Many say that after a storm comes the calm but the meaning of those words never really fit in any situation until it stumbled upon the Oh Manor, as it was right now.

After the fall out between Sehun and Baekhyun, or rather the episode were Sehun shouted at Baekhyun for no other reason than the fact that the inconstancy that his life had become had been seriously affecting him in a negative way, the entire Estate had become eerily quiet; the sound of vibrant laughter was gone, there was no more melodic voice floating on the air, spreading kindness and joy, no more singing on the piano room. Byun Baekhyun had gone silent. So silent that it was rare enough these days to hear a sound other than breathing from him, let alone words.

Kyungsoo, who didn’t own up much too sensitive on the matter of the heart, tried to argue with everyone stating that Baekhyun was being a little overdramatic but anyone who knew him better, read Chanyeol, Yixing and Jongdae, was fully aware that it wasn’t the case; they knew that the smaller male was hurt by the toxic words uttered by Sehun, that he was still very confused about his whole relationship with Sehun, more so now that the ground on that issue had been pulled away from him, and that he was feeling incredibly lonely, caged and tired of the situation.

To aggravate the fact, everyone and their schedules, picked the moment where he was feeling the worst, to make themselves known. Kris and Tao had to relocate from China to Thailand, hiding and assuring Donghae’s safety as the man emerged as victorious against Jia’s attorneys and cleaned Kris’ slate; Jongdae, Jongin and Luhan had to attend an event in Paris, or rather Jongdae was participating on it, Luhan was a VIP guest and Jongin went along as their bodyguard and Yixing and Chanyeol had gone to Japan were the younger of the two was going to get a new pair of the latest hearing aid set. Baekhyun had been left alone with Sehun, Minseok and Kyungsoo and while the younger loved Kyungsoo and Minseok to bits, they were not his closest friends and they were almost never home, not that he spent that much time with them anyway; if anything, Baekhyun spent most of his time in the kitchen with the staff.

However, much to everyone’s shock, Sehun had actually forbid Baekhyun from accessing some rooms, such as the piano room, the library or even the indoor pool. He wasn’t allowed to go outside without supervision and was actually banned from the kitchen because, apparently, the distracted the staff.

Baekhyun was miserable and the ray of sunshine that the man was, that spark of joy that he was, became more and more subdued, until Baekhyun became a shadow of what he was used to be.

Jinki had been the butler for the Oh’s for a long time; his parents had worked for the Oh’s, his grandparents had worked for the Oh, and so one. He was a few years older than Sehun and had become the butler the moment that Sehun had step up as the CEO of his company, letting his poor mother and his father rest and enjoy their retirement on Dongsang-ri. Sehun wasn’t exactly a model boss, he was rude, he was cold, demanding and, all around, he all the fun that ever existed in the world but he paid them on time, he liked the other staff, they were really nice and fun and he actually never said no when he needed the time off to go see his parents or even go to the doctor, so all in all he couldn’t really complain.

He had seen Sehun make friends and had seen them coming thought the entry door, luggage behind them, filling the house to the brim and giving it a sense of liveliness that he enjoyed; the people he had met had made it worth it. He liked Yixing and Minseok, ever kind, ever gentle; Tao with his calmness and politeness; Jongdae and Luhan, mischievous and always bubbly, Kyungsoo, nice and sweet but who could get angry when things weren’t going his way and Jongin and Chanyeol, the younger duo, charming and handsome, even if one of them was a little bit shier than the other. Jinki had been so surprised with the evolution of Chanyeol’s behavior; from a really shy and introverted boy to a surprisingly outspoken and vivid young man he was now. All because of Baekhyun.

Jinki had met a lot of people in his life, through the parties that Sehun had given, through the people that he been brought home by everyone, other staff, every single possibility out there really, but none had made such a big impact as the small nurse. Baekhyun had something to himself that was completely captivating and damn irresistible. He was the definition of adorable but he spoke his mind often and had a little bit of a temper. He was precious and Jinki wasn’t too shy to admit that, at the beginning, he had sported an enormous crush on the man, however, it had changed into a deep respect and admiration for the younger, along with infinite amounts of affection: he was completely powerless when it came to the other, especially when the other smiled in his direction. To tell the truth, Choa, Yuna and Jimin were also powerless to the charms of the man; in fact, no one was immune to it, not even his boss.

