"You shouldn't have told them. It's a risky move being so young in your career." His green hair was disheveled after spending the last 30 minutes pulling it off. "A step longer than your legs can reach, Jungkook. You don't understand."

The singer frowned "What do you mean? Should I have lied? They asked me, I just answered accordingly."

"Jungkook, being honest helps nothing now. People will-"

"Will have to accept me the way I am, Hyung." The singer stood up, cold sweat on his forehead and a frown. "If they don't like it, I'll respect them, the same way I hope they respect me."

"DO YOU THINK IT'S EASY!?" The singer flinched, "JUNGKOOK, YOU'RE NOT LIVING IN A DREAM! People will treat you like TRASH! I've seen it and I'm not ready to see you going through it!"

The producer noticed the defensive state the other assumed and sighed "Look, Jungkook, I'm not saying that because you're wrong. It's just this society isn't roses" The singer's eyes were glistening.

"What should I do then? Tell them more lies?" A tear was streaming down, and then there was a cascade.

"Hey... Just... Why don't you say you have a girl or something? It may put out the fire."

"I'm ashamed of what I said, he just left after that, saying he was too tired for that talk. He didn't pick up the phone after that, and I- I- hadn't seen him since then."

Taehyung smelt that fresh ocean scent and felt a deep sadness setting in the pit of his stomach. It had been some time since he felt like curling up into a ball and crying. That was definitely strange for him, lucky he was good with his poker face.

Yoongi lowered his head "I, I was so scared of what could happen to him, that I didn't measure my words. I must have hurt him so badly. He was never the type to answer calls or messages, so I thought it was okay. But when Yugyeom called me and said he was nowhere, I- I knew I'd screwed up. I looked for him everywhere he used to go when he was upset but there was nothing"

Taehyung didn't stop walking around the studio they were in. It was the only place that had traces of Jeon Jungkook. There were paintings, some he had even seen as the covers of the albums. There were colorful inks everywhere, and a table with lots of pencils and pens, some draws, blankets on a couch, a computer, and an Iron man cup. Which Taehyung took to check the liquid.

"Is he a neat person?"

"Yeah, I mean" Suga looked around and the room was all messed up, "Usually, he is..."

"I suppose this is where he spends his days." he frowned at the smell from the cup.

"Yeah, he rarely goes home. I ended up giving the studio to him;"

"Someone should wash it," Taehyung said, pointing to the cup. "Milk smells really bad after some time."

"Have you told him you were homosexual?" The green-haired man widened his eyes. "I did my homework, Min Yoongi."

"I haven't."

"You should. He was feeling alone and needed confirmation. You blocked him out when you said those words like that."

The producer raised an eyebrow as if wondering how the detective could know that. Taehyung was also surprised by his words. He shook his head and all the sadness was off his chest.

"Has he had any problems recently? Why wasn't he going home? How long has he been living here?" He also noticed a few black bags in the corner - 'garbage? neat? He's anything but neat so far.'

"He said he didn't have any ideas while there. He never liked that apartment. According to him, It wasn't inspirational, or something. One day he just showed up with a bag and some stuff. I had no power against him."

"And you believed him? Did you not ask anything?"

The greenette frowned "Why wouldn't I? Jungkook is very sensitive to everything. He could easily be bothered by the plain room he has there."

"What about arguing with Yugyeom?"

Suga shook his head "I know nothing about it. It might have been for the same reason we discussed,"

"Kim Yugyeom said you were together that night."

"Oh, this. I don't know what happened, but Yugyem called me to, like, eat and drink. I was in need of a drink."

"I'll need receipts." The green-haired man nodded.

Taehyung finally sat. He noticed in another corner halters and a picture on the wall where he could recognize Yugyeom and Yoongi, also another couple he would ask about it to Suga but his phone rang

"Excuse me," he said to Suga and turned around. "Got the phone? Ask SeoJeon to check it. Yeah, it's about that kid. I'll send a list of places soon. I want all the videos of the vigilance from these places. I also want a check-up on a few names and cameras from near the buildings. He might have been followed by someone" He turned the phone off and stared at the other.

"Followed? Do you think someone has taken him?"

"We know nothing, Mr. Min. We can assume the worst, and still hope for the best. We have 48 hours to find him before it's considered a waste of time. Tell me where you've been looking for him and why, I need anything about his daily life and everyone he would talk to on a regular basis in a list, including that couple there"

⏳

Taehyung parked in the last place on Suga's list. He needed Hoseok, he was better at talking to people. While talking to the producer, Yugyeom showed up and it was clear to the detective that he was hiding something as he kept fidgeting.

Something in Taehyung was wrong. He felt pissed as soon as he stepped on that place.

