D - 2
It was day 2 of waking up with her not by my side. Taeyong forced me to go to school so we can search the halls and hidden rooms in the school just in case she might be there. Her physically not by my side was eating me alive. The stress I felt, the tears I shed and the moments I spent with her would mean nothing if she is gone.
I rolled around in bed before deciding to have a shower and get dressed. I wore a black T-shirt and black jeans along with black shoes and a black cap. Who doesn't love an all black outfit?
—
At school it was rather quiet. Everyone seemed to realise that Jaerin wasn't here waking with me down the corridors. I wonder if she's eaten well and taken care of at least. It's the least we could ask for. I thought to myself.
I went to my classroom, the moment I stepped in all eyes were on me. I feel as though someone may know what happened to her but are too scared to tell anyone, in case they were threatened and their life is in danger.
I looked out of the window of the classroom and see Taeyong and Jaemin talking to the headteacher. I presume it's most likely about Jaerin. They all turned around and looked me straight in the eyes before presuming their conversation.
Taeyong's POV
"Sir, are we allowed to search the school?" I asked.
"You can, yes, but you must tell me the reason," the headteacher smiled.
"Jaerin went missing," I began, "and the last place she was seen was here, in school," I pointed. The headteacher nodded before questioning, "Is there anyone in particular that is the closest relative?"
I shook my head and then turned to look at Haechan before pointing, "He is the closest relationship that we have to Jaerin. She's in a lot of danger so we must find her if you allow us."
"Okay then, very well. You'll have full access to the schools dorms and basement," he added. I smiled and walked with Jaemin to Haechan's classroom to tell him the news.
Before we got to the door of the classroom, a young boy bumped into me and fell onto the floor, his papers scattered across the floorboards of the dirtied classroom.
I quickly helped him pick up the scattered papers before realising that he was the exact same boy from the cctv cameras we checked earlier. I was pretty sure my eyes were not fooling me. I turned my head to look at Jaemin, giving him signals with my eyes which he seemed not to understand so I faced Haechan and tried to give him signals and he replied with a nod.
"Hey kid, have you seen Jaerin around?" I asked him. I had to ask anyone that was last seen with her or last saw her.
He shook his head, "The last time I saw her was a couple of days ago by the staircase when she was upset."
"Upset?" I furrowed my eyebrows, "upset about what?"
"Upset about Haechan playing around with other girls," he replied. I sighed before whipping my head around to face Haechan and shaking my head furiously.
"Okay thank you," I murmured, "see you around."
Yes, I was furious but Jaemin seemed more furious. He walked up to Haechan and pulled him by his collar before pulling him out of the classroom and into the corridors. All the students gasped and watched carefully so I shut the door so no one could hear a thing.
"Sorry Jaemin," Haechan spoke, tears filled the brim of his eye.
"Haechan! Let's go, we're going to look for her now!" Jaemin spoke, he didn't want to seem too angered by it so quickly brushed it off before it gets to him.
"Haechan...," I paused. He turned around to look at me as I patted his back and gave him words of confidence.
"Haechan, go to the place where she goes with that Seonghwa dude from earlier," I said. I knew that something seemed very off since he was last seen with her and no one seemed to have seen her after him.
His eyes lit up and he opened his mouth, " The cafe..."
"What cafe? Where is it?" I questioned. I finally felt that we have actually gotten somewhere and we may possibly find her today but we shall only hope for the best.
Haechan ran out of our sight and I followed along. I told Jaemin to look in obvious places such as the dorms, cafeteria, staircases, classrooms but we'll search the more secluded places together since there's a high risk of danger since he's alone.
—
We had finally reached the cafeteria. Haechan ran in and started asking countless questions at a time expecting them to all be answered as he interrogates. I stopped him from speaking further before taking a deep breath and asking the confused woman a favour.
"Can we please check the last 5 days on cctv since someone has gone missing?" I crossed my fingers hoping that they wouldn't let me down.
And they did exactly that.
"Sorry, we can't allow you to access the cctv for the safety of our customers," she smiled. I could tell that Haechan's blood was starting to boil. His face turned red and he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down.
"You'll need a warrant from the police to able to access any files such as cctv," she continued.
An idea popped into my head and I navigated Haechan to the van where I logged into the laptop and called Renjun to tell me how to log into the cctv cameras of the cafe and it's surroundings.
After 14 minutes of trying to hack into the system we finally got in. I checked the date of her disappearance and something about it felt really off. I could see that Haechan was agitated from the corner of my eye so I clocked a few random buttons and found the file.
