“Mom?” Ellie asked as she saw her mother’s sad face. “Dad?” Ellie looked back and forth from her parents as she attempted to read their faces, but she couldn’t read anything.

            “Ellie,” her mother said as she stared at her. “Let’s go.”

            “Where are we going?” Ellie asked as her mother began walking, with Ellie right behind her.

            “We have to go see Kris,” her father explained.

            “See him? Why are we going to go see him?” she wondered.

            “He’s in the hospital,” her father continued shocking Ellie.

            “Why?” Ellie asked as she froze in her tracks. “Why is Kris in the hospital?”

            “He was shot and beaten up badly. We don’t know his condition,” her father said as they neared the car where Ellie’s mother was already waiting for them, “we just know that he’s badly injured.”

            In those moments, Ellie couldn’t think, she couldn’t do anything besides wonder about Kris’s condition. It was as if the world was crashing around her. First it was all of the stuff with Chen and now it was everything with Kris. Ellie wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to catch a break.

            “Ellie!” Chen said as he ran up to her as soon as he saw her figure emerge into the hallway.

            “Chen,” Ellie said in disbelief as she looked at him. “What are you doing here?”

            “My hyung…” Chen slowly began, “and Kris…they were together when this happened…with me.”

            “With you? Why would they be with you? What happened to your arm?” she asked as she saw the cast.

            “Um…would you mind taking a walk with me?”

            “Let me see Kris first,” Ellie said as she objected to Chen’s offer.

            “You can’t see him right now, he’s in an operation,” Chen said as he used his head to point to where the operation light was on.

            “Ellie…why don’t you talk with this young man?” her mother asked as she walked up to her. “He seems as though he has something he wants to say. If anything is learned about Kris, we’ll immediately find you and tell you.”

            “Oh…okay,” Ellie hesitantly said as she looked back at Chen and then looked at the operation light.

            “Let’s go,” Chen said as he began leading Ellie back into the hallway that was away from everyone that was waiting there.

            “Chen…why are Kris and your hyung in there?” Ellie asked as soon as she thought they were far enough away. “What happened to them?”

            “It’s…it’s all because of me,” Chen sighed as he made his way over to the window and stared outside.

            “Why is it all because of you?” Ellie asked as she joined Chen by the window, but she faced the opposite wall.

            “Because, if I hadn’t listened to the stupid message then they wouldn’t have needed to save me.”

            “They saved you? From what?”

            “I think it’s better if you don’t know.

            “Why?” Ellie asked as she turned around to look out the window with Chen.  “I want to know.”

            “Since when have you been someone of compassion?”

            “What are you talking about?” Ellie asked. “I’m someone completely of compassion. I’ve always cared about you…always.”

            “Have things with Jiyeon gotten any better since I left?”

            “You…you don’t need to bring her up,” Ellie said as she started becoming nervous at the beginning of the conversation shift.

            “Fine then, let’s talk about us,” Chen said changing the subject.

            “What is there to talk about us?”

            “Our relationship,” Chen casually said.

            “How can you say that so casually?” Ellie asked as she began to get embarrassed.

            “Listen, that’s part of the reason why I wanted to talk with you.”

            “And what is that?”

            “My hyungs, noona, Minhyuk, and I are leaving,” Chen said spilling the beans.

            “What do you mean you’re leaving?” Ellie asked in shock.

            “My father…” Chen slowly began, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Ellie everything, so he just decided to tell her the important parts. “There have been some complications.”

            “Is that why Kris and your hyung are in surgery?” Ellie asked and Chen nodded his head. “But why do you have to hide from your father?”

            “I’d…I’d rather not say,” Chen slowly said as he looked at Ellie. “But we’re leaving Korea…”

            “I understand,” Ellie sighed as the elevator dinged. Instinctively, Ellie looked to see who was in the elevator and saw Luhan stepping out. “Luhan…” she whispered.

            “Hi,” Luhan awkwardly said to Ellie as he turned to Chen. “How is Lay doing?”

            “He’s holding up right now, we don’t know anything else than that…”

            “I didn’t know…I didn’t know anything, I shouldn’t have let him go…” Luhan said.

            “Don’t blame it on yourself,” Chen said. “They knew what they were doing and they’re the ones that decided to do it themselves.”

            During the entire conversation, Ellie simply stared on at Luhan and Chen’s conversation. She didn’t understand what any of them were getting at or what they were referring to but figured that it had to do with something about why Kris and Lay were in the hospital. Sensing that they were probably going a bit too far with the conversation with Ellie standing there, Luhan and Chen stopped talking and looked at her.

            “Chen!” Xiumin called as he ran down the hallway. “Lay’s out.”

            “Huh? But I thought he was in surgery with Kris…” Ellie said as she looked at the two boys.

            “Lay didn’t sustain a really bad injury to go into surgery, he only received a bit of minor ones, like Chen here,” Xiumin quickly explained. “Let’s go, maybe he could tell us more about what happened on his end.”

            Chen nodded and looked at Ellie. “Let’s go back to your parents, you don’t want to be separated for too long.”

