My mind was caught up in a totally complicated tangle of numerous negative thoughts that I just couldn't free myself from. There weren't too many patients as well, and that wasn't helping me to keep my mind off these thoughts.

My eyes couldn't ever unsee what they had seen this morning.

Jeon Jungkook, the one friend who had always been the most silent one in the group, the awkward shy boy who got along so well just with the four of us, the one boy whom I would've never expected to have any kind of perverted thoughts, ever.

I shuddered when I recalled the nauseating scene that I witnessed this morning, my stomach twisted, and it added more discomfort to the already existing period cramps. Unable to erase the image off my mind, I held my head in my hands, massaging my eyes with the base of my palms when there was a knock at the door.

Officer Jin was here, and I couldn't keep it in any longer. I felt so thankful that he was here.

"Officer Jin" I dragged my chair closer to my table. "I'm so glad you came. I have been struggling with something horrible I witnessed this morning, and I actually think we might have something at hand." I spoke hurriedly while he got himself seated in a chair across the desk.

"Relax, Dr. Amanda. What is it?" He asked me worriedly.

"Officer, something bad happened at home this morning." I breathed out. "My friend Jungkook was inside our bedroom when I went out to the convenience store. And when I came back, he didn't know that I was back. But I saw him doing something in there, and it totally creeped me out." My eyes lifted to meet his intense eyes, eyebrows knitted, forehead creased in intense concentration.

Placing a finger on his chin, he nodded lightly and encouraged me to keep speaking.

"He was actually sniffing my clothes and rubbing them over his face and body. It was disgusting to see him do that." I said in a much lower volume, without looking into his eyes, already feeling the bitter bile building up in the pit of my stomach.

"Is this the first time he has done something like this?" He asked, and I nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Officer. Yes. He is so close to us and never once has he done any kind of wrong move ever. Not even playfully." My words were getting stuck in my throat as my voice cracked.

"Dr. Amanda, please calm down. I can understand how you must have felt when you saw something like that. What happened after that? What did you do when you saw this?" He asked in a more serious tone.

"I was shocked and felt weak. But then he stopped what he was doing and checked something on his phone. And then he put down the clothes. He didn't see me there because I ran off into the kitchen." I elaborated, and just thinking about the incident made my heart-rate accelerate.

"So, he didn't see you seeing him?" He asked, and I shook my head.

He nodded in an understanding manner and shuffled in his seat.
"And then what happened?"

"I got ready for work, and he got ready and left too. He was all cool, and I tried my best to stay cool. And then I called you after he left." I mopped the beads of sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.

"Dr. Amanda, you've done the right thing by not confronting him straight away. He may or may not be involved in Dr. Kim's disappearance, but after what has happened today, it looks like we need to watch him closely, and if he gets even the slightest doubt that you are observing him, then it could take a turn. Do you understand what I'm saying?" His voice was laced with concern and caution.

"I get it, Officer. I'll observe him closely without getting his attention. I'll do my best. But there's something else." I shuffled in my seat. "Jungkook didn't come back home with us after the awarding ceremony on Saturday. He said he had some work outside, but didn't give us any other details." I added the details that I could connect to the series of events surrounding my husband's disappearance, desperately trying to put two and two together, and Officer Jin nodded, rubbing his chin with his index finger.

"That's the night Dr. Kim went missing, and this point is definitely something to be noted." He added; his expressions edging the fine line between confusion and conviction.

The expressions on my face mirrored his. "Have you got any leads?" I asked him anxiously.

He shook his head and leaned back in his seat.
"None yet. What does Jungkook do?"

"He is a pediatric surgeon too, and he was living at Russia ever since he went there for his post graduation almost three years ago. He was working there, and recently he quit his job there and he has joined the Kim Medical Center at Gangnam." I informed him, and at the same time, my mind grew suspicious if he really worked there.

"But Officer, I now have doubts about that as well." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table top. "Our close friends, Jimin and Sooya don't even know that he works there. Apparently, he has informed only me and Taehyung about that. And I don't know why. But, he was also invited to the engagement party of Namjoon because he is an employee at the Kim Medical Center, and that is confusing me even more."

