The smile that seemed like to have vowed to never leave his face, was still there when he reached home.

“Minho?” The sudden call stopped Minho at his way towards his room. Turning to his left, he found his mom looking at him with a knowing smile. It made him blush and dart his eyes somewhere else which made him groan internally cause- Choi Minho doesn’t blush... ahem.....not this much. Well that’s what he has been doing these days anyway and that's....... a lot. To make it worse- .....in front of his fiance. whatever he’s kind of used to it now.

”Yes, mom?”

”Well...well....I could literally see you emitting rainbow. I suppose, it went THAT well !?” Mrs. Choi commented on her son’s happy smiling face who was desperately trying to grin a little less but it seemed very hard for him at that moment.

”Well enough to make me happy.” Minho replied making his way towards the couch where his mother sat with a book that she was reading. Once he sat beside her, his mother started combing his hairs lovingly.

"I'm glad but really, did you two share your first kiss or what? Your happiness is giving me the impression of a contented lover boy." Mrs. Choi comented teasingly while combing her son's hairs lovingly.

”Momm.... Nothing like that happened. We just met. It’s just- his reactions were surprisingly better than I’d thought. So much better. To be honest, I thought he’d freak out and call off the marriage realizing it wasn’t what he wanted and it was too early for him to get married.” Minho expressed his worries. while leaning onto his mother’s loving touch. His eyes fluttered close. After passing a long tiring day, It felt so good to receive some love from mother like he was still a child when his mother would comb his hairs to help him relax a bit after he had returned from school. That didn’t happen very often cause his mother was often busy with her work but still those very few times were the most precious moments to him. Minho’s puppy acts made his mother chuckle as she tried to provide him some love.

”Silly, you my big baby. If I were you, I would have never thought that way of such a sweet boy like Taemin. However, I guess, I understand your anxiety that had made you think such absurd thoughts.” She said placing the book neatly on the side table after folding the page she she was reading and shifted all her attention on Minho, gently made making him lay his head on her lap. Minho closed his eyes again after he comfortably lied down on the couch placing his head on his mother’s lap as his mother’s magical hands worked on his scalp.

”I think so.” Minho replied sighing contentedly as his mother started rubbing his chest, an act he liked very much when he was still a little child./ It was basically the method his mother used to use to lull him into sleep easily.

“Momm....” Minho whined.

“What?”

“You know? Stop doing that or you’ll have to carry a sleeping me in my room...you know, upstairs and I don’t think you’re strong enough to do that. If you haven’t realized it yet- I’m not that tiny little thing anymore.” Minho replied chuckling at the thought of his mother trying to carry him and soon enough he was laughing nonstop.

“OH MY GOD! This is hilarious.” He managed to say in between his heavy laughter.

“Alright. That’s enough. Now go get fresh and sleep. I’m sure you had been a gentleman and had your dinner with your cute little fiance.” Mrs. Choi said who was also laughing despite her tries to be angry. She gently nudged Minho to get up who acted obediently still grinning. However his smile vanished when he noticed his mother wiping away the falling tears.

“Mom? A-Are you crying?” He asked alerted.

“No, dear. Too much laughter causes me to tear up. That’s all. No worries.” The mother replied patting her son’s cheeks lovingly. “Oh! That’s ok, then.” Minho sighed in relief. He headed towards his bedroom after greeting his mother ‘good night’.

Mrs. Choi watched her son retreating to his room. She could hear the door of Minho’s bedroom close. A tired sigh left passed the mother’s lips. She set still for a moment before a sad smile graced her lips. A single tear drop glided down her cheek but she didn’t try to wipe it away.

“You don’t know how grateful I’m to you Minho.” She muttered sighing and wiping the tears away. In no time the smile of a confident woman she was, came back as she took the book back from the side table after unfolding the page she was reading and resumed wandering off to the world the book was currently offering.

After a good 30 minutes, Mrs. Choi was once again interrupted when Minho came back in his pj set, prepared for a good sleep.

“Do you need something, dear? She asked smiling sweetly.

“Umm...Won’t you go to sleep?” Minho asked back absentmindedly.

“Yes but your father isn’t back yet.”

“OH!” Minho voiced deep in thought.

“What is it, son?” Mrs. Choi asked again noting the discomfort on her son’s posture.

“Ah-yes. I was wondering, have you called Aunt Lee to ask if Jinki had reached home?”

“OH! Right. I totally forgot. Why don’t you do it now since you wanted to ask her on your own?”

“I’ll call now, then.” Minho nodded as he proceeded to call Jinki’s parents who live in US.

“Dear, calm down.I’m sure he’s be home by now.” Mrs. Choi encouraged Minho when she noticed his nervousness.

