A few hours ago

It was a Saturday, and the ever so lazy Kim Jongin was already awake and out of his room with neat hair at 8am; at eight in the morning of a weekend. Even Hyeri who had just came out of her room with her bird-nest of a hair and scrunching face was shocked seeing to see the older brother wide awake with a shirt on that early in the morning.

Catching sight of her sister across his room with her jaw dropped and wide eyes, he slowly retreated back into his room as he realized that the members of the house were just beginning to wake up when he was already up and about. It must’ve been a really weird sight to see him out when he was usually the latest to wake up.

Slowly, he shut the door to its place and sat on his bed, turning his head to his side as he inspected himself in the full-length mirror beside him. Why was he even up that early?

All he knew when he stepped into the bathroom to take a warm shower was that he wouldn’t want to keep her waiting for him. It was the first time they had gone out as friends (minus the shopping mall outing), so maybe that was why he felt ecstatic. And anyways, there was a part of him that was excited to finally be able to hang out with his childhood best friend.

He scooted nearer to the mirror and looked at himself; his dark brown hair was styled down, covering his eyebrows, wearing just a plain white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. And that was it.

“Should I try doing my hair up?” he murmured to himself as he used his hand to lift up his fringe, immediately releasing it as he shook his head, “Nope, that’ll look weird.” Flipping his hair back in place, he laid on his bed, arms spread.

Jongin didn’t know how long he was just staring at the dull whiteness of the ceiling when he heard his mother calling him from below, announcing that breakfast was ready. He glanced at his black wristwatch and it read 10am.

Walking out of his room, he quickly slid down the railing of the stairwell, balancing himself with only his arms on his sides as he gracefully landed on his two feet at the bottom of the stairs. From afar, he could already smell the delicious pancakes and scrambled eggs cooked by his mother, Kim Mijoo.

As he arrived at the dining room, he scanned his eyes throughout the room, searching for his father who seems to have not come down.

“Where’s dad?” asked the boy to his sister sitting beside the table, mixing the contents of her scrambled eggs with black pepper.

“Right here,” said a deep voice behind him.

Jongin blew a silent whistle of astonishment and amazement as he turned around to the source of the sound; his father. He was clad in his blue police officer uniform, a golden badge strapped to the right of his belt and a 90mm gun safely tucked on his left, the safety pin on.

“Well, look who’s dressed up today,” cooed his wife who just came out of the kitchen, a tray of beverages in her hands.

The husband grinned – an identical smile that could be seen on the boy next to him; like father like son – and chuckled amusingly.

“We just solved a case yesterday night,” he started as he slowly sat at his usual place; the end of the table where he could see all of the family members, “and today, we’re going to penetrate the evil lair,” explained the man as soft laughter echoed through the room, the other members holding their giggles at the term ‘evil lair’.

“Oh, look at the time,” announced Mr. Kim as he caught sight of the time from the clock hung on the wall opposite of him, “I am going to be late.” Hurriedly, he tried to finish all of his food and coffee.

Instantly, he got up from his seat and jogged to his loving wife, pecking her tenderly (which resulted in teasingly disgusted facial expression by the children) and ran to the doorstep, chuckling on the way. He slipped into his black shoes and was about to step out when suddenly, Jongin called out.

“Dad!” he called, “If you don’t mind, could you stop by the amusement park after you’re done working? You kind of promised to hang out with me today,” he childishly asked. It was a Saturday and usually, when neither were busy with work or school, they would just go out together to have some father-son time. And since he was going to the amusement park, might as well hang out with his dad there. Moreover, it’s about time he met Sehun again.

“Sure thing, captain Jongin,” agreed the dad as he playfully saluted at his son, beaming at the fond name he called the boy.

“See you later, captain Jung Min,” replied Jongin, placing his hand on his forehead, saluting back at the man who was about to head to his duty, a smile never leaving his lips.

Although no words were exchanged after that, the brief eye contact and reassuring nods were all they need to do to convey the messages they were too shy to speak out loud.

Come home safely, dad.

I will and I love you, son.

I love you too.

~.~

“Yes,” he muttered silently as he twirled the machine in his hand, a chuckle leaving his grinning mouth. The male gave it back to the man beside him, “Good job, Lee.”

Grabbing the brown envelope hidden in his brown trench coat, he handed it to the man standing before him before leaving without uttering another word. ‘Lee’ gave a second look at the man’s back before turning away too, wondering what made the guy think to request him to do such a thing.

“Well, at least I got some money,” Lee mumbled.

~.~

“Lee Yeon Hee?” the teacher asked as she looked up from the board in her hands, a pen in her hand. She looked around the room and spotted the raised hand a squeaky voice that came after. She ticked the small box beside the name and continued calling the students’ names for attendance means.

“Kim Sang Bum?”

“Here,” said the boy at the rightmost table.

“Park Hana?”

“Present,” quietly she replied, raising her hand to the level of her head, her eyes urging to look back at the seat behind her.

