Primary song: Im Hee Suk (cover by EXO)- I Really Didn't Know

Genre: Angst

Characters: Chen/ female OC (unnamed)

My world crashed and burned, ironically enough, on a bright sunny May morning. Because it would be too clichéd if it happened on a gloomy December night, right?

Of course, that morning, I didn't even realize that my world was slowly falling apart because it took me the whole day to figure everything out. And by the time I did, it was a dark, foggy night. Appropriate for how I felt.

But that's getting too far ahead in my tragic tale. It'd be best to backtrack to earlier that morning to when I woke up to the sounds of cheerful chirping and the light of the sun's rays. What I didn't wake up to was the handsome chiseled face of my beloved boyfriend.

"Jongdae?" I tiredly rubbed the rest of my sleepiness away. I yawned and stretched before finally being in a state of alertness.

"Jongdae?" I repeated while whipping my head back and forth, looking for my boyfriend. Pulling the covers off of me, I got up and slid my feet into my comfy slippers.

I trudged across the wooden floors of my bedroom before sliding the paper covered doors open. Because my house was one of those traditional ones in a village on the edge of the Seoul area, when I stepped out of my room, I was stepping out into the courtyard and was momentarily blinded by the sunlight.

Blinking the sunlight away, I began searching the entire house which consisted of a couple of different buildings. Ever watched SHINee’s Hello Baby program? (SHINee was my favorite boy group by the way). Yeah, my house was like that. I called my boyfriend’s name multiple times and looked literally everywhere. After searching the entire area, I walked back to the main building where the living room was. If you could call it that. It was just the place for the family to gather. While walking, I was sincerely hoping (but doubting) that my boyfriend was pulling a prank on me, something he liked to do often.

Biting my lip, I walked into the tiny, cramped kitchen where the phone was because I decided to call him, thinking he just got up earlier than me and went home. But I realized it'd be weird if he did that. Jongdae has never just disappeared without at least a note or a voicemail to explain. And I searched all the buildings well enough to know he didn't leave a note. Judging from the unblinking phone, I knew he didn't leave the latter either.

It was still worth a shot to try to call him though. Maybe today was a special case, and he had to rush home because of an emergency, and just accidentally forgot to leave a note or voicemail. My mind was automatically making up an excuse for him, but a small voice at the back of my brain was voicing my doubts.

Crushing that small voice, I called him. Once on his cell phone. Voicemail. Once on his home phone. Voicemail. One more time on his cell phone. Voicemail. Again.

Discouraged, I stopped after my third try, knowing he'd be annoyed by more than three calls. Refusing to listen to that small voice that popped up in my head the third time Jongdae didn't pick up, I decided to give him the benefit of doubt.

I glanced at the clock, and was shocked to see it was already 1. I must have woken up really late. What did I even do last night? Being the naturally forgetful person I am, a few moments pass before I can fully recall last night's events.

Jongdae had taken me out for a dinner date to celebrate our six month anniversary. I smiled at the memory. He had looked so dashing in his simple yet classy dress shirt and pants, and his smile, as always, made me fall in love with him all over again. He had presented me flowers with a cheesy, "For you, my love," and I had rolled my eyes at his cheesiness, but still smiled. He knows I secretly love his dorkiness.

I continued reminiscing the sweet dinner date as I was preparing brunch. But as I was bringing out the small, low hexagonal table we used for meals, a small detail from last night popped into my head. It was such a trivial detail at the time, I didn't think much about it at the time. In fact, I had probably even ignored it. But now that Jongdae's gone and I'm looking for answers, I can't overlook a single detail. I frowned when I remembered his slightly forced smiles, distracted nature, and awkward aura around him during dinner. Now that I actually thought about it, he had been really distant with me.

My heart dropped when I realized this. How did I not notice this last night? I continued to place the food on the table despite no longer being hungry. I lost my appetite with the realization that my boyfriend was acting weirdly last night, and I had never noticed.