            “I want to go with you, I want to know what happened,” Ellie declared.   

            “No,” Chen said shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous for you to hear. We don’t know what would happen to you and I want you to be safe, even when I’m not here. Go back to your parents, please.”

            Ellie sighed as she looked at Chen and slowly nodded as he went off in another direction as Ellie went back to her parents. “He’ll be alright, right?” she asked as she slowly hugged her mother.

            “I’m sure he will, he’s a strong guy,” her mother said as she attempted to comfort her. “We’ll make sure he has the best care and everything.”

“Lay,” Xiumin said as soon as they entered the room. Lay was lying on the hospital bed staring at the ceiling. His leg was in a cast and his head was bandaged, but other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with him. “Lay, are you alright?”

            “I’m fine as any person is fine,” Lay sighed.

            “How come you sound like that?” Chen asked. “What happened to you and Kris?”

            “This…we should’ve never done it,” Lay said, his eyes never leaving the television.

            “But you did, what happened? I didn’t know anything that was going on with you two,” Chen said. “After our father dropped me and went after you two…what happened?”

            There was a long silence in the room as Lay slowly turned to look at his brothers. “I killed him. That’s what happened. I’m a murderer, just like him."

Hours Ago

“Alright boys, fire!” Changwoon yelled before the bright flash.

            “Get down!” Kris yelled as he forced Lay to the ground. The both of them didn’t know what was happening and they didn’t know whether Chen would be safe or not, but in order to find out, they had to keep themselves safe.

            Luckily, though, there were things to hide behind, not very good things, but at least they would act as a barrier for them to get their thoughts together. “We have to shoot,” Lay said as he attempted to talk as quickly as possible. “We have to shoot them or else we’re never going to get out of here.”

            “But Chen,” Kris attempted to reason.

            “Chen will get himself out of this, he’s good when it comes to this type of thing.”

            “I can only trust you,” Kris said. “Let’s split up.”

            Lay and Kris then began to crouch in opposite directions as the shooting slowly stopped. “Hmm, hiding from me, are we?” Changwoon asked. “Well I’ll be sure to find you. Let’s go.”

            Upon his command, the guys began hunting around the room, with both Lay and Kris finally showing themselves for the physical fight that was among them. Chen, still in his father’s grasp, could only watch as they fought the guys who were much stronger than the two of them put together. Still, though, they seemed to be holding their ground well.

            “Come with me,” Changwoon whispered in Chen’s ear.

            “No,” Chen said as he struggled to get out of his grasp, but it didn’t work, Changwoon only held onto Chen’s arm tighter and began to slightly twist it.

            “Are you defying your father?”

            “Were you ever a father to me?” Chen spit back. “I didn’t even know you existed.”

            “Well maybe that was for the better,” Changwoon sighed. “But now you know about me and what I do. I’m going to train you so you can become as big as me.”

            “You’re not going to force me to do anything,” Chen said as he managed to get out of Changwoon’s grip, hitting his face in the process.

            Instinctively, Chen turned to run. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew that he had to get out of that place. His arm hurt and he didn’t want to leave Lay and Kris down there, but he had to, it was for his own good.

            Meanwhile, Kris was managing to hold his own in the physical fight. He was able to use his gun to hit some of them in the face and other places and was still managing to fight, despite getting shot once. “Maybe being a bodyguard wasn’t so bad,” Kris mumbled to himself as he managed to kick another one.

            “Well, well, well, who are you?” Changwoon asked as he calmly went up to Kris.

            “I’m someone you don’t want to mess with,” Kris told him.

            “Funny, so am I,” Changwoon said as he held up a gun to Kris. “You’re not one of my sons, so there’s no reason for you to be here, right?”

            “There’s plenty of reason for me to be here,” Kris said defending himself as his breathing became heavier from the loss of blood he experienced.

            “Really?” Changwoon asked. “I see no importance.”

            On the other side of the room, Lay saw what was happening between his father and Kris. After he hurriedly finished the fight he was working on, he ran away from the rest of the guys and over to where the pair was standing.

            “I see no importance in you either,” Lay heard Kris say.

            “Really? Shall we see about that when you die?” Changwoon asked as he raised his gun to Kris’s head.

            Acting instinctively, Lay pulled out his gun and aimed for his father, pulling the trigger. The shot echoed off of the walls causing all of their ears to ring as they all saw Changwoon fall to the ground with a thud.

            Lay was in a daze, he couldn’t believe that he had just shot his father. “Lay! Let’s go!” Kris shouted to him as he managed to regain his sanity. “Lay!”

            Lay looked up and saw Kris standing by the door that they came in and slowly nodded his head. As he left, he walked slowly around the body until they reached the door where they sprinted out of the place.

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Will Kris make it out of surgery? What will happen when Chen and his family leaves? Will life go on like normal? Will Chen ever come back?

Here's Chapter 30. Hope you enjoyed :D

And two more chapters to the end? There probably will be...

One will be the aftermath of this and then the second will be the sort of epilogue that takes place in the future, but I don't know how far in the future...

Anyway, the ending is almost near, wait for it :)