**There is violence and mentions of in this chapter**

Lay ran towards the convenience store down the street by the cemetery and looked around for his driver who texted him that he'd be there. He stood in line, itching his head as the tall man in front of him was slowly picking random candies in the front and placing it on the counter. His watch read 9:43. 

The man in front of him finished throwing candy at the cashier and he stood, arms crossed with his hood on. Lay scanned the store again. Still no sign of his driver. 

"Excuse me, I'm sorry but I'm really running late. Have you maybe seen a chubby man, short-"

The cashier stopped what he was doing and listened to Lay, but the man who was in the middle of waiting for the cashier to bag his candies shot a dark glare at him. 

"So you're going to attend to another customer when you're in the middle of helping me?" He asked in his monotone voice. 

The cashier was dumbfounded, and his mouth was hangi open, but no words came out. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt-" Lay began, backing off from the cashier and the man who's arms were still crossed. 

The man scoffed and took the rest of the candies on the counter, shoving it in the plastic bag. He stormed out of the convenience store, and huffed and cursed under his breath. 

"Don't worry about him. He's always like that. Throwing tantrums at the most random times." The cashier whispered as if the man was still there. 

Lay nodded, distracted as he watched the man disappear into the streets. "He comes here often?" 

The cashier almost laughed, "He comes here a lot. Every week."

"Why?" Lay asked nonchalantly. 

"I... I don't know. He buys food. And then he leaves. And then he comes back-"

"I don't want to seem rude, but I'm really in a rush. So you haven't seen a chubby, short, bald man that has a bunch of car keys dangling on his belt?" 

The cashier seemed stunned at Lay's description, but he shook his head hesitantly, looking up at the ceiling. "Nope. I think I would've remembered that." 

"Okay, thanks anyway." Lay took out his phone and re-read the message that was sent to him. 

He whispered the text to himself, frowning as he did. The time read 10:02. He dialled his driver, and a worried voice picked up. The cashier waved him goodbye, telling him to take care. 

His phone was now buzzing repeatedly as he tried to understand his driver through the choppy line. Lay ran up the street as the phone service got stronger up by the cemetery. "H-hello? Where are you? I went to the convenience store but- ugh ." He ended the call, and a bunch of texts drowned in. 

Messed up messages came from both Luhan and Xiumin that consisted of: "answer me!" "go to the nearest store or house!" "CALL BACK WHEN YOU GET THIS". He looked back at the convenience store that was far away from where he stood now. Lay turned back, puzzled and confused as to where he should go. Before he could take a step back to the convenience store, a tight hand grasped his shoulder and dragged him into a steep ditch off the road. 

Lay shrieked and kicked, punched, and flailed, attempting to escape the person who hovered over him. He couldn't see properly in the dark, but he could tell that it was the same man from inside the convenience store. 

"Help! Help me!" Lay yelled.

"Why help those who only do bad, huh, Lay?" 

"Help me, please! Stop! STOP!" 

The man sighed, pausing his attempt to stop Lay from hitting him. He landed a hard punch on him before Lay became drowsy and unable to fight back. 

"Making people's lives miserable," he grunted, "and then living your own peacefully, as if you're all angels! Son of a ." 

The sound of a belt un-buckling made Lay wake up from his short knock out. The sight of the tall, huge man on top of him, unbuckling his belt, grinding as he did so, made Lay feel weak and lifeless, almost as if he was to retort to just giving up. From the side of the man, the light on his phone was still blinking as it continued buzz. 

Lay could barely see through his swollen eye, but he prayed in his head for the best before swinging his arm across the man's face and then kicking his knee up that sent the man falling down on his side, holding his throbbing crotch tightly as he gasped of pain. 

Still dizzy, Lay got himself up on his knees and crawled over to the man. He punched his neck, his eyes, and everything his hands could land on, before the sensation of stinging knuckles stopped him. He held the man up by the collars of his bloodied up hoodie. 

Suddenly, he stopped himself before landing his last and final punch on the distorted face of the man that was half-awake, carelessly flailing his hands in the air. A flash of memories drowned him, the image of his past, now right in his face. The black, sweaty hair of the man- boy- was messed up across his forehead, the blood oozing from his eyebrows and lips. The swollen, teary eyes, quivering as he gasped for air from his mouth. A scene, a face, too familiar. 

-

"Carefully, carefully." Minseok instructed, as his driver positioned Lay's body gently across the seats. 

Minseok held his best friend's head to his chest, tears flowing in his eyes as he continued to whisper "I'm sorry's" into his ear. The blood was gushing out of Lay's nose, but Minseok just held him close, allowing the blood to gush on his arms. 

