Donghyun POV

I sat with Jeongmin in a little café near our apartment. “I just don’t get it. Where could he have gone?” I whispered miserably. “I don’t know. I just wish there was a way to track him down or something. You know, like, a built-in GPS or something,” Jeongmin sighed. Suddenly, a realization hit me. “Oh my gosh! Why didn’t I think of this before?” I said, leaping out of my chair, gathering my jacket in my arms, and sprinting out the door. “Hey! Where are you going?” Jeongmin shouted after me.

“You see, I just remembered that Minwoo takes his cell phone everywhere with him, so…” I in a breath as Jeongmin and I ran at full tilt along the sidewalk. “…so I thought that we could go to the phone company’s store and ask them to locate his phone for us,” I finished, out of breath from the vigorous exercise I was getting. “I still don’t understand. How are they going to locate it?” I rolled my eyes at his obliviousness. “You dope, there’s a tracking device built into every phone. Didn’t you know that?” I said impatiently. “No…As a matter of fact, I did not know that…” At that, I let out an exasperated sigh. “Just hurry up, ok?”

The men at the customer service desk insisted that they couldn’t disclose such information as a person’s whereabouts, which caused my temper to boil over. “Listen.” I pointed a finger at the men sternly. “My friend is missing, has been missing for several days, without a trace. This is the only way we can think of to find him, and if we don’t find him soon something bad might happen to him. Now, could you please help us locate our friend before it’s too late? Please,” I pleaded. “This is our only hope of finding him. Please. Just help us.” The two men glanced at each other apprehensively, while Jeongmin and I leaned forward anxiously. I noticed that one of the men had a kind face and a calm, sensitive air about him, while the other man was slightly more hardened. I was hoping that at least the kind-faced man would help us, if not both.

As the men turned their attention back to us, I bit my lip, praying to God that they would agree to help us. This was, literally, our only sliver of hope left. We’d searched every nook and cranny of the city for any suggestion of Minwoo’s inhabitance, without even a hint as to where he could be. After what seemed like hours of silence, the more stern man spoke up. “We aren’t authorized to do you this favor,” he said, “but we will, just because of your supposed circumstance.” I sighed in relief, clasping my hands together. “You have no idea how much this means. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!” I cried out, tears leaving wet streaks down my face. “Yeah, ok. Just hold on a minute,” the man said in a perturbed way as he maneuvered the mouse across the mouse pad, clicking every so often and typing stridently on the keyboard. “What’s this boy’s name?” the same man asked, not once taking his eyes off the computer screen. “It’s Minwoo, No Minwoo,” I replied frantically. Waiting to know where Minwoo was, or even if this venture of ours would work, was killing me. “…his number?” Without delay, I told him the number that I’d memorized by heart. “Please hurry,” I pressed. “Okay, just settle down and give me a minute to bring the map up on the computer.” I wrung my hands fretfully, waiting impatiently as the ticking of the keyboard became a nauseatingly constant drone in my head. The more temperate of the two men swiveled in his chair with a troubled look shrouding his pleasant features. I found myself growing fond of the man, his cute appearance reminding me of my Minwoo.

Finally, when I was at my wit’s end, the man broke his gaze from the computer to motion to us with his hand. “Come around the desk. I think I’ve found your friend.” I could’ve bounded over the desktop I was so overcome with relief, but instead I hastily made my way around the desk, planting myself at the man’s side.

“Do you see this red dot right here?” the man asked, pointing to a crimson speck on the digital map. After making certain that we both saw the dot, he continued. “That’s the location of your friend, or at least his phone. That much is certain. We can print out this map for you, if you want.” I nodded appreciatively. “That would be great. Thanks.”

“Thank you so much for your help,” I said, giving each man a firm shake of the hand. “No problem,” the more serious man answered, shooting me a confident smile. The other man stepped forward, all grin and bright eyes. “I know that you two are from Boyfriend.” He paused, intently staring at our surprised faces. “I’m so glad to have met and helped you.” He paused, gently smiling as he continued in a soft voice, “I hope you find Minwoo.”

Jeongmin cleared his throat. “What are your names, so we can get in touch with you later if need be?” The cute man spoke up. “My name is Woo Sunghyun, but you can call me Kevin, and this is Kim Jaeseop. Jaeseop quickly interjected. “Call me AJ.” Kevin nodded. “You can find us in the phonebook.”

“Are we at the right place?” I asked uncertainly, furrowing my brows in confusion. “Yeah, I’m sure we are,” Jeongmin answered, sounding more than a little uncertain himself. We were standing in the center of an abandoned warehouse with a single door to the outside, and not another door evident otherwise. “I don’t understand. This is exactly where the red dot is on the map, but there’s nothing in here and there aren’t any other doors in the room.” I turned in circles, trying to pinpoint a place along the wall that could be hiding a door. Suddenly, something along one wall caught my eye. “Hey, Jeongmin. There’s a stack of boxes over there against the wall. Help me move them, will you?”

