Bullets & Bondage

#1 Where Is He?

"I'll see you when you get home from work," you say, kissing your husband in the doorway to your home.

Jeon Jungkook relishes the embrace before being playfully shoved by three-year-old Haneul. Laughing, he picks his little girl up and kisses her cheek.

"I'll see you later, Haneul," Jungkook chuckles.

"Are we gonna play Mario Kart tonight like you promised, dad?" six-year-old Ayden asks, eating cereal at the breakfast table.

"Sure, kiddo," Jungkook replies, "I promised you we would."

He kisses you again and then leaves for work, leaving you to finish getting the kids ready for school.

"Haneul," you say, "come get your shoes on."

After what feels like an eternity later, you've loaded the two kids into the car and driven down the road.

"I'll see you after school," you say, blowing a kiss to Ayden, as he hurries to join his throng of classmates.

Driving a few minutes more, you leave Haneul in the care of her daycare. Hugging her tight, you give her a big kiss and say goodbye.

Now, you must report for your job at the local bank.

"Someone cashed a huge check yesterday, Jeon," your coworker Mike says, sipping a cup of coffee as he leans against the counter. You suddenly have a craving for a Starbucks coffee. "Nearly a million dollars."

"Wish I had that much money," you say.

"Say, doesn't your husband work at the Arlinks Company?" Mike asks.

"Yes," you reply, typing into the computer, unsure of where he's going with that question.

Confusingly, Mike doesn't press but heads back to his station.

You get off work at 5:00 and head to your Mom's to pick the kids up. Twice a week, your Mom picks the kids up from school, one day, you work only a couple of hours, and the other two weekdays, you and Jungkook alternate getting off work early to be with Haneul and Ayden. Jungkook's parents live far enough away that you only see them about once a year.

You pull into the driveway of a familiar white house that marks your childhood home and park the car. Haneul's little fingers are pressed against the glass of the window, her tiny face lights up when she sees you and she quickly disappears from the window.

You can't help but chuckle.

"Mommy!" Haneul exclaims.

She wraps her tiny arms tightly around your legs, as you stand on the porch, facing the open door and your mother's smiling face.

"Was she good today?" you ask her.

"Absolutely amazing," your mother replies.
"Ayden is in the bathroom at the moment, I'll let him know you're here."

Picking Haneul up, you step into the house, inhaling the familiar scents of lavender and old carpet.

Not too long after, you have the kids buckled in and drive home.

"How was today, guys?" you ask Ayden and Haneul.

"We finger painted at my school," Haneul replies excitedly, in her high-pitched voice, staring out the window at the scenery moving by.

"That sounds fun," you reply.

"But, Miss Kang said we had to leave them 'cause they're too wet," Haneul adds.

"And what about you, Ayden?" you ask your son, who seems to be deep in thought as he also stares out the window.

He shrugs. "We learned about numbers and played some fun games. Miss Amy gave me some worksheets to do."

"Fun," you reply, "I'm sure Daddy will love to help you with them."

You pull into the driveway of your home and hear your Doberman barking and scratching at the front door.

"I think Bam needs to go potty," Haneul says.

"You're probably right, Haneul. He's been cooped up in the house all day."

The kids play and explore the rest of the day. Sometime later, the clock strikes 6:45 and Jungkook isn't home at his usual time of 6:15. Normally, you wait for his smiling face to appear through the front door to begin preparing dinner, but, the kids are hungry.

"Maybe he decided to work late?" you say to yourself.

As you prepare dinner, you decide you'd better try calling your husband. The phone rings as it sits on the counter. It rings and rings but never picks up.

Finally, it's 7:30 and the kids have finished eating their dinner of ramen noodles and steamed veggies.

Jungkook still isn't home and hasn't been returning your messages or calls.

"When's dad gonna be home?" Ayden whines, "he promised he'd play Mario Kart with me."

"I dunno, hunny," is all you can say, ruffling his dark hair.

Biting your lip, you try not to think too much about it. "Where is he?"

"Let me try calling Yoshi," you decide.

Jungkook's friendly co-worker picks up immediately.

"Hello, Mrs. Jeon," he says, "what can I help you with?"

"Is Jungkook still at work?" you ask nervously.

"Mrs. Jeon," Yoshi says, "Jungkook left for home almost two hours ago."

"What?" you splutter. He should definitely be home by now.

"Yoshi," you say, "Jungkook isn't home yet."

Yoshi's silent. "Maybe he got stuck in traffic or decided to go somewhere, like the store or something, before coming home?"

The chances of him doing that and still being gone two hours later feels paper thin.

"Maybe," you reply back, biting your lip, "I'll wait and see if he shows up in another half hour. Otherwise, I don't know what to do."

Thirty minutes later and the door still hasn't opened. Bam senses your unease and stays by your side as you pick up the house, after putting the kids to bed, trying to distract yourself.

8:45 and you're starting to panic. What if something bad had happened to him? You know he used to be a special detective, following leads and putting himself in various dangerous situations in order to arrest bad people. But all that was in the past, he'd been forced to leave two years ago. So why wasn't he home yet?

You pace the house, your phone resting on the counter, daring you to call the one person you promised yourself you'd cut all ties with when Jungkook left. The only person you know who can help you. Sure, the police could probably help too, but they don't have the experience and knowledge you know the person you're daring yourself to contact has.

Biting the bullet, you reach for your phone and punch in the numbers. The phone rings for a while before finally picking up.

"Hello?" an all too familiar voice says, his tone serious.

"Jimin?" you say quietly, "I need your help. Jungkook's missing."