Author's Note:

This is update 2/?

Enjoy!

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

"It's been five days, hyung." Jimin weakly stated, his head resting against Jin's shoulder who was gently patting his back. He heard a soft sigh before he was pulled away slowly and was met with a tired smile. Jimin knew these last few days had been emotionally and physically draining for everyone involved. Five days had gone by and yet nothing regarding Chaeyoung's whereabouts had been discovered. It was as if she had suddenly dropped off of the face of the earth. Jin and Jungkook had even left to go visit their old place to see if they could maybe locate her there but nothing came of it. Park Chaeyoung had completely disappeared without a trace. Now everyone, including the police, looked exhausted.

"I know, Jiminie. The only thing we can do now is remain hopeful. We'll keep on looking for her even if it's the last thing we do. Park Chaeyoung is somewhere out there, I'm sure of it." The complete determination coming from Jin made Jimin envious. He wished he was that positive but the negative part of him that had lost all hope kept jabbing at him more and more. "D-do you think s-she's been..." Jimin didn't even get to finish his question before a hand roughly surrounded his neck in a firm grasp. "Don't. You. Ever. Assume. That." Jungkook hissed, dropping his grasp on Jimin's neck in an instant when Jin tiredly told him to stop. Jimin coughed for a few seconds before finally regaining enough strength to speak while fixing the ruined collar of his white dress shirt.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to m-make you upset. I just c-can't seem to think o-" "Don't think then." Jin softly interrupted, giving Jimin a small but genuine smile. "She's okay. I'm sure of it. As you know, Chaeyoung has gone through so much all on her very own. She practically raised herself. So, if anyone is okay on their own then that person is Park Chaeyoung. It's only been five days, Jimin. We still have plenty of time to keep looking. We just need to remain hopeful." Jimin nodded before lowering his head, his teeth practically ripping at the soft skin of his bottom lip. "If...if I hadn't been so stupid...she would still be here..." he whispered before being pulled into a tight embrace.

"Stop blaming yourself, dummy. You were under shock so no one can blame you for having human reactions. We would all act the same way if we would have been in the same situation as you. Don't you ever think that this is your fault. You hear me? Now, it's about time for guests to start arriving so make yourself presentable while I get the food and drinks ready." Jin cleared off some of Jimin's tears as he pulled away, straightening out his suit before finally walking towards the direction of the hospital funeral home kitchen with Jungkook gloomily following his trail.

Jimin glanced at the portrait of his mother that had been placed in the center of an alter right above the beautifully jewel-encrusted urn that contained his mother's cremated body. Surrounding the portrait and the urn was an array of beautiful flowers of all shapes, colors, and sizes. He sat down cross-legged on the floor in front of the alter, eyes stinging with fresh tears as he stared at his mother's beautiful smiling face. "Eomma...if you were here you would tell me not to cry but I can't help it." Jimin sniffled. His mother's memorial service had been held back for a few days due to ongoing investigation but the hospital couldn't hold onto the body for much longer. It was beginning to rot and the odor was affecting the mental state of the hospital staff that happened to go up there.

Out of respect for whatever was left of his mother's body, police decided to finally allow for the hospital to hold a memorial service as Jimin had requested. Due to the state of his mother's body, she had to be cremated before the service was even held thus what was supposed to be a service of three days ending in cremation, had become a service of one afternoon with an already cremated body. Jimin felt quite ashamed that he couldn't even provide his mother with a proper memorial service. He had worked day and night doing all sorts of part-time jobs aside from the one he had with Jin. Jin hadn't even gone back to work at the café and had given Jimin the time off too but Jimin refused to take it even when his leave was paid for. Working was the only way to take his mind off of Chaeyoung's disappearance and the horrible memory of his mother's death.

Although, the money he got paid on the spot was used to pay his mother's memorial service. Despite it being a quite unorthodox memorial service, he was glad that the place had been set up quite beautifully. He was worried that given the small price he paid compared to the usual three-day memorial service fee, it would reflect by having fewer flowers and cheap decorations but that wasn't the case at all. He was quite surprised and he mentally thanked the hospital funeral home staff for probably taking pity on him and giving his mother some of the most beautiful flowers and decorations he had ever seen.

