𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑰𝒔 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔 ✓

Chapter 9

MAL hurried to hug her friends, who were the members of her husband's group, with a wide smile on her face.

"Welcome to the practice room again!" Chan, the leader of the group and the eldest, was quick to give the girl a tight, reassuring hug. The other members soon followed, trying their best to provide at least a little bit of comfort to the girl, who was probably going through a rough time with her husband's disappearance.

"Thank you so much, guys!"

After hugging the rest of the seven members, the girl then stood and asked them questions about how they have been holding up.

"Honestly it's..." Minho began, "it's practically the same situation when our dumb manager sent him away because of the rumors, like he's not with us, but..."

"Except that we know he's not out there, having fun with you." Changbin finished, biting his lower lip in embarrassment and guilt. "But it's us who should be asking you how are you doing."

Mal sent her best friend a faint nod, "it's terrible, honestly. I hate it. They keep telling me not to interfere with the investigation, but they're not helping."

The members nodded sadly, avoiding her gaze.

"Did they tell you anything?" Felix asked, tears already welling up in his eyes. She knew that he had missed his best friend, and so did she, in all honesty.

"They only told me that he was kidnapped, and they can't find any leads. I found his phone a few days ago, so the detective told me that they would see it. They didn't find anything that could lead them to the kidnappers though."

The members sighed in disappointment.

"I wish there was something we could do to help Hyunjin hyung." Jeongin groaned in frustration, pouting his lips.

"There isn't," Mal replied with sparkling eyes, "but we're going to find a way. Trust me."

"What are you going to do, noona?" Seungmin asked. "Whatever it is, we want you to be safe just as much as us."

"Oh, honey, don't worry about me," she replied with an insincere smile, "I'll be fine. I'm going to work tomorrow though. I know sitting by and doing nothing is not exactly 'helping', so I need to distract myself."

Before the members could get a chance to ask the girl another question, the door to the wide, almost empty practice room opened. Some of the members looked up, and could almost groan in dismay if it wasn't for the fear that he might hear them.

The tanned skin. The tall figure. The slim body despite the man being in his late forties whatsoever.

Jinyoung Park, their manager.

"Hello, sir!" Chan greeted with a nervous smile, fidgeting with his fingers.

"Why aren't you practicing?" The manager asked in Korean through gritted teeth, his eyes sharply resting on each member.

Until they landed on Mal, who eyed him up and down in dismay.

After all, he was the same man who had excluded her husband for four months because of fake rumors.

"And what is she doing here?" Jinyoung asked in Korean, crossing his arms in frustration.

"She came by to visit," Changbin replied, visibly rolling his eyes, "what else?"

Jinyoung allowed a firm hand of his to rub his temple.

"Well then," he began again, "kick her out— make her leave, you hear me?"

It was only then that he felt his blood boil, as he had noticed that there were only seven of them. Not eight, like he had expected.

"And where on earth is Hyunjin?"

Mal scoffed.

"What, do you live under a rock or something?" She retorted in Korean, to their shock.

As the members had been speaking to her in English during their conversations together, it didn't click to them that the girl could understand Korean, let alone speak it so fluently.

"What did you just say?" The manager glared at the girl.

She smirked.

"Do you live under a rock or something?" She repeated, glaring back at him. "Don't you know that my husband was kidnapped over ten days ago?"

Jinyoung took a moment to process the question, and when he did, he turned to send death glares at the seven members.

"Oh, really?" The members gulped in fear and unease. "So why wasn't I informed about this?"

Chan ran a hand through his hair, nervously avoiding his gaze.

"We... We thought you knew, sir."

Before the man could yell a reply of anger, they heard the door swing open once again.

"Mr. Jinyoung!" A female voice yelled in Korean, causing them to turn their heads in its direction. "Aren't you going to come to film the TikTok video with us?"

It was a beautiful girl in her late teenage years, with a slim, attractive body and sharp, captivating features. Medium-length black hair with pink highlights along with beautiful cat-like eyes.

The girl took nervous glances around the room, towards her manager, then at the group members.

Then, at the older girl standing in the middle of the room.

She gasped in shock and enthusiasm.

"Or, you know what?!" She yelled, hurrying towards the center of the room to grab Mal's hand. "You must be so busy, sir! I'm going to take her instead!"

Pulling Mal away from the group, the girl soon waved at the members, and her manager before closing the door behind her, her hand still attached to Mal.

The older girl made no effort in protesting whatsoever.

"Wait- Yeji!" Chan yelled. "Do not post that TikTok video!"

He got no answer.

The members stared at where their friend once stood, their expressions motionless with desperation.

"Please tell her not to post the video until the police find Hyunjin," Chan begged his manager, "or else people will think that no one is giving a shit about Hyunjin."

Jinyoung rolled his eyes and crossed his arms once again, this time turning around to walk out of the room.

"Whatever!" He yelled. "Go back to practice!"

The members rolled their eyes and poked their tongues out in sarcasm, then made efforts to go back to their work.

And no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't force the image of Hyunjin out of their minds.