Baekhyun spent days in his room, on his bed, mentally fatigued and frustrated. His knee injuries healed up well, but the heavy, soul crushing invisible boulders still remained at his shoulders and chest.

Despite being relieved to see Kai that day, the feeling didn’t seem to be mutual. Kai hadn’t said a word to him since he came home, nor had he shown any sign of emotion towards him, hek- he hadn't even looked at him. 

Baekhyun didn't attend school either. He didn’t want to face his friends in this state and he just didn’t have the heart to answer any of their questions that would even have Zora’s name in. He knew he’d regret it later since mid-terms were next month. But at this point, he really couldn’t care less. Even if he did attend school, he highly doubted anything would go into his head, he’d be lucky to stay awake. Every night since then, nightmares invaded him as he slept. Sounds of screaming, sounds of pleading, running, crying; Baekhyun woke up every 2 or three hours of sleep with a jerk, sweating bullets and panting.

What was stranger was that Loopy Luna was starting to make frequent visits to Baekhyuns house and she would occasionally knock on his door, asking if he was alright, if he needed anything, if he was hungry. Of course, Baekhyun would bluntly dismiss her every time, although deep down, he was grateful. His own Uncle hadn’t even shown up since the little encounter at the police station; which was bitter sweet really since he didn’t really want to see him anyway. Who was this woman anyway? Certainly not the crazy woman he thought she was when he saw her at the calligraphy store. Some stranger wouldn’t know so much about everything he’s going through. She wouldn’t know about his life more than himself if she was a stranger. But what he at least found out was that she wasn’t a bad person, she was caring enough for sure, even more than his Uncle.

Just thinking about that man boiled his blood. How all these years, his Uncle seemed to pour so much interest and love into her, dotted her, babied her every time he came home; and for what? Just to throw her into a mental institute when things get bad? But Uncle Max…although practically spoilt her whenever he came home was never the one who lived with her; who saw her every day; saw her live; saw her laugh; saw her smile. He had no right to decide for himself. No right at all.

As much as Baekhyun would love to just lock himself up in his room and stay in his bed, obviously, his empty stomach would protest. But every quick trip into the kitchen, he’d spot either Kai, Loopy Luna and/or Chanyeol. Surprisingly, the urge to say something was high, anything, a greeting, an insult, a question, but every time he saw either one of them, the words get stuck at his throat when the silence suffocated him. Kai wouldn’t even make eye contact and simply walk into another room. Chanyeol gets fidgety, as though he wants to talk to him but couldn’t and Loopy Luna would just send him reassuring smiles with the odd question of ‘are you hungry?’ which would be responded with a simple nod before Baekhyun could grab something and go upstairs.

One night, Baekhyun fell asleep and found himself in a white room, hearing disturbing and horrific screams and pleading for help. How he knew it was Zora’s voice, he had no idea but he runs for his life, trying to find her, but the room seems endless and he finds himself at a dead end each time as she screams for him to help. In the midst of his desperate search, he finds Chanyeol, horrifically beaten with a chain connecting his neck to the wall. Just when he turned around and saw Kai bleeding ebony black ink did he sprung up from his bed with a yell. He irritably wiped his sweat and made his way out of his room like he did whenever the nightmares woke him up in the middle of the night.

Baekhyun takes a few steps down the stairs, but found Chanyeol and King sound asleep on the couch and decided it’d be best to leave them be. It wouldn’t be fair to disrupt their sleep just because his nightmares disturbed his. He turned the lights off and went back upstairs however paused when Zoras bedroom come into sight. It was so strange seeing no lights seeping through the door during the night…he never knew…he never thought it’d hurt knowing that she wasn’t here with him.

Before he could stop himself, his hands pushed the door open. There’s a soothing yet painful breeze of nostalgia as he enters. He thought back to how she'd stay up all night drawing, writing and he'd have to scold her for it. It was a memory he never thought he'd miss in a million years. His heart clenched when he spotted Zora’s sketch book and blue fountain pen on her bed. How was she going to draw in a mental institute? Would they give her pen and paper? Baekhyun highly doubted they’d have enough paper for her needs. He figured she would result into drawing on the walls and probably get into trouble for it. A small smile crept up on his face at the thought of her innocently graffiti-ing the walls.

“Do you love her?” Kai’s voice made Baekhyun jolt a little. However what surprised him more was the question. He turned to his voice and found Kai sat by her window sill, a dazed and blank look in his eyes that seemed almost out of character. That was the first thin he’s said to him since he came home in that pathetic state and truthfully, Baekhyun hadn’t expected that at all. It sent him aback and with a lack of response, Kai had to repeat, “Do you love her?”

Baekhyun couldn’t understand why his heart was suddenly raced. “I-I…Yeah, she’s my sister after all” Why was he stuttering? Of course, it’s a little difficult to admit that after thinking that he hated her for all these years…but why was his heart pounding so fast?