“I’m calm, mom.” Was Minho’s reply without a second delay.

“Of course, you are.”

Minho kept wiping his sweaty hands on his pajama. He tried his best but couldn’t help the sudden fear that started overlapping his calm posture with every buzzing sound from the other line. At the 4th buzz, he could here the receiver tone at last.

“Hello!” A male voice came flowing from the other line. Minho was about to shout out Jinki’s name and give him a piece of his mind when he realized it wasn’t actually Jinki but Jinki’s father. That didn’t really startle him but the following conversation did scare him badly.

“H-Hello! Uncle, It’s me, Minho.”

“OH! Hey Minho, How’re you?”

“I-I’m fine. How’re you?”

“Well... Your aunt and I, we’re both fine. Anyway, I see that you remember this old man. We hadn’t talked for a while.”

“Ah yeah. I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep up calling you that often.”

“It’s ok, son. Though I miss that time when you were still very young and used to call me a lot whether it was for missing me or missing your very loving Jinki hyung. hahaha.....”

“Ah... Wait, what did you say?”

“What? You didn’t listen?”

“No no no. That’s not it. Why only you and Aunt? Where’s- Uhm... I mean, are you two alone at home?”

“Why young man? Can’t we loving couple be alone? Are you afraid I’d do something bad to your dear aunt?”

“Ah- hahaha...No, I mean- yes. Argh! No. That’s not it. So, you mean, you’re alone?”

“Yes, my dear son. We certainly are. What about your marriage though? I heard from your dad. Everything’s fine?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good. The thing is- Son, I’m really sorry cause I’m stuck here with work and probably won’t be able to make it at your wedding but I promise to visit you later.”

“Yeah. It’s ok. I understand.”

“I guess, you don’t mind though. The one you want there the most is already there, isn’t he? I’m sure that clumsy son of mine will give you good company.”

“Y-yeah. S-sure. I don’t m-mind at all.”

“Minho, Are you alright? I’ve noticed that you have been stuttering a lot. You don’t do that normally.”

“No! I mean, I-I’m alright. I’m f-fine.”

“Why do I feel like you’re lying to me?”

“I’m not! Give my ‘hi’ to aunt, please and tell her that I miss her a lot. I need to hang up. I-I’ll call you later.”

“Weird. Now I really feel like you’re hiding something from me. Anyway, thank you for the call, son. Take care.”

“Ok. Bye.”

Once Minho finished saying bye, he disconnected the line and threw the phn on the couch as if it was on fire. He pulled his hairs out of frustration. What his uncle said, sounded like a nightmare to him. He simply couldn’t believe it. He felt bad for lying but he probably couldn’t tell them that their son was missing.
He couldn’t decide what to do. The fact that he didn’t even know any of Jinki’s friends made it worse. It would have been a little help to him if he could at least find Jinki’s friend’s contact number but he had already worked for that matter and there wasn’t any number book in Jinki’s room that had his friend’s number. One thing Minho could do though. He could go to the school Jinki was attending but that would create rumors. And that rumors can bring.... a great trouble if the reporters get a peek in the matter and if Jinki really was missing, well... that would be a nice scandal for a successful company like theirs. Everybody knew Onew which was Jinki’s nick name, as Minho’s cousin and son of another big part of Choi company(which is situated in US)’s CEO. As the future CEO of the Choi company, Minho was bound to think of their company’s good ships. Minho felt like he was abandoning his hyung because of the company’s sake but he couldn’t help, he just had to think of everything around to take the right step that was what he had been taught. What could he possibly do though? He had only one single clue and that was the massage Jinki left behind. A very suspicious massage that literally said nothing about where he was going but gave an impression of what seemed like he left on his own and had no intention of returning anytime soon and....... something that seemed like the hardest puzzle ever. What could he do?

‘Argh! Why is it too difficult to find a solution?’- Minho groaned muttering under his breath. He felt like someone was using his head as a drum. With the throbbing feeling in his head and burning feeling allover his body from intense fear, he somehow managed to flop himself down onto the couch beside his mother who started panicking, watching her son’s expression of a mixture of both shock and fear.

“Minho, what’s wrong?” She asked in a panicky tone.

“If Jinki hyung is not with his parents then where is he, mom?” He asked in a broken shaky voice. The question wasn’t directed to his mother. His mother wasn’t supposed to know where Jinki was and he knew it. It was just his failed attempt to find some reassurance the word-‘mom’ rolling off his tongue like he used to do in his childhood.

“Minho, you need to calm down. He must be at one of his friends’ house. He’ll be back in a few days.”

“But mom, that doesn’t explain the massage he has left!” Minho almost shouted.

“Can anyone explain me what’s with these shouts ?” Another deep voic