Y/N's POV

Dinner was lively, all because of Hyun and his loud chatter about school. I occasionally blabbered nonsense and made jokes as well, and seeing mum talking and laughing at our antics filled me with a sense of satisfaction. For her, I'll make a fool of myself, willingly. I'll do it again and again with no remorse, if it means that mom will be distracted and not downcast with dad's absence. I'll do it for that smile.

Anyway, after eating we all sat in the living room for a long while before both of us started yawning. It was time to go to bed.

"You both go sleep. It's late," Mum said, and we willingly complied. I was tired after going all around the campus with Jungkook, trying to get him familiarised with the surroundings. Though tired, I felt happy because I made a new friend, and a very pleasant and sweet one at that. He didn't speak much, but his shy demeanor was cute to see. He also seemed to be close to Yoongi, who was surprisingly very satisfied with his presence.

"Hey, sis." Hyun called out to me, just before I was about to open the door to my room. And before I could reply, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to his room, which was just across mine. He shut the door with his foot, and I just rolled my eyes. Typical Hyun behaviour.

"You know, I heard something interesting in school today." He said, jumping up and down with excitement. His eyes sparkled just like they always do when he wants to tell me something.

But I didn't share his excitement.
"What?" I asked, feeling extremely sleepy and just wanting to end the conversation. I laid down on his bed, with one hand supporting my head so I could look at him.

"I told you about a boy some days ago, do you remember? The nice one?" He said, and paused for a response.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, what about him? " I urged, having no clue who he was talking about. I felt tired.

"Ugh. I know you don't remember, scatterbrain." He said, and I completely ignored the last part.

He sighed and continued, "I'll tell you again. There was a new boy in our class who came in just this year. His name was Jinwoo, and he was a nice kid - kind to everyone, average in studies and he looked good too. He fit in just right. But then you won't believe what happened last week!"

"He found a girlfriend?" I asked, uninterested.

"No! Listen to me!" He huffed, and frowned. I urged him to go on.

"He disappeared!" he whisper-shouted, and now finally that managed to pique my interest. I looked at him with my eyes narrowed, waiting for him to elaborate about this.

"Really! He didn't come to school since Tuesday. None of us suspected anything, we thought he was just skipping classes or something. But he wasn't at home either... Apparently, he told his mother that he was going out with some friends, but he never returned." Hyun said, feeling content now that my whole attention was on him. He narrated the whole story very seriously... I could see that he was very interested in this. And so was I, now.

"That's strange. What did his parents do about it? And also, what did the teachers say?" I asked, listening intently now.

"His parents filed a report to the police, of course. They did it on Wednesday. The police are still investigating it. And no, the teachers don't say anything about it. There are plenty of rumours among the students though."

"Like what?"

"Some say he was kidnapped, others say he ran away from home. Some say he came to the school at night and was taken away by the ghost of the old canteen lady who loves young boys." He said, and I couldn't help but make a face at the ridiculousness of that last rumour.

"Oh, there's this really interesting one though. They say that these days, some people are seeing duplicates of themselves, who want to kill them. They think the same thing happened to him." Hyun said and giggled, finding the whole idea of this absurd and unreal. But no words came out of my mouth, and I could just stare at him for a moment.

What?

"Who... Yah, who did you hear this one from?" I smacked him on the shoulder with my brows furrowed, and he whined.

"It was someone from my friend group... You don't know him. He said that he had heard other people talk about it. But why'd you hit me..." He trailed off at the end with another whine, but I rolled my eyes.

"Did he say anything else?"

"No? Nothing else. It was just a joke, Why are you asking so much about this?"

"Hmm. Nothing. You... Now you don't laugh too much, and just pray that your friend is found quickly. This isn't something funny, Hyunie..." I said seriously, trying to get him to understand the gravity of the situation. But the fact that my own mind was elsewhere troubled me...

"I bet it's nothing serious, like a prank of something."

"Let's see what happens... Go to sleep now, then.
...Yes, even though tomorrow is Sunday."

I tucked him in, wishing him a good night, but as I walked out of his room, the smile on my face faded away. The gears of my mind started twisting rapidly as the conversation from the bus replayed itself in my mind.
They were talking about something similar to what Hyun said... But I was damn sure that they did not go to Hyun's school - I was able to deduce that through their uniform - yet they, and train people they overheard, knew about it too. So it's not just some inside joke of his school.

'This rumour appears to be quite famous...' was the first thought I had as I took the three steps needed to reach my room. I opened the door, went inside, closed the door and then plopped down on my bed, still pondering on this.

'The girls said that they overheard someone on the train, who actually experienced the situation first-hand. So then did the same thing happen to Hyun's friend? Wait...what was his name, again? ... Um.... Oh! Jinsoo, I guess.'
I didn't pay much attention to what Hyun was saying at first, so I wasn't sure if that was the right name. But anyway, what happened to him is more important, so, whatever.

'Anyway, so maybe the same thing happened to him, but, unlike the train people, he wasn't able to escape?' The trail of my thoughts came to a stop with this conclusion. But I wasn't satisfied, because there was a big chance that this theory was entirely wrong, since I had developed it on the base of rumours and eavesdropped conversations - all told by children.

With a groan, I realised that I just wasted my time on something useless. And therefore, to distract myself, I reached out my hand overhead to reach for my most favourite pass time - the book. But for some reason, my hand grasped nothing but air. I rolled over, now lying on my stomach, just to discover with horror that the book wasn't there on the bed, where I left it before going for dinner.

I stood up immediately, with my breath stuck in my throat and brows furrowed. I checked all over and under the bed, inside the cabinet where it is usually kept-all to no avail.

So then I crept inside the kitchen, not wanting to make any commotion to disturb mom and Hyun. I looked for my precious book all over the dining table, just in case I had magically forgotten about bringing it with me to dinner. But that was clearly not the case, since it wasn't here too. And thus I came back in my room, my head in my hands and eyes watery.

I looked at the room once more, hoping to see my most prized possession back on the bed where I had left. But instead of the book, something else came into vision. My window...it was open. Was it always like that?

With my maniacally thumping heart and trembling legs, I carelessly ran towards the window. A terrible realisation was slowly sinking down on me...

It was stolen...?

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(A/N)

Y/N gathers more clues...

What do you think happened to Jinwoo? And her precious book?

Vote and comment!

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Words :- 1404
Date :- 15th June, 2024