MISSING, jongsang

02 ; breaking news

rubbing the remains of his sleep from his eyes, yeosang sat up in his bed, eyes landing on his mother who was pulling open the curtains. sunlight poured into the room, the sudden brightness causing the boy to squint. memories from the previous evening washed over him, and he bit his lip anxiously before speaking, "m-mom?"

"good morning, sweetheart." the warm smile dancing on ms kang's lips caused yeosang to question yesterday's events. "come on, get up. school starts soon."

"i-i know, but... wooyoung. i-is wooyoung okay?" yeosang asked, just to make sure it was just a nightmare, or that the police had found the boy sleeping in a bus stop, or something else that just screamed wooyoung energy. either way, yeosang just hoped the answer was yes. that's all he could ever ask for.

so when his mother shook her head, expression falling as she did so, yeosang's heart dropped. "it takes a while for the police to deal with these kinda things, yeosangie. but they will find him, and he will be okay."

"oh. alright." yeosang pulled the duvet off of his figure and slid out of bed. "i'm getting ready now, so..." he murmured, gaze fixated on his bare feet until his mother left the room.

and as soon as she did leave, yeosang's fist harshly met the wall to his right.

it stung, and for a few moments he just stared at the four spots of blood trickling down his fingers from his knuckles. he then took a long breath, in aim of composing himself. calm down. you need to calm down. it seemed like his body had other plans, however, because a stream of hot tears rushed down his cheeks.

"what the fuck," yeosang muttered, reality finally dawning on him. his best friend was missing. maybe even kidnapped. there's a chance that he wasn't even with them anymore, for all he knew.

no, it's okay. mrs jung said they'll find him. mom said they'll find him. it has to be okay.

yeosang walked to his bathroom, immediately heading to the sink. he twisted the tap on, before moving his hand underneath the cold water, hissing at the pain that shot through his hand. you did this to yourself, he told himself, every time he wanted to cry out in agony. after, he splashed the water onto his face, brushed his teeth, used the toilet, and changed into his school uniform.

as selfish as it sounded, yeosang was dreading college without his best friend by his side. although wooyoung — being the social butterfly he was — had effortlessly befriended at least a quarter of the students, it was usually just the two of them. therefore, yeosang didn't know what he was going to do, but he sure hoped that he'll end up figuring it out sooner or later.

slipping his phone into his pocket, yeosang swept a hand through his strawberry-blond hair as he rushed down the stairs. shit, shit, shit, he mentally cursed at the time. he sprinted into the kitchen, finding a breakfast bar to eat on the way to school, but before he could reach the door, a shout for him stopped his tracks.

"yeosang, sweetheart, get in here!" the boy's mother ordered from the room to his left: the living room.

ignoring her, yeosang reached for the keys, close to inserting it into the keyhole. "sorry, mom, but i'm going to be late!"

"it's wooyoung, yeosang!"

the teen froze momentarily, before racing for the living room, so fast that he almost tripped over his own feet. "what is it? did they- did they find him?"

"come here, sweetheart," was all ms kang said, patting the space besides her on the couch. yeosang obeyed, taking the seat next to his mother, who had her eyes glued on the television. hopefulness lingered within them, as if she was expecting something.