Daehyun’s POV

I sit at my usual spot, the desk. It’s filled with papers upon papers of information about Sophie and L.Joe. I don’t know where they are. It’s already been a month since they’ve disappeared together and no one can find anything on them. I have people looking and trying to find as much information as possible, but there’s none. I don’t even have any information on the kidnapping of Sophie. It’s like it never happened, but I know that it did.

“Are you ever going to leave this room?” Jieun asks coming in.

“I do leave the room,” I tell her without even looking at her.

It’s been a month since we’ve been married. After the last phone call that I had with Sophie, when she told me goodbye, I figured that I should just get married and follow my parents wishes. I don’t even want to be married, but it didn’t seem like Sophie was going to come back any time soon. It also didn’t seem like she even wanted to be with me anymore, so I made the decision to get married.

“You come out for meals and to go to the bathroom,” Jieun casually says as she walks in the room. “That’s not really leaving.”

“Yes it is,” I say as I read over some more information that I’ve read for the thousandth time.

“How do you know that she wants to even come back? How do you know if she even wants you to find her?” Jieun asks. She knows that I spend my days in here trying to find out what happened to Sophie and L.Joe but also to understand why Sophie was kidnapped and who took her.

“I don’t care if she doesn’t want to come back,” I say turning around and looking at Jieun. “I just want to find her, okay?”

“I know that you love her and I know that you care about her,” Jieun begins, “but maybe you should take a break once in a while and come back. You know, breathers can help and resting your eyes might help, too. Then you can look at the information with a new set of eyes and then maybe see something that you didn’t know before.”

“I’ve been going over this information for a month,” I tell her. “I think I can recite to you backwards and in three different languages.”

“Okay,” she says nodding her head. “I guess I’ll be leaving now.”

With that, Jieun leaves the room and she leaves me sitting there. “What has gotten into me?” I ask myself as I run my fingers through my hair.

Through the search to find Sophie, I’ve gone crazy, I swear I have. I spend all of my time thinking about her and thinking about how to find her. Maybe Jieun is right, maybe I should just take a break and look at it tomorrow or something.

Getting up out of the chair, I make my way out of the room to go find Youngjae. “Youngjae,” I say as soon as I find him.

“Hey, King,” Youngjae says with a wide smile.

“Don’t call me that,” I warn him. I’ve had enough of people calling me King. I just wish for my own family to address me as my name and because of all of the king business, I even had to stop attending school, or more like they just gave me a diploma and said that I graduated without me even doing anything. I only attended for like three days anyway, if even.

“Whoa, whoa, sorry. What do you need?”

“Nothing, I’m just taking a breather.”

“So you finally decided to get out of that stuffy room, right?” Youngjae asks gently nudging me. “Good, it was starting to stink anyway.”

“Yeah, well…that’s the smell of my brain,” I tell him.

“Anyway, I know you’re taking a break and all right now, but you might be interested in the information that I have.”

“Information about what?” I ask as my attention has fully turned to Youngjae.

“I’ve been making some phone calls and doing a little work on my computer and I think I may have the solution to your dead end problem.”

“What is it?” I ask as I’m starting to get impatient.

“It’s a name, a name of an orphanage.”

“A name of an orphanage?” I ask. “What does a name of an orphanage have to do with me?”

“I found out the name of the orphanage that Sophie was apparently adopted from. Now, if she was kidnapped, why would she be at an orphanage? You want the address, it’s right here,” Youngjae says holding up a paper that I immediately snatch from his hands.

Sophie’s POV

“Wah, I hate school,” I say collapsing on my bed once I get back to the house.

“Too bad we have to go to graduate,” L.Joe says as he places his bag down next to me.

“I know, but still, I just wish we would graduate already.”

“Well, time is still ticking. We’ll get there soon,” he says giving me a smile as he quickly kisses me on the cheek.

It’s been a month since I’ve been staying in China and a month since L.Joe has been my boyfriend. It’s also been a month since the both of us have started to attend an international school, that thankfully teaches in English, with the help of Lay.

“Hey, it’s the weekend, let’s do something,” I suggest.

“What do you want to do?” he asks as he turns to look at me.

