Baekhyun stared blankly ahead, eyes capturing the beauty that the city night could offer. Yixing had managed to rent a car, a last minute deal, and they all had piled up inside the small, beat up car, to drive six hours to the Oh Manor that they had once abandoned. It was a long way and they had left in the middle of the night, a few hours after the phone call from Kris; Baekhyun had explained the situation briefly and they all agreed that they wouldn’t let Baekhyun go alone: the man was a little impulsive at times and he had suffered enough already.

Chanyeol, the youngest, had fallen asleep after the first forty five minutes passed, completely drained after waking up early to work. He was all snuggled up against Jongdae, in the backseat of the car, who cuddled up to the younger boy like a koala. Yixing had told Baekhyun once that he suspected that Chanyeol might have a crush on Jongdae and Baekhyun agreed, if not for the fact that Chanyeol confided in him precisely the same fact.

The younger boy had always been a little shy and somewhat introverted, due to the many unfortunate turns that his life had provided, but Jongdae had been one of the few people inside that household to give him attention, despite the fact that the taller was socially awkward. When he began blossoming, coming out of his own shelter, Jongdae began paying more and more attention to him, which was something that Chanyeol was delighted about, and these few months with just him, Yixing and Baekhyun had let him know and interact more with Jongdae, bringing them closer, and hence the crush the younger had on the man.

“You look pensive!” stated Yixing lowly, eyes focused on the road, as he drove away, keeping his voice barely above a whisper, letting the two men in the back seat sleep.

“Not really, just a little anxious. Maybe a little bit scared too.”

“Scared of what exactly?”

“Their reactions…we are returning after long months without any form of contact; I really don’t want to know how Kris even got my number, and I am really afraid that we, all of we, are in for a really bad reception.”

“Kris will be happy to see you…”

“Because I will help him retrieve Luhan! If it wasn’t for that detail, he would lock me up somewhere and lecture me until his voice could no more, I kid you not!” grumbled Baekhyun, resting his head against to window, turning it to Yixing, to be able to see the older as they spoke.

“He still loves you.”

“I don’t doubt that; I never did. But you can’t deny that he only reach out for me because of Luhan, if not he would have stayed forever pissed at me: he had my number Yixing, he could call me at any time to see if I’m okay!”

“I’ll concede you that point but don’t forget: we left, not them, so they are entitled to feel as pissed as they want.”

“Kris doesn’t really worry me to be honest; he will be too worried over Luhan. People like Jongin and Sehun worry me a lot more.”

“I can’t disagree with you there. Minseok and Tao are very understanding people and they know that we must have had our reasons to do what we did. Jongin, I can’t really predict, he is a very unpredictable person; my guess, he will be furious for a few hours before the need to smother you wins.” Baekhyun couldn’t keep from cracking a smile at the humorous logic “The problem will be Sehun; there is no need to sugar coat it, he will try to make us all leave, especially you, because we all know that you two had…a special connection, let’s put it like this, and he will fight this idea tooth and nail; he is a stubborn man.”

Baekhyun hummed in answer, moving to lower the volume of the radio when Chanyeol whined a little bit, making Jongdae shift.

“However,” continued Yixing “we can play the injury card…”

“Absolutely not!” refuted Baekhyun, eyes opening a fraction more “If he doesn’t accept us there, than we will look for a place near, help my brother retrieve Luhan, survive the most likely encounter with Jia or her men and we return home! I don’t need to give him any more reasons to belittle me!”

Yixing shot him a quick glance, eyebrows high on his forehead, looking surprised.

“Belittle you? You escaped Jia’s men after being submitted to torture! You survived it! He has no reasons to belittle you; many of his men perished while submitted to the same!”

“Still, I don’t want any pity…not from him! It’s too much for me to bear!

