"Where the hell is that idiot?" Seokjin grumbled, one hand holding an umbrella while the other gripped his phone. Using data roaming, he tried to call Yoongi's number, but instead, a female operator's voice answered, forcing him to hang up and redial. He was loosely clad in a transparent, plastic raincoat without the hood on his head.

Wearing the same attire, but without an umbrella, Jiah and Amber were also present.

Amber was aware that Seokjin had told Jiah about the news, and Jiah received the information properly. Seokjin had shared the news with her privately, and Amber allowed it. However, he reminded Jiah not to tell Hoseok yet.

Jiah did not anticipate that it was going to be news of a death. She had hoped for something better, such as an illness that could be cured, or Jiwoo choosing not to return to South Korea for overwhelming reasons.

According to Amber's cousin, Jiwoo passed away in an accident. The car she was riding crashed into a restaurant. She wasn't the driver, but she died due to excessive blood loss on the way to the hospital. The accident involved two other Koreans and an American man. The American man and one Korean man were still alive, while another Korean woman, possibly someone Jiwoo knew, died at the scene; she was the driver.

Adding further details, Jiwoo was a victim of human trafficking and prostitution. Soohyuk was involved in this crime and would be charged with scamming and prostitution. It was possible that the driver was also a victim who helped Jiwoo escape.

Jiah felt like she had heard something similar before but couldn't recall the specifics.

She was fine with keeping secrets, but the idea of facing Hoseok without showing her pain upon receiving the news seemed dramatic. However, her pain might not be as severe as Hoseok's when he received the news.

They searched for Yoongi in various buildings of Marina Bay Sands, but he was nowhere to be found. They decided to walk farther from Marina Bay Sands, searching for him in open places. They tried the Helix Bridge and Bayfront Bridge, but there was no sign of a man with curly, crimped hair in his favorite denim jacket. It seemed unlikely that he had gone too far, considering their tourist driver was waiting outside the hotel when they left.

They agreed to continue searching while staying together, and Amber suggested looking for him in a park.

As they walked to the park, the heavy rain slowly drizzled down. However, a strong gust of wind almost broke Seokjin's umbrella, causing Jiah's hood to be blown back. Amber walked with a hand on her plastic hood, squinting her eyes against the wind.

Despite the loud wind, Amber managed to call out, "Seokjin-ah, isn't that Yoongi?"

Hearing this, Jiah turned around with difficulty to see where Amber was pointing. She held her plastic hoodie on her head, and through the gusts of wind carrying dead leaves, she saw a man in a navy denim jacket and a black T-shirt kneeling with his head hanging down. His once bouncy and crimped hair now sagged, partially covering his eyes and dripping with water.

"That's him!" Seokjin confirmed.

Amber ran to him and stepped down two steps of stairs, shouting, her tone sounding like she was scolding, "Min Yoongi!" But Yoongi remained unmoved. As they got closer, Amber smacked his back and said, "What's wrong with you? Jiwoo won't be happy to see you like this."

Yoongi's eyes stared weakly downward, still not moving. A long silence followed.

Amber whimpered, placing a palm on one of Yoongi's shoulders and slowly kneeling in front of him. "Don't be like this, Yoongi," she said, sounding brittle. She placed another hand on his other shoulder, her head bent down. She whispered, "Please."

After a while, Yoongi's chapped and pale lips moved as he spoke with fragility. "What's the point of living... waiting... if this is the ending?"

His words sent shivers down Jiah's spine. She thought of Hoseok as well, and the thought of how he might react to Jiwoo's death scared her even more.

Brittlely, Amber begged, "Please, Min Yoongi."

"When you said you knew where she went, I was expecting something else. I was waiting patiently. But now, I'm tired," Yoongi said weakly. Amber replied nothing, but softly sobbing while clenching her fists against Yoongi's wet shoulders.

Seokjin turned away casually, tears slipping down his cheeks. He stopped wiping them, realizing they kept flowing. He clenched his jaws and released a deep sigh before turning back to face them. He sauntered to Yoongi and Amber, positioning his umbrella above the younger man's head. With a steady voice, he said, "Let's go back. We're going home tomorrow."