Kai assessed Baekhyun with a sharp eye and suddenly scoffed. A scoff that was bitter enough to trigger Baekhyuns suspicion. It didn’t take much to realize that something was up with him. “Yeah, okay…” Kai his teeth angrily and stood up. Just when he was about to walk pass him did Baekhyun grab his wrist to stop him.

“Kai, wait!” He urged, but after a pause where Kai wouldn’t even look at him, Baekhyun grew highly anxious, “…Why are you so mad all of a sudden?"

“…Idiot” Without sparing a glance, Kai violently snatched his wrist back and disappeared, leaving Baekhyun speechless and confused. Kai’s scoff, his blunt tone, his actions and his words…they were too much like his own. 

Baekhyun felt a little better the next morning. He tried to get back to bed after Kai’s little attitude problem he encountered and was able to fit in a couple more hours of proper sleep this time. He decided not to go to school again…Which reminded him of how he hadn’t talked to his friends in a while. He’d left his little communication device to collect dust on his desk and the batteries were probably dead by now. He didn’t even call Sehun back to ask why the little prick called at 3 in the morning a few days ago. Of course, Chanyeol and Kai didn’t attend either. And Baekhyun didn't exactly think of a good reason why they should. 

But rolling around in bed got boring, and charging his phone was the only thing he thought about doing. As he watched the battery fill up with green, he couldn’t help but let his mind wonder. What would Zora be doing? How was she doing in a mental institute? Is she sleeping alright? Is she upset about her phone? She did have that ‘sentimental value’ thing that Baekhyun still didn’t understand.

He must have been daydreaming about this for a long time, because by the time he snapped out of it, his phone was already fully charged. 24 missed calls. 30 new messages. 12 voice mails. All from the three friends named Sehun, Jongdae and Lay. Baekhyun let a heavy sigh escape his lips, however before he could even check the messages, Chanyeol is frantically knocking at Baekhyuns door, questioning whether or not he wanted him to open it.

With a toss of the phone, Baekhyun opened the door and knew that it would be wise to answer the door himself the moment he saw Chanyeol. He was still bruised by the eyes and the mouth, it would look rather suspicious if he was to open the door. But the sight of seeing him in this state stung his heart slightly. He didn't know when, but he must have grown an attachment to Kai and Chanyeol at one point, otherwise, why would he want to talk to them so much? 

“Who is it?!” Baekhyun yelled at the front door.

“It’s Kris” The familiar voice boomed back. At that, Baekhyun unlocked the door and was greeted by the taller male. “Shouldn’t you be in school?” He questioned with a straight face. 

“Something tells me you already know the answer to that” Baekhyun lifelessly replied. “Why are you here?” He questioned.

Kris cleared his throat, “I came to ask a few questions about the case…”

“I’ve already answered-“

“-These are different” He retaliated. And suddenly, an awkward pause breaks in as Kris waits to be greeted into the house. Baekhyun does so by just opening the door wider than usual and letting him step inside. He makes himself comfortable on the couch and King when he spotted him lying beside him.

Kris began with small talk; asking if he was feeling better and whatnot and although Baekhyun obliged with answering with quick one-worded answers, he just wanted Kris to get it over and done with to be honest. 

“I talked to some people about the mental institute thing…”

Baekhyuns ears perked at that remarked and found himself asking, “What did they say?”

Kris smiled a little at the 180 degree change of reaction, “It took a lot of convincing, but they agreed to let Zora out of the institute every Saturday until she’s either proven guilty or innocent”

“Really?” Baekhyun beamed.

Kris nodded, but a sigh followed suit, “But the investigation is still too vague. There’s no evidence, no clues, no nothing and so far…things aren’t looking good in little Miss Zora’s favour”

“Well, what do you have so far?” He asked before he could stop himself.

“We know that the railings at the top of faulty, the volts were loosened, however, the others were secure. Witnesses say that they did in fact see the victim head towards the stairs and obviously, many were witnesses that Zora was spotted on top of the building…The only other thing was one that officer Kyungsoo brought up, but it was dismissed”

“What was it?”

“The picture on the victim on her student ID showed that she wore glasses, however no frames were found on the scene and-“

“AYO HUMPBAEKWHALE!” A loud holler from the front door made the two jump. “We know you’re in there! Don’t fake sick dude!”

“Jongdae” Baekhyun seethed before charging to door and swinging it open only to find Sehun, Jongdae and Lay grinning at him, their uniforms still on their bodies signifying that they probably skived 3^rd period to come here. “What are you guys even doing here?” Baekhyun groaned.

“Glad to see you too, dude” Lay huffed.

“I tried calling you but you didn’t pick up” Sehun said, his tone seemingly serious.

“Sehun, you called me at three in the morning”

“And that means you can’t call back?” Sehun shot back.

“Yeah man, you know Sehun was bugging us all night yesterday, ‘where’s Baekhyun’, ‘try calling him’, ‘try texting him’” Jongdae added.

Sehun cleared his throat nervously and his dry lips out of habit, “I…I think I might know something about the situation in school…”

“You what?!” The other three boys screamed at the younger boy.