Yixing said nothing. There was nothing he could say to change Baekhyun’s mind and, in a way, he could understand the implicit message the smaller was trying to pass. Also, he knew that returning was taking its toll on the younger man, for many reasons, other than the anger he would face. Baekhyun was also afraid that the bond he had shared with Sehun had been irreparably broken and that the heir of the Oh empire would see him in a different light since he was, as he would’ve say, not in ‘pristine condition’ anymore and was actually very insecure about his appearance due to the scars he now possessed, along with burn marks.

He watched as Baekhyun reached behind him to grab a coat and place it on the window before fluffing it up and laying his head on the soft material, even if his eyes remained open. Yixing sighed a little knowing that it was completely useless to talk with the smaller man, especially when he was in such state. Giving the smaller a last glance, he hoped that their reunion wouldn’t break them more than they already were.

The doorbell rang on the Oh Manor and Jinki went to open it quickly, fearing that he would anger his boss for some reason; lord knew the man had been on edge lately. He quickly dove to the door, ignoring the looks he got from Kris and Sehun. Never once he expected to open the door and encounter Jongdae’s smiling face.

“Hey, Jinki!”

“Mister Jongdae…” whispered the butler completely gobsmacked; more so when he spied Chanyeol, Yixing and tiny little Baekhyun behind him.

“Would you let us in Jinki?” asked Chanyeol gently, understanding how shocked and overwhelmed the poor butler should be.

“Yes…Yes, of course!” replied the man after a few moments of silence.

He stood aside, letting the quartet inside the house, trailing numbly in front of them, at a fast pace. He needed to prepare the man inside for those visitors.

“Sir Sehun!” he called entering the living room, gathering the attention of the said man. “You have visitors.”

He watched as Sehun’s eyebrows scrunched themselves in confusion before he looked behind Jinki and his confused expression turned to a furious one.

“Get out!” he spat once he saw Jongdae’s face staring at him.

“What no hello for me?” asked Jongdae drily. “I thought you would be a lot more warming to us.”

“I am not warm to traitors like you, you can go to…”

“Baekhyun!” interrupted Kris’ voice, once he spotted the smaller male behind the Chanyeol and Yixing.

Sehun and Jongdae stopped glaring at each other and turned to Kris who leapt out of his seat and ran to hug the smaller male. Baekhyun looked small wrapped in the taller’s embrace, partially because he was engulfed by an enormous sweater that might have been Chanyeol’s and also because of the mask he used that covered the bottom half of his face.

“Hi, Kris!” greeted Baekhyun in a low whisper, doing his best to avoid the way people were looking at him, especially Sehun.

Sehun was shocked behind belief, looking at the tinier male, a wave of nausea making itself noticeable from the bottom of his stomach to the base of his throat. He advanced towards the embracing males, not even noticing that was doing so, and pushed Kris out of his way, bringing a hand to squeeze tightly at the other’s neck, earning a small, choked up, gasp from the little nurse.

“Get out of this house!” he roared into the petite male’s face, who stared at him impassively although Sehun could feel the increasing beating heartbeat on the carotid on the other’s neck.

“Sehun!” he heard, coming from somewhere behind him but he didn’t release his grasp nor he succumbed to the hand pulling him from behind.

“I want you out of my house now! You abused my kindness, stayed in my house, protected by me and then you turn your back to me, letting me know that all that was part of a plot designed in tandem with someone who I thought had been my friend for a long time! You have the effrontery of coming to my house, mine, Oh Sehun, thinking everything was okay? You’re either remarkably stupid or extremely courageous.”

Chanyeol’s impetuous force pulled him away from Baekhyun, making him skid a couple of steps back while Baekhyun, legs feeling remarkably week, fell to the ground, being immediately aided by Yixing, who looked a little worried, kneeled on the boy’s side and asking him if he was alright.

Sehun watched, a tad out of breath, as the doctor checked on the smaller, hands searching for something that Sehun couldn’t name. Somehow, it made him angrier than he already was, to have someone touching Baekhyun so gently, partially because of the spark of jealousy that crossed his mind, but mostly because of what he had done; Baekhyun didn’t deserve kindness, traitors didn’t deserve kindness.

