After a few consecutive days at his small studio, Wonshik finally decided to take a break. He’s been working on the tracks for his first mixtape for a while now and he’s hit the point where even creative mind needed a rest. He wasn’t getting anywhere with his composition and his mind felt like it would shut down at any time.

‘Why do people need sleep?’ Wonshik sighed as he headed out of the studio and passing the lobby.

‘Finally decided to go home?’ The receptionist saw him.

‘Yeah. I’m tired.’ Wonshik yawned.

‘Haha. By the way, have you talked with Hakyeon yet?’ She asked.

‘Hyung?’

‘Mhmm. He dropped by earlier to look for you. Did you not see him?’

Wonshik shook his head. He definitely hasn’t seen the leader today. He’s been so preoccupied with his mixtape in general to have seen any of s to be honest.

But if Hakyeon specifically came to the company to look for Wonshik, where did the leader go?

The younger took out his phone and finally saw the text message from Hakyeon.

Hakyeon: [Are you in the studio right now? Can we talk?]

Oh shoot! Wonshik suddenly panicked as he realized the message was sent to him hours ago and he didn’t even get a chance to look at his phone to reply. He felt really bad so he immediately scroll down to his contact list to call the leader.

Hakyeon picked up immediately.

‘Hyung! I just saw your text. Did you come by to look for me earlier?’ Wonshik asked.

‘Mhmm.’ Hakyeon said.

‘I’m so sorry! Why didn’t you just look for me if you were here?’

‘It’s okay. You just looked so busy with your mixtape so I didn’t want to interrupt.’

‘What did you wanted to talk about?’

‘Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.’

‘But-‘

‘Are you going home soon?’ Hakyeon asked.

‘Yes!’

‘I see. Wonshik-ah, I’m going to be out of Seoul for a few days to film the drama so I won’t be able to see you until then. Take care and get lots of sleep okay?’

‘Okay but… you sure you don’t want to talk?’ Wonshik asked again.

‘Don’t worry. I figured it all out. I’m just glad to see you doing well. Bye.’ Hakyeon said and hung up.

Wonshik really felt bad about not being able to be their for his leader when the latter was specifically looking out for him. He was so focused on his mixtape that he neglected his precious members. He should’ve known better.

As Wonshik returned to the dorms, he saw the other members gathered together around the kitchen. A delicious smell was emitted throughout the dorms.

‘Oh, welcome back Wonshik-ah! Want some dinner?’ Jaehwan greeted and offered him some food.

‘Did you make it?’ Wonshik was being skeptical.

‘Pfft. Of course not. Taekwoon-hyung made it. It’s been awhile since he’s made us food so have some!’ Jaehwan laughed.

‘That’s a relief.’ Wonshik’s stomach was growling. He’s been craving for some home meal for awhile now.

‘Wonshik-ah, have you seen Hakyeon?’ Taekwoon asked as he was preparing a bigger portion for all the hungry members.

‘I called him earlier and he said he’s currently out of the city to film the drama.’ Wonshik reported.

‘Really? He didn’t say anything about that this morning. Hmm…’ Hongbin doubted and took out his phone,’ one second while I call our manager to confirm.’

The members crowded around Hongbin to listen in on the phone call.

‘Oh, hyung! It’s me, Hongbin. Are you and Hakyeon-hyung really out to film the drama?’ He asked. ‘Really? When will you guys be back?’

Hongbin hung up the phone after receiving the answers.

‘Well?’ Taekwoon asked.

‘Manager-hyung said yes. They’re going to be gone for a few days apparently.’ Hongbin sighed.

‘I guess we can’t tell Hakyeon-hyung about the incident tonight then.’ Jaehwan sighed as their plans had to be postponed.

‘What incident?’ Wonshik was completely clueless about what’s been happening around the dorms lately.

‘You know… about the Chained Up thing last year. We all talked about it and Taekwoon-hyung here also agrees.’ Jaehwan said.

Taekwoon nodded.

‘You guys are right. We shouldn’t have hid the truth about it from Hakyeon. I thought we could have a good meal together and calmly discuss it tonight with him…’ Taekwoon sighed disappointedly. ‘I guess we’ll just have to wait until he returns.’

~

After several days have passed, it was finally time for Hakyeon to return from his filming. Their manager told them the specific date that they were coming back to Seoul and all the members decided to stay at the dorms to wait for their leader’s return.