“I don’t know,” I say as I begin to think. “Should we interrogate Lay and ask him a bunch of questions about himself? I mean, we’ve been living with him for like a month and we know nothing about him.”

“Is that your definition of fun?” he asks me giving me a strange look.

“Do you have anything better?” I ask.

“No,” L.Joe says shaking his head. “Let’s bother him at dinner tonight, alright?”

“Okay,” I say. “Now I’m going to change, get out.”

“Why can’t I be in here?” he whines.

“I’m going to change clothes, you ert,” I say hitting his arm. “Now get out of my room.”

“Fine,” L.Joe says immediately turning away and going out the door as I shut it.

Even though it’s been a month, it doesn’t feel that long. Maybe it’s supposed to feel longer since I was practically kidnapped, except I don’t live the life of a kidnapped person. L.Joe and I are free to do whatever we want, as long as we abide by the time rules, and we’re given money and clothes already. It’s like we don’t have to do anything and can just have fun.

Sure, I like this lifestyle, but sometimes I miss Korea. I miss being back home with Daehyun, Hyosung, and Youngjae. By now he has to be married and by now he probably hates my guts and never wants to see me again, but I’m fine with that. As long as I stopped messing up his life, I’m fine. I’ll slowly start rebuilding a new life for myself here with L.Joe and then everyone will be happy.

After changing, I make my way to the living room to find L.Joe already changed and watching television. “Someone’s slow,” he comments as I sit next to him.

“Well someone’s just fast,” I retort as he places his arm around my shoulder and I rest my head on top of his shoulder. “I like this,” I tell him sighing.

“You like what?” L.Joe asks pretending like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.

“I like us being together and I like when we spend time with one another,” I tell him even though he already knows all of this. “And I like you.”

“Well I like you, too,” L.Joe says as I feel him kiss the top of my head. “I like you more than you can ever imagine, Sophie Karp.”

“You do know that all of the girls in our class are always swooning over you, right?” I ask.

“Is someone jealous?” he asks as he pokes my cheek.

“I’m not jealous, it’s just an honest observation.”

“I’m glad you’re jealous,” L.Joe says as he hugs me.

“Why?” I ask. “And I never said I’m jealous.”

“It’s alright for you to be jealous of me and for me to be jealous of you. It just shows how much we are about the other person and it lets me know that you really do like me.”

“Idiot,” I mutter.

“I heard that,” L.Joe sternly says, but I know that he’s smiling. “Let’s think of the questions that we’re going to ask Lay tonight at dinner.”

“Okay,” I say laughing. “What should we ask him? We barely know anything about his history. Why don’t we ask about that?”

“Alright,” L.Joe says agreeing with me when we hear a bang at the door.

Daehyun’s POV

“Not only do I have the name of the orphanage that Sophie supposedly stayed at,” Youngjae continues, “I also have the name of her older brother.”

“How did you get the name of her older brother?” I ask staring at him. “And why didn’t you think of doing any of this before?”

“Well I was freaking out before,” Youngjae explains. “But since everything’s slightly calmed down now, I think it’s safe to say that I think I’m a genius.”

“Sure you are,” I say rolling my eyes. “Anyway, give me his name.”

“His name is Zhang Yixing,” Youngjae says as he reads the paper. “His nickname is apparently Lay.”

“Lay,” I say as I begin thinking about that nickname. “Doesn’t that nickname sound familiar?”

“I don’t know,” Youngjae says shrugging his shoulders. “But it’s what I have for you. Oh, I forgot, I also booked you and your wife a trip to China on the private airplane.”

“A trip to China, why?” I ask.

“Did you not just hear me read the guy’s name?” Youngjae asks. “That’s obviously Chinese so you obviously need to go to China, because that’s where the orphanage is located, too. Not only that, but you were so busy attempting to find Sophie that you and your wife never got to go on a honeymoon.”

“But who said that I ever wanted to go on a honeymoon?” I ask.

“Sorry, but your flight is already booked and your bags are being packed right now. Jieun already knows about the trip, so your flight is leaving in about four hours.”

“Yoo Youngjae!” I yell as I begin to chase him throughout the house.

