The drive was blurry. Sehun only knew he was charging up the staircase into the police department like a mad bull.

“Sehun! Sehun!” Namjoo screamed after him yet her voice sounded so distant like she was lightyears away.

He banged into the automatic doors and shoved his way through. Pushing past busy officers clambering on their way out and turning around to mutter at him. His entire world was upside down!

He saw everything through a red hazed vision. Searching right to left over the cubbies when he reached the lobby. Zeroing on Haewon.

“You !” he ran at her. He was going to bulldoze her. He was going to make her regret! for coming to Goseong! For messing with him and his daughter!

He was going to kill her!

“Sehun no!” Namjoo blocked him with the same intensity.

“Let go, Namjoo!” he struggled against her. Namjoo pushed back as Haewon tearfully cowered behind her. But Sehun saw no enemy but the who took his daughter and lost her. “I’m going to kill you!”

“Sehun! Sehun!” Namjoo shrieked. “Stop!”

Her hands burrowed into his shoulder. She dug her head into his chest pushing against him as if that could stop his fit of menacing rage.

“Haewon!” He screamed from the top of his lungs.

A bunch of officers hurried forward to help Namjoo. They were prepared to cuff him to restrain him.

“No, no.” Namjoo an arm out to keep them at bay. “He’s ok. He’s ok.” Frantic she touched his face. “Sehun.” Softly patting his cheek. “Hey. Hey. It’s ok. Calm down.”

Sehun huffed maddeningly, a hand at his side. Prepared to bash in Haewon’s pretty face any second there was a chance.

Namjoo kept her arms around him to keep him from stumbling forward. Back to the officers surrounding them, “He’s ok. See?”

The uniforms hesitantly put their handcuffs away. As if on signal footsteps approached. A man in a different uniform which perhaps marked his rank, greeted them.

“Oh Sehun?” he asked. When Sehun glared, he took that as acknowledgement. “Come this way.”

They were led into a private conference room with a long rectangular table. They sat down in utilitarian chairs and were offered bottles of water. Then the door closed.

“What did you do with her?” Sehun burst in anger, heated eyes on Haewon. “What did you do, Haewon!”

She had the audacity to hunker down, drawing her shoulders together, and even cry. He was beyond pissed and ready to hurl himself across the table.

“Calm down, Mr. Oh.” The chief directed. “Our first priority will be looking for your daughter.” Solely focused on him, he said, “I was informed you are her primary caregiver. Do you know any places she would go?”

Sehun wanted to bitterly retaliate if he was the primary caregiver why did the court ing give Seulbi to her mother?!

Namjoo gripped his hand, grounding him to the task at hand. He muttered through tensely gritted teeth, “No. I don’t know. I just recently moved here. Seulbi hasn’t been around too much.”

“Do you have a recent picture of her?” the chief questioned. “We will form a search party. It’ll be easier to spot a small child if we know how she looks like first.”

“You will find her?” Sehun asked.

“We will do everything we possibly can,” the chief promised.

He hotly glared at Haewon and shakily drew out his phone, searched for a picture of Seulbi, and handed it over to the chief.

“I will get the photo printed and circulated. It’ll be a moment.” The chief excused himself.

The second the door closed, Sehun jumped to his feet enraged. Haewon cowered into her chair scared.

“What did you do?!” Sehun shrieked.

“Sehun!” Namjoo called grabbing his hand, which didn’t stop him from slamming a palm against the table as he loomed forward.

“What did you do to her?” he strictly demanded.

“I don’t know.” Her voice anxiously pitched higher and higher. “I don’t know!” Haewon’s face was literally drenched in tears. She shook her head. “I swear I put her to bed last night. Sehun, I promise. I promise! I’m not lying!”

“Then, where is she?!” his voice rose. He couldn’t help yelling this time, “Where is my daughter?!”

Hysterically shaking her head, Haewon helplessly sobbed as if she lost the ability to speak. He really wanted to pummel her.

“I swear if anything happened to her, I’m holding you accountable. I will never let you off.” His eyes rounded threateningly. “You came back here to belittle me. You want to tear everything apart. Is this what you were aiming for? Did you sell my daughter to one of your boyfriends?!”

“I didn’t. I didn’t.” Haewon’s feminine shoulders bobbed as she lowered her head, inevitably breaking down. The sight of her feverishly bawling like she was the victim was detestable.

Once the door opened and the chief returned Sehun started toward him, snatching his phone back. “I will look forward to your call chief.”

Aggressively shoving past, Sehun stalked down the corridor. Rapidly increasing his pace until he approached the car Namjoo had crookedly left behind in his spout of fury. He kicked the tire and pounded the hood with a tightly woven fist.