Jongdae joined the duo on the floor and muttered something to Yixing. Sehun couldn’t hear it, he was far away from them and Chanyeol was still holding him and if there someone to whom Sehun was absolutely powerless against was the tall, young male, due to the fact that Chanyeol had practically been raised inside this household, almost like a brother.

It lifted a little bit of suspicion when Yixing helped Baekhyun up and slowly guided the male towards the kitchen. Before they even reached the entrance of the kitchen, Baekhyun halted his movements, his slow movements Sehun noted, and looked over his shoulder at Sehun.

“I know” he began, voice perfectly calm if not a little rough from having his throat squeezed seconds ago “that you may perceive me as an enemy because of what I have done and I don’t blame you. I never intended to see you after what I have done because I am sure that you won’t forgive me. Nonetheless, there is a cause at the moment that is bigger than you, me and everyone in this room, which is the fact that Luhan is missing thanks to Jia. I came here willingly to help my brother and you because I like Luhan, he is a good man, and because my brother deserves to be happy with the man he loves. I am also willing to work with you and everyone else to find a solution to our problems, no matter what it takes, so set your disdain for me aside for one second and work with us, we can help. After all, if there is someone who hates me more than you do, it’s Jia, which can be helpful in the long run. So think about it.”

His face twisted into an expression of pain but before Sehun could make heads or tails out of the situation, Baekhyun was already gone.

Feeling his anger diminish, Sehun managed to free himself from Chanyeol. He eyed the taller male, taking in the appearance of the younger; aside from a flick of exhaustion and worry in his eyes, Chanyeol looked good, a little buffer perhaps, but it was difficult to assume so with the bulky, thick sweater that the boy was using.

He felt Chanyeol’s eyes on him, staring with a maturity that hadn’t been there before, very bright but less innocent than they had been. It was strange yet, it said much about the young man he was. He glanced at Jongdae, who was languidly staring at him, daring him to make a move or, at the very least, say something.

“We need to talk.” he drawled glancing over at Jongdae, Chanyeol and Kris, who was staring at the spot Baekhyun that Baekhyun had just left, leaving no room for discussion.

“Lead the way, oh presumptuous, mighty Oh leader.” replied Jongdae with a smirk on his face that made Sehun want to punch the living daylights out of the man.

Chanyeol noticed this, after all who didn’t notice the throat cutting tension that linger in the room, making everyone slowly choke and asphyxiate, clogging even the skin pores? He just hoped Sehun and Jongdae didn’t kill each other.

Jongdae stared at Sehun who, in return, stared back with just as much intensity in his eyes. The room was silent and Chanyeol patient was wearing really thin: his best friend had been chocked, Sehun wanted to kill the man he had a tiny little crush on and, possibly, by the way Sehun looked at him when he sighed, he was a plausible victim too.

“Can we just end this staring game? This is getting ridiculous and I really am not up for this, especially after sleeping so little.”

“Do you have something to say Chanyeol?” enquired Sehun coldly “I really didn’t think you’d have something to say after leaving so abruptly like you did.”

“I have quite to say, actually!” replied Chanyeol nonchalantly, despite feeling a little inflamed after hearing Sehun’s provoking tone of voice. “First of all, I don’t know why you are so upset with me leaving, for years on a row, especially when I needed your support, you completely ignored my existence. I was a teen that was raised by the staff and by Yixing who always took time for me, so if you are really pissed over that you can cry me a river because you don’t have a right to do so.”

“I gave you a home…”

“You gave me a roof over my head; I found a home when I followed the people who care about me despite the fact that I am a disabled person.”

“You are not a disabled person…” intervened Jongdae, hand coming to rest at the other’s forearm.

