Tao walked into the living room; the cellphone in his pocket buzzed, so he pulled it out and checked the number. He frowned and answered, “Yes?” Kris walked in behind him and flopped onto the sofa. “No, you can’t come here,” he said. Kris looked up at him, trying to decide what was going on. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a bit.” He walked over and grabbed his messenger bag off the table and slung it over his shoulder as best as he could, then hung up the phone and dropped it in the armchair.

“Who was that?” Kris asked.

Tao headed for the door, “Just my dad. I’m going to meet him, I’ll be back in about an hour, okay?” Kris nodded and Tao let himself out of the apartment.

“You did what?!” Tao shouted.

“Shh, Tao, it will be okay,” his dad said.

Tao hit the table with his hand, “How can you say that?” He hesitated, fuming, then pointed at him accusingly, “I told you I got a steady job! Why couldn’t you just wait a little longer? Loan sharks?!” His father hung his head, “And on top of it, listing me as backup?” He leaned back in his chair and let out an irritated sigh, then took a drink of his water.

“It’s not a big deal, I just wanted you to know,” he paused, “in case they came looking.”

Tao choked on his drink, “How much did you borrow?!”

“Oh, not much,” he said, laughing nervously, “But they were snooping around the house this morning…”

“And you called me out here?!” Tao’s eyes grew wide and shot around the empty noodle shop. He glanced out the windows, in case someone was watching. “What were you thinking?!” Tao whispered loudly.

“But you’ve got a job now, you can help me pay it back.” He smiled.

Tao’s jaw clenched and he folded his hands in his lap. “How much is it?” he asked as calmly as he could.

“About 50,000¥.”

Tao clutched his chest.

His dad jumped up, “Oh! Tao! Are you okay?”

He glared at him, “If I’m okay, you’re not going to be.” His dad smirked and sat back down. They heard a bell ring as the door opened and they both turned to look as three large men walked in. Tao turned back to his dad, who stared at them, frozen.

“What?” he mouthed. His father didn’t say anything, but turned his face away and leaned on his arm, hoping they wouldn’t notice them.

But they did. They crossed the floor and stood around their table. “Huang, is this your son?”

Tao waved his hands, but they knew.

“I think both of you need to come with us.”

Tao gaped at his dad, who was staring at the floor.

Kris paced the apartment; he cleaned a bit, flicked through channels on the tv, laid upside down on his bed, looked over the photos again- anything that kept him from going crazy. He expected Tao home three hours ago and he was getting worried. He finally caved and pulled out his phone and dialed him, then jumped when the cell in the chair rang. He stood over it and hung up.

“Why would you go without this?” Kris said, thinking out loud. He picked it up and turned it over in his hand. Kris unlocked the screen and a new message popped up. Curious, he opened it; it was from Tao’s father. ‘But come alone, just in case,” it said.

“What?”

He dropped the phone and paced the living room again. Tao hadn’t said where he was going- should he be worried?

Kris dialed Chen, “Hey,” he said, “so, something kind of weird has happened.” He explained the whole situation, what he knew of it, and Chen agreed that something was up.

“Will you come with me to look for him?”

“Sure, just give me a bit, okay?”

“Yeah, just hurry.” He hung up and sat on the armrest of the sofa. The photo of him and Tao on the tv stand caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up, smiling. Stuffing it in his jacket’s inner coat pocket, he made for the door and slipped on his sneakers, then leaned against the wall and waited for Chen.

“Where do you think they could be?” Chen asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “we don’t even have a starting point…” His phone buzzed and he slid it open. There was a text from a number he didn’t know.

“Don’t come looking for me right now. I’ll be home soon, Gege.”

“Why? What’s going on? Where are you?” Kris texted back quickly. He waited, but there wasn’t a reply. He looked up at Chen, who was staring at him. “I think this could be bad.”