Blood and Roses || Lee Taeyong

Chapter 33 | "find her"

"Morning boys!" She said cheerily as she strode into the kitchen the next morning, her hair near and makeup fully done.

"Uh... morning?" Kun said cautiously, sharing confused looks with the other boys.

"What's on the schedule for today?" She asked, taking a sip of coffee with a smile. "Practice? Missions?"

"Uh, nothing really today." Ten answered, still skeptical. "We were just gonna do whatever."

"Great! I could totally use some extra practice time." She laughed out, only making the two boys even more concerned.

"Chaerin, are you alright?" Kun asked carefully.

"Of course I'm alright, I'm great! Why wouldn't I be alright?" She asked with a confused smile.

"Well, I mean, after everything that's happened..."

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Ten asked. "Because-"

"I said I'm fine." She said forcefully, the smile on her face wavering under the pressure in her tone. "If you need me, I'll be training."

With that she strode out of the kitchen and down to the training room. Ten and Kun shared a glance, both of them equally confused and worried about their friend.

- - -

"I don't know what's going on with her." Yuta mumbled nervously as he and Taeyong watched her practicing with Jaehyun, Jaemin, and Jeno. "She shouldn't be this normal."

It had been almost a week since the incident yet Chaerin was acting perfectly fine. She was smiling, cheerful, and upbeat. Anytime any of the members asked her about how she was feeling or even began to bring up what happened, she was quick to end it with a forceful 'I'm fine'.

"She's in denial, Yuta." The leader replied. "That's all this is."

"Denial?"

"Yeah. She's running away from the grief and reality of everything by trying to pretend it never happened."

"Can that work?"

"For a short period, maybe. But eventually it'll catch up to her, and once it does, she's going to be hurting bad." He sighed, watching her continue to practice.

"Well, what should we do?" Yuta asked, nervously watching his best friend.

"I don't think there's much we can do, honestly." Taeyong sighed in return. "We can't force her to confront her feelings if she's not ready. We just need to be there for her until she is ready and let her grieve when she needs to."

"I'm worried."

"I know, Yuta, I am too. But we have to let her find her way through this." Taeyong said lowly. "She chose to stay with us, which means this certainly won't be the last time she looses someone she loves. Better she try to figure out how to deal with it now rather than later."

With a nod, Taeyong turned away, retreating up the stairs and back to his office as Chaerin practiced with the boys.

- - -

Taeyong looked up from his phone as Yuta walked into the main room, the panicked look on his face instantly alerting the leader despite the loud voices of the members around him. Seeing him looking, Yuta quickly made his way around Haechan, who was currently wrestling with Renjun, and walked up to the leader.

"Everything alright Yuta?" He asked, putting down his phone.

"Have you seen Chaerin?" Taeyong shook his head no. "Okay because the last anyone saw her was at her practice with Jaehyun. He said she wanted to stay longer after he left but no one has seen her since."

Taeyong wanted to brush it off as her just taking a walk or something, but he couldn't ignore the unease he felt prickling under his skin.

"Tell the guys to search our territory, I'll have Hendery track her." He said, standing up. "If she's off the property, I'll go find her. Stay here with the guys."

Yuta nodded at the older boy, quickly relaying the news to the younger members sprawled on the ground as the search began. Taeyong walked briskly down the hallway, hearing the sounds of the members calling for Chaerin as he went.

He quickly scanned his fingerprint on a heavy steel door, watching as it slid open before running in.

"Taeyong? Everything alright?" Hendery asked as the older boy barged in.

"Chaerin may have gone missing, I need you to track her."

Hendery quickly nodded, adapting to the serious situation as his finger flew across the keyboard, pulling up a large map. Shortly after, a pink dot started blinking in the upper left hand corner.

"That's her isn't it." Taeyong asked with a frustrated sigh, seeing that she was quite a ways away from their house.

"Yeah. She's in a building bordering the Han river." Hendery said with a nervous nod. "I'll send her location to your car. You should probably get going."

With a quick dip of his head, Taeyong turned and walked out of the room, making a B-line for the garage.

"Taeyong!" Yuta grabbed his arm, stopping him. "We searched all over for Chaerin, but-"

"She's not here."

"What?"

"She's not on our property." Taeyong said quickly. "I'm going to get her, tell the guys to stop searching. Everything will be fine."

"Taeyong wait!" The leader turned to face Yuta. "Bring her back, alright? Safe and sound. Promise me you will."

The two held a long stare, both of their love for her showing in their eyes, one platonic and the other much stronger. Taeyong stared at Yuta before giving him a firm nod.

"I promise."

With that, he spun on his heel and ran into the garage, hopping in his car and zooming through the city. As much as he wanted to convince himself that she was just out for a walk, he couldn't shake the dread in his heart. He knew something was wrong, and he only prayed that he would make it in time to make good on his promise to Yuta.