Chapter 7

Baekhyun wakes up to the feel of hands digging into his hair, they are slender and so warm, they make him feel so much warmer. He wonders if this is only a dream, a sweet dream where he finally feels relaxed and unknoted, without limitation or restrictions. But he feels hot air blow onto his neck and it opens his eyes awake, at first he looks at the room in front of him in befuddlement, but he quickly remembers where he had spent his night; with Chanyeol. 

No wonder he doesn't feel as sore as he is in the mornings, it upsets him that it's how he is used to his mornings, but when the arms around his waist squeeze him, the fact is driven away. 

“Good morning.” The voice says deeply, so deep that it almost trembled through Baekhyun's back and into his chest. Almost.

Clearing his throat, and thankful that his back was facing the tall boy so he wouldn't be able to see his tinted cheeks, he mutters back a small, “Morning.”

They spend seconds and minutes just sitting entagled together in the midst of they sky blue sheets. Baekhyun knows this is far too intimate in their terms considering they have known each other for only a month or so, but he doesn't seem to want to pull away. Chanyeols arms... they are so warm on him... his warmth makes him believe that if they were together in antartica, he wouldn't need a coat merely because Chanyeol is warmer.

With a small ruffle to Baekhyuns already disheveled hair, Chanyeol bounces up and stretches his limbs out. Baekhyun turns until he is on his back, and he only stares at Chanyeol from under his black lashes. “I know I'm beautiful, but we should get up.” He says in a witty manner, and Baekhyun becomes busy with biting his lip bashfully.

When they eventually do get up, when Baekhyun finishes with the restroom he looks around the house for a particular gaint, but he cannot find him. Did he go out? The thought of not knowing where he is, or the fact that he just seemed to have wondered off made him feel uneasy.

He ends up coming back to the living room area but he is faced with an unexpected sight that made him slack his jaw in shock. Jongdae was here. But he seemed like anything but his normal self. Baekhyun wasn't even sure that it actually was Jongdae for a second. He was on the floor, his legs pulled up into his chest, while rocking back and forth with tears streaming down his face.

“No...no... not again! Please!” He begins to shout as his sobs grow louder, and Baekhyun is filled with panic and alarm. He moves from leg to leg in agitation, not knowing how to handle this sudden situation. Mustering up his abilities, he quickly runs over to his side and, even though he hesitates and his hands are shaking, he rests his arm around Jongdae's shaking shoulders.

“J-Jongdae, whats w-wrong?” He asks tentativly, without confidence what so ever, he is mostly scared. But he tries to hide it for the sake of Jongdae. 

The delicate boy continues to rock back and forth, shaking his head and it only worsens Baekhyuns anxiety. “They can't do t-this! They can't!” He shouts and Baekhyun continues to analyze him in panic. What should he do? He has never been in a situation like this before; he's never been in any situation concerning another human being before. If you eliminate physical abuse.

“Jongdae, it's m-me. Baekhyun.” He tries to tell him softly, and his trembeling shoulders begin to relax under his hold. Jongdae turns his head towards him and he looks so lost, as if he was a misplaced puppy. The idea saddened Baekhyun even more so. 

“B-Baekhyun..” He stutters his name slowly, as if he is trying to remember the boy named Baekhyun. And after a while of just staring at each other, with Baekhyun trying to soothe Jongdae by rubbing his back, the latter speaks. “Your w-with me? Right? A-Are you going to g-go?” He suddenly asks, and he stops his reassuring , which bring feelings of confusion and trepidation into his system, and he looks so helplessly at him. 

What does he mean by ‘with me?’ and why would he think Baekhyun is going to go? Baekhyun tries to jumble the sentence into his mind, but he has no idea what Jongdae is referring to. It is all like a huge blob of misinterpretiation and preplexity. But he stops himself from pondering too much over it as he attempts to look at Jongdae as if he is sure of himself, even when he never is.

“I'll never go, Jongdae... I can't leave you.” He doesn't know if he says it because of this pleaing moment, but something inside him also agrees that he can't leave Jongdae. Alongside Chanyeol, he is someone who has helped him so much. With them he actually feels as if he has friends, people he can lean on... people who show real affection. People he has never had in his life.

“R-Really?” He asks with wide, tired eyes. And it is then that Baekhyun realizes they are droopy, filled with so much emotions, yet so feeble. Then suddenly, Jongdae begins to lean towards him, until he lands on his lap, and Baekhyun stares at his fallen state in alert. But when he feels Jongdae's chest heavy up and down, he is relieved.

He has no idea what just happened, or why it happened, but he takes the small  and weak boy into his own boney arms, and he feels as if he has fullfilled something. 

He has done something he would have never done before, something he can't even do to himself, ever. He helped a friend. 

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After Chanyeol miraculously showed up again, the police also came knocking on their door. At first Baekhyun thought it had to be a misunderstanding, since Jongdae and Chanyeol won't possibly do anything to defy the law, but he is in for it when the cop asks for him personaly. It appears to be that his step mother is looking for him, and she dragged the police to look for his whereabouts, in which sent a pool of anxiety deep into his system. Of course that woman would look for him, she probably thought he had ran away, then what would his father say? Would he cut her off? The only thing she's worried about is the money he'll stop giving her. 

He knows he can't say anything to the cop, it'll only bring more trouble and more headaches, which will come towards him anyways. So he convinces both Chanyeol and Jongdae that he has to go in the calmest manner, but he isn't sure that his eyes were following his mind. For they probably shouted of yelps for help. 

At the hospital, he finds Martha, Devan, Daniel, Parker, and Cole; who is the only Korean-American among them, all sitting in the waiting room. Probably waiting for Baekhyuns father. 

As he approaches them, Martha plasters the most forged smile on her face as the cops hand him over to her hands of hell. “Oh Baekhyun, I was so worried about you! You should have at least told me where you were going to stay you rascal!” She tries to make her voice sweet and motherly,  it's as if she is pushing something down , and he hopes she'd choke on it. And when she places her hands on his shoulders, it makes Baekhyun want to throw up himself.

The cops look on for a few minutes and then they walk away, with Baekhyuns eyes are shooting their backs with signs of plea, come back! He wants to shout, but another figure blocks them as they find another path, away from him. 

“You peice of , I thought you ran away.” Her nails are now digging painfully into his shoulders and he winces at the burning sense. She jerks him around and brings his chin upwards unpleasantly, but then again, when did she ever do anything in a plesant manner? “Where'd you go? Who would possibly take you in? Your useless.” She snarls, and he hates how her bare teeth show, he hates her dangerous approximiety, he hates the mere sight of her! And all of it is boiling inside him with each nail digging squeeze she gives him, waiting to be realesed.

“Martha!” A familair voice suddenly enters their circle and the peircing sensation has suddenly stopped. She quickly retracts her hands away and Baekhyun pivots his head to see who's the soul is. Of course, it's his father. Who else would make her stop besides the cops? “Are you all okay?” He asks, eyeing them and Martha pushes him out of the way to encircle her arms around his neck. 

“Oh it's terrible Seung Ho, everything is gone!” She weeps, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes as he rotates his shoulders around to get the blood circulation to flow again. Although he debates about it at first, because feeling numb is something he is very well used to. 

“I've got it under control, we can move in with a friend for the time being.” He says as he soothes her back with his hands, and it disguests Baekhyun so much that he would rather be blind. How can such a woman be so deciving? How can his father be so dense? More and more additions to the