Chapter Six: 

Unexpected Alliance

The story is written in third person for this part of the chapter

It was 6:45 PM. Hanbin & Bobby were at hanging out in Hanbin’s room. Hanbin was lounging around in his computer chair while Bobby was lying on Hanbin’s bed reading a comic book.  

“Bobby-hyung, wanna go shoot some hoops?” Hanbin asked while twirling his basketball in his hand. Bobby shifted his attention from the comic towards Hanbin. He nodded his head in agreement.

“Okay.” he replied coolly. He closed up his comic book and rolled over off of the comfy bed. Hanbin grabbed a light-blue windbreaker jacket from out of his closet, putting it on and heading off. While walking down the stairs, the two boys saw Jinhwan in the kitchen making food for Obang.

“Hyung, we’re going to play some ball! Wanna come?” Bobby offered.

“Ball? Sure.” Jinhwan agreed. “Just a sec, let me finish making Obang’s food first.” He said while cutting up some boiled chicken he cooked. After cutting them into bite sized pieces, he transferred the chicken to Obang’s food bowl and set it down on the ground.

“Obang-ya! Come eat.” he whistled out to the pug. Obang’s ears immediately shot up as he ran at light speed towards his food. The hungry pup began to dig in like there was no tomorrow.

“Yahhh.” Jinhwan cooed. “For a small dog, you sure have a big appetite.” He began to wash up his cooking utensils and cutting board. Hanbin walked up to the eating puppy and crouched down, petting him on the head.

“That’s right, that’s my tough little monster.” he said with a proud smile on his face. Jinhwan finished cleaning up and dried his hands with a paper towel.

“Okay, let’s go.” he said. The three boys gave Obang a small nudge on the head before walking out the door.

They began to walk on their way to the basketball court which was about ten minutes away by foot. The sky was starting to dim as the sun was going to set soon.

“Did you two stay out of trouble at school today?” Jinhwan asked them walking in between them. It seemed like it was a daily question.

“Eyy Hyung, come on!” Bobby said playfully nudging him. “You know we don’t purposely get into trouble. Only when people mess with us.”

“Yeah right.” Jinhwan replied rolling his eyes. “You really think I’d believe that?”

“What? It’s true!” Bobby defended himself. “Right Hanbin?!”

“Of course.” Hanbin chuckled. “We’re just like angels. Don’t worry Hyung.”

“Angels that get detention all the time??” Jinhwan shot back at them. “More like Fallen Angels that’s for sure.”

“Ey hyung, don’t say that!” Bobby laughed wrapping his arm around Jinhwan’s shoulders. As they were enjoying their time together walking, they were suddenly interrupted.

“Excuse me?” A female voice called out to them. The looked over to see a tall girl with platinum blonde hair standing in front of them. She happened to have been walking around the neighborhood and seen them. She seemed upset over something. “Hello, my name’s Kwon Nara. We’re in the same grade” she bowed to them.

The three boys who were caught off guard just bowed back slightly saying Hi back nervously. They were confused. “Wow, she’s pretty.” Bobby whispered lowly to Jinhwan and Hanbin. A slight curved appeared upon his lips.

“Sorry to bother you but… um, aren’t you guys in the same class as Soo Jin?” she suddenly asked them.

“Prez?” Bobby responded. He looked over at Hanbin and looked back at Nara nodding his head.

“Why? Is something wrong?” Jinhwan asked curiously. Hanbin’s expression became stern.

“Do you guys happen to know where she was before school ended? We were supposed to hang out and meet up around 5:00 PM but she never showed up. She hasn’t called or texted me either. I went to her house to see if she was there, but nobody was home.” Nara said with a worried expression. “I tried calling her for an hour but her phone goes straight to voicemail.

“After school? Wasn’t she cleaning the gym after school?” Bobby asked looking over at Hanbin. Hanbin responded by nodded his head.

“Cleaning the gym? Why?” Nara looked puzzled.

“Punishment.” Hanbin replied.

“Punishment?!” She seemed surprised. “For what?!” She shook her head quickly. “Actually, that doesn’t matter right now. If she was cleaning the gym, she should have been done by now.” She bit her lower lip with a worried expression on her face. “Is she still at the school?” she mumbled under her breath.

“Maybe we should check at the school to see if she’s there.” Jinhwan stepped up looking at Hanbin and Bobby. “What if something happened to her?”

Hanbin and Bobby looked over at each other exchanging glances. They hesitated.

“Come on, she’s your class president. Show some respect.” Jinhwan said giving them a slight nudge on the arm. “She literally saved your asses from getting suspended the other day.”

Hanbin dropped his head down rubbing his forehead.  He groaned but slowly started to nod his head lightly in agreement. “Okay fine.” he said.

Nara’s face suddenly lit up. “Thank you guys so much!” she politely thanked them.

“No problem.” Bobby said giving her his weird eye smile. He chuckled slightly. Nara just gave him a half smile and quickly turned around making her way to the school. The boys then followed after her.

After about ten minutes, the four of them arrived at the front gate of the school.

“Umm, wouldn’t the entrances be locked up by now though?” Nara asked them.

“Most likely.” Jinhwan responded nodding his head. He walked up to the front gate and tried to push it open. The gate was locked and wouldn’t budge. “Maybe we should’ve thought this through more.”

“Hyung, hold the ball.” Hanbin said suddenly. He gave the basketball that he was holding to Bobby. He rolled up his sleeves and prepped himself.

“Yah, what are you thinking about doing?!” Jinhwan asked questioning his actions.

“Hyung, don’t worry. I’m a pro at this.” Hanbin replied smiling to his cousin. He took a few steps back and took a deep breath. With full speed, he ran up against the wall near the front gate and jumped up, latching onto it. He quickly started climbing up and over the rocky wall.

“Of course… It pains me to say this but I guess there are times when your delinquent-like skills come to good use.” Jinhwan nodded his head in approval. After reaching the top, Hanbin quickly hopped over to the other side of the wall, successfully getting in. He quickly unlocked the gate from the other side, letting the others in.

“Ay, nice job brotha!!!” Bobby praised him giving him a high-five.

“Alright, so let’s split up and look around.” Nara suggested. “I’ll look around her home-room class and bathrooms.”

“Good thinking.” Jinhwan agreed. “I’ll check the library. Hanbin, you check the gym. Bobby, you check the halls and around her locker.” They both nodded their heads and agreed. “Let’s meet back in about 15 minutes.”

Most of the hallway lights were turned off with only a few of them dimmed on. The school looked like a horror movie set at this time. Hanbin slowly walked down making his way to the gym as he was both nervous and timid. Hanbin appeared at the entrance of the gymnasium. The door was shut and it seemed empty. He looked in through the door’s glass to find it barely pitch black inside. “Prez?” he called out but there was no answer. ‘Hmm, don’t think anyone’s here.’ He backed up and began to walk away. He stopped mid-way and decided to turn around and look inside. ‘ I’m going to regret this.’ He slowly opened the door and