That morning seemed a little different. Chenle waited at the gate of his apartment building for 10 minutes but Jisung never showed up. He walked to the nearby bus stop alone after what seemed like a very long time but it had only been a few days since Jisung had popped up in his life. The world seemed a whole lot different now.

Chenle chose to sit at the very end of the bus, walking past a bunch of people with no auras occupying the other seats. Two firetrucks noisely drove down the opposite roadway. Chenle plugged in his earphones, putting on a slow ballad song. He removed the crystal ring from his finger, setting it aside inside his pencil case and closed his eyes.

There was no sign of Jisung at school either. Chenle looked over at his empty seat and felt his insides go cold, the flickering hope of seeing the boy at school was put to an end.

"Just give him a call. Simple!" Ryumi said casually, biting into her sandwich. The boy opposite to her, stared at his friend.

"He doesn't carry a phone."

"Wait, really? In this day and age?" Ryumi looked surprised.

Chenle nodded, carefully avoiding the topic.

'He is not your average teen, is he?'

Remembering how he had met Jisung in one of the oddest ways possible.

"He probably had something urgent matters to attend to. He will contact you when he is done. What are you so worried about?"

"It's nothing. I am just overthinking." Chenle shook his head.

But Chenle couldn't shake off the bad feeling bubbling up inside. Something didn't seem right. Still, he thought of letting it go, reverting his attention towards Ryumi.

"Ryumi, I have something to tell you."

Ryumi looked up at him.

"What is it?"

"I went to Soora's house yesterday. I don't know if it was right or wrong, but i brought back Soora's diary with me."

"It should be fine but what are you going to do with it?"

"I thought she might have written about something concerning her in there."

"I don't think so...The police would already have seized it if it was important."

"There might be something more...I will look through it myself."

"Okay sure. If we find something, that would be good."

Chenle nodded.

---------------------------------------------------------

Two distinct sounds of footsteps approached the wrought iron double-door at one end of the long hallway. One was loud, long steps with heavy boots sounding across the hall, as if the owner was in a fury and the other's footsteps were quiet but quick, matching the pace of his companion. The door flew open, one of the sides hitting the wall behind, disrupting the quietness inside of the room.

A man was inside, sitting on a mahogany table, with a book in his hand. Whitish-gold hair adorned his head, extending till the base of his neck. He looked up at the source of the noise and smiled at both the furious boy and the quiet tall man behind him, standing at the doorway. He put his book aside and pushed himself off the table and onto his feet. He fixed his dark blue pirate coat, batches of gold and silver adorning the front, symbolic of the man's years worth of service.

"Oh, you are her-"

"Was it necessary to 'kidnap' me?" The youngest in the room questioned.

"Would you have come here on your own two feet otherwise?" The man in front of them asked sarcastically.

The man behind placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. 

"Jisung..." He said in a low tone.

The said person looked back and saw a pair of kind eyes. This man, dressed in a similar fashion to the man at the table, motioned him to step inside.

Jisung hesitantly stepped inside, along with the man behind him.

"Jeno, please shut the door." The other man said casually, before turning around and moving over to the other side of the table.

"It would be better for all if no one heard."

"Will someone care to explain-"

"You already know what all this is about. Do I really need to repeat everything?" The man snapped.

"Jaemin, we have talked about this before..." Jeno spoke up.

Jisung looked down, knowing he was already on the radar of these people for a possibly unforgiveable action that he had taken. He did expect them to know but the time he had estimated before they find out turned out to be incorrect.

"Okay then, i will be polite. Jisung.." Jaemin looked at him. "If you do this any longer, neither one of us will be able to save you."

 Jisung looked away.

"I know what you are trying to do. But please, stop now. Stop while things can still go back to the way it was." Jaemin pleaded.

"Hyung, that was my final decision and it remains unchanged." Jisung replied.

"Do you understand the consequences of your actions?" Jeno asked.

"I am willing. I am not doing this while expecting you both to protect me when I run into trouble."

"Jisung, I cannot say what you are doing is morally incorrect. But no one will really take that into consideration while putting you on trial for challenging the rules. The past is a witness of many such sorrowful incidents." Jeno stated. "You are younger than the both of us, we care."

Jisung went down on his knees in front of the two men, sparking surprise among them.

"Hyung....please let me do it. You will be doing me a huge favour if you don't try to stop me." Jisung spoke in a soft tone.

The room went quiet. No one spoke for some time.

"Okay then....this is the end of our negotiations." Jeno turned his back to the kneeling boy. "Do as you please."

"You are dismissed." Jaemin motioned with a flick of his wrist.

.

.

.

"Should we have told him about what we know?" Jeno asked afterwards.

"No...he has took it upon himself. I don't think he would need our help. He already said it, didn't he? 'I am not doing this while expecting you both to protect me when I run into trouble.' Such big words." Jaemin snickered.

"We all know who is going to go running to him first once he gets into trouble." Jeno said, glancing at his friend.

"Who would that be?" Jaemin turned to look at him, his eyebrows raised.

Jeno laughed.

"No one." 

---------------------------------------------------------

"Where did I keep it?" Chenle sat on the floor, rummaging through boxes that had been packed away under his bed for a long time. It had been an hour since he had started searching for something he hadn't used in a long time and was on the verge of giving up.

"Should have been in here..." 

"Did I throw it away?" Chenle scratched his head, his eyes moving across the room in pursuit of the hidden object's location. He moved to his shelf and pulled out the bottom drawer, moving old books and magazines out of the way, hoping to see what he was looking for.

Chenle huffed in relief, finally finding a phone packaging box lying at the bottom. He took it out and picked up a keypad phone.

"Let's hope it still works..." Chenle plugged in the charger to the socket. 

.

.

.

"What are you doing?"

Chenle's body jerked up at the sudden presence behind him.

"Jisung, I have told you to not come up behind me." He held a hand over his chest, trying to get over the shock.

"I am sorry....okay but really, what were you doing?" Jisung asked, looking at the boxes in Chenle's room that he had recently finished repacking.

"Nothing....I was just looking for something." He said, pushing the boxes under his bed once again.

"Where were you all day?" Chenle asked, once he had finished.

"Oh....I had some business back at home."

"Oh..." Chenle nodded. He went up to the charger socket and unplugged the phone.

"Here, you can carry this around."

Jisung took the phone in his hand.

"Ryumi thought it was weird that you don't have a phone. Everyone has one these days. If you are gonna stay here like a human, you should have what everyone else has. "

"Right."

"Call me if you are going to go missing like today again. I thought you left once and for all."

"I am sorry..."

"Hm.."

Jisung glanced at Chenle. 

'He was worried..'

Jisung smiled a little, looking down at the device in his hand.

'...why did you disappear yesterday? you said you would play with me...but you didn't come to find me...'  A little boy grabbed hold of the dark cloak that his older friend was wearing.

'I am sorry...did you wait for me?'

The little boy nodded quickly.

'Yes! I was hiding for a long time.'

The older boy squatted down to the child's height and pat his head.

'i am sorry again...i had some work to do..'

'It's okay! Just don't leave without telling me..' The little boy smiled at him.

Some things really don't change. Maybe because it is better that way.

"So....how do you use this phone thing?"