How the hell would he find this kid? He got out of the car and stared at the park they were in. It was beautiful. There was a long way uphill and a nice view of the sunset. He imagined what it would be like if he went up there, and a picture flashed in his eyes as if he had just been there, seeing the sunrise just to blink again and see the sunset. 

"I'm going nuts." Taehyung thought.

He frowned.

"Once we came here and stared at those trees for almost four hours until he had an idea of what to write for his song," Said Suga, waking up the detective.

"I never knew he would come here... He never told me." Yugyeom said while looking around.

'So, you were close enough to feel sad about a place he never talked about?'

"Was he producing anything?" Taehyung asked, looking around the place as well. It was on the outskirts of the city. It took them almost one hour just to get there.

"Always. He never stopped producing, drawing, dancing, and exercising. He was a machine."

"Did he have any friends... beside you two?"

"Namjoon and Seokjin. They are like - parent figures. They live a bit ahead, but I never met them. I told you about them earlier and I called them but they didn't answer." Suga answers.

"The guys in the photo." Taehyung looked around, his hair blowing with the soft wind and as if the wind spoke to him. He had sent the police to check on the couple, but something felt wrong. He wanted to check them, 'Should I?'

"uphill.."

Taehyung felt a shiver. "Did you go uphill?"

"No, when we came here we just sat and he kept staring at the far trees." The producer said.

"Namjoon, you said?" He pulled out his phone and confirmed the address with Suga.

"Yes, that's the one."

"I called them, Jungkook is not there." the manager said.

"That's not what I asked their address for, Mr. Kim."

"But it's useless to be where he's not! We need to find him!" Yugeom yelled.

"Of course, I suppose driving around with no destination sounds much better. Did he have any boyfriends? Friends outta the company?"

Both men frowned, and Taehyung didn't miss the discomfort in Yugyeom.

"I hope you understand that anything that you keep secret may jeopardize this case. Every second is extremely important. You can both go back."

"Don't get them worried." Yugyeom tried to say.

Taehyung scoffed. "It's part of being in someone's life to be worried. That's how it works."

"I wanna go with you." Suga said "I wanna help to find him, I-"

"Nah, you would just disturb me. Try to think about anything that you can remember about him and these last days. I'll visit these, guys. Go to the station, and give your statements. Don't lie" he said looking into the Manager's eyes, "we'll know,"

Before leaving, the detective shared a warning look with the manager

Uphill...

Taehyung widened his eyes at the chills back his spine "The fuck?" He looked between the passenger and backseats. Then uphill, where the sun was glowing pinkish. There was nothing.

⏳

He shook his head and went to the door. The house was ...

"The heck..."

Huge.

For Taehyung who lived in an apartment, seeing a house with three freaking garages and so many windows was something out of normal. Of course, not completely. He'd worked in other cases, in which people were rich and had big ass houses, but usually, they were Mafia, government people, or something like that.

He felt the shiver running his spine up and down again.

"That- the heck is that? Am I going sick?"

Ding-Dong

A feeling of nostalgia hit him, and he frowned again. He's never been here, why nostalgia?

He heard far steps coming closer and closer until got close to the door.

"Who is this?" He heard someone ask.

"I'm detective Kim Taehyung, I'm working on Jeon Jungkook's case."

The door opened in a blink.

"Working on what?" The man was breathtaking. He had big eyes, and plump red lips, and was dressed in comfy clothes, a model probably.

"Mr. Kim Seokjin?" Taehyung asked confirming the name on his notepad.

"Yes, it's me."

"I'm Kim Taehyung. Can I ask a few questions about Jeon Jungkook?"

"W-What happened?"

"He's been missing for more than 24h hours now."

The man widened his eyes, clearly shaken by the words, "Jooonie!" The scream caused Taehyung to step back

"C-come in, please"

They sat "What do you mean, detective..."

"Kim Taehyung."

"Joonie! Come down here!" Taehyung would be lying if he didn't inner flinch at the tone. A tall bulky man came down the stairs.

"Yes, baby." The man was holding a book and had glasses on.

"That's detective Kim, something seems to be wrong with Jungkook, Joonie" Seokjin's voice trembled and the other massaged his cheek;

"Hi, I'm Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin's husband." He shook hands and sat by the other's side and they shared a deep look. Taehyung felt his cheek warming up; when Suga said they were partners, he hadn't thought like that.

They both sat and pointed at the sofa so Taehyung should sit as well.

"What happened, detective?"

"Jeon Jungkook has gone missing from his apartment since Thursday night, and nobody has seen him since then."

"Oh gosh, what do you mean?" Namjoon asked and Taehyung read the pure worry in his eyes. "I haven't seen him in two weeks."