“But I am! I am and I know that I am because I am not stupid and because Junmyeon told me so over and over again. You know Junmyeon, the guy you said it was your best friend.” continued Chanyeol mercilessly. “Second of all, we came here to help Luhan, because Baekhyun asked and we comply with the majority of his wishes and because we like Luhan and Kris too. We are trying to help! We also know that you must be miserable as hell because Luhan is the only person who can really tolerate you on best days, even when you start barking around, biting our heads off, out of nowhere. And lastly, someone has to be here for Baekhyun because he willingly came here to help your sorry , even if he is scared as everything because he just knew you were going to react like this. Playing with someone’s heart it’s cruel, it’s stupid and shows a lack of maturity, especially when the motive is something as ordinary as revenge; we aren’t god, so we should not decide whether the person should or shouldn’t pay for their actions. However, there are people who sink and there are those who rise above. How? The own up to their mistakes and admit they are selfish, greedy and act upon their petty instincts. Which is saying something! Baekhyun did that and he is sorry and angry with himself for doing that to you. You don’t have to forgive him, not that he is expecting that, neither of us is, to tell the truth, but his priority is to help Luhan and Kris, which, as Baekhyun himself stated, should be precisely that, instead of being busy hating him. And now excuse me but I don’t care anymore, I am going to check on my friend who is probably more hurt than he already was, thanks to you.”

With a quick jerk of his legs, Chanyeol stood up from the chair he was sitting on, leaving the room with angry and decided steps, no doubt searching for Baekhyun.

“He is right you know.” began Jongdae airily “You hold a lot of grudged but you forget that you can be exactly the same when the situation demands, even when it doesn’t to be honest. You are a difficult person and punish us a lot for what we do but you don’t to the same when it comes to yourself. You don’t like criticism and you certainly don’t like losing your position of power to someone else. And that will be your downfall, not because you’ll lose all the empire you took so long to build; not at all, that will remain, but because you’ll lose the people, the wonderful people I might add, that were in your life but chose to walk away. That, one day, will be your biggest regret. You already lost Chanyeol, you lost Junmyeon, me, Baekhyun…who else Sehun? Who else will you let walk away? Who else are you not running after?”

Jongdae sighed deeply; he wasn’t even angry anymore, he felt like he wasn’t allowed to be angry at it: due to his pettiness, people and been hurt and one of them was a good friend of his, so he stopped feeding his hatred for Sehun, for destroying the first normal romantic relationship he had ever had but then again Jongwoon never really fought for him and Jongdae had even discovered that the man had married and had two or three kids, so not much to mourn.

“I will tell you something that I wasn’t supposed to. Baekhyun would actually kill me if he knew I was telling you this right now, I overheard a conversation between him and Yixing and he was dead set that you didn’t know this but after we left, a month or two, Jia found out our location. She knew where we were and she came for us, or at least, for Baekhyun. Her man caught him, once, while he was alone and unaware. He didn’t have time to counter and he was taken. We don’t know what they did to Baekhyun, Baekhyun won’t tell us, he always changes the subject but the fact is, he was hurt; badly hurt and he is still recovering. He has burn marks all over his body and he actually has a real deep scar running from below his ear to his back. Imagine that, along with bruising and swelling he brought home, one day, when we were worried sick, after escaping. Imagine what he went through and the pain we sustain…and he still managed to get away. He came back to us and we moved out of there as fast as we could. But the damage is there; he is scared less of doing this for his brother and he is scared of you and your reactions. So, like Chanyeol said, you don’t need to be all mushy with him but show him some respect and compassion to him. After this is all out of our way; then I can guarantee you, we will be on our way again and you don’t have to see him ever again; you’ll never heard of him again.”

Sehun stared hard at Jongdae and the younger found it impossible to read anything from Sehun’s face. Jongdae hoped, although he knew that it was such a remote possibility that impossible seemed a lot more plausible, that listening to Baekhyun’s struggled might affect Sehun, soften him a bit, maybe forgive with a little bit of luck but he should have known that Sehun was still the same impenetrable man, that he still favored control and power over any kind of romantic or emotional connection; those that he had were very few.