Luhan grabbed tissues from the front and leaned over to place under Lay's nose, but Minseok shrugged him off. He sighed, leaned over and grabbed tissues himself, sat Lay up, and placed it underneath his nose. Luhan sat back, clenching onto the tissues. He wanted to cry. This was all of his fault. He turned his head away from Minseok who was busy caring for Lay who was still unconscious, and he buried his head in his arm in silence as the car sped through the dark road. 

-

Luhan struggled to get up the next morning, forcing himself to move. His body ached and his eye bags were dark and puffy. He looked like . And he definitely felt like too. 

He got home at two in the morning after helping Minseok admit Lay to the hospital the night before. Not only did he do bad without enough sleep, his guilt was eating him up as well. Everything was his fault.. Ever since he could remember, he's been nothing but trouble to the group. And with what happened to Lay, with Minseok ignoring him, with the rest of the boys probably hating him, he just wanted to go to the airport and take a flight back home to China. 

His red and puffy eyes looked worse than he'd thought. He wanted to punch the mirror. He wanted to punch himself. For being stupid, being clumsy, causing trouble, and just being himself. He shook his head and sighed at the body mirror he stood before, eyeing himself in his wrinkly uniform before slamming the apartment door behind him. 

-

He got to school early. A few people that passed him, eyed him up and down, whispered, pointed, and then laughed. Something Luhan's already grown used to. The twelve boys were always the talk of the town. Whether it be bad or good, they seemed to be monitored for their every move, making them all receive attention. 

He got off the school train and walked himself through the Pyeonghwa garden, ignoring the haste stares of students that sat on the benches. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it. It buzzed again. Ignored. 

The ugly, short tree that had the twelve initials of his friends, him included, carved on the bark messily, made a comfortable crying spot for Luhan. He leaned his head on the rough trunk and cried out loud, yelled to the top of his lungs, making his voice crack and his head hurt. It wasn't enough. He still felt like a useless piece of that deserved nothing in life but hatred. "I'm sorry" just wouldn't do anymore. He's caused enough turmoil in the group, and no doubt, he'll just keep adding to it. 

Luhan remembered, not long ago on the first day of school, he asked himself why he was with the group of boys in the first place. He didn't ask to be part of the group. He was dragged. He wasn't allowed to say no the eleven most popular boys on the campus. But here he was, making them suffer and making him regret everything he's ever done in his life. That's not how he's supposed to feel. That's not at all how his year was supposed to be.

Coming to Korea, to GyeokBun, it was supposed to be everything he's ever wanted. And even though he was there at that moment, being given everything he's ever asked for, he knew that it was all a mistake. He reevaluated himself; told himself that he was stupid and useless, trying to make himself believe it although most of it wasn't true. It still wasn't enough.

-

"Where were you in first period?" Joonmyeon hooked his arm around Luhan's, pulling him away from the library before even entering it, as if he didn't know what had happened to Lay the night before. 

"I- I was just-" 

"Skipping? Tsk tsk... Sehun's a really bad influence," Joonmyeon laughed, hauling him past the crowded hall to the north wing. 

"Oh, I wasn't skipping with him." Luhan avoided the harsh stares both him and Joonmyeon were receiving from a bunch of girls that hovered over a small table. 

"I know. 'Cause I skipped with him," he smirked. 

"And whos's the bad influence?" They chuckled, and then fell into silence when they overheard a girl yell something along the lines that Luhan was an . 

Joonmyeon could see Luhan's eyes well up, the puffiness and redness still worsening as they grew closer to the north wing, escaping the gloomy stares and the crowded halls. He couldn't help but hold his friend close to him. Although he couldn't deny the fact that what had happened to Lay was partly because of him (and that he's caused more problems the boys had ever had even before meeting him), he didn't deserve hate from people who knew nothing in the first place. Before entering the elevator, Luhan stepped away weakly, shrugging off Joonmyeon's arm. 

"I don't think it's a good idea that I go up and see them." 

Joonmyeon sighed and pulled Luhan in with him anyway, fighting his failed attempt to escape. "Don't be silly. We're not kids anymore, Luhan. Let's deal with this all together."

Kris was standing impatiently by the elevator door and snatched Luhan's phone out of his hand, right when him and Joonmyeon stepped out of the elevator. He pushed the phone toward Luhan signalling him to unlock it. Luhan shakily pressed at the screen, avoiding Kris' hard glare at him. 

"Okay, we have to know who the this person is, or else we'll all end up in Lay and Bakehyun's situation." Kris angrily pressed and swiped on the screen of Luhan's phone. 

"Baekhyun? What happened to Baekhyun?" Luhan reached for Kris' shoulders for an answer, but Kris shrugged him off and walked towards the boys, his eyes glued on Luhan's phone. 