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

It had been just two hours since the memorial service had started and the only people to come by and stay had been Seulgi and her family that were now holding a sobbing Seulgi near the dining room. Jin and Jungkook had stayed the whole time as well with Jin handing out food and drinks to the guests that arrived from time to time. He had also had some short visits by a few of his old bosses that came by to give their condolences and left right after giving their monetary gift. A bit of the people from his university had also arrived and attempted to cheer him up, which Jimin had greatly appreciated. Still, despite being grateful for the amount of people that had arrived to mourn a woman they barely knew but still had some sort of connection to, the place still felt quite alone and empty. The only people that truly knew and adored his mother were Jin, Seulgi, and her family.

His father had some family but they never liked his mother and they lived quite far away so there was no way he would see any of them. He had never met any of his mother's family and didn't know anything about them apart from them being spiritualists, which he had been told quite recently. It saddened him that a woman as hardworking and pure as his mother had to be mourned by only her son and a couple of friends when she should have been loved and adored by thousands of more people. Why did her life have to turn out so sad? She didn't deserve any of what had happened to her and he just couldn't help but sob at the fact that her life had been cruel to the very end.

Park Jihyo should have been mourned by all her family as she was the best mother, wife, sister, friend, aunt, anything that anyone could have ever wished for. All their life they had to deal with being alone with a man that treated them like trash. His mother had to fight her own battles, practically giving away her own life to save her good-for-nothing son that was unable to do anything but watch as her life wasted away before his very eyes. He recalled back to the letter that he was given by Detective Song back at the hospital. He still hadn't opened it. He was too much of a coward to do so, being afraid that the contents of the letter would express how much of a disappointment his mother thought he was.

Park Jihyo was not a woman that would ever say that. In her mind, Jimin had always been nothing but the most amazing son. A boy who worked hard since a young age to keep his sickly mother going after the death of her violent husband. Jimin knew that but the darkness of his mind was making him think otherwise. How could anyone think of him as anything other than a disappointment if that was all that he could ever think of himself as?

He rubbed his tight fists angrily against his tear-filled eyes, wishing he could just stop crying and stand strong for once but he just couldn't. His angry sobs filled the room and even those that walked through the halls looked at him with pity. Suddenly, small arms warmly wrapped around his curled-up body and for a few seconds he had believed that Chaeyoung had appeared just to console him in his time of need, but that wasn't the case. "Shh...this is y-your time to mourn but you need to c-control yourself. You'll m-make yourself sick if you c-cry like that. I-I'm here for you. W-we all are." Seulgi's voice was soft and he could hear a bit of strain due to her previous crying.

He wanted her to let go but a warmth on his back and some new arms joined in wrapping themselves around himself and Seulgi. "Seulgi's right, Jiminie. I know this is painful...I've lost a loved one as well but your eomoni would not want to see you like this. She wouldn't like to see her little sunshine cry in frustration and blame himself again. You may not say it out loud but I know exactly what you're thinking, Jimin-ah. Your eomoni loved you very much and that was very clear. It wasn't your fault that this happened to her. It was nobody's fault. You are blaming yourself again for something you had no control over. You did the very best you could and worked hard every single day. I admired you so much every time I looked at you at the café. I would think to myself and say, 'Wahhhhhhh, this guy is so cool. If I were a girl I would fall for him.' Unfortunately for you, the only man I'm capable of falling for is myself so sorry that didn't happen." Jimin couldn't help but break into soft chuckles at Jin's words and Jin hugged him tighter, happy that he cracked his foul mood.

Jimin heard someone clear their throat and both him and Jin turned up to look towards the direction of the sound. Jungkook stood there awkwardly scratching the back of his neck as he averted his eyes. Seulgi couldn't hear Jungkook so she had been unaware of everything while she continued to hold onto Jimin and cry on his shoulder. Jimin was looking at Jungkook in silence, arching an eyebrow when he noticed Jungkook turning a flushed red. "L-listen..." Jungkook started, "I-I know that we haven't started off on the right foot ever since we met and I've been on edge recently but I just wanted to say that I-I'm...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you and everything I've said. I know I have blamed you for what happened with Chaeyoung but I know that it wasn't even your fault. You've been through some stuff and you're new to all of this spooky business..." He took a deep breath, finally looking into Jimin's eyes before continuing.

