Jaehee pressed her lips together as they made their way towards the rest stop, it was one of those establishments by the highway that had a food court and a small shopping area that travelers could go to during long drives. They were all making their trip back to downtown Seoul when Chanyeol and his friends decided to grab something to eat before driving again. She checked her phone again.

“We’re having corndogs, would you want some? You do eat corndogs, right?” He asked her with a grin, Jaehee’s forehead creased for a moment, but she nodded at him.

“That would be nice.” She replied, he watched as their group headed towards the stalls. She sighed and looked around her, she was about to approach one of the souvenir shops when her phone started to ring. She took it out and answered as soon as she saw her cousin’s name.

“Seri,”

“Hi. I’ve been trying to call you for days now. Where are you?”

“I’m actually…about two hours away from Seoul. Why? Are you okay?” She asked, deciding to step out of the building instead.

“I’m fine, it’s that I am on my way to the airport right now. Apparently, I need to be in Seoul for a couple of months.” Seri stated, Jaehee smiled to herself, the girl and her were only months apart. But she lived a very different life, she works for a huge cosmetics company that allowed her to travel a lot, and lets her live the on the go lifestyle.

“Wait, months?” She repeated as she reached the parking lot, she noticed a car rental service a few meters away.

“Don’t ask. I don’t even know how to explain it. Anyway, I’ll probably be home by tomorrow. Can you let me crash?”

“Don’t..you have a house at Hannam?”

“I’m renting it out. Would you rather I live with strangers?” She mused, Jaehee nodded and laughed.

“Right. I’ll call the house and have a room prepared.”

Seri thanked her and ended the call, Jaehee walked towards the car rental tent and peered over the fence. Her brows rose, seeing that they had a lot of available units.

“Do you need help, ma’am?” A young attendant approached her, Jaehee faced him.

“Do..you take credit card payments, sir?”

 

 

 

Juyeon tossed his backpack into the car’s backseat with his phone still pressed in his ear, his friend, Ji Changmin was looking at him, worried.

“You mean, she just disappeared? Your sister?” He mouthed, Juyeon nodded back, Chanyeol was on the phone, the older male sounded panicky.

“I think her phone died, I can’t reach her. But I was just talking to her, and then I couldn’t find her anywhere.” Chanyeol spoke, Juyeon nodded and leaned against his car.

“Hyung, are you still at the stop?”

“No, I’m already in Seoul.”

Juyeon halted, his brows going up. Way up.

“What?”

“Well, we couldn’t find her, and I have an appointment this afternoon. I had to drive back right away. I figured she called you.”

“You left noona there?”

“She was already gone when I was looking for her, she~”

“Hyung, I’ll try calling her again.” Juyeon muttered and put his phone down, Changmin watched as his friend let out a shaky breath, clearly, he was annoyed.

“What’s wrong? Did they find her?”

“No. He’s already in Seoul now. That means, no one has heard from my sister for almost two hours now. And he just drove back, like it…was nothing.” He muttered, he grabbed his phone again.

Changmin tilted his head, alarmed.

“Juyeon-ah,”

“Hyung, have you heard from noona?”

“Ever since yesterday, no. Why? Isn’t she supposed to be home by now?” Hyungwon replied, Juyeon could hear the older male stand up from his desk.

“Apparently, she disappeared at this rest stop. Chanyeol hyung couldn’t find her.”

“Oh. Did she call? She didn’t call me.” Hyungwon replied, his tone still in its usual calm.

“No. Her boyfriend just left the place and he’s back in the comforts of his home now.”

Hyungwon grew silent.

“But they came in one car. He drove for them.”

“Exactly. He couldn’t find her, so he just left, hyung.”

More silence.

“I’ll check on her. Call me if you hear anything.”

 

 

 

“He’s out?” Heejin faced the male again, the latter politely nodded back.

“I texted him, he said he’d be here. He was at a meeting.” Heejin reasoned, confused. She was at Chae Banking Group’s main office, well specifically, she was led to Hyungwon’s receiving room.

“Yes, he was. But, something must have suddenly came up that he left.”

Heejin’s brows rose, she looked at her phone again. She looked at her phone again, she had messaged Hyungwon earlier, asking him if he would like to join her for coffee. He had said yes and told her that he had a meeting to finish.

“Any idea where he may have went?”

Hyungwon’s secretary cleared his throat and shook his head.

“He didn’t say, ma’am. He took driver Cha with him, so he may be gone for the rest of the day. Have you tried calling him?”

“I did. He’s not picking up.” Heejin shrugged, the male nodded and excused himself from the room. He went back to his desk and noticed driver Cha had texted him.

