Happy Endings ⁘ Chenle

74 ⁘ Cult

⁘ 74 ⁘

Chenle's house was brightly lit. It was lively inside with plenty of people occupying the kitchen and living room. As if they themselves had any authority to do so, Da-eun's friends had all gathered to figure out where she was. 

Juwon and Hayoon were calling friends from uni, trying to figure out if one of them had heard from Da-eun. Suk-ho and Chenle were actively in contact with the police who sent over an officer. Mark was busy calming down Min-jung and the rest of his friends while trying his best to act like he himself wasn't worried sick.  

Similarly, In-hyuk decided that, while everyone was trying their hardest for Da-eun, he was going to try his hardest for everyone else. He checked in on them, offered them something to drink, tried to distract them when their minds became too cluttered. He thought that that might not have been much but it was all he felt like he could do. 

"Okay guys," Min-jung said as she came rushing into the room. She just got off a phone call with her dad. "My dad checked - Eunnie's not with her father."

The reassurance this created was quickly swallowed up by an overwhelming feeling of dread. It led to the realization that they had just ruled out one of the two possibilities they had come up with regarding Da-eun's whereabouts.

Chenle stared at Min-jung emptily. Hayoon felt strings of tears weighing on the edge of her lashes. Juwon reached out in an attempt to calm her down, yet his touch merely startled the girl. 

Everyone had too much on their minds to think straight, let alone to come up with the right thing to say or ask. In an attempt to sort his thoughts, Chenle wondered, 

"What did Hana say again?" 

Hayoon, who had called her friends the second she got off the phone with Chenle, swallowed the lump in her throat before saying,
"Nothing much. Everything was normal, she just went home." 

"Okay," Chenle muttered. "And Eun-kyung... you couldn't reach her, right?" 

Hayoon shook her head and Suk-ho mentioned, "The police already checked her apartment but no one opened the door. They'll check the surveillance though and contact her family to make sure." 

Frightened, Hayoon wondered, "Since they were together... what if the stalker has both of them?" 

"Actually I wanted to ask," In-huyk said, cutting off Hayoon's rising panic, "who is Eun-kyung?" 

Although the name didn't sound completely unfamiliar, he couldn't connect a face to it. He knew he wasn't as close to Da-eun as he would have liked, yet he figured he at least knew her friends. 

"Are you guys close?" he asked further. 

Hayoon hummed. "Uhm... somewhat?" she replied, a little unsure herself. "We only hang out occasionally but she's quite nice. Hana introduced us a few months ago - around the time that you guys came back from Canada, I think? Something like that."

In-huyk nodded. He realized his question might not have seemed particularly important, especially considering the current situation. Still, he couldn't help but keep asking. 

"Is she the only one besides Da-eun who has a driver's license?" 

"Hana also has one but she doesn't have a car," Hayoon commented. "That's why Eun-kyung offered to drive."

"Right." He nodded, recalling how Suk-ho asked the police to look into the whereabouts of Eun-kyung's car. Apparently, it was relatively new, which meant there was a potential of finding it via GPS. "What else do you know about her?"