Sometimes, you have to stop paying attention to someone so that when you’re gone, they’ll notice you.

27^th August 2020

Kai sighed when his phone screen lit up the moment his fingers slid across. He 'stared' at his wallpaper- a picture of Solbi and him taken at Baekhyun's wedding. However his focus wasn't on the picture, it was on the message icon. It still didn’t have any new notification.

"Baby, how do I look in this this?" Solbi walked out from the fitting room and paraded in front of Kai, showing off the skintight red dress that she looked awesome in. Given her body and height, there was nothing she can't pull off yet she was still very particular about the outfits she wears. She needs to look perfect in them, not just awesome.

Kai looked up from his phone and replied immediately, "You look great babe."

"But I think the sleeves make my arm look inflated. What do you think?" She was examining her reflection closely in the mirror, trying to pick out the smallest flaw she can ever find.

"Nah. You look great." The man tried his best to sound as convincing as possible before unlocking his phone to check for any unread messages. Maybe he had missed the notification while talking to the woman. But much to his disappointment, there was none. It had been two days since Baekhyun's wedding. While the couple was happily enjoying their honeymoon in an island in Europe, Kai was suffering here in Korea.

In terms of suffering, what Kai was going through was Aleyah not replying his messages. It was the first time they stopped texting one another ever since they exchanged numbers. Although the two of them were matured enough to deal with the awkwardness after the kiss that night, the man was still afraid that their relationship between them would be affected. He doesn't regret kissing her, not at all. If he was given a second chance, he was sure he would still do the exact same thing. But what he was afraid of was Aleyah avoiding him. Just like now. He sent her messages since the day before and had yet to receive a reply. The content of the message was like any other normal conversation they always share so there was no reason she should be ignoring. Plus, it had been more than 24 hours and she wasn't that sort who takes more than an hour to reply. He knows her well.

"What about the black dress before this?" The woman asked the man who was sitting at the couch near in the boutique. It was their date and Solbi was in a really good mood. The last time they had they had a proper date was months ago since they both had very different schedules.

"Baby, I need to go somewhere for a short while. I will be back to fetch you in an hour or two alright?" Kai stood up from the couch and went over to the woman who was still trying to process what he just said. His words weren't seeking for her permission, he was giving an instruction to her. He hastily pecked her lips before he left the store. By the time Solbi registered his adrupt actions, all she could hear was his car speeding down the driveway outside the boutique she’s in.

*****

The moment his car pulls up at the usual parking spot, he jumped out of his car and walked towards her store briskly. Throughout the drive, Kai had already planned out what to say to Aleyah later. He wanted to talk it out with her, he doesn’t want them to be awkward. If an apology was sufficient to make everything between them normal again, he would gladly do that. That was all he wanted, however, he could not see that his thinking was selfish.

Right before he could pull open the door, he was greeted by darkness inside. The man peeked in immediately, the store was pitch dark and the sign wrote closed. His eyebrow furrowed immediately, finding it weird. As much as he knows, the lady works throughout the week, probably even throughout the year. The number of times she took an off day could be counted with his one hand. Peeking in to see if she might be in the pantry, he did not see any light coming out from there. It was 2pm in the afternoon, she can’t possibly be this late. He then saw a cellphone laying on the counter, explaining the reason to why she hadn’t been replying. Then, he found something different about the store. The buckets of flowers were emptied, not even a single stalk of flower was left there. There weren’t any flower decorations displayed on the glass window. The store was empty except for furnitures that were supposed to be there.

Panic started to engulf Kai the moment he saw the emptiness of the store. This didn’t look good to him in any way. When she takes a rest day, she doesn’t clear the flowers because they can still be sold the next day. This means that she would not be coming back tomorrow. Panic was soon replaced by fear as unpleasant thoughts invaded his mind. He was suddenly afraid, afraid that she might leave and never come back again. The thought of her disappearing from his life made his heart ached terribly instantly and he felt sick as he held on the door’s handle for support.

