Lost

•1•

"Sanghyuk! We have to go home!" I yell from the swing set. No reply. That's odd. He always replies straight away.
"Yah Sanghyuk!" I yell again.

Silence.

I go into the tunnel beneath the slide. Not there. The monkey bars, not there. The oval, not there.

"Sanghyuk this isn't funny!"

I hear a faint laugh behind a tree. I rush to investigate but there is just another kid hiding behind it.

"Sanghyuk!" I yell on the top of my lungs.

Our house is just across the road so I sprint to tell mother. "Mother! Mother!" I yell as I open the door. "Hongbin what is it?" She asks, immediately worried.

"I can't find Sanghyuk" I begin to cry. "Take a deep breath" she kneels and grabs my shoulders. "What happened?"

"We were playing. I went over to the swing set and he went to the slide. When I got off, I called for him saying that we had to go home. He didn't reply. I searched everywhere mother. I don't know where he is" I sob.

"Go get your father" she says before rushing over to the park.

I run to his study upstairs and don't knock before opening the door. "Father!" I cry. He's on the phone. He turns on his chair, his look of annoyance instantly turns to a look filled with worry when he sees me.

"I'll call you back" he says and puts the phone down. "Hongbin, what's the matter?"

"I can't find Sanghyuk. Mother's gone to the park to look for him" I explain between sobs.

He rushes to his feet and grabs my hand before heading to the park. Mother frantically calls for Sanghyuk as she runs around the place.

"Stay here. Don't move" father tells me before heading to his wife. I sit down and pull my knees to my chest.

"Sanghyuk!" Mother screams. "My baby, he's gone. My baby" she falls into my father's arms and bursts into tears.

I lost my little brother. I was meant to look out for him.

He's gone.

It's my fault.

17 Years Later

I get off the plane to see my best friend, Wonshik, waiting for me. "Your plane took forever. I've been here for three hours" he complains as I walk up to him.

"I apologise. Next time I'll walk into the cockpit and fly the plane myself" I grin and pull him in for a friendly hug. "Let's go get your bags" he says and we head to the bag collection area.

I only had one big suitcase. I was only in Europe for 2 months.

"Hakyeon and Taekwoon are in the car out front" Wonshik informs me. We get to the grey car and Wonshik grabs my suitcase off of me and places it in the boot.

I take a seat on the back seat and say my greetings to Hakyeon and Taekwoon. "Any luck?" Hakyeon asks quietly. "Nothing. I don't know where else to look. I've been to America, Australia, Africa" I frown.

I have been looking for my brother since he went missing 17 years ago. The police never found anything. They didn't find a body or even evidence that he had been kidnapped. He had simply vanished.

"You'll find him" he assures me but I shake my head. "I'm not any closer. I'm starting to lose faith" it feels weird saying that aloud.

"Hongbin" Wonshik snaps. "I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do" I lower my head.