"I know that losing your eomoni is hard and that you might feel alone and angry....I've been there and know how it feels. Before hyung's family had adopted me I was going in and out of adoption centers. I was a troubled child who blamed the world for everything that had gone wrong in my life. I would look at how all the kids around me would suddenly go one by one into the welcoming arms of some new adults only for me to go back into the same old room and have some lady close the door on my face after saying 'maybe next time, kid.' I was about two years old when I got taken into the first adoption center after my parents' death. Apparently they died in a fire and I was the only one that survived. Funny how a fire is what eventually finished me off..." Jungkook gulped when he noticed Jin's sympathetic face had suddenly become serious as he hadn't been amused by Jungkook's poor taste in jokes.

Jungkook shrugged and continued his story. "I can barely even recall what they looked like at all anymore. For the longest time I was angry and even blamed myself. I always wondered if maybe I had done something wrong and that's why I wasn't happily playing with my adults like all the other kids. If maybe I didn't meet their standards. I was so young yet those were the thoughts running through my head. Eventually, after many years of 'maybe next time, kid.' A new pair of adults showed up at the ninth or maybe tenth adoption center I had been sent to in hopes that maybe some adults from that area would adopt me. That day I hadn't even decided to show up to the viewing because I knew I would get nothing of it. I could hear that the woman that arrived was talking about a son she had who was always alone and I wondered why that was if he had parents of his own. The woman wanted a new kid to practically keep him entertained and that made me angry. Everyone was hoping to find a family they could happily be included to not be some toy for the son of some people who didn't have the time for him." Jimin looked back at Jin who had lowered his head.

"I left my room in a fury and shouted at them, telling them that they were stupid for thinking that anyone would want to play with their stupid child....apparently they found some potential in me and for the first time ever, adoption papers with my name on them were signed..." Jungkook looked at the portrait on the alter and smiled, "The point of me telling you my beginnings was to let you know that how you are feeling now was how I felt at one point in my life. I felt alone. I felt angry. I blamed myself. I felt so many messed up emotions that lasted even after my adoption. By the time I was starting to set things right...it was too late. But.." Jungkook stared deep into Jimin's watery eyes, a smile playing on his lips.

"It's not too late for you, Jimin hyung..." Jungkook's red face appeared once again and a large grin appeared on Jimin's features followed by some unshed tears. "Y-you might have lost your eomoni but your adoption papers have been signed since forever ago. Congratulations, Park Jimin. You have been adopted by narcissistic Kim Seokjin, ghost Kim Jeon Jungkook, crying Kang Seulgi, and finally lost but will get found Park Chaeyoung. You still have a family...you are not alone...as long as you have us you never will be." Jimin freed himself from Jin and Seulgi and quickly hugged Jungkook, burying his head deep into his neck as he cried. Jin helped the still crying Seulgi and quickly took her to her family who were crying harder when they saw Jimin. They believed that the poor boy was thinking he had seen his mother and so they sobbed their heart outs at the sad sight. People in the hallways just believed Jimin had gone insane as the poor boy laughed and cried at the same time while holding onto thin air.

After Jungkook had enough, he pushed Jimin away slightly, looking completely red from head to toe. He was embarrassed as heck due to the corniness of his words and he felt like a little bit of his ghostly soul had shriveled away a little bit. "Thank you, Jungkook-ah. You can call me hyung for as long as you want." Jimin gave him a bright smile and Jungkook shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Never." he stated, going back to Jin who only shook his head at his cute little brother's defiance. Jimin glanced at his mother's picture, instantly rubbing his eyes when he thought that her eyes were shining with happy tears. When he looked back at the picture the tears had disappeared and he shook his head but a smile remained on his lips. "Guess it's not about the quantity but the quality of the family we have. Eomma, both you and I are not alone. I'm the happiest I could ever be with the family I already have. It'll be tough but I promise you I'll get through this and I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to find our last missing family member."

