"I don't know... wait, I just found her phone on the couch."

 

Junhyung now had already pacing back and forth in front of dazed Hyunseung. He rubbed his nape, then turned to face him.

 

"Junhyung what do we do?" she was sobbing hard and he could see it.

 

"We're gonna look for her. Wait me in front of your apartment complex okay."

 

He automatically flipped Hyunseung's phone and threw it aside, intending to aim for Hyunseung's direction, but it slipped. The latter, finally off of his seat, reflexively caught it before it landed hard on Junhyung's cold wooden floor.

 

"Man what's wrong with you?! And what happened to Minji?" Hyunseung demanded an explanation.

 

Junhyung grabbed his coat and car keys, "Chaerin's missing. Someone broke into their apartment last night, Seung. Let's go."

 

"Wha- wait... what?!!!"

 

Junhyung walked towards his door with Hyunseung followed suit. Jieun saw them coming out and he knew she was ready to shot a series of questions to him judging by her expression when looking to their direction.

 

"I have something to take care of, Jieun. And I'm afraid I can't go back before lunch time ends, so I'm leaving everything to you."

 

He didn't wait for an answer from Jieun. The two disappeared from her sight when she stood up from her seat, wanting to said something to his slothful boss. Jieun always thought he was the biggest procrastinator she had ever known, but she could see something's wrong with him.

 

Hyunseung had a hard time matching his step with Junhyung's, he constantly tripped but managed to hop in his car right before he drove off. It took them only ten minutes to reach for the place where they picked Minji up. 

 

"Okay I want details," Junhyung said whilst looking at her through the rear-view mirror.

 

"I just got back from the studio this morning after spending the whole night practicing. I was surprised the front door wasn't locked, so I thought Chaerin had woke up. I called her name but no answer, and I was really shocked that the living room was a mess, so was her room. I also found a lot of crumpled pictures of Chaerin in the dustbin, I had a feeling someone has been stalking her. I didn't know what to do and... and I just walked around the complex trying to find her... I can't believe this is happening."

 

"Ssh Minji it's okay, Chaerin is a strong girl. And I believe she'll be fine," Hyunseung turned to her and reached out for her hand, gently squeezing it in a comforting way.

 

She looked up to him and pulled a tiny smile, "Now what do we do? Should we call Dongwook?"

 

"Let's wait until 24 hours and if we haven't found her yet then we'll call the police. I don't think we should tell her brother. At least not now, we'll look for her first," said Junhyung speeding up the car.

 

Hyunseung nodded in agreement, "Yeah I don't think telling Dongwook is a good idea either. You know how protective he is with Chaerin. And of course you'll be dead Yong Junhyung."

 

 

***

 

 

It was almost evening. The sun had slowly disappeared leaving the red orange-ish stains and the cold autumn breeze grazed through them, who were now sitting on the outside of cafe. Minji clutched to her jacket tighter, anxiously burning a hole on her phone with her gaze. She had a torturous urge inside to just call for Chaerin and ask where the hell she was but later the fact Chaerin didn't have her phone hit her. The two men beside Minji just stared at the street blankly, as hopeless as her. 

 

Hyunseung sighed, breaking the silence, "It'll be hard to look for her when it's dark."

 

"I'm gonna look for her once more," Junhyung got up from his seat leaving the two and got in the car while they just watched him go.

 

He drove along the sidewalk, never did he miss an inch, Junhyung swept his gaze on every possible space. They were no longer in the main street and populated city, but the whole scene seemed awfully familiar to him. It was still natural on both sides of the street, large meadow, classic housing, little shops and antique cafés. 

 

After a half hour of searching he decided to stop and asked around. The car parked in front of an aged tea shop with yellow crysan hanging on the door. Junhyung pushed the door causing the bell to ring and greeted by an unfamiliar atmosphere. The vintage decoration got him stunned, it gave him unusual vibe moreover the dim lighting that set the mood. He looked around to see only a few people inside and decided to take a seat at the back, near an old bookshelf and an aged well-sculptured framed mirror. 

 

A young waiter approached him with a strange looking wide smile on his face. He found it terribly creepy. 

 

"Would you like anything to order, sir?"

 

"Uhm what do you have here?" he grabbed the menu and scanned each page which was written in mostly Chinese. 

 

"Best quality teas. Gui hua cha is the most popular among customers. Que she jian here is our best serving, it's a superior jasmine tea produced through seven successive cycles. I'd recommend you to Wu long cha, which is best to sip during evening conversation. We serve Japanese tea too and favored by mostly our customers from the city and..."

