The next morning, Baekhyun woke up groggily to the weight of Chanyeol's leg on his chest and his cellphone pressed to his cheek, the outline of the ancient Blackberry model imprinted on his face. Had he fallen asleep playing Anipang again? He hauled the other male's limb off of him and rolled over, with his cellphone in one hand.

There were no new text messages from Hyeri, which meant that she really was furious and he had to think of something to appease her. Hyeri hated flowers, stuffed animals even more since she had dust allergies, and Baekhyun had used the chocolate card too many times. He had to be creative this time, so he put on his thinking cap and simmered in bed for half an hour trying to brainstorm an entire scenario of how to go about his apology.

In the end, he decided to buy her a new pair of shoes because what girl didn't like shoes, right? Hyeri had been bugging him about a pair she had seen showcased at some boutique the other day. It was like God had foreshadowed that Baekhyun was going to screw up really bad.

He counted the bills in his wallet lazily. He hardly had enough to buy her the shoes, so he reminded himself to stop by an ATM on the way, maybe grab himself a light breakfast if he still had money left after spending so much on what his girlfriend had enough of. "I swear, this is gonna be the last time I buy her any damned shoes," he groaned tiredly. Who was he kidding? He had said this to himself at least thirty shoes ago.

Pocketing his wallet, he turned to Chanyeol who was still sleeping soundly. At least, now, he didn't have to worry too much about Chanyeol wandering around by himself since his brother had learned to use his cellphone should anything happen. That, and Chanyeol usually slept until noon; it was eight in the morning.

It was also freezing at eight in the morning despite it having been hot as Satan's buttcrack the previous night. There were people out and about on the streets, looking much busier than Baekhyun so they could head off to their boring jobs and continue their dull lives. He yawned, and he must have been zoning out because a stranger bumped into him and nearly knocked him back.

Before Baekhyun could swear and tell the stranger to watch where he was going, the man had already apologized and was on his way with his hood pulled over and shoulders hunched.

"Sheesh, what's his problem?" Baekhyun muttered.

He dusted himself off and headed towards the nearest ATM, only to search his pockets and realize with a gut-wrenching feeling that his wallet was gone. Had he dropped it? It was in his pocket, how could it have fallen out, unless... that guy! Hyeri's shoes! "Oh my god," he groaned and slumped against the machine. "That guy just robbed me!" He slipped out of line before the other pedestrians waiting to use the ATM could stare at him weirdly, and decided foolishly to pursue his thief.

It had only been a minute, so he couldn't have fled very far. Baekhyun tried not to apply too much pressure on his leg as he sped up, walking the opposite way to where the stranger might have run off to. "I can't believe this, I knew I should have bought her chocolates!" he wailed as he wove through the crowd.

Amongst the sea of heads, he recognized the same ratty hoodie he had seen before and knew in his gut that that had to be the culprit. He tried to blend in as much as possible, hoping that the stranger wouldn't turn around and spot him... but it was too late. As soon as the other male glanced back, he was off like a lightning bolt and Baekhyun also sprinted a little too carelessly. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but he knew it would hurt a lot more should he have to confront Hyeri with empty hands.

That wallet contained pictures that were precious to Baekhyun. Not only did it have pictures of his girlfriend but of others, too, especially one photograph that he cherished more than anything in the world. He couldn't afford to lose that; it was the only one he had to remind him of his past.

That photograph was the reason he kept running. When the pickpocketer turned a sharp right into a narrow street, he took a shortcut behind a restaurant and dirtied his pants running into some filthy puddles. The stranger was quick and and seemed to know the layout of the city really well, but Baekhyun was persistent as much as the criminal was cunning. He chased him down until the hooded male snuck into a public restroom thinking he had lost his trail, and Baekhyun waited around the corner like a spider quietly waiting for its prey to fall into his woven trap. And it did.

As soon as the stranger walked out, Baekhyun grabbed his hoodie and slammed him against the wall so hard that the hood fell backwards, revealing a messy top of peroxide blonde hair and a young, familiar face underneath it.

"Jongin?" Baekhyun choked in disbelief.

"Baekachu?"

Baekhyun spotted the wallet in Jongin's hand and punched him across the face. "Nice to see you too, brat," he huffed, not bothering to help his friend up when he stumbled onto the asphalt.

"Nice to see ya, too, heh," Jongin spat out a wad of bloody saliva.

