Jongin took a deep breath, hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans to prevent them from trembling. He looks up at the house in front of him. It hasn’t changed a bit in the last ten years except that something very integral is missing.

There’s a guilt eating him away that he hasn’t been here in ten years, not since his friend went missing. In fact, he hasn’t set foot in this house since before everything happened. He hasn’t even seen his friend’s parents. He knows he shouldn’t have stayed away so long.

He takes a deep breath and climbs the front steps, forcing himself to ring the bell.

His friend’s mother answers the door after a moment. She’s older, of course, but otherwise she looks just the same. The same permed hair, the same little wrinkles around her eyes, the same horn-rimmed glasses. She’s even wearing a floral-print apron that Jongin remembers.

She blinks at him through the screen door. “Yes?” she says politely. “Can I help you?”

Jongin realizes that she doesn’t recognize him, but he can’t really say that he blames her. He’s done an awful lot of growing in the past ten years. The last time she’d seen him, he was just a kid. He smiles at her. “It’s Jongin, Mrs. Do. Kim Jongin.”

Her face splits into a smile of recognition and disbelief. “Jongin!” she exclaims, pulling open the screen door. “It’s been so long! Come in, come in! I just made some tea!”

She settles him onto the sagging sofa in the living room – which hasn’t changed at all since the last time he was there despite the passage of time – and busies herself in the kitchen, preparing the tea. When she returns, she’s carrying a tea tray with slightly shaking hands.

“So what brings you out here?” Mrs. Do asks once Jongin has his tea.

He smiles a little guiltily. “I wanted to visit with you, Mrs. Do. You know, catch up. It’s been so long. I’m sorry that I stayed away for so long. I was just a kid when everything happened, you know, so…”

She stops him with a gentle hand on his arm. “It’s alright, Jongin. I understand. You were so young. It must have been so hard for you.”

Jongin swallows the lump in his throat. “For a long time, I just didn’t ask questions. I guess I didn’t want to know the answers to whatever questions I might have had.” He hesitates. “But now I’m older and I think I might understand a little bit better. I know it must be hard for you to talk about it again, but do you think you could tell me what happened?”

“We don’t know what happened, love,” Mrs. Do says sadly. “The police never found anything.”

“But anything you can tell me would be helpful, Mrs. Do,” Jongin urges, setting his tea down. “Anything at all. I need…I need closure, Mrs. Do.”

She gives him a sad, sympathetic look, like she understands all too well that he needs some sort of closure in his life. She sighs and picks up her tea. “Well, as you know, Kyungsoo disappeared in the summer of 2004. He just a kid himself, you know. He was only fifteen.” She sighs again. “He left for school one morning and just never came back. He’d been to school; all of his friends and teachers recall him being there.”

“Yes, I saw him that day,” Jongin agrees. “At school.”

Mrs. Do shrugs. “That’s all we really know, I’m afraid. I wish I could tell you more, but nothing more ever turned up. He simply vanished.”

“Surely they found clothes or his wallet or something?” Jongin presses. He’s being a bit pushy, he knows, but until Victoria gets him the case files that he needs this is his only lead. “They had to find something.”

Mrs. Do shakes her head. “They didn’t, Jongin. They didn’t find anything. He really vanished without a trace.”

“People don’t just vanish, Mrs. Do,” Jongin says.

She shrugs and spreads her hands, as if she doesn’t know what else to tell him. Then she gives him a hard look. “I know the need to feel closure about this, Jongin, but trust me. Pushing things too hard will only lead to more heartache. Learn from an old lady’s mistakes and just let the past lie.”

Jongin forces a smile. “You’re right,” he lies. “I just…I had hoped that you would be able to shed some light on the mystery.”

“I’m sorry that I can’t be of more help,” she apologizes. “But maybe it’s for the best. Try not to dwell on it, love.”

Jongin thanks her politely for the tea and her hospitality, as well as talking with him, and then bids her farewell. His heart is troubled as he makes the trip back to his apartment, which isn’t that far despite how long it took him to visit his friend’s parents. He’d thought that he’d for sure get something from Mrs. Do, but he doesn’t know anything more now than he did before he’d gone. It had been a colossal waste of time, just dredging up bad memories for both him and Mrs. Do.

He’s not in a very good mood when he lets himself into his apartment. “Hey babe,” he calls to his girlfriend. “I’m home.”

Sunyoung appears in the entryway, an exasperated and sad sort of smile on her face. “Hey,” she greets him with a little peck on the cheek. “Your brother is here.”

Jongin pauses halfway through taking off his shoes. “Jongdae is here? Why?”

