Before accidentally falling asleep in the back of the SUV, I asked Agent Wang to return me to the station. I needed my phone, but it was so late that I decided to pick up my car from Hyunjin's house later, since Hyunjin lived farther from my house than the station, and I was fine with walking.

The recollections of Mrs. Lee's threats swirled in my mind, making me dizzy with indignation and filling the space of my dreams. 

I was gradually awakened as we came to a rolling stop outside of the station, and Agent Wang alerted me of our arrival. 

"We've been told to bring you to another meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Lee soon," he told me, his icy eyes holding a shred of sympathy because of what he had heard standing by the wall in the Lee's living room.  "Please make your decision by then."

I nodded and hopped out of the SUV, and I didn't turn to watch as they pulled away and drifted into the darkness of the night. 

Yawning, I reached for my keys and unlocked the door to the station, surprised that there were still a few lights on.

I thought Chan had already locked up and set a prerecorded track for the night?

A particularly bright light made me squint as I entered the studio, and when my eyes adjusted, I recognized a familiar figure seated in my unofficial swivel chair in front of the desk. 

"...Chris?" I called out Chan's English name, my brain too tired to attempt Korean at this time of night. Thankfully, it was unnecessary, since English was both our mother tongue. 

The blonde holding the brightly lit tablet turned his head to look at me, surprised. Smiling, he greeted me with a charming Australian accent. "Oh, Hana! Hey! You're here for your phone, right?" He reached over and picked up my phone from the desk. "You left it right beside—"

"Right beside the audio console," I chuckled lightly, approaching the chair to take my phone from his outstretched hand. "I know."

"I think Felix and Hyunjin both called you," Chan stated, furrowing his brows and cocking his head as he thought back a few hours. "But your phone died after, and I didn't pick up, so I'm not sure what they wanted. Hyunjin popped in and asked if you were here, though."

"Oh, I'll call them back later. Thanks." I eyed the tablet in his hands, the brightness illumating his face and making it almost white. "Why is your brightness up so high? Doesn't that hurt your eyes?"

Chan nodded, typing out something. "A little, but it keeps my eyes awake so I don't fall asleep, you know?"

"𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 you be asleep, though? What time is it?"

"2:04," He swiped down from the top of his screen to get a glimpse of the time. "And I'll go to sleep, I just have to get this... one thing done..." Glancing up at me again, his eyes narrowed as he smiled. "You should go, it's pretty late. One thing before you leave, though," He suddenly added, and I raised a brow. 

"Ask me anything," I prompted. 

Chan paused for a moment, glancing back at what looked like a typed out script on his tablet before meeting my gaze and again cocking his head, a signature move. "What's your opinion on Valentine's day?"

I shrugged, not really prepared to answer what seemed to be a random question. "It's a valid holiday, I guess, it's like a cute couple day thing. So, you know..." I trailed off, not exactly sure what answer Chan wanted from me. 

But he nodded, satisfied, and typed something else. 

I watched him type away for another moment, apparently tweaking the script to conform to my vague opinion, before I nodded uncertaintly. "Okay, just get some rest soon, alright?"

He nodded back, silently assuring me he would. I had a feeling that nod of acknowledgement was just obligatory, though. 

I left, not bothering to lock the door behind me as I was sure Chan would lock up when he was done. I started home in the darkness, throwing myself on my bed and plugging my phone in by my nightstand when I arrived. When it was charged up enough to turn on, I saw notifications for 12 missed calls from Felix and 15 from Hyunjin, along with a few texts from each of them that I was too tired to open.

I thought about calling them back to see if they needed something, but I convinced myself that it was too late, and they were probably already asleep by now. 

I immediately fell asleep myself, hoping that whatever they needed wasn't an emergency. 

━━━━━━━━━━ •

I noted, with the help of my now charged phone, that it was 8:12 in the morning.

Eight in the freaking morning on a Sunday, and someone was pounding on the door like they were the SWAT team.

The pounding came again, and at an intermission in the annoying, booming noise, two muffled voices whispered from behind the door, fading in and out as I strained to listen. 

"I'll (...) kick it down. "

"What the hell?? No, it's (...) "

"(...) going to get inside, then?! "

"(...) probably not here, we checked here earlier. Let's (...) somewhere else."

"... I'mma kick it down."

"(...) not fucking kicking it down, put your (...)"

Grumbling and deciding that the two voices sounded familiar, I got out of bed and tripped to my front door. Swinging it open, I was met by Hyunjin and Felix, the latter of which had a leg up ready to kick at my door, both with worried expressions, their respective Bentley and motorcycle hurriedly parked on the street.

The concern on their faces was immediately was replaced by shock as they took in my presence, and Felix set his leg back down beside the other as his jaw dropped in surprise. 

I glanced at both of them in confusion. "What the hell, guys?? It's eight in the freaking morning, and I was going to sleep in—" I was cut off by Hyunjin throwing his arms around me, squeezing the breath from my lungs with a tight hug. 

His voice, muffled because his head was buried in my shoulder, came out as a shaking whisper, even though he tried to scold me. "Where the hell were you, Hana?? I thought..." He raised his head to look at me, his watering eyes meeting mine as he bit his trembling lower lip. "I thought you left because of me!"

It was my turn to let my jaw drop as my mind swirled with confusion, but I disregarded my questions for a moment to lose myself in the warmth of Hyunjin's arms enveloping me. 

Felix came to hug me when Hyunjin let go, and I wrapped my arms around the former, returning his hug, still bewildered at all the sentiment. "We were looking for you almost all night," Felix choked, tightening his grip around me. "You weren't answering your phone, and... we thought something happened to you..."

