Jaemin sighs, looking up at the sky. It's no longer a clear blue with little to none clouds, nor is there a obnoxious, blinding sun peaking out to warm you up. Normally, the boy always wishes for the bright star to just fuck off, annoyed by it's constant presence. Now, the time he needs it the most, it's gone.

Kicking a rock and watching it slide across the wet sidewalk, Jaemin shivers and tightens his coat around his body. He walks slowly, allowing him to observe the drops of water sliding off bushes to make room for the newer ones. The sky is grey and humid, which causes Jaemin to pull his hood over his head to prevent his hair from frizzing up. He's inside a very familiar neighborhood, one he's known all his life and before he knows it he's knocking on the plain red door.

The boy almost doesn't recognize his best friend's mother when she opens the door and ushers him inside.

Mrs. Lee has always been a woman of pride, always keeping herself well put together. You'd never see her without red painted lips and coated eyelashes. Her hair was disheveled, baby hairs standing all over the place and she was still wearing her turkey pajama pants (even though Thanksgiving has passed) and a fluffy blanket thrown over her shoulders. Her cheeks were cherry-stained, and she doesn't say a word as she leads the boy to the dining room where Mr. Lee is sitting.

He doesn't look much better. The man, who's usually working hard hasn't even thought about his job for the past couple of days. Also adorned in pajama's and slippers, he holds his head in distress. Looking up when hearing footsteps, he musters a smile and stands up to greet Jaemin, hugging him.

"How are you, boy?" He asks, his arm still around his shoulder.

Shrugging, Jaemin answers, "Not so good."

Nodding his head in understanding, Mr. Lee goes back to his spot at the table. Jaemin sits next to him.

Walking into the kitchen, Mrs. Lee calls with a shaky, unstable voice, "Would you like some coffee, dear?"

"Yes, please." Jaemin calls back. A smile appears at his lips, finding it thoughtful that Mrs. Lee remembers that he needs coffee to function, but it quickly falls when he thinks about Jeno again. "Have you already called the cops?" He asks.

"We called them the second we woke up. They said we needed to wait forty-eight hours. Now they're finally working on the investigation." Mr. Lee answers, his lips forming a stern line in distaste from the cops behavior.

Mrs. Lee walks back to the dining room, setting the brunette's favorite mug right in front of him. She takes a seat in her own chair. "Horrible men. How could they make us wait when our son could be in danger?" She mumbles, holding back tears.

"That's why we called you here, Jaemin."

Earlier this morning, Jaemin had gotten a call from the Lee's. He had meant to call them before, but pussied out every time. Of course, he came right away. He knew it had to be something about Jeno. A naïve part of him was hoping they found him.

Raising his brows, the boy gestures for them to continue.

"We need your help." Mrs. Lee says vaguely.

Jaemin nods. "Anything."

Tapping his finger along the wooden table, Mr. Lee says, "The cops aren't doing enough. Taking their sweet ass time . . ." he shakes his head disapprovingly. "So we're going to take some matters into our own hands."

"We need to put up fliers. Maybe people have seen him walking around. We just need to get the word out already." Mrs. Lee says.

"Of course. I can call Genevieve to help. The whole dance team can help us,"

The Lee's share a confused look. "Who's Genevieve?" Mrs. Lee asks.

Jaemin's eyes widen slightly. Did Jeno seriously not mention Genevieve to his parents? "Oh, um, she's a close friend of ours."

Mr. Lee nods his head. "Call whoever can help. We need as much help as we can until the police get their shit figured out." He says bitterly, stirring a spoon around in his coffee.

"God, I'm so worried about him."

It's been two days since Jaemin's talk with his best friend's parents, and he hasn't been able to think straight since. The boy kicks a rock, watching it skid across the tattered and dirty concrete until it halts, falling into a bush. He faintly listens to the dance teams chatter as the staple missing fliers on every pole they come across.

They've probably been out here for an hour. Lana is right beside him, carrying the staple gun. She turns her head to the side, noticing her friend staring off into the distance, walking idly.

"Are you okay?" She asks gently, intertwining her arm with his.

Widening his eyes, surprised at the interaction. "Oh, nothing." He mumbles, keeping his head down.

Sighing, Lana hugs him tighter. "I know this is hard, but there's hope." She reassures, always a great leader as always.

"I hope so." Jaemin replies solemnly.

The brunette smiles, looking down at his phone. This is probably the first time he's genuinely smiled in a week. He hasn't had much time to hang out with Jisung since Jeno went missing, and although he felt bad about it, his best friend has been a more important matter to him. But, maybe today he can spare a few hours . . .

Just as he's about to type a reply, a loud knock comes from the door. Mrs. Na walks out of the kitchen and opens it only to reveal two policemen.

"Is Jaemin Na here?"

Holding her hand to her chest, Mrs. Na looks to her son with a confused look. Turning back around, she nods, "Yes . . . he's right there." She points.

"May we come in?" One of the men ask and when the women nods her head, they walk in and head towards Jaemin, the same man who spoke before holds his hand out. "How're ya doing, boy?"

Jaemin furrows his eyebrows but nonetheless, shakes their hands. "What's this about?" He asks.

"As you may know, Jeno Lee has been missing for almost a week now. It's claimed that you were the last one to see him. We'd like to bring you in for questioning." The other cop asks.

Ah, right. The boy starts to remember that the Lee family was waiting on the police to start investigating. Took them long enough, didn't it? He couldn't help but think bitterly.