Jinki had grown into his world where being discreet and observant kept the bread coming to his dinner table, so he had become insanely good at reading people and the interaction between Sehun and Baekhyun, as of lately. Baekhyun as more obvious, Sehun was more discreet, even though it was obvious to the trained eye. It was the shy glances, the soft touches, the gentle words; everything really. Jinki knew what he was talking about.

Their relationship, or rather, the nature of it, became a lot clearer after the episode with Junmyeon departure, which Jinki couldn’t say he wasn’t happy for, he absolutely hated his guts since Junmyeon always made the staff work like dogs and he insulted them a lot of times. But instead of his departure making their relationship grow stronger, as Jinki expected, it had created a wall between them, raised by Sehun for whatever reason he had.

Baekhyun had been doing wonders on Sehun; he had actually made the man open up a bit and show a side of him that most of the people weren’t allowed to see, a softer, more considerate side of him and it had been heaven on earth to see such thing and everyone had been thrilled until Sehun ruined it all, out of nowhere, with his demonic thoughts, more precisely, the demons that whispered constantly on his mind and clouded his judgement.

The smaller male had been a mess lately; he wasn’t sure what he had done wrong and the confusion that was already on his mind had only increased tenfold. Plus, the fact that he was pretty much confined to his room and not much more only added to the dark cloud that was already hanging on top of him. What baffled Jinki was the fact that Baekhyun hadn’t said anything back; he wasn’t expecting that passive attitude from the normally opinionated male; maybe Baekhyun was too confused, maybe he didn’t know what to do, but Jinki had an inkling that it had probably something that had to do about the fact that Baekhyun had just taken a white glove slap delivered to him in public.

The older butler had seen very little of Baekhyun these last few days, even less since three days ago when Chanyeol and Yixing left the house and, honestly, it worried it. The male didn’t even bother to appear at meal time, choosing instead to remain his room. Also, Jimin, who has a hardcore Baekhyun fan, had confided that Baekhyun hadn’t been eating lately and appeared to be rather sick, coughing his lungs out.

Carrying a tray to Baekhyun’s room, Jinki knocked on the door twice before hearing a soft ‘come in’ from inside. He opened the door and was presented with the sight of Baekhyun, sitting on the window sill, a thin blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he looked outside the window, a faraway look in his dull eyes. The first thing that Jinki noticed was the untouched tray sitting on top of the desk, from breakfast, and the abnormally cold temperature on the room.

“Sir? I have your meal, would you like for me to leave it here or you’ll eat it now?”

“It’s quite already Jinki, leave it there and I am going to eat it after.”

“To put it frankly, sir” began Jinki hesitantly “I would rather if you would actually eat something, because I am afraid you are not eating enough.”

“I actually think I am coming down with something, since I am not very hungry but don’t worry I’ll eat later on.” muttered Baekhyun “And I told you Jinki, it’s not sir it’s Baekhyun. I am anything but a ‘sir’.”

Jinki really did want to say more about it, so make the other eat but the expression on Baekhyun’s face told him it wasn’t a good idea to insist with the other, not because he was anything scary looking but there was a strange gleam in his eyes along with the tiredness and some fever, if said glazy eyes and the rosy cheeks were any indication.

“I think you should see a doctor.”

“Hmm…maybe later. It’s just a cold or something.”

“I just think…”

“I’m fine Jinki. I really am.”

Jinki left. There was nothing more to say Baekhyun, the younger wasn’t budging and Jinki knew that there wasn’t anything that could change the mind of the boy.

He went back to the kitchen where Jimin was folding a massive pile of clean clothes.

“Hey!” she greeted. “Did he eat something?”

“No.” sighed Jinki “He complained he wasn’t feeling too good. I want to call a doctor but it not safe to do it without assuring ourselves first with the boss.”

“Yeah...” muttered Jimin “He’s a stubborn little cookie isn’t he?”

“He surely is”.

