sorrow itself; pain for its own sake

The next day, Taemin woke up to an empty bed and an empty feeling. The moment he realized that she wasn't beside him, he quickly shot out of bed. 

"Naeun-ah," he called out, his voice shaking. Panic started to rise in his throat as he roamed their home, desperately calling for her but to no avail. His head began to spin when he opened their shared closet. Hangers and a number of her clothes were strewn on the floor, a huge chunk of her wardrobe visibly missing.

He grabbed his phone in a rush to dial her number but to no surprise to him, his calls weren't coming through. "Please, please, please," he whispered as his tears finally started to fall, his fingers fumbling to press the call button again and again.

After failing to try and contact her, he tried calling her manager but he never answered. He also tried to contact her mother but the same thing happened. With blurry eyes and blurry feelings, he grabbed his keys and drove. 

While in the car, he finally decided to call Hayoung and by some miracle, Apink's maknae picked up the call.

"Hayoung! Hayoungie," he almost cried in delight.

"Oppa," she replied quietly. 

"Hayoung," he called her name again in an effort to keep his emotions at bay. "Hayoungie, help Oppa."

The other end of the line was quiet. He always considered Hayoung as one of the pillars of their relationship. Of all her members, she was the one closest to Naeun so it was also easy for him to also be close to her. For a lot of times, she became Naeun's voice of reason. Whenever they had little arguments or misunderstandings, she always managed to get them to see how ridiculous they were being. Naeun even complains that he has brainwashed their maknae of the video games he always bought for her that's why she was always on his side. 

"Please," he whispered as tears started to pool in his eyes. "Please help me."

It took a few more seconds for Hayoung to respond. "Hayoung, please!"

"I'm really sorry, Oppa. I'm not supposed to answer but I just want you to know that Eonnie is safe."

"Where is she?"

"I...I can't tell you."

"Is she with you? I'm on my way to her parents' house."

"Oppa, she's not there and she's not here with me either."

"Then where the is she?" he bellowed, hitting the stirring wheel. 

Hayoung was quiet again. He immediately felt guilty for directing his anger towards her. 

"Hayoung, I'm sorry," he cried and leaned his head on the wheel, almost completely forgetting that he was on the road. When he heard numerous cars blowing their horns at him, his head shot up. "," he muttered, before trying to focus back on driving. 

"Oppa, are you okay?" Hayoung finally spoke up. "Oppa, can you please pull over so that we can talk?"

He did what he was told. "Okay."

When he was able to pull over at some stop on the road, he pleaded with Hayoung again. "Please, Hayoungie."

"Oppa, I need you to listen