(E)         Chapter 11                                                                                                                                                Chen had woken up by the stray of sunlight that heated up his face. The high cheek boned guy moved his legs. He was feeling empty for some reason. The bed had such a light feeling, it wasn’t heavy enough and he felt alone. He shook his head, his eyes closing for awhile as his long lashes brushed against the blanket. Turning to the side, he frowned when he saw a huge bump under the blanket. Was that Baekhyun? He found it weird that he would be bundled up when he himself could feel the heat of the heavy blanket. He threw the blanket off and stretched wondering what time it was. As he sat up, the blanket got pulled down revealing a crunched up pillow. Chen frowned, a hand reaching out to lift the blanket seeing that Baekhyun was nowhere to be found. He must already be downstairs, Chen thought to himself.   The boy threw his legs off the side of the bed, his feet against the hard floor as he stood up. After another yawn, he massaged his eyes. Chen tugged on a towel that was on a chair and headed to the door. His fingers wrapped around the door knob, the boy twisting it and wrenching the door open. As he stepped out he saw that he was face to face with Kyungsoo, the new kid that looked like an owl. Chen was stunned for a few seconds as the boy stood in front of him, his eyes unblinking. Without a word, Kyungsoo lifted a hand and pointed at the towel Chen was holding. “Uh…Oh. You need a towel?” Kyungsoo nodded, his expression still unfazed- his eyes staring straight at Chen. Chen wondered if this boy was being rude or if it was a personality or habitual thing. Chen gave him an okay with his fingers, handing Kyungsoo the towel. He didn’t shower since yesterday; he must be feeling very icky. “You can have it, I’ll use Baekhyuns’ towel.” Chen said and Kyungsoo bowed at him, his head almost hitting the ground. Kyungsoo was still in his uniform so Chen concluded that he hasn’t cleaned himself up yet, bowing back for the sake of politeness. Kyungsoo turned away abruptly while Chen was bowing and stalked off to the bathroom, leaving Chen awkwardly bowing to no one. “Uh… He’s pretty weird...” Chen started, deciding to go down first, leaving Kyungsoo upstairs to take care of his hygiene.   Kyungsoo had walked back into his room, grabbing a set of clothes that Kai prepared for him the night before. He had told Kai that he didn’t need special treatment, but the boy insisted that it was not because of their past- it was because they were considered childhood friends. Kyungsoo threw the clothes over his shoulder, walking to the toilet to shower. He opened the door and closed it behind him, turning to lock it when he found out that the lock was broken. The normally silent boy grumbled to himself about self privacy and personal space. He pushed the door closed as much as possible, ramming his narrow shoulders against it to make sure it won’t open by itself. With that, he undressed himself and turned the water on, closing his eyes as it hit his face.   When Kyungsoo was finished, he tugged on the oversized shirt and frowned when he saw the shorts Kai had prepared for him. They seemed too small for him and his boxy structure; it would be too tight for his lower part. Not saying anything private about him, but he hated anything suffocating. He shrugged and stretched it a couple of times, trying to make it bigger by a size and putting it on. Kyungsoo rubbed his head with the towel, the towel absorbing the water by his head and making him sigh in relief now that he felt clean. He closed his eyes for a moment, raveling at how fast the events went by the past night- one moment he was in bed and another he was being chased by his flesh eating parents.   “You.” A voice said, and Kyungsoo opened his eyes to see Tao staring at him. The panda eyes fought with his own owl eyes and Tao's stare that was normally soft and innocent was weirdly pointed. Kyungsoo just looked at him, tilting his head to the side. His body expression showed that he did not know what Tao wanted from him. Tao moved closer, his nose moving over the shorter boy and Kyungsoo could almost see his nose sniffing. He wondered why people kept smelling him- he knew he was a baker's son but he was also sure the smell of bread was something that could be gotten rid of whenever he showered.   “You.” Tao repeated, crossing his arms and leaning against the door. Kyungsoo took a deep breath, fighting against the want to roll his eyes. “Don’t you talk?” “What do you want?” Kyungsoo asked, raising an eyebrow and Tao almost smiled that this boy answered his question- as hostile as Kyungsoo sounded. “Kai is my best friend. Don’t steal him away from me.” Tao spoke defensively and poked Kyungsoo on the chest.   