Prologue - Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part FiveÂ
Plot: Ring, ring. Will you answer the phone?
Genre: Angst/Suspense - CanonAU (mentions of violence)
I sat in the same corner of the lunchroom as I did every day, many feet away from Oh Sehun and the gaggle of girls he was surrounded by. Despite the distance, their giggles and squeals of laughter were audible.
He sat at the head of the table, eyes downcast, virtually silent save for the occasional protest that left his upturned lips.
He was always a gifted actor, and today was no exception. He wore an air of humility, his tone was soft and light.
His eyes left the cold metal table where he was seated, and they met mine. The timidity melted from his face and his deep, brown eyes betrayed the emotion held deeply within. I saw the slightest hint of confidence in his stare, I saw curiosity, and I saw something else:
I averted my eyes from the baby faced boy in the photo and turned my attention to the girl standing next to him. Those orange shoes. How many times had I seen those shoes plodding around the hallways, standing out amongst the black loafers everyone else wore? And yetâŠ
I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, and I didnât have to turn around to know who the hand belonged to.Â
âSo, what do you think? Do you recognize her?â Chanyeolâs voice was hoarse from shouting at Junmyeon, and it cracked with nearly every word he spoke. i closed my eyes, willing myself to remember something, anything. I began to pace as I dug through every inch of my memory, but I came up empty. She was completely unremarkable aside from her choice in footwear.
I can recall the feeling of Sehunâs lips pressed into my collarbone just by closing my eyes, but I canât remember this girl.Â
I heard a garbled complaint from the corner of the room, and I looked up to see Junmyeon, eyebrows deeply furrowed in frustration, his phone held to his ear as he took short, pacing strides. âThe label wonât answer. Their star model is missing and they donât even give a shit.â He fell into a worn, velvet theater seat, dust floating up from the cushion in clouds. He looked up, his body stiffening as his eyes drifted to Chanyeolâs arm resting on my shoulder. He walked briskly towards us, his phone held in a dangerously loose grip.
The space surrounding us felt frosty, and it wasnât just because the abandoned theater we were in was lacking a working heater. Something had broken between the two men, and despite this, neither one of them dared to voice a single complaint against the other.
The clock was still ticking, and we had gotten virtually nowhere. Too much time had passed since Junmyeon and I had run onto the last train of the night, breathless, sweaty hands clasped together to avoid being separated in the tangle of people. We were naive - no, we had been downright stupid. We had thought this was it, we thought this desolate place was where we would find Sehun. I should have known that nothing would be this simple.
This wasnât the time for me to be weak. I wasted so many weeks, so many days⊠I wasted so much time being quiet, not speaking up, not using my voice.
Now was the time for me to act.
âListen, guys, we can stand here in this cold theater staring at pictures and reading Sehunâs notes until we get frostbite. But in case you hadnât noticed, Sehun is still missing and we havenât gotten any closer to finding him.â I wined at the inflection in my voice, the emotion making my usual soft tone heavy.Â
I looked up at both of the men and watched as they looked at each other, eyes conveying messages that would never be spoken aloud.
Junmyeon turned to me, and the previously smug expression on his face had faded to a look of pain. Every one of his features showed the fear that we all felt.Â
His lips parted, but I cut him off before he could speak a single word.
âYes, Junmyeon. Youâre sorry you were an asshole, you know Iâm just trying to help, youâll take me seriously and stop treating me like a child. Thanks for the apology. Now, where were we again?â I sat down, dust forming small clouds around my head as I ran through the details for the hundredth time. How long had Sehun been missing, again? Only a few days, and yet it felt like months since I got the letter that turned my life upside down. âSo we donât know where Sehun is, but we DO have a strong suspicion of who could have the answers for us. But who is this girl?â I wracked my brain, trying to remember even the briefest memory that included her in it. I came up short.Â
Chanyeol coughed lightly from the dust before breaking my train of thought. âI donât remember her, either.â His eyes were shut tight, and his balled-up fist was pressed against his forehead. âItâs not like itâs been that long since Sehun left high school, but I really donât remember. He had so many friendsâŠâ
ââŠand probably an enemy or two.â Junmyeon scowled. âSehun never knew when to stop being friendly. He gave away his soul in pieces, like candy. He wasnât left with very much of himself to spare.â
The conversation lulled into a heavy silence, and I noticed that Sehunâs phone was still in Chanyeolâs giant hand. I pried his long fingers away from the screen gently. The glass was covered in a thin sheen of sweat from Chanyeolâs palm, and I sighed as I wiped it on the leg of my pants.Â
I tuned out the boysâ uncomfortable conversation as I scrolled through Sehunâs phone, skimming through the file of notes he had kept on our relationship. On his feelings.Â
The more I analyzed and studied his notes, the more numb I felt. Words that could seem romantic to someone else meant virtually nothing to me. Nothing. I spent years pining over Sehun, dreaming of the day heâd walk back in my door and stay. Wishing for a day when he wouldnât leave.Â
Now I knew that day would never come. He would always leave. Heâd plaster a smile on his face, and heâd never give a voice to the doubt that had made a permanent hole in his chest. He would never tell me the truth; whether our of fear or pride, I wasnât sure.
Sehunâs phone rang, a familiar twinkling tune that wormed its way into my head after nights spent with him. But this time, Sehun wouldnât answer and run away.
Because he was gone, and his phone was in my hand.
Chanyeol and Junmyeon stood behind me, each struggling to get Sehunâs phone from my firm grasp. I heard their distant protests, their tense voices begging me not to answer the phone call from the contact labeled as âDO NOT ANSWERâ.
I took an unsteady breath as I jabbed the screen with a shaking finger.
âSheâs not going to answer, you know. She isnât an idiot.â My muffled voice shook through the cloth that was loosening over my mouth, and I knew that my attempts to sound confident were failing.
The girl laughed, that same high-pitched laugh that I had grown so quickly to resent. The laugh that had haunted my dreams for longer than I even remembered.
âSehun, you imbecile. You stupid, stupid boy.â She began pacing in circles around the chair I was tied to, the chair that was stained with my blood and sweat. She continued to speak as she tightened the fabric over my mouth so that I could no longer speak.
âShe read your notes, she read your journal. Do you really think that she wonât wonder? Do you really think she wonât want to know why? She wants answers, and Iâm going to convince her to seek them.
Iâm going to show her who you really are.â
I felt anger boiling in my stomach and rising to my chest like bile.
There was nothing I could say. She was right. Why didnât I ever tell her the truth? Why didnât I ever tell her that I loved her?
I loved her so deeply, even more so now that my secrets had been bared open to her. It felt endless, and I knew that if my love for her were laid over the earth, it would wrap the entire planet up for miles until it swallowed the thing whole.
I was always scared, and my fear had led me here. To the place where Iâd probably die if she didnât find me soon.Â
I had given up on counting the seconds when they turned to minutes, hours, days.
I listened to the dial tone on speaker, mumbling messages under my breath, willing her to hear me. Â
Donât answer. Please, please donât answer. If you only knewâŠ
My screams were silenced by the cloth as I heard her soft voice echo through the phone, bounce off my walls and flow through my head.