~ Chen's P.O.V. ~

After a week of begging, my mom finally drove me to go and pick up my bike. I told her to drive home without me, because I was going to go visit Xiumin, and she basically said she didn’t care why I wasn’t coming home yet and as long as I’m home by midnight that it’s okay. She drove away before I could give a reply. I shrugged to myself and then started my bike, driving towards XiuXiu’s house.

When I got there, the sun was beginning to go down, but there were no lights on. I walked up to the door and rang the bell, able to hear the chime inside. I waited a few minutes, but there was nothing. Maybe he didn’t hear it. I thought, ringing the bell again. When there was no response for several minutes, I began to get worried.

I thought back to the conversations I had had with Xiumin, but I didn’t recall him ever mentioning any plans. I figured that maybe he was in the backyard and just couldn’t hear it from outside. I went around to the side gate and jumped over, knowing there would be no parents to call the cops if they saw me. I looked around, but there was no sign of XiuXiu anywhere. Figures. He never goes outside. I tried looking in through the windows, but everything seemed still. I began panicking at the distinct absence of my beloved Minseok.

I tapped on the windows, banged on the doors, and even climbed the side of the house to knock on his bedroom window, but the room was dark and there was no sign of the older boy anywhere. The panic started to rise again until I finally convinced myself to calm down enough to simply call him and ask him where he is.

I hit the call button next to the contact named “XiuXiu”, and it began to ring. He picked up on the fourth ring. “Hey, ChenChen.” he answered cheerily.

“Xiu, where are you? You had me worried sick when I showed up to your house and you weren’t there.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Chen. I’m camping right now. I forgot to tell you before I left.” My worry turned to confusion.

“You’re camping by yourself?” I questioned.

“W-Well, no. I’m camping with LuLu—I mean Luhan.” he answered, stuttering slightly.

“Luhan? As in, our class president, Luhan?” I asked, surprised by this new information.

“Yeah, he...uh...invited me here.” Before he could say anything else, I heard another voice that sounded slightly farther away than Xiumin.

“XiuXiu! It’s cold over here without you. Come back, please. I miss you.” I heard the familiar voice call to my XiuXiu.

“Hey, ChenCh-” Xiumin started.

“I gotta go.” I interrupted him.

“Chen, wait-”

“Bye, Minseok.” I hung up before he could protest. I climbed back over the gate and got on my motorcycle, driving back to my house. I bumped into my older brother on the stairs on my way up to my room.

“Hey, I thought you were going to go visit your boyfriend.” he remarked, smirking. I shoved him hard against the wall.

“. Off.” I growled, storming up the rest of the stairs and to my bedroom, where I slammed the door shut and refused to come out.

I spent half the night steaming over the thought of Luhan, the goodie-two-shoes class president, with my Xiumin. The other half I spent quietly sobbing, scolding myself for not making a move before now.