Happy Endings ⁘ Chenle

75 ⁘ Bluff

kinda rude how pretty he is ngl :/

also the picture doesn't fit the chapter's mood but I thought it was too pretty not to use

⁘ 75 ⁘

Da-eun did, indeed, call her bluff that night. 

It was merely thanks to luck that Eun-kyung's words really ended up being empty. A spur of the moment kind of threat that she didn't plan to act on. 

Eventually, after realizing Da-eun had a hard time seeing her as a threat, Eun-kyung decided to just leave her alone. She locked the door, put the keys aside and went to do other things. She ate and slept and thought about where to go from there. And somewhere in between that, she almost forgot that Da-eun was even there. Because even though she talked a lot at first, her energy was soon used up, her mouth dry and her eyes too tired to stay open. 

At some point, she just faded away. 

It took until noon of the day after the incident for the police to enter Eun-kyung's apartment. Bureaucracy could be troublesome, especially for the officers that tried their hardest to move the case forward and figure out Da-eun's whereabouts. 

After all that waiting it was thanks to Eun-kyung's older sister that they got to go inside. While she was initially under the impression that helping the police would help her sister too, she soon realized that that wasn't the case. The countless pictures on Eun-kyung's wall and the shrine-like construct in her bedroom certainly didn't help prove her innocence. 

Neither did it help soothe anyone's anxiety. 

"What does that mean?" Hayoon urged. She sounded betrayed when she asked, "So it's really Eun-kyung? Then where are they? Where is Eunnie?" 

Suk-ho smiled softly at the girl, trying to calm her down by staying calm himself.
"They are working on it, Hayoon." 

"They should work faster then..." she grumbled under her breath as she turned around and walked from one end of the room to the other, trying to distract herself. Juwon gave Suk-ho a small nod, acknowledging his efforts to keep them up to date and calm them down, before he left to console his best friend. 

Suk-ho let a moment pass before he took a breath and continued, 

"They are currently contacting the parents to see if they have any idea of where their daughter could be. But since they are her parents... there's a chance they won't cooperate." 

"She probably abducted someone!" Min-jung pushed out, angered by the thought of anyone unwilling to help find her cousin. 

"Some parents will do anything to protect their kids." It wasn't a defence of any kind, yet his words still upset the girl. He made sense but that was not what she needed right now and Suk-ho knew that. Still, he couldn't offer much more than, "We'll have to wait and see." 

Although it didn't make her any happier, he was right. This was all he could say, all he could do. Even when the day turned into night, marking the first day of the girl's disappearance, all that her friends could do was wait and hope. 

Waiting. Hoping. 

Two things Chenle quickly grew tired of. 

At night, when Hayoon and Juwon were resting on the sofa and Mark had taken Min-jung to the guest bedroom to get some sleep, Chenle pulled In-hyuk aside as subtly as he could. He found a quiet corner in the house and cautiously asked, 

"If I do something dumb, will you support me?" 

In-hyuk raised a brow right away, causing Chenle to worry if talking to him was a bad idea after all. He had contemplated whether or not speaking to him about it was a good idea or not. However, despite In-hyuk's worrisome expression, his only comment was, 

"You held out longer than I expected."

Chenle's concerned eyes made way for a frown. "That's all you have to say?" 

In-hyuk shrugged. "What else should I say?" he asked nonchalantly. He hadn't yet agreed to help him out - he wanted to hear what he was going to say first. "What's your plan?" 

"I don't have much of a plan," Chenle commented and even added, "...and I'm not so sure how to go about this either." 

Understanding right away, In-hyuk hummed. "You want to meet up with Eun-kyung?" 

"Depends." 

"On?" 

"What you'll say." 

In-hyuk laughed softly. "Isn't it a little too late for that now?" he wondered. "You already told me anyway." 

He was not wrong but Chenle wouldn't agree with him that easily. "Just tell me your reply." 

"My reply?" he asked as he stepped past Chenle. He didn't want to let his worried voice and fragile gaze affect him. Despite wanting to help, In-hyuk also knew that neither Chenle nor he was in a position to play detective, to pretend and be someone they weren't. 

It was not long after they had met and started working together that In-hyuk realized his role as manager wasn't limited to handling Chenle's work schedule and occupational safety. He quickly grew close to the boy. They spent a lot of time together and, at some point, he felt a closeness between them. Chenle felt like a good friend. Like a nephew. 

So given his position, In-hyuk couldn't be reckless. He had a responsibility to look after Chenle. He would have to be sensible. Sensible enough to say, 

"Let's come up with a plan first."

There was no way to tell whether it was day or night. The window was covered and the small lamp in the corner of the room shone without a break. So even when the sun and moon switched places and the days of her stay there were about to turn into two, Da-eun had no way of knowing. 

She could feel the stifling air weigh heavy in her lungs and the backrest of the chair press against her spine. She felt the restraints around her wrists loosen slightly over time yet they still rubbed against her skin. 

It was quiet inside the house. She didn't know where Eun-kyung went, let alone when she left. She didn't mind her being gone but it caused her to wonder where she was. Without anything to do, Da-eun was busy thinking of all the things that could be happening while she was stuck here. 

Da-eun tilted her head to stretch her neck. She was barely moving at all yet her body hurt. She wasn't doing anything yet she felt exhausted. She took a few deep breaths, trying to clear her hazy mind, yet every breath made her more tired. Every breath caused her to slip away a little more. 

Lost in her clouded mind, she could hardly tell whether the noises outside the room were actually there. She decided to blame it on her state and didn't pay it much mind. And so the steps and voices faded into the background where they existed quietly for a while before her eyes shut on their own and her head tumbled forward. 

⁘ Bluff ⁘

chapter 76 will be published in a minute or two but for now, thanks for reading this one 💚💚