The lady of the household reached home after a matter of minutes. She got out of the car before the driver went ahead to park it. She is in high spirits because things were looking better for her finally. She went inside and as the household staff greeted her in, she saw both Hongseok and Changgu sitting and chatting while watching the TV in the living room. It was a scene she particularly didn't like but she didn't bother with it further because she knew things would soon change, for the better in her opinion.
Changgu heard the staff welcome her in so he turned to look at his mother. "Oh welcome back", he said with a smile and she replied with a smile as well. But Hongseok too, said the same thing right after. His said "Welcome back mother" and his voice wasn't any better. The elder clearly wasn't expecting it and neither was Changgu. He had thought Hongseok would ignore her for a while and maybe speak with her only when needed but his mom, she didn't take it all too well. She tried her best not to show any form of anger but her words were sharp as always. "Now you speak politely", said the woman while smiling slightly. Changgu couldn't help but say "Mom", to show how he didn't approve of this. But she refused to back down, saying "Am I wrong? Did you forget what happened today?" and before Changgu could say anything, Hongseok intervened, holding Changgu's hand to tell him to stop. Hongseok got up from the couch and bowed down while saying "I apologise for my behavior earlier". Changgu wasn't liking it but someone was enjoying the situation a bit too much. "Be careful from now on", said their mother before walking away to her room. Hongseok straightened up right after and Changgu couldn't help but ask "Hyung, why?" and the older male replied "She is our mother after all", before sitting down again and then continuing "there's no point in dragging this on". While Changgu understood what he was saying, he still didn't want Hongseok to give up in this situation. But that was the end of that.
Their mother came out after having freshened up and asked for the dinner to be prepared. Hongseok looked at the window and saw that it was that time already. "Yan An still didn't come back" he said while watching at the clock and Changgu replied, "He'll be back soon, it's not that late". It's true, Yan An had come back home late before so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But Hongseok felt different this time round. "I know, but I told him it's his favorite today so I thought...", said Hongseok before coming to a pause. Changgu smiled and reassured his older brother that he shouldn't worry about it. He didn't want Hongseok to start stressing out again and tried his best to stop him from overthinking. He replied by saying "He probably thinks you don't even know what his favorite is right?" while laughing to lighten the mood. It worked as Hongseok also smiled before saying "It's not exactly rocket science, he eats faster".
But the worry only grew as the minutes passed and it became a whole hour. At that point, even Changgu was concerned because Yan An never missed dinner. No natter what he did and where he went he always came back in time for dinner, so that was the first day he wasn't there. Hongseok had been trying to reach him for a while but to no avail. As Hongseok disconnected the call, Changgu asked "Still nothing?". Hongseok nodded no and his worry was fully visible on his face. Changgu continued whole saying "He's never been this late before and he's not even picking up" and both of them were in the same boat now. But the worry remained between the two of them as their mother was already fully prepared to sit down and have dinner.
Hongseok knew she would get mad if he said anything at that moment but Changgu understood what he wanted to say so, he did it for him. "Mom, can we wait a bit? Yan An isn't h-" he said before getting interrupted by the woman sitting at the table. She replied saying "We cannot be expected to wait for him, son come and sit down" and her voice was firm, as if expressing that there was no space for negotiations. Of course, he wanted to ask again but Hongseok stopped him before he could do so. "Go have your dinner, I'll wait", said the older while nodding at Changgu, asking him not to discuss about this further. He couldn't say anything more and decided to listen to his brother, going ahead and sitting down with his mother. Hongseok still kept calling at an interval of few minutes and even though he thought of how mad Yan An might get because of all the calls, he still couldn't help but keep doing it. He went outside to stand in front of the main entrance because he couldn't stay still inside the house.
Changgu finished dinner and was going to go outside to check on Hongseok but his mother caught him before he did so. "Only take five minutes and not one more, you have to get up early" she said, before continuing "there's no use wasting time over this". That understandably irritated him as he replied, "Mom how is this a waste of time? He's never been this late-" but once again he got interrupted by her, as she said "I will not tolerate you acting like this, five minutes" and Changgu couldn't say anything more. The more he speaks of it, the more she'd oppose - he knew that so he left it at that. After going through the door, he could see Hongseok standing at the outer gate looking at the road ahead. "Hyung, your jacket", he said while handing it over to the older man. Hongseok took the jacket and kept it in his hand, his other hand still occupied as he was calling once more.
"Did he mention anything about being late or where he was going?", asked Changgu, knowing full and well what the answer would be. "You think he'd tell me", said Hongseok and the pain in his voice was evident, as he continued to say "But I wish I asked" and Changgu could see he was blaming himself again for what was happening. He replied "Hyung you couldn't have known", pausing a bit before continuing "He's okay, I know he's alright it's just... he's just a bit late", trying to reassure Hongseok but he was even failing to reassure himself. Although Changgu said that, he couldn't stop worrying either because none of it was looking okay. None of them knew where Yan An was... well, one person knew. She was in her room calling the man who had to take care of the situation regarding Yan An. As the call connected, he said "Samonim" from the other end. "Did everything work out?" asked the woman with a slight hint of worry in her voice. But it was soon put to rest as the man replied "Yes, he's unconscious, we have taken him to the cargo hold as per plan". Her smile was heartfelt as she heard those words. She continued "Good, I don't want any problems", as her voice grew lighter and relief took over her.
The man replied "Yes" before disconnecting the call and moved on to speak with the others, as he continued "keep him in the basement and lock it properly", as one of them carried Yan An on their back, wrapped up within a duffle bag.
YOU ARE READING
Feels Like Family
Mystery / Thriller"Doesn't matter how we met or why we're here, we're together and that's enough"