“Boy, you need to buy flowers?” Someone tapped the man from behind as he turned around slowly. His dull eyes looked at the old lady lifelessly. “She did not open her store for 2 days already. Most likely she had folded the business. What a waste, but there’s a flower shop two streets away from here if you are looking for one.”

Her words struck Kai hard, as though reminding him of something he was not ready to face. He slowly staggered back to his car before leaning his head on the headrest of his car seat. The emptiness resulted from her disappearance was affecting him already. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand. She could not have just disappeared suddenly right? She wouldn’t leave just like this, he was positive that she was much more matured than to do such a thing. And even if she does leave, she has to tell him. They are best friends right?

The man sat in his car and dwelled on such negative thoughts for quite some time before realizing that her disappearance may not be her leaving, something may have happen to her instead. With that, his eyes sparkled with hope as he stepped onto his right gear. He has to go to her house to check on her. She may be sick and probably that was the reason to her not opening her shop.

Kai drove down the road with his plan fixed in his head. The meter in his car jumped rapidly as he sped round the corner. Suddenly, he came to an adrupt stop. Where was he heading? Yes, her house. He needs to go to her house to check on her, making sure she was fine; making sure she was still around. Around in his life. But where exactly was her house? He doesn't know. He doesn't know his best friend's address.

He didn’t know where to find her. And what made it worst was she's uncontactable. Kai felt lost. Because he suddenly realised that he knew little about the lady. Other than she owns the shop –Pollen-, her favourite food was cheesecake and she likes to read, he knew nothing else.

He doesn't know where she stays, he doesn't know her favourite colour, he doesn't know her favourite type of coffee nor does he knows when's her birthday. Kai thought he knew everything about her till now. If their position was switched, he was sure that she knew every of the above. Because she knows things like his favourite day of the week, how many teaspoons of sugar he likes to add in his coffee and how he doesn’t like to spend his birthday with people that barely knows him. He knows that this soulmate of his knows him better than himself.

He deeply blamed himself for the little things he knew about her. Ashamed that she still sees him as a best friend when he knew almost nothing about her, the man leaned his head on the steering wheel. The things he knew about her were so surface that probably even other members like Tao who wasn't close with her would know.

With guilt eating him, Kai was determined to find Aleyah. He had to make it up to her, he was willing to put in twice or even thrice the effort to get to know her so he could proudly call himself her soulmate. The urge of wanting to know everything about her was burning intensely inside him. But firstly, he needed to find her and there was only one way.

******

“Uncle Kai!” A boy and a girl chirped loudly the moment Kai open the door. They buried him with kisses and saliva the moment he bent down to pick them up.

“Oh, hello Junhyun and JaeMi. Why are you all here today?” The girl cheered loudly when she was being lifted off the ground by her favourite uncle.

“Why can’t my children be here Kai?” Suho voice could be heard before the man even set foot in the living room.

“Nothing hyung. I’m just curious.” He let the kids down and headed straight to the kitchen to help himself with drinks after seeing Luhan, Sehun and Suho sitting in the living room. The one he wants to speak to was located right in the middle of the hall.

“Why are you here then?” Suho asked him instead. The man seldom comes back to the dorm ever since he got engaged because his fiancé would not be happy with him if he spends too much time with s.

“Just.. want to hangout with you guys you know.” He sat across Suho as he glanced over at Sehun who was busy playing his PSP showing no signs of worry. Does he know that she’s missing? Judging from his chilled look, he assumed that he didn’t know. However, there was something else that was pressing and Kai needed to ask him but he doesn’t know how to. He needed to know her address so he could look for her, however his pride didn’t allow him to ask the blond guy so straightforwardly. He just couldn’t bring himself to face the fact that Sehun knows her better than he do. Also, he needed to do it cautiously so he would not alarm him about her disappearance. The one and only person should know about this would only be him. And only him.

“Uncle Sehun, uncle Sehun!” Jaemi climbed onto the sofa and distracted him from his game. “Yes Jaemi?”

