Jung Hye’s POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groan and fling my arm out to get hold of my phone. I’m so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open as I squint at the phone.

7:30am.

That means I have an hour before school starts. I yawn, it should be okay if I slept for about ten more minutes right? I can just eat breakfast on my way to school or something.

Yes, I think to myself as I snuggle deeper into my blanket, ten more minutes is fine…

~~~
My eyes fly open. Crap.

I grab for my phone, an overwhelming sense of doom settling in my stomach as I check the time.

It has definitely been more than ten minutes.

The ominous numbers on my phone glare back at me. 8:11am.

Crap. Crappity crap to the ends of this Earth I am dead. Dead, dead, dead.

I jump out of bed and change into my uniform at the speed of light (okay, okay, maybe not quite at the speed of light).

‘Jonghyun!’ I yell, bursting out of my room, ‘WE ARE LATE.’

Except the mattress is empty.

I pause for a moment. Did Jonghyun have something on this morning? But today was Monday and as far as I knew, he didn’t have early morning commitments on Monday.

I can’t breath.

I’m going to die.

One of hand is clutching my poor heart and my other hand is on Yoo Mi’s shoulder as I gasp desperately for air.

Is this how fish feel when they are out of water? How do marathon runners do it? Are they even human?

I see Yoo Mi giving me a judging look.

‘You don’t-‘I pause to swallow some more air, ‘understand! I woke up twenty minutes ago!’

She shakes her head at me as she continues her judging look.

‘I ran all the way here! When was the last time I ran so much? NEVER!’ I continue on indignantly.

‘I believe you ran so much when you were last week.’ Yoo Mi replies.

I’m just about to say something back about Yoo Mi’s lack of empathy for her wonderful friend (me) when Mr Park enters the room, causing the whole class to fall into silence as people scramble to get into their seats.

I throw a look behind me to check on Jonghyun’s seat which remained empty. This was strange, where could he be?

At the front, Mr Park begins to mark the roll. I give an inward sigh, come on Jonghyun, you really couldn’t afford to be late again, your tardy record is abysmal enough!

I keep my eyes trained at the door as the teacher continues calling out the names, hoping that Jonghyun would come rushing in at the last second.

‘Kim Ha Neul’.

“Kim Kibum”

‘Kim Yoo Ra’.

Wait

‘Moon Tae Sil’

What? Did the teacher just skip Jonghyun’s name? How can that be? Was Jonghyun’s luck that good? Does this mean the teacher won’t realize? Wow, maybe-

‘Jung Hye!’ Yoo Mi nudges me and looks pointedly at the teacher, who is frowning back at me.

‘Park Jung Hye?’ He calls again.

Oops. ‘Yes! I’m here!’

‘Is something the matter?’

I shake my head, this was good, maybe the teacher hadn’t realized Jonghyun was away yet.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the same idea as me.

‘Teacher, did you forget to call Jonghyun’s name?’ A calls out from the front.

Ugh, why did they have to do that? Now Jonghyun was-

‘No, Kim Jonghyun has transferred to another school. As of today, he will no longer be in our class.’

A conundrum of whispers and murmurs erupt in the class room.

I blink.

‘What?! Jonghyun transferred??’ Yoo Mi asks incredulously.

I blink again. No.

‘Why didn’t you tell me Jung Hye? I would’ve said good bye properly yesterday!!’ I’m barely registering Yoo Mi’s words.

This was ridiculous, no way. I shake my head. This was absolutely preposterous. There’s no way Jonghyun transferred. Mr Park must be wrong.

Questions are flooding the room,

‘Where did he go?’

‘Why?’

‘Was he expelled?’

‘Why didn’t he mention it?’

‘This is so weird!’

Mr Park shushed the class, ‘Yes it was very sudden, I was only notified this morning. I am not allowed to disclose where he had transferred to.’

‘NO WAY! Jonghyun did not mention this at all! There is absolutely no way he transferred!’ Key’s voice rings loud and clear across the room, an echo of my thoughts.

‘Kim Kibum! I know this might be shocking to you, but I will not tolerate shouting in my classroom.’ 

No. Why did Mr Park have such a stern look on his face? No, this couldn’t be. Only yesterday, only yesterday Jonghyun told me he would take me on dates. He didn’t say anything.

This was a joke. This was a joke.

Sorry but the number you have dialed is currently unavailable.

I press redial.

Sorry but the number you have dialed is currently unavailable.

Come on Jonghyun.

Sorry but the number you have called is currently unavailable.

My fingers tremble. Please.

Sorry but the number you have called is currently unavailable.

I lean my back on the door of the toilet cubicle. I clench my fists, digging my fingernails deep into the palm of my hand.

‘Jung Hye! Are you okay? Jung Hye!’ Yoo Mi is knocking on the toilet door.

No. Jonghyun couldn’t have transferred. There’s no way. Where would he go? He didn’t have any money on him. He had a job and a place to stay here, why would he move?

Yes, it didn’t make sense at all, something must have happened to him.

Key’s POV

‘Damn it Jonghyun! Transferred to another school without telling your best friend? Just wait until I get hold of you,’ I mutter as I hear the automated voice again.

Frustrated, I shove my phone into my pocket. Where in the world was he?

Up ahead, I see the back of Jung Hye, ‘Jung Hye!’ I call as I jog to catch up with her, ‘did Jonghyun tell you he was transferring?’

She shakes her head, ‘This is ridiculous, he didn’t say anything to you either?’

‘Nothing.’

‘That can’t be right. This whole thing just doesn’t make sense.’

I nod in agreement. Jonghyun really adored Jung Hye. It was absurd enough that he didn’t mention this to me, but not telling Jung Hye? Impossible.

‘When did you last see him?’

‘I was with him the whole of yesterday,’ Jung Hye pauses, a wistful look on her face, ‘he didn’t say a thing.’

‘What about this morning?’

‘I woke up late and he was already gone by then.’

I run through the possibilities of where Jonghyun could have gone to. He couldn’t have gone that far right? After all, his father—

Wait.

I grab hold of Jung Hye’s shoulders, ‘Junghye! Seoul Hospital! Jonghyun always visits his father! If we camp out there we are sure to find him!’