I pulled away from Felix as he wiped his eyes, watching both of my crying friends and co-workers standing in front of me. 

And my blurry and half-awake brain suddenly snapped to attention as I recalled the mess of the night before. Oh wait, that's right, I was gone half the night because Felix's parents kidnapped me. Which, now that I thought thoroughly about last night's events, was... kinda scary. 

But I tried to explain my absence without freaking us all out. "I just left my phone at the station, I wasn't—"

"You told me you were going to get it, so that's the first placed I looked," Hyunjin whined with a sniffle. "But when I got there, your phone was still there, and Chan said he didn't see you."

"You weren't at the station, you weren't here," Felix nodded inside my house. "It was one of the first places we checked, and we couldn't find you anywhere." He pouted, taking my hand, his brows furrowing as he gazed at me. "I was super worried, Hana..."

Damn it, my heart couldn't take the sight of those star-filled eyes glazed over, his lower lip sticking out sadly. He blinked at me and sniffed, and I thought my heart was going to burst as Felix stood there, swinging my hand with his, looking like a despairing puppy. 

I gulped as I met his eyes. I couldn't really tell him I was swept away, basically dragged away, by his parents' minions — at least, not right now. "I just... left the city for something. Nothing happened to me."

"Did you leave because of me? Because I yelled at you?" Hyunjin took my other hand, holding it tightly as tears threatened to spill from his tired, regretful eyes. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"No, no, I didn't leave because of that," I assured him, glancing at both of them as they held my hands. I raised a brow and cocked my head at the freckled male holding my left hand, pressing his lips together and attempting to get rid of the evidence that he was ever on the verge of bawling his pretty eyes out. "Speaking of leaving the city... when did you come back?"

Felix blinked a few times to push back the last of his tears before glancing at Hyunjin, standing beside him and dabbing at his eyes with a cream knitted sweater sleeve. "Oh, I came back last night, when Hyunjin called and told me you were missing."

Hyunjin nodded in affirmation, successfully starting to wipe the worry from his face and erase all proof of his former vulnerability over me. "Felix came and helped me look for you. We were both so worried," he stated again, cradling my hand in both of his. 

I then realized how awkward it was for their warm, soft hands to be nestled over mine, and I gently yanked away from their grasp and cleared my thoat to hopefully break the tension that I might have been the only one feeling.

It took a minute for me to process Hyuniin's words. 

He called 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹 to help him?

𝘏𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘫𝘪𝘯 let Felix 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 him?

"I-I'm fine," I reassured them both, crossing my arms, suddenly embarrassed by their show of care and how much they were crying over me. "But I really appreciate your concern. Thank you."

They both nodded and we stood there as they sniffed away they last of their worry, not sure of what to do now.

Felix suddenly took a half-step forward, his eyes lighting up. "Now that I'm back, should we do something together? I... have somewhere I want to show you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but I bit my lip to stop myself from accepting.

I had more than one reason to decline. 

"...Actually, I need to pick up my car from Hyunjin's place," I told him, and Hyunjin startled, as if he had forgotten that my car parked outside his house wasn't one of the biggest prompts that I had been missing. 

"You do? O-Oh, yeah, you do," Answering his own question, Hyunjin played with his fingers, his hands folded in front of him. "I'll take you to pick it up," He nodded towards the street at his car parked behind him.

Felix glanced at Hyunjin with an indecipherable expression before he threw me a look, forcing a smile. "Oh, okay, sure... I understand. Maybe later?" He shrugged, and I agreed.

"Would you mind waiting for me to get changed?" I addressed Hyunjin, who nodded in response, and I opened the door wider, although the two men were already half way inside. 

Watching as I invited Hyunjin in and the taller stepped forward, Felix pressed his lips together. He stared at Hyunjin's back, his brows furrowing for a moment so fleeting that if I wasn't studying his face, I would have missed it.

But shooing away the cloud that had passed over his face, Felix gave a slight nod, shoving his hands in his pockets and stepping back. "I'll leave first then," he stated as Hyunjin disappeared into my house behind me, and I smiled. 

"Sure, I'll see you later, Felix." I waved as he turned his back to me, descending the steps. He returned the wave over his shoulder on his way to the sleek motorcycle parked on the street. "Yeah, see you."

Yawning, I closed the front door and turned to find that Hyunjin had seated himself on a nearby kitchen stool, patiently waiting for my farewell with Felix to end. He raised his eyes from the floor to look up at me, worry and regret weighing on his face once again, turning his lips down and furrowing his brows. 

After contemplating for a moment and releasing his lower lip from his teeth, he spoke uncertainly. "Are you sure you're not mad at me...? I know I shouldn't have yelled at you and pushed you away. I shouldn't have just asked you to leave me alone like that, despite what I was feeling, and I need to apologize—"

"Hyunjin," I started, taking a deep breath and allowing a warm smile to spread over my face, which seemed to instantly calm Hyunjin, his shoulders relaxing and the tension on his posture relieved. "I'm not mad, it wasn't that big of a deal. You were just kind of frustrated, I understand."

Thinking over my words for a moment and taking his bottom lip between his teeth once again, Hyunjin suddenly hopped off the stool and shyly stepped closer, grasping my hands in his. The warmth of his hands and the confident grip on my own sent a shock through me at the sudden skin to skin contact. 

He met my gaze and tried to smile brightly, but it didn't reach his eyes. He was still holding on to an uncomfortable feeling about what had unfolded the day before as he spoke. 

"We can pick up your car later, let's go for a walk."