The members have been texting a few times to Hakyeon just to make sure their oldest didn’t overwork himself and making sure he was being cared for but it seems that Hakyeon have been too busy to reply to them at all.

‘Is hyung back yet?’ Hongbin asked again and again while the five of them were sitting in the living room.

‘I called this morning and manager-hyung said he’s on the way back. Should be soon right?’ Hyuk said.

It’s only been a few days but the boys were rather anxious for Hakyeon’s return. They were all waiting to be able to convey everything that’s been on their minds to Hakyeon now that they were ready.

Then, the door unlocked and the members all rushed to the entrance.

‘Hakyeon-hyung!’ The members greeted whoever came through the entrance.

‘Sorry, it’s just me.’ It was their manager.

Hongbin looked behind their manager and saw no one behind him.

‘Wait, where’s Hakyeon-hyung?’ He asked.

‘I’m just letting him sleep a bit more in the car while I drop off the luggage first. He’s been pretty tired the past few days with consecutive filming.’ Their manager told them.

‘I see.’

‘How was Hakyeon these few days?’ Taekwoon was rather concerned.

‘Huh?’

‘He hasn’t really replied to our messages so the members are rather worried.’

‘Yeah. Even when he replies to me, it’s really short.’ Wonshik sighed.

‘At least you got a reply…’ Hyuk said as he felt rather dejected.

‘Did you not get one?’ Their manager asked.

Hyuk nodded.

‘Do you think Hakyeon-hyung is still feeling awkward about last week when I had a nightmare?’ Hyuk was sad to be ignored by his leader.

Jaehwan patted the maknae on the back to cheer him up but it was obvious that Hyuk wanted to return to normal with his relationship with Hakyeon.

Click.

The door unlocked again and the atmosphere grew silent as they watched the door open.

It was Hakyeon.

‘Hyung!’ Jaehwan was delighted to see Hakyeon after a few days.

The other members were also happy to see their leader’s return. Jaehwan rushed to hug Hakyeon, his favorite leader and hyung but just as he approached Hakyeon, the leader backed away.

Huh?

‘Uh, hyung. Welcome back?’ Jaehwan stood there dumbfounded with his arms stretched out and wanting to hug Hakyeon.

Hakyeon yawned and looked at Jaehwan silently for a moment.

‘Yeah. Thanks.’ Hakyeon sounded almost as if he didn’t care to see s.

The others took note of their leader’s sudden avoidance towards Jaehwan and glanced at one another.

‘Is Hakyeon back?’ Taekwoon came out from the living room after helping their manager unload the bags.

‘Yea-‘ Wonshik was just about to answer but then, he was suddenly pushed aside.

By Hakyeon.

‘Taekwoon-ah!’ Hakyeon suddenly rushed towards Taekwoon and wrapped his arms around his lifelong friend.

‘Huh? What…’ Taekwoon was surprised at seeing Hakyeon’s sudden change in attitude.

Everyone was surprised as well. They haven’t seen Hakyeon be this affectionate with anyone in so long that, something didn’t seem right.

‘I miss our Taekwoonie~’ Hakyeon said happily while continuing to cling onto Taekwoon.

‘Huh? What are you…’ Taekwoon stood there and not know how to react but something was definitely off.

‘Hmm? What, don’t you miss me?’ Hakyeon teased.

‘No, I do but…’

‘Hehe. Then it’s fine isn’t it?’

The members watched their leader clinging onto the awkward Taekwoon and knew immediately the worst possible scenario…

They felt uneasy.

Hongbin decided to take the initiative and approached his friend and leader.

‘Hyung, are you okay?’ He reached to see if the leader was okay but as soon as he did, Hakyeon slapped the younger’s hands away.

‘I’m fine.’ Hakyeon said in a stern cold voice and glared at Hongbin.

It can’t be…

Taekwoon and the rest of the members took note of their leader’s change in attitude.

He has returned.

~

After watching quietly for a few days, the members realized that Hakyeon’s attitude was indeed very strange and tried their best not to aggravate their leader.

Hakyeon would cling onto Taekwoon whenever possible but ignored the rest of the members as if they weren’t even there.

‘You guy don’t think…’ Hongbin shivered with just the thought.

The four younger members huddled around the corner of their dance studio as they watched their leader following Taekwoon closely behind. It was obvious that even Taekwoon didn’t know what to do with this Hakyeon.

Just when Taekwoon was feeling a rather comfortable distance with his lifelong friend, this happens.

