Jihyo woke up with a jerk. There was something wrong, but she didn’t know what, yet. She simply felt strange and uncomfortable. Almost as she jolted awake, Ji-ohn’s cries pierced through the house.

Jihyo quickly put on her slippers and went into the children’s bedroom.

Jiyoung was awake too, and in shock of his sister’s behaviour. He stared at Jihyo blankly when she came rushing in.

“Why, what’s wrong, baby?” Jihyo cooed as she carried her daughter. She was crying too hard to speak.

Turning to Jiyoung, she asked, “Do you know what’s wrong with her? Is she not feeling well?”

He didn’t reply, still looking stunned. And a while later, he tugged at Jihyo’s pyjamas and whispered, “Appa…”

Then almost immediately, she realised. Gary. Something was wrong with him! She hadn’t felt the pull towards him. The bond!

Just as she realised, her phone rang. It was Jong Kook.

“Jihyo yah!” he said anxiously. “Did you see the news!”

And then, at the same time, Dylan reached out to her via telepathy.

What’s wrong with Gary!

I don’t know… she sent back, fear coursing through her veins.

“Jihyo, don’t you hear me?” Jong Kook said, almost yelling.

“Eo, oppa. No, what did you say?”

“I said, the place that Gary went to, there was an earthquake. Has he contacted you?”

“No,” she said, at the same time, she checked the news with her phone.

“Haha’s trying to contact his manager now. And Gil is still trying to contact Gary.”

Jihyo remained silent, still trying to process the information. She was looking through the news on her phone, already ignoring Ji-ohn’s cries.

An earthquake with 7.8 magnitude hit that region Gary was in. Buildings collapsed, and she recognised the hotel that he was staying in. It was one of them.

“Oppa… he will be okay, right?” she whimpered weakly. She already knew something was wrong. The moment she woke up, she knew.

“I don’t know, Jihyo,” Jong Kook offered helplessly. He wasn’t one who told lies, and even now, he can’t manage to lie to help her.

Jihyo left the phone as it was, and started to cry. Noticing that, Jiyoung snuggled beside her, holding her hands gently. Ji-ohn was still crying in her arms. Jihyo put her hands around them.

She has to be strong for them. She has faith in Gary. They have been through so much before they could be together, and he had promised to stay by her forever. Surely, he wouldn’t die so easily?

Jihyo called up her brother to pick up the children. They wailed hysterically, not wanting to be separated with their mother. Jihyo’s heart tore, but she knew she had to find Gary first.

“Jiyoung ah, Ji-ohn ah, listen to me, okay?” she said, supressing her tears. “Now, appa is missing, and he might be injured. Eomma has to find him okay? But I can’t do that if I have to look after you…” she couldn’t continue. She started sobbing too. Jiyoung put his tiny arms around her neck and kissed her tears.

“Don’t cry, eomma,” he said softly.

Jihyo caressed his cheeks. There was so much about him that resembled Gary. His gentleness, his kindness, his softness. His messy hair and high cheekbones and cheeky smiles…

“I know, Young-ah. I’ll be strong, and you’ll have to be too, alright? Look after your sister, okay?”

He bobbed his tiny head up and down, clinging onto his crying sister with his other hand.

Kwang Soo came over to pick Jihyo up. She was trembling with fear, and yet, she couldn’t tell him anything. She couldn’t tell him that she thinks Gary is dead because she can’t feel him anymore.

Jihyo? Dylan thought again.

There was an earthquake in the country he was in, she replied. Her thoughts were all jumbled up, fear and worry overriding the images.

It took some time for Dylan to reconstruct the message from his end.

I think he’s dead, she thought to him helplessly. I no longer feel him. Tears rolled off her cheeks. Kwang Soo looked over helplessly, and patted her shoulder.

No, Jihyo, don’t think that, came the reply. Gary’s an Earth. He has an unusual connection with the earth. It wouldn’t kill him so easily.

But… she protested.

There may be other reasons, he replied before she could protest. Maybe he’s unconscious, or severely injured.

Do you really think so?

Yes, came an affirmative reply. He was so confident that it put Jihyo immediately at ease.

“Noona… noona…” Kwang Soo nudged Jihyo, who was staring blankly.

She looked at him, halting the conversation in her mind.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently.

She nodded. “I will be.”

The 6 members met up in Haha’s restaurant. This scene was an uncanny resemblance to how it was when Gary left suddenly, 5 years ago.

“I couldn’t contact his manager,” Haha admitted worryingly. “The lines are all cut off there.”

“Then, maybe Gary hyung is alive and well, just that he can’t contact us?” Kwang Soo suggested.

No, Jihyo screamed in her head. I can’t feel him anymore.

Haha observed Jihyo, but didn’t say anything else.

“I’ve contacted my reporter friends from there,” Jong Kook said. “They’ll contact me if they get hold of information about Gary.”

Jae Suk nodded. “I heard that our country is providing aid. I’ll use my connections to ask them to look around.”

Jihyo looked at him gratefully. Jae Suk has never been a fan of using his connections. There were only a few times he used them. 5 years ago, when Gary disappeared, and now. Both times, because of her, and Gary.

“You’re both my precious dongsaengs,” he said, putting his hand around her shoulders.  

Meanwhile, in Jihyo’s parent’s house, Ji-oh had calmed down significantly, but still shaken. Nothing her uncle or her grandparents did were able to cheer her up. They hadn’t told them the possibility that Gary died, but it was as if she knew.

She huddled in a corner. Jiyoung sat quietly beside her.

“What happened?” he asked, like he was unaware of the chaos going around him. It was this part of him that resembles Gary the most. The way he was always peaceful, living in his own, undisturbed bubble. Ji-ohn on the other hand, was too much like Jihyo- a great sense of self-awareness and awareness of things going on around her.

“Appa,” she said softly. “There was an earthquake,” she said.

“What’s an earthquake.”

She put her head to her knees. “Scary,” she whispered softly. “The ground shakes, many people cry. Many blood. Very scary.”

“Is appa safe?” Jiyoung asked.

Ji-ohn turned to look at her brother, although she can’t see him.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I miss appa… I miss eomma.”

Jiyoung blinked, unsure of what to say.

Ji-ohn’s hand searched around. Jiyoung immediately reached out to her.

“I miss them too,” he finally said.