Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Chapter 73: CCK (16)

Minho and Kanji ran towards the place where Mina's art competition was held. To their shock, the gates were locked. 

"How long ago did her competition end?" Kanji asked.

"Three o'clock," Minho groaned. How could he forget to pick up his own sister? He was so occupied with Junwan's words that he completely neglected Mina! How could he be so careless?

"I'm sure she's somewhere around!" Kanji assured him. "It's only"

He checked his watch and gulped. It was 6 PM and Mina was probably waiting for them for hours. What if something had happened to her? He did not want to think of that possibility at all. Minho would never forgive himself if something had happened to Mina.

"Let's find her," he suggested. "She's bound to be around somewhere!"

"We'll split up," Minho stated. "You look on the right and I'll look on the left."

Kanji nodded and they set off. He looked around the building, looking for her everywhere he could. 

"Mina?" he called out loud. He checked the alleyways and any spot he could find. There were some guards around the area and he asked them if they had seen the little girl but to his disappointment, none of them had noticed any girl with a backpack.

Minho, on the other hand, was searching the street for his sister. He went up the roadside stairs which led to the residential areas, crying her name. He knocked on some of the houses and asked the residents if they had seen her.

"Sorry," one elderly woman said. "I didn't see any little girl around this area today."

Minho cursed out loud, lamenting his carelessness. He was panicking now, looking into every corner for his sister but she was nowhere to be found. Tears were stinging his eyes but he brushed them away. It was not the time to become weak. His sister needed him.

"Mina!" he yelled. "Mina!"

But there was no response. His sister was missing and it was his fault.

Kanji ran up to him. The disappointed look on his face told Minho that he, too, had failed in finding her.

"Minho"

Kanji tried to console his friend but Minho shook his head in despair and walked away to look for his sister again. After searching for hours, they were forced to conclude that Mina was not there. 

"Maybe she went home?" Kanji suggested. "I saw a payphone back there. We can call home and ask the maid if she arrived home in our absence."

"Alright," Minho half heartedly agreed, knowing fully that it was impossible. She was too young to navigate the place on her own and he doubted she knew her way back. But it was still worth a try.

They rushed towards the payphone across the art building. Kanji inserted a coin and dialed his home's number. The maid picked up the phone.

"Mrs. Lim!" Kanji said at once. "Did Mina come home yet?"

"No, Master Kanji," Lim replied. "She has not arrived yet."

Kanji's shoulders fell and he hung up the phone. He turned to Minho and said, "She didn't arrive home. We'll have to inform the police-"

But Minho was not paying attention. He was looking at something on the ground. Stooping down, he picked up a red clip.

"This is Mina's," he said. "She was here! She came here last!"

Kanji examined the clip and he also recognized it. "If she came here, then that meant she must have been trying to call the house!" he exclaimed. "But I was home that time. I didn't receive any calls."

"That means she never made the call," Minho concluded. The dread he was trying to suppress was now beginning to rise again. His worst fears were surfacing, making him feel even more guilty at his negligence. Kanji, too, realized that the worst may have happened.

Mina had been kidnapped.

Kanji was looking at Minho with worry. The latter's face was ashened with dismay as his thoughts spiraled into a mess. His sister was out there somewhere, scared and vulnerable to some sick psycho. Terrible images were floating in his mind. What if she was harmed? What if a pedophile got her or worse? She was the only family he had left and he could not lose her too. 

"This is all my fault," he whispered. His voice was shaky and he clenched his fists in anger. He was angry at himself for not being able to protect his sister.

"We'll find her," Kanji said sharply. "We'll have to call the police first! She's the daughter of the Hwang family! Everyone knows that you should not be messed with. Whoever kidnapped her, will definitely ask for a ransom."

But will he? For some reason, Minho doubted this. If she was kidnapped for ransom, then they would have received the call already. But the maid did not inform them about any such thing and for some reason, his intuitions said that Mina was entangled in something even more sinister.

"It's not a kidnapping," he declared. "I know it. It's something else."

"We'll still have to inform the police!" Kanji said. "Let's go!"

Both of them ran out of the payphone and rushed towards the nearest police station.

Please keep my sister safe! Minho prayed. A single tear fell from his eye as he ran through the streets, his head fixated on saving his sister.

.

Mina slowly opened her eyes. The white lights were shining brightly above her, almost blinding her. She tried to move her neck but to her shock her whole body was paralyzed. Not even a finger would move.

What's going on? She thought wildly. Where's my brother?

She tried to scream but her voice was also suppressed by the drug. Her body felt too heavy and the drug was too powerful for her. Her mind was muddled and unclear as she tried to remember how she ended up there.

All she could recall was that she had dialed Kanji's home number before everything went black. 

Brother! She cried inwardly. Brother help me!