- An Infectious Smile - Baek Dohwa

Chapter 27

{Dohwa's POV}

Dae-Hyun knocked on the door of a house that I didn't know. It was in a nice neighborhood, and only a couple blocks from his. I could tell someone was home due to all of the lights being on in the house. We both heard rummaging inside, then the door swung open. It was Y/N's best friend, Eun-Young.

"Dae-Hyun? Dohwa? What are you guys doing here? Wait! Is Y/N in trouble!?" she panicked. I wasn't sure what to say to her question, but Dae-Hyun did.

"We lied to you earlier, but it's a long story!" he said, trying to act calm.

"Where is she, Dae-Hyun?! We need to find her if you don't know where she is!" She started putting on a coat and slipping on sandals, but we were able to get her to stop.

"Eun-Young, this is the short story for now," I told her. "Y/N has had a stalker recently who doesn't like that she and I are close. So with Y/N ignoring all of the threats that were given to her, she has kinda been kidnaped."

"KIDNAPED! WE GOT TO GO TELL THE POLICE AND WHAT NOT!" She turned around and grabbed her phone, but Dae-Hyun was able to stop her.

"I have a plan, but we need your help. I've heard you are good at voice recognition, is that right?" Dae-Hyun asked.

"Ya, so what?"

"We have a recording of her voice. I'm hoping that she's in your class since you've talked to everyone."

Dae-Hyun pulled his phone out, bringing the recording out. Eun-Young saw that we had it and invited us in. We sat at the table as we waited for her to grab a few things. Once she came back, she had a big book that had every student and staff's name written. It was organized into each classroom and grade. Dae-Hyun and I were shocked at her materials, but we put our focus back on the voice identification.

Playing the recording, Eun-Young listened closely. We weren't sure how she was able to distinguish each voice, but I thought she must've had a superpower or something. She would listen to the recording a few more times as she narrowed down her search.

"I've definitely heard her voice before. She is definitely in our grade." She flipped her pages to where our classes would've been. She played it a few more times, narrowing down to a few classes. Her class, Dae-Hyun's and mine, and the first class.

"How can you figure all of this ou-" Dae-Hyun got cut off.

"I need to focus Dae. Plus there's a lot I would need to talk about," she said.

She scanned each student from each class, crossing out most of them. There was no one in the first class or mine. She listened to the recording each time she would study a new girl. She then pointed to a picture of a girl.

"This is Hye-Jin. Y/N's stalker, and seatmate," Eun-Young told us. "She's a very shy and secretive girl, but I've known her since middle school. She used to have the biggest obsession with her crushes and act super weird around them, which led them to stay very far away from her. It seems her obsession with boys has just gotten worse. Probably needs help."

"Help is an understatement," Dae-Hyun said.

"Well, at least I know who the stalker is, but what is our plan now?" I asked the two of them.

"She wants you to come alone, so we'll make her think that you came alone," Eun-Young.

"We'll make one right now," Dae-Hyun said.

***

The location that Hye-Jin told me was the industrial part of the city, with abandoned warehouses everywhere. It was sketchy at first, but I guess if you want to hide a person, this is the place. It was pitch black out and getting colder. I wanted to find Y/N as fast as I could, but Dae-Hyun and Eun-Young had come up with a plan. The only problem though was that I didn't know what it was about. I kept asking, but they would brush me away.

"Guys please tell me!" I pleaded with them.

"No," they would both say. I gave up asking as we waited for it to be closer to twelve o'clock in the morning.

I had five minutes as they continued to plan. My heart was racing just thinking about how Y/N probably was terrified. Once we saved her, I would never leave her side again. No one should have to go through this trauma. Hye-Jin needed help, but maybe prison would be better.

"Okay Dohwa, it's time," Eun-Young said, shooing me towards the warehouse. I looked behind me as they waved me off. I took a big gulp as I fastened my pace to the warehouse.

A door was propped open, which was more likely for me. I sto0d in front of the doorway, looking around before entering. I walked cautiously through it before I was in the middle of the warehouse. Above me there was one light shining down, making the rest of my surroundings pitch black. I couldn't hear any noises around me either. I started to worry that I was in the wrong building.

"Hello?" I called out. I heard feet shuffle behind me. "Y/N?" I called, feeling hopeful. Turning around, my heart became heavy as I looked at who stood in front of me. I had seen her before in school, but I had never talked to her.

"It's not Y/N, but your future partner!" the girl said. My eyebrows went crossed as I glared into her eyes.

It was Hye-Jin.