So this is what it was all about. Kyungsoo sighed. He knew about Tao and saw him as a bad influence to Kai way before they had even met. He had seen them on the streets before, punching and fighting with people they shouldn’t even have set fingers on. Kyungsoo knew that Jongin would have stopped if he told him too, but the fact that Tao was beside Jongin when he had no one now made Jongin trust Tao more. “Do I look like I care?” Kyungsoo said, his eyes not leaving Tao’s face. Kyungsoo felt his heart drop a bit but he knew that after Kai left, it was hard for him to function. Jongin, at that time, was his defensive shield. No one really bothered Kyungsoo, he was too quiet to be taken notice upon but Jongin did and they became close friends. Some people did try bullying him but the moment he turned to look at them they would run away. When Jongin left school without a word and refused to meet Kyungsoo even after he went to find him at his house, it hurt him. “You have to care!” Tao said back stubbornly, jabbing Kyungsoo on the chest again, stomping down his foot childishly. The pout was evident and Tao continued to stomp down his heel against the floor, Kyungsoo just looking at him. Jesus, and all this while he thought Tao was some manly gangster. What was in front of him was just a kid asking for attention. “You can take Jongin all for yourself.” Kyungsoo turned away and walked from the bathroom, Tao still stomping his foot ferociously onto the ground behind him.    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   After Chen left Kyungsoo, he walked down the stairs to see a wheezing Baekyoung. The older boy was by the couch, his eyes closed and his nose red. Chen walked to him, seeing that Baekyoung was not feeling well, the boy approaching the couch. “Hyung.” Chen said softly and Baekyoungs’ eyes opened. The older boy rapidly sat up, and massaged his aching muscles. Baekyoung winced at the pain running up and down his muscles, but he managed to change his expression as soon as he saw Chen’s worried face looking down at him. “Hyung, you okay?” Chen asked, laying a hand on Baekyoungs forehead just to jerk it back. “You’re coming up with a fever, Hyung.”   “Haha, I’ll be fine. Are you hungry? There is some leftover food there.” Baekyoung pointed at the already prepared food on the table and Chen shook his head. He wasn’t feeling very hungry and Chen wondered if it was because he had a bad feeling.   “Do you need medicine? We might have the basic antibiotic in the first aid kit.” “Yeah, I have a splitting headache. Tell Baekhyun to get it for me, he has it.” “Baekhyun?” Chen asked, frowning at the older boy before looking around the living room that had no sign of Baekhyun. “Yeah, he was just sleeping just now. Is he alright? Luhan was saying he was bundled up pretty tightly.” “B-Baekhyunnie?” Chen asked again to make sure, Baekyoung reading Chen's facial expression as confused. “Is he alright?” “Yeah… Just.” Chen frowned. “I wasn’t beside him when I woke up. I thought… I thought he came down.” Baekyoung looked around just like Chen did, his eyebrows going together at Chens words. “He didn’t come down at all. I thought he was sick so I didn’t go to wake him up.”   Just then Kyungsoo who had just passed by Tao’s accusing interrogation came stalking down the steps, the towel on his head. Kyungsoo could feel the atmosphere so he stopped by the steps. Chen and Baekyoung looked over to the showered Kyungsoo who simply stared back at them. It was Chen who broke the silence. “Did you see Baekhyun upstairs?”   Kyungsoo shook his head, pointing at his wet hair as if saying that he just came from the shower. The owl eyed boy leveled his gaze at Chen who still looked worried so he decided to speak. “No. Only Tao is upstairs.” “Did you check the other rooms?” “…. No.” Kyungsoo mumbled. The doors of the other rooms were open and the rooms were small enough that with a single scan you could tell if someone was inside or not. “Is something wrong, Hyung?” Tao’s asked, his long legs leading himself down the stairs, stopping behind Kyungsoo. He gave Kyungsoo a poke and the box like boy turned to stare at him, Tao shrinking away at his gaze. “Baekhyuns’ not in the house.” Chen answered and Baekyoung stood up. “I’m going around the perimeter.” He said, coughing into the palm of his hand. “Chen, do me a favor and check upstairs.” Kyungsoo and Tao made way by the stairs as Chen made his way up, the two boys standing awkwardly by the foot of the staircase. “You two can feed your stomachs first. Hopefully Baekhyunnie is just around here.” Baekyoung told Kyungsoo and Tao. “What if he isn’t