In Another Life

Locked Away

Mingyue had spent at least a week, maybe more, locked in her room. Jingjing would come by twice a day to give her meals, but nothing else.

The cruel woman had taken away Mingyue's phone along with any other source of communication. She had been completely cut off.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Haneul asked, pacing back and forth. She was getting on her last nerve at all these stupid solutions.

"Can't we call the police? It's a form of kidnapping." Sunghoon said.

"We tried, they told us to stop wasting their time." Kangdae said. "Plus she techneclly has rights to her daughter."

"Well what about her dad?" Ni-ki asked.

"That's out of the question... her dad passed when she was younger. " Haneul said. "But Ms. Kang! She's an option that we could bring in. She's been Mingyue's official guardian before, right? When she was sent here, it was only a short term agreement between our dad and Ms. Kang." 

"Okay, here's what we'll do: Sunoo, Mingyue and Heeseung, you guys go to Ms. Kang's house. The rest of us will brainstorm more ideas if Ms. Kang doesn't work out.

The three took Heeseung car to Ms. Kang's house. There were some lights on, at least it gave them hope that Ms. Kang was still home.

When they knocked on the door, she was immediate to answer. Her face of hope sunk a little when she saw that it wasn't Mingyue.

"You are Mingyue's friends right?" She asked. The three nodded and she ushered them in.

"Sorry to intrude like this Ms. Kang, but we were wondering if you could help us get Mingyue back?" Heeseung spoke.

"I've already contacted someone to help with this, right now all we can do is wait. Come sit, I'll tell you a story. It might explain a little bit more."

She led the kids to the kitchen, where they sat at a round table with four seats, perfect for the four of them.

"When Mingyue was younger, I used to babysit her. This was when Mingsheng, her father, was alive. Both he and Jingjing had been working full time jobs to support each other comfortably.

I think that when she lost him, Jingjing also lost a bit of herself too. She lost her rational voice. I'm not sure if we can reason with her or if we need to get a higher authority involved. Do you understand?"

"So you're saying that Jingjing went crazy after her husband died?"

Jiah nodded, "I thought that we needed to go to someone who can get Jingjing the help she needs. When I tried, she denied the any offer to get better. You see, that's why I've called law enforcement because she's denying her daughter to have a good life..." Jiah started tearing up. She looked towards a stack of papers, adoption papers for Mingyue.

Their hearts all shattered, they didn't even want to fathom how long Mingyue had been putting up with this.

It was only recently that Enhypen had learned of all of this. They wouldn't have expected such a kind, quiet girl to be dealing with this.

Haneul and Kangdae had an idea of what was happening, their theory was confirmed when she needed to stay with them for a little while.

"How long do you think it will take for the specialist to arrive?" Heeseung asked. His nerves were worsening by the second.

"I'm not sure, I hope soon than later."

"Plan of attack?" Kangdae asked.

"Storm her house. There's more of us than her." Ni-ki stated the most obvious answer.

"No, there are too many risk factors." Jake said.

Everyone rolled their eyes at Ni-ki. He could be so smart, but it was times like these when people wondered how dense someone could be.

All of them had started texting the three that had gone to Ms. Kang's house to see if there was a better solution than storming the Li's house– which was their own option.

"Did a plan with Ms. Jiah work out?" Kangdae asked his sister over the phone.

"Yeah, Ms. Jiah already has it handled. The police are on their way to Mingyue's house as we speak."

"Why didn't they listen to us!" He huffed.

"Because they like being bitches plus we aren't adults. Anyways, stay home. Ms. Jiah doesn't want Mingyue to be overwhelmed when she gets back."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

Kangdae explained everything and it made total sense why they shouldn't go. They would be in the way and it might embarrass Mingyue if they were all there to witness her at such a vulnerable time.

Instead, they decided to cook a meal... well more so Jay and his six helpers.

"Let's start off with the basics, what's Mingyue's favorite food?" Jay asked Kangdae.

Alone.

She was born alone and she will die alone.

Her beauty had subsided into a depressing, gaunt look. Jingjing had locked her away in the torn-up room. It was the same as the last time she was there. Glass shards threatened her and a mess surrounded her.

She wanted to escape, and she would've gone through the window if it weren't for it being caulked shut. Jingjing had really thought of everything.

She had nothing to do besides sit in her bed, it was the only place free of glass. Mingyue rested her head against her stiff pillow, she had gotten used to fluffy pillows so this felt like rocks to her.

"Mingyue? Sweetie?"

"Yes mom?"

"I have your dinner. You have to come to the door if you want to eat." Jingjing smirked.

"That's alright, I'm not hungry right now."

"If you don't take your food now, you won't have any more tonight."

Mingyue sighed, she didn't want to go to bed hungry; it was between glass shards or starvation. She carefully made her way around the glass to get to the door, there her mother greeted her with a sadistic smile.

Jingjing didn't have food with her, her hands were empty. Instead, she shoved her daughter on the glass and began laughing hysterically. "It was your fault that Mingsheng died! This is the least you could do for taking my husband's life you spoiled brat!"