seonghwa smiled as wooyoung and yunho came jumping excitedly out of dance class. "mommy, we learning a new dance! we're gonna perform it soon!" "that's awesome! did you-" seonghwa paused.
he looked down at his phone. there was a text message from hongjoong.
hongjoong: can't find yeosang. he must've followed his drone somewhere but we've been looking for a while and we can't find him. i'm sorry. i know i'm an awful parent for letting him get away so quickly but don't worry, we'll find him, i promise
seonghwa just froze in place. wooyoung tugged on his shirt, asking if he was okay.
"boys, get in the car."
seonghwa jumped out of the car once he got to the therapy center. he quickly took wooyoung and yunho our of their car seats, and told them and the other three to stay inside in the waiting room.
he ran to hongjoong, who was leaning against the wall, in a state of panic. "hey, hey, it's alright, we're going to find him, he'll be fine, it's okay.."
"no, no, it's not fine, he's been gone for a long time, he can't talk, he's probably all alone and scared, i-i-" hongjoong kept going on and on, his eyes watering up. seonghwa pulled him into a hug.
"he couldn't have gotten too far, we're going to find him, trust me. did you call the police?"
"y-yeah.. they're on their way right now.."
"how long has he been gone?" "i don't know, it took me less than ten minutes to realize he was gone, but i've been looking for him for like twenty minutes, i mean he couldn't have gone super far but who knows..."
yeosang continued walking, not realizing yet that he was really lost. he was still just flying his drone and following it, thinking that he should probably go back to the parking lot by now.
the child flew the drone down onto the floor, before picking it up and turning around.
where he looked, he didn't see the building. he looked around in other directions, not seeing it anywhere. he stood completely still.
i have to find it. daddy will be mad at me. he thought.
yeosang decided a direction and started walking. unfortunately, he didn't realize he was going the opposite way from the building. he didn't even know where he was going, anyways.
the more he walked, the more scared he got.
two minutes turned to five, then to ten, then to fifteen or twenty, then he didn't even know how long he'd been searching for the building.
but he didn't want to give up.
so, he continued searching. a lot of time had passed, and he was getting overly worried. all he had was his drone and the controller, and nothing else. he also couldn't speak well, so he didn't think talking to anyone was an option. besides, hongjoong always told him not to talk to or trust strangers.
after thirty minutes passed, yeosang chose to take a rest. he'd walked so far and was out of breath.
he walked up to the entrance of a big store, then finding an empty spot on the sidewalk and sitting down. at this point, he was starting to tear up, as he was scared to be alone, but was also scared to go back.
yeosang's mindset being yeosang's mindset, he thought he would get in trouble. he figured that since he went far away that hongjoong was mad at him.
the child took this moment of sitting to really take in where he was. there were a lot of people walking in and out of the store, but no one noticed nor cared about the crying toddler sitting on the sidewalk alone.
that was, until a young teen approached him.
he was with his parents, who almost snatched him away, until they realized yeosang was scared and crying.
"hey, what's wrong? are you okay?" the kid asked.
yeosang shook his head. he quickly stood up, putting his hands behind his back, and shyly staring at the ground. the kid kneeled down in front of him, asking "are your parents around? or are you lost?"
"l-l...i.." yeosang tried to say "lost," but his fear, shyness, and speech problems didn't mix well. it felt almost impossible for him to even form one word.
so, yeosang just shook his head, and made a run for it.
"hey-" the kid tried to get him back, but yeosang got away too fast. the kid's parents just pulled him away, and he finally gave in, walking away as well.
"i-i don't understand... he was right there.. how did i not notice him being gone f-for so long.." hongjoong continued talking as he cried. seonghwa was trying to hold in everything, and stay strong for hongjoong.
but, deep down, he missed yeosang. yeosang was so special to seonghwa. all the kids were of course, but not only was how they ended up adopting him special to seonghwa, but yeosang and seonghwa were so close as it is, it was nearly unbearable to think about losing him.
it was becoming night. the parents were at the police station, while they had the rest of the kids stay at baekhyun's house to give them space to search.
seonghwa had already had two mental breakdowns in the bathroom, without hongjoong knowing.
hongjoong was slowly falling asleep, his head gently falling onto seonghwa's shoulder. seonghwa blinked, then turning and holding his partner's head up while he stood up.
the father picked up hongjoong, and carried him out to the car. once they were both in, seonghwa finally left, hoping he would see yeosang on the way home.
unfortunately, he didn't. yeosang was still lost.
yeosang walked slowly, not even trying to carry his drone properly anymore. it was dragging along the concrete sidewalk, chipping off the pretty white paint and making it scratched and breaking.
it didn't matter to yeosang, though. he was so exhausted from walking for hours, not to mention the build up of fear from searching with no luck.
it was black and empty outside. he needed to sleep.
the toddler found a space between two buildings, where there was no one in sight. so he shuffled into the slim alleyway and sat down on the dusty ground. he sighed, then finally lying down, curling up into a tiny ball, and at least trying to fall asleep.