“Hey, consider it a wedding gift from me,” Youngjae says turning around and sticking his tongue out.

I give up the chase and go back to my room. If my bags are already being packed, I have to make sure that everything is alright before leaving for China. How was I supposed to know that I’m going to be leaving for China?

“So you heard about our trip?” Jieun asks as soon as I enter our bedroom. Despite my protests, my parents made us share a bedroom, but I haven’t done anything with her. I only kissed her the day of our wedding and that was it. Nothing else.

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” I tell her. “I guess we should get there early so we can get through security.” Yup, even though I’m the king and we have a private airplane, we still have to go through security to let them know that we’re not smuggling any drugs out of the place.

“Okay, let’s leave in about an hour?” she suggests.

“Sure,” I say as I walk back out of the room.

An hour passes and Jieun and I find ourselves sitting in the airplane ready to take off. “Wow, it’s my first trip to China,” Jieun says as we sit in the seat and buckle ourselves in for the takeoff.

“It’s mine, too,” I tell her.

“I think it’s so fascinating. I actually always wanted to go, ever since I was a little kid.”

“That’s…nice,” I say for lack of a better word. I never know what to say when I’m around Jieun, not because I like her, but because I don’t know a thing about her.

“Hmm, what was your dream place to go?” Jieun asks me.

“I don’t know,” I say shrugging my shoulders. “I went to America when I was six, or more like forced to go, unknowingly, and then I come back to Korea. I really have no place that I want to go.”

“There has to be somewhere, everyone has a place that they wish to visit when they’re older.”

“I just don’t,” I say shrugging my shoulders.

“Oh, okay,” she says sitting back in the seat a little dejectedly.

“Look, I’m sorry,” I say apologizing to her as I’m starting to feel guilty. “I’m sorry that I’m being such a bad husband, but I’ll make it up to you, alright?”

“How?” she asks as her face immediately lights up.

“I’ll make it up to you in China, alright?”

“Alright,” Jieun says with a big smile across her face.

Sophie’s POV

“Who are you?” I ask as L.Joe and I open the door.

“Is that really you?” a woman asks as she immediately hugs me.

“Who are you?” I ask again, but apparently she doesn’t respond, but I know she can speak English because she just spoke English right before hugging me. Her English also doesn’t sound that bad and her pronunciation is quite good.

“Taitao, is that you?” the woman asks looking at me.

“Taitao?” I ask staring at her. “Who are you talking about?”

“My daughter, Taitao. Oh how you’ve changed in these years.”

“Daughter?” I ask staring at her. How am I this woman’s daughter? My parents passed away a little more than a month ago and now she’s saying that she’s my mother? What kind of crazy world is this?

“Excuse me,” L.Joe says looking at the woman, “but do you mind telling us who you are?”

“I’m Taitao and Yixing’s mother,” the woman replies as she walks in, followed by some other people, and takes residence in the living room.

“Yixing?” I whisper to L.Joe who just shrugs his shoulders.

“Excuse me,” L.Joe says looking at her again, “who is Yixing?”

“The one that owns this house,” she casually says.

“The one that owns the house?” I ask. “The only people that live here are L.Joe, me, and Lay.”

“Lay? That’s his nickname, Yixing is Lay,” the woman says as she thinks about it.

“But you just said that you were parents to Taitao and Yixing, and you said that I’m Taitao,” I say pointing at myself.

“You are,” she says nodding her head.

“Then that means that Yixing, or Lay, is my brother?” I ask in disbelief.

“He is. Oh, I never thought that I would ever see you again,” the woman says as she gets up and hugs me once more. Not only that, but she keeps looking at me like I’m some mythical creature. “I never thought that you would come back. I thought you were gone forever.”

“You thought I was gone forever?” I ask. Suddenly, a thousand questions are entering my mind and I don’t know what to do.

The door opens to Lay who is carrying groceries in. immediately L.Joe goes over to help him, and to probably tell him about the unexpected guests.

“Mom?” Lay asks coming into the living room. “What are you doing here?” They proceed to speak in Chinese, to which I can’t understand. I can only pick up little words such as secret or sister, but that’s only because some of the Chinese students in the international school have taught me some of those words and made me listen to music, so I’ve just naturally caught on to the simplest of words.

