HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As a gift, here is a new chapter! Er... I mean sorry for not updating for three month, but here it is now :) Hope you will like it!

Bom and Minji were already eating their lunch at the mess hall when Chaerin entered the room. They agreed on half past noon as a meeting time and the blonde herself was late from her own event. She proposed to meet with them, but couldn’t arrive on time. She spent more then thirty minutes in the washroom because she was thinking about the situation and about what would she say to them.

She stepped into the mess hall afterall and waved at her friends who seemed to finish their meal already, only empty plates were spread in front of them.

"Hey, Chaerin! You are late!" yelled at her Bom playfully with a huge grin on her face.

"Unnie, what a cute hat you have. Where did you get it?" Asked Minji as the blonde come closer and sat down at their table. She reached up to took the hat off and took a quick glance at the cute face of Rilakkuma.

"It was a gift" she answered flatly and decided to change the topic quickly. "We have to talk."

"Straight to the business" chuckled Bom, though as soon as she noticed Chaerin’s stern face, her smile fell.

"Did something happen?" asked Minji worriedly.

The blonde took her time to think of the right words, but Bom could see through her strong facade. Chaerin was the type of person who rarely let her guard down to show weakness. Her life was a complete mess so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her break down, but the event that resulted the biggest despair in her friend since they met was the disappearance of a certain someone. "It’s about Sandara, right?" Bom was really worried that Chaerin couldn’t just let the brunette go. It started to affect her life and also work which was quite alarming.

Chaerin glanced at the redhead and slowly nodded. "I decided to go after her."

"Are you crazy?" snapped Bom at her, scaring both girls.

"Excuse me?" answered Chaerin arching her eyebrow. She expected her friends’ support or even confuson, but not anger. It surprised her greatly.

"Chaerin, don’t be like this" continued Bom with a sigh. "Sandara left for the Philippines and you just had your comeback. When exactly are you planning to go and search for her? Between two schedules if you have a stray half an hour free time?"

"You don’t understand, unnie…" Chaerin tried to explain it. "I think she didn’t leave the country as she wrote in the letter."

"Then were is she?" wondered Minzy.

"I can’t be sure" told her Chaerin biting down on her lower lip. "On the day we first met, two men chased her. I think they could have found her and took her back, maybe."

Silence fell upon their little group as the two other females tried to process the words they just heard. Chaerin waited for them to speak up and glanced around in the cafeteria if there was anyone who could hear them. Luckily no one sat near to their table.

"Chaerin" The blonde glanced back at Bom’s face who looked genuinely concerned. "You said that Sandara probably left on her own, left money on your table and took the clothes she arrived to your apartment." The redhead reached forward with her arm and covered Chaerin’s hand with her own palm as a form of confort. "She even left a letter behind."

The maknae just listened to the conversation not really knowing what should she say in this situation. What Bom said she agreed with. However Chaerin had not brought up Sandara for a long time now. There must be a reason why did she decided to go and find her suddenly.

"She left on her own" added Bom trying to reason with the blonde. "You have to let her go." She just wanted the best for her friend and her obsession with the brunette was damaging to her sanity.

"That’s what I’m saying" Chaerin raised her voice and took her hand out of Bom’s gasp. "I think she left against her own will."

"Your door was locked" argued the redhead back, attracting many people’s attention in the cafeteria. Minji looked arund worriedly, whilst their spectators turned back to their own business. "Would someone do that if they are dragged outside? You didn’t even woke up."

"The hell, unnie, would you be so kind and ing listen to me for once?!" sweared at her Chaerin. Bom leaned back in her seat, surprised by her words. The blonde was similarly taken aback by her own actions. This was a tone she would never use against people older than her or her friends.

The redhead stood up slowly from her seat, pressing her palm against the table, her eyes never leaving the blonde’s surprised orbs. "You are right" her voice was low, unbearably quiet. "I don’t understand." She took her bag from the ground and put the strap onto her shoulder.

Bom left the two of them without saying any more things. The blonde just stared ahead, her eyes completely unfocused. What the hell did just happen? Everything seemed to fall out of place and she couldn’t grasp it how.

"Unnie…" She could hear Minji’s voice, barely loud enough to hear in that noisy place.

Chaerin just sighed, closing her eyes. "You can go after her, if you would like to. Don’t mind me." she said, defeted.

"I don’t want to."

Upon hearing the younger girl’s words, she looked at her. The black haired looked nervous, but determinated. "I don’t understand" The maknae admitted. "But I want to help you. Is there something that we don’t know?"

Chaerin just nodded. Bom didn’t give her a chance to explain it fully. Though maybe she wouldn’t be able to explain it all. All she had were suspitions, not the truth.