When Sehun remained a lot of time saying nothing, merely staring with attentive careful eyes, Jongdae stood up, intent on leaving the room and warn Baekhyun that they would be going to rent someplace near, or stay somewhere until their problem was fixed, until they got Luhan and Baekhyun was effectively safe from that woman. However, as he approached the door, Sehun decided to speak.

“Whether Baekhyun is injured or not, doesn’t concern me at all. As it shouldn’t since he is a traitor, as you are, who left my house, fact that makes me very happy, as I do not need traitors in my house.” began Sehun enunciating his words carefully and very slowly. “However, as much as I would rather not admit, I do need some help, especially since Baekhyun is, what Jia considers to be the exchange coin for this trade. So, I will give you shelter, once again, until Luhan comes back safe again, then you’ll leave.”

“Very much agreed!” replied Jongdae looking at Sehun from over his shoulder. “However, this little arrangement only becomes valid if Baekhyun comes out of this safely.

“That I can’t guarantee; my priority is my brother, not Baekhyun!”

“Then I will just pick Baekhyun and leave, far away from here. I will knock him out if that is what it takes, but he is not to be harmed. As I told you, he was hurt enough and I will never see him like that again. Your priority is Luhan, mine is Baekhyun. No matter how much I actually like Luhan, I won’t hesitate in letting him rot with Jia. I really don’t!”

“Then you can leave my house.”

“Good luck on getting your brother then!”

With that, Jongdae abandoned the room, leaving Sehun behind and marching straight up to the kitchen were Yixing was examining Baekhyun partially healed scar.

Using the word scar was a little bit of a stretch, mainly because only a part of the wound had healed, white and pink scar tissue replacing the place that had once been a deep wound, while the other part had scabs covering it.

Yixing was dabbing at the wound with a piece of what Jongdae assumed to be gauze, the doctor never went anywhere without it anymore.

“Did it open?” asked Jongdae once he arrived, immediately moving next to the chair Baekhyun sat on, very quietly.

“Just a tiny bit at the end, I think Sehun might have pulled some scabs when he grabbed him and it is bleeding a bit.”

“Much?”

“No much…”

“Then you’ll patch him up later. We are leaving!”

“Why?” asked Chanyeol from Baekhyun’s other side, gently running his hands up and down Baekhyun’s arms.

“Sehun doesn’t want us to help, so we will leave.” muttered Jongdae bypassing Baekhyun to prop his chin on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Does he even has a decent reason or just because?” asked Chanyeol in a whisper, trying to prevent Baekhyun from hearing it.

“When I told him that we would help with the guarantee of having Baekhyun safe, he replied that Luhan was all that mattered. He is not concerned at all of what happens to Baekhyun and if that is the case, if he is really trying to screw him over, I am out; I do not want to see him hurt.” replied Jongdae also in a whisper.

Chanyeol nodded, showing that not only he understood but he also agreed with the decision that Jongdae had made. They both look at Baekhyun, who stared back, looking innocent and a little fluff ball of adorableness and grumpiness, after all he hadn’t slept for much, and Chanyeol fought very hard the urge to squeeze the older man.

“If that is the case” began Yixing “than we should go, just let me put something a decent patch on his neck and then we’ll leave.”

“You know that I have heard all that you have said and seriously you need to stop. It’s my fault that he is like this so no point on acting all holy and innocent like. Just leave it be, we’ll help from a distance.”

“Baekhyun…”

“That is what I’ll do Jongdae, okay?” he asked softly, sending a pleading gaze to the older man.

Jongdae didn’t answer; he tried to but Kris entered the room that precise moment, looking disgruntled, searching for his brother.

“Jimin informed me that she heard Jongdae saying that you were leaving! Why? Why are you leaving? What is happening? You told me you would help! You are my brother, you have to help me!”

