Paradigm | ATEEZ x Reader

CHAPTER EIGHT | LIAR

"Yunho, wait!" Hongjoong calls after him as you all make your way back up the corridor. Yunho presses on, ignoring his pleas.

"Mingi!" You say, grabbing his arm, pulling him back toward you. "Let me get this straight. Your dad's name wasn't on the flight record!?"

"Yeah, that's what I was trying to say earlier before he bolted."

"So then, whose name was it?" You ask hurriedly as you all move back through the door to the waiting area.

"Whose do you think? His mom's." Mingi replies, jogging up to the counter.

"Jake, the plane is gone." Yunho fumes, wiping a tear roughly from his now red eyes.

"Woah, what happened? Y-your plane's missing?" Jake stammers, clearly startled by the change in tone from earlier.

"It's not missing. We think his mother took it somewhere." Mingi says, putting his hand on the marble counter, almost to hold Yunho back.

"Oh, I didn't even know she had her license."

"Well, she does, so if you could get the record, that'd be great." Yunho says, his voice raising with tension.

"Hey! Cool it. Come here." Hongjoong says, grabbing Yunho's arm, peeling him from the counter. He shoves Yunho's back, making him go outside.

"Jake, I'm so sorry." Mingi apologizes nervously, glancing out the front glass doors at his two friends.

"It's alright. I've seen worse, believe me." Jake laughs, looking through the logs. "Okay...looks like I got that plane leaving around ten o'clock this morning. The plane went to Burbank again." That was like an hour after we left the house.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Mingi says before moving toward the front doors. The rest of you follow him outside. "She's in California."

"She's got him there somewhere." Yunho concludes. Thinking, he bites his lips, running his hands through his ruffled hair.

"Do we call the police?" Mingi asks cautiously.

"No!" San and Hongjoong shout in unison.

"Then what are we supposed to do!?" Mingi protests, throwing his hands in the air.

"We have to go after her." Wooyoung says, staring at all of you with utter seriousness. Silence grips the air as you all look at one another.

"Wooyoung's right. We have to go get him." You say, voice catching in your throat. "And we have to go soon."

"Let's say we do. How are we going to find her after we get there?" Seonghwa questions, sitting down on one of the parking curbs.

"I don't know." Wooyoung admits, at a loss for answers.

"Who cares." You say. "We have an entire plane ride to figure that out." The others nod, giving in. Everyone looks to Yunho, searching for approval.

"We can go. But there's one thing I have to do before we leave."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Yunho pulls the Yukon into his driveway before heading inside. Everyone swiftly follows after him. You are led up the stairs and down the hall to the final room. Double doors are all that stand between you and Ms. Jeong's office. It takes a couple tries, but with the combined weight of Yunho and Mingi ramming into the doors, they eventually burst open.

"She doesn't let anyone in here. I thought it was because of the valuables, but maybe it'll help us figure out where exactly she went." Yunho says, pausing before he starts looking about the room. "Just don't break anything, okay? Some of the decor in here is thousands of years old."