“Ga Eul-ah,” Tae Min held his cell phone pressed tightly to his ear, walking swiftly through the halls of Shinhwa.

“I’ll be there in a moment,”came the muffled reply from the other side. Tae Min was sure she was crying.

He paused before the staircase leading to F4’s private room, checking his watch anxiously. Ga Eul joined him in a matter of minutes, and together they descended down the said stairs. Or attempted to, at least.

“Oh my God. Who are you to look for the F4?”

“Move. I’m not in the mood for your crap,” Tae Min narrowed his eyes at the three girls blocking their way. What were their names again? The three top worshippers of the F4. They seemed to gasp a little at Tae Min’s choice of words.

“T-Tae Min oppa. Why are you with such a girl?”

“You – aren’t we in the same class?”

The three heads nodded, batting their eyelashes up at Tae Min.

“Move. We’ve got business with them.”

“But Tae Min oppa… we can’t let this commoner downstairs–”

“Yah!”

“Ga Eul,” Yi Jung blinked up at the girl once the two pushed their way past the barrier of those three plastics.

“And Tae Min,” Woo Bin managed, sharing a glance with Ji Hoo and the other. “What are you doing here?”

“Please help us,” Ga Eul asked, and it was then Tae Min noticed how upset she really looked. “It’s Geum Jan Di.”

“Ga Eul says she didn’t show up at work,” Tae Min began, as Ga Eul looked ready to cry at any moment. “We’ve tried calling her but she hasn’t picked up once…”

“…so I called her house,” Ga Eul managed. “They said our boss called them and said she was out with the F4… Master never made that call!”

The three boys stood, moving towards the staircase and pulling the other two with them. They hadn’t seen Jan Di that day… it was plain obvious.

“I’ll go on ahead,” Tae Min tried, but was dragged along nonetheless.

“Ani, it’s faster if we drive,” Yi Jung said. “You don’t have a licence and we can’t wait for your driver. Ga Eul, come with me. Woo Bin, you’ll take Tae Min–”

“Andwae,” the dancer suddenly snapped, pulling away from the group. “I’m doing my best to help, too! I already contacted my search party, so I’m going with them to give further instructions.”

He pretended not to hear Woo Bin calling after him.

*

Of course Tae Min could have gotten in touch with his men simply by calling them – and he did so first chance he got, moving down the street where a car was already parked in wait for him. Thing was, he just really didn’t want to be alone with Woo Bin at the time.

After reciting the desired direction to his driver, Tae Min took a moment just to think – and yelped suddenly, speaking quickly to his driver who, upon being instructed to do so, easily changed direction.

Everything that happened pointed towards a kidnapping – but the most obvious person did not spring to mind until then.

Grabbing for his cell phone, Tae Min groaned to see the battery had died. He asked his driver to lend him his, and resisted the urge to hit his head against the car’s window when the other reported the same thing.

Really, don’t these kinds of things only happen in a drama? A really bad drama at that, Tae Min noted.

Just a couple of minutes later he found himself knocking on the door of Jae Ha – no, Min Ha’s house. Alone, with no back up. That person, who seemed kind to Jan Di… what if–

Tae Min really hoped not.

“What do you want?”

“Um,” Tae Min blanked out at the fierce tone and narrowed eyes of the one Lee Min Ha. “By any chance… is Jan Di here?”

Min Ha seemed to observe him for a moment before softening his expression, stepping aside to let Tae Min in.

“Ne.”

So Tae Min moved past him and inside, stupidly falling into the other’s trap.