[title song: laughter lines]

Chapter 9;

You stare at him. “What. What do you know? How did you find out?”

Baekhyun looks at you, tiredly, “I’ve noticed little things, you know. Like how your friends are constantly seen hanging around the sketchy parts of town. And then there’s the whole Jessica-ssi thing.” He lifts one of your intertwined hands and brushes your knuckles against your shoulder, “And I’ve noticed cuts and bruises like that one on you. A big thing was the text from that one night about the debt collectors because ordinary debt collectors aren’t that persistent. Even the way you took down Jihoon, you obviously fight for reasons other than simple self-defense. I noticed all the little things until at some point everything just seemed to click.”

You’re not really paying attention because he’s implying that he knows something (and he’s also holding both of your hands in his and it’s entirely too distracting). You just stare at him, at his chocolate brown eyes, and speak quietly, “You can’t tell anyone.”

He scoffs, “I can tell whoever I damn well please, Sooyong-ah.”

“Baekhyun—”

Baekhyun scowls at you, hands tightening around your fingers, effectively cutting you off. “No. Don’t. I can help you, Sooyong-ah. I did it with Jessica-ssi.” You can feel his hands shaking a little and you’re surprised to see anger in his eyes. “Tell me their names. Who’s doing this to you?”

Then you blink, in confusion. Wait. What does that mean? You look at him, a little bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

He frowns at you, eyebrows knit together in confusion. “I’m talking about the mafia bothering you and your friends.”

Relief washes through you because he doesn’t know about LILAC, of course he doesn’t. You almost laugh but then realize he probably seriously thinks you’re involved with some mafia. You shake your head, smiling because you can’t help it. “No! No, no, no. We’re not being bothered by a mafia. I’m serious, we’re not.”

Baekhyun looks at you like he doesn’t believe you. “Really? There are no mafias threatening you, Mina-ssi, Minhee-ssi, or Jessica-ssi for not repaying some huge amount of debt? No B.A.P? Block B? f(x)? LILAC? Um, EXO?”

You shake your head again, “No. I swear there isn’t. It’s all a huge misunderstanding. You’re reading too much into it.”

Baekhyun leans a little closer, despite the fact that he’s already really close to you. His eyes dart between your, searching and piercing. “You promise?”

You nod, vehemently, “I promise.”

And then you watch as he slumps in his seat a little, breathing a large sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have to be your knight-in-shining-armor for a second there.”

You roll your eyes, smiling because you’re intensely relieved. Damn Baekhyun for making you stress for no reason. “That definitely wouldn’t have worked. You’re clearly the princess in distress. Not me.”

He nods, sagely, “True. You can manhandle all the touchy, evil guys for me.”

You make a face at him, “Are you ever going to let that go?”

“Nope.” He replies, dragging out the word with a smirk. Then he frowns and eyes you with slight suspicion. “So if you’re not getting beat up by some mafia, then why are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt.” You tell him, nonchalantly, “I’m sick.”

He scowls at you, “I’m not stupid, Sooyong-ah. I saw your expression when I accidentally brushed up against your side earlier. And you can barely walk without looking like someone’s stabbing you with rusty chopsticks. You couldn’t even laugh.”

You frown. You didn’t know he was so perceptive. “I’m not hurt because of a mafia.” You tell him, firmly, when you lock eyes with him.

“Then why are you lying? What happened?” He still sounds so utterly suspicious.

You freeze for exactly a millisecond before you decide you should just pretend you were drunk. You bite your lips, nervously, “Because it’s an embarrassing story?” You school your tone into sounding less questioning because if you want to lie you have to lie confidently.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at you, skeptically, “Is it?”

You make a face at him, “Yes. Ugh. Okay, fine. Long story, short. Me and Mina. We were really, really drunk and decided it’d be a good idea to cook some midnight dinner. Mina was at the stove and I was in charge of vegetables and I’m already a very clumsy person.” You need to blush so you focus on the fact that your hands are still in his until your face heats up. You’re sure you look like a tomato. “I kind of accidentally stabbed myself in the side. It’s not a deep cut but it hurts. And. Um. It’s really, really embarrassing and I’d rather just tell everyone I have the flu.” You say, forcing yourself to sound steady and thoroughly embarrassed the entire time. You’re a really good liar, you have to admit. But when you see the suspicion disappear from his expression, only to be replaced by sympathy, you feel kind of a little bit sort of guilty for lying to him. He cares about your wellbeing and all you’ve been doing was lie and lie and lie.

He stares at you for a second before he bursts into laughter. You like how he laughs, all loud and wide and sort of like sunshine. Wait. No. That’s cheesy, Sooyong, stop. “You’re so stupid.” He chokes out in between giggles.

