Sunday, day 14. It’s been about 2 weeks.

            I woke up in the morning feeling numb. My eyes were slightly puffy from crying myself to sleep and I simply felt tired as .

            I was having lunch with Jackson later that day, and ended up telling him everything that’d happened with Kai.

            “Well,” Jackson said, “he’s right. You’re being awfully ignorant about the cheating thing.”

            “Because I don’t want it to be true,” I defended.

            “But it is. And you’re just going to have to accept it. Move on or whatever but you have to admit, Kai’s not in the wrong here,” Jackson said. “By the way, don’t you think Taemin’s disappearance is kind of strange?”

            I stared at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

            “I was thinking about it the other day,” Jackson said. “Remember when we went to Taemin’s house? That place is packed with security cameras and everything. If you were talking to Taemin on the night before he disappeared, and if he really was in his room all safe and sound like he should’ve been, and if there was no disruption with the security system that night, then-“

            “-stop,” I said. “It can’t be!”

            “Hyemi,” Jackson said, his voice low and serious. “There’s a reason why there’s been so little clues. Taemin deliberately got up and ran away. He left on his own accord. He knew he was going to leave you and he did it. We don’t know the reason why, but everything isn’t what it looks like.”

Friday, day 19.

            It was nighttime, and I should’ve been sleeping.

            But I was wide awake, with the thoughts of Taemin and Naeun on my mind, just like how it’d been all week long.

            I hadn’t wanted it to be true. Even if it was, it must’ve been a mistake.

            My desire to find him resumed. I wouldn’t trust anybody’s words except his, and I didn’t want to suffer any longer. I needed to find him.

            Not being able to take it anymore, I grabbed my jacket and dashed out of the house to my car. On my phone GPS I looked up: Exo Electronics.

            Turning the radio up loud, I sped off to my desired destination. My heart was beating fast, the adrenaline pumping at an all time high.

            The company building was deserted. The parking lot was completely empty, the building itself looking like it was going to break down any second with its beat up and weary exterior.

            I got out of my car and my flashlight. The stakes were high, as well as the dangers, but I didn’t even care as I marched right up to the seemingly abandoned building.

            The building was literally abandoned. The lights were off, most of the furniture was packed up, and not a single person was in sight.

            I located Kim Minseok’s office on the second floor. There were some dried up flowers on his desk, and I also noticed what looked like dried blood.

            “Was this where he…” I stopped myself. The police were iffy in stating Minseok’s death as an accident. Right now I was also considering murder, courtesy of Kim Suho.

            I rummaged through the file cabinet, looking to see if there was anything I could use to find out where Taemin could possibly be.

            There were some documents with the company logo on it saying: Kim Minseok, CEO; Kim Suho, VP. I looked to see if there was anything else about Suho but found nothing.

            Disappointed, I walked out of Minseok’s office with a heavy heart. Then I noticed a room just across from his labeled: Kim Suho, VP.

            Bingo.

            But just as I was about to open the door I heard a loud bang.

            Suddenly a hand was on my mouth, another forcefully locking my arms behind me. He was holding onto me so tightly that it hurt as I struggled to break free from his grasp. Then I started getting dizzy, my vision grew weak, and before I knew it, I was out.

            When I regained consciousness, all I saw were flames. Lots and lots of flames.

            The dirty smoke filled the air, making my eyes water and my breaths short.

            “Hyemi…HYEMI!” I heard someone shout.

            I was lying on the ground, and I struggled to move, to say something. Here! Here! I wanted to say. But no words came out. All that came out were tears as I seemed to prepare myself for death. My head hurt, my body hurt, and my heart hurt. Everything hurt.

            “Hyemi!” the voice shouted again. “WHERE ARE YOU?!”

            Footsteps came closer. I felt a shadow dawn upon me. In the midst of my trance, I thought I saw Taemin as he leaned over me, asking me, “Why would you do something so stupid? Why are you such an idiot?”

            “I swear,” I heard him say, “you will be the death of me.”

            Then he lifted me up, carrying me in his arms. I looked up at Taemin, then realized that it wasn’t Taemin at all.

            Taemin wasn’t tan. He wasn’t this tall, his arms weren’t this strong. Taemin would never call me stupid, he’d never call me an idiot.

            But I knew another boy who would, another boy who also looked so much like him.

The light one was the one who had almost led me to my demise.

But the dark one was the one who’d saved me that night.