Director Chae asked me to drop him off, I’m bringing the car back.

He was looking for the young miss.

He dialed for the older male’s number.

“The young miss? Director Lee?”

“Yes, apparently she suddenly disappeared earlier. How amusing, we found her at this traditional market, munching on some rice cakes. Can you imagine? LeeSan’s eldest child, walking around with flavored rice cakes.” The male let out a hearty laugh.

The secretary nodded and glanced at Heejin who was already walking away from him.

“He was at a meeting with the BOD. It was a big meeting.” He stated.

“You know him, he’ll drop things for her.”

“Y—Yes, he does.” The secretary murmured back and let out a small sigh while glancing at Heejin again.

Heejin made her way towards the elevators and sighed.

“It is hard to get a hold of him.” She mumbled, she glanced back and looked at the doors to his office. She got inside the elevator and took out her phone.

“Oh, daughter, how did your date with Chae boy go?” She said in a teasing tone, Heejin smiled and shook her head.

“He’s out. He suddenly left his office, eomma.”

“Oh no, I told you, he’s a very busy man.”

“But he usually picks up, I’m worried. I really wanted to see him today.” She mumbled, the doors opened again and she reached the lobby.

“Have you tried calling him?”

“He’s not picking up, anyway, are you still at home, eomma?”

“Yes, come over.”

Heejin put her phone down, she was about to approach the doors when she saw a familiar car pull over, it was Hyungwon’s Maserati. The girl’s face lit up as she hurried for the doors and then she stopped.

The driver slid down from the vehicle after parking it, Hyungwon wasn’t there.

“Where could he have gone?”

 

 

 

Jaehee gently stepped on the brakes of the Hyundai sedan she was driving, she found the automobile cute. It had all the nice accessories and features, also it didn’t chug gas like crazy.

Like the cars she was used to driving. She rolled her eyes at the thought of her Audi.

She hopped down from the car and walked towards the market across the street, she was just a couple of miles away from Seoul when she got hungry.

She reached for her back pocket, noticing that her phone’s battery was dead. She sighed, not really giving a damn. Ever since she heard that conversation between Chanyeol and his friends the other day, she had been feeling all weird and awkward around them. She didn’t know what to think. Was she really being insensitive? Did she ever make them feel that way?

What did she do wrong?

She got inside the market and started to look around, she saw a stall selling fresh rice cakes and she rushed over.

She quickly bought a couple of packs for herself and for the people back home, she asked for some utensils and stepped out of the place. The girl was about to get inside the rental car when a black four door Maserati pulled over right beside her.

Her brows went up, the driver’s side window went down and the male gave her a sheepish grin.

“Ahjussi?” She said, stunned to see him. And then the passenger side opened, Jaehee winced.

“What are you doing?” Hyungwon said as he buttoned his coat and walked towards her.

“Buying rice cakes. Want some?” She raised the black bag she was holding, Hyungwon exhaled and turned to his driver.

“You can go, I’ll drive us back to the city.”

The Maserati sped away, Jaehee faced her friend.

“Where have you been? Where did you get this?” He gestured for the car, Jaehee picked out a rice cake and stretched her hand to him. Hyungwon sighed and let the girl feed him the piece.

“I…got bored. I’ve always wanted to try driving..this…model.” She said to him, Hyungwon eyed her warily.

“What happened? Your boyfriend said you just disappeared. Juyeon’s annoyed with you too.” He said as he opened the car’s door for her.

“He called you?” She blinked at him.

“Your brother did.”

“Hmm, I always had a feeling you made him uncomfortable. I mean, you two aren’t compatible.” She murmured, Hyungwon sighed and faced her.

“That doesn’t matter as of the moment, Lee Jaehee. Why did you suddenly leave?”

Jaehee pressed her lips together and shook her head.

“I’m hungry.” She replied, Hyungwon pointed at the seat and she quickly got inside.

He shut the door close and walked around to the driver’s seat.

“Did he do something that made you want to leave?” He asked as the car started to move forward.

“No. Was he looking for me?”

Hyungwon grew silent, remembering his conversation with Juyeon earlier. He simply took out his phone and handed it to her.

“Give Juyeon a call and tell him that you’re still breathing.”

“Okay, no need to give me the attitude.”

“I had to leave a meeting because you’re being a child.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

Jaehee rolled her eyes and unlocked his phone, she saw Juyeon’s name and tapped on the screen.

“Hyungwon?”

“What?”

“I’m hungry.” She said again.

“Be contented with your rice cakes.”

 

 

 

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