Annyeonghaseyo, Bitch

April 17

   "Chul Soo. Have you seen Kiyong? I haven't seen him all day." I asked when I ran into Chul Soo as school was letting out.

   "No. I haven't seen him all day either. I thought you knew where he was."

Early this morning Kiyong left. He told me that he was going home to get ready for school. After that I never heard from him.

   "Oh no. What if something happened to him." I panicked.

   "I'm sure he knows how to protect himself--"

   "No. What if he got in a car accident or he attempted suicide because he feels rejected by his real parents and his whole life is basically a lie."

   "I'll drive to his house... Get in the car." Chul Soo instructed and I obeyed.

When we got to his house, I abused the doorbell. Hopefully this was all a misunderstanding. Hopefully, he was alright and just decided to stay home because he wasn't feeling good.

   Mrs. Bae opened the door. It looked like she was on her way out.

   "Hi Omani. Hello Chul Soo." She smiled. "What's wrong?"

   "Is Kiyong here?" I asked.

   "No." Her face began to display worry. "Isn't he with you two?"

   "No." We both replied at once. She opened the door wider for the both of us to enter. "Mrs. Bae, did Kiyong come here after leaving our house?"

   "Yes, he did. He came to get his bookbag and a few other things."

   "Other things?" Chul repeated.

   "Yes. He brought an extra bookbag with him. But, I never thought anything of it. I just thought he was bringing extra books to go to the library afterwards."

   "What's going on?" Mr. Bae asks as he enters the living room, it seemed that he was on his way out too.

   "Kiyong's missing." Chul Soo informed.

   "What?" He frowned. "He was just here this morning."

   "He didn't come to school today. We were hoping that he was here and decided not to come to school today."

   "Well, he's definitely not here. I'm going to call the police." Mr. Bae pulled out his phone and went into another room.

   "Oh no, What happened to my baby?" Mrs. Bae hled her face in her hands and sat on the sofa to keep her composure.

   "Did he text you at all?" I turned to Chul Soo.

He looked through his messages and shook his head when he came up short.

   "Why would he text me anyway? I don't even think he likes me."

   "He's your brother. Of course he likes you."

   "Not all brothers get along."

   "Just last night, Kiyong was thinking if you liked him. Now that this screwed up family secret has came to light, you two have to deal with each other for the rest of your lives. I know that the both of you show your feelings differently, but if you two could just communicate, then you both would be fine."

   "We should see if he's at your house." He said, changing the subject.
I nodded in response.

   "Mrs. Bae, we're going to check other places and see if we can find him."

   "Okay," she nodded, still distraught.

We checked my house and once again we came up short.

   "Mom, Kiyong is missing." I informed her when she asked why I wasn't in dance class.

   "Missing? Where would he have gone?"

   "We don't know. That's why we're checking every possible place," Chul Soo replied.

   "We should check your house." I turned to him.

He frowned in response.

   "No!"

   "Why?"

   "My mom is there. If she sees us together, she'll raise hell."

   "I thought you didn't care about what your mom thought."

   "It's not something I can handle at a time like this. I'm pretty sure he isn't there anyway. He's never there."

   "You should check anyway, just to be sure." I said.

   "Alright, I'll go. I'll text you." He said before leaving.

   "Mani." Mom called as she gestured to a seat beside her. I sat down. "Why do you think Kiyong would run away?"

   "I don't know if he ran away. I don't want to assume the worst. I just hope nothing has happened to him."

   "Does his parents know?"

   "Yes. We informed them already. Mr. Bae is calling police as we speak."

She opened her arms and I hugged her. "I hope nothing happened." I mumbled into mom's chest.

Later on, Chul Soo called, informing me that he was not at his house as he expected.

I hadn't even eaten dinner, I was so worried. It was about time for me to hit the sack. I still hadn't heard anything from Kiyong.

Mom came into my room and stood in the doorway.

   "You know it's time for you to go to bed right? It's after ten."

   "I know. I'm just concerned."

   "It's okay to be concerned. Kiyong's parents are handling it right now. You don't need to worry."

   "I'm not sleepy," I replied.

   "Did I ask you? Lay down until you fall asleep. I don't care. Just turn this light off. Good night Mani."

   "Good night ma." I turned out the light and laid down.

I closed my eyes and wished that it was all a bad dream. But, unfortunately it was not.