Minwoo POV

“Hey, hey, listen. I think Mishka and those guys are coming back.” I sat up at full attention. “Yeah, I hear them, too,” I said, concentrating on the sounds filtering through the door. “Minwoo, I’ve got an idea.”

Lee and I stood at the ready, prepared to pounce on the group of people as they came in, and then we would make a run for it. Lee said that if we did a surprise attack it would be easier to escape. I sincerely hoped that he was right.

Finally, the door began to open, and as soon as it was opened fully Lee and I threw ourselves forward at full force, knocking two unsuspecting men to the ground. The men lay on the ground, dazed as Lee and I hastily picked ourselves up. “Come on, Minwoo!” Lee yelled, grabbing my hand and towing me after him. “Minwoo!” I heard one of the men scream. Before I could make a complete turn or even register in my mind who that voice belonged to, the man hurled himself at me, embracing me in his arms in a suffocating hug. “Minwoo, it’s you. I’m so glad it’s you. You have no idea how worried I’ve been,” he mumbled into my hair. “What?” I said, startled by this stranger’s behavior. “No idea,” he repeated. All of a sudden, something clicked in my brain, every puzzle piece of thought I’d had aligning in my head. “…Donghyun?” I said timidly, lifting my head to stare into the eyes of my assailant. “Oh God, it is you!” I shouted in disbelief, clinging onto him for dear life and beginning to sob into his chest. “I’ve been so scared…,” I bawled pathetically, trembling in his arms as he my hair soothingly. “Let’s go home,” he proposed, lifting my frail, sore body into his arms.

“Wait,” Lee objected, holding his hand out in front of us like a stop sign. “Who are you?” Donghyun questioned suspiciously. “That’s not important. What is important is the fact that the people who trapped us here are still running loose. We have to do something or they might hurt more innocent people in the future,” Lee pointed out earnestly. Donghyun sighed in exasperation. “The only thing I’m concerned about right now is getting Minwoo home. Everything else can wait.”

Donghyun began to walk around Lee, but I pressed a hand tenderly against his face. “Donghyun, this is important to me, too. We can’t leave until I know that our captors aren’t free anymore.”

“Thanks for calling us, boys. These people definitely didn’t need to be running loose any longer. You’ve saved many young boys from kidnapping by doing this. The Seoul Police Department owes you big time.” I smiled gratefully at the policeman. “Thank you, officer. Now Lee and I can have some peace of mind knowing that Mishka and her thugs can’t get to us any longer.” The policeman smiled back, nodding in my direction before turning to Lee. “We also need you to come back to the police department with us. You said that you’d been locked up by the girl for four years, right?” Lee nodded. “Well then, we better get in touch with your parents. I’m sure they’re very worried.” Lee bristled audibly. “My parents died over four years ago,” he said, averting his gaze and clenching his fists. “Do you have anyone to live with?” Lee frowned. “I’m 20-years-old. I don’t need anyone to live with.” The policeman shrugged in defeat. “Ok. Well, I guess that’s all, then. Here’s my card. Feel free to contact me at any time, boys,” the policeman said, handing us each a minute, crisp business card. With that, he began walking back to his car.

Lee shoved his hands in his pockets, sulking away from the rest of us after throwing a, “See you guys later” over his shoulder. I sprinted past him, positioning myself firmly in front of him. He glanced up at me with a gloomy look on his face, the likes of which made me tilt my head and furrow my brows in bewilderment. “Did we not already agree that you would live with me and my band mates?” Lee shrugged indifferently. “If not for yourself, then do it for me. We’re friends, remember? Friends always stick together,” I stated matter-of-factly. His eyes lit up at my statement and he beamed at me. “Right?” I asked. “Right,” he agreed. I grabbed his hand and led him back to our small group, informing the others that I wanted him to live with us. They both agreed that having him live with us was a good idea, and as we were all chatting amongst ourselves on our way home I noted the joyful look on Lee’s face. ‘I wonder; when was the last time he smiled?’

A/N: Two more chapters and this story will be over! Actually, I will be posting three chapters (ch.17, 18, and 19) all at once. The reason: My internet is down, my power keeps going out, and there’s nothing to do, so I’m thinking ‘Why not just update?’ Sorry if they aren’t extremely good...I tried (not hard enough…what? Hah).

So, you guys can thank my bad luck and boredom, right? Hehe ^^ Ok.

Bye bye! *hugs* 83