Feels Like Family

Chapter 9

All the fears turned into reality. Yan An didn't return home and Hongseok's wait brought nothing but more worry. He kept trying Yan An's phone the whole night but it all led to the same result. Although Changgu was inside, he had no sleep whatsoever as he kept waiting for sounds in the hallway, sounds of the doors shutting... but nothing happened.

As soon as it was morning, Changgu got out of his bed and ran down to go to Hongseok. "Hyung", he said as his face grew more serious, with a sense of tension on it. Hongseok looked in his direction as he answered "Something's wrong, this...", before pausing and looking at the time on his phone, continuing "I've called him about fifty or something times". Changgu most certainly agreed with the older as nothing seemed to be right about the situation. He mentioned "Yan An won't do this" quite confidently as they both knew that no matter what the youngest felt, he was not the type to just disappear like that. "We should call the police" said Hongseok, right before another voice caught their attention. It was one of the house staff that called both of the men inside on the request of Changgu's mother. "Let's go inside and talk about this with mom" said Changgu, to which Hongseok nodded yes.

As they both went in, they could see the elder talking on the phone and smiling. It was still early in the morning so something seemed odd to Hongseok. But he didn't dwell on it much since it seemed nothing too out of the ordinary. The woman's smile however went away a bit when she saw the two of them come inside into the living room. She said "I'll be looking forward to today evening, bye" before keeping the phone away. Seeing this, Changgu asked "Is someone coming today?" to which she replied "The lawyer, to talk about the will" and one could see that Changgu felt a bit uncomfortable because other things were more important to him at that moment. "Can we postpone that?", he said before pausing a bit. Hongseok continued "Yan An still didn't come home, we were wondering if we sh-" but he was interrupted by the woman standing in front of them. " He's not coming back" is what she said in a rather confident and flat voice.

Understandably, both Hongseok and Changgu stood there shocked as they heard those words. "He's not... what?" replied Changgu, his voice a bit shaky and the surprise on his face clearly reflected in his speech. But Hongseok took a different approach as he replied "How do you know?" and his face had a hint of disbelief. His reply made Changgu look in his direction as it was not what he was expecting at that point. He could feel something was up but before he could actually figure out what it was, their mother showed a message on her phone. The men were too far away to see anything so they both moved forward to see what it was. Changgu took the phone from her and when they both saw what was written on it, their hearts dropped. Changgu spoke first as he said "Hyung this..." before pausing and looking at Hongseok. But he couldn't look away.

Something wasn't right. That's all he kept thinking, as he went through every word. "He said he won't be coming back anymore", said the woman, her face showing signs of irritation as she mockingly said "How disrespectful", pausing before continuing "But this is for the best, he didn't belong here anyway". As soon as she said that, she was met with rage as Changgu said "Mom" in a deep and stern voice. His eyes were gleaming from anger at her comments and it was clearly visible. But Hongseok's face showed something else, as he slowly looked up at the woman. His face, had anger but the doubt was more prominent. He didn't trust Changgu's mother and although he couldn't pinpoint why that was, he just couldn't. "Is this the sort of manners I taught you?" was what she replied to Changgu's behavior, as her voice grew heavier too, to give him a sense of authority in the situation. Changgu wasn't going to listen this time but before he could say anything more, Hongseok held his hand tightly, signalling him to stop.

Before Changgu could say anything against it, Hongseok replied to their mother saying "We are just worried about him, he didn't mean anything by it", his voice calm and composed. She, of course, took this chance to get back at Hongseok as she mentioned "This is why you're a bad influence" but Hongseok stayed quite and didn't say a word. Changgu couldn't say anything either since he was unsure of what his older brother had in mind as he could sense, Hongseok was acting different. Their mother walked away and the younger finally had a chance to ask "Hyung, what's going on?" to which the elder replied "Let's go and talk while checking Yan An's room" in a quiet voice, no louder than mere whispers. Changgu nodded in agreement before both of them ran up to the first floor.

Hongseok opened the door and let themselves in before closing it behind them. Changgu mentioned "Everything seems the same", while looking around. Hongseok replied "Something doesn't add up" while looking through the wardrobe and moving on to the table drawers. "None of his clothes are missing, only his wallet and phone are gone", he said while closing the drawer, continuing "Would you runaway with just that?", while looking at Changgu. The younger replied "No and he had no reason to hurry" before pausing. "Exactly" is what Hongseok said afterwards and before he could continue, Changgu replied "But the message, it was from his phone... did someone steal it or..." as worry started to grow on his face. Hongseok looked a bit unsure but finally said "Changgu-yah... don't say anything to your mother" and he could see the younger was shocked at this. But Changgu knew what he was implying.

"It can't be..." he said, as his voice started shaking a bit and somehow his face made it clear that he couldn't come to believe something, he somehow knew can be true. Hongseok didn't say anything as he could see his brother understood, the gravity of the situation.