Amber took the umbrella from Seokjin's hand, sheltering Yoongi. It took them a while until Yoongi finally stood up, stumbling as he did. He pushed the umbrella aside.

"Take the umbrella," Amber said.

Walking away slowly and lacking energy, Yoongi muttered, "No need. I'm soaked anyway." Despite Yoongi's rejection, Amber got up and chased after him, forcing him to share the umbrella without exchanging any more words.

As they moved away, Seokjin approached Jiah. He asked, "Are you okay?"

Jiah looked at him and replied, "I should be the one asking. Are you okay?" Her eyebrows slowly raised as she questioned him.

Seokjin sighed and smiled softly, but the smile faded as he responded, "Absolutely not. We lost one of our best friends. Just like Yoongi, I never expected that news. I'm also worried about Hoseok." His voice trailed off at the end.

Jiah's doe eyes drooped, her lips too. Then she asked, "What are we going to do about Hoseok?"

"Amber will tell him. The police will send Jiwoo's body to South Korea once there are no issues. In the meantime, we'll have to pretend," Seokjin explained.

"And Yoongi?"

Looking at Yoongi and Amber walking farther away, Seokjin replied, "We'll handle him."

**********

That night, Joohee slept soundly, but Jiah couldn't. She tried to force her eyes closed but kept waking up every twenty minutes.

To pass the time, she watched the small figure sleeping beside her. The child's chest rose and fell peacefully, with the duvet covering only half of her body. Jiah chuckled before lifting herself up and pulling the duvet over Joohee's chest. Then she laid back down.

It had been a long day. She couldn't stop thinking about Hoseok. His behavior that evening still bothered her. He seemed to be avoiding her, and she had no idea why. Nothing bad had happened the day before, except for her forcing him to ride the rides that might have put him in a moody and sulky mood.

That wasn't the only reason for another sleepless night. She cared deeply for Hoseok, and after receiving the news, she wanted to give him a long hug. But she didn't want to make it obvious until Amber had spoken to him. Still, she wondered what else she could do to help him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her buzzing phone, shaking the mattress. She turned her head to the back and saw the incoming call from 'idiot old man ♡.' Carefully, she answered the call and said softly, so as not to wake Joohee, "Yes, appa?"

"Oh, I thought you were sleeping," Mr. Lee said.

"No, I can't sleep," Jiah replied.

"Why?"

"Well... Maybe I'm too excited to go back home later. Singapore has been raining," she lied and chuckled.

"Ah... Poor my daughter."

Jiah chuckled again before asking, "By the way, why are you calling?"

"Ah, it's nothing. I'm not sure if this is worth talking about, but I couldn't sleep either. So, I've been cleaning the house. Yer room too, Jiah-yah. There were too many cracker crumbs under your bed. All the fire ants were having a feast—"

Hissing, Jiah interrupted, "If you're calling me to talk about that, I'm hanging up."

"No, no. That's not what I want to talk about. I was arranging my and your mother's boxes, and I found a business card," Mr. Lee said.

Jiah furrowed her eyebrows. "So?"

"It's In-Kang's business card. The person's name is Lee Soohyuk here," Mr. Lee said.

Stiffening, her heart pounded in her chest. She gulped as her father asked "Isn't that the young guy in the newspaper? The CEO's son?"

Jiah gulped again, trying to compose herself. "No, that's... Kang Maru."

"Kang Maru? Is he the Kang Maru we know?"

Rubbing her forehead with a shaky hand, she said, "Yes, he is. He was my high school classmate."

"Ah, that's why," Mr. Lee whispered.

"But, appa... I need – Do you remember umma's identification card number?"

"I do. But what do you need it for?"

She scratched her nape nervously and said, "My colleague has a cousin who is a detective. I want to ask her for help."

"Ah, alright."

"Can you send me a text with it? I don't have anything to write on."

"Alright, alright. Are you hanging up?"

"Yeah... I'm, I'm sleepy now," Jiah lied.

"Ah, alright then. Good night, my daughter."

"Good night," she said and finally hung up.

Sliding her phone down to the bed, she sat on a nearby couch, her shaky hand covering her mouth. She had heard enough terrible things about Soohyuk, and the most crucial one was his involvement in human trafficking.

Fearing that her mother might be involved too, she needed to talk to Amber soon.