Just as I finished giving thanks for the meal and was picking up my chopsticks, the sound of whistling stopped me. I looked up excitedly, thinking it was possibly Jongdae. Unknown to most people, my boyfriend was an amazing whistler. He didn't do it often, but when he did, you'd stop to listen because his whistling was almost as good as his singing, and let me tell you, he was amazing at singing.

I jumped up from my sitting position and rushed to the front door when I heard a familiar tune Jongdae would sing, hum or whistle whenever he was over at my house. I didn't know the title of the song, but I never bothered to ask.

I reached the door just as someone was coming in. It was my mother. My heart deflated slightly because I was hoping it was Jongdae, but I maintained a smile and greeted her. As a nurse, she had to stay at the hospital for overtime last night to watch over a few of her patients.

"Umma! You're back. How is Han ahjumma doing?" I hugged her and asked her about one of her patients, a kind elderly woman who told funny stories every time I visited her.

My mother sighed as she took off her shoes. "She had a last night, more severe than her previous ones."

I gasped loudly, and before I could ask her any questions, my mother continued, "But she's fine now. How was your dinner date with Jongdae?"

If my mother moved onto a new topic, that meant the previous one was closed for discussion. Despite my desire to ask more about Mrs. Han, I knew better than to ask, and simply answered, "It was nice."

I tried to hide my upset feelings about Jongdae's distance last night and his disappearance this morning, but my mother must have caught something in my tone. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly. I looked at her, somewhat surprised but somewhat not because I had accepted the fact that mothers know about everything a long time ago.

I sighed and decided to spill everything. She was going to find out sooner or later, and I'd rather have her find out through me than anyone else. "Well last night, Jongdae slept over at our house-" I began, but my mother cut me off.

"He did what?" She frowned at me, disapproval stamped on her face. She was a very traditional woman, so the idea of a man and a woman sleeping together was repulsive to her. "You guys didn't do that, did you?" She looked at me with suspicion. I immediately blushed, knowing what she was thinking of.

"Of course not!" I defended myself indignantly. "Aww umma, why'd you have to say that? Making me embarrassed..." I complained and trailed off to cover my face with hands. My mother laughed at my red face, and assured, "I know you'd never do that. Your father and I raised you better than that."

I removed my hands from my face and shot her a playful glare. "Anyways, like I was saying, he stayed over just to sleep because it was really dark, and he consumed a bit too much alcohol." My mother nodded understandingly because hey, this was South Korea. We, especially the men, drank a lot.

"When I woke up this morning, he was gone. And I realized that last night, during the date, he was acting really oddly. He wasn't being himself," I admitted everything to my mother, as we both lowered ourselves to place ourselves on the seat cushions at the low table.

"Oh, you made lunch?" She asked, momentarily distracted. I nodded, and said, "Mmhm. It wasn’t that hard.” It really wasn’t. All I had to do was reheat everything. The rice, the kimchi soup, and the side dishes. Korean breakfasts were usually leftovers from the previous dinner.

“This is actually supposed to be my breakfast, but since it’s already lunchtime, I’ll eat it as lunch. But I'm not all that hungry." My mother understood that meant I was too worried about Jongdae to care about food.

She placed her hand on top of mine, and looked me in the eyes. "I'm sure he's fine. And I'm sure he had a reason for leaving." She removed her hand to fold her hands together for prayer, and I prayed along, except not for the food since I already did that. I was praying to God for some answers and for Jongdae to be okay.

As my mother began digging in, I only watched silently, not really watching but thinking about what to do next. "So what are you going to do?" My mother barged into my thoughts. I looked at her astounded that she said the very thing I was thinking. I shrugged in response and sighed. "I don't know umma," I admitted. "What do you think I should do?"

She stopped eating for a moment and locked eyes with me. Her eyes were an ocean mixed with concern and worry for me, but also wisdom, and I was drowning in them. "You're old enough to make your own decisions," she said softly. "But, as your mother, I want you to make the decision that's best for you." She then broke the eye contact and continued eating.

I sat there contemplating her words before standing up with determination. I was going to find Jongdae and demand an explanation. Even if it meant asking everyone I knew and everyone I didn't to discover his location. Even if