The next morning Areum woke up to her phone vibrating next to her on the dresser. She slapped her hand around on the wooden surface trying to find her phone without opening her eyes.
Once she grabbed it, she answered with groggy sleep filled voice without checking the caller id "hello?"
"it's me Areum don't hang up please." Said Zitao.
She sat up immediately looking nervously at Junmyeon sleeping next to her wearing only his boxers as if he could hear Zitao on the phone "wh-why are you calling me?"
Zitao sighed heavily sounding very resentful "because I wanna apologize for real this time. Can you meet for lunch?"
Areum couldn't believe what she was hearing. She tried not to stutter or sound afraid as she spoke "I don't.... I don't think I should after what you did."
Zitao chuckled softly speaking with a light tone "I'll call you later and tell you where to meet me."
Areum hung up the phone with a heavy feeling in her chest.
Junmyeon's raspy morning voice scared her a little making her jump "sweetie come back to sleep."
He gently squeezed the soft flesh of her thigh "are you ok? You're shaking."
Areum nervously looked at Junmyeon his back still facing her "I I'm fine Myeon just a bad dream. Go back go back to sleep."
Junmyeon sat up worry filling his chest at her nervous stuttering "Areum?"
She ignored the ping of pain in her heart and kissed Junmyeon sweetly before quickly running to the bathroom promptly locking herself in.
She doesn't know long she's been locked in the bathroom when she hears soft knocking followed by her brother's voice "Areum hey angel can you let me in?"
She didn't answer him or open the door. She felt like she was going insane her head was spinning. She closed her eyes for a moment when she opened them Kyungsoo was sitting across from her.
She gasped in surprise "how'd you get in here Soo?"
He looked over at the window "Chanyeol helped. We're worried about you Areum. You've been in here for three hours."
Areum pulled her legs closer to her chest and shyly looked at Kyungsoo "I'm just having a dilemma Soo."
Kyungsoo took her shaky hands in his own "what's wrong? I can have Yeol Sehun or Jongin come talk to you."
Areum shook her head so fast Kyungsoo was worried it'd fall off "no they'd be so mad at me. I need to do this or not do this on my own. Can you tell them I'm fine? I just wanna be alone for a while."
Kyungsoo nodded and kissed her head "I'll bring you some food in a little bit."
"love you Soo."
Kyungsoo ran and gentle had through her hair "are you sure you're ok?"
She nodded "I'll explain later. I promise."
Kyungsoo left and Areum quickly locked the door again. Afraid Sehun or Chanyeol would come in and see just how not ok she was.
Areum's phone rang scaring her "hello?"
"hi beautiful. Meet me at Ryan's fish shack in ten minutes." Said Zitao before hanging up.
Areum sighed and got dressed in Jongin's clothes. Sweatpants and an oversized sweater and some black converse. She brushed her hair and teeth before sneaking downstairs only to run into Jongin and Kyungsoo outside.
Jongin asked "hey shorty where you going?"
Areum nervously stuttered out "just a walk. I'll be back soon."
Kyungsoo looked at Jongin who nodded. The two boys sat for a while watching Areum walking away before they got up and followed her.
Zitao was sitting with his back towards the door.
Areum nervously went in and sat down next to him "h-hi Tao."
He smiled "hi beautiful. You look nervous. Are you ok?"
Kyungsoo and Jongin saw them and quickly rushed into the kitchen area a few workers eyed them. A worker who knew Jongin asked "hey Jongin you here with Areum?"
Jongin said "not technically. I'm just watching her. Please don't tell her we're here."
Kyungsoo looked back out the small glass window before opening the door "fuck babe they're gone. Excuse me did any of you see where the young women dressed in oversized clothes go?"
An older woman said "that pretty little thing? I think she left with the young man she was with. Is something wrong sweetie?"
Kyungsoo grabbed Jongin's arm pulling him "thank you ma'am. Everything is fine."
Once outside Kyungsoo rapidly looks left and right trying to see if he could spot Areum and Zitao. He immediately started crying when he couldn't see them.
Jongin said "baby hey we'll find her. You go that way and I'll go this way call me in fifteen minutes and we'll meet back here."