“Oh Sehun?”

The boy in front of her raised his hand high above him, smiling widely which earned another smile from the teacher.

“Kim Jongin?” Ms. Jihye sighed lightly before speaking, heavily lifting her eyes away from the clipboard to the seat at the second last row behind Hana. She let out a disappointed breath as she wrote a cross in the box; marking it the 5^th day said boy was absent.

A week; it had been one week she or Sehun hadn’t seen him after he ran off at the amusement park. What worries her more was Hyeri was also absent from school. Something must’ve happened and she couldn’t help but worry. She looked to her right, towards the window of the class where the leaves on the trees were already starting to change colour as she wondered where the hell the boy would be.

Hana jumped in shock as she closed her locker door; Sehun was standing behind it again, surprising her, a stalk of a red rose in his hand and a grin upon his lips.

For the past week, Sehun had been popping out of nowhere to give her gifts and, well, literally shower her with his love. She appreciated it, of course; it was the loveliest thing anyone had ever done for her.

But maybe the attention that it brought whenever Sehun held her hand or brings her gifts, even the smallest ones, was a bit uncomfortable. So, this was how it felt to be the centre of attention. The people around her would always brag on how good it was to have the whole school’s eyes on you; it makes them feel special they said.

But now that she was experiencing it, it didn’t feel all that magical or pleasant to be the centre of attention. She felt conscious of her actions. And at these times, she wished that the tanned boy would be here to divert the attention to his dumb antics. At the moment she thought of that, she was instantly reminded of the mystery of his absence.

Get your head together, Park Hana, she reminded to herself.

She tried to smile and she thanked Sehun for the flower as they went to the cafeteria together, Sehun’s fingers laced with hers.

Upon arriving to the school’s cafeteria, her smile dropped; there, at the centre of the table, sat Kim Hyeri. What made her drop the flower and leave Sehun behind as she speedily ran towards the girl was her slumped appearance, and that was abnormal for the cheerful and talkative little girl.

Hana’s frown began to deepen the more she got closer to the table. As she reached Hyeri, she widened her eyes in surprise; the girl looked tired, no, she looked… sad. Her eyes were drooping and under them lay dark circles and little bags, her dark brown hair was in a messy ponytail and her actions were slow.

Hyeri looked up, noticing the shadow of a person in front of her and gave Hana a small smile – if you could call barely lifting the corners of her lips a smile, that is.

Before the younger could say anything, Hana asked.

“What happened?” her voice coming out louder than she expected.

And before the girl could answer, Hana was already dragged away by two strong arms.

“What the hell, Sehun?” she almost shouted, wriggling herself out of his grip. “I was talking to Hyeri. Aren’t you curious about what happened?” As she turned around to go back to the confused, tired girl, her wrist was grabbed again.

“I am, Hana. But can’t you see that there’re too many people here,” he explained, “and it’s obvious that she’s not ready to say it aloud with how she looks now.” He continued, glancing at the girl behind her, “come, let’s not bother her for now.”

“Umm, Hana?” a boy asked her timidly as he stood in front of her desk. Hana lifted her head up and saw the boy who she’d always see around Hyeri, most of the times.

“What is it?” she replied nonchalantly.

“Hyeri wants to talk to you,” at this, Hana immediately shot up from her seat and ran out of the class to meet with the girl who was standing outside the classroom.

The girl who was a few inches than her was stiffly standing in front of her, eyes staring and wavering on the elder’s face. Now that Hana could see her fully, the girl looked vulnerable. And as she spoke her name, the younger immediately wrapped her arms around her.

Hyeri’s shoulders were shaking and Hana could feel a wetness seeping through her school shirt; she was crying. In reflex, she brought her arms up to pat and calm down the girl, opening to quietly ask what happened. Her breath hitched suddenly at the answer she gave.

“M-my d-dad died.” Though it was barely a whisper, Hana could catch those words said. How could something happen to this girl?

Before she could say anything else, from afar, she could hear the clicking sounds of a teacher’s heels on the hallway floor and immediately, she invited Hyeri up to the rooftop so that she could explain whatever she wanted to say.

But never once did she mention about her brother, Kim Jongin, no matter how many times Hana tried to ask.

Author's note: Omg.. First things first, I am super sorry for not updating like what I said last time. Got too carried away with school work TT-TT Secondly, omg.. This is such a crappy update. I'll not be surprised if any of you are disappointed in this chapter. Forgive me guys.. And yo, silent readers, show yourselves eyy~~ I wanna talk to you guys too~~ (I like communicating with you guys XD) Questions for this chapter: What happened to Jongin? How did his father die? Who is the man mentioned with 'Lee' above? The Lee is not that important tho coz i haven't figured out who he might actually be yet.. It's the guy who gave him the money that you guys should worry about. Come on people~~ Guess~~ I love teasing with you guyssss~~ Okay, bye bye~ See you in the next chapter~~ I got exams to do XD