Early then at dawn, Luhan woke up with the hollowness of his heart for it was another day that they haven’t seen their son. Glancing to his side, he was surprised to see that Seohyun was able to sleep soundly and it gave his heart warmth to look at her in her peaceful slumber. A smile crept up on his face as he brought the sheets under her chin. He walked downstairs and met Mr. Seo and his father in the kitchen having coffee. “Oh! Luhan. You woke up so early.” His father exclaimed as Luhan settled down on one chair across the two. Mr. Seo stood up to make him a cup of coffee. “I’m sorry you have to be bothered by our problem aboji, uncle.” Mr. Lu, who was in his slacks and button-up shirt, sighed. “This is our problem too Luhan.” Luhan half-heartedly smiled at his father and thanked Mr. Seo as he placed a cup of coffee on the table before him. “How about Joohyun? Is she alright?” “She is sleeping now thankfully. Two days ago I could not talk to her properly.” The two fathers weakened hearing how miserable it was for Seohyun the past days. “Uncle I’m really counting on you. Please look after Joohyun for me.” Mr. Seo smiled and said “You don’t have to say that.” The three men talked some more and when it was already six in the morning, Mr. Lu went to work and the two prepared for breakfast.

“Good morning Joohyun.” Mr. Seo kissed Seohyun’s forehead and she smiled heartily at him. “Where is uncle?” She asked. “He went to work now and Luhan will be going back to the police station later on.” Seohyun nodded her head and smiled at Luhan. “Just stay here with uncle Joohyun okay?” Seohyun put down her cup of tea and guiltily looked up to Luhan and her father. “Actually I was planning to go somewhere this afternoon.” The two men looked at her curiously. “Where?” Luhan asked. Seohyun froze as she was not expecting him to ask her any question.  “Uh-uhm… to…uhm… Soo-Sooyoung unnie. I want to visit her.” Seohyun stammered and felt bad that she had to lie. She avoided Luhan’s unbelieving stare and focused on her breakfast. “I won’t take long. By six I’ll be back.” She added. “I’ll come with you.” “No!” Seohyun raised her voice that shocked the two men. “Why not?” “Because I want you to….wait for a call appa. What if they contact us this afternoon? It would be unfortunate if no one will answer for them.” Mr. Seo agreed. “Thanks appa, oppa.” Seohyun smiled at them sparking the confusion and suspicion of Luhan more.

Seohyun sat on her son’s bed looking repentant at Luhan who had his back turned to her as he buttoned up his shirt. The unknown number hadn’t sent a text message since the first time and Seohyun clutched to the faith that she can bring her son back to safety. What bothers her though is the doubt of her being able to do so. It was in fact her disadvantage as the kidnapper or kidnappers knew she was only one while she, she was yet to know how many she was to face. Of course she had thought of getting a back-up from the police but then again, the text said that she or he or they had their eyes on her. Whether or not they were true, Seohyun had to be careful with her actions and the fact that the text messages were so certain that it should only be her, she knew she was the target. Not Luhan and not her son. Whoever you are. She thought grimly and shivered when she felt Luhan’s hand on her shoulder. “What are you thinking of?” Luhan squatted down and unclasped her tightly curled fists. “Nothing.” She replied and looked at Luhan who was staring into her eyes. “Do not lie to me. I know you’re up to something.” Luhan said and squeezed her hands to try to make her confess. Seohyun felt the words trying to come forth out of . “I..” she was having second thoughts. “Oppa I know-

Beep~ beep~

Her phone rang and it was another message from the same number. She quickly stood up and read the message, leaving Luhan gazing up to her; studying her face and the secrets that she kept hidden in her facade. “I know what you’re trying to do Seohyun.” The text read and Seohyun gasped. She hurriedly walked to the window, slid the curtains apart and opened them to catch the mysterious person who, she assumed, was at a really close distance to know what she was doing. “What is it?” Luhan asked from behind as she roamed her gaze at every nook and blind spots of the establishments around. Not a single soul was around. How? She thought warily. Luhan called her once more, snapping her out of her obvious terror. She faced him with her worried face and hugged Luhan. If she acted fine all of a sudden, it would only make Luhan more suspicious so she decided to carry on with her paranoid skit. “Oppa please I want our son back.” Luhan sighed and brought Seohyun to face him. “He will be here.” he said surely and Seohyun smiled. “I trust you.” Seohyun felt the bile rise up to as she continued to deceive Luhan.