"What the hell are you doing? Where the hell have you been?" Baekhyun jerked his friend behind a car when he spotted a few policemen on patrol and belatedly noticed the full sleeve of tattoos on Jongin's bare shoulder. "I was trying to contact you for weeks, Sehun and Minseok didn't even know what the hell happened to you."

"Yeah, well, happened."

"Now you're stealing? Give that back," he snatched the wallet from Jongin and counted the bills in it to make sure each one was still intact for Hyeri's gift. "Seriously, what the hell happened to you? It's only been five years." Baekhyun frowned because he couldn't even recognize Jongin anymore. His friend's sun-kissed complexion that used to be such a nice shade of bronze was now botched with sinister tattoos, Jongin's eyes sunken in too deep and bloodshot. He also had a lip piercing that looked like it was done by a caveman and a head of bleached hair to match it. He reeked of weed, greasy hair, and used ashtrays.

"Only been?" Jongin chuckled and scratched the nape of his neck. "Everyday feels like a year for me."

"What happened to Soojung? Does she know you're going around like this?"

"Soojung? Oh, her," he mumbled dismissively. " her."

Baekhyun felt like he was talking to be a completely different person. Jongin had changed drastically within the last five years to the point where he couldn't recognize his appearance or personality anymore. It was like the old Jongin had withered away, and this one had taken his place. When his friends had told him that Jongin was going to be difficult to contact, this wasn't what he had in mind.

"Jongin, pull your together. This isn't the way it was supposed to be. You were supposed to go to college, you had a scholarship, what the hell happened to that?" Baekhyun hissed. This wasn't the perfect place to talk some sense into his lost friend but it was better now than never.

Jongin shook his head and took a few steps back. "Now you care? Now you care, after you spent so much time with that girlfriend of yours, to notice that five years went down the drain and that your friends needed you? I asked you for help, Baekhyun, but you stood back and watched me drown."

"That's not true."

" you, Byun Baekhyun, you."

"Calm down," Baekhyun muttered, unable to conceal the guilt written all over his face. "Go home, get some rest, we'll talk this out when you feel better."

Jongin laughed bitterly. "I am home."

It struck Baekhyun as hard as being hit with a pillowcase full of bricks when Jongin slumped onto the asphalt and leaned against the tire of some run-down vehicle. He wasn't sure if Jongin was crying, more like dry-heaving his anger out. But... Jongin was homeless? When? How? Had Baekhyun really missed the signs, had he really... lost touch with his friends? His friends that were once like family to him? "Jongin, I didn't know," he said pathetically.

"Just go."

Baekhyun couldn't linger for long, so, after a while, he his heel and walked away. His head was pounding. There were so many questions left unanswered and suddenly, the wedding didn't seem so important despite it being a week away, nor did Hyeri's text message as it was left unseen and unattended. What was he doing? Where was he going? Baekhyun walked aimlessly down the street and numbly ignored Chanyeol's call. Jongin... he had failed Jongin, hadn't he? The last five years, what was he doing?

He stopped only when he came to the boutique where the shoes Hyeri had wanted were showcased in the front. His eyes were on the price tag but he couldn't stop thinking about Jongin... and Sehun... and Chanyeol... and everyone else, his friends. What had happened to them?

Before he knew it, he was back where Jongin was sitting.

He placed a warmed plastic bag containing a bento meal inside at Jongin's feet and handed him a card. "I'm getting married next week," he told him. "I hope you can come."

When Baekhyun was gone, Jongin picked up the ivory card and opened it up to find a wedding invitation printed on it. Baekhyun's home address was also scribbled at the last minute in blue ink; beneath that was a note and a blurred photograph attached to it.

"Come back, Jongin, we miss you."

The photograph was the one Baekhyun treasured most: the one he never went a single day without. It was the only lasting photograph he had of his group in high school and Chanyeol where all of them looked so stupidly happy that it made him stupidly happy thinking of all the laughs they had shared together. It was from the days Jongdae hadn't drowned in debt. It was from the time Minseok's mother hadn't died from stage three lung cancer. It was way back when Sehun had forgotten about his neglectful parents because he was so in love with Luhan. It was when Baekhyun had learned to accept and love Chanyeol as a part of his family. It was when Jongin hadn't died inside, and both he and Baekhyun knew that the real Jongin was still breathing inside the husk it was trapped in, waiting to come home.