Chan looked at the grandfather clock in the living room in dismay. It read 4:55pm. The members were supposed to reach home by 5pm. And Chan, being the good leader he was, came home at 4:45 so that he'd reach well in time. What he didn't expect was that he'd come back to an empty home. 

He grumbled as the clock ticked, but no one came home. And he was home. He cursed about how he left his blind date early, wanting to reach home on time. 

And things were finally starting to get interesting! She was inviting me to her apartment! thought Chan.

He glanced at the clock, blowing out air through his teeth in frustration; seeing as the clock read 4:59pm and the Kidz weren't home yet. 

"If Chan hyung asks why we are late, blame it on Hyunjin." Minho spoke in a hushed tone as he and the rest of the Kidz followed behind. 

"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" Hyunjin shrieked, covering Yura's ears so that she wouldn't get hurt with his loud voice.

"Exist, son." Minho said, going into the living room to find Chan. 

Chan sighed, looking at Minho walk into the room. 
"Where were all of you?" he asked when all the Kidz had entered the room. 

"Hyunjin made us all stop for ice cream." Minho blurted out. 
"NO I DIDN'T!" Hyunjin shrieked once more, covering Yura's ears once more, not wanting to hurt her head with his loud voice. 

"Didn't you literally go with Jisung to get ice cream?" Chan questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

"I mean-" Minho started, but got cut by the bell ringing. 
"Saved by the bell." Chan muttered as he ran towards the door to open it for the much awaited guests. 

"Hi, please come on in!" Chan greeted the members, stepping aside to let them come in. Three people followed him in and took their shoes off at the doorstep before going in further. Chan lead them into the living room, where they bowed to everyone and sat down. 

"Jisung!" Jisung from SKZ exclaimed as he engulfed Jisung from NCT in a big hug. 

"Jisung hyung!" Jisung from NCT smiled, quite happy to meet one of the many people with whom he shared a name.

(A/N: yeah i'm calling jisung from skz Han till NCT and SKZ's meeting ends. deal with it)

"Jungwoo" Minho smiled as he embraced his friend. 
"Minho" Jungwoo spoke as reciprocated the former's actions. 

"Yes, we get it, y'all are friends, how about we move the hug fest to after they know the information about Areum?" Haechan sassed, rolling his eyes.

"Donghyuck. We're getting to it." Jungwoo grumbled as he moved away from his friend and sat down beside Jisung on one of the empty couches. 

"So, what we found out, it may not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's a lead. A big one at that. Jisung, continue." Jungwoo started, rubbing his hands together. 

"Yes hyung. To all those who don't know, but Areum noona had an older brother, Yang Minjun. He was murdered three years ago, and the murderer was never found, and that's why noona and Jeongin hyung moved here; they didn't want to stay at their home because it contained too many memories of him, so they came here, and eventually joined Stray Kidz. We recently found out that Minjun had actually discovered something when he died. We don't know exactly what it is, but what we do know is that that small discovery could change the world." Jisung continued, all the members nodding along to Areum's past, looking as if they were approving his it. Yet no one managed to notice how Jeongin's eyes became watery at the mention of his dead brother. 

"And Areum found out what it was Minjun was looking into. So, she decided to look into it herself, offering herself some closure about his death. We found these two journals" Haechan spoke as he lifted the journals, "at the bottom of the Wonhyo bridge, lying discarded behind one of the big pillars." Haechan sighed, handing the two diaries to Chan, who picked them with the utmost care, afraid that they might break.

"Thanks. Is that it?" Chan asked, sounding eager. 

"No. One of the mafias have gone rogue. They're hurting their own, as well as other mafias,  and breaking the mafia code. We fear Areum may have been targeted by this mafia." Haechan replied grimly. 

"Oh." Chan muttered. 

Without anyone realizing it, the joyful atmosphere that had entered with the three guests had died down, leaving no trace of it ever being there. 

"I think we'll go now." Jungwoo stood up, everyone else rising with him. 

"Yeah." Chan agreed, guiding the three towards the door of the house. 

Just as Chan started to close the door, Haechan stopped and turned around. "I didn't want to say this in front of Jeongin, but none of us are really sure that Areum will survive. We can only hope that she didn't meet the same fate as Minjun." Haechan whispered, bowed, and left the house, leaving Chan in moment of shock, still trying to process what everything meant. 

(A/N: Han's back to being called Jisung. be happy.)

Chan took a deep breath as he faked a smile, his insides breaking with the weight of the guilt. 

He might have lost one of his Kidz. 

He walked back into the room where the rest of the Kidz were gathered and gave them all the best fake smile he could. He might be overtaken by guilt, but he wasn't going to let that happen to a single one of his Kidz. They had awaited good news for so long, and he wasn't going to ruin it for them with whatever he just heard. 

He had seen what happened the last time they lost hope. And it broke him every second he saw them go through that torture, through that hell. He wasn't going to put them through that again, no. That responsibility was his alone, the leader's responsibility. 

"That went well. We are all going out for dinner to celebrate!" Chan announced happily, suppressing all the overwhelming emotions rising inside.

"YES! CHANNIE HYUNG'S PAYING!" Jisung announced, and hugged Chan's arm. 

The Kidz all screamed with joy as they saw Chan nod to Jisung's proposal, and ran out the house and filled into the many cars and bikes, waiting for Chan to take them out to food. 

Chan's heart was uplifted just a bit as he saw the rest of Stray Kidz happy after weeks of happy.

Yet, when he started driving, he still couldn't Haechan's words out of his head.

We can only hope that she didn't meet the same fate as Minjun.

~°~

what did i do to deserve 1K reads? I love all of yall readers, please comment and vote, it really makes my day

also, i opened wattpad yesterday to this:

the number always makes me laugh out loud, idk why

THANK YOU ALL FOR 1K

joyously, 
Cora <<3