Practicing until silly hours in the morning was something that Baekhyun was very comfortable with. He was used to spend an entire day singing his heart out with a vocal coach until his throat was feeling dry or dancing until his feet got battered but he loved it. He loved it because the routine gave him a sense of security and calmness that he wasn’t really that used to.

On those days we knew exactly what he was supposed to do, no risk of being faced with unpredictable events that left him flustered.

It was a really early morning when he closed one of the practice doors behind him. He had been rehearsing a new routine, all by himself, for the past three hours. Everyone else had left. There was a slight possibility that Jongdae was around but everything was so quiet, no sound of singing voices.

His body ached in places he didn’t know it was even possible and he craved his bed so badly. He really should have listened to Yixing, who tried to coax him to leave with them but, aside from being stubborn, he was also a perfectionist and this choreography was particularly hard. He had to stay.

He strolled tiredly through the empty corridors and stopped abruptly when he saw a light in one of the practice rooms. Was there somebody still in here? He looked at his watch: three forty seven in the morning. Upon closer look he noticed that that was one of rooms that the SHINee member used the most. Maybe Taemin was practicing his dance moves; Lord knows that the guy does that all the time. He approached the door and opened it without bothering to knock, Taemin was his friend and he didn’t mind him doing so.

What he saw made his jaw drop and his bag fell from his hands. Instead of a dancing Taemin, he had found a sweaty Jongin being ravaged by Chanyeol, lips ferociously sliding against each other and hands roaming freely on random patches of skin.

The sound of the bag hitting the floor alerted both his band members and Chanyeol pulled his lips away from Jongin’s to look at him in a state of panic.

“Bae…Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun felt at loss. He really didn’t know what the proper procedure was in this case and, to add to the pressure he was already feeling, Jongin had hidden his face in his hands and Chanyeol had positioned himself slightly in front of the other, as if to protect him, body tense and guarded eyes.

“Had it been someone else rather than me” Baekhyun started “you would have been in a lot of trouble right now.”

It was the right thing to say apparently because Chanyeol shoulders sagged in relief and Jongin lowered his hands from his face.

“Does that mean that you don’t…?” Even if Jongin hadn’t finished the sentence Baekhyun understood perfectly what his friend was trying to ask.

“Of course not Jongin! I will always love you guys no matter what.”

The boy broke into a smile and crossed the room quickly to hug Baekhyun.

“Thank you hyung, that means the world to me.”

Baekhyun hugged Jongin tightly; hiding secrets like this could take a toll on a person. He would know.

“But really, this was a really dumb idea of yours. I understand the need for privacy but let me tell you that is not what you get on a building which is bursting at the seams with people all the time.”

“It’s not the best idea but we have been doing this long enough to know when we can and can’t do it.”

Baekhyun frowned. How long had they been secretly doing this? Why didn’t Chanyeol tell him?

“How long exactly?”

Although the question was directed at Jongin, Baekhyun was looking straight into Chanyeol’s eyes. His best friend hid something important from him and it made him feel disappointed. Didn’t Chanyeol trust him?

“Seven months, give or take.”

“That long? Chanyeol, I think you forgot to tell me something.” Baekhyun tried to joke to hide the disappointment he was feeling.

“I don’t have to tell you everything…”

If that wasn’t a slap in the face, Baekhyun didn’t know how to call it. Even Jongin turned to look at Chanyeol.

“I am not expecting you to tell me everything but, as a best friend, I would expect you to trust me enough to share things with me. No matter how insignificant you think they are, to me they are important because I care. I’m not trying to be meddlesome I just want you to be happy.” At Chanyeol silence, Baekhyun sighed and picked his bag from the floor. “I’m heading out. I’ll see you at the dorm.”

“Baekhyun…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret safe.”

Baekhyun smiled at Jongin gave him another hug before leaving the room and closing the door.

Jongin turned to Chanyeol with an unpleased face.

“What’s wrong with you? He was the nicest person being this accepting and you were just so aggressive towards him. Isn’t he your best friend?”

“He is. He really is!” Chanyeol ruffled his own hair in frustration “I am just feeling guilty that he found out like this. And truthfully I hid our relationship not only because I liked the secrecy, the going around their backs to fall into your arms, but also because I was afraid they wouldn’t accept it but this is Baekhyun, my amazing best friend. I should have trusted him. I knew for sure he would be by our side.”

Jongin approached his boyfriend and hugged him.

“Then tell him that. Apologize to him, as you said, Baekhyun is an amazing person, with a heart bigger than the universe, he will forgive you in a heartbeat.”

Chanyeol relaxed in his boyfriend arms and pressed his lips to the others forehead.

“Chanyeol? What did you mean when you said you were sure Baekhyun would be on our side?”

Chanyeol looked at his boyfriend carefully before whispering six words to Jongin that left the boy speechless.

“Baekhyun is in love with Sehun!”

When Baekhyun closed the practice room door, he felt all the emotions hit him at once, the frustration, the hurt, the disappointment but he didn’t blame Chanyeol, not at all, if anyone was at fault it was him. He knew that. He must have done something to make Chanyeol not trust him anymore. He knew he had a big mouth and he acted irrationally sometimes, so the fault must be his and, therefore, he should apologize.

He nodded to himself, satisfied with his own thought process. He would apologize tomorrow, right now he felt embarrassed by the way he acted and left the practice room.

