“He’s been missing for almost three days,” Hakyeon said. He was showing the officer a selfie on his phone that he and Taekwoon had taken a few days before said boy went missing. They were all hoping police would have recognized him somehow, but to no avail. “No one has heard from him and it’s really hard to believe that he would just run away.” There was no way he would just vanish off the face of the earth without raising some type of alarm, right?

Officer Kim sighed once Hakyeon put his phone away. “I’m sorry to break it to you boys,” he said gently. “But boys your age are on top of our list for runaways. It’s sad, but very common.” He hated to break it to them, but that was the truth. He knew a lot of children their age went through a lot of pressure, so whenever parents called the police in hysterics because their child was nowhere to be found, it was usually the result of a teenager breaking from the stress of school or planning their futures.

Wonsik shook his head. “He didn’t just run away,” he defended. “He was in danger, and we’re afraid something bad might have happened to him.”

“Please,” Hongbin spoke up. “Just investigate this. Taekwoon wouldn’t just run away; it’s not like him. We have reason to worry.”

The boys couldn’t emphasize enough that the possibility of Taekwoon running away from home was very low. Taekwoon’s biggest fear was leaving his father, no matter how terrible that man was to him.

Even if Taekwoon did run away, he wouldn’t have done so unless he really felt the need. Either way, none of this seemed right.

“His cousin’s on the way,” Hyuk informed the officer, hoping that would raise their credibility. “He’ll confirm everything we’ve said.”

Officer Kim sighed, sensing the desperation coming from the boys. “We’ll look into it,” he finally said. He had never seen a group of kids so concerned for their friend before. If even a fraction of what the boys were saying was true, then the facts couldn’t be ignored.

A collective sigh of relief escaped the boys’ mouths.

“Thank you,” Hakyeon said. “Thank you so much.”

“I’m going to need his home address,” the officer said. He immediately noticed the boys share worried glances with each other. This was going to be much harder than he imagined. “Look, in cases like these, we have to start with the parents.”

“Parent,” Jaehwan quickly corrected. “His mother’s dead.”

“Parent,” Officer Kim corrected. “Is there something I should know? I need as much information I can get if I’m to find your friend, that includes information about his family life.”

“His father and uncle insist Taekwoon ran away,” Wonsik answered. “They don’t care about him at all.”

“We just don’t want you to stop looking for Taekwoon because of what they might say,” Hakyeon further explained.

Officer Kim sighed, shaking his head. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll handle this carefully. I promise.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cha,” Brian said as he accepted the coffee from Hakyeon’s mom.

The older woman nodded. “If you need anything else, please let me know,” she offered with a sad smile. “I really hope your cousin is found. I’ve met him, and he’s such a sweet boy.”

Brian bit his lip. “Thank you,” he said. “I would be devastated if anything happened to him.”

“If he’s anything like Hakyeon described him, he’ll be just fine,” she reassured. “I’ll upstairs if you boys need anything else.”

After the boys gave a quick thanks, Hakyeon’s mother made her way upstairs. They had a lot going through their minds and could see how stressed out they were.

“We talked to the police like you said,” Hakyeon said once his mother left. “It took some convincing, but they said they’d look into finding Taekwoon.”

“Did they actually mean it?” Brian asked, a little too aggressively. He noticed the shocked looks on the boys’ faces, and immediately felt bad. “I’m sorry. I’m just-”

“It’s fine,” Wonsik reassured. “This isn’t easy for you.”

“No reason to take my anger out on you, though,” Brian replied. “The five of you were the only people willing to help.” He took a sip of his coffee. “It’s hard, you know? Living in America while always wondering if Taekwoon is okay. That’s why I tried to make sure Taekwoon always kept in contact.” He smiled, glancing at everyone in the room. “I’m really glad he has all of you.”

“But you still love him,” Hakyeon said. “He knows that.”

Brian scoffed. “I begged Taekwoon to come to America,” he continued as if he didn’t hear Hakyeon’s comment. “But every time, he said no. He said he couldn’t leave his father behind.” Brian clenched his fingers into fists. “I hate that man.”

“You’re not the only one,” Jaehwan pointed out.

“Brian,” Hakyeon said timidly. “Before...Before Taekwoon met us, did he have...anybody?”

Brian sighed, shaking his head. “Taekwoon really changed after the accident. He was always pretty shy, but after the accident he just...shut himself away from everyone,” he explained. “It took a while before he even started talking to me again; then he felt betrayed that I had to move back to America with my parents.” Brian looked away, suddenly feeling a pain in his chest, the same one he felt when he told Taekwoon he would be leaving him so many years ago.

“After the car accident, Taekwoon’s father blamed him for everything, and that caused Taekwoon to close off even more.” Brian drank fr