 

Junhyung shook his head and returned back the menu, "I'd like to have the usual green tea please. Thanks," with his smile sending away the waiter back to the kitchen. 

 

He waited for the waiter to come back with his order for a while. When boredom starts to take over he got up to examine the books on the shelf. He could see it was all old books the first time he saw it. Junhyung put the book that interested him back down after briefly looking through the pages. 

 

"Sorry young man but you're not supposed to touch them nor take them out from the shelf. You could have ruined it. It's a valued heritage!"

 

He was completely floored by the sudden voice coming from a petite lady that appeared out of nowhere from his sight. Her both hands on her hips, she was wearing an all black attire with a matching black dressing shoes, her hair was pulled into a high bun, and her face was... Junhyung started to recognize her face and pictures started to appearing in his mind. The lady's expression changed after she recalled who the young man was.

 

"Junhyung-gun! I'm Dara, remember?"

 

"Ahhh that's why you look so familiar, Dara noona."

 

"You lighten your hair color but I managed to recognize your face. Let's sit down," she gestured to sit at his table, "It's been a long time, right?"

 

 

***

 

 

She woke up to the tormenting headache and an incredibly sore body. The nausea was killing and it took her hard time to gain energy to straighten herself on the bed. Surprised by satin sheets under her, Chaerin's eyes widen slowly and came to a realization she just woke up on a king sized bed in an all white decorated room. But it wasn't her room. 

 

Weird, she couldn't remember how she ended up in a strange place like that. The only thing she could recall was, she stood outside an apartment waiting in the midst of cold weather. She groaned when she felt her lung burning. 

 

Taking a look around the room, it was nice and all comfy, but somewhat looked creepy to her. She stood up and felt the cold mahogany flooring underneath. The long dress she was wearing reached to her ankle. She walked to the huge window across the room and found out she was on the second floor, with the view of endless trees outside. Judging by the sky color, she knew it was getting dark soon. 

 

The sound of door cracking caught her attention. She gasped when an unexpected smile greeted her after it's fully opened. 

 

"You've waken up."

 

She was in utter shock and couldn't create any sound as he walked closer to her. 

 

"Why didn't you close the window? The night will fall soon and the night wind isn't good for you."

 

Chaerin stood still when he finally reached her hands, gently pulling her towards the door.

 

"What's wrong? You must be very hungry. Come, I've made you dinner."

 

But she pulled back and didn't move an inch. 

 

"Chae..."

 

"This is really, really weird," she scorned.

 

He let out a sigh and attempted to grab her hand again, "You're just tired," but she slapped it away.

 

"Don't act like nothing happened, Kikwang!" she angrily pointed her finger to his face and backed off a little, "What happened to me? Where am I? And where's Junhyung?"

 

Tears started to well up at the corner of her eyes because of her worsen lung burning, the splitting headache and the stinging pain in her chest. 

 

They stood and stared each other for what seemed like forever. Until Kikwang slowly moved towards her lifting his hand to reach for Chaerin's cheek and wiped the tears that began to fall.

 

"You don't remember?" he caressed her closed eyelid, "You fought with Junhyung and showed up in front of my door... all messed up."

 

"Was that so?"

 

"... Yes."

 

She cried even harder.

 

"You need to eat and rest. Come on," Kikwang wrapped his muscular arm around Chaerin and guided her to go downstairs to the kitchen. 

 

His touch felt awkward to her. It was somehow protecting yet cold, completely different from what she could recall from him. She had been longing to feel his embrace again, she thought she wouldn't be able to feel it again, but now she just couldn't get why it didn't feel as right as before. 

 

"Your house seems different," she sat herself on the chair that he had pulled before.

 

"We made a little change here and there," he smiled.

 

Chaerin just nodded and looked around the room, the large window remained there though. She glanced outside and saw a plain garden with a tree in the middle.

 

"Seems like it has changed a lot out there."

 

He turned his head to Chaerin, "Yeah?"

 

"There. I thought you have the most beautiful garden out there. Where's Jihye by the way?" 

 

The bowl that he was holding fell and crashed to the floor, causing the hot soup he had prepared to spill. 

 

"I'm sorry..." he bent down and started to pick the pieces one by one, "I'll get you another one."

 

"Kikwang..." she stood up and frowned a little. Where had the good mood been gone?

 

He didn't answer and put the pieces in a black plastic bag before throwing it into the trash bin. 

 

"Chaerin please go back to your room. I'll make another dinner for you."

 

"But I―"

 

"Just.. go back to your room," he didn't look at her, but she could feel him being adamant and his voice sounded somewhat stern. She stayed still.