He marched through the empty hallways and right at the entrance of the building he saw someone. He squinted and managed to recognize Sooyoung, from SNSD. With a smile on his face, he approached her.

“Sooyoung noona!”

The young woman wasn’t expecting him; she jumped violently and dropped her cellphone on the floor.

“I’m sorry noona!” Baekhyun apologized while bowing deeply to his sunbaenim “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just saying hello. Here let get you your cellphone back.”

Baekhyun grabbed the cellphone from the floor and inspected it closely; it didn’t seem to have any problems. Then, his eyes fell on the photograph that was on the screen. He lifted his head very slowly to look at his noona.

“Noona?” He asked “How did you get this photo?”

Right on the display of the phone was a picture of Chanyeol and Jongin kissing passionately on the practice room. Baekhyun figured that she must have taken it before he found them himself.

“Give me phone.”

It was a clear command. There was no evidence of a smile or even mischief in that face, just plain, hard coldness, which had  Baekhyun shivering.

“Why did you even take it? What are you going to do with it?”

“That is my business and my business alone. Give me the phone.”

“Not unless you tell me what you plan on doing with this photo.”

Sooyoung face contorted in anger and she grabbed the younger boy’s arm in an iron grip, pulling him to her face, scaring him.

“Listen here Baekhyun, I told you to give me the phone back and it was not a request. Also I don’t have to tell you a damn thing. So stop playing around.”

Baekhyun got rid of her grip and with trembling hands he deleted the photo, scared that Sooyoung would use it in some way. He really didn’t like her behavior. To his surprise, she threw her head back and laughed.

“You really think that I managed to get my hands on such a priceless thing and was dumb enough to not send it to my email? I have more than one copy of that photo Baekhyun.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I still don’t know. I’ll find out soon enough I guess.” She drawled with a creepy smile “I suggest you to buy popcorn. It’s going to be a lovely show. I can guarantee you that.”

She managed to grab her phone from his hands and was leaving when Baekhyun regain his senses enough to stop her.

“Don’t do that! I beg you. Don’t!”

Sooyoung turned to face the younger. His face was the perfect picture of desperation. Maybe, just maybe, she could get something interesting over this, using Baekhyun as her little minion, if she played her cards right.

“What are you willing to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You see Baekhyun, everything has a price. Keeping this a secret is going to have a price and a high price. How much are you willing to give me?”

Sooyoung could clearly see the confusion in the boy’s face. He was so torn, poor thing. But torn wasn’t good enough, she had to have him to submit to her, he could be very useful to some of the things she was planning to do. She wouldn’t even need to move a finger, just order him around. So she used her ace card: she was going to threaten EXO.

“Let’s put things in perspective, shall we? I know a big secret about someone you care right? With just a few phone calls and me sharing this photo, EXO will be in big, big trouble. You’ve already lost Luhan and Kris. How much do you think EXO will manage before breaking up completely? Not much in my opinion. And what do you think it’s going to happen if this picture leaks out? Chanyeol and Kai don’t even stand a chance. They will be crushed. Poor Tao and poor Lay will probably be shipped right away to China. The majority of you will fall into obliviousness. Do you think people like Xiumin and Chen stand a chance? They are not as well liked as the other. No one is going to even look at Suho, after all who wants someone that couldn’t even lead his own group! Your little maknae is going to sink beautifully, he’s a good dancer but that’s all he is ever going to be.” Sooyoung noticed that  Baekhyun seemed to get even paler and the mention of the maknae and smiled. Another ace she could use. “DO may be the only one to survive this wreckage because you are going to be the traitor who could have saved them all and didn’t.”

Baekhyun felt so faint. He understood perfectly what Sooyoung was hinting. She wasn’t giving him any chance, was she? Either he would sink himself or let EXO be sunk.

Sooyoung saw the look in Baekhyun’s face and felt like smiling. She knew she had won.

“I’ll let you think about it but I expect an answer soon.”

Baekhyun looked at her with a fierce look that had Sooyoung surprised, before replying.

“I don’t need to think. My mind is already made.”

Sooyoung smirked.

“It’s better that you think this through because once you give me your answer there is no way back. And if you do say yes, I’ll have you know that you have to be prepared to do whatever I tell you to do. One step out of the lines I’ll draw and you will be wishing you were never born. One phone call and I’ll destroy you and your little group. I have connections.” She patted Baekhyun’s face condescendingly and turned to leave. “Think hard and give me an answer soon. I don’t like to be kept waiting. And by the way, tell of this little conversation to someone and you’ll wish you were never born.”

Baekhyun was left alone in the corridor. In a daze, he managed to start walking and get to the dorms. He was grateful that no one was up when he got to the dorms. He was sure that his face spelt “troubled” all over and he wasn’t in the right state of mind to answer them. He let himself fall into his bed, careful not to wake up his roommates, Jongdae and Tao. He let this event replay itself in his mind. He really had no other choice. He had to do it. He had to do whatever Sooyoung wanted in order to protect his friends and band members. He was scared beyond words. He had no idea of what she would have him doing but it would not be something good. He actually asked himself where was the bubbly noona he had met, because this person had nothing to do with that girl.

When he fell asleep, he had his mind made, as it was from the start. He would protect his friends. He would sell his soul to the devil if he had to but no harm would come to his friends.

A/N: Hello everyone! here it his the first chapter of this story, as promised! This is my first time doing a multi chaptered story I hope you like it! I will try to updated soon. Again, sorry for any mistake you will find!
Hugs to all of you!