MIK CH 25
POV Baekhyun

    Chanyeol's house looked empty and dark as I stared up at it from the driveway. It had never looked so... Depressing. Every time I'd been to Chanyeol's house, which wasn't many times, it had seemed vibrant and alive– inside and out; now it just looked dead. I took a deep breath, steam puffing out in front of my face when I exhaled. It wouldn't have been a difficult decision on any normal day, whether or not to go into the house, but it wasn't a normal day. Standing there, I realized that I probably wouldn't ever have a normal day again. 
    In a few moments, I found myself standing on the door mat which said 'Welcome' as it always had, except today it seemed much less welcoming. I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes and I blinked rapidly to stop them from falling onto my cheeks. Shakily, I reached into my pocket and took out a key that Chanyeol had given to me years before. I unlocked the door and stepped inside. The kitchen light was on, but the living room was dark. I moved through the living room and down a hallway to Chanyeol's room to collect whatever things of mine that I might have left.
     I entered his bedroom and headed straight for the dresser, avoiding looking at anything else. I opened the top drawer and grabbed a couple pairs of my socks but stopped halfway through. There was a small leather-bound book, it couldn't have been much larger than my hand, resting at the bottom of the drawer. I'd never seen it before so I picked it up and opened it slowly. Inside there were dated entries– it was a journal– on many of the pages I saw my own name, and I recognized Chanyeol's handwriting immediately. Under any. Normal circumstances on any normal day, I would have put the book back and forgotten about it, not wanting to invade Chanyeol's privacy, but as I said, today was not a normal day. I sat down with the book, my back against the dresser drawers and began to read.

    I met a guy today. His name is Byun Baekhyun and he seems... Different. I'm not sure what it is about him but when I'm around him I just feel different. First of all, he laughs at my jokes, no one ever laughs at my jokes unless they're just humoring me, but it's obvious that he really thinks they're funny. I like his laugh too. It's really... Free, I guess, I don't know. His smile is so wide that I think his face will split in half if he smiles any wider! I think I'd like to be friends with this Byun Baekhyun. 
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    I saw Baekhyun again today. It had been about a week since I last saw him and every day without seeing him has been... Awful. I don't know why. It's like the lack of his presence makes everything seem less bright and less fun...

    I flipped a little farther into the journal and saw the entries get longer, and then short again. I read through a couple of long ones, most of them were about Chanyeol and I becoming closer, and beginning to be real friends. Then onto our second or third year of knowing each other, I knew because I recognized some of the memories. I stopped at the first shorter passage.

    I don't really know what to do. I think that... Maybe, I have feelings for Baekhyun, like more than friend feelings but... Is that wrong? I've never liked a boy before... But then again I've never liked anyone the way I like him. He hugged me goodbye today and... I swear there was something there like... He hugged me longer than he should have like neither of us wanted to let go like... A spark. But then he did let go and he waved goodbye and walked away as he always does. I think I'm...falling for him but I'm not sure. I don't know what that feels like.

    I stared at the page for a long time, wondering why he never told me about his brief stint of having feelings for me before... The end. It didn't make sense that he would keep his feeling for me from me, It's not like he didn't know how I felt about him. I turned a couple more pages.

    I know what love feels like. I'm certain that that is what this emotion is, what this experience is. But what can I do? The situation is dangerous... With Baekhyun and I being involved with the development the Perfect Match System. I don't necessarily agree with all of that, I don't think that he does either. I want to tell him how I feel, but more than that I want him to be safe.
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    Baekhyun told me today that he has feelings for me. I'm happy but really it just makes everything that much more difficult. Joonmyun came to me today as well, but what he said was not nearly as pleasant or exciting as what Baekhyun told me. Joonmyun told me that he expected some information from Baekhyun before the end of the work week. Tomorrow is Friday. I'm not sure what will happen. I'm not sure what to do. 
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    I quit my job as head of security for the labs today. I think maybe it will be easier for Baekhyun and me to have a relationship if we don't work in the same place under the same terrible people. I'll tell him today. I'll tell him that I

    That entry stopped mid sentence... I glanced up at the corner dates and noticed that there was a gap of about a week between this entry and the next. I wondered what could have happened to make Chanyeol stop writing for so long, especially since the entries had been so consistent up until this last one. Then I realized what had happened. I felt my throat tighten as I turned the page and continued to read.

    Things are different now, I... I can never tell Baekhyun. I can never tell anyone. I have to stop feeling this way about him, I have to stop or else... Who knows what will happen to him? Now we know that... Joonmyun will go to any lengths to get what he wants... He won't stop until he gets what he needs. I have scars now. I can't believe I'm alive, let alone able to write after what they did to me. Baekhyun blames himself but... I don't think it's his fault. Even if they were using me to get to him, he can't help how he feels. Neither can I but... I can make sure that no one ever knows. I can be certain that this never gets out and then, at least, if they hurt him it won't be to get to me. It won't be my fault. I'll be able yo protect him in this way, however small. To get to him they'll have to go through me. 