"She was afraid" The blond muttered, not looking at the Minji. She knew it wasn’t enough, but it was something, something she can hold onto for now. "Just days before her disappearance something scared her. She came home with an unexplained bruise on her cheek… It’s… it’s nothing certain, but Minji, I know something bad happened to her. I can feel it!" She glanced at the girl desperate for help, but Minji couldn’t offer anything.

"I believe you." the girl said cautiously. "But… I agree with Bom unnie somewhat. How will you find her? You have schedules every day."

"Oh my god, I don’t get you two" she said in utter disbelief. "It’s just work. We are talking about a human life that can be in danger. Even if you don’t really know Sandara that well, you should care about life more than work." Chaerin got up from her chair quickly and gathered her things to leave immediatly. She at least hoped that the others would understand her feelings if they could offer no help, but what she learned today was just horrible.

She was only steps away from the table when Minji called after her. "We do care" she sounded annoyed too. Chaerin glanced back over her shoulder and saw that the girl sent her an angry glare. "About you. You are more important to us than Sandara. If this sounds harsh to you, then sorry, but that’s it. You are ruining your career for someone you just met. You would willingly throw everything away, even your life?" Minji stood up and went closer to her friend, her body trembling in anger. "You say Sandara’s life is at risk. But what can you do alone? If it’s dangerous, you shouldn’t get yourself into that. It may be even linked to the ing mafia or something. You can die, you know? Why are you willing to go that far?"

Chaerin stayed silent for several seconds, trying to process the words she just heard.

Yes, it was true that Sandara barely entered her life. But it didn’t mean her feelings weren’t real for her.

Wait, what feelings? It was just a kiss…

Just a night.

The sudden, but sweet closure of a beautiful month.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not bearing the weight of the situation anymore. A memory entered her mind. She, as a child, sitting in the corner of the room she shared with her baby sister. She cried rivers but no sound escaped her lips. Not even when he came into her room. Not even when he raised his arm to hit her. Not even when he left her there lying on the ground with an aching and bruised body.

If there was a tiny chance Sandara was in a similar situation, trapped in a hellish reality, she can’t let her there alone.

She saved herself once.

She can save Sandara too.

"I have already built up my life twice" she said, then opened her eyes, meeting Minji’s dark irises. "I want to give her a chance to do that, too. I fear that no one would do that for her."

Chaerin her heels to leave and wouldn’t turn around even when the girl called her name again. She was raging in anger. The last thing she would expect from her friends is to be so harsh. Sandara was probably in danger. A living person, a human being was in danger, someone they knew personally, someone they knew she, their friend, cared about greatly.

She was on her own, again, the weight of the situation suddenly hitting her right in the abdomen, creating a huge knot in her stomach. It was hard to breath.

She thought about the brunette. Was it really that hard to understand her?

~*~

"I’m home! Mother… Mother, are you here?" She entered their home, dropping her bag onto the floor, while she got out of her shoes. Just leaving her stuff by the door, she went straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was painfully empty, almost having no things that could be eaten, only his little sister’s favourite fruit drink. She got one pack out and started to drink it right away, not minding the fact that the drops of the sugary liquid ran down her neck, probably making the collar of her not-so-white uniform shirt dirty. She used the back of her hand to wipe , then let out a sigh. Now, that felt good. The weather was so hot nowadays and in the city the grey buildings and smelly cars just made it even worth. 

Her mother had yet to answer her, and the house was all too silent. Her siblings weren’t at home to creat noise either. She was on her own. Against her mother’s plea she entered the only room of the house where also all four of them slept and lived together, and switched the electric fan on, crouching down in front of it. It used way too much electricity, but the heat was unusually bad today, she need air. After a few minutes she leaned back and pushed her hand into the pocket of her skirt to fish out a piece of paper folded twice. She bit down on her lower lip before opening it and reading the content again. Nervousness filled her heart as her eyes ran over every letter, due to fear and excitement. The offer didn’t seem bad. It wasn’t perfect, but she believed in herself that she could make in these circumstances as well.

The fan stopped out of the blue. She huffed and hit the metal frame a few times, without effect. It wasn’t a surprize, really. Her mother brought it from a co-worker who wanted to throw it out because it was too old and in a bad shape.  They could still use it for over three month.

The waves of heat attacked her body again, making her sweat heavily. Her hand which still held onto the paper got slippery with sweat and the printed letters started to get smudged

The heat became so strong that the paper slowly melted away dirtying her hand and clothes. She jumped back in surprise only to see that every furniture and walls started to melt, filling the ground with liquid.

"Sandy?" She her heels to see who was calling her, but no one was in the room.