“Who is this girl on the screen? Is she your girlfriend?” The 4 year-old girl pointed to his phone’s screen that was in her hands. Kai looked up immediately as he craned his neck discreetly to peep into his phone, trying to get a glimpse of the girl.

“Aish.” Sehun snatched the phone from the little girl’s hand. “Hyung! What have you been teaching your children? How can a 4 year old girl know what girlfriend is!”

“Hahaha, my children are smart. Like me.” Suho boasted as he wriggled his eyebrows, “Jaemi-ah. That lady is not Uncle Sehun’s girlfriend. Not yet.”

“What not yet! Hyung, please.”

“Someone drove her all the way to the airport two days ago didn’t he?” Luhan who had been immersing in his book decided to put away his novel and join in the teasing.

Kai who had been ‘texting’ the entire time pricked his ears to the entire conversation. Although he appeared to be busy with his phone (which was constructing a new message that makes no sense), he was actually paying full attention to the other 3’s conversation content. He tensed up the moment he heard them mention airport, he was quite sure that her disappearance had something to do with that And he could now confirm that Sehun knows about it. No wonder he was so calm earlier. The man shifted in his seat as he tried to wait patiently for them to continue so he could know more. Now he just needed to know where she went and when will she be back.

“It’s just.. on the way.” The blonde guy rubbed his neck shyly.

“Pfft. On the way? I didn’t know we stay in Incheon.” Suho scoffed. “What a lousy excuse. You Sehun.”

“Aish.” Sehun took a pillow and throw it at Suho. “Mind your words in front of your kids, daddy Suho.”

“Do you need some love advice from hyung?” Luhan offered his help.

“It’s okay. I can deal with it on my own.”

“So you admit that you like her? Hahahah.” The doe-eyes of Luhan arched upwards the moment his younger brother fell for his trick question.

Realizing that he had been tricked, Sehun picked up his PSP and continued his game, “Uurgh. You guys are so annoying.”

“After so many years, our maknae is still so adorable. Especially when he’s in love! Hahahah.” Suho reached over to pinch his cheek but got smacked by the younger.

“So where did she go?” A low voice interrupted making the other 3 turned to look at him. His silence throughout the conversation caused them to forget his existence in this living room.

Kai looked at Sehun intensely as he waited for his reply. He couldn’t wait any longer, he had been sitting at that couch listening to their never ending teasing about Sehun and Aleyah. Somehow, it made him feel worst than before. The jealousy that was adding on to his fear of her leaving was too much for him to handle. He was going to burst if he doesn’t know where she was right now. “Where is she now?”

“Jeju.” Sehun smiled as thoughts of him sending to her the airport two days before came to his mind. Little did he know that his smile irked the man sitting a few seats away from him. It was the first time Kai felt like punching that pretty face of his so he would not have such a smile again. To him, that smile meant more than the usual charming smile he always wear. It was a sign of triumph with a tinge of boastfulness. He was showing off to Kai that he knew her better than him, he knew where she was and he doesn’t. And he beat him this time round.

“I thought you knew.”

Random facts for this chapter:

I spend days to write a chapter like this and i will need another day to edit before sending it to my friend to read. -> That explains the not so frequent updates.

She's the first person to receive updates for this story. She helps me to edit also tell me what are the parts she likes/dislikes etc.

Today, she commented that Kai was overreacting about Aleyah's disappearance and she felt that i should cut down.

And i did cut away a few sentences and changed a few words to make everything less drama but still bring out the fear Kai felt when he couldn't contact her. Hope you guys felt his fear. FYI, the last part where Sehun smiled and Kai felt like bashing him up, it was all Kai's jealousy thoughts. Sehun did not mean it in that way at all.

In this chapter she likes the last sentence the most and the part whereby Sehun was playing PSP with his calm face. She said it's so Sehun. lol.

What about you guys? What are your likes and dislikes for this chapter? Or the entire story so far? Leave your comment below! I really want to know~