"Okay."

The police smile and gestures for the boy to follow them. They open the door to the back seat and Jaemin slides in. The interior was level and there were chains, blocking him from having access to the front seats. So this is what criminals experience when they get arrested. The boy held back a giggle, it was almost fun.

"Sorry about the chain," The cop who got in the driver's seat said. "I'm officer Smith." He introduces, flashing a smile towards the brunette.

"And I'm officer Perez." The other one says.

Jaemin gives a faint smile back. "Nice to meet you . . ." He answers awkwardly before glancing out the window, which is also covered in chicken wire. Fun. Still, he tries to make out his surroundings. He's never been to the police station, and didn't know where it was. They passed the school, the city council, and the local library until they reached their destination. Parking right up front, officer Perez opened the door for the boy before leading him inside.

The police station was cold. Everything was metal, and all he could hear was the static voices of other officers speaking through their walkie-talkies. The three entered a room with a large table in the center along with three chairs. There was a box of donuts and sodas for each of them. The two officers sat first before gesturing for the other to follow.

Opening the donut box, they pass a glazed donut and a soda towards Jaemin who looks at it oddly. Isn't this supposed to be intimidating?

"We don't want you to be scared, son," Officer Perez says.

Nodding his head, Officer Smith gives a kind smile. "I think we all have one agenda here: finding Jeno. All we need you to do is answer a few simple questions and you'll be done here." He explains before taking a rather large bite of his donut.

Slowly taking a bite out of his own and a sip of his fizzy drink to calm his nerves. "Hit me." He says, referring to the questions they have. Not literally.

The officers glance at each other before Perez leans forward and crosses his arms together. "When was the last time you saw Jeno Lee?" He asks.

Sighing, Jaemin responds. "November 31st."

"And what happened on that night?" Smith questioned, writing something down on a notepad.

Jaemin shifts uncomfortably. He still hasn't come to terms with that night, with everything Jeno admitted. A part of him felt guilty for his friends disappearance, as if their dispute had something to do with it. Maybe it did—but if it did, the only way he'd find out is if he helped these men find Jeno.

"We had a fight." He answered.

"About?"

"It's complicated." Jaemin fiddled with his fingers, refusing to make eye contact.

"We ain't got all day, kid."

After that, the brunette couldn't hold himself back. He had to tell the police about what happened, every little detail. He didn't care if it sounded weird, if it would help them find his best friend or rule out suspects, then he would tell them anything they wanted to know. He couldn't fight the guilt he felt anymore.

"We appreciate your cooperation," Smith said as he led the brunette out of the police station. "You need a ride?" He asked out of politeness, but both of them knew he was already drowning in paperwork and had to get started now or else he'd never get home.

Jaemin looks down the road before shaking his head. "I think I'll be good."

"Be safe, kid." The officer says before walking back inside, locking the door behind him to not be disturbed.

The boy sighs before turning and walking down the long road home. The sun was already set, nighttime had fallen. Looking up at the sky, Jaemin's disappointed yet not surprised to see that the stars aren't visible—just like every other night. To many artificial lights of cars and buildings block it's beauty. He imagines the bright gasses, and he thinks how peaceful life would be if he were in the middle of nowhere, minding his own business. Yeah, that would be nice . . .

He soon approaches the alley where he first met Jisung, who was a stranger at the time and is now his boyfriend, his lover, his friend. Whatever you want to call him, the point being that the blonde now plays many significant roles in his life—which, if you think about it, is crazy. A love, a feeling so strong sprouted from dark paths, wounds and touch ups, secrecy, and has now grown into something so nurturing and passionate.

Broken from his thoughts, Jaemin lifts his head when he hears mumbling deep within the alleyway. His home is only a couple houses down, and he feels a strong sense of deja vü when he can't walk away and finds himself hiding in the nearest dark corner he can find. His hands grip the dirty wall in suspense as he eavesdrops, hearing two deep voices.

"Took you long enough to get here," One says grouchily.

"You should be glad I even came. I don't really do this kind of stuff anymore," Another says, and Jaemin's ears perk up at the voice.

One chuckles and pats the other's shoulder before saying, "It's hard to escape this life, little man."

"Whatever, you got the money?"

The brunette hears shuffling of plastic and paper, and tilts his head in an attempt to see better but can't make out anything in the murk. He huffs quietly. He shouldn't be listening in on this type of stuff. For one, it isn't his business and secondly, anyone shoots up anybody for anything but he just can't help himself. There's a voice in his head just screaming, stay, stay. Wait and see.

"Good doing business with ya."

"Whatever."

Stilled silence until faint footsteps begin to get louder and louder. Jaemin's eyes widen and he pushes himself as deep into the wall as he can and holds his breath. Finally, a guy passes by him and he's finally illuminated by the street lamp. He looks both ways before crossing the street, his blonde hair gets blown by the wind and he pulls his flannel tighter around his body-

Flannel?

Jaemin emerges from the wall yet doesn't leave the alley, only leans forward and squints at the boy, only to slap his mouth shut to hold back his gasp.

That's Jisung.

I FINALLY UPDATED BENCHES

LOL SORRY I TOOK SO LONG LIFE I STRESSFUL, I HATE IT HERE AND I WANNA DROP DEAD BUT OH WELL HERE IT IS

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AND LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS PLS IT'LL MAKE ME REALLY HAPPY