Han woke up to a ping from his phone, he'd got a notification.

"This early?" He mumbled, looking for his phone.

As he found it, he heard a few other pings come. The person was really impatient.

tteokbeomki

hey han! free for a coffee later?

officialquokka

mf you could have asked later i was sleeping

tteokbeomki

idgaf 😊

officialquokka

fine, why tho?

tteokbeomki

seungmin told me you had tea 🍵

and i want TeA

i'm thirsty 💅

officialquokka

go drink water then mf 🤡

tteokbeomki

nauuuu, i want tEa, so your coming to the cafe at 11.

deal with it 😇

also i went on a date.

officialquokka

fine. but your ass is paying, byeeee

Han got up and got ready, ignoring the new pings, which were probably just Beomgyu protesting.

As he walked out the door, he noticed Seungmin watching TV.

"Seungmin-ah, why are you watching TV this early?"

"Because I want to?"

"Okay, but why the news? You never watch the news."

"Oh, there's just some new drama about the Lee family, you know, that rich family that lives somewhere near here."

Han's heart lurched. Near here would mean the Lee house, where he'd just been ambushed a day previously. He decided to shake it off.

Rich people shit, he thought.

Seungmin noticed Han was dressed for going out. "Where ya going?"

"Beomgyu wants to have a coffee." He said, putting on his shoes.

"Oh, tell Gyu I said hi." Seungmin said.

"Sure, bye."

Han walked out the door towards the coffee shop.

"HANNIEEEEE!" Beomgyu said as he ran to hug him.

"Aah-hi, Gyu, you're crushing me." Han choked.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Beomgyu said as he tore away. "Let's go in."

"Well, I didn't plan to go out," Han said, chuckling.

"Your dad jokes are worse than Chan's."

"Oh, shut up, you love it." Han said as they made their way towards a table.

"So, what's up?" Han asked as they ordered.

"Well, I went on a date." Beomgyu said shyly as he sipped his coffee.

"With?"

"Taehyun!" Beomgyu said excitedly.

Han sipped his coffee.

"Han, do you know Taehyun?" Beomgyu asked.

"Oh, you mean the guy you've been working with for four months, who you've had an extreme crush on, who you late night text me about constantly, who you want to be destroyed by? Yes, I think I remember that Taehyun."

Beomgyu rolled his eyes. "So, anyways, I went on a date with him..." Beomgyu continued to explain, in great detail, about his date with Taehyun.

"And he said he likes me too!" Beomgyu finished excitedly. "Taehyun likes me! Imagine getting fucked by him." Beomgyu finished dreamily.

"Soo, about your date?" Beomgyu asked.

"Oh yeah, so the guy's name is Lee Know." Han began, but Beomgyu cut him off.

"Wait wait wait, Lee Know? Like, Lee Minho?" He asked.

"That's the one."

Beomgyu's expression darkened. "Han, I'm not sure about Lee Know..." He trailed off.

Han was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I-it's probably not for me to say, but," Beomgyu started, "I work for Lee Know's dad. There's been rumors made about him, and Lee Know isn't exactly his father's favorite."

Han felt as though his insides were being twisted.

"You see, Lee Know's mom died when he was nine," Beomgyu continued, "And Lee Know's dad remarried a year later."

Han remembered Lee Know talking about that woman, he called her stepmother...

"I don't know a lot about the lady he remarried, but from what I've heard, she probably mistreated Lee Know. Ten years later, he ran away. No one knew why. He changed his name from Minho to Lee Know, although he does use the name Minho too. Only a few people know about the name change thing. I found out from Felix, Lee Know told Felix. Anyway, his dad was devastated. He confined himself to his house, no one's seen him since."

Han was speechless.

So this was who Lee Know really was.

"O-oh." He stuttered.

"So, um, yeah," Beomgyu finished awkwardly.

"But-but what's wrong with Lee Know, if it was his stepmother mistreating him?"

"Some people say his dad offered him money to keep some family secrets hidden. Their family's shady, Han."

"But he's not." Han said.

"How can you be sure?" Beomgyu said.

Beomgyu was right, how could he be sure? He'd been ambushed by Lee Know's crazy stepmother, hadn't he?

"Um, about that.." Han said uneasily, avoiding Beomgyu's eye, "there's another thing..." Han told Beomgyu about his encounter with Lee Know's mom.

As he finished, Beomgyu looked more worried.

"This is what I'm talking about, Han."

Out of nowhere, Han felt the need to defend Lee Know. "So what? So what if his family's completely messed up? I know he isn't, and that's enough for me! I'm not dating his family, am I?"

Beomgyu calmly replied, "I know that, but I'm worried for you Han, I just want you to be with the right person."

Han felt guilty, Beomgyu was only trying to protect him after all.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay, but if you find him good, date him, just...be careful, Han." Beomgyu said.

"Alright, alright, why are we even talking about this?" Han said, waving his hand.

"Uh, cause you brought it up?" Beomgyu said, confused.

"Shut the fuck up, Gyu."

Han and Beomgyu continued their friendly bickering as they made their way out.

"'Bye, Hannie!"

"'Bye, Gyu."

at minho's apartment...

Lee Know sat upright. The nagging question of how had his stepmother known he was going on a date, when he hadn't told anybody but his friends, lingered in his mind, through the day.

At last, he couldn't handle it any longer, He thought, for a brief moment, about dialling his stepmother and asking her how she knew, but he decided against it. Either she'd threaten him again, or fill his mind with useless shit. He decided not to ponder on that too long.

He walked around the apartment restlessly, so absorbed in his thoughts he bumped into Hyunjin.

"Ah, hyung, what the fuck?" Hyunjin said, angrily.

Lee Know was stunned. He hadn't ever seen Hyunjin this mad. "What's up?"

"What's up is that I can't find Jeongin anywhere, he's not in the house, probably hasn't been since morning."

A chill ran up Lee Know's spine. I.N, missing?

"When did you last see him, hyung?" Hyunjin asked.

"Probably not since last night, at nine, he told me he was out clubbing with friends." Lee Know replied. Hyunjin's eyes widened.

"Hyung, you were probably the last person to see him since then, I've tried callling him, texting him, looking around, I can't find him. Anywhere. Nothing."

"Have you tried calling his friends? They might know."

Hyunjin shook his head, and Lee Know was shocked to see his eyes filling up with tears.

Lee Know hugged Hyunjin. "Hey, don't cry, it'll be okay, we'll find him." He reassured Hyunjin.

Hyunjin sniffled. "Okay."

Wherever Jeongin was, Lee Know vowed to find him.