“Do you think she'll come to school today? Taehyung asked the second he and Namjoon met up. Namjoon braked his bike and shrugged at the question. “It's almost been a week.”

“Hopefully she's there today.” Namjoon started to bike slowly with Taehyung walking alongside him. “Otherwise, the teachers might write up an official report on her. She might get kicked out if the principal decides to do so. I don't want that to happen though.”

          The two made their ways to school to only discover Yejin's absent yet again. They continued their social life, but they wanted school to end quickly so they can find the girl. They both didn’t feel right after discussing about her behavior as they walked to school.

-                                        -

“I can't take the waiting anymore!” Namjoon shouted and tossed his textbook roughly onto his desk. Almost immediately, he earned a back hand slap to the arm from Taehyung. They were almost more than halfway through the school hours.

“Learn to be quiet will you?” Taehyung whispered while trying to ignore the stares the two were getting.

“Can we go now, please?” Namjoon pleaded, “I don't mind skipping school for today.”

“Let's go after this class, okay?” Taehyung whispered back just when the teacher walked into class.

“Get your books ready. We're starting on page 46.” The short old man adjusted his glasses. “You two. Sit down.” He referred to the boys.

“Yes, Mr. Yoon.” They chorused before taking their seats next to each other. The teacher was about to start the class when another teacher from the classroom down the hall walked in.

“Is there something wrong, Ms. Jo.” Mr. Yoon asked as the pretty, young lady stood near the door. The male students hooted at her appearance, but after seeing the scowl look on Mr. Yoon's face, they stopped immediately. Instead of listening, the students took this chance to freely talk amongst themselves.

“I was wondering if student, Lee Yejin is in here.”She answered and scanned the class. Taehyung lifted his head from staring at the engravings on his desk and listened to the two adults.

“Yejin?” Mr. Yoon followed her gaze. The lady walked over to him and leaned by his ear.

“The student hasn't come to class in days. I'm a little worried about her. I've called home several times, but no one picks up.” She informed him in a hush tone, but Taehyung managed to over hear them. Namjoon

“Ah, that's the student everyone has been talking about. The 'troubled' one.” He shook his head, “Just give in the report. Don't fuss over such small matter.” Taehyung gripped the edges of his desk.

“But – “

“She's the troubled one. There's no help for her. If she has no passion for school then let her be. We can't do anything for someone like her.” The man shrugged. How he's referring to her as troubled, caused great frustration for Taehyung.

“I believe there is something different than that. We can't just label her as 'troubled', Mr. Yoon. That girl has potential in her academics. She's a very intelligent student.”Ms. Jo declarred and flipped open the binder she was holding. She showed him Yejin's student profile, but a knock from the door interrupted them and stopped them from taking their discussion further. Everyone turned to the door to see Mr. Lee and the school secretary, Mr. Moon. Now, all the attention was placed onto the adults in the room.

“Mr. Lee..” Taehyung mumbled to himself. Mr. Lee looked over to where his name was being called, but doesn't fully acknowledge the boy.

“This is student, Lee Yejin's father, Mr. Lee.” Mr. Jung gestured to the man. “He wanted to talk to Yejin's teacher.” The teachers greeted them in surprise.

“Hello, I'm Yejin's teacher, Jo Sunah.” Ms. Jo bowed slightly to where he returned as well, “ What brings you here today, Mr. Lee?”

“Um, can I talk to you somewhere private?” The man pointed out the door. Ms. Jo obliged and followed him out with Mr. Jung going the opposite way from them. Taehyung's arm shot straight up to the ceiling and waved frantically to his teacher.

“Mr. Yoon, I need to go to the washroom.” He announced and bolted from his seat. Before the man could answer, Taehyung was already out the door. He looked for Mr. Lee to try and ask some questions but he only got a glimpse of the man walking down the stairs beside Ms. Jo. He casually walked by the classrooms and crept halfway down the stairs in watch for the two adults. He was halfway down the first flight of stairs before stopping right at the corner of the last flight. There stood Ms. Jo and Mr. Lee at the foot of the stair case.

“I've been wanting to reach Yejin's parents and guardians for a while now.” She opened her binder, “I've been calling this number she filled out for her student profile, but no one ever picks up.” She handed him the binder. He scanned down the file from Yejin's picture, personal information and to contact numbers.

“Those... aren't any of our numbers..” He mumbled, repeating the numbers in his head to see if he was wrong. “Yes, those aren't our numbers. Perhaps she's been giving you the wrong number all this time...” He sighed and rubs his forehead. “I'm very sorry.”

“No, no! It's nothing to be sorry about.” She waved her hands dismissively and he handed her the binder back. “The reason I've been trying to reach her family is that she hasn't been at school for nearly a week now. Her attendance was tardy and was poor to begin with; however, this time is different. You see here,” She showed him a different page of Yejin's profile, “Her lates are at least three times a week, twice a day. Her absences are no longer than four days a month. Since it's been nearly a week, I'm worried about the girl. Especially because it doesn't seem like she wants to fit in at school.”

“This is my first time seeing this.” He looked appalled, trying to grasp the information he was just given. He had no idea the girl was having such a hard time at school. Most importantly was why she doesn't go to school and where would she go if she doesn't attend it. Fear of her being in a gang or engaging in illegal activities filled his chest. “Please tell me she's at school today.” He whispered, but Ms. Jo shook her head. A second later, she gasped with her hand over .

“Is she not at home? Did something happen?” She asked, but he doesn't say anything other than begging her to not write up report on Yejin. “Please find her safely.” She bowed as the man left her side. She turned to go up the stairs, but to only see Taehyung standing there. “W-What are you doing here?” Without a word, he booked it up the stairs and back to his classroom. He grabbed his bag and nearly ran over his teacher who attempted to stop him. The second Namjoon saw the panicked look on Taehyung's face, he got up to follow, but his teacher's second attempt stopped him.

“Where do you think you're going?” He blocked the boy despite being a foot shorter than the young man. “You still have detention after school.”

“Aishh..” Namjoon threw his bag back onto his desk. He roughly slumped into his seat and glared at the chalkboard. He felt completely betrayed to be left behind by Taehyung who promised they would go together. He knew something serious must of happened for Taehyung to cut class like that, but sadly he doesn't know what and can't find out until he sneaks out.

          Even though one of his star students just left unannounced, Mr. Yoon continues his lesson like nothing happened to Namjoon's dismay.

A/N: Thanks for reading! How's the story so far?