The moment Sungchan ended the call, his hand stayed frozen around his phone.
For a heartbeat, the world didn't move.
The noise in the office-voices, shuffling papers, the hum of computers-faded into a distant blur, like someone had shoved cotton into his ears. His chest felt tight, as if the air had suddenly grown too thick to breathe properly.
Soul didn't go to work.
The words replayed over and over in his head, each time heavier than before.
She never skipped work.
Not once.
Not when she was sick.
Not when she was exhausted.
Not when she hadn't slept more than three hours.
Soul forgot many things-where she left her keys, whether she had already texted someone back-but never this. Work was one of the few things she was uncompromisingly strict about. Reliable. Punctual. Almost obsessively responsible.
And she wasn't answering her phone.
"Sungchan?"
Jaehyun's voice cut through the fog, but it took him a second too long to react.
"Soul..." Sungchan finally said, his voice quieter than he expected. "She didn't go to work."
The room changed instantly.
Taeyong's head snapped up. Johnny straightened. Jungwoo's brows knitted together. Even Chenle, who had been sitting on the armrest of a chair, went completely still.
"What do you mean, she didn't go?" Johnny asked carefully.
"Daehwi said she never showed up. She doesn't answer her phone either." Sungchan swallowed hard and forced himself to breathe. "She never does this. Never."
There it was.
That cold, creeping feeling spreading through his chest, crawling up his spine, tightening around his throat.
Taeyong exchanged a look with Jaehyun. It was brief, but Sungchan saw it. That look people shared when they didn't want to say out loud what they were already thinking.
"I-I.... h-hyung, I-I have to go check on her," Sungchan said quickly, already stepping back, already reaching for his jacket. "s-she... she's alone a-at home. I-I'll just check, okay?"
"You won't go alone," Johnny said immediately. "I'm driving."
"I'll come too," Doyoung added, already on his feet.
"Me as well," Chenle said, not even pretending this was optional.
No one argued.
They were in the car less than three minutes later.
The car felt too small.
Sungchan sat in the passenger seat, fingers clenched so tightly around the fabric of his jeans that his knuckles had turned pale. His knee bounced uncontrollably, hitting the dashboard in a restless rhythm that matched the pounding in his chest. The city outside blurred past the window, neon lights smearing into meaningless streaks of color, but he barely saw any of it.
He couldn't stop replaying Daehwi's voice in his head.
She didn't show up. She's not answering her phone.
Soul never forgot work.
Never.
"She probably just fell asleep," Doyoung said carefully from the backseat, watching Sungchan through the rearview mirror. "You know how exhausted she's been lately. Between school and work-"