 

"I SAID GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM." 

 

He slammed shut the trash bin earning himself a loud bang that echoed through the whole kitchen. Chaerin flinched and scared as hell with his sudden mood changing. Without thinking twice she turned back and ran upstairs. 

 

She was too dazed she didn't pay enough attention to where she was going. A large, white spacious room was shown behind the first door she saw. There were not much furniture, in fact half empty, except for a dresser and a cabinet. She cringed the moment she entered the room and her nostril was attacked by a strong scent of chemical formula which brought back the burning sensation in her lung. Just then she found out it came from behind a card box in the corner of the room. She came closer to see, then automatically covered her nose and stepped back when she saw a large dose of chloroform. She retreated back until she bumped to the dresser and a low groan slipped out of . 

 

Chaerin turned to see what was on the dresser. She saw a picture frame facing down with a lot of dried flower petals around it. Another whirl of confusion came to her as she flipped it over and saw Jihye's picture. 

 

"In loving memory of

Song Jihye

Aged 20

Treasured forever

Of love and happiness shared together."

 

She read the backside of the picture and didn't realize the warm tears that already cascaded down her cheeks. She felt a great headache, too perplexed with what was actually going on to think clearly. The cabinet door swung open by the calm wind that came from the small opening at the window, and it blew another pictures inside to scatter all around the room. A lot of polaroid pictures.

 

Like everything that had happened wasn't enough to give her another shock. went wide open to see all of her pictures flying from Kikwang's cabinet. She remembered everything. Now it all made sense. 

 

She slowly walked with a limp, wanting to get out of that place badly but her body condition betrayed her. 

 

Chaerin finally found her room and with the remaining energy, she grabbed the blanket, bed sheet and duvet, tying them with each other to make it long enough to reach the ground. She tied it to the bed post and made sure for it tight and strong enough to support her body weight. 

 

Though it was almost dark, she didn't care. All that she concerned was to get out of there. To escape from him.

 

She walked to the window and was about to push it open when a strong arm stopped her.

 

"Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?"

 

 

***

 

 

"Noona didn't age at all, still looking scarily the same," Junhyung said with his usual mischievous manner earning himself a nice hit on the arm from Dara, "Yah!" 

 

They laughed it off. That waiter earlier had came back with Junhyung's order and his eyes widen in excitement when he saw Dara sitting herself in the same table with Junhyung.

 

"Oh noona is back!"

 

"Junhyung, this is Sanghyun, my little brother. Gaeddong-ah, this is Junhyung."

 

Junhyung held back his laughter, "Dog... poop?!"

 

Sanghyun frowned at his sister, "She likes to call me like that. Anyway I'm Park Sanghyun, and here's your tea."

 

He put the cup down and excused himself back to the kitchen again. 

 

"So what brings you here, Junhyung-gun? I never saw you again after that accident... and you got knocked up pretty bad."

 

Junhyung chuckled, "Yeah. Things were really complicated back then."

 

"Do you come for her?"

 

"Who?" his face showed a bewildered look as he took a sip of his tea.

 

She looked at him with an 'are you kidding me' look, "Jihye. Do you come to pay visit for her grave?"

 

Junhyung choked.

 

"Are you okay? Patient, young man," Dara leaned forward to pat his back.

 

He coughed and straighten himself on the chair, looking at Dara with complete shock. 

 

"What do you mean by her grave, Dara noona?!"

 

Dara could feel Junhyung's gaze burning all over her when she looked up to meet his eyes. She paused for some torturing minutes before heaving a sigh.

 

Junhyung ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "You're kidding."

 

"I won't make fun on this kind of thing, Junhyung."

 

"When? How did she...?"

 

"Long story short," she touched her nose bridge.

 

He waited for her to start, never once missed on every single facial expression that she made.

 

"I didn't know what was actually happening with you guys. After the wedding held, Jihye constantly visited me to talk. She seemed really stressed out. She told me everything. She wasn't happy with the marriage. Kikwang just took his responsibility to marry her because he got her pregnant, but his heart still belongs to someone else. He started to act differently when Jihye got miscarriage. Kikwang was hardly seen at their house, I guess he went to the city or something. Poor girl, I think she couldn't take it anymore until two weeks ago she ended her life.."

 

He could hardly believe on every words she just said.

 

"How?"

 

"She hung herself in their backyard."

 

"What about Kikwang?"

 

"I don't know, he's been acting strange after the funeral. We rarely see him in town."

 

There was silence hovered around them, Dara just kept fidgeting her fingers after telling him everything that happened few months back. She waited for him to say something, but he all of a sudden stood up from his seat and took out a few bucks. 

