Joshua sat on the floor of the practice room. He was watching Hoshi and the rest of the performance team rehearsing.
He checked his phone again. It had been almost glued to his hand since Daena had run out of the dorm the day before.
He'd called and messaged her and heard nothing back. So this morning he had gone to her apartment. When she hadn't opened the door after he had knocked for almost 5 minutes he let himself in.
She wasn't there. Her stuff was still there but he couldn't find her.
He had gone as far to give Jeonghan her number in the hope that maybe she would speak to him. But that had failed too. Hoshi had tried as well.
Joshua had started to worry after he went to her apartment and found her bed clearly not slept in.
He did the only other thing he could think of. He called his Mom, hoping she could speak to Daena's parents and find out where she was.
She also hadn't answered so he had messaged her explaining what had happened and had been waiting for her to call back ever since.
Joshua looked up and met Hoshi's eyes. Hoshi flashed him a reassuring smile.
Just then the door to the practice room swung open and Jeonghan stormed into the room.
He looked terrible, maybe even worse than Joshua. Joshua could tell he hadn't slept and his hair was a mess like he had been running his hands through it non stop.
Jeonghan slid down the wall and sat next to Joshua.
"Anything?" He asked, his voice tinged with worry.
"No" Joshua replied sadly.
Jeonghan dropped his head and looked at his feet.
"What if he did something?" He asked.
Joshua didn't have to ask what he meant. Jeonghan had got it into his head pretty quickly after Joshua had explained he didn't think Daena had gone home last night that the security guard she had gone on a date with was involved somehow.
Joshua on the other hand didn't even want to go there. Daena was fine. He just didn't know where she was.
Jeonghan turned his phone over in his hand and hit dial on Daena's number.
"Straight to voicemail" he said dropping it lightly on the floor next to him.
Joshua slung an arm around Jeonghan's shoulder. Strangely their shared worried over Daena for the last 24 hours had brought them even closer together.
Joshua's phone rang from his lap.
He picked it up and answered so quickly he barely had time to register who was calling.
"Mom?" He asked into the phone.
Jeonghan watched as Joshua spoke to his mother.
His expression changed multiple times throughout the call and Jeonghan only being able hear one side wasn't entirely sure what was happening.
Hoshi sat down in front of him. Clearly he also wanted to know what was going on.
"Thanks Mom" Joshua said finally ending the call.
Joshua looked up at Jeonghan and Hoshi who were watching him expectantly.
"She's fine" he said.
Both boys sighed loudly in relief.
"Where is she then?" Hoshi asked.
"L.A with her parents"
Joshua watched as Jeonghan started to message someone on his phone.
"She's coming back though right? Its just a visit?" Hoshi asked.
Joshua shrugged in response. His Mom had made it clear on the phone this wasn't a planned visit and he was sure Daena hadn't mentioned going home to him.
He wondered exactly what had happened the day before after she had run off that had resulting in her suddenly flying half way across the world.
-
Daena sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. It took her a moment to realise where she was but as the colors and shapes of her childhood bedroom came into view she remembered.
Almost as soon as her mom had agreed for her to come home to visit she had called her boss to ask for emergency leave, which he had surprisingly granted telling her he would see her in a week.
She had booked a ticket onto the next flight which happened to be 4 hours away giving her just enough time to pack a small bag and dash to the airport.
Her parents hadn't asked much about her spontaneous trip and the reasons behind it, but she could tell they suspected something, especially after Joshua's mom had called to ask where she was. But even so they hadn't pushed for answers, her dad had merely stated if she wanted to talk she knew where he was.
That was 4 days ago. She was running out of time. She had a flight booked to take her back to Seoul in 2 days.
Daena looked at her phone on the bedside table. She hadn't turned it on since she had arrived home. Mostly because she felt embarrassed about what had happened and didn't want to face Joshua.
She knew he had been looking for her. Her parents had learned as much from his mother. She wondered if Jeonghan had been looking for her too.
She picked up her phone and sighed before turning it on.
After a moment it booted up and displayed all her missed notifications from the last few days.
Endless missed calls from Joshua and Hoshi as well as the unknown number she was now certain belonged to Jeonghan so she took the opportunity to save it into her phone.
She also saw she had a few unread messages.
The first few where from Joshua asking where she was but he hadn't sent any since his mom had been in contact.
There was also one from Leah asking if everything was okay.
She fired a quick one back the Leah explaining she had to go home to America suddenly but was fine.
Hoshi had also messaged to say he was worried and he wanted her to call him.
The last one Daena was reluctant to open. It was from Jeonghan.
She took a deep breath and opened it.
'Please come home'
Daena didn't know what she was expecting it to say but it wasn't that. Something about the way Jeonghan had used the word home made her heart hurt.
Seoul had become her home over the last few months. She missed her apartment, her job, her friends, Joshua and him.
Which put her back exactly where she started when she decided to get on that plane.
Frustrated she groaned and picked up her pillow. Holding it against her face she screamed into it. Screaming into pillows had always made her feel better.
When she finally removed the pillow from her face she looked up to see her father standing in her doorway.
"Do you want to talk about what's making you need to scream into pillows, I haven't seen you do that since Joshua left" he said.
Daena sighed and decided to take him up on his offer. Most girls would probably go looking for their mom to discuss boys with but Daena had always been close to her father and knew she could tell him anything.
She patted the bed next to her and her father took a seat.
Placing her head into her hands she thought about what she was going to say.
Finally she looked up at her father's concerned face.
"Appa, I don't know what to do"
Her father took her hand in both of his "What's wrong little love?" He asked quietly.
So Daena told him everything, everything about Joshua, everything about Jeonghan and all her tangled up feelings in between.
When she was done she looked up at her father waiting for him to tell her exactly what she should do.
He took a deep breath and then spoke. "I always suspected you had feelings for Joshua, when he left and you fell apart I realised. He's been very worried about you the last few days. His mother told me"
Daena hung her head and her father continued.
"I'm going to tell you something a friend of mine once told me when I found out my parents didn't approve of your mother."
He paused for a moment.
"Daena first loves are important, it seems to me that Joshua was your first love. You never forget your first love as long as you live. But what's more important is last loves, you don't know who your last love is until your in it. Your mother is and will always be my last love. But she wasn't my first. First and last loves aren't always the same person"
Daena's father smiled at her.
"I'm not going to tell you which one to chose, that's up to you, but I think you already know" He said patting her hand before getting up and leaving the room.
Daena sat in the same spot and thought about what her father had said over and over. She couldn't disagree. She realised Joshua was indeed her first love, now it was up to her to decide if she wanted to find out if he was going to be her last.
Finally she had made up her mind and when she did she realised she had known what the answer was deep down for a while now.