Officer Jin hummed and nodded slowly.
"Let's find that out then. What's his full name?"

"Jeon Jungkook"

He pulled out his phone and called the Kim Medical Center, Gangnam.

"Hi, this is Dr. Han from Kim Laboratories. Could you please connect my line to Dr. Jeon Jungkook from the Pediatric Surgery department? This is about an important NDA that he has to sign." He lied casually.

"Oh... is it? This is the Kim Medical Center, Gangnam, right?" He tilted his head and quirked a brow.

"Alright. I thought I got the wrong number" he chuckled. "My bad. I'll call back a week later then. Thank you. Have a great day," he smiled and ended the call.

His eyes met mine, and his face sported a very serious look.
"Dr. Jeon Jungkook is not starting work at the Kim Medical Center until next Monday."

My eyes widened and my jaw hung open.
"What? But he has been going to work since this Monday. And he's gone all day, comes back in the evening only." I grabbed a bottle of water to moisten my dry throat.

"We need to watch him closely. Could you give me his phone number? We'll track his calls." He gave me his phone, and I copied Jungkook's contact number onto his device and handed it back to him.

"Dr. Amanda, is it possible to get me something with Jungkook's DNA? His hair or nails? I have my own doubts, and I need to be sure of things." Officer Jin fixed his gaze on me.

I swallowed hard and nodded.
"Yes, Officer. He lives under the same roof, and I will try my best to get you something."

"But do it discreetly." He added.

I nodded.
"I will. Do you think the random hair could be Jungkook's?" I asked softly, still unable to fully absorb the fact that Jungkook could be involved in my husband's mysterious disappearance.

"Don't worry, Dr. Amanda. We will get there, and I wish I could give you some positive news, but unfortunately, I have none." He opened his arms in defeat and sighed deeply. "Do contact me if there's anything else, and, most importantly, delete all our conversations and call log entries. I would suggest you change my contact name as well to something unnoticeable. The enemy might be closer and cleverer than we think they are." The tone of his voice made me swallow thickly.

"I'll do it right away" I nodded a few times, and with shaky hands, I quickly erased the few chats and call logs with Officer Jin and changed his contact name to that of my long gone Aunt Cassandra.

"We will work closely with the Forensics department and get the results at the earliest. But if we need to process things legally, it might take up a lot of time and permissions, and an official DNA sample collection from the suspect, with his permission, which we can't do with the current situation at hand." Officer Jin put forth the practical challenges.

All of a sudden, a light bulb glowed inside my muddled up mind.
"I get it. Officer, I have a friend who works at the Forensic department. Could he be of any help?" I asked with a small ray of hope since Hoseok was someone who wouldn't mind turning the whole world upside down if he had to help his friends.

"Is he reliable? I mean...it's only natural to be paranoid at this point." He added, and I dismissed it in the blink of an eye.

"I trust him a lot, Officer. He is a totally genuine person, and he's very friendly...close to Taehyung too." I nodded sadly as memories of us flashed across my mind.

"Alright then. Put me through, I'll coordinate with him and get this done." Officer Jin agreed, and I gave him the contact details of Hoseok.

With that, Officer Jin left the hospital, and I felt more energetic than I had ever felt in these past four days. After attending a few patients, I decided to leave earlier and set out on the mission to locate a few hair strands from Jungkook's room before he could come back home.

On my way back home, my mom called me.
"Mom?" My voice cracked when I answered the call.

"Mandy, I called to check on you, darling. Is there any news yet?" She asked worriedly, and my tears began flowing as if a dam broke. The taxi driver cast worried glances at me through the rear view mirror, yet my tears wouldn't stop.

"Mom, we got some of his things a couple of days ago. And we have some leads as well. I have been asked not to discuss the details with anyone." I sniffed and wiped my tears that still kept streaming down. "But I will surely let you know when we have something solid."

Mom sighed and hummed.
"Stay hopeful and pray well, Amanda. Taehyung is always in my prayers, and I am still hopeful that he will be alright. He will come back." She uttered some positive words that, though not of any significance, helped me calm down to an extent, at least for the moment.

