The next day, Chanyeol didn’t get a call. He didn’t get a text message. He didn’t get one the day after either. Ahri didn’t reply to any of his text messages. It was as if she vanished from the face of the earth.  Curious, he asked his mom about Ahri’s mother; she hadn’t heard from her either. With every day that passed, his heart felt heavier, the weight of reality pushing down on him. He thought about his last conversation with Ahri, her strange silence, and rush to hang up. I’m so stupid, I should’ve known something was wrong. Stupid. stupid. Stupid.

“I know this stuff is hard and all, Chanyeol, but smacking yourself on the head isn’t gonna help. Trust me, I’ve tried.”   Baekhyun whispers to Chanyeol from the seat beside him. It takes Chanyeol a minute to process what he said, eventually letting out a breathy half-laugh.

“What’s up with you anyways? You okay?”   Baekhyun continues.

“Yeah, you’ve been out of it the past few days…”   Kris whispers from behind.

“What? What’s happening? What’s wrong?” Luhan asks in a quiet, eager voice, sitting on the other side of Chanyeol.

“I don’t know.”  Chanyeol shakes his head.

“You don’t know? Snap out of it! That doesn’t make sense!”  Baekhyun whispers, rather loudly. Luhan, Kris and Kyungsoo, who is sitting in front of them, nod in agreement.

“Well, Baekhyun, maybe if you paid more attention to what I’m teaching and less on Chanyeol, who also isn’t paying attention, everything would make more sense.”   Mr. Ahn says, stopping his lesson. “Luhan, Kris, can either of you explain to me what this equation means?”

“No, Mr. Ahn.” Kris and Luhan answer uniformly.

“Okay, you boys can leave the classroom; you aren’t going to be learning anything anyways.”

“Thank god. I can get some fresh air.” Chanyeol mutters under his breath as he gets up and heads out of the room. Luhan, Kris, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stand up and follow him out of the room.

“Uh, Kyungsoo, you can stay,” Mr. Ahn tells Kyungsoo.

“I really won’t be paying much attention either, sir.” Kyungsoo replies as he rushes out of the room to catch up with the rest of them.

                The five of them walk to the school field and sit on the bleachers. Chanyeol lets out a large sigh, stretching his arms wide.

“Sorry guys…” Chanyeol finally says, pursing his lips.

“Whatever, it’s not like we learn anything anyways.” Baekhyun answers, shrugging.

“Besides, we have Kyungsoo to teach us, Joonmyun too.” Luhan answers, smiling. Kris and Kyungsoo just stare at Chanyeol, not saying a word.

“What-“

“What’s up skippers?” Jongin asks loudly as he and Sehun run towards them in their gym clothes.

“Chanyeol’s depressed.” Kyungsoo replies flatly, still staring at Chanyeol.

“Depressed? Why? What happened? Is it Ahri?” Jongin and Sehun ask simultaneously, sitting down with the rest.

“We don’t know yet. He’s not cracking,” Kris answers, his intense stare still fixed on Chanyeol.

“Oh.” Sehun replies, before he, and the rest of the boys join Kris and Kyungsoo in ‘cracking’ Chanyeol.

                After 10 minutes of resistance, awkward silence and many complaints about how they shouldn’t be bothered by him, Chanyeol retells the entire story; Ahri’s growing amount of medication, escalating weariness, their latest phone call, and the thing that had been eating at him the entire time: her sudden disappearance. Chanyeol finishes speaking with a defeated sigh, letting the heavy silence surround him. There wasn’t anything anyone could say to Chanyeol. They knew that if they told him that he shouldn’t worry, and that everything was okay, he wouldn’t believe them; he’d know that they’re just giving him false hope. So, unable to say anything that could possibly help, they did the only thing they could: stay and be there for him, whether he wanted them there or not.

                Another week passed, another week without any sign of Ahri or her family; a whole week without seeing her, talking to her or texting her. He checked his phone every day, picking it up immediately after he hears the ringer, in hope that it might be her.  It’s been a week and a half already, Chanyeol thought, Did they have to move? Why wouldn’t they tell anyone? Why hasn’t anyone heard from any of them?...