"Are you awake?" She heard the voice again, the words echoed in her ears.

She felt her body go weak and heavy. Strength slowly drained out of her muscles and she fell back, splashing into the rippling water, the warm liquid slowly flooding over her body, dragging her down to the deepest depth of the sea. As she was sinking, a stray light appeared at the surface. She tried to reach forward so she can breath again, but her arm was aching and she couldn't lift it.

"Sandara?" the voice came again, barely audible through the thick wall of water.

A hand reached for her shoulder and touched it lightly, pulling her out of the dark water. She could finally breath again, though her lungs ached.

The brunette opened her eyes only to be blinded by the light. She squeezed her eyelids shut.

"Oh my gaaad, finally!" came the high pitched voice again, almost cracking her eardrums. "I thought you died or somethin’."

Sandara made a huge effort to look at the person next to her lying form and saw one of the girls from the club sitting on her matress, with a white washcloth in her hand.

She felt awful. Every part of her body ached and pulsed as if her nerves were on fire. Her skin felt hot and wet, as if she was drowning in the sea in reality, but probably she was just sweating. She opened her lips to speak, but her tongue felt as dry as paper, making it hard to utter even a single word.

"How?" It was everything she could breath out.

The girl who previously looked happy to be able to talk to her fell silent, not daring to answer the short question, or she didn’t know what to say. She looked sad and nervous, avoiding the brunette’s eyes. Sandara remembered her. Her name was Jaeun. She was actually younger than herself, but had way more working experience than her. Jaeun came to the club as a child, but unlike the others, she did so willingly. Her family was abusing and poor and thus she had to ran away. Selling herself felt like the only option. Poor thing. But it meant that their superiors liked her, because she was loyal. It was probably the reason why she was allowed to stay by her side while the others were out, working. The room was empty apart from themselves. It was probably evening already, the busiest period of the day.

"You wouldn’t wake up" whispered the girl, still not looking at Sandara. "They brought you in here, but we couldn’t do anythin’. And they had to call for a doctor… You know who…"

The image of a middle-aged, bald man came into her mind. There were legends about him that said he was a veterinarian, other said he worked as a butcher, but both stories contained that he failed at both jobs. He came to see the girls every three month and made examinations. He brought a lot of imported medication from China, but no one really knew what the pills were for. Probably painkillers, at least they used them as such. Nobody could read chinese characters. If someone felt really ill and needed a doctor, they would call him instead of taking them to the hospital. Their boss couldn’t risk getting caught with kidnapped girls, working illegally in Korea.

Sandara didn’t exactly hated him. He rarely spoke or looked in their eyes during his ’visits’. Never caused trouble and did his work as well and quick as he could under the poor circumstances. Sandara though hated the fact that he had to came and they could never get proper health care.

Tearing her eyes away from Jaeun, she slowly turned her head to have a look at her left arm. Even this much movement took so much effort, as she had almost no strength in herself. Her head was pounding, she felt nauseous and hot, and her body ached, especially her arm, but not as much as before, when… when that man…

She saw a heavy, white cast around her arm with dirty gauze wrapped around it.

"He sad it’s bad" continued the girl. "That it needed a hospital and an x-ray. Han GongKi said it’s not happenin’." Sandara was sure of that. Even this much care felt like luxury.

"What did they… they gave to me?" She asked, still fighting the urge to cough. was as dry as the dessert, while her skin was unbelievably wet in comparison. The brunette was almost sure that she had a fever. Was it a side effect of the medication? Or she got an infection from her injury?

"We don’t know" sighed the girl. "It was a glass bottle with chinese characters printed on it. One of the girls said that a word meant goat. Maybe it’s something they give to animals? Do you think it worked, though? Sandara?"

The brunette closed her eyes and tried not to get too worked up, but couldn’t stop the tension building up in her, making it harder to breath. The situation was so dark, she thought there was no escape. Either she dies due to some injury, or they would be fed up with her because she can’t work properly anymore. The future never seemed bright, but the weight of the world started to press down her body, slowly choking her.

"Sandara, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

She couldn’t answer. Both because she physically wasn’t able to, and because she just didn’t know what would help her. There was nothing that she could hold onto.

A lone tear escaped her shut eyelids and run down the side of her face.

"I will get ya some water, ’kay? Or something for the pain. I’ll be right back!" She heard the girl saying, but the words never really reached her brain through all the fog. Her head felt heavy and multiple thoughts entered her mind all at once.

It felt just like every nightmare since she came back to Korea, except everything was real now, painfully real. She was awake, but not willing to open her eyes. Because if she ipens them again, she would have to accept the truth of the situation. And if she accepts it, she is lost.