"I'm trying, mom. I'm really trying to stay positive." I reassured her as the taxi pulled over outside our house. "I'll talk to you later then." I got out of the taxi.

"Sure, honey. Please eat your meals and try to get some sleep. You can visit me anytime you feel like it. I'm always here, and I love you a lot, Amanda." Mom spoke shakily, and my tears dripped down once again.

"Thank you, mom. I love you too. I will talk to you more often." I said, and we ended the call in a while.

I put my handbag down on the floor and lay down on the couch, feeling totally drained of all my energy. Without Taehyung around, I didn't even understand how I had survived almost five whole days.

It felt like a procession of elephants was stomping down on my lower abdomen, and my heart hurt when I thought back to how tenderly Taehyung cared for me during my period days. He couldn't cook like a chef, yet the piping hot ramen and the warm honey green tea that he made for me always tasted like a whole feast. He couldn't share my pain, but he would always warm me up with heating pads and soft foot massages. He hasn't ever shied away from picking up sanitary pads for me from the store, and he always softly sang to me when I had trouble falling asleep during these hard days of the month.

I missed him terribly, my heart hurt, everything hurt, and I felt so helpless and useless. And to top it all, Jungkook's creepy behavior was like fingernails on a chalkboard — cringey and distasteful.

The hair strands!

I bolted up in my seat and scurried over to Jungkook's room. The door was closed but wasn't locked, and I entered it, feeling like a creep myself. Pushing away those thoughts, I looked around the bedroom where everything seemed to be in its place. There was nothing on the dresser except a small bottle of perfume. His suitcases were zipped up and none of his clothes were strewn around. The bed was just as it was — untouched — since he had been sleeping in the sleeping bag for the past few days.

I decided to look in the bathroom and maybe locate some hair stands there. The moment I stepped into the bathroom, the doorbell rang, the sudden ringing noise making my eyes go wide and causing me to lose balance in my feet as I stumbled onto the sink counter, holding on to it for support. I panicked and broke into a sweat.

Shit! Is he back already?

I stood frozen on the spot for a moment until the doorbell rang again. Looking around the bathroom desperately, I couldn't find any trace of a single strand of hair anywhere, although I, and all our close friends knew for a fact that Jungkook had hairfall issues. Or I couldn't probably locate anything since I was searching in desperation, my mind completely losing control over my limbs.

The doorbell rang again, and I knew I had to give up searching now. I rushed out of the bathroom and exited the bedroom too after turning off the lights and closing the door behind me. Letting out short puffs of breath to calm myself, I walked up to the front door and opened it.

"Are you okay, Amanda? I was so worried since you didn't open the door for so long." Jungkook said in an extremely worried tone, and I smiled uneasily.

"Sorry. I was in the bathroom." I stepped aside, and he entered with his eyes not leaving my face.

"Everything okay? You look so distressed. Did the police tell you something bad?" He asked as he took off his shoes and put them aside.

"No. I'm just not feeling great." I shrugged weakly and closed the front door and began walking towards the kitchen while wondering how to gather something from him that held his DNA.

"Amanda" Jungkook followed me into the kitchen, and I turned around to look at him with a small smile, although my mind was calculating my next move very cautiously.

"Are you going to cook?" He asked as he approached me and stood at a three-feet distance from me.

"Yeah, I guess. I am planning to cook" I eyed the knife holder next to him, panicking for a moment if he would grab one from it and stab me.

"I'll help you out. Leave the cutting and slicing to me, I am pretty good at that." He giggled, and I didn't know if there was an intended pun in what he said.

I only nodded and flashed a very vague and foolish smile, waiting for him to leave the place so that I could breathe and think in peace. He left to take a shower, and I let out a breath that was long stuck inside my lungs.

With just a few minutes of alone time at my disposal, I had to come up with an action plan to collect something from him. I couldn't obviously rip out his hair or nails, and other stuff was out of the picture too. Lost in my thoughts, I was moving the glassware from the drying rack to the stands when I saw his hulking shadow approaching from behind, and then I heard his voice.
"Amanda"

I turned around, panicking, letting the glass slip from my hand and crash on the floor.

Missing Taehyung?
Me too 😭😭

Published on : 10/24/2021