“…Yeol,”     Maybe I’ll stop by the hospital today.

“Yo… you okay?”    Will they tell me where her room is though? Which hospital did she transfer to recently?...

“Hello?”     I think it was Seoul National, no… Asan Medical?... No wait she said she had switch to another one recently…

“What? No hello? Can you hear me? Hello? Hello.”     Seoul Paik. Yeah, that’s it; she said it was closer to her house so they transferred her. I’ll stop by later, hopefully they’ll tell me if she’s there.

“Yes? Or are you nodding to yourself?”    What if they don’t tell me anything? It’s not a confidentiality issue is it?

“Okay. Sure. Whatever, just have a private conversation in your head and look like a freak. I judge you all the time anyways.”

“Huh?” Chanyeol snaps out of his train of thought, finally noticing Baekhyun beside him. “When’d you get here?”

“Who cares, ready for music class? Everyone else left first.”

“Everyone else was here too?”

“Yeah, you were just too blank to notice I guess, you didn’t even look away from your locker”

“Oh.” Chanyeol replies with pursed lips, feeling a little guilty for ignoring everyone.

“It’s not a big deal, it’s not like any of us judge you for it anyways.” Baekhyun shrugs before they start walking to class.

“Woah. That’s why you kept your face in your locker this morning,” Tao says right when he sees Chanyeol. Kris elbows Tao, rolling his eyes.

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asks as he sits across from Tao at the cafeteria table.

“Your eyes, they’re bloodshot.” Tao tells him, avoiding Kris’ second jab. “Not to mention the bags under your eyes. Can’t sleep lately?”  Kris, Jongdae, and Baekhyun all face-palm, while the others show their discomfort of the question. The 11 boys had been avoiding the topic as much as they could; anything that might have led to the topic of Ahri was untouched.

“Yeah, haven’t been getting much the past few days.” Chanyeol nods, trying to lighten the slightly awkward silence. Almost two weeks, actually. Huh. Chanyeol never realized it before, but he was so used to talking to Ahri before sleeping, that when he didn’t call her, he couldn’t

“…Well anyways! When are we gonna crash Joonmyun’s place for the cram session before the math test?” Jongin asks, trying to switch the topic.

“eh?! What math test?!” Jondgae asks, eyes wide. Everyone stares at him with the same expression

“… And I thought I was lost,” Yixing mumbles, mostly to himself. Minseok and Luhan laugh.

                The conversation continued, Chanyeol leaving the conversation every once in a while to think about other things. Ahri. Weighing his chances the hospital giving him any information about whether she was there or not.

                The school bell rang, unleashing the buzzing, chattering hordes of students from their classrooms into the halls.

“Any plans after school today? Some of us were thinking of going to the arcade or playing basketball for a couple of hours.” Minseok asks Chanyeol on their way to the lockers.

“Mmm… I don’ kn-“

“Yeol! Mr. Cho is outside waiting for you,” Sehun runs up to them, slightly out of breath. Chanyeol’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Go, what are you waiting for?!” Minseok shoves him a little, pushing him forward.

                Chanyeol dashes out of the school’s front doors. He smiles slightly as he jogs over to Ahri’s father, who was standing by the front gates, just as Sehun had told him. Ahri’s father smiles weakly at Chanyeol.

“You’re worse than I thought,”  Ahri’s dad says, looking at Chanyeol with concerned eyes.

“Huh?... Uh… No, I feel okay Ahjussi.” Chanyeol nods with a tight smile. Ahri’s dad responds with a small sigh.

“Sorry Channie, I know you must have been so worried. You probably haven’t been getting much sleep these days either… I should’ve came to see you earlier.” Ahri’s father exhales, patting Chanyeol’s shoulder gently before resting it there. “Are you busy right now? I feel like I, well, we, owe you an explanation.”

 Chanyeol nods once, his smile becoming grim. Ahri’s father gives another weak smile before guiding him down the road to the busier streets of Seoul.