“I’m going to end her!” he roared. He screamed at passersby curiously staring. “What are you looking at?!”

Cautiously approaching Namjoo paused almost a yard away. Sehun turned away from her. He couldn’t control himself. He was going to lose it. His precious daughter was missing. He didn’t know what to do.

He just wanted to set everything on fire, destroy everything in his path.

“I’m sorry.” Namjoo offered.

Clamping his eyes shut he in a shaky breath. “She could have been missing since last night and she waited till this morning to report it.”

“What if she really didn’t know?” Namjoo proposed the angle he didn’t want to accept.

“How could she not know?!” Sehun whirled around on her. Namjoo looked stricken unexpecting him to blow up at her. Sighing defeated he ran a hand up his face. “Haewon had to know!”

“Ok.” Namjoo calmly soothed. She waited a beat then stepped forward and touched his arm. “Let’s go home. There’s nothing we can do right now.”

He refused to budge then relented after a second. Along the drive home he fumed in silence. Thinking about his poor daughter. Seulbi who had pleaded with him to let her stay with him. Regret overwhelmed him for being so terrible to her.

“She must be so scared out there.” He quietly uttered searching the streets for signs of any lost children. The sun was shining so strongly while a thick cloud hung over him. It wasn’t right.

It just wasn’t right.

“We’ll find her, Sehun.” Namjoo promised.

※※※※※

Didn’t seem like anything could remedy Sehun’s rage. Every pending second it felt like he would erupt into a fit. Sehun needed to soak it in, so she left him be. Watching from a distance yet dwelling in her helpless state.

There should be more to do.

There should be something she could do for him.

Namjoo had no idea. How much more was she capable of doing than being a shoulder for him to lean on? She didn’t want to leave him alone.

As the day progressed, they didn’t really talk. Sehun was too upset, too wounded. He pored over Seulbi’s pictures. Stared at his phone endlessly, as if willing it to come to life. The chief calling to update him that they’d found his daughter.

But nothing.

Namjoo cooked lunch and dinner. None of which Sehun touched.

That night they slept far from each other. The cold distance was painful. Namjoo stayed awake for a long time. Trying to formulate some plan. Something she could do.

In the AM she woke up discovering Sehun gone from her bedside. Getting up she followed the trail of light into the next room where he was sitting, slumped at the edge of Seulbi’s bed. A lonesome self. Haggard. Lost.

Namjoo hesitated at the doorway then stepped inside when Sehun didn’t tell her to go away. Sitting beside him Namjoo shared the desolate silence.

“I just wanted Seulbi to have a good life here,” Sehun teared up. “She was supposed to make new friends. Maybe grow up like you and me, and marry her friend. It was supposed to be better here. This was our last stop. I was going to build a life here where she could live happily and do what she likes. I was going to let her do anything she wants. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I don’t even know what happened to her.”

He choked on his tears as his voice cracked and buried his face in his hands.

“Don’t think like that Sehun.” Namjoo cried with him. “Seulbi isn’t unlucky. She’s a smart girl. She’ll find her way home.”

“I’m so scared, Namjoo. What if she doesn’t come home?” he sobbed. “What if she never comes back?”

“Don’t talk like that.” But her heart sunk into her stomach. There was always a possibility…

Wrapping an arm around him she ushered him closer, so she could hug him. Namjoo waited out the hours until Sehun eventually drifted off. Easing him down she went down the hallway to change, found some paper, and scrawled a message for Sehun that she was going to work. Food was in the fridge. He would be able to find it and reheat it if he was hungry.

Grabbing her purse and slipping into her shoes she left his house. The sun was just reaching the treetops when she drove his car out onto the street. She hadn’t brought her car, so if Sehun needed to go somewhere he would grab a cab. Hopefully he wouldn’t have anywhere to go until she returned.

Swerving into the familiar lot Namjoo pulled into an available spot and dashed up the staircase.

“Chanyeol!” she knocked on the door. “Chanyeol!”

She heard groaning then the click of the lock. “Who the hell is it?”

Drowsily scratching the back of his head, Chanyeol opened the door. His bed hair was awful as always. Such a peculiar sight. At once his eyes rounded upon recognizing her.

Tossing his head back he murmured, “God, Namjoo.”

Pushing the door open, Namjoo stepped in. “I need your help.”

Turning around in the doorway where the blinding light streamed inside, Chanyeol squinted. “What?”

“You’re a web designer, right?” Namjoo asked. Pulling out her phone and going through a few buttons, she held the device out. “Can you create a quick website. Go on some forums, get this out? You’re smart. You know that stuff, right?”

Stepping closer he peered down at the photo of Seulbi rubbing his nape.

“She’s missing.” Namjoo said. “Please. Help me.”

