Forget-me-not

Seungmin

Cynthia never called back that evening. She didn't call the next day or the next day or the next. In fact, Seungmin was starting to doubt that she had ever really called at all. Maybe Hyunjin called Cynthia's old number and Seungmin read the screen wrong. Maybe he just wanted to cheer Seungmin up a little and give him hope.

The past few days had been full of anxiety. He waited and waited and waited, but Cynthia's call never came. It seemed like every few hours, he was texting or asking Hyunjin if he had an update yet. Hyunjin's response was always the same, Cynthia hadn't reached back out.

Chan easily picked up on Seungmin's dull mood. He had a knack for picking up on the member's problems, even when they never stated them out loud. Seungmin had been irritable lately and he couldn't blame him for it. He could only imagine how stressful this whole situation had been for the younger member.

He took Seungmin to a Korean barbecue restaurant. Inside the building, the smoky scent of meat engulfed them. Once they were placed at the table, they fell into the usual routine of ordering the meat they wanted. Seungmin seemed so down that Chan offered to do most of the grilling.

Occasionally, Seungmin picked up his chopsticks and flipped the pieces of beef, but for the most part, he stayed quiet. Chan hummed softly over the delicious sound of sizzling. His stomach grumbled while he waited for the pink flesh to shift into a well-done brown.

Too busy in the studio, he didn't have time to eat today. This had been one of his cravings for the past few days. He was practically drooling while waiting for the meat to cook. It was too bad that grilling meat took time and patience.

Seungmin stared down at the grill lost in his own thoughts. Chan glanced up at him, but Seungmin didn't return his look. His eyes went back down to the grill before he spoke. "I know it must be hard to wait for her to come back."

Despite the blank look on Seungmin's face, he was listening. "You have no idea, hyung. I feel like I'm starting to go a little crazy."

"Why don't we go get her then?"

Seungmin paused for a moment before his head shot up. There was a look of confusion on his face. "There's no way that we can do that. Flora would never allow us to get her. She wouldn't open up the door for us."

"Who cares? Clearly, it seems like something must have happened. We can get the cops involved again."

"We already tried that and w-"

"But you and Hyunjin weren't there. Flora was the only other person around with the cops. Cynthia likely felt too intimidated and afraid to tell the truth."

"If we get caught by a fan and this ends up online, it mi-"

"I don't care."

Seungmin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I don't care what happens to us. Let the fans find out, I don't care. What's our management team going to do? What's the worst that can happen? They already know about you and Cynthia. Scandals are temporary until they're replaced by another juicy scandal. Besides, this isn't a scandal, this is Cynthia's well-being that we're talking about."

"But..." Seungmin trailed off.

"But what?" Chan flipped another piece of short rib. The back side had turned a juicy darkened brown. Grease dripped off the sides and slipped through the grill slits which sparked flames to dance below.

"What about the rest of the guys? I don't want to do this and make one of them upset. This is their band too, you know."

He shook his head, "don't worry about them."

"But I-"

"I've already talked it over with all of them and they're in agreement. They want to get Cynthia back too. Cynthia is a lot like our little sister and we miss her too. All we have to do is come up with a plan."

"You're sure this won't fail?"

"I highly doubt it. Cynthia called Hyunjin desperate to leave. I think you and Hyunjin should be the two that show up along with a cop. She might get a little nervous if the rest of us show up. She'll probably be weary around you, but she trusts Hyunjin."

Seungmin nodded and flipped over another piece of meat. The fatty tendered flesh was starting to make his own stomach rumble. Around them, people were at their own tables with built-in grills hooked up in the center.

Conversations mingled together and waiters brought out side dishes and fresh plates of raw meat. Back in the kitchen, chefs were busy preparing everything. The restaurant they attended was a pretty popular place in Seoul.

"You're sure this isn't going to backfire? I can't help, but assume the worst. I know how last time went. If it doesn't work, Cynthia might be in major trouble."

"Have a little faith. We're still at the beginning of this week, so I was thinking maybe the end of the week? We still have quite a bit to do this week with our music video shoot. The company is already a bit stressed and I don't want to perform a music video shoot with angry staff members."

"You're right. I wish we could do it now, but that's a dangerous idea. If they have to cancel the shoot and push it back due to a scandal, they'll probably kill us."

Chan chuckled. "Not kill, just get really really pissed off."

"Our manager kind of looks a little funny when he gets angry. His eyebrows pinch together in a certain way. It makes him look like an angry crab."

Chan let out a squeaky laugh and Seungmin shrugged. "Hey, I'm just being honest. Throw a pair of pinchers on him and he'd make the perfect crab."

"How did you even come up with that?"

"It's the same way that we all have our Skzoo characters. Yongbok looks like a chicken and Hyunjin looks like a ferret. Our manager looks like a crab."

"I don't see it."

"Put on your glasses, old man."

Chan smiled and leaned over to place a few slabs of cooked meat on Seungmin's plate. He had successfully cheered him up. It was obvious by his sudden taunts and teases. Step one was done, he told Seungmin. Now all he had to do was wait for step two, rescuing Cynthia.

But...maybe Hyunjin should have mentioned the part where Flora wanted to take Cynthia and move to Hawaii.