“I’m glad you find my embarrassment amusing.” You deadpan, frowning at him.

He just laughs even more before nudging your shoulder with his, gently, “I’m sorry.” He says, still grinning maniacally. “Where’d you get hurt?”

“No. I’m not showing you. You’re mean.” You say, your heart twisting a little at the fact that he’s laughing at a memory that’s not even real.

“Show me your battle wound, oh dear knight-in-shining-armor.” He demands, dramatically, batting his eyelashes at you.

You bite your lip, refusing to smile. “You’re not cute, Princess.”

“Come on.” Baekhyun says, ignoring your comment and pouting instead. He looks so cute that you end up sighing in defeat. You hate him. Since he still won’t let go of your hands (they’re so warm, oh my God, you could get used to this), you brush your interlocked fingers against your side. You watch as he focuses his gaze on your side and sweeps light fingers against it. You can’t hide your flinch and he sighs, pulling away. “Want me to kiss it better?” He asks, giving you a rather greasy wink.

You blush, but roll your eyes. “If you want a black eye, then be my guest.”

He just laughs before pausing as if he just realized something. “Hey! If we weren’t talking about the same thing then what were you talking about?”

“Nothing.” You say, quickly, “And why are you still holding my hands?” He blinks, looking down.

He then looks at you and shrugs, “I like it.” And then he untangles his left hand from yours and pulls the laptop closer, looking at you expectantly. You sigh, not as annoyed with this hand-holding thing as you want to be.

~.~.~.~.~

The front door slams open while you’re midsentence and you flinch at Mina’s loud voice, “Sooyong-ah! I’ve figured out a—oh. Um. Baekhyun-ssi. Hello.” Mina stares at the two you of you rather intensely and to make matters worse, Minhee is right behind Mina, carrying her laptop as she types.

Baekhyun just grins from beside you, “Hey, Mina-ssi. Minhee-ssi.”

But they’re not looking at Baekhyun. Both Minhee and Mina are focused on your interlocked hands. Mina looks smug and Minhee is openly gaping. You flush and try to pull your hand out of his grasp, except you can’t seem to untangle your fingers from his (nor do you want to). Mina speaks smugly, “Sorry. Did we interrupt something?”

You glare at her but Baekhyun answers, “Nah, you didn’t. We were just doing our project.”

“Project.” Minhee snorts, before turning her attention back to her laptop, “Is that what you kids call it these days?”

You ignore her comment completely, frowning a little when you hear Baekhyun snort in amusement. “What do you want?”

Mina blinks for a second and responds, slowly, “I’ve been having debt problems again.”

You look at her, nodding, because you understand. It’s EXO. Ugh. You roll your eyes in response, “Mina, you’re a math major. How are you always in debt?”

“Hey!” Mina scowls, “That’s stereotyping. You don’t see me asking you why your lemonade stand always failed in primary school, do you, business major?”

“Your debt problem sounds serious, Mina-ssi.” Baekhyun interrupts, eyes lit up with slight suspicion.

You elbow him, “Get off your dumb theories. I already told you it’s not true.”

He pouts at you, bottom lip jutting out sadly. He kind of looks like a lost puppy and it’s really, really cute. Unfortunately. “I was just double-checking.”

“Well, sorry to break up your whatever-this-is. But I really need to talk to you, Sooyong-ah.” Mina looks at Baekhyun pointedly before sighing. “Alone. Me and you and Minhee. In our apartment. Alone.”

Baekhyun smirks, “I guess you want me to leave.”

“Yes.” Mina says, rather bluntly.

Baekhyun turns to you, slowly pulling his hands out of yours, one finger at a time. Your hands begin to feel so cold and you don’t like it. “I guess I’ll come by later on this week. We didn’t even get anything done. You’re such a slacker.” You notice Minhee’s wiggle her eyebrows and look at the two of you suggestively.

You nod at him, “Sure. Bye. See you then.”

And then he leans forward and presses his lips against the tip of your nose, softly. It’s just a moment long but it feels so soft and so warm. You blush and he just gathers his things and walks towards the door (past a very shocked Mina and an amused Minhee). “Quit being a slacker, you nerd.” He calls before he steps out of your apartment, shutting your apartment door behind him. You feel just as shocked as Mina looks at the moment.

Minhee sounds exasperated. “A nose kiss? What is he? A ing puppy?”

~.~.~.~.~

“Where’s Jessica?” Minhee asks from where she’s crouching against the wall, laptop in her hands. Her mask is intricate in its design, covering her blonde hair, and her lipstick is perfectly done.