Seokjin looked down. "He came here Friday early morning, around Four."

"What? How didn't I see him?" Namjoon asked, impressed.

"He... Joonie, he was a mess. He was crying, sounding desperate. I just hugged him and put him to bed, but he was gone before I even woke up."

"Wait, what time did you notice he was gone?" The detective asked to write everything down on his notes.

"He fell asleep around 5 in the morning, and I left him in his room-"

"He has a room here?"

"Of course he does - he is-" But the handsome stopped his words, biting his lips.

"Please, don't hide anything. It's his life on the line. It's not like people will know it. It's basically me and my partner. I need to know."

"I'm his half-brother."

"So, he does have a family."

"Of course, he does!" Namjoon said angrily.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude."

"Well, his mother passed away when he was eight. He came to live with us. He was a son of a different mother, and all the family saw him as a burden. So my father- our father - gave him an apartment when he was 16. I was totally against it, but Junkook liked the idea better. He also got an opportunity at the company to become a singer."

"Wait, you're Kim Seokjin, Mr. Beom Suho from the BH company?"

Kim Seokjin just nodded.

Kim Taehyung's face didn't show the freaking surprise in his stomach.

"Well, my father isn't an easy person. When I came to be gay he freaked out and sent me away. When I came back I lived only as Jin, the actor, and model. Nothing else, and no relation with him."

"What about Jungkook?"

"He got to be with all the hard parts. Suho started demanding him to study and become the CEO but Jungkook refused. Suho tried to jeopardize his debut as much as possible, but Jungkook is very brave. He never gave up and then,... "Jin stopped to swallow his crying, "Suho finally gave in and let him debut saying he better find someone to do his job because we didn't want to."

Taehyung sighed. "Did he have any medications?"

"Yeah, hm, last time I checked he was having a mild tranquilizer for his anxiety and when he had trouble sleeping, he would have one to help. But he was doing fine,"

"Do you happen to know where I can find your father?"

"Suho lives in Busan, I need to call him." The man stood up and wrote a paper to hand to the detective, who nodded.

"Can I see his room?"

"Jinnie, I'll call Mr. Kim, you show him the room."

While going upstairs, Seokjin sniffed a few times and the detective cursed himself for being so indelicate not able say any comfort words. He silently waited to get to the room.

"What did you talk about when he came on Friday?"

The man sighed "He was desperate. He didn't say much, just rambling. Things like, I was so stupid, and degrading his own image. I didn't like it a bit. But he was so upset, I thought sleeping would help.." Involuntarily a sob left his lips.

On a normal day, Taehyung would be quiet and let the man cry his eyes out. But he felt empathic with the man.

"Look, the fact that he left this house later than when the case was officially open, means we have more time to find him. Okay? Let's do our best."

Seokjin looked at the man in front of him... "Thank you."

Taehyung gave a smile

Don't you dare

The smile was gone and he looked at Jin again, but the other was drying his tears. He gulped and looked around the room. He raised an eyebrow.

There were hero figures, books, and CDs. He checked some drawers. He tried one that was closed and guessed that was the one he needed to open.

He picked up the keys he got from the manager and there it was, a small key that fitted like a glove.

Noooo

He clearly heard someone saying no. He stopped his moves at the sound of whimpers. "The heck?" He looked around and there was nobody in the room.

"Mr. Kim?" He called for the model. Nobody answered;

Taehyung looked around once again. "Alright, that's- That's very uncommon. Brain dear mine, don't play tricks on me, I can't sleep until I find this kid,"

He opened the drawer and he felt his face going red.

"Did you call me, Detective?"

He immediately closed the drawer and locked it.

"No, Yeah," He cleared his throat "Tell me a bit about him, could you? What is he like?"

Seokjin thought the detective was acting a bit weirdly but shrugged and gave a soft smile,

"He's a troublemaker." that took Taehyung aback, so far he had been told Jungkook was a kind of angel. "He goes after what he wants, no matter what it is. He's been like that since he was a kid. When he first came, my mom tried her best to make him feel at home. But he was never at the table for eating with us, never. And when I asked why, He said he wouldn't eat with Suho. He keeps this anger for the man no matter what. And don't make me start about the school, he just played sports."

"It explains many things. Is he a neat person?"

"Yeah, totally. His bedroom was always clean and tidy" Seokjin laughed and Taehyung repressed his smile as well, "Except when he was planning or dealing with something challenging. He would forget everything behind and would clean only when he finished it."

"Hm. Was he dating someone?"

