Six

"Jangmin!" My voice rang out in the empty halls.

"Jangmin!" No answer. Everything was silent. He wasn't in class, he wasn't at his locker, in any of the classrooms, bathrooms, or the cafeteria. Plus he wasn't answering my calls. I was so worried I could barely breathe as I ran through the halls with Eunwoo. I had called Uncle Dong but Jangmin wasn't at home either.

"Jangmin where are you?!" I had already checked the roof, the pool, and even out in the court. He was nowhere.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" A loud yell came from behind me. I turned around in surprise to see MJ running towards us. I stared at him. What was he doing here?

"Soohyun! Is it true that Jangmin is missing?" he must've been out on all the news. I nodded as he stood bent over and panting; looking shocked.

"We can't find him anywhere." Eunwoo said. MJ straightened and looked thoughtful,

"Wait, I did see him with several other guys not long after you left class. They went out the back exit." He frowned at me and I glanced at Eunwoo. He shrugged.

"So you're saying he ran away?" I crossed my arms, not wanting to believe Myungjun. MJ shrugged at me,

"I don't know, I just saw him leave."

"Then why isn't he answering my calls? He would never leave me in the dark like this." I took out my phone, dialing his number yet again.

"Well, something could have happened, I didn't recognize the guys as guys from our class." MJ went on. I looked up from dialing.

"You mean he wouldn't know them?" I remembered the wounds on Jangmin the first day. The bruises he'd come home with. The secrets he never told me. What was going on?

"Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this." Eunwoo said, making me even more anxious.

"Guys!" This time it was Baeksoon and Sanha, followed by Moonbin and- my breath caught in my throat- Minhyuk. From their faces I guessed they hadn't found him.

"We looked everywhere." Sanha said. I glanced back at MJ, hoping he knew more about my brother's whereabouts.

"What do we do now?" Moonbin said in a pouty voice. Eunwoo sighed,

"Class starts soon. If he doesn't show up we might have to call the police."

"The police?!" Sanha's eyes widened.

I found myself staring at the ground. This couldn't be happening. It never had happened before. We were always together. If we were lost, in trouble, scared, we were together. For the first time, I found myself alone. Separated. My hands were sweating as I clutched my phone.

"Soohyun." I felt Eunwoo's hand on my shoulder. I looked up slowly and met his eyes. He looked concerned. I blinked at him, wondering why my vision was blurry.

"You're.." He held up a hand to my face. I stepped away quickly and realized I was crying again. I turned away in embarrassment; wiping the tears away. Thankfully everyone else had returned to their classes. I didn't want Minhyuk to see me crying.

"Are you okay?" Eunwoo laid his hand on my arm. I straightened and nodded quickly,

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Come on, class will be starting soon. We still haven't eaten." He gently took my wrist and led me to the stairs.

"Why are we going to the roof?" I asked him as we climbed the stairs to the upper floor. I wondered silently why he was acting weird. He looked excited, much different from a couple of minutes ago. He had changed from scared and worried to jumpy and bright. Up the three flights of stairs he led me, till we were standing next to each other on the roof, the cool air kissing our skin. I felt the wind rush through my long black hair, a feeling that was so refreshing to my stressed body. The cloudy sky was still brighter than the dim halls. Eunwoo stood in front of me, a smile appearing on his face;

"Close your eyes." he said. I was confused but obeyed, squeezing my eyes shut. I heard his footsteps as he walked off and was a bit concerned,

"Eunwoo?"

"It's okay, keep your eyes closed." He answered. More silence. I considered peeking to see what he was doing. Then his footsteps as he returned.

"Alright, open your eyes."

I opened them to see Eunwoo standing in front of me again, this time holding something in his hand outstretched to me. An ice cream cone? I frowned at him, confused. What about class? What about Jangmin?

"Its for you silly." He laughed and I took the ice cream from him. Holding his own ice cream, he skipped to the edge of the roof and put his hands out, looking like he was expecting to grow wings. I felt a smile pull at the edges of my mouth as I tore the wrapper of my ice cream and took a bite, letting the sweet flavors dissolve in my mouth.

"Is it good?" Eunwoo turned around, Ice cream on his lips as he awaited my answer. Smiling, I nodded. He let out a satisfied sigh,

"I was worried. It makes me worry when you cry."

I took another bite of my ice cream and avoided his eyes. It wasn't something I could control, and I'm sure he was only confused. We barely knew anything about each other. Yet here we were, standing together on the rooftop sharing ice cream. Was this what friends were like?

My phone vibrated in my pocket, breaking me from the thoughts. I pulled it out quickly and my heart jumped to my throat. Hands shaking I answered the call.

