Chapter 4

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Taeyong, Mark and Jisung stood still in the CEO'S office. Nothing but chaos has been happening in the company after Jaemin's sudden disappearance. The two staff members who were assigned to search for him on the night of his runaway was there along with them as well. Nothing but a nervous

Lee Soo Man was seated right by his desk studying the security footage from the dorms to the main floor. There stood next to him was his assistant with a serious look on her face. Soo Man let out a huge sigh as he placed the tablet carefully on the table and rested his elbows on his desk looking up at the few men in front of him.

"i-I'm so sorry this is my fault," Taeyong started, stuttering his words as he bow down.

"its not," the CEO said to him making everyone shock. They find it pretty unusual for him to get calm in a situation like this.

"but sir-" his assistant barged in.

"its not their fault, its ours. Jaemin left the building through the back door, security is lacking in this building! There aren't any security cameras down there" he spat as he looked, facing his now scared looking assistant after raising his voice.

The room went silent once again. The two staff left the room along with Mark and Jisung, ordering them to proceed with their preparations for their next comeback. Taeyong stepped forward,

"what are we gonna do about this sir?" he asked.

"if jaemin hasn't return here for the next 24 hours, we're gonna sent a few of the staff to go to his house," he suggested.

"but what if he isn't there? what if something bad happens to him?" Taeyong asked as he panicked.

-

Taeyong walked down the hallways with his hand scratching his head. He was concern of his lost member, he needed to know why would he do such a thing. In fact, he was the last person to see him in the company that night. He thought of blaming himself for not thinking how suspicious Jaemin's actions were when he exited his dorm in the middle of the night with a bag pack.

Right now, Taeyong was just trying to keep in mind that the SooMan is gonna do something to bring him back. He turned to the corner and entered the dance studio where the other 127 members are.

Jaehyun stood up from the floor and approached a tired looking Taeyong. He was zoning out as he reached his locker making Jaehyun concern. He waved his hand in front of his friend, trying to get his attention.

"are you okay?" the boy startled as he looked at his friend. Taeyong cleared his throat and smiled.

"yeah,im okay,"

"what did sooman say? Any news on jaemin?"Jaehyun asked.

"he's gonna send some staff to search for him at his family's tomorrow " he stated. Jaehyun laid against the lockers and sighed.

"then what if he's not there? Shouldn't we report to the police?" Taeyong shut the locker door in frustration.

"are you crazy jaehyun? people can't know anything about jaemin's disappearance, sooman will go crazy," he explains.

"look let's just hope he's there tomorrow, let's get back to practice okay," Taeyong spoke one last time before walking away and headed towards the others who were warming up.

-

Shinrae was in the kitchen, quietly eating a bag of chips as she did her work peacefully. It was a biology group presentation, due by the end of the month but she wanted to get over it as soon as possible. She wanted to finish her work earlier so she could have a lot more resting time in the end.

She stared at the laptop screen to see that it was 2 in the morning, Saturday. She yawned as she laid back and stretched her arms. Everyone in the house should be asleep by now and as a 16 year old highschool student still awake this late is not surprising.

A sudden sound of footsteps were heard heading down the downstairs. Shinrae still had her eyes focused on the screen, she knew it was Hyunjae who occasionally loves to wake up in the middle of the night to grab some snacks. But to her surprise, a tall dark figure stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"dad?" she murmured.

"its me," Jaemin enters the kitchen rubbing his eyes.

"oh," she said as she went back to her laptop.

Jaemin made his way towards the kitchen cabinets to get a glass of water. He chugged down his glass quickly in big gulps making Shinrae to stare at him. He held the glass firmly in his hands and sat down on the kitchen table, right across from Shinrae.

"why aren't you asleep yet?" he asked.

"school work," she said making him nod.

She had her eyes glued onto the screen while jaemin was just sitting there in his seat. He had trouble falling asleep due to a lot of things thats in his mind at the moment. As seconds turns to minutes, Shinrae added a few touches to her part of her presentation before saving the file.  She then gathered up all her stuff and didn't realize Jaemin was still in front of her, zoning out.

"are you okay?" she asked.

"uh yeah. I'm just having a hard time falling asleep," he explains.

She made a face and continued putting her stuff away, into her bag along with her laptop in her hands. She stood up and looked at him.

"come with me," she started to walk, leaving him confused as he turned to look at her.

"trust me, i won't do anything to you," she said as she made her way up the stairs.

-

Both individuals were now outside at the upstairs balcony. The view from up there actually took a pretty good glimpse of the city. Shinrae then went up the ledge and climbed up towards the roof making Jaemin's eyes widen. She popped her head down and told him to come up with her.

He hesitated at first but he started to make a move and climb up the ledge. Shinrae grabs a hold on his hand to help him up. Finally, the two of them sat down, admiring the night view.

"this is what i would always do if i couldn't fall to sleep," she said, making Jaemin to turn to her.

"admiring the view and feel the cool breeze, its relaxing," she smiled as she closed her eyes as the cool air hits the two of them.

Jaemin had his legs up to his chest and closed his eyes too. He thought that Shinrae's explanation was true, it was pretty relaxing. There was nothing but silence between the two, jaemin was so caught up with the breeze, smiling to himself as he tries to clear his mind. He was enjoying himself.

Shinrae had slowly fluttered her eyes open and turned to him. She had a small smile on her face as she saw him smile. He was at ease. Shinrae didn't realized that she has been staring at Jaemin for a long time till he finally fluttered his eyes open.

"I'm sorry about today," she said. She was talking about what happened to the two in her bedroom.

"its okay," He smiled. Both of them looked away. Another moment of silence, she turned to him once more.

"you can tell me you know,"

"-not about you, but why did you run away," she explains. Jaemin looked down and sighed.

"being an idol is not easy as you think it is," he started.

"-i just had to," he continued as he turned to look at her.


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