“Sophie,” Lay says finally looking at me. “I’d like you to meet someone.”

“No,” I mutter while shaking my head. I can already tell where this is going, no. I’m not ready, no.

“Look, it’s alright, but I guess it’s time we told you the truth. Sit down here, L.Joe, sit down with her,” he says as he puts L.Joe right next to me. As he sits down next to me, he grabs my hand and squeezes it tight to let me know that he’s right there.

“What truth?” I manage to ask.

“Sophie, this is your mother, our mother. I’m your brother, Yixing, and you are my sister, Taitao.”

“What? No, how?” So many questions are just swirling around in my mind, so many more than before.

“Listen, you were taken when you were only a baby.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask again.

“Remember that story I told you? The story about the house burning and the child going missing? That was you. You were the child missing, you were the child that was taken. Sophie, you were kidnapped.”

At the word kidnapped, everything around me seems to become a blur and my head starts to hurt and pound. I don’t remember what happened after that.

Daehyun’s POV

Jieun and I finally land in China. “So, do you want to go check into a hotel first?” I offer. “Are you tired? Sleepy?”

“Nope,” Jieun says shaking her head. “I’m perfectly content. Let’s check into a hotel first and then we can go explore.”

“I like that idea,” I say smiling as I capture her hand into mine.

On the plane, I suddenly felt guilt for not paying attention to her. Sure I don’t love her and I don’t want to be married to her, but that doesn’t mean that I should just totally neglect her. Over this trip, even though it’s for finding information about Sophie, I’ll still be there for Jieun when she needs me. I’ll make sure that I’m there no matter what and I’ll be a supportive husband, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll fall in love with her.

Jun managed to come overseas with us and he’s our driver so we don’t have to worry about getting a taxi. “Which hotel do you want to go to?” he asks.

“Whichever one you recommend,” I tell him.

As Jun begins driving, I see Jieun’s face as she looks out the window. I guess she really did want to come here as a child. She becomes amazed at everything and she can even read some of the Chinese that are on the road signs. She tells me that as a child, she used to take Chinese lessons and thought that it was cool.

“That is cool,” I say agreeing with her.

“Here you are,” Jun says finally pulling in front of the hotel. “I’ve already made arrangements for you since I figured you would tell me to just pick a hotel.”

“And what if I didn’t?” I joke with him.

“Then…I would probably take you to this one anyway because I know how lazy you are,” he retorts right back.

“Well played Jun, well played,” I say patting him on the back making us both laugh. “We have it from here, though. Thank you.”

“No problem. If you need me, just give me a call.”

“Sure thing,” I tell him as Jieun and I gather our luggage and walk in.

“Um…Jung Daehyun?” I ask at the front counter, unsure of what Jun put our reservation in as since I didn’t ask him about that.

“This way, sir,” the woman at the counter says as she leads us to the elevator. “Highest floor,” she says before the doors close and she hands us our key.

“Highest floor,” I mumble to myself as I press the button for it.

“We’re on the highest floor? I bet it has an awesome view,” Jieun says getting a bit excited.

“It probably does,” I say thinking about what we’ll see when we get up there.

As expected, the view is great and I love it already. Jun surely knows how to pick out some great spots. After Jieun changes her clothes, we make our way back downstairs to do some casual walking around and exploring the area.

As we walk out of the hotel, I see someone walking out of a store that looks like L.Joe. “Isn’t that,” I say pointing at him, but as soon as I blink, he’s gone the next second.

“Isn’t that who?” Jieun asks looking at where I’m pointing.

“Nothing,” I say shaking my head. “Let’s just enjoy the time right now,” I say as I continue walking with her, but an eerie feeling follows me.

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What will Jieun and Daehyun's time in China be like? Will Daehyun ever figure out that Sophie and L.Joe are in China? How will Sophie and L.Joe react to finding out that Sophie is from China and that she was kidnapped as a child? Will Daehyun and Sophie ever see each other again?

Here is Chapter 23. Hope you enjoyed :D

The ending is still getting nearer. I'm not entirely sure how many chapters, though.