‘Hakyeon-ah…’ Taekwoon said.

‘Hmm?’ Hakyeon looked delightfully at Taekwoon with his marble-like eyes.

‘Not… too close please.’ Taekwoon pleaded.

‘Aww why not? You know you like it~ is our Taekwoonie being shy?’ The leader chuckled playfully.

‘Huh? Uh no… I…’ Taekwoon sighed.

After awhile, Taekwoon finally snuck away from Hakyeon’s grasp to secretly meet with the other members to discuss about what to do.

‘He didn’t see you coming out did he?’ Wonshik asked.

‘No. The managers got him preoccupied and I told Hakyeon that I was going to see Sejun-hyung about something.’ Taekwoon told them. He was tired.

‘What should we do…’ Hongbin worried. ‘Is Hakyeon-hyung never going to come back?’

‘The real Hakyeon anyways.’ Wonshik sighed. ‘But we can’t aggravate this hyung either.’

‘Yeah… what if he tries to hurt us again?’ Hyuk reminded them.

The members swallowed hard just thinking back during last year.

‘I agree. We should bring Hakyeon-hyung to the doctor again. Didn’t the doc mention something about Hakyeon-hyung possibly suffering from some sort of disorder?’ Jaehwan said.

‘Dissociative identity disorder?’ Wonshik answered.

‘Yeah, that!’

‘It’s true that this Hakyeon-hyung doesn’t seem normal but it’s not like he would go with us to the hospital just because we ask remember? Just when I thought things were back to normal too…’ Hongbin said.

‘Sorry…’ Taekwoon unknowingly apologized.

‘Hyung, it isn’t your fault. We’re all at fault if anything.’ Jaehwan put his hands on Taekwoon’s shoulders in hopes to comfort his hyung but then, the door slammed open.

‘Get your hands away from him!’ It was Hakyeon.

They were caught.

The members all froze in their positions at the sight of Hakyeon barging into the room. Hakyeon rushed immediately towards Taekwoon and pushed Jaehwan with all his strength which made the younger fall hard onto the floor.

‘Jaehwan-hyung! Are you okay?’ Hyuk and the other two ran to help Jaehwan right away.

Without even caring about hurting Jaehwan, Hakyeon grabbed Taekwoon and tried to get the other away from the younger members.

Taekwoon didn’t know what to do and knew he should not anger this Hakyeon but he saw Jaehwan hurt. It angered him to see Hakyeon hurting another member.

The real Hakyeon would never do such a thing.

DID or not, Taekwoon knew he could not stand still and do nothing. He has to do something.

He used his strength and separated Hakyeon’s arms from clinging onto him.

‘Taekwoonie?’

‘Apologize.’ Taekwoon said.

‘What?’

‘You pushed Jaehwan and hurt him. Apologize.’ Taekwoon looked at Hakyeon coldly and demanded.

‘Why should I?’

‘Don’t feint innocence with me. You also hurt Hyuk last year too.’

Hakyeon stood there as he saw Taekwoon’s cold and angry expression.

‘Why…’ He mumbled and glared at the other members. He was frustrated.

‘Why? You did something wrong and should be apologizing for it. That’s why.’ Taekwoon scolded the leader.

‘What about me?! You only ever care about them! It’s always about them! Even though I’m the one that cares about you the most!!’ Hakyeon broke down and screamed.

‘I care about all of you equally. You of all people should know that by now.’

‘No! I don’t know! I DON’T WANT TO KNOW!’ Hakyeon grabbed an object nearby and threw it straight at the younger members, causing them to flinch.

‘Cha Hakyeon!’ Taekwoon was angry.

‘If only they didn’t exist!’ Hakyeon glared at the other members with hatred and approached them angrily.

The members were all frightened and didn’t know what to do as they saw how angry their leader was at them. Even though he wasn’t really their leader, Hakyeon, it still hurts to see the older like this towards them. Hyuk almost wanted to cry after being reminded of what happened last year.

Taekwoon caught up to Hakyeon and grabbed the latter’s wrist by force and preventing the oldest from hurting the other members even more.

‘What do you think you’re doing?!’ Taekwoon shouted.

‘What am I doing? You dare ask me that?! I’M GETTING RID OF THEM THAT’S WHAT!’

Taekwoon’s eyes could not believe that such violent words came out from his lifelong friend’s mouth. This is definitely not Cha Hakyeon.

‘You! Who are you?! Where’s Hakyeon?’