Chapter 23: Gone

WOOSEOK stared at the gigantic mansion door he stood a fair distance from. He gulped and raised his hand in hesitation, contemplating whether he should knock or not. His other hand gripped itself, slowly turning into a fist to encourage him.

He came all the way there. Might as well get it over with.

He inhaled once before finally knocking on the door. Once. Twice. Enough to grab anyone's attention.

A few seconds passed before the door was opened, revealing a familiar face he hadn't seen since the survival show. The chocolate-brown hair, unlike the blue dye color that he remembered. The depressed, tearful brown eyes. The pale skin sent him a small glow as rays of sunlight covered his face.

Yacht.

"H-Hey, hyung." Wooseok managed to stutter out, gulping hard in an attempt to get rid of the lump in his throat. "Can I come in?"

Yacht paused for a moment, and Wooseok assumed that he was thinking whether he should let him in or not.

"I, um, wanted to see Junwon," Wooseok spoke once again, gaining the attention of the older figure before him. "I wanted to check up on him."

And for a brief moment, Wooseok swore he saw the ghost of a scoff written on Yacht's face. It wasn't until a voice erupted from the kitchen that grabbed their attention and caused Yacht to take a long glance at Wooseok before perking his ears at the sound.

"Yaya, who's at the door?!"

Yacht sighed heavily before turning his head slightly to mutter a reply. "It's Kim Wooseok."

Footsteps echoed through the empty hallway behind Yacht, and it didn't take long for another familiar face to appear. The familiar jet-black hair. The same piercing gaze that sent a chill down the spine of anyone who didn't know his true personality. The slim figure was hidden behind a black oversized shirt and black yoga pants.

Santa.

"Hey, hyung..."

Santa could almost roll his eyes at the image of Wooseok standing by the door. He took a few steps closer to the door, standing at a fair distance from Yacht, and took a closer look at Wooseok.

"Why are you here?" He asked in a firm tone, already sending a chill down Wooseok's spine. "In case you couldn't already tell, we're going through a very rough time at the moment."

"I had no idea, hyung. I just wanted to check on Junwon."

Santa rolled his eyes and glanced at Yacht, only to find him returning the glance with a questioning stare.

"Fine, let him in, or whatever."

Yacht let out a fed-up sigh and stepped away from the entrance, allowing the younger to enter the house with a grateful stare.

"Thanks, hyung..."

"Whatever." They both answered in the same tone, hurrying away from the door and entering the kitchen with a frown.

Wooseok soon followed, slightly taken aback by their mutual reply. He shrugged it off with a small, brief smile as he entered the kitchen.

His sight caught three unfamiliar people scattered across the kitchen, each one busy with their own thing. By the kitchen island, two of the people were preparing some kind of food, and by the kitchen table was a figure sitting on one of the chairs with his head in his hands. The three only had one thing in common; which was their all-black outfits that brought melancholy to him as soon as he walked into the room.

"Good morning..."

"Hey, guys," Santa began, his voice heavy. "This is Wooseok. He's here to check on Junwon."

The figure on the kitchen table nodded his head, then raised his face slightly to meet the eyes of Wooseok. It was only then that Wooseok took note of his red, puffy eyes, flushed cheeks, and pale skin.

"I'm Rajwan." He spoke with a shaky, trembling tone. "I'm Mal's brother."

It didn't take long for him to cover his face with his hands once again, this time unable to hide his heartbroken tears.

One figure that stood by the kitchen island then proceeded to run towards Rajwan and wrap their arms around his weak frame.

"And I'm Quinn," The figure spoke, rubbing Rajwan's back and holding him close. "I'm his partner."

Wooseok nodded his head to tell them that he understood. Then, he glanced at the third and last figure that stopped whatever was in his hand to stare at Rajwan with a heartbroken gaze.

"And I-I'm... Earth."

Wooseok's mouth formed itself into a line, muttering a small greeting and bowing a little. Yacht and Santa made their way towards the kitchen table, already stretching their arms to reassure

"Where's your, um, other friend?" Yacht asked after a few moments in an attempt to lift the melancholic atmosphere from the air, tearing his sight from Rajwan and glancing at Wooseok with suspicious, squinting eyes to mentally explain his situation. "H-Hikaru... Was his name Hikaru?"

Wooseok nodded his head in agreement to the name, his face dropping along with his heart. Yacht couldn't tell if it was at the image of Rajwan crying or at the mention of Hikaru's name.

"I, um... They told me that he had a breakdown and went back home for a little vacation, to put his mind at ease, you know?"

Both Yacht and Santa took a quick glance at each other, still rubbing Rajwan's arm while having dried tears in their own eyes as a result.

"Told you?" Santa asked, his eyebrow raised with doubt. "What do you mean by 'told' you?"

"I... I woke up one day and I just didn't find him. Apparently, I'm a very heavy sleeper and I didn't hear him having a mental breakdown or leaving." Wooseok explained, closing his eyes as he recalled some of the events from the past days. "He didn't leave a note. A text, even. He didn't call... Nothing. I just woke up and he was gone."

"So, um," he began once again, glancing around the room to see any other sign of life, only to find none. "Where's, um, noona?"

He was met by a moment of dead silence before Rajwan let out a small sob and glanced at the younger with an overwhelmed, heartbroken gaze.

"She died two days ago."

Wooseok's heart immediately dropped to his stomach. Air flowed through the room, declaring that someone walked in there with a heavy heart. Melancholic silence filled the room once again, with only Rajwan's sobs as the only thing Wooseok could hear.

"G-God," he interrupted the silence after gathering his courage to speak. "I'm so sorry..."

Santa nodded his head while crossing his arms to his chest. "Yeah, okay. Junwon has been crying all night yesterday, and the night before. 'Sorry' might just not quite cut it, if you know what I mean." He paused for a brief moment before turning to Wooseok with a firm, cold gaze. "Go see for yourself."

Wooseok slowly nodded his head, taken aback by the words of his older once-colleague. He turned to face the door frame, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Here," Yacht spoke out, noticing his bewilderment. He immediately assumed that Wooseok wouldn't even know how to get to Junwon's room. "I'll go with you."

Wooseok nodded quickly as Yacht's figure hurried towards the door frame, towards him, and soon enough, towards the stairs. Wooseok silently gazed at the grey-painted walls as he climbed the stairs behind the older figure. His hand trailed itself on the staircase, his fingers lightly moving up the marble while he nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Be careful when you talk to him." Yacht ordered in a hushed tone, finally stopping in front of a room that had its door slightly ajar. "He might be a little sensitive."

Wooseok briefly stopped to face Yacht's solemn figure, his ears perking up while his hand rested on the wall beside the door. Despite the brief silence that coated the hallway once again, he still couldn't hear anything coming from Junwon's room. Wooseok assumed that he was probably too exhausted to continue crying, which broke his heart a little more on the inside.

"Thank you."

Yacht nodded, then turned his back against the wall to hide from the view.

"Get in."

Wooseok soon obeyed, his hand automatically reaching out to push the doorknob with a gentle grip. His gaze met the sight of the king-sized bed that was located in the centre of the room, on which was Junwon's figure lying on one side of it. His gaze was staring into nothing, his figure curled up together in a ball.

"Hey, Junwon..."