    That was the last entry. I stared at the pages, reading and rereading many of them. I hadn't realized that Chanyeol had loved me for so long. I always thought that he couldn't... I thought that there at the end, he was just trying to make me happy but, now... It was almost too much to take in. I felt tears well up in my eyes and roll down my cheeks. It really was my fault that Chanyeol was dead. He kept all of his feelings inside just so that I would be safe but I couldn't do that for him. I didn't love him enough to let him go and that was unfair of me. It was selfish. I took a breath and swallowed hard. I really had to get away from this city now. 
    I rose from my spot on the floor and walked through the hallways of Chanyeol's house for the last time. There were so many good memories for me here, but somehow they'd all turned painful. In a few moments I was once again standing in the driveway, but this time facing away from the house. I averted my gaze from the building as I slid into the car and backed out of the driveway, heading toward town and away from what was once like a second home to me.
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    The state of the city was much worse than I had expected it to be. I'd heard about rebellion against the Perfect Match System, but I had thought it was all peaceful protest. Apparently not anymore. My house was actually just outside the city, so I hadn't actually seen anything that wasn't on the news. As I drove through the main square of town though, it seemed obvious that this violence had been going on for longer than just today. There were some people, they looked young enough to be in college and late High school, that were still peacefully protesting– holding up signs, standing in front of the main Lab entrance, not letting people leave– but there were just as many if not more people running around wild. 

    I swallowed my fear ad continued to drive. After a moment I couldn't go any farther, there was too much going on, I would hit someone. I took a deep breath and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat, swinging it over my shoulder as I exited the car. I looked around, Turing to find a clearer pathway, but it seemed like I'd have to go through the middle of it all. I took a step forward but jumped back immediately when a building just to my left went up in flames. The whole thing just caught fire all at once. I stared wide-eyed as a couple of men ran out of the building, coughing from the smoke. One of them bumped into me as he ran past and stumbled. He looked up at me and sighed.

    "You look like a nice guy... In a about seven minutes I'd get away from that building if I were you." The man rose from the spot where he'd fallen and continued to speak. "Well.. Any building... Actually it's probably best if you just get out of the city...." He glanced at my bags, "just get going." Then he his heel and ran away with the other man. I blinked a few times trying to process what he'd said. He'd already set it on fire, what more could he do? I swallowed nervously, wishing Chanyeol was here more than anything. I started forward again, but I was stopped by a young female, protesting the system.
"Don't let the deaths of those young men mean nothing! Help us do something about it, please!" She pleaded. I shook my head.

"Deaths? Who died?" I asked, a feeling of dread settling in my stomach and over my whole body. 

"... You haven't heard?"

"I live just outside the city... Unless it was in the news I haven't heard about it. Who died?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. I needed the information. I needed to know if someone had died because of me– again. The woman shook her head.

"Two people. The scientists and the government killed one and the other... The other killed himself!" She stared up at me, tears welling up in her eyes, "it was Kim Jongin, from the supposedly perfect match and... And his friend. They never talked about him so no one really knows his name but–"

"Not Luhan too–"

"No, the... The other one," she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Kyungsoo. His name was Do Kyungsoo," I told her. "May I sit with you for a moment?" I asked. She nodded and I sank down onto the asphalt. I pulled my knees to my chest, not knowing what else to do. The one person that could have made me not feel hopeless was gone. I tried to cry, I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. It was almost like I was too sad to cry, or I was in so much shock that my brain and body didn't know that I was supposed to be crying, even though my heart did. 

     I glanced around me, numb. There were fires everywhere, and some buildings were beginning to fall down. Suddenly, the man's warning came back to me and I jumped up. The woman tilted her head at me and I pulled her up from the ground. 

    "Tell everyone you can to get as far away from the city as soon as possible. Something's going to happen. Something big... I don't know what it is but... Just get out," I warned. Then I whirled  around and ran as fast as my legs could carry me toward the entrance gates to our city. When I reached them, I noticed a few small groups of people were heading the same way as I was. Someone had broken through the gates, I guess, because they were open– at least I wouldn't have to worry about climbing over it. I slid out between the doors and kept running, my breaths became heavy but I didn't stop for a long time. Eventually, of course, I had to take a break. Just as I was about to continue on, I felt the ground begin to tremble, but it stopped soon after. I turned back toward the city and felt a chill wash over me as it was engulfed in fire.

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A/N:

Hey guys!

Sorry this chapter is horrible, i actually hate it though, like ugh. I actually wrote this back in december and forgot to post it--- bad me. Sorry! Anyways i hope that you guys like it even though i don't.

Also FYI the next chapter is the last one!!!!! :D
-Luhandsome123