“Bye.” Seohyun replied as she watched Luhan climb to his car to leave. What she really wanted was to grab him and kiss him deeply in the lips to feel a sort of encouragement for what she was about to face  but she had to stop acting so suspiciously especially that Luhan was always the good reader of her actions. As the car vanished in the intersection, a text once again arrived and it read “You’re a . Don’t be late.” Seohyun glanced to all her directions eager to see the face of her enemy until her father called her in.

Minah smirked inside the room on the second floor of the small apartment she rented across Seohyun’s house. “.” She said and grabbed the car keys from the glass table.

“So far, the only information that we have is still that the kidnapper is a woman.” Luhan sighed frustrated at what he heard. “Three days and that’s still the only information you got? You’re not doing your job properly!!” Luhan slammed the desk in anger. “What are you doing now? Waiting for Christmas to arrive?!” he exclaimed angrily. “Sir we are studying the CCTV clips from all the establishments where the suspect passed by but up until where the cliff was, the woman was only walking with her head down so we are now looking for witnesses that may have seen her during that time. We also believe that she had a getaway vehicle purposely parked in the cliff where no cameras can capture her. Also, the intelligence unit found out that she might be around mid-twenties to early thirties based on her figure and underneath her jacket she was wearing an expensive dress and heels. And basing on the way she walks, she doesn’t look a bit like a kidnap-for-ransom criminal. We are suspecting that this crime may have been done out of ill-nature. Are you sure you don’t have people against you?” Luhan’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought hard and then shook his head at the officer. “No we don’t.” he replied. “Haven’t you seen or maybe received anything suspicious recently?” the officer asked again and Luhan remembered the flowers and cards he constantly received. “I often received flowers with notes from an unknown sender recently but it has stopped now.” “Do you still have them with you? So we could study the handwriting and trace the place where they were bought.” “I had the flowers burned and thrown away already but I remember my friend kept the first note I received.” Luhan replied. “Then ask your friend if he still has it.” Luhan quickly called Xiumin to come over the police station with the note then called for his private investigator for updates. “Yes I’m interviewing residents near the cliff. I will call you when I find something.” The investigator hung up and Luhan sat on the wooden bench outside the station next to Xiumin. “First Sooyoung and now Kyungsan, Luhan I feel that somehow this isn’t a coincidence at all especially that they happened almost at the same time. Don’t you think someone really is targeting us or maybe you or Seohyunie?” Xiumin asked and Luhan nodded. “I know. The investigator and police suspect the same and somehow I feel like the answer is on my face but I can’t pin it. I’m losing one clue.” Luhan clutched his hair and thought hard. The two went to a nearby restaurant for lunch afterwards.

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The bell over the glass door tinkled as Kyungsoo entered the drug store. He picked a gallon of purified water for Sooyoung and the others and an ointment for the bruise on his knee that he got when he accidently stumbled on his way to his work and hit his knee on a rock. As he went over the cashier to pay for the items, he caught sight of a familiar person by the counter next to his applying a concealer on her face. “Minji?” he unsurely called after he paid for the things he bought and the person quickly looked to him surprised. “Oh! Kyungsoo! Hi!” Minji walked to him and they smiled at each other. Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow as he eyed her cheek. Minji on the other hand, looked down feeling embarrassed of the current state of her face. “What happened to you?” Kyungsoo asked. “Remember my friend?” Minji asked and rolled her eyes. “Damn, Krystal was right. She sure is crazy to do this.” He brought a finger to her cheek and she yelped in pain. “What? Is it still painful?” then he noticed the small amount of red come out of the portion he prodded. “Are you dumb? Putting make-up to an unhealed wound? Come with me to the hospital and have that cleaned!” Kyungsoo grabbed her arm and headed out to the hospital. “Wait but I have no time! I’m going to head to her father’s office or maybe her ex’s so I could tell her to him!” Kyungsoo pulled her harder. “Help yourself first!” Kyungsoo spat.

