Heaven Help A Fool Who Falls In Love

6.

It starts out as a perfectly normal day this early winter's morning. Sehun goes into the dining hall to find Baekhyun hyung drinking his blueberry smoothie and scrolling through the news on his mobile phone. Chanyeol hyung is, as usual, enthusiastically selecting his breakfast from the side table piled high with a varied selection of breakfast viands while Jongdae hyung is already reading through a huge pile of documents while eating a spartan breakfast of toast.

Sehun sweeps a searching gaze over the hall, looking for one particular person. He eases himself into his seat, taking the glass of grapefruit juice and the newspaper, taking his time scanning the newspaper headlines for a couple of minutes before he speaks.

"Mr. Kim."

"Yes, Master." Mr. Kim steps to his left with a short bow.

"Please notify our guest that her presence is required for breakfast." Sehun says dryly, sipping his drink.

"Yes, Master."

A maid scurries out at Mr. Kim's small nod, only to come back again a few minutes later, white-faced and clutching a silk shirt. She hesitantly approaches the butler and whispers in his ear. Sehun notices how Mr. Kim presses his lips together in disapproval before the dignified butler approaches Sehun.

"Master, Sunmi says that our guest has disappeared." There is a small amount of distress in the butler's voice. "My apologies for not noticing this earlier."

This news is greeted by groans and various reactions from the others but all Sehun does is close his eyes, radiating annoyance in every line of his body.

"Bloody hell." Sehun growls.

"Do you want me to organize a search party?" Chanyeol says over a mouthful of buttered scones.

"No. That will be time and energy best left for EXO Enterprises. She is not our main concern." Sehun says, shaking his head in a sign of negation as he turns towards the butler.

"Mr. Kim." came the imperious command but as the butler starts forward, Sehun's gaze is drawn to the maid holding the silk shirt Sehun lent Sana last night. The maid and butler are agitated, expecting a dressing down from Sehun. But Sehun does not oblige. Sehun might be a very strict employer but he isn't a complete tyrant.

"I should have poured that medicine down her throat." He looks at the shirt. "Or hid her clothes." Sehun pins Mr. Kim with a look. "Find out if anyone saw or heard her leave. Check the entire block and the security cameras. Let me know immediately when anyone finds anything."

Mr. Kim and Sunmi are a little dazed to be let off without even a reprimand but are brought out of their reverie by Sehun's sharp command. "What are you standing around for? Get going!"

As both Mr. Kim and the maid turn to leave, the maid freezes on the spot at Sehun's quiet "And Sunmi," she turns back, and with a quivering voice, asks, "Sir?"

"I'll take that." Sehun nods at the shirt.

Shocked silence.

Everyone stares at Sehun oddly then look back at the shirt, only to stare at Sehun yet again. One thought is paramount in all their minds. What is going on?

Sehun doesn't care one way or another what everyone is thinking about. He stares at the shirt. The persistent smell of sunshine lingers on it. Sana's scent.

"You need to find her, Sehun. Its not a priority but you will have to find her." Jongdae tells him after a brief pause.

Sehun tosses the shirt into a nearby chair and walks with no-nonsense steps to the long windows overlooking the street. He stands there with his hands crossed in front of him, watching the snow fall lightly on the street corner below. "I know."

"About the release?" Jongdae asks with a tone of relief. "That's good. I'm glad I don't have to explain."

Sehun turns towards the older man with his head buried in documents. "I'm not entirely ignorant of legal practices, Jongdae hyung."

"You need to have her sign this document of release." Jongdae nods to Sehun, separating a sheet of paper from the pile near his plate. "I was going to give it to you after the morning agenda but here it is." With one quick precise movement that spoke of a lifetime experience at throwing things at people, Jongdae throws the stapled papers at Sehun who deftly catches it. "It releases you from every liability for the car accident."

In addition to being a very useful member of EXO Enterprises, Jondae is also Sehun's lawyer. The older man is a genius at law and on circumventing legal liabilities. He is the best. He had to be. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in Sehun's employ.

"I am liable." He tells Jongdae.

"Yah." Jongdae interrupts him. "Never tell me that. You pay me a bloody fortune to make certain that no matter what, you are not liable for anything."

"Odd. I thought he pays you a fortune for being his secretary. I mean look at all these documents!" Baekhyun tsks while he messes up the mountain of paper nearest him.

"Yah, Baekhyun. I ordered them already according to importance, don't mess them up."

Baekhyun ignores Jongdae's whine, preferring to turn his attention to Sehun. "Odd." Baekhyun hears Sehun say quietly, almost to himself. "I didn't think she was one to run away."

A well-groomed elegant brow lifts in surprise. Baekhyun has never seen Sehun this involved with anyone before.

"What did you say, Sehun?" Chanyeol interrupts before Baekhyun can ask Sehun anything.

"Nothing." Comes the clipped reply. "Just an observation."

Outside, the snow drifts down on the streets and on the few pedestrians who braves the slushy sidewalks. He remembers the image of a slip a of girl with pale skin and gashes on the side of her face, black hair falling in disarray over soft velvet brown eyes. An almost fragile looking girl who cried because she believed she lost everything. The same girl maybe huddling on the street with snowflakes sticking to her shivering form as if each drop is a small increment of the burden she carries.

A girl with no one. Within him, Sehun feels the stirrings of a time-buried emotion that seems to understand the devastation of that kind of loneliness. But he quickly tamps it down.

Exhaustion seems to crash into Sehun all at once. He hadn't slept at all after he left Sana. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Sana's expressive face looking up at him with disappointment. Strange at it may seem, it bothered him. It really bothered him.

"Sehun, did you hear anything I said?"

"Of course, I am not deaf, Jongdae hyung." Sehun asserts. "I need to find her."

"Yes. Get this release signed then she can go wherever she wants. And you won't find yourself in the middle of legal action a year or so from now. We need her signature for you to be free and clear."

"Fine." Sehun says.

"My advice would be to pay whatever it takes to get it. She seems a bit naive so it shouldn't cost you very much, if at all. But Sehun, please be fair to the poor girl. She doesn't seem like the bad sort."

No reaction is evidenced from Sehun except for a small glint in his bespectacled eyes, a glint that only Baekhyun sees and even doubts. It could have been a trick of the light.

Sehun shrugs and strides over to the table. "Let's get this finished then. I still need to get to the office by 10." He sits down and while he drinks his grapefruit juice, he listens to Jongdae, Baekhyun and Chanyeol talk about how EXO Enterprises various corporations are coming along with half an year. In his shielded thoughts, he can't rid himself of the niggling feeling that this girl, this Sana, might cost him more than either he or Jongdae could ever imagine.

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