“Look at that,” Jiyeon said looking at Ellie’s paper while they were sitting in her living room.

            “Look at what?” Ellie asked turning to look at her.

            “Your grades are slowly dropping, are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you shouldn’t be dating Luhan.”

            “I haven’t seen him in quite a while,” Ellie said thinking that she really hadn’t seen Luhan in a couple of days. Were they even really dating then?

            “Well then maybe you should stop thinking about him,” Jiyeon said giving Ellie a wink that she just ignored.

            It wasn’t Luhan on her mind, it wasn’t anywhere near to Luhan. It was Chen. Ever since Chen left, he had been on her mind. Ellie was worried for him. She wondered what would happen to him, along with what would happen to the little boy. It just seemed like something was going to happen to them, something that wasn’t good. However, Ellie couldn’t tell Jiyeon anything about Chen. She had promised that she wouldn’t tell that she went to visit him, but still, she wanted to talk to someone. There was always Kris.

            “Um…sorry, Jiyeon,” Ellie suddenly said. “I forgot that I have to do something with Kris right now.”

            “Really? Where is he?” Jiyeon asked looking around.

            “He’s coming to pick me up. My…parents are meeting us before they’re flying out again,” she lied. She was hesitant in using her parents, but decided to use them anyway. Ellie felt like she had to talk to someone, she felt like she had to spill about what was happening or else she would explode. Ellie was positive that she wouldn’t be able to talk to Jiyeon because she would freak out about the situation and then freak out to Ellie about not telling her. No, Jiyeon was out of the picture.

            “Oh, I understand,” Jiyeon said as she got off of the couch. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

            “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ellie said with a smile as she walked Jiyeon to the door before quickly running back inside and going over to Kris’s bedroom door and knocking on it. “Kris? Kris are you in there?”

            “What’s the problem?” Kris asked as he came over and opened the door.

            “I need to talk with you. I just need to talk with someone,” Ellie quietly said.

            “Oh, well, come right in,” Kris said opening the door wider.

            Kris’s bedroom was almost exactly like Ellie’s. It was big and it was comfortable. Kris was thankful to Ellie’s parents for being able to give him such a big bedroom for him to study and do his personal work inside. Her parents always said that it was for helping to watch after Ellie while they were away.

            “What do you want to talk about?” Kris asked as he closed the door and took a seat on his computer chair while Ellie took a seat on his bed.

            “It’s about Chen,” Ellie said.

            “Chen?” Kris asked with his ears perked up. “Did something happen to him?”

            “I…I guess you could say so. I don’t entirely know the whole story. I just know that he told me a week ago that he was leaving, that he was saying goodbye to me and then he was leaving. I don’t know where he went or anything, I just know that he had a little boy with him, his nephew.”

            “Was he running away with his nephew?”

            “I don’t even know,” Ellie said shaking her head. “He just said that he was leaving and that it would probably be better for everyone if he just left. I don’t know about his family or anything. I don’t know anything about his parents. He just said that he was going to leave. I don’t even know where he lives to be able to check up on him. Honestly, I’m worried about him.”

            “I’m a bit worried about him, too. He doesn’t seem like that bad of a guy, though. He’s smart and I’m sure he must be doing it for a reason,” Kris said.

            “I’m sure, too,” Ellie said agreeing with him. “Just what the reason is I have no idea.”

            “Do you want me to help you find him?” Kris offered.

            “It’s not even like I would know where to look. I don’t know anything about him….but his real name,” Ellie said suddenly remembering that Chen had told her before.

            “His real name?” Kris asked looking at her. “Well I kind of figured that Chen wasn’t his real name and I actually never questioned what his real name was.”

            “Anyway,” Ellie said attempting to get the conversation back on track. “Could we do something with his name?”

            “Possibly, maybe, who knows,” Kris sighed. “It might be against the rules since we’re not family with him. Was he close to anyone in school?”

            “Besides me? No,” Ellie said sighing. With every passing second it seemed like it was becoming more and more impossible for them to find out any information about Chen. “Ugh, this is so frustrating!” Ellie yelled as she leaned back on Kris’s bed with Kris simply staring at her in amusement.

            “Ellie,” Kris hesitantly began as he looked at Ellie. “Before we start all of this worrying about Chen, I think we should talk.”

            “Talk about what?” Ellie asked giving Kris a strange look.

            “Talk about what happened in the forest that day,” Kris said as he and Ellie stared at each other for a little while.

“Chen, the boss wants to see you,” Tao said as he entered the room.

            “Alright,” Chen said as he glanced at the sleeping Minhyuk for a second before he walked out of the room.

            It had been a week since he left. It had been a week since he left his old life and traded it in for a new one. It had been one week since he received the offer from Lay and took it. Now, Chen was working under Lay and doing whatever he needed to. He never asked questions and only did what he was supposed to. Still, however, he didn’t attend school. He hoped that no one from the school would figure out about his life and he would be safe forever from everyone that might be out to get him.

            The work that Lay had him do wasn’t harmful and it wasn’t illegal. Lay ran a music store. It was a simple music store and Chen knew a little bit about music from what he picked up before, so that wasn’t a problem. In fact, sometimes, he was a big help to Lay since some of the workers didn’t know a thing about music or any of the instruments that were in the store. Lay was thankful to have Chen around, more thankful than Chen would probably ever know.