The coughing fits only seemed to get worse throughout the afternoon, Jinkin, Choa, Jimin and Yuna, could actually hear the man coughing up his lungs and it was an uncomfortable sound. Choa, motherly as she was, had actually suggested the blond nurse to rest a bit and take a nap, advise take the man had actually followed but the painful hacking sounds being heard made it obvious that he was having anything but a peaceful rest.

It wasn’t until about half an hour ago that the sounds had actually stopped and it seemed that Baekhyun had finally fallen asleep. At least that was what everyone thought so until Yuna, alerted by the opened door on Baekhyun’s room, stepped inside to see if everything was alright and immediately started panicking when she saw the empty room.

“Where could he be?” asked Choa, hands palming her own cheeks, clearly worried.

“Have you checked the other rooms?” asked Jinki to a panicky Yuna.

“I did!” she replied nervously, biting her lip over and over again, in a frantic motion “I checked every other room before I came to you and he is not in any of them.”

“What about the garden?”

“Not there!” replied Jimin bursting through the kitchen, dressed in heavy coat, clearly just arriving from outside where she was, no doubt, looking for the missing male. “But I found footsteps on the snow leading to the gateway. I think he abandoned the house.”

“Where is he?” asked Choa, more to herself than anything, a worried expression setting upon her face at the prospect of the obviously sick man being alone in the cold.

“I think we should call anyone, maybe Sir Sehun or Sir Kyungsoo…anyone who will listen.” suggested Yuna nervously, knowing fully well that Sehun was working and he wasn’t the kind of man that liked being bothered at work, but maybe, maybe this could present itself as an exception.

Jinki immediately grabbed the phone, trying to dispel the uneasy feeling bubbling at the pit of his stomach and dialed Kyungsoo’s phone. The mechanical voice of a lady stating that the phone was disconnected made itself be heard and Jinki almost swore but it wasn’t proper of him, so he refrain from doing so. He tried Sehun’s phone next and, yet again, the phone was off. From the corner of his eye, Jinki saw Jimin puffing irritated, a typical Jimin behavior.

“Why is no one answering?” she asked.

“Sehun is a CEO and Kyungsoo is his assistant, they have meeting and important things to do.” replied Yuna softly.

“Try to call Miss Tiffany.” suggested Choa, referring herself to the bubbly receptionist at the Oh’s corporations.

Following Choa’s suggestion, Jinki dialed the number and thankfully enough Tiffany cheerfully informed him that Mister Oh and Mister Do had a very important meeting with potential business partners that should last approximately three hours, since Mister Oh’s next schedule started at that time.

“That’s it!” mumbled Jinki angrily, disconnecting the call by punching the button with too much force and then facing the three women in front of him. “I’m going to look for him, I cannot wait three hours until a meeting ends to do something.”

“That’s rash!” commented Yuna, looking scared.

“Rash is what you are going to get when boss finds out his little friend left the house and we did zilch!” stated Jimin, eyes widening comically and voice raising in pitch.

“But the house…” began Yuna.

“Stay in the damn house then, maybe Baekhyun will appear by some miracle. Shorties inc. and mister grandpa butler are going to catch a wild Pokémon.” cut Jimin before pulling Choa with her, yelling all the way through, and leaving through the door, leaving a bewildered Yuna looking at her while Jinki shot her a grin.

“I’m going out with them, Yuna. Take care of the house while we are gone, do not open the door for anyone, not even the pope, and keep your personal phone within reach; we will be giving news.”

And that was all that Jinki said before he grabbed a coat and left the house. He begged that he could find Baekhyun safe and sound because he would hate to think whatever hell would be cast upon him by the members of the household if anything happened to the shorter man.

When Sehun came home, exhausted after a long day of meetings, Kyungsoo trailing after him babbling about scheduled and numbers, making his head heart truthfully but he said nothing, because it was Kyungsoo. Minseok trailed after them as well, his strong, silent presence making Sehun feel comfortable and safe.

As soon as he trespassed the door, a frantic Yuna came to his encounter, effectively surprising him, especially considering that Yuna was, perhaps, the most calm and collected maid of the three women working under his roof.

“Yuna?” he asked, pausing to watch the frantic woman.

“Sir? I thought you would be home later on…”

“Why?” he asked suspiciously “Did something happened?”

“I…no…I mean…well… I…”

“Just say it!” demanded Sehun.