You shrug, “She’s at a party with Oh Sehun.” Then you frown, “Did you two know that Jessica and Sehun are really close friends?”

Mina just rolls her eyes, adjusting her shorts, “Yes, we knew. You’re the only one who didn’t, apparently.”

“I missed two weeks of uni and suddenly you’re all best friends with Baekhyun and his friends.” You scoff, making a face. Today was your first day back and you couldn’t believe your eyes when Sehun was stealing food off Jessica’s plate and Jessica actually let him. She rarely even let you do that. Apparently all his friends are a bunch of five year olds though because somehow you ended up wedged up next to Baekhyun all of lunch and Minhee kept making not-so-subtle suggestions about the two of you that everyone seemed to find hilarious.

“Two weeks isn’t that long.” You reply.

Minhee makes a face at her laptop, nose crinkling, “Why isn’t Jessica here? We’re about to raid a warehouse.”

You grimace a little, “I know, but I don’t think she needs to be here. It’s the place she was taken. I don’t want her to have to relive any painful memories or anything. Plus she’s having fun at a party. Let’s just let her have some fun.”

Mina nods, thoughtfully. “You’re right.” She pulls on her gloves and grins, devilishly, “Let’s up.”

~.~.~.~.~

“No, thanks.”

You stare at the girl in front of you in confusion. She’s dressed in sweats and her hair is thrown into a messy bun, but you can tell that she’s extremely beautiful. And young. She looks like a high schooler. You groan in annoyance. “What do you mean ‘no thanks’? EXO stole you off the streets and makes you sell your body. We’re helping you escape.”

“But I don’t want to.” She says, frowning at you like you’ve just told her to leave the country. A group of girls behind her nod in agreement and you frown because about half of the girls in the warehouse are gathered behind this girl, refusing to escape.

You gesture towards the wide open doors, “Half of you already left.” You try to sound convincing instead of exasperated.

The girl rolls her eyes, “I get that you old ladies are trying to help us and thanks for that.”

“Old ladies?” Mina repeats in disdain.

The girl keeps talking, ignoring Mina’s comment. “But my life before this place kind of . Oppa wasn’t lying when he said nobody cared about me. True, at first it was bad, really bad. But it gets better. All you have to do is listen. Oppa gives us a place to sleep, we get money, we get to go to school, he makes sure we’re okay after a bad, um, night. And he lets us leave, after we graduate university and get a job. I’ve seen five unnies leave already. It’s not that bad. Maybe the ones who left had a place to go back to but I don’t. We don’t.” The girl finishes sounding fond. You don’t want to believe her but the evidence is there. She and the girls gathered behind her look healthy, happy even, not a hair out of place. The warehouse is filled with beds that look comfy and not at all horrifying. There are books and stuffed animals and you can even see the entrance to a shower room in the corner. This is absolutely not what you were expecting.

Mina sounds confused, “But they’re still forcing you to sell your bodies. They’re only being nice so you won’t leave.”

The girl furrows her eyebrows and you speak, too, sensing her resolve falter a bit, “We can help you, you know. We can help you get out and be free. Even if your Oppa is giving you all shelter, money, and all that, he still won’t give you true freedom. Will he?”

The girl shakes her head, eyebrows still furrowed and it’s like her tiny movement broke some kind of resolve. The other girls gathered behind her begin to disperse, grabbing their things and run out the door, where Minhee has a truck waiting as she keeps watch on the surveillance cameras. There’s only three of them left, by the end. The girl looks up at you, biting her lip, eyes wide, “Can you really help us?” She asks in a small voice. They’re so young. It breaks your heart.

You nod. “We can relocate you to a different town. They’ll never find you again. This town is anyways.”

You watch as the three girls smile at you, brightly, and your heart twists because for once it feels like you’re doing something good, something really, really good. And it feels just as exhilarating as robbing banks.

~.~.~.~.~

“Jessica?” You exclaim in shock when you open the door. She’s currently slumped against Oh Sehun with a silly grin plastered across her face. Sehun looks down at her with total indifference and slight amusement. Beside Sehun is Jongin, looking completely displeased.

“Unnieeeee.” She calls, falling into a fit of giggles that’s completely uncharacteristic of her. She has her hands around Sehun’s neck and her tiny black dress is riding up ridiculously high. Sehun looks a little flustered and Jongin grins, amused.

You glare at the boys, crossing your arms, “What did you give her?” Jessica doesn’t even get this giggly when she’s wasted, what the hell.

Sehun looks at you, raising his eyebrows a bit, “We didn’t do anything.”

