Rain | k.ms

ix: present day

My breath hitches, and it feels as if all life has just been sucked out of me. Dead?

"I'm sorry," Minseok apologizes, "but I'm not finding this humorous at all. Please tell me where Soo Mi is."

"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry." Is the only answer. I feel dread begin to build up in me. This isn't happening.

"Please, there's no reason for you to apologize to me. The only thing that I want is to know the whereabouts of my wife." Minseok tells him.

"I..." Choi Min Ho's voice trails off. He sighs. "I'm terribly—"

"Where is Soo Mi?!" Minseok suddenly yells into the phone. When the response is silence, he clears his throat. "I apologize for yelling." "But I need to know where she is. I need Soo Mi right now."

Maybe it's the desperation and the disparity in his voice, or maybe it's because I just can't take anymore, but I immediately hang up the call. My legs buckle, and I feel myself fall hard onto the bench. "Dead..." my voice trails off. "She can't be; she wouldn't be." Although I haven't done so in a such a long time, just for the sake of Minseok, Soo Mi, and my sanity, I pray.

...

I wake up feeling odd. As if something's off. Wrong. Then the memory of the call from last night floods to my head, and I pinch my temple, trying to ease my head from the headache that comes along with it. Despite the pain, I shake my head. It... isn't true. It can't be.

Just because someone called doesn't mean that it's real. It's probably a prank anyway, what with all those phishers these days. Those darn prank phone calls. I think to myself. I let out a laugh, convincing myself that it's just a joke. A horrible, sick, twisted joke.

I get up, standing next to my bed, when I feel slight pain in the back of my legs. I reach down, massaging the sore area, wondering just what I did to cause the pain. Then I remember. I had to walk all the way home yesterday. The bus—it'd never arrived after all.