 

"I'm sorry noona, I gotta go. Thanks for telling me."

 

He rushed to the front door and stopped to turn around when he heard Dara calling his name, "Wait, where are you going?"

 

"His house."

 

She just watched his back disappeared behind her old door.

 

 

***

 

 

She didn't expect for him to show up at the wrong timing. She knew it would be useless if she fought against him with her current state, so she just dropped the sheets she was holding and took a few steps back. 

 

He watched her every move and grabbed the sheets, roughly pulling it loose from the bed post and threw it across the room. 

 

"What happened to Jihye?"

 

"Chae, let's talk this out."

 

"I ask what happened to her?!" 

 

Chaerin didn't even blink after the last word that came out from because another second she got herself thrown away and landed hard on the cold wooden floor, cheeks stung. Took her another seconds to realize what just happened after Kikwang slapped her across the face. She could taste blood at the corner of her lips. 

 

He marched towards her and grabbed her hair, pulling her to stand up. She groaned in pain and felt completely numb. Kikwang gripped her shoulders tight, "She's dead. Jihye's dead, she hung herself," he laughed. 

 

"You happy, Chaerin? Answer me! You're happy, right? No one stands between us anymore," he tighten his grasp earning himself a painful shriek from her. 

 

"I can't stand thinking about you with Junhyung each day, Chaerin," he let go of one hand, reaching for her face making her to look into his eyes, "It's killing."

 

She squirmed under his touch, "Please.. let me go."

 

"I made a big mistake. But I've finally found a way out."

 

"I don't love you like I did before," she cried out.

 

Kikwang slapped her again, "Stop lying, Chaerin!"

 

She fell flat on her back, hands palming on the burning cheeks. She didn't knew if she could shed anymore tears, but it just kept falling. He looked down to her, eyes filled with rage and she obviously aware of that. 

 

"Who are you?" Chaerin didn't know how did she manage to speak between the sobs, her visions went blurry because of the welled up tears. She didn't expect for his gaze to soften, he bent down and grabbed her hands to make her sit up, then pulled her into his embrace. Kikwang touched her face, wiped the tears and kissed the part that bled, "I'm sorry sweetheart, that won't happen again. Just stop lying to yourself, okay."

 

He stood up and obliged her to do so, hands still securely wrapped around her, "I won't let you go no matter what happens."

 

Kikwang was about to lay her on the bed when he heard the sound of a car stopped in front of the house. He went to the edge of the window and saw Junhyung coming out of the car. As if she just gained a new strength after seeing him, Chaerin freed herself from Kikwang's grasp to call for Junhyung's name, but Kikwang was a lot faster to cover and pulled her away from the window. 

 

"Don't make me do this again, sweetheart. Listen to me. You don't go out of this room. I'll get rid of him real quick, and then.. then no one will disturb us," he smiled, in the scariest way he ever could to her, and kissed Chaerin forcefully. She cringed, but nothing she could do against him. The kisses they had were always sweet, and gentle, but now she felt nothing but the pain. 

 

He pulled away and took out a duct tape to seal , he tied both hands behind her back to the bed post. 

 

"I'll be back."

 

Kikwang glanced at her for the last time before shutting the door behind him then went down stair as he heard the front door bell rang. Throwing aside the duct tape and putting on the best act he could, he approached the front door and fixed the creases on his shirt before turning the knob. 

 

Although he knew the face that'd appear behind the door but he managed to make a surprised face and pulled his mouth slightly forming a half smile while the other person just nodded.

 

"Hey," was the first word coming out from him after the last time they talked long time ago.

 

"Hey Junhyung. It's been a while."

 

Kikwang stepped aside inviting him to go in. Junhyung replied with an almost mumbling "Yeah," and walked towards his living room with Kikwang followed suit after closing the door behind.

 

"I heard about Jihye. I'm so sorry Kikwang."

 

"Thanks, Junhyung. I really miss her."

 

Junhyung turned his back on him to face the wall with a lot of pictures on it and silently scoffed at what he said. 

 

Kikwang just stared at him and broke the silence between them, "How's Chaerin?"

 

Junhyung turned to face him at the sudden question, "I was about to ask whether you know where she is right now. She's been missing since yesterday night."

 

"What? How could she..?"

 

"We think she had a stalker. Someone broke into her apartment and she disappeared. You think you know where we can find her?" 

 

"I―"

 

A stomping sounds from the second storey cut him off. Junhyung looked up to the ceiling and arched his brows, "What's that sound?"