            “You wanted to see me?” Chen asked as he walked into Lay’s office. It was the work hour and everyone was at the store. Since it was a weekend, Minhyuk was also at the store. Besides providing them a place to stay and food, Lay also helped Chen out with Minhyuk’s school fees.

            “Yes, I was wondering if you’d be able to make a delivery for me,” Lay said as he counted the guitars that just got shipped to the store.

            “A delivery?” Chen asked somewhat intrigued about the request. “What kind of delivery?”

            “A simple one, really. A customer ordered a guitar but they aren’t able to come pick it up. Since it’s a good friend of mine, I said that I would get someone to deliver it.”

            “Oh, alright,” Chen said shrugging his shoulders. “What about Minhyuk?”

            “Don’t worry about him,” Lay said. “He’ll be safe here. I’ll have Tao watch over him, unless you want to take him with you. I have no objection to that.”

            “Chen!” Minhyuk yelled as he ran into Lay’s office.

            “Well I guess that’s your answer right there,” Lay said with a chuckle as he looked at Minhyuk. “I’ll give you guys the address and you can go, alright?”

            “Okay,” Chen said nodding his head as he picked Minhyuk up. “Minhyuk-ah, you and I are going to go on a trip, alright?”

            “Okay!” Minhyuk happily said.

            “Let’s go get ready,” Chen said. “I’ll do the job well,” he said turning back to look at Lay before he left the room.

            “I know you’ll do well,” Lay said looking at Chen with a smile.

“I…don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ellie said hoping to avoid the topic of what happened in the forest with Kris. It seemed like it happened so long ago, so why would he want to bring it up again?

            “Ellie,” Kris said as he moved off of his computer chair and over next to her causing Ellie to stare at him with wide eyes.

            “Kris,” Ellie simply said as she looked at him.

            “Look, what I said in that forest is true. Ever since then, I feel like we haven’t been the same.”

            “It’s because we haven’t.”

            “But nothing I said should’ve done anything different between us,” he said as he looked at her. “Unless…Ellie, do you have a boyfriend?”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ellie said as she avoided his eyes.

            “You do have a boyfriend!” Kris yelled as stood up from his bed and pointed a finger at her.

            “I…I wouldn’t call Luhan-oppa and I boyfriend and girlfriend,” she muttered.

            “So he’s an oppa,” Kris said taking notice of what Ellie was saying. “How did you meet this ‘oppa?’”

            “Does it really matter?” Ellie asked looking at him.

            “Yes, it does,” Kris said in all seriousness. “I’m your bodyguard, I’m supposed to protect you while your parents aren’t here. And now you’re telling me that you have a boyfriend and he’s an oppa? Of course I have to meet this guy.”

            “I haven’t seen him for a couple of days. I don’t even know if we’re even boyfriend and girlfriend…I haven’t exactly answered his confession,” Ellie said as she looked down at her fingers.

            “And you never answered mine either,” Kris said looking at her. “But I’ll give you time. I’ll give you time so you can answer my confession confidently and with your heart, not just saying something because we’ve known each other for this long. I know how you are, alright?”

            “Alright,” Ellie said nodding her head when they both heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get it.”

            “No, I’ll get it,” Kris said as he got up and headed towards the door with Ellie following behind him. “Hello?” Kris asked before he opened it, but no answer came causing him to slowly open the door to reveal a scene quite shocking to both him and Ellie.

            “Chen,” Ellie immediately said as she went over and began examining the face of the boy that was on her front porch. “Chen, Chen, can you hear me?”

            “Chen,” Kris said reacting later than Ellie as he quickly grabbed out his phone. “We have to call the hospital.”

            “No,” Chen managed to cough causing both to look at him before he passed out.

            “Let’s get him inside first,” Ellie said looking at Kris. “Can you carry him to your room?”

            “My room?” he asked her. “We should get him to a hospital.”

            “Yours is on the first floor, it should be easier for you to carry him,” she explained. “And we have to do something fast, we’ll call a doctor later.”

            “Alright,” Kris said as he leaned down and picked Chen up from the ground.

            “I’m going to go get the first aid kit. I’ll be back as quickly as possible,” Ellie said as she ran upstairs to grab the kit before running back down to Kris’s room. “What’s wrong with him?”

            “It looks like he was beaten pretty badly,” Kris said as he examined Chen’s body. Thankfully, he didn’t find anywhere where Chen was profoundly bleeding, but that didn’t rule out the possibility of internal bleeding. “We should take him to the hospital. What’s so bad about taking him to the hospital?”

            “He already said no,” Ellie said pointing to Chen.

            “But there could be something wrong with him,” Kris reasoned. “We’re taking him.” Kris grabbed Chen’s limp body and put it on his back as he made his way towards the door. “Grab my car keys, we’re going to the hospital.”

            “Why are you going to the hospital, and who is that?” a voice rang through the house.

            “Mom, Dad,” Ellie said staring at the two figures in shock. “What are you doing home?”

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What happened to Chen? Where is Minhyuk? Who is Lay? What will Ellie say to Kris's confession? What will happen between Luhan and Ellie? Why are Ellie's parents back?

Here's Chapter 22. Hope you enjoyed :D