“Mister Baekhyun has disappeared this afternoon and no one knows his whereabouts. The rest of the staff is currently looking for him.”

“Is he throwing another of his tantrums?” asked Sehun in a boring tone of voice. He knew very well that since their little argument, Baekhyun had been acting like a brat, hiding himself in his room. It was true that Sehun had forbidden him of going to many places but that hasn’t really been to spite the younger male but because he knew that Baekhyun had the habit of staying late reading books or skipping meals because of the piano. Sehun didn’t want that an argument between them was no reason for Baekhyun to overlook his own health.

“I don’t think so, sir. He appeared really sick this morning; he didn’t want to eat and he appeared tired.”

“He is sick? Why wasn’t I informed?” asked Sehun, a tint of anger coloring his voice.

“We tried to warn you sir but your cellphone was shut, as well as Sir Kyungsoo’s. We called Miss Tiffany and asked her to deliver the message.”

“She didn’t…”

“We weren’t aware that the message hadn’t been delivered sir.”

“Call Jinki, Choa and Jimin. I want them home before it gets too late. I’ll search for Baekhyun myself. Minseok can help me.”

Yuna nodded and scurried out of the room. Before Kyungsoo could say anything else, or Minseok for the matter, but then again the man wasn’t really the most talkative ever, Sehun went to his private studio to make a call. He didn’t wait for much until the other person answered.

“Hello?!”

“Baekhyun is missing.” started Sehun as directly as possibly.

“Then you better find him as soon as possible Sehun, I am not even kidding.”

“Jinki, Choa and Jimin tried to find him but they weren’t successful.”

“Go look for him!” was the growl heard from the other side.

“I don’t know where to start!” stated Sehun truthfully.

“Start somewhere, I don’t really care. FIND HIM!”

“I don’t know where I should look for Jongdae.”

“Baekhyun likes to visit the park with the little duck pond, he likes that coffee shop that sells that raspberry and chocolate cupcake and he is very much in love with the dog shelter that Luhan and him visited a while ago. Go look for him in one of those. If not call me again. Meanwhile I am going to catch a plane and go there.”

“You don’t need to do that Jongdae.”

“Yes, I do. And I won’t say anything else. I am furious at the moment and if you were next to me I would broke your arm, you stupid prick. This is your entire fault. Go look for him.”

Jongdae disconnected the phone call on him, making him look at the phone in surprise. He hadn’t expected Jongdae to be that mad at him but Jongdae had a deep connection with Baekhyun. It was quite strange how Chanyeol was Baekhyun’s best friend but it had been Jongdae the person he bonded instantaneously, as if he had known Jongdae all his life.

He stopped wandering about that little fact at the appearance of Minseok at the door entry.

“What?” he asked, quite rudely, if he was honest.

“Jinki found Baekhyun at the door of the animal shelter. He says that Baekhyun is really sick and that he might possibly be hallucinating a bit due to high fever.”

“Lead the way!” interjected Sehun, marveling at the fact that Jongdae had, in fact, managed to guess the place where Baekhyun would be, as if the two of them shared a telepathic bond. He just hoped the smaller male would be okay.

When Baekhyun was finally brought home, his fevered mind making him yap constantly about brown spotted puppies and cute little Bengal kitties, everyone let out a breath of relieve, finding the male to be moderately safe, they were indeed counting the sickness that was taking over the smaller’s body.

He had been taken to the bed immediately and, in Yixing’s absence, a trusty doctor friend of Sehun had been called to take a lot at the male. Doctor Jungsu was a built man with a sweet looking face, that immediately turned into an intimidating one once he found out that the man he was examining was Kris Wu younger brother.

“I am doing this for you Sehun, but I’ll let you know that I am most certainly not comfortable with this. The Wu’s are a dangerous family and I will suspect any person with Wu’s blood on their veins. They are usually not good, not good at all.”

Doctor Jungsu performed a careful examination on the hallucinating patient, while Minseok and Kyungsoo, worried as a little thrown out by the recent event, an unpredictable one to the booth, observed quietly. Sehun would like to say he wasn’t worried but that would be a blatant lie. He had seen Baekhyun hurt and extremely loopy due to medicine but never once had he seen the smaller so out of it, with disturbing rants about dogs and murderers, kittens and blood. It seemed that, whatever was on his mind, was nothing good.