 

"Uh.. nothing. Maybe I forgot to shut the window."

 

But it got louder.

 

"It seems like there's someone up there," Junhyung was about to walk towards the stair but Kikwang stood on his way.

 

"Ah that. That― don't mind it. The stair leading to the attic sometimes come down by itself, I'll fix that later. Oh hey have you called the police?"

 

The sounds were still there.

 

Junhyung perceived that Kikwang was hiding something, he raised his brows and looked into him, "Not yet. We're planning to call them tomorrow," the sounds got louder and the pace quickened, "Are you sure you don't want to fix that now? It starts to get annoying, I'll help."

 

"No! I mean, no, I can―"

 

The stomping stopped but then an ear piercing shriek heard from the second floor. Junhyung recognized that voice.

 

Junhyung was shocked to find himself on the floor in a blink of an eye and the back of his head was greatly aching. He was sure he heard a loud voice before and he saw a broken lamp being thrown away by Kikwang after using it to knock him. 

 

"Sick bastard," Junhyung got up and gave Kikwang a nice uppercut. He took advantage with his height and threw him on to the table causing it crashed to pieces, "I know you're behind all of this."

 

But Kikwang knew he was much more muscular and stronger and so he returned the favor to Junhyung, making him to fell on his back. Kikwang got on top of Junhyung and punched the hell out of him. Junhyung spat blood and scorned.

 

"She loves me. She has always loved me. It was all Jihye's fault, and your fault. I won't let her go. Never," Kikwang said through gritted teeth while grabbing his collar. 

 

Junhyung mockingly sneered, "Ýou pathetic little prick," he sent him another punch on the stomach with all of his might causing him to curl up in pain. Junhyung quickly got up, reaching for the nearest thing next to him, a Chinese porcelain vase, and hit Kikwang right on the head.

 

He took this chance to run upstairs and called out for her name, "Chaerin!"

 

Junhyung scanned each room and finally found her tied up to the bed post, she was a mess. He ran to her and freed her, tearing the duct tape. 

 

"Look at what he did to you," Junhyung grabbed both side of her face and examined her bruises, "I won't let him lay his filthy hands on you anymore."

 

Chaerin cried with no sound and so she dissolved into Junhyung's hug. She felt incredibly exhausted. She saw Junhyung's condition wasn't any better than her, he got cuts all over his face.

 

"Junhyung, I―"

 

He shushed her, running his fingers on the blonde strands, then lightly grazed on her swollen cheeks and bruises, "We'll get out of this house soon. That man has gone crazy."

 

She wept and clutched to his shirt, "I'm scared."

 

"Listen Chae, Kikwang will be up here anytime soon. I want you to stay here, lock that door, and wait until I tell you to open it for me. Get it?" she weakly nodded. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "You know I love you, Chae."

 

The door behind them harshly swung open revealing Kikwang who could barely stand on his legs, blood trickled down his forehead, "What a nice view. Makes me want to puke."

 

Junhyung released her, "Do as I said," and stormed towards him, grabbing his collar and pushing him through the hallway. Chaerin closed and locked the door, then sat herself in front of it whilst hugging her weak body, waiting. 

 

She kept waiting, praying for Junhyung to be safe. She heard the sound of things breaking, smashing, and painful groans. The more she heard, her headache was getting worse. She propped her head until her temple came in touch with her knees, and stayed like that for a couple of minutes. The dark room and the cold flooring didn't budge her, she felt numb. Her strength seemed to be all gone, she looked up only to lean her head on the door. And that was when she realized it was silent outside of the room. She jumped in shock when she felt a power against the door she was leaning on, trying to open it. The other person that realized it was locked started to knock. Chaerin got up and stepped back, "Junhyung?" almost whispered.

 

There was no answer. 

 

She was about to open to call for his name once again when suddenly the door clicked open. 

 

"Of course I have the spare key. This is my house, remember?" his voice was hoarse.

 

He walked closer to her, painfully slow. Bloods stained all over his shirt, she didn't know whether it was his own blood.. or his. She got caught by his deathly gaze and she knew right away that she didn't have the power to escape from him anymore. He raised one of his arm, the one with a gun, pointing it at her.

 

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. If I can't have you, no one can."

 

 

THE END

 

 

 

 

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First ever story I finished *proud* ;~; I'd like to say so much thanks for all readers and subscribers! <3

So that's how I end this story, it's better like that right kkkk :> Comments are loved! Silent readers come out please and at least comment once on this last chapter lol. Follow me on tumblr and twitter, and leave me a message that you're from aff ^-^ See you on another story! Xoxo.

 

-R