pranks | lee donghyuck.

27. clue 4

we didn't talk to each other at all other than, "want a ride home?" and "yes." and millions of apologies on jeno's end especially.

music was playing on a low volume in the car and i stared out the window, watching as blurs of scenery passed by.

"i'm sorry, minji." i heard again.

"it's fine." i said not turning to him. "if anything, i'm sorry."

and we stayed quiet once again. jeno pulled up in front of my house and walked me to my front door.

"minji. i know i've said this way too many times. i'm sorry. i'm beyond sorry. please forgive me for being selfish." he bent his head down and held his hands together. 

"jeno, get up." i pushed him on the shoulder. i felt horrible for making him feel horrible. this is all my fault. he stood up straight again. 

"it's over. we're never gonna find him. so just forget about me okay?" i muttered, rubbing my arm.

"minji, i'm not just gonna forget about you. and what's up with that attitude? where's the minji  that wouldn't rest until she found another clue? you're really giving up so soon?" jeno looked at me with a confused expression. 

i didn't say anything.

"minji? are you seriously just calling it quits? that's not the minji i know-"

"minji you know? then who is the minji you know, huh?" i nearly shouted at him. i could feel a waterfall behind my eyes. "you don't know me at all! you don't know how fucking tired i am. i'm tired of every good thing i ever have, always running away from me. you don't know how much i hate myself for driving everything that loves me, away forever!" i looked down at the floor and covered my face so jeno wouldn't see me cry.

after a few seconds, i felt his arms wrap around me. he was petting my hair softly.

"i'm not leaving you. hyerin isn't leaving. neither is mark and yukhei. so don't say everything." he whispered as i continued to cry.

we stood there a while before i suggested we go inside. we had a whole afternoon ahead of us. a whole afternoon to keep looking for clues.

('･ᴗ･ ' )

i laid on my back flipping through the pages of different magazines i had, hoping to find something abnormal. jeno was looking along the book case.

"who designed your room?" he asked.

"my mom. she's really into all that kind of stuff."

"it's nice." he said, smiling as he looked at different pictures i had on my vanity.

"thanks." 

a few more minutes passed of looking.

"did you have some kind of picture hanging here or something?" he asked, grazing his fingers over the wall. 

i contorted my face. why would he think i had a picture on the wall? i never hung pictures on the wall.

"no, why?" i sat up and squinted my eyes in his direction. 

"there's a hole here. there's actually two."

i stood up to see what he was talking about and sure enough there were two holes in the wall. very small ones, made by push pins or something. 

"what the hell?" i touched the holes in the wall. i certainly didn't put them there. now that i was looking at it, my book case was moved. it was a lot closer to my vanity last time i checked.

"jeno. what if donghyuck did this? what if it's another clue?"

we stared at each other wide eyed before pulling books off of their shelves and tossing them on the floor. we skimmed through pages and pages until jeno found one book.

"minji. is it okay for me to look in this?"

it was a diary. my diary. a diary i used to write in when i was younger. it helped me a lot when my parents split.

i held my hand out to take it from him. it was bulkier than i remembered. i skimmed though the pages and sure enough, in the middle of it, i found a paper folded a bunch of times. 

i tossed my diary on the floor, not caring about it much at this point.

the paper was actually a map. a map of south korea. and it was folded 4 times. when it was opened, i noticed something. 

two holes. and a dotted line between them.

jeno and i stared as we hung it up against the wall.

"there's push pins on that desk over there. get me two." i said. jeno came back seconds later and handed me two push pins. 

i pushed them in where the holes were in the wall.

jeno and i backed up and admired the map when we saw it fully. two points connecting from where we lived to seoul.

"donghyuck has family in seoul, doesn't he?"

i nodded, remembering the day in taco bell he told me about them.

"he wants us to find him. if not he wouldn't have moved the bookcase. he wouldn't have left all these clues. we have to go find him. we have to go to seoul."

"minji. there's nearly 10 million people living there. how are gonna find 1 out of those 10 million?"

"it's easier than finding 1 out of 8 billion, isn't it?" 

and with that, jeno left mark a simple text.

jeno;

come to minji's after school. bring yukhei and hyerin. we're going on a road trip.

----------

iyvibuyub hey.

so yeah, that's where this is heading.

oh and 1.5k reads?!?!?!?!??! TYSM!!

-mina