You frown at him and Jongin speaks, tiredly, from beside Sehun, crossing his arms. There’s something about the way he stands that seems familiar. Maybe it’s just that he reminds you a little of a lion. “Xiumin hyung made her a special drink.”

You sigh. “Of course he did.”

“It was really good, unnie. Tasted like sunshine and gasoline. But it was like really pretty and colorful and it made me feel like really really good, you know.” Jessica responds, giggling against Sehun’s shoulder.

You frown, “I’m going to yell at you tomorrow. Now come inside, Jessie.”

Jessica practically bounces out of Sehun’s arms and into yours. You pull her into the apartment and direct her towards the couch, gesturing for Sehun and Jongin to come in. Jessica immediately falls face first on to the couch and you sigh, leaning forward and pulling down the hem of her dress.

Sehun sounds amused when he speaks as he follows you into the kitchen. “She’s been really sad lately.”

You look at him seriously, “I really don’t understand how you two became friends.”

“That’s because they’re both indifferent little s.” Jongin responds as he leans up and grabs a glass from the cupboard you couldn’t reach.

You snatch it from him and make a face, “Don’t call Jess names, Jonginnie.”

He scowls at you but before he can respond Sehun continues speaking, in a bored voice, “Yeah, well, she got really drunk at the party. And looked like she wanted to beat the out of Luhan hyung.”

“I thought that was over.” You glance at Sehun.

Jongin answers instead, “I suspect it’s never going to be over.”

You straighten up, two slices of bread in your hand, and stare at the two boys before you, skeptically. “Do you two know what’s going on between Luhan-ah and Jessica.”

“No.” Sehun says, although his expression clearly says he does.

Jongin smirks, knowingly. “Well, Baekhyun hyung told us to take her here after she passed out on the couch. So now we’ll head out.”

You stare at him, “You can’t just leave. Tell me what you know.”

Sehun gives you a condescending look, “Just ask her when she’s sober. She is one of your best friends, isn’t she?” Then he follows Jongin out the kitchen. You gape at the two of them as Sehun pats Jessica on the head and leaves your apartment, the door clicking shut behind him.

~.~.~.~.~

“Unnie.” Jessica murmurs.

You look up from your Calculus homework, “Hey.”

Jessica looks at you seriously, a huge contrast from how she was acting a few hours ago. “I think I. I think I’m figuring things out.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jessica’s eyes droops, tiredly, and he voice is incredibly quiet, “Baekhyun-ssi…”

You lean closer, brushing her hair out of her face, “Jessica. What are you talking about? Just sleep.”

Jessica nods, yawning, but her eyes look so, so serious. “Baekhyun-ssi…friends…Luhan.”

You nod. “Yes, yes. I know that they’re friends. Just tell me in the morning, Jessie.” You don’t bother to tell her that it’s already three in the morning and you’re tired.

“Dangerous…just stay…away from him…them…okay?” Jessica murmurs.

You wrinkle your nose, “Stay away from Baekhyun? Luhan? They’re dangerous? What are you talking about?”

You don’t get an answer because she’s fast asleep. You sigh, deciding you’ll question her about it tomorrow.

~.~.~.~.~

“Ugh. My head hurts. What the hell happened yesterday?” Jessica groans at breakfast.

“You don’t remember?” You ask, rubbing your eyes as you wait for the coffeemaker to hurry up.

She shakes her head, “I don’t remember anything except for Xiumin oppa’s crazy looking drink.”

You rub the back of your head and look at Jessica, “You were telling me something that seemed important last night. Something about Baekhyun and Luhan?”

She gives you a confused frown, “Why would I talk about Baekhyun-ssi and Luhan?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”

Jessica just shrugs and you just sigh, letting your curiosity slide.

~.~.~.~.~

From: Minhee

i finALLY relocated all the girls from the warehouse and exo seems kind of sort of rEALLY PISSED OFF OH MY GOD call me

You stare at the text from Minhee, mostly amazed that she’s able to translate her neurotic personality into texts so well.

You call Minhee and she picks up almost immediately. “You asked me to call?” You say, when Minhee doesn’t respond right away.

Minhee sounds like she just ran a marathon. “Sooyong-ah, they burned it. They ing burned it down.”

“What are you talking about?” You ask, feeling like this has become your new catch phrase or something.

“They burned down our old warehouse. They burned down the ing e house we raided. They burned it all down.” Minhee hisses, like she’s trying to control her voice.

“I’m coming home right now. Text Mina and Jessica.”

“They’re already here.”

“I’m coming.” You say.

~.~.~.~.~

You stare at the note plastered across Minhee’s computer screen, cursor blinking.

