

///

Tan’s hand was bandaged; the white dressings stark against his black coat sleeves. As their classmates gossiped around them, waiting for the first class of the day to start, Piper and Young Do looked over to him, wondering what he had done to injure his hand.

Piper, having reclaimed her seat in front of Young Do, turned around slightly in her chair, throwing him a worried glance. She had been right – Tan was in a bad place and needed watching over.

The bell rang, signaling that class was starting. As their fellow students began shuffling to their seats and getting their things in order, Tan stood up and stalked towards the door.

“Didn’t you hear the bell?” Their literature teacher asked him as he walked towards the door. “Go back to your seat...”

Her instructions fell on deaf ears, and Tan walked out. Piper began to rise out of her seat, but Young Do placed a gently hand on her shoulder and eased her back down.

“Not here,” he whispered, leaning in. “It’ll cause a scene. You don’t want that to happen.”

Piper sighed. He was right, but it didn’t make her feel good about letting him go, either.

///

“The DJ line up is no joke.” Myung Soo marveled as he sat on the couch in his studio, looking at the online flyer for the Original Club Party being held the next day. “We have to go to this, Choi Young Do! It’s tomorrow.”

“Why are you pretending to love music all the sudden?” Young Do wondered from his place next to Myung Soo, sprawled along the length of the couch. “Would you go to the club if there were no women?”

“A woman will soon become music.” Chan Young voiced.

“I – what – no,” Piper shook her head, her nose scrunched in disgust at the cheesiness.

“It’s romantic,’ Bo Na defended.

“It’s weird.” Piper maintained.

“What type of music am I for you, honey?” Bo Na cooed in her perfect English accent, returning her attentions to her boyfriend.

“Hmm, a carol?” Chan Young

“Death metal.” Myung Soo corrected sourly.

“Come here, come here. I’ll really sing it for you.” Bo Na threatened, standing up and looming over Myung Soo.

“If you make one more step toward me, I will steal Yoon Chan Young from you.” Myung Soo told her, though he was much less intimidating as he cowered away from her.

This time, Chan Young stood up, grabbing a fistful of Myung Soo’s sweater. “You’re talking recklessly just because you have your mouth open.” He lectured Myung Soo, rearing back as if to punch Myung Soo, though the blow never occurred.

“Aw, he was jealous.” Bo Na simpered, a wide smile

“Aw, I was being used.” Myung Soo breathed.

“Aw, I’m going to throw up,” Piper rolled her eyes.

Young Do chuckled softly from the couch as Chan Young relinquished his hold on Myung Soo. He reached over to a container of almonds, handing them to Myung Soo.

“Eat it.” Chan Young instructed. “It is good for your heart.” He sat back in his chair, looking lovingly at his girlfriend. “Our Bo Na... it’s big trouble that you make many men’s hearts beat fast.”

“That’s what you think.” Myung Soo sniped, pouring almonds into his mouth.

“Is Kim Tan really going to be okay?” Bo Na wondered, swiftly changing the subject. “He even went to the police station. His face was all messed up today, too.”

“Tomorrow is Jeguk Group’s anniversary,” Chan Young went on. “I hope Kim Tan goes with that face and breaks even more.”

“Seriously?” Piper scoffed.

“Whoa...” Myung Soo remarked.

“Do you actually think it’s Tan fault that Eun Sang had to leave?” Piper questioned Chan Young harshly.

“Piper,” Young Do cautioned.

“Because I’m pretty sure Tan’s father was the one that made that decision.” Piper went on, ignoring him.

“Tan’s father wouldn’t have done that if Tan left Eun Sang alone.” Chan Young argued.

“So Tan’s crime was liking Eun Sang?” Piper furthered. “You’re right,” she agreed sarcastically. “He’s an awful person.”