Jungkook was doing a dress fitting when he heard the news. Hoseok was the one who got the call, and he immediately halted the dressing, whispered something to the person in charge and ushered Jungkook out of there. Jungkook was surprised but followed the manager dutifully, as the look on Hoseok's face was rather worrisome.

"Hobi hyung, what's wrong?"

Hoseok didn't answer. He simply gestured to Jungkook to get into the van and dismissed the driver after taking the key from him. Driver joined the other van, which Jungkook's two bodyguards were using.

As the vehicle pulled into the main road,  Hoseok took his phone out and dialed a number. "Jimin, I'm taking him to your office. Where are the guys?"

Since the phone was on speaker mode, Jungkook could hear the answer. "No. Take him home. We have a lot of people here. I don't think it's wise to-"

"He's not gonna wait at home! Neither am I."

There was a pause for a few seconds, before a resigned voice came through the speaker. "You're right. I'm sorry, hyung. My mind is all over the place."

"It's okay. We understand."

There was a muffled sound, as if Jimin was giving someone instructions. "Take the route 168, they'll intercept you halfway."

"Okay."

"Please be careful, hyung. W-we don't want-"

"Don't worry, Jiminie. I won't let anything happen to him. We have bodyguards following us too."

"Okay, okay." Jimin's voice was shaking and his distress was very much clear in it, judging by the small sob Jungkook just heard. "I don't know what- what-.. hyung, what am I to do now?"

"We will figure it out, Jiminie." Hoseok made eye contact with Jungkook through the rearview mirror. "We will figure it out."

After the call ended, there was a suffocating silence inside the van. Jungkook was the one who finally broke it.

"It's Taehyung, right?" He had to put in a lot of effort to keep his voice steady. "Something happened to him, right?"

Hoseok didn't answer. He didn't have to. The look of pure hopelessness that was on his face was enough of an answer for Jungkook.

Rest of the ride passed in silence. Jungkook refused to give way to the negative thoughts in his head. With the way Jimin and Hoseok were behaving, he knew something was terribly wrong. He knew, but he refused to acknowledge it. Until he knew for sure what had happened, Jungkook refused to give in to worry. It won't do anyone any help if he's crippled with fear.

Once they reached Taehyung's agency, Hoseok drove the van directly to the underground parking used by the artists and top management. Their coming must have been pre-informed because the guards let them in without any question.

He stopped the car, cut the engine off before turning around to look at Jungkook.

"Taehyung was coming back from a shooting and now Jimin can't contact him or anyone else in that van. And the van, it's… It's-" Hoseok's pause felt terrifying to Jungkook. "It's missing."

A man wearing a suit was waiting for them in the parking lot and he guided them to the executive elevator. Jungkook had his cap and mask, but still, it was better to have less people know about his presence in the company.

The man led them towards a conference room, where a flurry of activities were happening. Everyone looked up when the door opened and if anyone was surprised to see the two newcomers, they didn't show it.

Hoseok made Jungkook sit at the far end of the table, before walking towards Jimin. He gave Jimin a half-hug, while the latter held on to him tightly. Jimin's eyes drafted towards Jungkook for a second before he looked away, and Jungkook thought he imagined the look of shame in it. After about a minute, Hoseok came back.

"They have dispatched a few teams to the route they were taking, as well as the local police. Still there's no sign of anything suspicious but they have little more ground to cover. They are looking into CCTV to reduce the search area but so far, Taehyung's van hasn't been recorded anywhere except one of the intersections where they took the mountain road back to Seoul. None of the cell signals from their phone are working either."

Jungkook gulped down the lump that seemed to be stuck in his throat. "Could it be that they took a different route?"

"Not really. There aren't any alternate routes and they don't really have any reason to take a roundabout route. And.."

"And.."

"There's about 3 times enough time for them to reach here, even if they did take another route."

"Oh." Jungkook was silent for a few seconds before looking up at Hoseok again. "And we don't- I mean h-have they- did we get any calls?"

"No." Hoseok reached out and gently stroked Jungkook's hand. "Not yet."

Jungkook didn't ask anything after that. The implications of his questing was very clear to Hoseok. When it comes to celebrities, kidnapping for ransom is actually the better news. That means that whoever took them, intends to send them back. The other scenarios are too horrible to even think of.

"Hey." Hoseok's soft call made Jungkook pull himself out from the pit of thoughts he had fallen into. "They will find him. Don't worry."

"Yeah." Jungkook's eyes seem to be focused on a faraway spot. "They better."

Jungkook sits there for god knows how long. He listens to the conversations happening around him, gathers information, but never speaks with anyone. Or even gets up from his seat. Hoseok checks on him from time to time, asking him if he needs anything to drink or eat. Jungkook of course refused, and after a while, Hoseok stopped asking. No one else gave him any attention either, for which Jungkook was thankful.

The one person who gave him attention was Bang Si-Hyuk, the CEO of Taehyung's agency. Jungkook had never met the guy but had seen his pictures. Taehyung always had only good things to say about his boss so naturally, Jungkook had a good impression about him.

"So." Bang Si-Hyuk said as he sat on the chair next to Jungkook. "Jeon Jungkook. Can't say I was expecting to see you here."

Jungkook didn't answer, other than give a polite tilt from his head. Bang Si-Hyuk was silently observing the younger idol for a few more seconds before he spoke up again.

"You must be a very good friend to Taehyung, if Jimin called you here, given that we are trying everything to keep things under wraps for now."

It wasn't a question but Jungkook felt like he needed to answer. "Fiancé."

That made the CEO double take, breaking the calculating expression he had till now. "W-what?"

Jungkook took a deep breath, knowing very well that what he's about to do will change things drastically. He also knows that it should have been Taehyung's decision to disclose their relationship to his boss but Jungkook felt like it's the right call. He wanted at least a few people to know how important Taehyung is to him.

"Fiancé." Jungkook repeated, this time with confidence. "I'm his fiancé, not his friend."

Si-Hyuk snapped his head to look at Jimin, who after a second of pause, nodded his head in confirmation. Si-Hyuk turned back to look at Jungkook, his eyebrows almost disappeared in his hairline.

"Well, I'll be damned."
  
  

__________________________________

Two days.

That's how long it took to get some information about Taehyung. Jimin's voice was shaking so badly when he called Jungkook, that it was hard for Jungkook to even make out what he was saying.

They found Taehyung's van, at the bottom of a river a few kilometers down the route they were taking. It was discovered by a set of divers, who were participating in recreational sport. They immediately called the police, who in turn informed Jimin's people.

There were two bodies in the van, bloated and starting to decompose, still strapped with seat belts so it was not floating. They identified the bodies as Taehyung's bodyguard and driver.

Taehyung's body was not in the van.