“It’s this way.” He pointed towards the left, another corridor that led you towards somewhere dark, somewhere underneath the castle where no one else could come. One of his hands landed on you back and you could feel the warmth of his touch burn through the fabric. “You’re shaking.” He muttered, holding his tracks so that he could look at you. His eyes were filled with concern and worry and you could see that he had reached his point where he wanted to say that your trip was over. “I’m just really cold, I don’t get that you don’t feel it.” You said and crossed your arms over your chest in the hope to keep your body warmth with you as much as possible. When you breathed out a small cloud formed in front of your face and you could see how he stared at it in awe, like he had never seen something like that before. When you studied him you noticed that if he exhaled nothing happened, there was nothing to be seen. “Here.” You watched him as he began to pull of his jacket, wanting to argue with him because you didn’t want him to be cold instead, but then you got reminded of the fact that it didn’t matter. He took a step towards you and easily swung the jacket over your shoulders, the fabric brushing against your skin, warming up your shoulders. Unknowingly your hands clenched around it, pulling it tighter against you as if it was your shield, as if it would be able to protect you from everything that was about to happen. It was clear that he was waiting for you to say something because he was still staring at you, and the intimate look inside of his eyes made you blush. You smiled at him, even though it was hard to see each other with this soft darkness surrounding you, but you supposed that his sight was better than yours. “Thanks.” It was hard to see if he was actually smiling back at you or not, but you thought you could see his eyes lightening up, which was enough for you at this moment. As soon as you felt his hand reach out for yours your nerves seemed to calm down a little, knowing that he would be with you every second and that you wouldn’t have to do anything alone. 

Unknowingly your fingers squeezed around his, and you wondered if he was able to feel the anxiety rush through you. The fear and the cold was making your body go numb and you were scared that you wouldn’t be able to say anything if you would be standing in front of the man you felt so much hate for. Baekhyun guided you through the hallways, not once loosening his grip on you, which you were grateful for. As long as he would be here with you then it would all be fine. He walked towards the left and the stairs you had just walked down from disappeared out of your sight, making it seem as if there was no more chance for you to turn around. With small steps you tried to keep up with his pace, but soon noticed that he adjusted his to yours so that you wouldn’t have to run. He seemed so calm, but it was probably all an illusion, he didn’t want you to see how stressed he was because of the whole situation. Your eyes scanned over the doors that you walked past and you wondered who were behind them and what they had done to get locked up in here. They had probably done horrible things, just like Nobregas and you were sure that they deserved to be here. It didn’t seem to end, the corridor was so large that it seemed to go on and on. There were candles hanging against the wall, lighting up the stone and you wondered why there wasn’t any electricity down here. Your heart seemed to skip a beat when his pace slowed down and he stopped in front of a big steal door, which had several string locks on it. This was it, this was where they had kept him all this time, while you hadn’t known anything about the case. It was weird to be standing so close, but still you felt so far away from it all. Reality would probably hit you in the face as soon as you would enter that door. A shadow appeared on your right and you squealed, jumping closer to the man you loved who securingly wrapped his arms around you, hushing you to let you know that there was nothing to be scared of. 