After opening the file to watch the cctv we both had realised that Jaerin was at the cafe with Seonghwa. She ecs used herself from her seat and went to the bathrooms. Whilst she was there it could have been possible that Seonghwa drugged her drink, but we weren't too sure since his back covered all his dirty work.
When Jaerin returned from the bathroom, Seonghwa pushed her drink closer to her, signalling for her to drink it. She didn't seem too suspiciously it so gladly sipped it. By the time she had finished the coffee glass she already looked so drowsy.
As we focused on the cctv that played before us, I looked at Haechan and realised that his eyes were glued onto the screen, not one moment averting his eye contact with her frail body.
I realised that during the cctv, Seonghwa had left her by herself to take a phone call yet minutes later he returned and dragged her out.
I switched the cctv to the one facing the cafe and we watched intently realising that he dragged her back into school once it got quite dark.
My eyes lit up and we both ran out of the van and into the school. She could only be here.
Donghyuck's POV
Taeyong was with me and we watched the cctv together. I knew from the start that Seonghwa seemed weird for approaching her and it was definitely a motive.
That day when she disappeared, I spoke to someone on the phone who's voice seemed oddly familiar to Seonghwa's but I didn't connect the dots. I should have and only then we would've found her sooner.
Taeyong called Jaemin as I searched the halls and then came across a secluded part of the school. Seemed more or less like a basement but I waited for Taeyong and Jaemin to come before opening it and putting my own life in danger. Yes, I'm a mafia but that doesn't mean I wanna risk my life and out Jaerin's life in more danger than it already is.
"Help..." a weak voice called out. My ears alerted my entire body and I felt so close to Jaerin.
"Jaerin?" I called out.
"Hyuck..." her voice trailed away, "help..."
"I'm here," I leaned my ear against the door to ensure that she was alone, "I'm coming back, Taeyong and Jaemin are here, okay?"
"Hurry...," she struggled to breathe out, "it hurts," she complained.
"Wait a couple of seconds and we'll get you out," I said before sprinting around the school until my eyes met their bodies trailing around somewhere in the school.
"Taeyong! Jaemin! I found her, she's in the basement hurry!" I screamed. The moment they heard 'Jaerin' and 'found' their ears perked up and they ran towards my direction where I showed them where she was.
"Jaerin, are you still there?" I asked, I was starting to question whether she was still in there or moved whilst I was gone.
"Hyuck? Are they there...?" she asked. Relief washed over me, I was finally 97% closer to her than I was 10 minutes ago. We just need to get her back home.
"Yes, Jaerin. We're here!" whispered Taeyong, I don't think he wanted anyone nearby to find out the current situation.
We struggled to force open the door, it must've been jammed. I ran to the janitor's closet and found a lever to open it up.
I ran back to where they all were and could hear Jaerin's soft cries through the door, breaking my heart immensely and almost bringing tears to the brim of my eyes.
I threw the lever to Jaemin and he finally opened the door after hard work of trying to force open the basement door.
My eyes met with Jaerin's, filled with tears of happiness yet cuts and bruises covered her body. Purple scars painted her skin and her body was much thinner since the last time I had seen her.
I ran up to her frail body and untied the ropes. I engulfed her in a warm hug and her weak arms wrapped themselves around my neck. I leaned in to kiss her but she winced in pain, clutching her stomach in pain and her once beautiful, fair skin was bruised. She must've been abused.
"Remember that I'll never let that happen to you again. I'll always be here for you no matter what-" I said.
"Hello? Guys, you know we're still here, right?" Jaemin asked, interrupting our moment. Taeyong chuckled and shook his head.
"Jaemin, shut up! You just ruined the moment," I said, Jaerin chuckled.
"Don't be rude. Apologise this instant!" he was playfully angry yet he held a straight face.
My lips formed a straight line and eyes closed as I sighed, "Sorry, Jaemin," I said, low-key feeling kinda guilty not going to lie. He didn't see his sister in just as many days as I hadn't. Must've affected him more than it did me.
—
We took Jaerin home and I forced her to sleep. I knew that she was restless because of all the pains mans suffer that she has faced during the past few days but I just wanted to see her at peace once again. Whether that was with me or not.
I turned off the lights before hearing her soft voice once again, "Donghyuck. Stay," she stated. My heart fluttered and my mouth lifted into a smile and I nodded. I walked up to the bed and slipped in before engulfing her in a warm hug once again, her scent filling my nostrils as it did so so long ago. I kissed the crown of her forehead and before long the room was filled with soft snores from the moth of us.
I love her.
____________________________________
u n e d i t e d
Yo- we found my girllll!!! I missed her ngl. I think we know who missed her more tho 😏