The pain in their mind was reduced after about 5 minutes but not the sheer panic. As soon as Tae could think somewhat clearly, he picked up his phone and dialled Jungkook's number. But just as he feared, Jungkook didn't answer.

"Come on baby, please pick up." Taehyung said in a shaky breath as he repeatedly hit the redial option.

It took few tries for Taehyung to finally accept that the call was not getting through. Jungkook would never ignore his call, unless there was something preventing him from answering.

"Tae, talk to me. What's wrong?"

Taehyung raised his head to look at Namjoon's concerned gaze. "I-I'm not sure, hyung. Jungkook is in trouble."

"What?!"

"Yeah." Taehyung weakly waived the phone in his hand. "A-and he's not answering my call."

"Is he at home? Do you know where he is?"

Taehyung held Namjoon's helping hand the pulled himself up from the floor. "No, he's said he will go shopping for some stuff. But I don't exactly know where."

Namjoon was thinking for a few seconds before an idea came in to his head and he looked at Taehyung with a determined gaze. "Let's call Chim. He should be able to track Kookie's phone."

Taehyung watched as the elder took his phone out and dialled Jimin's number.

Jimin was doing some paperwork when his phone rang and after checking the ID, he immediately answered.

"Joonie hyung, this is a-... what?!.. yeah, yeah, hold on a second..."

There was a sound of aggressive keyboard punching for the next minute or so and both Namjoon and Taehyung waited with worried minds.

"Got it! He's at the Lotte Department Store-"

The call was on speaker and as soon as Jimin mentioned the location, Taehyung was out of the clinic.

Namjoon watched the retreating figure for a second before briefly explaining Jimin what happened. Jimin quickly said that he will also go search. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the police support as there is a waiting period for a person to be reported as missing.

Taehyung kept on trying to call, but the phone was switched off now. He reached the mall first and Jimin got there about 15 minutes later. They both searched everywhere, but there wasn't any trace of Jungkook. Jimin could request to check the CCTV but there were literally hundreds of cameras and it was just not feasible to check by himself.

""

Taehyung flinched a bit at the raw power in that voice and couldn't help but let out a sigh in despair.

"What do you think I'm trying to do all this time?!"

""

Taehyung bit back the reply to that as they couldn't afford to fight right now. V was worried, Taehyung knew it very well. Hell, they both are shit scared actually. V couldn't smell Jungkook's scent anywhere but since the place was huge, the chances of that was anyway slim.

Taehyung's phone rang and he answered it immediately. "Chim!"

"Tae, I'm gonna go check the 'lost and found' centre. Meet me there."

Taehyung didn't answer and Jimin was not waiting for a one too. When Taehyung reached 'lost and found' centre, Jimin was already there, with a troubled face.

"Chim?"

Jimin didn't answer and showed the phone in his hand. Jungkook's phone. Taehyung took it with a shaky hand, fingers clutching it in a tight grip.

"A kid had given it here, about half an hour ago. He had found it laying behind a trash can. It's not on a part that's covered by a CCTV so.."

Jimin let the rest of the words trail off. They didn't knew what to do anymore.

Jimin called the police station and tried to get some help from them. Despite it being below the time line for a police involvement, Jimin's boss immediately sent some people, as well as a patrol unit from a near by station too.

They pretty much looked through the whole mall, with Jungkook's photo, but there wasn't any information about him. No one has seen him or remembered anything unusual.

Taehyung was starting to lose his mind and V was not better too. The mere thought of any harm happening to their mate was the scariest thing both Taehyung and V could imagine.

It was their worst nightmare. And it seemed like it's coming true right now.

__________________________________

After checking for few hours, Jimin managed to convince Taehyung to go home. Jimin, however, was going back to the station as he wanna check through other reports of any suspicious activity surrounding that area. It was a long shot but they had ran out of other options.

All through the car ride, Taehyung contemplated whether to inform Junghyun about what happened. He knew he should, but just didn't had the courage to tell that he couldn't protect their son.

Junghyun trusted him with Jungkook's safety and Taehyung was scared to tell that he failed. Finally, he decided to wait till he hears from Jimin, to know that they had done everything they possibly can, before informing Junghyun.

Once he stopped the car, Taehyung got out and walked dejectedly towards the house. If only he had accompanied Jungkook with his shopping today, none of this would have happened.

But once inside, something strange caught his attention immediately. The house should be silent as there wasn't anyone home. But instead, there were sounds coming from the kitchen, as well as the aroma of food.

Taehyung walked towards the kitchen in a dazed state, his mind filled with too many thoughts to make sense of anything. Once he reached the kitchen, he couldn't stop the astounded gasp, and the person standing at the stove, turned to look at him.

"You're late today, hyungie."