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Seohyun glanced to her wristwatch and saw that it was time to leave having enough time to travel the 20 mile-distance from Seoul to Incheon. Breathing deeply, she walked with her keys half-way out of her room and had second thoughts. She can’t just go there alone while she was unarmed! Her thoughts brought her to the drawer at the corner beside the nightstand where a revolver, given by Luhan for protection, rested. She put it in her jacket’s pocket before heading out of her room. “Be careful Joohyun!” Seohyun stopped by the doorway and looked back to her smiling, although worry stretched along with his lips, father. She smiled and said “Thanks appa. I will.” gratefully to him.  Another text came just as she turned to her car. “See you Seo Joohyun.” She clenched her jaw as she hurriedly climbed up to her car that she had gassed up full tank earlier in the morning. I’m coming for you. She thought and set her father’s spy camera disguised as a mechanical pen on and placed it inside her pocket, so incase the meeting turned upside down with her in the losing end, at least she can capture the face of the wretched person or people behind this atrocity. She also made sure that her GPS was on so Luhan could trace it once everything is over. But always, she hoped for the best. As she drove in a steady pace, the unknown number constantly sent her voice messages and they would turn out to be her son’s pleading voice so she could be in distress as she drove. Seohyun cried in rhythm with her son’s whose sobbing she knew was out of fear. She gasped and took her phone and called the unknown number. It wouldn’t answer as it did in her earlier tries so she didn’t have a choice but to wait until they come face to face.

The insane asylum took time to find as the road leading up to its hilly location was hidden by overgrown grass and rocks. It was a dead establishment in a dead road of a dead part of the city away from the civilization that had once inhabited the area. Seohyun trembled in anger as she thought of her son spending three days and two nights in this hell of a building. Suddenly she heard a cry from the second floor of the grotesque looking establishment and quickly recognized it as her son’s. She ran to the building’s rotting innards and climbed the wet cement staircase leading to the second floor. What she saw was domestic scenery of numbered rooms, hospital beds, lab gowns and big rectangular lights of a typical hospital that had once worked fine but was left abandoned and turned sinister-looking. Filthy, pest-infested hell she would never imagine any person in his or her right mind would bring a child into. “Kyungsan!!!” she called in a frantic voice. “Omma!!” the third room from where she stood with a hole in its wooden door shuddered with the constant pouncing from the other side. “Kyungsan!!” Seohyun ran to it and turned the knob open in vain. She peeked through the hole and cried helplessly at the state of her son. He was bathed in grime and crying for help. “Who did this to you??!!” Seohyun cried and the child cried with her. “I did.” Seohyun gasped and turned around. “Hi Seohyun!!” Seohyun gaped and nearly staggered. “Mi-Minah?!” She couldn’t believe the epiphany flashed down before her. “How could you?!!” She grabbed Minah’s neck and pressed her hands around them that Minah coughed as she tried to free herself. Out of a sudden, Seohyun felt a pang of something hard hit the back of her head and she fell down the floor unconscious. Minah placed a hand on and gasped for air. Laughing afterwards as she kicked Seohyun by the stomach.