“Well” began Jungsu after a while, putting his stethoscope back on his back “what began as a simple cold turned into a respiratory infection. His body is trying to fight it but I am not sure if it has the strength to do it since it is a pretty severe state. I am concerned over the fact that his temperature is high but an antipyretic like Tylenol should lower it. Also, I am going to prescribe him some vitamins, chewable ones along with antibiotic, the winter is no joke and he need the protection that it will provide; also, and anti-inflammatory, ibuprofen, to help him a bit. I want him to rest as much as he can and he needs to eat well, or else it will develop to something as pneumonia and that is avoidable if he treats himself well enough.”

The news were better than expected, everyone feared a worse sickness or something, and since Jimin had actually made it a drama, planting the seed of doubt on their minds, the reassuring words of the doctor had been a truly blessing in disguise.

Sehun thanked Jungsu and allowed Minseok to lead the man to his car, opting to stay inside the room where Baekhyun slept a fitful and restless sleep, a wet rag resting upon his burning forehead. He approached the male, using the back of his hand to feel the temperature of the man, wincing at the hot sensation that burned his skin.

“Idiot.” he muttered, looking at the sleeping male. “You are so immensely stubborn. Why on earth would you do something like this? Why didn’t you say something? Are you really that mad? Or are you just being a brat?”

As if Baekhyun heard him, he smacked his lips soundly, a wheezing sound making itself be heard, making the younger cough, a hacking, hard sound, before he turned his back on Sehun, snuggling on the warm covers and continuing to sleep.

“What, explain to me, am I going to do with you exactly?” he murmured, as he let a lone finger, just a finger, trail across the plump, soft and very red cheek on the sleeping man.

Without much choice, since Baekhyun had to be monitored and had to be awake to take his pills and eat, Sehun sat near the bed, adjusting the comforters of the bed before doing so, preparing himself or a couple of hours watching after a sick nurse.

“The irony…” he muttered, setting himself comfortably on the chair.

On the other side of the world, someone talked on the phone.

“So he is home safely again? Sick? That is very unfortunate but it is better than nothing. He plays a fundamental part on my plan. I want no harm to come upon him you hear me?”

The call was disconnected and a stressed body fell on top of the bed.

“Baekhyun is the most important part to take Sehun down. That cold bastard is going to pay for all the suffering he has caused, to her, to me and to everyone. His empire is going to crash and burn and I’ll watch it from the sidelines. Just you watch Sehun; I’ll prove to you that you are as great as you think you are.”

The next sound that was heard was a deep laugh that turned into an almost maniacal cackle that could make anyone’s skin rise with goosebumps.

Sehun would never see it but, as they say, the deepest blows come from those you least expect. 

A/N: First of all, sorry about the delay but I have so much work that is driving me insane. It's 1.am, it's Saturday and in a few hours I have got to be up to work...so you see how things are going.

Secondly, I have something that I would like to discuss with you, I have been receiving a few PM's regarding a comment that I have received and let me just tell you, I don't mind criticism, not at all, it helps you develp yourself as a human being and your own skills, makes you do better and improve. However, I can genuinely say that sometimes it hurts a little bit, not because of the critique itself but because what I write has a personal meaning for me, some stories or at least part of the stories are based on my life and events that happened in my life, some better, some worse. When I write, it's a way of sharing it and deal with simultaneously. I am repetitive, I am aware of that, I love Baekhyun way too much, I am also aware, and maybe I am a  unoriginal, it's my way of writing and it what I like to play with within my "sandbox". It made my motivation crash a litte and my insecurites crawl and begin to whisper from the corners of my mind. I am not a professional, I write because I want to share my ideas with you, whomever you might be. So don't make expectations about me or my writing, because I can guarantee you that I will not be able to fmeet them majority of the time.

That being said, I will not babble much longer. I hope that you like the chapter, even though I am not fully pleased with it, I never really am when it's a filler chapter but...
I wish you all a wonderful day, may you be healthy, safe and, very, very happy!

Lots of love and a big hug (sometimes we really need it!)