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

Sitting in silence in the back of a luxurious black car was Park Chaeyoung, fully decked out in a long black dress adorned with intricately designed lace that was being covered by a heavy long black coat. Her hair was styled with some loose curls adorned with a small black hat that had a black lace veil at the front to cover her entire face. Next to her sat Detective Lee who also dressed in full black attire. "We will be arriving to our destination in a few minutes, Chaeyoung-ssi." Detective Lee informed but Chaeyoung was too out of it to listen. She was looking out of the car window, her left hand drawing invisible shapes on the glass. Her wrist was visibly slimmer, nothing but skin attached to pure bones.

After a couple of minutes of silence, the car came to a stop right outside a hospital parking lot. Detective Lee got out first and opened the door for Chaeyoung who had yet to move from her spot. He gently helped her get out of the car since she was in a weakened state from refusing to eat. With the help from the detective, Chaeyoung wobbled her way towards some trees near the side of the hospital. She wanted to remain hidden until she was ready to walk to the entrance.

She was on her way to Park Jihyo's memorial service that she had only found out about thanks to a sudden visit from Detective Lee. It had been some of the worst days of her life. She had refused to accept anything from anyone and had spent most of her time locked in her room with no communication to the outside world. She really regretted leaving her phone at her real home when they had left to the hospital once Jimin got that call from Detective Song. Either way, it wasn't like her so called parents were even going to let her keep it, considering she didn't even have a TV in her room.

Before Detective Lee had suddenly visited, she had not spoken a word to Park Jinwoo and Park Haeun. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask them like: Why did you come back now of all times? Why did you take so long to come back for me? How did you know I was alive? Why are you keeping me here? What's the point of all of this? Despite the many questions she had, she just couldn't bring herself to even look at the two people that had ordered her to be kidnapped without getting sick. She felt physically ill every time one would even so much as knock and speak to her through the door. However, yesterday was a different story.

For the first time since she had been locked up in her room, she had spoken to them and it was to ask, no, beg them to allow her to attend Park Jihyo's funeral. Detective Lee had managed to make his way upstairs without their permission and she was confused when she heard shouting but she didn't move. However, the energy that she hadn't felt in days had surged through her body when she heard, "Park Jihyo's funeral is tomorrow afternoon. If you convince them to let you attend you might be able to get a glimpse of your friends while bidding your final goodbyes to Park Jihyo." That had Chaeyoung screaming to the point that her throat felt raw and her voice had become practically nonexistent.

"Park Jinwoo-ssi! Park Haeun-ssi! Please open the door! Please let me talk to you!" After a couple of tries the door had been unlocked and had been swung open. In a matter of seconds Chaeyoung was on her knees again. She looked up at the three people by the door, face red and tears in her eyes. "P-please let me go to the m-memorial service...p-please." Detective Lee who was behind the couple felt pity for the girl who he had been keeping tabs on for a reason he was still unsure of.

He had finished the job and he normally forgot anything that had to do with his previous clients but for some reason he couldn't get the images of Park Chaeyoung and his dead little sister out of his head. Something was telling him that he needed to keep tabs on her and everything that surrounded her, which was why he knew that Park Jimin was holding the memorial service for his mother and he wanted Park Chaeyoung to find out. Anything to give a little more life to the girl who he had taken the life away from by bringing her to Park Jinwoo and Park Haeun.

The couple turned to look at each other before sighing and shaking their heads. "I'm sorry, sweetie. We would like you to go but it's too dangerous. We just got you back and we don't want you to go on a frenzy and try to escape again. Besides, as long as you are here you will be safe." Haeun had a soft voice but her words struck Chaeyoung's heart, breaking it more and more with each word.

Chaeyoung bit her bottom lip before lunging herself forward and clinging onto the woman's legs. As her last result she looked up at the pair, eyes dulling out and her voice emotionless as she said "Eomma...Appa...I love you both so much and I'm sorry I've been bad. I promise that from now on I'll be a good, Chaengie. I'll do anything you want me to do but please...please let me go see them." The couple were over the moon and quickly pulled Chaeyoung up to give her the biggest hug they could muster. Chaeyoung's eyes met with Detective Lee's and he felt like he couldn't breathe. Park Chaeyoung was the spitting image of his sister right before reaching her breaking point.

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