“He doesn’t have to do !” stated Chanyeol indignantly at the way that Kris was using his brother card to make the smaller male to something.

“Chanyeol” admonished Baekhyun, batting Yixing’s hands with a look on his face when the older man pressed the plaster into his neck with a tad more force than he should “I did promise I would help and we will do so, we just need our own space.”

“Why?” demanded Kris.

“This is not our house, not that it ever was, but you certainly can understand the point I am trying to make.”

“Still, I do not understand.”

“You don’t have to understand, just accept that this is how things will go!” replied Baekhyun as softly as he could, standing up from his chair and walking away from the kitchen, leaning heavily against Chanyeol, tired from the journey that had brought them here and now in pain; his neck was killing him.

“You are not leaving.”

All of the presents turned to the sound of the voice coming from the entry. Sehun was standing nearby, hands folded into his chest, looking serious and remarkably handsome.

“And what do you mean with that, Sehun?” asked Jongdae with a snarl painted on his lips.

“It means that we, as a group, will conceive a plan, retrieve Luhan and we all move along with our lives.”

“And does this plan involves the safety of the entire party or just some?” asked Yixing placidly.

“The safety of all of us, of course! I am feeling rather forgiving and magnanimous, if you are interested in knowing.” rebutted Sehun just as quickly.

“That won’t be necessary; we will find our own place.” interjected Baekhyun suddenly, eyes trained on Sehun.

“I insist! And I won’t take a no for an answer. I need the help and as fast as possible.”

“It’s not…”

“It is Baekhyun. It is very necessary, or else I am beginning to think that you are not really invested in helping Luhan.”

Baekhyun wanted to say no; he really did, however, Sehun’s words mixed with Kris’ hurt gaze, at the mere hypothesis of Sehun’s words being true that made him waver in his decision, opting for a defeated and rather shy nod, instead of words. He felt Chanyeol grab his hand and Yixing lay a hand on his arm which made him slightly more comfortable with his decision, especially so when he crossed his gaze with Jongdae, who winked at him, trying to reassure him.

“Excelent!” purred Sehun, looking like the cat who got the cream. “I will send Choa do your rooms. I think you still remember them.”

“One room is enough for us both.” Replied Yixing “We are close as family and used to share; therefore you shouldn’t worry about arrangements.

“Very well!” replied Sehun with a certain gleam in his eyes “This will be a lovely partnership!”

“I can assure you that things are going accordingly to what we planned. No need to worry!...Yes, yes…Baekhyun returned to Sehun, even though their relationship is strained. No, I can assure you that they will not get into the way, I won’t allow it.” said a voice to someone on the other end of the line, while taking quick drags out of lit cigarette, watching amusedly the smoke making patterns on the cold air. “I won’t disappoint you, I never do! You can rest assure that Byun Baekhyun will meet his fortune very soon and we will regain what is rightfully ours.”

The person moved slowly to the window, phone in hand and stabbed the cigarette on the cold glass violently making a dark stain appear on the smooth, transparent surface.

“After all” it continued, voice growing increasingly darker and sinister “everything returns to its rightfully kin once all the right strings are pulled.”

A/N: It took a while but here it is! I really wish I could update sooner but I was a tad bit sick and sneezing a thousand times a day (it's no joke, the amount of tissues I used are, not only making me look right Rudolph but also making me feel kind of a hero because I can frankly say I am winning at filling the trashcans at work faster than anything else!). But what do you think of this chapter? It's kind of heavy...heavy emotions!
One a side note, 20th chapter. There are 88302 words in here,  which is the equivalent to 208 pages on word and 0.32MB! Holy mother of...someone! 
I hope you guys are enjoying it, and I cannot express how thankful I am to all of you that have been encouraging me and supported me so far! THANK YOU!
I promise to work hard on the upcoming chapters and I'll try to meet your expectations!
On the mean time, as always: be healthy, be safe, love, be loved and BE HAPPY!
Huge amounts of love to you all!