Jisoo's POV

"So...did you slot in some sightseeing?" Jennie asked as she bounced the gurgling, rosy 2 year old on her knee. The little girl clapped and chuckled, reaching out to my face.

She had dimples, just like her father.

"Yah, can you say auntie Jisoo?" I cooed. "AN-TEE GEE-SOO"

"She can barely say mama and you want her to upgrade to AN-TEE?" Jennie laughed, the tired lines round her face melting away. Hearing her laugh was just like old times.

I half expected Lisa and Chaeyoung to spring out from behind the couch.

Jin and Hoseok would be cooking in the kitchen and shout at us to come help us, you lazy pigs.

Jungkook would settle to play some video game with Lisa, Jimin would pull out his guitar for him and Chaeyoung to entertain us with an impromptu duet.

Taehyung and Yoongi would settle to cheer on the maknaes playing and make bets.

Namjoon would wrap his hands round Jennie and grin like he had won the lottery......

I had arrived earlier that day via an overnight long-haul flight from Seoul. After landing, I headed straight to Jennie's place. When the taxi pulled up to the address, I was convinced I was at the wrong place.

Jennie had bragged about the apartment Namjoon had gotten after they had relocated to the United States years ago. But I never had imagined it was a luxurious super (as she called it) overlooking the Central Park. But then what did I expect? The Upper East Side was famous for hosting the homes of the mega rich and famous.

Jennie and Namjoon weren't mega rich and famous but they were comfortably well off to own two super yachts, three cars and two other properties. For the couple, having Namjoon working as a supermodel's secretary came with perks. Jennie nowadays modelled on and off but she was more invested with her simple accounting job and caring for their daughter.

I left my bags at Jennie's after being given the obligatory tour of the place and meeting for the first time with my niece, JooHyun.

"She's almost three and she hasn't spoken much yet," Jennie said, frowning slightly.

JooHyun had her mother's cat-like features but her nose was a photocopy of her father's. She seemed like a happy ball of sunshine, reaching up to her mother with her lips peeled back in a gummy smile, with dimples in either cheek. Jennie's face softened and she lifted her daughter as she stood up.

"Well, you did say once that Namjoon started babbling late too" I reminded her. She smiled at that but next second her eyes wandered to a frame on a table.

It was a photo of Namjoon and Jennie in happier times, his hands round her waist as he back-hugged her. He seemed to be whispering something in her ear and she was laughing hard.

I bit my lip when I realised my carelessness.

"Well, catch you later. If you're taking the subway, be careful," Jennie told me, cradling Joo-Hyun and was about to leave the room when I stopped her.

"We'll get to the bottom of it, Jennie" I said quietly.

She just gave me a tired smile and left.

After calling in at the office and getting briefed by the chief in charge of the case, I wandered around the city, barely aware of my surroundings. I sat down on a bench to muse and study the dossier the chief handed me.

A few days ago, if someone would have told me that I'd end up in Manhattan on the request of my old school friend and by special invitation of the New York Police Department to help with a particularly convoluted investigation...well, I would have scoffed.

I had been living a fairly discreet life in comparison to most of my friends who had emigrated out of the country after the economy crashed some 10 years ago.

Life treated me alright, there were worse people off. At least I had a job. My day consisted of work, shopping for groceries, cooking and settling to eat late in the evening with my stepmother. She was a hale old woman, but decidedly more creaky now.

Contrary to what they say in fairy tales, I loved my stepmother. She had cared for me ever since I can remember. I never saw her as anything but my mother, since my biological mother died birthing me. I used to feel so guilty about this fact but my stepmother gently explained that sometimes, bad things happen and we can't do anything but accept them.

My thoughts just kept going round and round in my head, too scattered to actually produce any useful ideas.

I decided to head back to Jennie's place. Although Namjoon wasn't around anymore, she still lived comfortably. He had prepared well ahead of the expedition into the jungle to make sure his wife didn't endure hardship should something happen...

"Sightseeing isn't really what I came for Jennie,"I told her now, shifting my attention from the toddler.

"You should take it easy you know. Answers won't come so quickly...I've waited for years and nothing happened," my friend shrugged, "I can wait some more. I'm just glad you're here, what with all those nasty disappearances happening."

"Security is top-notch here, Jen, I checked it myself" I assured, remembering the heated argument I had gotten into with security guards because I had stepped (just stepped) into an unauthorised area of the super and all hell broke loose. They only calmed down when I flashed them my badge.

Jennie nodded. "Where do you intend to start looking?"

I didn't reply.

It wasn't so simple and Jennie knew there was no easy answer. She had been waiting for closure for 3 years, ever since the seven boys in our group disappeared for months into the South American wilderness and only one returned alive.

This investigation wasn't just about missing husbands and boyfriends, or the recent double homicide of Chaeyoung and Lisa, or the perplexing disappearance of high-profile models, or the ring of human traffickers suspected to be working for a well-respected figure in the fashion industry.

This was so much more.

The FBI believed all these disparate threads to be connected somehow.

And Jennie, seeing that the investigation was running into dead ends and getting cold, took matters into her hands, as she usually does.

She referred them to who she thought could be the final link that would unite all the pieces together to solve the puzzle....

The American embassy fixed my visa issue faster than it takes me to eat three chicken skewers and I flew out of the country the following day.

I knew I was late.

I should have fought harder to leave, should have fought harder for the authorities to sort out their bureaucratic bumbles and unfreeze my visa.

I should have fought harder to be with the girls. They needed my support. Moreover, I could have protected them.

Poor sweet Chaeyoung and that lovable clown Nallalisa paid the price for my delay.

When news of their grisly murder reached me, I just let the phone slowly drop and sank to the ground. The only thing I remember was the ticking clock on the mantelpiece. My stepmother told me she found me staring into space. I finally snapped out of my daze two days later, waking up in hospital.

I made myself get up and move on. No use crying over spilled milk.

Six months after their death, I was handed my ticket out of South Korea.

I smiled now as I watched Jennie playing peek-a-boo with her giggling daughter. This time, I was determined to make good on my absence. No room for regrets.

"I think I may know where to start..."