Seokjin
*Around 6 months later*
I sighed as I sat at my desk in my home, looking at the photo of Dylan. Today marked one year from his disappearance. I ran my hand over the child’s face as I felt that familiar ache return to my chest.
‘Where are you Dylan? Where did you disappear to?’ I whispered just as the door opened. I looked up and saw Hana walking in with Yoseob.
‘Appa!!’ Yoseob called out as he ran towards me. I smiled as I put down the photo and opened my arms. He quickly scrambled onto me as I hugged him tightly.
‘Sorry yeobo, I know you’re working but baby wanted to come see his appa,’ Hana said with a smile.
‘Is that so my little pumpkin pie?’ I asked as I kissed his head. He giggled and nodded as he wrapped his small arms around my neck.
‘Yes Appa. I missed you,’ he said. I cooed as I started peppering his face with kisses. He giggled loudly as he got ticklish.
‘APPA!’ Yoseob whined while I continued to hug and kiss him.
‘Appa won’t leave you now,’ I said as he laughed loudly. I looked up to see Hana who stood resting by the door, smiling fondly. ‘Come here yeobo,’ I called out.
She smiled even more as she approached me. I manoeuvred Yoseob so he would be on one lap and reached for Hana’s hand. I took it and pulled her close to me and forced her onto my other lap.
‘My boys,’ Hana said as she touched Yoseob’s cheeks gently while Yoseob yawned as he rested his head on my chest.
‘My world,’ I said, before I looked up. ‘You and Yoseob, you’re both my world,’ I said as I leaned in to give Hana a kiss.
She smiled into the kiss as she touched my cheek. ‘I love you,’ she said. ‘I’ll take Yoseob to his bed,’ she said and I nodded.
I watched her as she lifted him up as he snuggled to her, his energy melting away and being quickly replaced with tiredness. I watched as Hana left the room with our son in her arms.
I turned back to my laptop as I checked my mail. I had sent the report of our last case which was quite bizarre since it involved a freaking cult. In all my years, it must have been one of the weirdest cases I ever dealt with.
I smiled as I closed the internet tab, revealing my wallpaper. It was one with the whole group and everyone’s partner. The photo had been taken at Namjoon’s and Boram’s wedding. Their wedding ceremony was stunning and the reception was really great too. Everyone had a blast and although the team has only been together for six months and a half, it felt as if we have known each other longer.
I closed off my laptop and rearranged my desk, wanting to go to sleep next to my wife when my eyes fell back on Dylan’s photo. I sighed as I took it in my hand again.
‘I’m sorry I failed you Dylan,’ I said as I forced out a fake smile. The door opened again and Hana walked in. I put the photo down as I looked at her, trying to hide my sadness away.
‘Yeobo,’ Hana said as she walked next to me and sat on my lap again. ‘What’s wrong hmm?’ she asked as she played with my hair.
‘Hmm nothing babe,’ I said, trying to hide it but she knew me too well. She gave me an unconvinced look as she stared at me.
‘Come on babe, you know you cannot hide things from me. I know there’s something upsetting you. I noticed it as soon as I came in with Yoseob but didn’t want to say anything in front of our soon,’ she said and I sighed.
‘You always knew how to read me so well baby,’ I said and she shrugged.
‘We’ve been together for a long time yeobo, not to mention, we’ve been married for years now too,’ she said as she continued to play with my hair, twirling the ends around her finger.
‘You’re right. It’s just,’ I said, taking a deep breath, ‘today marks one year since Dylan disappeared,’ I said. Instantly, her face showed recognition.
‘Dylan is that boy that got kidnapped from the park, right?’ she asked and I nodded.
‘Yeah. Everything had happened so fast. It infuriates me that I never went anywhere with it you know? There was never any ransom and thank God no body was ever found but every clue led to a dead end. The not knowing is just too cruel,’ I said.
‘But you never quite gave up on that case did you?’ she asked and I shook my head. I had kept trying to look whenever I had some free time on my head. I had visited a lot of towns and cities in South Korea, trying to look for him.
‘I don’t think I ever can. I owe that much to him and his mother,’ I said. ‘I’ve been thinking of taking a couple of days and going to do another round in Daegu,’ I said.
‘Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. I can come with you too and maybe you could ask Yoongi to tag along. He’s from there and he knows the place. Maybe he can help you a bit more,’ she said.
‘I’ll see. I’ll try to talk to him tomorrow morning at work. Now let’s go sleep, you look and sound exhausted yeobo,’ I said as I touched her cheek.
‘Had a long, long day at the office in order to cover that whole cult thing. Seriously, I still get the chills from it,’ she said as she stood up.
‘I know right. I swear, I never worked on something creepier or weirder,’ I said as we walked towards the bedroom.
‘I’m glad it’s over. Cults are never a good thing. They brainwash people and think of them as being superior to others,’ Hana said.
‘Yeah I know. You should have heard them when we went to arrest them. They thought they had some sort of divine right or something,’ I said rolling my eyes as I took off my shirt.
‘Anyways, let’s not talk about them before going to sleep. I don’t want nightmares thank you very much,’ she said.
‘Well I can think of a way to chase the nightmares away,’ I said.
‘Yah!’ she yelled as she threw her pillow at me. ‘Stop being a pervert,’ she said.
‘I’m your husband. It comes with the terms of condition of marriage to be a pervert with your spouse,’ I said.
‘Oh is that so?’ she asked as she put her hand on her waist and raise one eyebrow as if to challenge me.
‘Of course. Any husband should always remind his wife, or husband in some cases, how much they love them and how much they adore their body,’ I said. She chuckled as we both began to change into our pajamas.
