Until the school had finally ended, Chanyeol still hadn’t replied to your messages. Although you wanted to send more messages, you knew it wouldn’t be wise to do so. Chanyeol might get bothered if you flooded his inbox. Assumptions started to be made inside your head, and most of them were bad ones.

“What if Chanyeol is sick?” you uttered worriedly to Soohyun and Yeri.

Those friends of yours just knew Chanyeol couldn’t be contacted since this morning and they demanded you to tell them the whole story. But, because you also didn’t know what happened to him, you couldn’t give them valuable information.

“Doesn’t he live with his family? His family must’ve taken a good care if he’s really sick,” Soohyun chimed.

“No, he lives with her noona here. His parents live in Incheon,” you replied.

“Then his noona must’ve taken care of him,” Yeri said.

You bit your lower lips in doubt. “I don’t know… His noona seems nice, but as far as I know, she’s pretty busy.”

“If you are that worried, why don’t you visit him at his house or apartment?” Soohyun asked.

A small sigh came out from your mouth. “The thing is, I don’t know where Chanyeol lives,” you admitted.

Yeri’s eyes got widened. “Seriously?”

You raised your shoulders. “I didn’t have a reason to come to his house and he never asked me to.”

It was silence when the three of you drowned in your own thoughts. The silence didn’t last long because suddenly someone opened the door. Jolted from your seats, all of you thought it was school’s security that checked classes after school ended to lock it. But instead of the security, it turned out to be Byun Baekhyun.

“How’s Chanyeol?” he asked as he entered your classroom swiftly. He sat on the other desk near your desk, waiting for you to answer him.

“Still no answer,” you answered in disappointment.

Baekhyun exhaled. “Same here,” he mumbled, waving his phone in his hand. “I couldn’t reach him when I tried to call him earlier.”

You nodded as you could relate. “But once I tried to call him and it connected! Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up. When I tried again, I couldn’t reach him. It seems like he his phone for a while then turned it off again for some reasons.”

“What’s with this kid,” Baekhyun mumbled. He seemed bothered, frustrated, and impatient.

“Why are you looking for him this eagerly?” Yeri asked all of sudden to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun shifted his gaze from his phone to Yeri with ‘isn’t it obvious’ expression on his face. Yeri noticed it and corrected her question, “I know, because you are his friend, but there must be something else.”

Baekhyun hesitated for a moment. You bet there was a battle inside his head—should he tell you or not. You stared at him with demanding eyes, resulting in Baekhyun’s sigh.

“Alright, you’re his girlfriend anyway,” he muttered. Again, you didn’t mind his girlfriend joke and paid attention to what he was going to say next. After clearing his throat, Baekhyun continued, “I was with Chanyeol two days ago when he was practicing with Kyungsoo and Yixing. We were laughing, joking, and talking like usual, until he got a phone call from someone. I heard Chanyeol called the caller’s name—most likely it’s his friend because Chanyeol was talking casually—it was Taeho or Tae-something. I’m not sure.”

“Taewoo,” you corrected subconsciously. You were even surprised by yourself, but that name popped out right away at that moment.

Baekhyun, Yeri, and Soohyun shifted their gazes to you in fast movement. They all looked surprised. “Yeah, it might be Taewoo, but how do you know?”  Baekhyun asked, clearly surprised.

“He’s Chanyeol’s friend from his previous school,” you explained, “I met him by accident when I was strolling around Hongdae with Chanyeol and Minkyung. We even had lunch together. From that short meeting I assumed Taewoo must be Chanyeol’s best friend or something like that—they looked pretty close.”

Baekhyun, Yeri, and Soohyun were still in daze. You couldn’t take their curious stares anymore, so you demanded, “Baekhyun, please continue your story.”

“Ah—right,” Baekhyun came to his sense. “So, yeah Chanyeol got a phone call from his friend in the middle of the practice. Because Chanyeol was talking to his phone away from us, I couldn’t hear what he was talking about, but when he returned to his seat after disconnecting the phone call, he looked…” Baekhyun’s voice trailed off as he searched for the right adjective.

“Sad?”

“Angry?”

Yeri and Soohyun tried to guess, but Baekhyun’s face told all of you those weren’t the right ones.

 “Devastated?” you tried to guess.

Baekhyun clapped his hands once and pointed at you. “Devastated,” he repeated the word. “Oh, man, he looked horrible. He didn’t say much after that. Chanyeol also rejected my offer to grab a coffee after practicing. He said he was tired and wanted to go home.”

Hearing Baekhyun’s explanation, worry grew more inside you. “It must be a bad news,” you mumbled.

“We don’t have evidence the phone call is related to Chanyeol’s absence today, though” Soohyun chimed.

Baekhyun sighed. “You’re right,” he admitted as he took a peek at his wristwatch. He stood up and prepared himself. “I have to go now. Sorry I can’t help much, but I think that phone call is more than just a phone call.”

You nodded. “Thank you, Baekhyun-ah, for telling us about the phone call.”

“Sure,” Baekhyun muttered, “I’ll inform you if I manage to call him.” After saying that, Baekhyun waved his hand shortly then walked outside the classroom.

As Baekhyun left, the classroom was again in silence. You knew Soohyun and Yeri ran out of ideas to help you, so you got up from your seat. “Yah, let’s just go home,” you said, picking up your bag, “I believe and want to believe Chanyeol is okay.”

You were very aware that Chanyeol had a radio broadcast shift tonight, like usual. Chanyeol was responsible—he was never late for his schedule and he was always present. You believed Chanyeol would be on-air tonight because there was no way he would miss his shift.