CLOSE TO ME | MARK LEE

43

YUGYEOM POV

Unconscious on the floor was a petite girl all cradled up. Youngjae hyung and I were unable to move from the sudden shock. Her leg pooling out with blood which didn't seem to stop.

"YAH what's taking you so long, just get insid-" JB hyung barged through buy then stopped.

"Yo JACKSON CALLING THE FREAKING AMBULANCE. NOW!" He demanded which scared us.

As realisation quickly hit me, I ran towards the girl with Youngjae and JB hyung following from behind. As we reached the corner, we saw her poor state.

Bruised all over, her hair was a mess which was due to all the hair pulling. Her hands were tied behind with cable ties. Her ankles were suffocated with chains which were basically now embedded into her skin. Her mouth had tape over it and she was pale as the walls behind her. The cut on the leg was gory.

"Seems like someone tried to torture or cut it off with a saw." Youngjae hyung inspected.

I quickly but smoothly took the duct tape off her mouth and placed my fingers close to her nose. She was still breathing.

All of a sudden, a bunch a paramedics came through with a stretcher and medical kits. We moved to the side so they could pick her up and take her. Soon after the police came which I'm guessing Bambam called them here. Thankfully, they managed to take Areum to the hospital with Mark, Jinyoung and Youngjae hyung tagging along.

A police officer approached Jaebeom hyung and I.

"Hi, I'm the main police officer for the police department near this area. We hear that you have some idea of what has happened here and we're thankful that you came to help. We are grateful of your service." He bowed.

We bowed back. "Thank you, it's no problem. But yes we had received a call from a a friend of the girl saying that she hadn't replied to their calls and texts. Then we soon found out that the kidnapper had contacted her friend and told him that he was never going to meet the girl again. After that they decided to contact us as they were in America. But I believe they will be back here soon. We then tracked her down and found her in such a state." I replied.

"Hmm I see. Thank you very much for your help. You can tell their friend that we would like to meet them when they come back and that the girl is now at hospital."

"Okay, I will do. For now, we'll help you out here. We have some kit which will help us trace dna and fingerprints from anyone who was possibly here first."

"Okay thank you, a few of our police officers will help you here whilst I go with my assistant asking close people from this neighbourhood if they saw anyone or anything happen." He stated.

"Thank you sir." JB hyung said and we once again bowed.

Some time had passed and we just finished collecting all available fingerprints that were there in the house. Not long after I got a message. I picked up my phone to see it was from my friend Jaehyun.

JAEHYUN:
found anything so far? Also we're back now if you need to meet us and our manager is letting us all have a break so we can meet without hassle.

ME:
well, Areum is found so you can tell mark that she is sound and alive. But not in a good state. Let me come and pick you up from the airport and I'll take you. We're not actually that far from there. About 10 minutes.

Jaehyun:
Yeah sure. Come and pick us up and then tell us.

ME:
I'll see you in a few minutes.

MARK POV
We had just returned back to Korea so I was very impatient. And it wasn't helping that my luggage was taking forever to be found. Jaehyun hyung already found his so he was standing on the side.

Our managers had said that everyone can have a break so we're all separating from the airport so some of the members are going back to their homes. Johnny hyung decided to take a flight to Chicago to meet his family and Yuta hyung just stopped by before he went to Osaka but I came to find Areum.

I finally found my luggage after minutes of waiting and then walked up to Jaehyun hyung. Some members went to the toilet as they were nowhere to be seen.

"Mark.." Hyung started off slowly which made my stomach churn as it didn't sound too good.

"Hmm" I didn't know how to reply.

"Yugyeom is coming to pick us up... Areum is also alive and found so don't worry. We're going straight to the hospital.

I let out a sigh of relief as tears threatened to slip out of my eyes. I didn't know if I was happy that she was found or sad that she's in hospital again. God is really against for this life of hers and it's makes me upset. I don't like seeing her that way. I wiped away the tears that were slowly slipping. I needed to be strong so Areum can feel supported. She needs to be alright.

"Thank you so much for helping me out hyung. You don't know how much this means to me. I could never repay you back." I hugged him as he hugged me back.

"No worries, this was troublesome for all of us but thankfully it can be sorted."

We left the airport and said bye to the rest of the members. Some were going back to the dorm and some were going back to their homes. Jaehyun hyung and I then also left and went to the car pick up spot.

Not long after Yugyeom's car came. This was the first time I was going to meet him but I was so thankful that he helped me out. He hopped out of the car to meet us. After hugging Jaehyun he then faced me. I just grabbed his hands and bowed.

"Thank you so much for finding my Areum for me. You don't know how hard it was for me but I'm thankful that you helped me and her out. I'm more thankful than I could ever express."

"Don't worry Mark. I can understand your pain, for someone who has already gone through the worst of this type of this situation, I can completely understand you. Let's go and meet Areum now. She's at the hospital. Be strong." He supportively but firmly held the side of upper arm then patted it whilst seeming like he was reminiscing of something.

"Let's go" he gave a small smile.

We put our luggage in the boot and then left with yugyeom to the hospital.

Thank god my Areum is found.

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SORRY I took so long to upload a chapter. We had online lessons and stuff and then my I had a problem with my eye. Thankfully it is getting better now so thank you for waiting patiently. I hope and try to upload more chapters quicker than this.

I'll try to not fail you from now on, it was just this time I needed to give my eye a rest.

Thank you anyways 🥰

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