A Killer's Obsession

Chapter 12

Lily Pov:

"Oh my god! So you're telling me Aera got kidnapped by thirteen hotties?" Kyujin exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Kyujin! This is serious business!" Haewon snapped back.

"Sorry. Sorry. But I just can't get my head around the claim that those boys are secretly baddies or something."

"Ugh. Kyujin. . ."

I bit my lip in worry. I could see both sides of the argument. While on one hand it was quite worrisome that Aera hadn't been at school, she could just be sick right?

"Are you sure she's just not feeling well?" I asked.

"She hasn't responded to any of my texts or calls, Lily. You know that's weird. Whenever she was sick before she always left us a message." Haewon replied.

"Fine. But now what?"

"We will investigate of course."

I gulped.

"I'm not sure that we should do this, Haewon. Maybe call the police first?"

"No. Let's first make sure that she is indeed in trouble before we call. Don't want to make a false alarm now do we?"

I looked at Kyujin before nodding.

"Great. Let's head to her apartment."

"Uhm. I'm actually hungry. Can we get something to eat first?" Kyujin spoke suddenly.

"Ugh. Fine. We'll go to The Kangaroo and then we'll stop by her apartment."

"Perfect! Let's go, adventure time!" Kyujin squealed, skipping out the door.

I sighed. This was a bad idea.

A few minutes later:

"Here you go ladies. 1 hot chocolate, 1 strawberry acai lemonade, 1 white mocha frappuccino.3 lemon loaves, 1 chocolate muffin, 2 bagels with cream cheese, 5 blueberry scones, and a cheese and ham croissant. Will there be anything else?"

"No that will be all, Minho. Thank you so much!" Haewon smiled before glaring at Kyujin.

"Girl. are you really gonna eat all that?" I hissed.

Kyujin shrugged.

"I told you I was hungry! Food is life, dude!"

"Ugh. You're so lucky that Chris gives a 50% discount otherwise you would be 6 ft under." Haewon growled.

"I'm fucking broke now." She continued.

"Calm down, you'll be fine."

"Whatever. Just finish up so we can leave."

"Hey, girls."

I turned and noticed Chris heading over a worried look on his face.

"So she's not with you guys either."

I shook my head.

"Aera hasn't been at work for a while. I thought she was occupied with her studies or something, but now that she's not here with you three. . . did those two do something to her? No. It couldn't be. . ."

"What two?" I leapt up.

"On the last day I saw Aera, she told me two males were acting strange around her. Like constantly looking at her and not leaving till closing time. She felt uncomfortable so I drove her home."

"Do you have any information on what they looked like?" Haewon jumped in.

"Unfortunately n-"

"I do." A deep voice sounded from behind.

I peered around and realized that Felix had silently made his way over to our table.

"I had gone out to see how everything was going, and noticed Aera staring out into space, a worried look plastered over her face. And as Chris said, there were two dudes staring at her. One was short, and kinda reminded of a grumpy mouse, and the other had sharp eyes in the 10:10 position, and had the face of a hamster."

"Isn't that Jihoon and Soonyoung?" Kyujin asked.

"How did you know based on that description?"

"Listen girlie, when someone is handsome you remember their facial features well."

"Fine."

"Well then, that confirms it. Those 13 guys are up to no good." Haewon spoke as she stood up.

"Kyujin pack the rest of the food, we're heading to the apartments."

A short drive later:

"Aren't we breaking and entering illegally?" Kyujin muttered as we trudged up the stairs to the 17th floor.

I rolled my eyes and ran up ahead. As I reached closer and closer to Aera's home a sense of dread overwhelmed my heart. My fears were confirmed when I reached the slightly ajar door. On the floor was a metal instrument and a destroyed lock suggesting a break in.

"Lily. Find anything?" Haewon called after me.

"Yeah. . . you guys should see this."

A few minutes later the three of us sat down at the dining table discussing our findings. The said metal lockpick and broken padlock. Two pairs of boot marks on the floor near the door, both different sizes indicating two intruders. Two bowls of half eaten curry. Perhaps the pair had been waiting for a while before Aera had arrived? Various pieces of clothing and items from Aera's bedroom had also been taken. For what reason though remained unknown. And finally a broken shard of a bottle with a crossed out label, and a piece of cloth.

"God this thing stinks!" Kyujin complained, making a face at the scrap of fabric in her hands.

"Let me see." I spoke, holding my hand out.

I took a small whiff and recoiled.

"Dude. This is chloroform." I exclaimed.

"How do you know?" Haewon asked.

"My major is in crime, remember? I once took a class about chemicals and drugs used by criminals, and Professor San made us waft a small amount of chloroform. I could never forget that smell. It's unmistakable."

"Isn't that the stuff they use for kidnapping?" Haewon added.

"Yep." I answered.

"Wait. Kidnapping." Haewon gasped.

"Oh god, I feel sick." Kyujin muttered.

"Me too." I sighed.

"Calm down girls. We'll figure this out. We'll figure thi-"

Haewon was unable to finish as she broke into tears.

"Oh my god what if they've hurt her? And Aera confided in me that she didn't feel safe. If she gets hurt it'll be my fault! I-"

"Haewon." I lay a gentle hand on my friend's trembling shoulder.

"It's not your fault. It's theirs. Now you said we can figure this out and we will. C'mon let's take a drive to my house and we can plan there."

"Yeah. I think that would be a good idea." Haewon nodded.

"Are we starting a rescue mission?' Kyujin asked.

I nodded.

"Alright then. Operation Rescue Aera is underway."