“Why else?” Sunyoung replies with a little sigh, and then she disappears back in the direction of the kitchen, where the smell of dinner cooking is originating.

Jongin slides his feet into his slippers and heads into the living room, where he finds his elder brother sitting on the sofa, feet propped up on the coffee table, flipping through channels on the television.

“Hey hyung,” Jongin says, flopping onto the sofa beside him. “What are you doing here?”

Jongdae shrugs, flipping another channel. “I figured I’d come say hi to my baby brother.”

“You should’ve called if you wanted to say hello,” Jongin replies dryly. “Be honest. You had a fight with Yoonah. Again.”

Jongdae shrugged and turned the volume down on the television. “When are we not fighting these days?”

Jongin feels a pang of sympathy for his brother. Jongdae isn’t the easiest bloke to get along with – Jongin knows this from their childhood together – but, if you get past his cheesy jokes and his inability to know when to be serious, he’s a pretty decent guy. He’s got a big heart and he’s a doting father.

Unfortunately that’s not really enough for his wife, Yoonah. She’s a good person, but the two of them just aren’t right for each other. Their relationship was rather doomed from the start. When Yoonah got pregnant right out of high school and their parents had all demanded a shotgun wedding, they didn’t have a chance.

Jongin sighs again and pats his brother on the arm. “You want to stay for dinner?”

“Sure,” Jongdae agrees readily. “Yoonah took the kids to her parents for a few days, so there’s no reason to go home.” He pauses. “Where were you this afternoon, by the way? Sunyoung said you’d gone out, but that she didn’t know where to.”

“Ah, it was just official police business,” Jongin lies smoothly.

Jongdae fixes him with a flat stare. “On a Saturday? Bull. You’ve always been a terrible liar, Jonginnie. Where were you really?” He lowers his voice. “Were you meeting another woman?”

“Jesus, of course not!” Jongin exclaims. “What kind of guy do you think I am, hyung?”

Jongdae shrugs. “Just thought I’d ask. So, if you weren’t out messing around, where were you?”

Jongin decides it’s best to just be honest to dispel any rumors that he might be cheating on his girlfriend. “I went to visit Mrs. Do,” he admits.

Jongdae looks suitably surprised. “Mrs. Do?” he repeats. “You mean Kyungsoo’s mother?”

Jongin nods.

His brother’s look of surprise turns into an almost reprimanding one. “Jongin, you need to let the past lie. I know it’s always been hard for you to accept what happened to Kyungsoo, but it’s over. It’s done with. It’s in the past.”

“What if it’s not?” Jongin presses, feeling an almost desperate need for someone, anyone, to understand his need for real closure. “As a detective, I have access to files that I didn’t before. What if I can find out what happened to him? What if he’s still alive? Maybe suffering from amnesia or something? Or if not, at least I can find out what happened to him. Find his…body.” He chokes on the last word. Finding Kyungsoo’s body is probably the last thing in the world he wants, even if it would bring him closure of a sort.

Jongdae sighs. “You know that dad looked into the case extensively back when it first happened,” he points out. “And dad was a seasoned cop, Jongin. If he couldn’t find any leads, what makes you think that you can?”

“Persistence,” Jongin insists. “I’m not going to give up until I find out what happened to my best friend.”

Jongdae sighs. “Fine. I’ll help you.”

This isn’t what Jongin had been expecting. “Wait, what?”

His brother gets to his feet and stretches. “I figure you need a babysitter so you don’t get yourself into too much trouble. I know you have a certain disregard for rules, which probably has only gotten worse since you became a detective. Besides, it’ll give me an excuse to stay away from the house and Yoonah’s ing.”

Jongin feels a little relieved that he’s not going to have to do this alone. “Thanks, hyung.”

Jongdae flashes him a grin. “What are brothers for?” 

Okay, so, for a short chapter, there's actually a lot to say about this one. 

I know that in Korea, women keep their surnames instead of taking their husband's when they get married. So Mrs. Do wouldn't actually be Mrs. Do. She would be Mrs. Lee or Mrs. Kim or whatever her surname was before she got married. But I felt like this would be confusing so I used the western concept of women taking their husband's name after marriage. Hope you guys don't mind!

Also, yay for Jongdae's entrance into the story! He's Jongin's older brother and he's married to Yoonah (yes, Yoonah from Girl's Generation) but they have a very unhappy marriage. 

Also, nobody seems to want Jongin to look for Kyunggie OTL

And welcome new subbers! Thanks to everyone for subbing and upvoting and commenting and generally making my life a lot more awesome! I love you guys!