The taxi pulled up to Youngjae’s old apartment building. Unable to move, he sat there looking at the dark windows on the top floor. The memories of that night flooding back to him, he couldn’t help but to shudder at the thought.

            Just then a hand rested on his knee.

            “Are you sure you want to go in?” Daehyun’s eyes were full of concern knowing how hard this was going to be for Youngjae

            “Yeah…but you'll go in with me, won’t you?”

            “Of course I will,” Daehyun replied, giving Youngjae’s knee another reassuring squeeze.

            The elevator ride seemed to take forever. The music that was supposed to be calming only seemed to build suspense. Hands in his pockets, Youngjae fiddled with the key. The single piece of metal was attached to a beaded chain that he made his mother when he was little. The single strand had been broken a few times, making it shorter than it originally had been. The black, red, and blue color had worn off the plastic, leaving most of the beads with a dull gray appearance. He had told his mother to get a new one because this one was old and ugly, but she never did; she said that it held too many memories.

           Reaching the top floor, Daehyun and Youngjae walked to the door of the apartment. There was still a single strand of “do not enter” tape stuck to the door that Daehyun ripped off in one swift pull. Youngjae put the key in the lock and slowly turned it until he heard the click. His eyes glided down the door to the handle, frozen there, he couldn’t bring himself to open the door. Was he really ready to step back into the apartment? It had been over six months, but Youngjae still felt like it was yesterday that he was pushing the unlocked door open to the quiet apartment.

            “We can wait if you want.” Resting his hand on the upper part of Youngjae’s back, Daehyun gave it a consoling rub.

            Youngjae looked over at Daehyun and gave him a weak smile. “No, I need to do this now, if I don’t, then I never will.”

            After Daehyun gave him a small nod, Youngjae twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

            The apartment wasn’t how he had left it. The police, through their search, had looked high and low for clues and tried to put everything back, but Youngjae immediately noticed all of the small things that weren’t in quite the correct places.

            Off to his right was living room. Two large, brown leather armchairs flanked the aqua blue couch. On the side of each of the chairs were dark end tables. One of the tables was supposed to hold his parents’ marriage portrait and the other a picture of their family that had been taken on a trip to Japan only two years ago. However, two frames now rested on the larger coffee table the sat in front of the couch.

            The dining room held their large table and a large, glass, china cabinet. It held fancy plateware that Youngjae had never seen used; they were more art pieces than things to eat food off of. The white porcelain plates had a gold ring around the outside of them with a hand painted violet adorning each dish. Each of the plates had been put on the wrong shelves. His mother had them staggered on each shelf, one big, and then one small plate. Whoever had put the plates back had put them in without even thinking. There was no pattern, no organization; they had been thrown in there carelessly.

            The two of them wandered through the rest of the apartment, Daehyun following closely behind Youngjae. They left the study for last. As they neared the open doorway, Youngjae stopped. Before taking another step, he took a few breaths to calm himself down. His heart was beating a million times a minute and his stomach felt like it had rocks in it.  Then, they finally stepped into the room. It was as if nothing had ever happened.The blood had all been cleaned up and everything had been put back in relatively the same spots.

           The desk was clear of any papers and was well organized, like after one of his fathers cleaning rushes when the mess had become too much. One of Youngjae’s father’s jackets hung on the coatstand.  Inching over towards it, he picked up one of the sleeves in his hand and lifted it to his nose. His father’s cologne was still present on the jacket, like he had worn it yesterday.

           “You still okay?” Daehyun’s voice came from behind him, his tone heavy with concern.

           “Yeah…I’m okay, let’s just get looking and get out of here.”

           Youngjae dropped the sleeve, went over to the desk, and sat down to start rifling through the drawers.However, nothing seemed to pop out. Most of the papers consisted of bills and some contracts that the pharmaceutical company had with distributors and retailers. After looking through each paper in the desk, Youngjae sat back in the chair and let out a sigh.

           Across the room from him, he saw that Daehyun was still going through the bookshelves. Half of the books had been pulled from their spots and set into two piles on the floor. One of the piles was for the books that had been looked through and the other for those that had yet to been touched.

           Hearing Youngjae’s sigh, Daehyun looked up from the text and over at Youngjae.

           “Find anything yet?”

           “Nothing.”

           “Neither have I,” Daehyun replied, closing the book that rested in his lap. “Is there anything you're forgetting? Did your mom or dad keep a diary?

