Both men got out of Yan An's room, still trying to process all that was happening. Changgu was having the hardest time, thinking that his mother could do something of the sort. Even so, what Hongseok implied didn't seem absolutely out of the question, and that terrified him.
Hongseok could see how Changgu was feeling and tried his best to reassure him. "We'll find out what's going on", putting one hand on the younger's shoulder before continuing "You have to be strong". Changgu found strength in his words but the worry was still visible on both their faces. Hongseok knew he had to stay callm and collected to even start to figure out what was happening but he understood he couldn't do it alone. "You're going to the office with me today, we need to get out of the house to do something about this", said Hongseok before letting go of Changgu and heading for his room. The younger nodded as a reply and walked over to his room to get ready.
They went down to the dining room after changing, just as they would any other day. As they should, they acted in character to make sure their mother didn't catch onto anything. Hongseok didn't speak a word and neither did Changgu, and it was understandable since both of them felt detached based on the current situation. The elder was the first to break the silence, as she said "He wanted to leave and he left, there's no point in losing your appetite over it Changgu-yah", gentle brushing her hand over Changgu's head. Hongseok had his head down and only barely looked at the woman's direction while she said those words. Changgu replied in kind by giving a small tired smile before his mother continued "It is so good that you are going to the office today" in an excited and happy voice. But everything drained away before she spoke to Hongseok saying "Introduce him to the board today". The older male replied "Yes mother" and that was the end of the conversation.
The silence continued afterwards as they finished their meal and head out to get in the car. As Hongseok pulled out of the drive through, they finally had the chance to speak freely before reaching the office. "So how do we do this hyung?" asked Changgu while looking at Hongseok, the fear and worry all coming back to his face as he didn't need to hide it anymore. Hongseok replied "We can't tell the police, they'll have to let mother know and we can't have that now" pausing a while before continuing "not before we know for sure that she has nothing to do with all this". Hongseok understood how hard it all was for Changgu and for his sake, he wanted to have an open mind but Hongseok already believed that she had everything to do with this. And Changgu knew what Hongseok felt, as he said "But... you're certain she has something to do with this aren't you", his voice reflecting the pain he felt saying those words. Hongseok couldn't reply anything to that since it was true but Changgu continued "Would Yan An's mother know anything?". Hongseok steered with one hand as he used the other to reach into his trouser pocket to take out a phone. "I thought dad might have her number so I took his phone", he said while handing it over to Changgu.
As he looked through the contacts, he found multiple people with the same name . Changgu mentioned "There's four people with the same first name", to which Hongseok replied "Check if he messaged any of them, it'll help us figure out who's who" and he was right. As Changgu went through the messages, he found that their father spoke quite frequently with one of them and it was always about Yan An, but what he read understandably surprised him. "Did you find something?" asked Hongseok as he saw how silent Changgu has been for a couple of minutes. "Y-yeah... they spoke a lot about Yan An, and most of it is about how Yan An reached safely" and this caught Hongseok off guard as well. "He kept meeting his mother" said the older and the sense of realization was clear in his voice. They finally knew where he kept going all this time and it eventually caught up with them as Hongseok said "That means" and Changgu continued "He was probably meeting her yesterday".
"Call her from my phone" said Hongseok and the sense of urgency was evident from how both of them reacted. The ringing for a few seconds before they heard a woman reply from the other side saying "Hello". Her coarse and cracked voice filled the car as the call was connected to the speakers and that made them even more nervous. "Hello... mother?" and he could hear how the woman on the other side broke down in tears. "W-who is this? Hongseok o-or Changgu?" she said while stuttering, as it was hard for her to speak like that while her voice got choked. "It's Changgu... Hongseok hyung is here too" he replied before Hongseok continued "Mother, did Yan An meet you yesterday?". And her reply only amplified the fear they already had inside them, as she said "Yan An-aah he... h-he... some men t-took him last night". Both Changgu and Hongseok looked at each other, their shock plastered on their faces as they both realized, this was far worse than what they had anticipated. "Mother, I need you to tell me where it happened, can you send me the address?" said Hongseok as he tried to calm down and figure out what to do next.
"I will message you the location" she said while trying to catch her breath, to which Hongseok replied "Mother I need you to meet me there, can you please do that?" and she mentioned she was close so they could meet as soon as Hongseok arrived. After disconnecting the call, Changgu mentioned "Let me off at the office, I'll handle things there in case mom calls" and although his words surprised Hongseok a bit, he had absolute faith in him. Soon after Hongseok pulled over by the sidewalk next to their office building where Changgu had to get off. "Call me if something goes wrong, I'll let you know what happens on my end" he said to which Changgu replied "Be careful hyung" and Hongseok gave a slight nod before driving away. Changgu couldn't help but stand there until the car was out of his sight, after which he finally pulled himself together to get inside the building.
While Hongseok and Changgu were already feeling like worlds were ending, Yan An was just about to witness something similar as he finally woke up from the hit he endured last night. His head hurt like crazy and even though he couldn't see anything in the dark, he knew something wasn't right.
YOU ARE READING
Feels Like Family
Mystery / Thriller"Doesn't matter how we met or why we're here, we're together and that's enough"