After washing up and brushing his teeth, Chanyeol settled in front of his system at the kitchen counter.

“So, you’re telling me the lady you beat up lost your boyfriend’s daughter?” Chanyeol asked. “Small world.”

He clicked the mouse several times. Going from tab to tab on his browser.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting the word out there,” Chanyeol murmured. Eyeing her he said, “I’m not doing this for free. You owe me.”

“What do you want?” she observed him from where she was loitering at the side.

“Dinner?” Chanyeol raised a brow wittily. “Just you and me.”

“Do you have friends?” Namjoo asked.

“Why are you changing the topic?” he asked.

“Get the picture to them, too.” Namjoo added. “To as many people as possible. She’s almost missing twenty-four hours. She has to be somewhere. The more people you get the message to, the wider the possibility someone must’ve seen her.”

Chanyeol studied her. For having rejected him she wasn’t sure if he would incline to her plead.

“Ok. I promise.” He said.

Breathing relieved, Namjoo said, “Thanks. Really. Thank you.”

She knew he was a good person.

“Namjoo.” He somberly called when she headed for the door. “Can you hug me just once?”

Crossing the space between them Namjoo put her arms around him. Chanyeol hugged her in return, but refrained from holding her too intimately.

“I hope you find her.” He said when she let go.

“I’ll call you.” She promised then hurried out the door. Stopping first at the library to print Seulbi’s pictures. Spending so much time at the printer inserting coins to get the machine working that the people behind her impatiently hissed at her.

Namjoo drove around the city. Stopping at popular districts handing out flyers of Seulbi’s picture with her and Sehun’s and the police department number at the bottom. Namjoo went as far out as driving beyond the coastal highway to the other side of town. Explaining the story to the elders hovering around shops and giving them the picture of Seulbi.

By late afternoon Namjoo gassed up and returned to Sehun’s. He was waiting outside the door for her.

“Have you eaten?” Namjoo walked up to him. “Why are you out here?”

“Where did you go?”

“Didn’t you see my note?” Namjoo entered his apartment and kicked her shoes off. “I went to work.”

“Namjoo.” He touched her arm. “You’re not even in uniform.”

Glancing down she realized she wasn’t dressed for work and she hadn’t returned with the stupid apron.

“I made some flyers. That’s all.” Namjoo said.

His face softened and her heart melted because he also looked so tired. She let him hug her tightly that she curved into him.

“I’m so grateful.” He buried his head into her shoulder. “Seulbi and I have you.” Touching the back of her head he said, “You’re really the best.”

the back of his shirt, she held him tightly. “I’m sorry, Sehun. I wish I could do more. I really want to find her, too. I just don’t know what else I can do for you.”

※※※※※

Day 2 came and went. Sehun became more tense when the chief reported they hadn’t been able to track his daughter. He ed to the chief out of anger then slammed the phone down. He and Namjoo spent another unsettled night. Sleeping on and off fitfully.

Every hour he daydreamed about dragging Haewon by the hair. Blaming her for everything horrible that had happened thus far.

It was her fault.

Everything was because of her.

Time dragged. He began to wonder if Seulbi could still be alive. Worry whether something indescribably bad had happened to her. Whom out there would want to harm his daughter? The thoughts clawed him from inside out. It was agonizing.

The question of what if he would never know? He would never get any answers about what happened to Seulbi haunted him.

In the middle the week his phone rang early afternoon. A call from the police department.

“What is it?” Namjoo asked when the silence dragged.

Eyes inching wide he turned around to look at her slowly lowering the phone in disbelief. “They found Seulbi.”

Elation crossed her expression. “You should go.”

Stretching his arm out for her hand, he said, “Come with me.”

“She probably needs you more.” Namjoo smiled. “Go, Sehun.”

“I’ll call you.” He gave her a quick peck then raced out, heart pumping wildly.

Seulbi was in the next district. Found wandering lost, so a social worker had taken her when the officers of Sangri-myeon were unable to locate the daddy she was crying for. But she was safe.

Seulbi was finally coming home.

He cried happy tears as he sped down the highway, swerved into the parking lot of a graying building, and ran up the steps trembling with joy and shock. Sehun couldn’t contain the overwhelming glee.

His daughter was safe.

The rush of his blood whooshed inside his ears when he entered the lobby and heard, “Daddy!” for the first time in nearly a week.

“Seulbi…Seulbi…” he pivoted left to right and finally spotted her clutching a teddy bear. Sehun collapsed onto his knees as his daughter dashed toward him, collided into him, and sobbed into his shoulder.

“Daddy!” she wailed clinging onto his shirt.

“It’s ok. It’s ok.” He tightly embraced her at the point of tears himself. “Let’s go home, Seulbi.”