I'm Also A We // Hyunlix

The Lost One, Part I

NOW

F E L I X

Chan is running before the thought even makes it through the cluster, echoing between them in six different iterations.

Jeongin is gone. They have Iyen-ah. Kate has him.

Changbin is behind him, the two of them breaking through the sea of people backstage, and Felix follows in his mind, bouncing between Chan and Changbin, because he can't keep up otherwise, frozen in place with the others, staring after them.

They storm up the flights of stairs to the top floor, forgoing the elevator entirely, and with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Felix understands where they're heading.

"He's probably in the bathroom," Chunghee offers next to Felix, shrugging.

But Minho's eyes are big and Jisung's body is tight with alarm and Seungmin's face pale, and somehow they're all sure that's not where he is. That he didn't just leave for the bathroom.

Somewhere else, a door is ripped open. "Where is he?!" Chan shouts as he enters the office JYP is in, and Felix is pulled back into the connection, and can see the other members around him. Save Hyunjin. And Jeongin.

"Where is he?!" Chan repeats and Changbin holds onto his elbow, and Felix thinks he might lose it this time.

JYP is not alone, two assistants sitting next to him at the table, staring at Chan whom they've only ever known as the most polite kid.

He stands now, eyes just as wide. "Where is who?"

Chan bristles, and barely holds himself together. "Jeongin is missing." The words fall like iron on the floor and inside Felix's stomach, making him gasp for air because it's different now that the words are spoken out loud.

A beat passes. Then two.

Then JYP speaks, but he's turned towards his assistants. "Go get in touch with the venue security." It's all that he says, and the two are hesitating, looking between him and the men who are still seething with rage.

"Go!" JYP shouts, startling them both, and they quickly slip out of the room.

"Where is he?" Chan repeats once they're alone, his voice like ice, cutting and cold.

"I don't know," JYP says.

"Bullshit," Changbin snarls, but he's still holding onto Chan, still keeping him from surging forward.

JYP takes a step towards them, stopping himself, his face red with anger. "Why would I take him? Why would I separate him from you? At an event like this?" he snarls back, and Felix senses the shift, the wavering in their combined anger. Because he has a point.

"Kate works for you," Chan bites out. "She took him. Why? What does she want with him?"

JYP's face hardens. "She's not working for me. She's working for some powerful people and there's a sum of money in there for her that you can't even comprehend."

"If I—," Chan starts, his whole body shaking, "If you have anything to do with this, I will—." He doesn't finish the sentence. The threat still vibrates in the air.

"I think you've done enough," JYP bites back, and Felix doesn't understand it, the surge of guilt rushing through the group, doesn't understand when he follows it back to Chan.

o

Even craziness has an order, Felix learns. A protocol. A fixed sequence of steps to take. Even when a band member goes missing the world doesn't stop spinning. As if no one told it that someone was gone.