Kyungsoo nodded wiping his tears and went left while Jongin went right. He didn't see any sign of Areum or Zitao he began to panic he called Jongin "baby I can't see anything I think we should go tell the boys."
Jongin said "I can't either. Come back to the fish shack and well go home."
They met back at the fish shack then went home. Chanyeol immediately noticed Kyungsoo's distraught state.
"Soo are you alright?"
Kyungsoo started crying again as Jongin held him in a tight hug. "where's everybody at Yeol?"
Chanyeol yelled "Kyungsoo's crying everybody come to the living room!"
The rest of the boys came to the living room. Minseok said "ok what the fuck happened? Why are you crying Soo?"
Kyungsoo chocked out "we fucking lost her. Sehun I'm so sorry man we fucking lost her."
Sehun looked at Jongin for an explanation as Yixing said "where the fuck is my baby?"
Jongin said "she disappeared. We followed her because she was acting strange. She met up with Zitao at Ryan's fish shack. We looked away for one fucking second to talk to Eric and she just fucking disappeared."
Junmyeon said "you don't have to cry Kyungsoo. It's not your fault. Chanyeol can you track her phone of something?"
Jongdae hugged Kyungsoo as Baekhyun said "small problem with that Myeon. She left her phone here. I just found it in the bathroom."
Minseok said "babe call Luhan. Jongin go get Soo some water. Myeon Sehun you guys go search around Ryan's. Baekhyun Yixing Jongdae you three go to the parks and shit where we know Areum goes when she leaves. C'mon Yeol we're going to Luhan and Yifan's house."
Jongdae said "Jongin call us if Areum comes home."
The eight men left going to look for Areum. Jongin did his best to keep his boyfriend calm.
Kyungsoo said "I swear to god I'm gonna kill Zitao if he hurts her."
There was a knock at the door Jongin yelled "it's open!"
Luhan and Yifan rushed inside looking panicked.
Kyungsoo said "Luhan please tell me you where Areum is. Please."
Luhan shook his head "I don't but we do know Zitao has her. He told his mom he was going to meet her."
Yifan said "Minseok is pissed he's ready to murder Tao."
Jongin asked "he's not dumb enough to hurt her, is he?"
Luhan sighed "I honestly don't know. His mom's been acting weirs for a while now."
Yifan said "let's just wait for the others than we can head to the police station. Does anybody know what she was wearing like?"
Kyungsoo said "she was wearing Jongin's clothes and some converse. Minseok just texted me they're coming back now."
Once the eight men were back, they sat down and talked a while before going to the cops. Sehun hadn't said a word to anybody since he got home. He'd only tug at Jongdae or Chanyeol if he needed something.
At the police station Kyungsoo and Jongin gave a female officer a picture of Areum and a verbal depiction of her outfit. While Luhan and Yifan gave a male officer the same for Zitao.
Sehun hadn't noticed he was crying until Jongdae hugged him whispering "don't cry baby we'll find her."
Baekhyun asked "are you ok Junmyeon? You look lost?"
Junmyeon snapped "some asshat kidnapped my girlfriend! Yes, Baekhyun I'm fine!"
Yixing pulled Baekhyun away as Minseok said "hey don't yell at him. He didn't take her. We're all just as upset and hurt as you and Sehun. She was our friend too Myeon."
The officers sent the boys home promising to call as soon as they found anything. The boys reluctantly left. Luhan and Yifan went to their house just in case Areum or Zitao were there the boys went to their houses as well. Jongdae opting to stay with Sehun.
Sehun finally spoke "Dae I feel like a terrible brother. I didn't protect her."
Jongdae said "baby no. You've always protected her. You're the best brother she could ask for. It's not your fault this happened. We're gonna find her and everything will be ok. I promise you Sehunnie."
Sehun kissed Jongdae "I just wanna go to bed babe."
Jongdae hummed "I'll be up in a while. Shower and go to sleep ok?"
Sehun nodded and went upstairs. Jongdae quickly cleaned the house. He called Minseok letting him know Sehun was fine and that he'd call I the morning.