The boys came together at the lounge, eyeing Luhan carefully. Minseok's and Lay were not there. Sehun skipped towards him and put his arm around Luhan's drooped shoulders. "It's okay hyung." 

"No it's not, Sehun. The blackmailer hurt Lay-" 

"But it's not your fault-" Sehun argued as they sat on the couch.

"It is." Butted in Baekhyun who's face was flushed. He was held back by Chanyeol who also had a straight face on. "I found this on the front steps of my house this morning. And if my dad had found it first..." 

Joonmyeon grabbed the large manila envelope that Baekhyun threw on the table, and began to scan through a bunch of pictures, him and Jongdae's face growing in disbelief as they flipped through. Sehun jumped over to them to see the pictures and the rest of the boys followed, gasping and eyes widening. Chanyeol reached over and pulled the pictures out of Joonmyeon's hands and shoved back into the envelope, leaving out one and throwing it in front of Luhan who sat quietly on the side. 

"I know that it isn't your fault why bad things are happening to our group, but it surely did start with you." Luhan's mouth was left hanging at the picture in front of him, of Chanyeol and Baekhyun on top of each other other, kissing roughly...having - if he wasn't mistaken. 

"This," Chanyeol grabbed the picture and held it up, pausing before shoving it back it the envelope with the rest, "this is what will ruin Baekhyun and I. Not only our relationship, but our reputations too." Baekhyun now stood up and pulled his boyfriend down on the couch beside him, rubbing his back. 

"Okay, can we just concentrate on the real problem here?" Kris threw Luhan's phone across the table towards Luhan, "Lay is in the hospital. If we don't find out who this is, we might all end up in there." 

The boys grew quiet as Kris spoke up. Luhan sat isolated on the couch and found himself grow hot as the atmosphere became quieter. He felt Sehun sit back down beside him and comfort him. Luhan felt like he was going to explode. He wished he did.

"I'm sorry. I really don't know what else to say-" 

"You don't know what else-" Baekhyun held his boyfriend back.

Luhan sighed, "I don't even know why this person- this blackmailer is even doing this. But- I'm sorry if you get offended by me saying this, but all of these texts that I'm getting, it's all about warning me of... you guys." 

Everyone was quiet now. Chanyeol opened his mouth to argue, but he said nothing. It was true. All of texts were warnings. And it was only yesterday when the blackmailer actually did something to one of them, and it wasn't Luhan who was hurt, it was Lay. 

"That's true..." Tao began. Kris shot a look at him and Tao shrugged his shoulders. 

"Well, we have to find out who this son of a is. First thing I'm doing when I find out- we just have to find this person and get things straight with them. Admit them to the psych ward possibly, right?" The boys didn't answer. Kris returned to Joonmyeon, "right Joonmyeon? You agree, right?" 

"Why are you so..desperate to find-" 

"Shut up Sehun. Unless you want to be beaten up and almost on the side of the road, you should just shut up." 

"- sorry." Sehun whispered, dissappearing behind Luhan who's hands covered his face.

Kris sighed and looked at Joonmyeon again, ignoring Tao's snickering beside him. 

"Yeah, I agree. The last thing I want is for any of us to get hurt- and Luhan- stop blaming yourself. But, how do we do it? Where do we start?" Joonmyeon held Jongdae's hand as he spoke. 

"I don't care what we have to do to find this blackmailer. But we have to start now." Kris elbowed Tao who was holding back his laugh. 

-

"You need to learn how to control yourself in front of them. You're making our relationship more and more obvious." Tao laughed, plopping on Kris' bed. 

"Of course you'd take this as a joke. You do realize that this blackmailer is actually starting to do their dirty work now? We could end up in the same position as Lay-" 

"But that's not what you're really worried about, right?" Tao interrupted, "you're just afraid that people will find out about us." 

Kris sighed and walked towards him, pushing himself over Tao and laying them both down in unison. He looked into Tao's eyes that were avoiding his, but he leaned forward and planted a kiss on his forehead. 

"I love you and that's-"

"That's all that matters." Tao finished in a mocking voice. 

Kris sighed desperately, "I just don't want what happened to Chanyeol and Baekhyun happen to us." 

"It won't, if we just confess already." 

Hello, I hope that chapter didn't confuse you. To sum it up: The blackmailer is now making his move, and his first target was Lay. Lay was beat up and almost , but after fighting back, he realized who it was (he will be later revealed). Minseok and Luhan found him, and Minseok is upset at Luhan. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were caught by the blackmailer having . Kris is super desperate to find out who this blackmailer is because he's afraid that his secret relationship with Tao will be discovered. More to come!