"Oh, don't make me start," Seokjin rolled his eyes, "He dated a girl back at school, but she was always too jealous and broke up with him. He was a mess. There was this other guy... I think it was.. Yugyeom, yeah, that's the name, but he also broke up with Junkgook. Jungkook came home broken that evening. After that, he just got caught up in his job"

Taehyung thanked his years of dealing with problems; He deeply hoped it was Yugyeom, it would be easier; "How long has it been?"

"A year or two, I'm not completely sure."

"Was it when he had his debut?"

"Yeah, yeah, he debuted a few weeks later. Never saw him singing so deeply,"

Kim Taehyung looked around the room. "Is there anything missing?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Do you recognize this?" Taehyung pulled the ring from his pocket.

"Yeah, it's his mother's ring. He wears it as a necklace sometimes. He's-" The man sobbed "He's rarely without it."

"Any places he enjoyed going?"

Seokjin gave all the places that the singer could have gone, but everything was so mysterious.

"Do you remember the exact words he said when he was here?"

"Ahm.. I'm sorry," tears were going down his face, "I'm stupid, I'm just trouble, and thousands of Why's and so on, don't tell them, they'll be angry.. that's all I can remember."

"Thank you, can I stay here a bit longer?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be downstairs if you need anything. Father might be going crazy now, he is stupid but he loves his boys."

"Do you happen to know the password for that machine?" He pointed to the laptop on the desk.

"Oh, I wish. But I don't, I'm sorry. Can I help with anything else"

"No, for now, that's all. Thank you. An officer is outside, it's Mark. If it's no problem, could you answer his questions?"

"Yeah, sure."

As soon as the man left, Taehyung went straight to the desk and searched for all of them,

Not there stupid

The chills ran over Taehyung's back and he visibly shivered. "The heck is that?" He looked around and found a spooky empty room. The hero figure seemed to be looking at him with those big plastic eyes

He gulped; "That's creeping me out." He wouldn't admit that to anyone, but fear settled in his belly.

RINGING

"Wuuaa" He placed a hand on his heart and blinked a few times to control it. His phone ringtone almost gave him a heart attack.

He picked the call, his hand a bit trembling and he looked from one side to another, checking the place. "tell me you have something."

"You okay?"

"I'm perfect." But he got to the wall and kept glancing around the room as if waiting for something to pop up.

"We have Hoseok checking the images, and SeoJeon's finished with the phone."

"Alright,"

"You okay there?"

"Yeah, yeah. Take Yugyeom in custody. He kept some information off, and now I'm suspicious of him. Ask Hoseok to cross the information on his phone with the names and places I sent earlier. Also, Beom Suho, keep it low. He's the boy's father- SHIT!" The window of the room broke and Taehyung flinched.

"What was that?"

"I-I'm not s-sure. I better check it. G-gotta go." He turned the phone off. His eyes stared at the window.

It was broken from the inside to out. He looked around and there was nothing, but then he felt cold and suddenly anger under his skin, and then he was normal again, feeling a shiver running his body out as if all the feelings had just left from his chest, leaving fear behind.

"Shit- Shit"

He stared back at the window... his hand became clamped, and his heart started pounding. right there in the window reflex, there was a shadow on his shoulder, something slightly white.

With shaking hands and not moving his eyes off the shadow, he, very carefully, not to touch the toys in the drawer, took the notebook and closed it again.

"What was that?" Seokjin came to ask

He jolted up "I-I'm not that s-sure." The shadow was gone "B-but I gotta go check some other information I received." He said that keeping his eyes on the window "I'm taking his laptop and this notebook along. Don't leave the city" Taehyung said, messily running down the stairs.

"Wait, Detective" He just walked fast towards the door.

His eyes were wide and his hair was pointing everywhere

"Detective, why such a hurry? Did you find something?" Namjoon asked from the living room.

"I gotta go. His- Beom Suho, will be called to-to the office. If you have any questions," he got a card from his pocket, dropping the notebook," here, call me if you get to know anything."

He got the notebook back running out of the house, not even looking back when he got in the car. He dropped the things on the passenger seat. and started driving.

"That's normal. It's normal, that's no biggie, yeah, no biggie." He kept repeating over and over.

He took a few breaths, and chuckled, "Kim Taehyung, you need a nap."

'You're not gonna sleep when I'm missing!"

'What? Can you hear me now?

A white translucent hand shook in front of Taehyung. He glanced by his side to see a clear vault.

"Ghost~" he whispered lowly, his eyes felt heavy and everything dissipated

Shit! That's not a good time to pass out, Detective Kim!"

Vroooommmmmmm!

Crash!

~~~~~

Hey guys!

What do you think of their first encounter? hehe How would react if you saw a ghost? Do you believe in them? 

Have a good week!

Onna