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It was thirty minutes after two so Luhan decided to check on Seohyun and the rest  in the hospital. Together with Xiumin, they silently rode his car and walked to where Sooyoung’s room was located. They were greeted with a heavy atmosphere as they entered. “Ge!” Tao called and Kris, who was beside him assisting Taehyung turned to Luhan surprised. “Where is Joohyun?” Luhan asked when he did not see her. “She’s not here.” Yoona replied. “What??!!” But she told me she was going to visit Sooyoung!” “Hyunie didn’t come Luhan hyung.” Kai said it clearer. Nervousness struck Luhan and he quickly called Mr. Seo. “She left hours ago.” Mr. Seo replied and now Luhan was starting to worry. “Isn’t she in the hospital?!” Mr. Seo was beginning to fret as well. Luhan didn’t answer him and hung up after assuring everything was fine. “She in her house?!” Taeyeon asked and when Luhan shook his head, they all worried knowing the unstable state Seohyun was in. Luhan called her phone but it only rang over and over again. The rest tried to call her and the orphanage as well but she wouldn’t be known where. Suddenly, Luhan’s phone rang and it was a call from the police. “Hello? Mr. Lu, do you know any lady with a lot of scars on her legs? Apparently, the woman in the video, at some point cut herself while standing in the parking lot across the subdivision.” Luhan’s initial reaction was fear that a crazed woman had taken his child. And then second, which a struck of recent memory aroused from him, was a suspicion. “I had a secretary, I fired her already. And I once saw bloody blades from the drawer of her desk.” Everyone in the room grimaced at the mention of bloody blades in Minah’s drawer and wondered what they were for. “What is her name? Can we have her address so we can investigate her?” “Pa-Park Mi-Minah.” Luhan stammered and stood wide-eyed as he relayed the few more information the police asked for.

 “Park Minah?!” Jessica asked and remembered the time she barged in the hospital room. “That time she looked so strange.” She recalled. “Oh yes! Don’t you think so Luhan? That was also the same day Kyungsan got lost!!” Baekhyun exclaimed and Luhan was confused. “What?! She came here?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” “We thought you two talked. She was begging us to tell her where you were so we told her and she ran like an idiot.” Chanyeol reasoned and the suspicion turned to realization. Luhan’s phone rang once again and it was the investigator this time. “Mr. Lu, an old lady told me she saw the suspect lurking in the parking lot that night. She said that she happened to pass by after visiting a family friend and her grandson, who is a friend of the kids in the orphanage, said that he knew her. According to him, she visited the orphanage a few times with a man who was also a volunteer. But he doesn’t know her name.” Luhan then instructed him to have the child describe the suspect’s face in the police station. “Suho, do you know what these pills are?” Luhan quickly showed Suho the picture of the pills from Minah’s desk that he shot a photo of in case he lost them. “I don’t know but I’ll show it to a doctor.” Suho took Luhan’s phone and ran out of the room. Joohyun, could it be that you knew already? Luhan thought and the beating of his heart fastened leaving him feeling stupid and scared.

________________

“Follow me.”

