Can I help you?

Chapter 70

The next morning Ji Hoon is standing in his room with the note in his hand. "Dear Ji Hoon. Thank you for the love you gave me. I must go now. Don't try to find me. I need to go. Take care and I wish you all the luck." He has tears in his eyes.

Emma rushes into the breakfast room with the note and necklace. "SARAH IS GONE!" The other members all look up and are in a daze. RM grabs the note. "Sweet friends, and BTS. Thank you for your time and life that you shared with me. I enjoyed living the dream. I must go now; I don't want to but I have no other choice. Please keep living the dream that was too big for me to handle. Use your common sense, and stick with each other. You all will do fine. Don't look for me. I am so tired...Love, Sarah. PS included is an envelope to which I formally renounce my job at Big Hit. Please organise it for me." Jhope takes the necklace and looks at it in disbelief. "She finally told me she loved me yesterday." Tears jump in his eyes. Jimin hugs him. Ji Hoon enters the breakfast room. The girls notice it. "That's Sarah's boyfriend. What is he doing here?" The other BTS members all look in curiosity. Wow, they were right, he is good looking! Ji Hoon sees them and runs to them with the note. "WHAT IS THIS ABOUT? WHERE IS SHE?" He is panicking. RM gets up and calms him down. "Please, don't be a nuisance to the other hotel guests. Have a seat, let's talk, okay?" Ji Hoon seems to calm slightly down and sits down on the spot Jin cleared for him. RM takes his note too and reads it. The others see it too.

The mood is down, but Emma needs to be a messenger of bad news. "Guys, we need to leave in a few hours, back to Korea. We have no time to dwell. We will have to go on that plane, with or without Sarah." She bites her lip, holding back her tears. She looks at Mary and Doenja, and they all seem to know what drove Sarah to this. Suga grabs Doenja's hand and squeezes it, comforting her. I knew this fake love was going to be destructive... He thinks, But I really hate being right this time.... RM coughs. "Em is right. We need to keep to our schedule. We can always look for her later." The other members nod but the girls exchange looks. If Sarah says not to look for her, we are not likely to find her.

Ji Hoon leaves them and is taking charge of finding her. The others are exploring Venice a bit, professional as they are they keep smiling on the pictures. But behind the camera's half of the group is sad. They keep looking for Sarah in the city, in hopes to find her there. But to no avail. Gradually they have to say goodbye to Italy.

They arrive at the airport and somehow Jhope still has hopes of seeing Sarah there. But they see no one and they just board the plane. Sarah's seat is empty. RM is thinking really hard while the others are sleeping, he keeps turning an envelope in his hands. Emma notices. "Joonie... What is it." He looks at her and shows the envelope. "This... I am doubting to hand it in. Who knows, she might come back..." Emma smiles. "Maybe wait a week, or so, until we can contact her. I am pretty sure she came back to Belgium. We will try and do our best to contact and find her that way. So take some sleep now, Joonie." "That's not the only thing... What are we going to do when we are back home? We can't date in secret because if we get caught, there is the clausule. I can't just burst into the CEO's office and tell him to cancel it, I respect my higher ups too much for it. Especially since they normally don't interfere with our private lives, and give us freedom. We don't know about dating tho... Maybe in that area they are like the others. No one ever tried before us. We are the pioneers in our company." He is really worrying. Emma massages his sleeps. He smiles at the care she gives him. "I'll think about it later. First let me get some sleep, as you said. We are all tired from the trip." He closes his eyes and is soon off to dreamland. Emma let's go of his head and gently places it on the pillow. "Night, Joonie. I love you."

They arrive in Incheon and it's the middle of he night. They hurriedly get out of the airport and into the vans. There are no reporters or fans, and the airport is almost empty. No one likes the red eye flights. Once they are home, they decided to catch some more sleep for a few hours. Each takes off to their own rooms, for a peaceful night. Even the couples. Doenja enters her room... She looks at Sarah's bed. I guess it exploded... The fake love bomb... She couldn't handle it anymore. I hope she is save though.... She gets in the bed and falls asleep too.

The next day, Mary and Doenja are busy making calls to Sarah's family and friends. No one has seen or hear from her. They even contact her family in South Africa and America. None have heard anything from her. They check her social media, but they are quiet too. She isn't checking in anywhere and seems like she got off the grid. Now they are starting to worry. Emma would loved to help, but since Sarah is gone, her workload has doubled. Also she needed to select the best pictures and make sure it is send off correctly to the editors office. She is drowning in work. By the end of the week, the mood in the house is below zero. Everyone is depressed and worried. "Where could she be?" "You don't thinks she..." Doenja and Emma look startled at Mary. "I mean... she did once..." "No, no for sure no... She wouldn't do that thing again." Doenja says firmly, but her face has doubt written all over her. "What?" Jhope asks. The girls jump up from his sudden appearance. "What is it about Sarah?" The others join too. RM is having the envelope in his hands. "We...we couldn't find her. No one of her family or friends have heard from her either. Her social media is dead silent. It's like she is completely gone." The news hits everyone, hard. "I guess I have no other choice but to let Big Hit know about her quitting." RM says. Emma bites her lip. They all miss her so much, her absence is really felt by all. Especially Jhope is depairing. Jin softly hugs Jhope, knowing a bit about what he is going through. Altho he and Sarah ended it cleanly, he also misses her. Ji Hoon is still looking for her too. He is using all kinds of secret agents and private investigators. But still no sign of her. They all are fearing something, but noone is strong enough to say it.

Except for Suga. He suddenly says it. "Maybe she killed herself." They all look shocked at him. "Maybe she drowned herself in the canals of Venice. Maybe she threw herself of a cliff... It can take months before a body gets discove-" Doenja smacks his arm hard. He looks at Jhope who has a triangle shaped mouth. Mary is softly crying and even Emma is having a hard time. "She tried something once... She promised not to do that ever again." Doenja says to Suga. "I believe her." But the others are not speaking. The members of BTS are sad. We want ARMY to be happy. We want to help them when they struggle with those kinds of mental weaknesses... Did we fail? They all sigh and sink deeper. RM gets up, visibly upset at that thought. "W-we should just continue doing what we do. I will let the company know she is taking a leave. We should all be professionals and even if you put up a mask, goddamnit, put up a mask. Until the wounds are healed." He bangs his fist on the table, trying to hide his pain and sadness under a mask of anger. Emma jumps up at his sudden aggression. He looks and mumbles a sorry under his breath to her. She places her hand on his arm and nods to comfort him.