           “No, neither of them kept a diary.” Youngjae had laid his head down on the desk, muffling his response.

           “Did they keep more important papers anywhere else? Maybe old financial books?” Daehyun started to feel like he was grasping at straws now; he was running out of ideas.

           “These are the only books at the apartment. There are more at the office, but there isn’t anything there but…” stopping mid-sentence, Youngjae lifted his head.

           “Youngjae, what did you just think of?” Daehyun stood up and started to walk over towards the desk.

           “The book,” whispered Youngjae, his eyes wide.

           “What book? What are you talking about?” Tilting his head to the side, Daehyun and furrowed his eyebrows.

           “Come on, we need to go to my apartment!” Practically jumping out of the chair, Youngjae swiftly sprinted to the door and ran out of the room.

           “Wait for me!” Daehyun yelled, chasing after him.

-O-

           “So you mean to tell me, that you have had this special little book at your apartment this whole time?”

           “Yeah, it should still be in that jacket that I was wearing. I don’t think I've washed it and I haven’t worn it since that day. After that night, I forgot all about it, I had more important things on my mind.”

           Youngjae took out a set of keys for his apartment. He unlocked the top lock first, then the handle. Pushing the door open, he led them both into his apartment. The entire time that the two of them had been hanging out, Youngjae hadn’t had Daehyun over. He always said that there was nothing to do there and he liked coming over to Daehyun’s because it felt more like a home.

           Stepping into the apartment, Daehyun couldn’t help but to agree with the statement. Youngjae’s apartment was as barren as a desert. He could count all of the pieces of furniture on both of his hands and still have fingers left. There was a white table; with two chairs that matched, a blue couch, television stand, a full sized bed, and a side table.

           “So, you weren’t lying when you said that your place was boring, were you?” Daehyun’s eyes were still scanning the apartment in search for a sign that life actually existed in this place and they hadn’t wandered into an empty apartment.

           “I told you. I don’t do much here. I come back to sleep and that is pretty much it. When I’m not hanging out with you, I am usually walking around the park or just up and down the streets.” Youngjae’s voice was slightly muffled as he was searching through a hall closet looking for the jacket.

           Daehyun took a seat on the navy blue couch. It was hard and not very comfortable, but he made do by laying on all of the pillows. Not knowing his way around the apartment, he thought it better to stay out of Youngjae’s way and let him search for the book.

           Flipping and flopping around trying to find a comfortable position, Daehyun called over to Youngjae, “Have you found it yet?”

           “No not ye..yup! Found it! It was at the bottom of my closet…” Youngjae walked out into the living room to find Daehyun sprawled out the couch, limbs going in all directions. “Really Daehyun, really?”

           “What? I just got comfortable! This isn’t a very good couch. Why did you buy it?

           “Because it looked nice. Now move, I need to sit down too.”

           “But, I just got comfortable…” Daehyun pouted, his bottom lip sticking out.

           “Well, too bad.” In one quick movement, Youngjae took hold of one of Daehyun’s ankles that was in the air and swung it to the floor, in turn putting Daehyun in somewhat of a seated position.

           Sitting down next to Daehyun, Youngjae started to look through the little book. He flipped through the pages, but none of it made sense. The names, the addresses, Youngjae didn’t recognize any of it.

           “I haven’t heard of any of these places before! My mom said that this book was really important and that I shouldn’t show it to anyone, but why?” Youngjae grunted.

           “Here, let me have a look at it, maybe I'll recognize something.” Daehyun took the book out of Youngjae’s hands and started to flip through the pages. “Wait, these are all street names in Busan and some of these… “companies”… sound familiar. Let me call someone real quick, I think they'll know something about this.”

           Standing up, Daehyun pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, and went down the hallway before Youngjae could ask any questions. Straining to hear what was being said, Youngjae leaned off the end of the couch, but the conversation was over almost as soon as it started.

           “Yup, I have a few clues about what that book is really about, but we’re going to have to go back to Busan to make sure,” reported Daehyun as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

           “Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Youngjae exclaimed. He figured that they would have enough time to talk on the way. Youngjae could ask questions about whom he talked to and what he meant by they way he said “companies” on their way to Busan.

I hope you guys like the chapter! We are FINALLY progressing in the story! Isn't that exciting? Welp, the next time I am going to update will be April 25th! Don't forget to comment and subscribe! Also, if you want to, follow me on my tumblr as well! Click Here