"Jangmin?" My voice was strained. Eunwoo's eyes widened as he heard me mention the name of my brother.

"Where are you Soohyun? Class is starting." He sounded annoyed. I looked up at Eunwoo who was licking his ice cream cone before turning back to my phone.

"I was looking for you. Where are you?"

"I went out to look for something. I'm waiting in class right now, are you with Eunwoo?"

"Yeah. We're coming." I heard my brother hang up and turned to face Eunwoo who was still distracted with his ice cream.

"Hurry up, Jangmin's waiting." Without waiting for an answer I shoved my ice cream in his hand and ran to the stairs. Why hadn't Jangmin answered my calls? Why hadn't he told me anything? Why was I left out on all of this?

"Hey! Slow down or you'll trip and break something!" Eunwoo called after me but I wasn't listening to him. I couldn't be late to class again. As soon as I burst through the door I found my brother sitting at his seat. He looked up and we met eyes.

What happened? There was a new scratch on his cheek and another bruise near his eye. He looked worse. He looked scared, worried. I knew there was more to this than he had told me. But why was he keeping it from me?

"Class is starting! Find your seats!" At the teachers voice the students scrambled to sit down. Eunwoo was the last to class, a bit of ice cream still on his face. He looked at me, then Jangmin, then the teacher who was giving him a nasty look. The whole class looked lost.

Sitting down beside me he leaned closer to whisper,

"What happened to Jangmin?"

I scooted away from him and examined his face, reaching up to wipe the ice cream from his lip. His face turned beet red and I shook my head at him,

"Geez"

Thankfully he didn't bother me after that and I actually found myself paying attention to the lesson. After a couple more lectures and a long list of homework the teacher glanced at the clock. There were still two minutes till the bell would ring,

"Midterms are approaching fast. Hopefully some of you use that as motivation to work harder." She met eyes with some of the students. I was glad I wasn't one of them.

Even after the bell rang and the class was nearly empty Jangmin didn't say a word. He was packing up his things diligently, not looking up at where I was standing, watching him.

"Hey, Jangmin-ah." I spoke his name, dropping the formalities. Jangmin's head jerked up,

"Soohyun! I'm still older than you even if it's by thirty minutes!" He reached out to slap me on the shoulder but I ducked away; giggling and hiding behind Eunwoo. He shook his head at me with a laugh. It was always fun teasing him, Mother could never scold me because we were technically born at the same time.

"You still haven't told me why you're all beat up." I pointed to his face. He swung his backpack onto his shoulders and tipped his head to look at me,

"I fell, remember?" Standing up, he gave a nod to Eunwoo who was still smiling at my childishness.

"Now lets go, I'm hungry for supper." He sounded impatient and pouted, making me roll my eyes and step away from Eunwoo.

Yet his vagueness made me angry. Did he not trust me? What was going on with him? I decided to let it go, since he seemed to be okay.

"Hey Soohyun!" that one annoying voice was back, making me want to run far away from it. An excited looking MJ burst through the door, waving at me cheerily. I glared back at him.

"Yah, I have a deal to make with you." He was smiling like an idiot in front of me.

"Well, see you tommorow Soohyun!" Eunwoo was leaving the class, waving at me. I gave him a desperate look. He cant just leave me with this crazy student! But he was already out the door with Jangmin. Leaving me, with Myungjun.

"Okay, so I'll say this quickly." Sat back on the desk with his legs crossed, he looked like he was having fun. I crossed my arms and sulked. He leaned closer, a weird look in his eyes,

"I can help you with your crush." His voice was only a whisper and he sounded like it were top secret. I backed away,

"What?"

"Here's what I thought." He cleared his throat and sat back on the desk as if he were perparing for a speech. I wished he'd just make sense so I could go home.

"If I get Rocky and his friends to sit at your table, will you forgive me for the paper ball incident?" I could see his fingers crossed behind his back. What the heck was he talking about?

"Who's Rocky?"

MJ's face fell, "You don't have a crush on him?"

"Could you stop speaking nonsense?" I grabbed my bag, done with his jokes and attempted to flee. He jumped up,

"Wait wait! You like Minhyuk right?"

I turned around, giving him an unamused look. Why did he care? Was he going to tease me about it?

"I can help you. I know Minhyuk very well." he winked at me and I felt like face palming.

"So only if I forgive you?"

He nodded. I met his eyes and thought, wondering what this troublesome jerk was going to do to get Minhyuk to notice me. But he actually looked sincere. Sighing in defeat, I answered him,

"Fine. Deal."