When you started to recognize the face of the person who neared you, you relaxed a little, seeing that you recognized him. Of course Conan was the one who was going to be with you, Baekhyun trusted him like no other and to be honest you did too. He probably knew that you would feel better with them than with another guard around. You would feel more comfortable with these two men around than with anyone else, you knew that they would always put your safety first instead of getting the answers to the questions they wanted. Was it really time for you to head in now? You didn’t feel prepared, it was as if they were throwing you in front of a lion and you just had to survive, without any knowledge. “Okay, Nobregas is behind this door. He can’t touch you and he can’t get closer to you unless you get closer to him. There is nothing to be afraid of.” Conan explained, probably sensing how you were feeling just by looking at you. If this would have happened when you had first met each other he probably would have teased you, but he didn’t dare to now, surely not while Baekhyun was around. You nodded, listening carefully to him and focussing on his words so that you didn’t have to focus on anything else. “Thank you Conan, why don’t you go in already and then we will be right there.” Baekhyun looked at his friend and smiled, it wasn’t just a smile that you gave to everyone. It was that ‘thank you for being here’ smile that only true friends could exchange. You were so happy that they had each other, you were sure that they made each other stronger. Everyone deserved it to have that kind of person in their life that they trusted with their own life, that they would do anything for. And he did as he was told, after nodding he opened the door, but not far enough to show you what was inside, before disappeared through it and closing it behind him. Your eyes were frozen on it, staring at it in the hope that maybe if you only looked long enough you would be able to watch though it. “You can leave anytime you want, it’s just a word ____________.” Baekhyun said, showing up into your view so that you had to look at him. You sighed, feeling how big your urge was to just run away and never come back again. These were the kind of moments that you could feel the pressure of the future crown push heavily on top of your head, but you knew he was here to help you with that. 

“I know…” Your voice was soft, as if you had to spare your strength for what was about to come. You didn’t fight him when he stepped closer to you, circling his arms around your shoulders and pulling you against his chest. His touch always seemed to do something inside of you, and you softly brushed your cheek against his shirt, feeling the fabric rub against your skin. From this position you were able to stare through the hallway, seeing that there were more doors that looked exactly the same as which you were standing in front of. How would those people live on the other side of those doors? The regular rising and falling of his chest, the sound of his slightly fastened heartbeat underneath your ear, it made you close your eyes and sigh. For a second it seemed as if you weren’t here but as if you were somewhere alone with the two of you, at a peaceful place where everything was fine. There was nothing you had to worry about, nothing you had to be scared of, there was only you and him. How much you longed for that, to be somewhere with him alone. But too soon he interrupted the moment, removing his hands from your back and guiding them towards your face, laying them down on top of your cheeks. His fingers felt rough from the hard work he had done, but still their touch was feather light. You hit up your gaze, staring into his and over there you seemed to find all the strength you needed to do what you had to do. You couldn’t control it when your breath escaped from you, it made him smile. “You can do this, I know you can.” He whispered, his thumbs caressing your cheeks lovingly, making you nod as if you believed him. You waited patiently until he leaned forward and brushed his lips against yours, making a fire lit up inside of you. Your hands fisted the material of his shirt, trying to pull him closer to you. You could feel one of his hands inside of your hair, pressed against the back of your head to deepen the kiss, making your knees buckle. 

In this halls the echo was this loud that you could hear it when your lips separated, a loud smacking sound filling your ears. It made a giggle come over your lips which you couldn’t hold back and you could see the twinkles inside of Baekhyun’s eyes when you did so. There were no other moments that could make you happier than these, where you would just stand in his arms and would just kiss him, you wished you could do that forever. You smiled when he cutely bumped his nose against yours, the hand that had been laced in your hair slowly slipping towards the crook of your neck. You were sure he could feel your fast heartbeat, but he didn’t say anything about it, probably knowing that you didn’t want to talk about how nervous you were. “Are you ready?” His voice was careful, as if he was sad that he had to break this moment that existed in between the two of you but he knew he didn’t have any other choice. Knowing that he was right and that you couldn’t waste any more time you nodded, immediately missing his touch as soon as his hands left you. While he opened the door you prepared yourself, swinging your hair back behind your shoulders and standing firmly inside of your shoes. You straightened your back and clenched your hands into fists next to your sides, lifting your chin up in the air and telling yourself that you were going to be fine. This was something you had never thought you would do, you had never expected you to be standing here, but here you were. As soon as the door opened all your irrelevant thoughts seemed to extinguish and you quickly focused yourself on why you were here, your purpose. You were here to get every single answer out of him that you needed and he was going to give it to you, if he wanted or not, no matter what you had to do to get it. 

A new kind of confidence came over you as you stared into the opening that had been created for you to step through. Baekhyun stared at you with encouraging eyes, giving you a final nod before you walked forward and stepped into the small room. the first thing you noticed was that it was very s