Yoongi
*The next morning*
I looked at my wife who was still sleeping. She looked absolutely beautiful, even like this. She looked peaceful and well rested, unlike the day when she’s always on the go.
Working in the District Attorney’s office is never, never easy and lately, the office has been super busy with the whole cult case. Everyone was running on adrenaline – both cops and prosecution. It had honestly rattled everyone. Everyone on the team had been completely struck dumb with it. I could still not understand how anyone could think of those ideas and even more so succeeding in making it grow.
We were lucky to find out about it and stop it before it could do some real damage to society. Misun was great as usual when it came to working the case as she designated roles. She continued to shine as a team leader in the past six and a half months, making it clear why she deserved that title, even if sometimes she faced discrimination and sexist remarks.
I sighed as I leaned over to my wife and gave her a gentle peck on the head before I got out of bed. I walked quietly out of the room so as not to wake Areum and then went into Bong-Cha’s room. I peaked in and smiled as I saw my daughter also sleeping well.
I walked into the kitchen and started taking out the things I needed for breakfast. I set everything on the table and went to the sink to wash my hands. I set the kettle going as I prepared two mugs.
I kept working until I suddenly felt arms wrapping around my waist. ‘Good morning baby,’ Areum said, kissing my cheek.
‘Good morning love. I was going to bring you breakfast in bed,’ I said, making her giggle.
‘It’s okay. I want to have breakfast with you,’ she said. ‘It smells really good yeobo,’ she said, squeezing at my waist.
‘I’m making some kimchi toast and some scrambled eggs,’ I informed her.
‘Hmm sounds delicious. Can I help in any way?’ she asked and I nodded.
‘Can you do the coffee. The kettle has already boiled and the mugs are on the counter,’ I said.
‘Got it,’ she said as she let go of me and went to the counter. ‘Bong-Cha is still sleeping,’ she informed and I nodded.
‘I went to check in on her before I started working on breakfast,’ I said, just as the doorbell rang. ‘Were we expecting anyone?’ I asked.
‘Not as far as I know. I’ll go get it,’ she said as she put the two mugs down on the table
‘Be careful,’ I warned her. She gave me a “look” and I chuckled. ‘Hey, you know me. I’m always cautious,’ I said.
‘Fine. I’ll go see who decided to visit us in the morning,’ she said as I turned back to the food. I sighed as I realized there was extra. ‘Jin-Oppa!’ I heard my wife exclaim, forcing me to turn around as the two walked into the kitchen.
‘Hyung? I wasn’t expecting you. Is everything okay?’ I asked. He looked tired, like he didn’t get much sleep. ‘Is everyone at home okay?’ I asked again.
‘Yes, yes, Yoongi everyone is fine. Hana already took Yoseob to school so I thought I’d drop by. I needed to talk to you about something, well a bit important,’ he said, scratching the back of his neck.
‘I see. Sure thing. Did you eat?’ I asked, knowing how much my hyung loved to eat.
‘We had a rushed coffee morning,’ he said with a laugh.
‘Then have breakfast with us Jin-Oppa,’ my wife as she came next to us. ‘Yoongi always makes a lot,’ she added.
‘That’s true. I hope you like Kimchi toast,’ I said to which he nodded. ‘Yeobo, can you make some coffee for hyung?’ I asked.
‘Of course,’ she said as she went back to the counter. We worked quickly as I served the food and she brought the coffee. ‘Oppa, do you need me to step out of the room so you can talk privately?’ Areum asked.
‘No, no don’t worry. It’s not like I’m coming to tell him a secret or something,’ Jin said. I could not help but notice there wasn’t his usual cheeriness or energy and I could not help but get worried.
‘Go ahead hyung. Tell me,’ I said as I took a bite out of my toast.
‘Um, okay, so six months before I joined Bangtan, I had landed a case of a boy who disappeared,’ he began.
‘You used to work in the missing and kidnapped people department, right?’ I asked and he nodded.
‘Exactly. There was this boy, five years old named Dylan. I still remember his mother crying in my arms. She was a single mother and she had taken him to the park. She saw another kid fall and went to help him and in the few seconds she bent down to do his laces, her son disappeared,’ Jin explained.
‘Oh God, that’s so scary,’ Areum said, her eyes scrunched together. Her hand went to her necklace which was a locket with a picture of me, her and our daughter. I could not help but imagine if it was my daughter who had gone missing.
‘*, that must have been difficult,’ I said and he nodded. ‘What happened hyung?’ I asked.
‘We followed every lead but it always resulted into a dead end. All we had was a woman caught on camera picking him and running away with him but the cameras never got her face. It’s been a year and I never found a single thing,’ he explained.
‘*. I’m sorry hyung. I know it must have taken a toll on you too,’ I said but he shrugged.
‘It did but it doesn’t matter. I just want to find Dylan. I was planning on going to Daegu to go ask around again. I always go and keep on asking in different places. I was wondering if you would join me. I could use someone who knows Daegu and knows technology the way you do,’ he said.
‘Of course. Count me in,’ I quickly said. ‘If I can be of help, I’d definitely join you. Yeobo what about you?’ I asked.
‘I could use a break from the office and join, if that’s okay with you Oppa,’ Areum said and Jin smiled.
‘My wife and son are joining as well. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to have someone with her,’ he said.
‘It’s settled then. We’ll talk to Misun and the Captain so we can take a few days so we can go. Hyung, send me all you have so I start compiling the information we have and I can try to work on some things myself,’ I said.
‘You’re amazing Yoongi. Thank you so much for accepting to help me,’ Jin said, almost sounding as if he was getting emotional.
‘First off, you’re my hyung and friend. I’ll always help. Secondly, there’s a missing child. Let’s try to find him together,’ I said as he nodded.