Yongguk twirled his fingers around the stem of his wine glass, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked down from the second deck of the yacht and onto the open area below - where his five other members filled the air with their loud, cheerful laughter and nonstop chattering. It was Youngjae's birthday, and the group were celebrating it with a small private party out at sea. Yongguk considered heading down to join them, but after a second thought, he stayed where he was, deciding to just watch his dongsaengs for a little while more. 

Daehyun was now trying to attack the bunch of grapes that maknae Zelo was happily devouring. Zelo hurriedly scooted to the side and twisted his body to block Daehyun from reaching his grapes, causing the latter to struggle and flail his arms comically around the maknae's tall frame in a desperate attempt to steal his grapes, which sent the other members into fits of laughter. Yongguk chuckled quietly as their laughter was nearly drowned out by the high pitched squeals of indignation coming from the throat of their lead vocalist - that boy had as big a talent for belting out perfect, honey-sweet high notes as he did for eating.

Just then, Zelo glanced up and caught Yongguk's eye. A big, childlike grin spreading over the flawless features of his baby face, he raised a hand and beckoned Yongguk over. Yongguk flashed his gummy smile in return, and swooped his wine glass from the table as he made his way down. The six of them, they didn't make up a normal family, Yongguk thought, as he descended the stairs and paused momentarily to admire how the evening sun tainted the waves lapping against the side of the yacht a brilliant goldish colour. But they were family, and that was all that mattered to him. 

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That night, the six of them had returned home from sea, feeling a lot more relaxed after spending an entire day off.

Himchan, the mummy of the group, busied himself in the kitchen making dinner for everyone. Yongguk had just finished helping him to lay out the ingredients for kimchi bokkeumbap and was now sitting at the kitchen counter. The four kids were in the living room, and by the sound of it, were busy playing a video game of some sort. Yongguk found himself smiling again as he watched them - his family. He was glad that they were all able to enjoy some free time together at last - their schedules had been so busy lately and although being the leader, he had more work to do and hence less time to rest than s, he had been worried about their health recently. 

But thankfully, everything had been working out alright. The dongsaengs always listened to him well and were very supportive and encouraging towards each other when their fellow members had felt tired or unwell. Daehyun and Youngjae - the powerful vocal middle line who were always looking out for their hyungs and dongsaengs, Jongup - who always provided a ready listening ear and companionship in his quiet way and baby Junhong Zelo, who never failed to lift everyone's mood with his contagious cheerfulness and energy. 

And then there was Himchan - Yongguk's smiled widened just a little as his glaze flicked over to the pretty, brown haired boy whom, at the moment, was cutting vegetables on the opposite end of the kitchen counter. As if he knew he was being watched, Himchan lifted his head and met Yongguk's gaze with his huge eyes.

"Yah, I know I'm the most good looking one in the house, but you should probably go out and help in the game." Himchan swiftly scooped up the vegetables into a bowl. "It sounds like the middle line is losing to the maknae line, what an embarassment."

Yongguk choked, not bothering to suppress his laughter. True, Himchan was indeed extremely good looking - and he was never afraid to say it. Rolling his eyes, Yongguk stood up and scraped his chair back from the counter. "Yah, be extra generous with the kimchi in that," he chuckled, nodding to the stove where dinner was being cooked and sliding out the kitchen door to join the kids. 

That was how life with his family passed everyday - despite their busy schedules, their days were happy, peaceful and full of laughter and energy. 

That was, until the day Youngjae went missing.

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

The early morning rays of summer sunlight shone through the old, dusty window of the second floor in the group's gang-like hideout home. Daehyun's eyes fluttered open, and he blinked twice. Stretching himself out on his bed, he rolled his neck over in the direction of the bed next to him and grinned.

"Good mor - "

Daehyun stared.

The bed was empty.

Flicking his long brown fringe out of his eyes, he sat up and looked down at the bed that looked as if it hadn't even been slept in last night. Had Youngjae gotten up so early? Daehyun stared again, and frowned. No, he doubted it. It always took extreme effort to drag his dongsaeng out of bed in the mornings - Daehyun could call Youngjae repeatedly for up to ten times and the latter would still find a way to fall back asleep. 

Where was Youngjae then?

Daehyun knew his dongsaeng would hardly sneak off anywhere without telling him. Suddenly feeling strange in the pit of his stomach, Daehyun rolled off his bed and made his way to the door. Flinging it open, he stepped out into the quiet hallway - a little too quiet, in fact - and almost bumped right into Zelo's tall body. Slightly startled, Daehyun backed up a little and looked at him. The maknae paid no attention to him at all, instead he was staring down over the railing onto the first floor of their house with a shocked expression on his face. 

Daehyun followed his gaze and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the backview of Yongguk crouching over Jongup, who was lying motionless on the floor below. Immediately, he knew something had happened to Youngjae, and he suddenly felt ice cold.

"Junhong," he said, in a barely audible whisper. 

The maknae didn't respond.

"Junhong," Daehyun repeated. "Get Himchan hyung."

Zelo turned towards him, his huge babyish eyes wide with fear and confusion. Daehyun took one look at the maknae and winced inside. The kid was barely seventeen. Daehyun wanted to hug him and tell him that everything would be alright, but honestly - he himself was suddenly afraid too. Instead, he gave Zelo a reassuring nudge. "Now."

He watched as Zelo sped off down the hallway in the direction of the hyung's room. Swallowing a lump in his throat, Daehyun cast another look at Yongguk and Jongup below before turning and racing down the stairs in their direction. His heart thumped as quickly as his footsteps could be heard against the cold stone steps. Youngjae was family, and Daehyun's closest brother and friend. If anything happened to him.... Daehyun fought back tears and pushed the thought out of his mind as he skipped the last few steps and raced towards Yongguk and Jongup.