The next place we’re burning down is your headquarters. When we find out your identities we’ll smoke each and every one of you out and kill you. One by one. It’s not too hard to figure out your IP addresses, ladies. If you don’t want to die, if you don’t want your loved ones to die, we’ll give you an offer. Two weeks. Friday. 7pm. Hana Street. No weapons. Send your leader and one other person. We’ll do the same. Don’t be late. XOXO.

“What do they mean about the IP addresses?” Mina asks, glancing at Minhee as Minhee shuts down the computer.

Minhee shakes her head, seeming a tiny bit unsure of herself, “They can’t possibly figure that out. My system has government level security.”

You point at her laptop, “Well, they somehow managed to send you a note on your laptop.”

Minhee pouts, pinching the bridge of her nose, “And I checked all the files. Nothing else was touched.” She looks tired, “Thank God I decided to move all my personal things into my other laptop.”

“We’re not actually going, are we?” Jessica asks.

“I think we should.” Mina says, tapping her chin.

“You do realize that this is most likely a trap, right? They’re going to jump us the minute they see us.” Minhee says, a little condescendingly.

“We could always just return the favor.” You reply, smiling mischievously.

Mina breaks into a slow grin and Minhee looks like she’s trying to reign in her curiosity. “This is going to blow up in our faces, isn’t it.” Mina states, still grinning.

“Probably.” You say, smiling, “But I really would like to know what they plan on offering us.”

“I’m guessing it’s going to be something along the lines of ‘painful death’.” Mina says and she looks a little maniacal.

“‘One by one’.” Minhee then adds, in a solemn voice. But then she giggles and you and Mina join in.

“Have you all gone insane?” Jessica mutters, eyeing the three of you skeptically. You see the twinkle in her eyes and the tiny smile playing on her lips.

It’s decided then. You’re going to meet EXO’s leader, along with Mina, while Jessica and Minhee provide backup. You’re sick of their threats, to be honest, and if two Friday’s from now you all can finally settle this, then why don’t you let it happen? You can’t prolong it any longer. You sigh because maybe you all are insane. You’re walking a fine line right now and there’s a fifty percent chance you’re going to die at the hands of EXO. It’s a scary thought. It puts some things into perspective.

~.~.~.~.~

It’s three am on a Wednesday night when there’s a knock at your door. You rub your eyes, tiredly, crawling out of bed. You’re wearing shorts and a tank top and it’s cold. You pull on your fluffy blue robe, tightening the string around your waist and groan a little when the knocking sounds like it’s getting louder. Mina isn’t home; she’s visiting her parents (and you wonder if she’s doing this because of the meet up with EXO since she’s never bothered visiting her parents before. You wonder if she thinks she’s going to die and she needs to fulfill some kind of filial duty).

You stumble down the stairs, brushing a hand through your hair, thanking the Gods that your hair is actually really good at not getting tangled. You yank the door open, scowling, and then frown at the familiar face.

“Byun Baekhyun.” You state, irritated. He appears flustered, his hair sticking up in all kinds of directions from where it’s peeking out beneath his beanie and his eyeliner is smudged, just barely there. He’s wearing sweats and a black shirt with the number 88 scrawled across the front. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows and you can see a faint scar running up his forearm. His expression is what surprises you most. He looks determined, almost, and he’s biting his lips as his dark eyes search your face, carefully. The tip of his nose is pink from the cold weather and his cheeks are a little pink, too.

“Hi.” He says, suddenly.

You yawn, rubbing your eyes, tiredly, “What the hell are you doing here, Baekhyun? It’s three in the ing morning.”

Then he smirks at you, eyes lighting up and sharp teeth showing. You’re too tired to deny the fact that he looks really, really good. He takes one step towards you, until you have to look straight up just to keep eye contact. He’s looking down at you with an unidentifiable expression. You’re entirely too aware of how close he is and you’re too tired to deny how much you like this closeness.

His voice comes out soft and so, so smooth. He bites his lips and speaks, quietly, placing his cold hands in your limp ones, “I’ve figured out my second wish.”

And then his lips crash against yours and your mind goes absolutely blank.

---

a/n: I'm not planning on having any of the other girls get romantically involved with the exo boys tbh (unless someone ships it aha)

and i warn you that soon (not next chapter soon but soon) there will be because it's going to be really important to the plot so prepare yourselves i guess hahhaha

im gonna shamlessly promote myself now:

i wrote kaisoo based off the new troublemaker MV! If you're interested here it is: xxxxxxx (Rated M for )

Thank you for commenting, reading, subscribing, and voting! Keep it up guys it makes me soooo happy! :*