“Where?”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and dragged Minji to Sooyoung’s room. “But I need to go. I’m running out of time!” Minji pulled her arm from Kyungsoo. “I know that’s why I’m getting you an assistant in case you meet that devil!!” Kyungsoo spat and pulled her to his side. Minji gave up and followed Kyungsoo. She softly poked her cheek that had a fresh plaster on and remembered Minah. If not stopped, she can do so much more than this. She thought. Kyungsoo lead her to two turns until they made a stop in front of a hospital room. “We’re here.” Kyungsoo said then pushed the door open. “Who’s in here anyway?” Minji asked. “My friends.” Kyungsoo replied shortly. The first thing he noticed when he entered was that no one noticed them or did not bother paying attention as everyone was too busy on their phones calling who-knows-who. “What’s happening?!” He asked and as they turned to face him and Minji, he heard a gasp that came from his behind. “Luhan!!” Minji exclaimed and ran to Luhan. Kyungsoo and the rest was surprised that she knew Luhan. “Mi-Minji?!!” Luhan curiously asked. “Luhan you have to listen to me!! Minah is crazy. And I think and she’s on to something!!!” Minji said the words so fast everyone couldn’t keep up. “What did you say?!” Luhan shook her shoulders. “Remember those flowers and cards that you received? I was the one who sent them. I mean, Minah told me to.” She glanced over Luhan and saw Chanyeol and Chen. “You two and you Kyungsoo.” She turned to Kyungsoo. “I didn’t know you knew Minah. She was the friend I told you about. The woman Krystal called crazy and she did this to me!!” She pointed to her wound. “Why are you telling us now??!!” Hyoyeon roared. Luhan turned to Minji again. “Where is she now?” “She wouldn’t talk to me anymore and I’m banned from her house.” Luhan asked for Minah’s number and tried to reach her but she won’t answer. He tried once more but it only rang and rang. “Dammit!!!” Luhan punched the wall. Kris ordered Baekhyun and Chen to take Taehyung away from the room. Minji closed her eyes and ransacked whatever additional information she could get. “Her online diary!!” she exclaimed all of a sudden. “She has an online journal. Quick give me a device!!” Yuri ran and gave her laptop to Minji who immediately typed an online site and typed in Minah’s username but when she entered the password, it turned out that it was changed. “!! She changed it!! I’m sure we can get information from that account. She always writes her plans there!!” She clicked on the clue that and the words SAME HUNIMAL was displayed. Minji quickly typed the words but was rejected. “What are these? Cryptic words?” Kyungsoo asked annoyed. “Try same animal.” Kris suggested but the same result happened. “What is this ?!” Luhan exclaimed frustrated. “Let me see.” Sehun brought himself forward and watched the screen of the laptop. “This is an anagram!!” he excitedly said and took a pen and paper from the side table. After a few tries, he scoffed and showed what he solved. “Try typing LUHAN space IS space MINE.” Minji’s eyes widened as formed an O as she was impressed by Sehun. She typed the words and surely the account opened. Hyoyeon rolled her eyes and said “What a !” angrily.

Minah’s older entries were filled with her lamentations of her break-up with Luhan and the denial that he doesn’t really love her. “This looks like a common girl diary.” Tiffany commented but when they scrolled down to the latest posts, they gasped at what they read. Lots of capitalized profanities surprised them and vulgar confessions regarding her obsession, delusions and ual fantasies of Luhan made them cringe. But what made them shiver in fear are her entries of constantly modified murder plans. And as they read on, a name was mentioned that shook them to the bones.

__________________

Seohyun found herself lying on the cold and hard hospital bed of an utterly cramped and filthy room. Her head pounded heavily as she tried to sit up straight with her blurry vision slowly coming to a focus but found herself strapped to the metal slivers. Patches of sunlight seeped through the broken windows and ceiling that showed it was late in the afternoon already. Piles of rotting paper, a dirty child’s shoe, and some other waste scattered about the room. She looked down to her chest pocket and somehow felt relieved that the pen was still with her but the gun wasn’t. She tried to swallow the nonexistent saliva she had down her dry throat. “Kyungsan!!” her voice came out weak and grainy as her head throbbed in pain. A muffled shuffling gathered her attention to the door and Minah’s grinning face popped out from the side startling her. “You’re awake!!” Minah exclaimed and opened the door. “Where’s my son?!” “Relax hoe!! He’s fine.” Minah sat on the edge of the decrepit hospital bed. Seohyun struggled from the straps around her wrists as Minah giggled. “He’s fine I tell you. In fact, I’ll let you see him now.” Minah started. “With a free gift.” Minah turned to the door and Seohyun followed gaze.

“Hi Seohyun.” The voice was dead and uncaring, the total opposite of what she remembered him to sound. Seohyun’s lips trembled and her eyes watered, couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Even Kyungsan who was in his arms was no where happy with him.

“Joohyuk?!” she choked on her last word. His name.

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that was quite long wasn't it? and please i'm sorry for another lame title