Why did he open his stupid mouth? He should’ve listened to Yixing, now that lady’s gone and told his manager and he’s going to die. His manager is going to kill him. He ran to the practice room and hid behind one of the couches, desperately trying to control his breathing so his manager couldn’t find him.

A small whimper of fear involuntarily escaped his lips as he heard the door to the practice room slam open and shut, signalling the entrance of someone very angry. He knew it. His manager was livid. And there was nothing Baekhyun could do to fix it. Maybe he should have found a better hiding spot, or better yet he should’ve run out of the building altogether.

His thoughts were brutally interrupted as a large hand violently grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled. Hard. Instead of looking who had grabbed him, he tried to escape from the powerful grasp, but failed when the man gave another harsh tug. He was pulled up to his feet, standing roughly a foot shorter than his manager.

He screamed for someone to help him. Through the fear he’d forgotten that the walls of the practice rooms are soundproof. The overpowering man began screaming at him so furiously that he couldn’t understand him. Baekhyun’s vision became blurry as tears filled his eyes as the taller man began punching his chest and stomach. The taste of blood arose in his mouth as his manager continued his assault, striking him countless times in the face.

The next few moments came as a blur. The last thing he remembers is his head snapping back against the brick wall behind him as he was forcefully thrown against it. The harsh ringing in his ears and the tears blurring his eyesight caused him to almost feel as though he’d escaped. He couldn’t see him; he couldn’t hear him.

But he could feel him. He wondered when someone would notice. If someone would notice. He must have been gone for quite a while, and they were mid-practice as it was. Would he already be dead by the time they discovered him? The thought of death was really quite promising right now. He’d be able to escape all this pain.

So he felt peaceful – serene, almost – as he slowly faded out of consciousness.

Upon his awakening, he was greeted by white. A white ceiling, white sheets, white flooring, white chairs. The only thing out of place was the presence of eight men, some of whom were asleep while others were nervously picking at the fingernails or pacing around the room.

It was Kyungsoo who noticed his now-awake state first, jumping from his chair and instantly running over to his bedside and gently wrapped his hand around Baekhyun’s smaller, softer one.

He heard him saying something to the other members and soon enough the entirety of EXO was crowded around his bed, looking down at him with concern swimming in their eyes. They were asking him something, he could tell, but his ears were still ringing from the earlier battle with his manager. Although, it wasn’t exactly a battle, seeing as though Baekhyun didn’t fight back. He simply mustered the best smile he could, fighting through the pain that coursed through both of his cheeks in the attempt.

The voices were getting louder, or maybe Baekhyun was regaining his hearing. Multiple questions of “Are you okay?” “How are you feeling?” and “Do you need anything?” from a variety of voices reached his ears and jumbled up in his mind, forming something along the lines of “Are you feeling anything?”

Which would also be a relevant question, because at the present moment the only thing Baekhyun could feel was the warmth filling his heart at the concern of his friends.

He didn’t really process the fact that he felt as though he was disconnected to his body until a very tall man in a long white coat walked in. The doctor, Baekhyun guessed.

“How are you feeling?” The man asked once he’d reached Baekhyun’s bed. Baekhyun took a while to formulate an answer due to the fact that his jaw felt like it lit itself on fire every time he moved it.

“I can’t really feel my body. But my mouth hurts. A lot.” He said slowly, trying to minimize the pain. He kept his eyes on the doctor, missing the look of alarm that overtook the members of EXO’s faces.

“I’ll up the dosage of the painkillers, then. You’ll be in quite a bit of pain for a while, Baekhyun-ssi. You can’t feel your body right now because you’re probably still in a bit of shock, and morphine does wonders.” The doctor chuckled lightly to himself, yet when the laugh was unreciprocated, he smiled sheepishly and continued. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little while. For now, I’ll just increase the dosage of painkillers then I’ll leave you to your friends. They were very worried about you, you know. It’s good you’ve got such nice people around you.”

Baekhyun smiled widely, ignoring the pain it caused him. He knows that more than anyone. He really was thankful for everything EXO had done for him. And yet he’d still gone against their word. “I know.”

The doctor smiled at Baekhyun, and then at the other idols in the room before taking his leave. Baekhyun hadn’t noticed that his smile had dropped to a small pout until Kyungsoo, who had yet to let go of his hand, asked him what was wrong.

“All this is my fault.” He started, avoiding eye contact with them, not wanting to see their disappointment. “If I hadn’t told anyone like Yixing told me to then this wouldn’t have happened and everything would be okay.”

“It’s okay, Baekhyunnie. Don’t blame yourself for what happened.” Yixing insisted, moving forward to grab Baekhyun’s other hand. “It’s not your fault. But, if I may ask, who did you tell, exactly?” He inquired.

Baekhyun hesitated for a moment, wondering whether or not he should tell them about the lady. She might get into trouble. “I told one of the staffs… She is a very nice lady. She would buy me lunches and sometimes dinner when I practiced really hard. I told her not to tell anyone and she said she wouldn’t but she did. I thought I could trust her.” Baekhyun explained with a crestfallen smile. He really doesn’t understand why she told his manager about it when she’d said she wouldn’t tell anyone.

“It’s okay, Baekhyun. It wasn’t your fault. She was the one that broke your trust.” Jongin piped up from where he was standing at the end of the bed, near Baekhyun’s feet. Which were cold, now that he realises.

Baekhyun smiles at Jongin, completely forgetting about the atmosphere of the conversation prior, and asks, “Can you put a blanket on my feet, please? It’s very cold.” Jongin blinks for a moment, surprised at the sudden turn of the conversation, before sending a teeth-rich smile back and complying with his request.

Everyone’s eyes had softened a little at what Baekhyun had said. How many people would break this kid’s trust in his life? How is he still so trusting? The whole situation seriously made Jongin’s protective instinct erupt like a volcano. He wished he knew what he could do to make the situation better. He wasn’t very good at comforting people, like Jongdae, but even he had managed to become close with Baekhyun. So, Jongin figured he’d do what he usually does. Do small things to show he cares. Like earlier when Baekhyun had asked him to put the blanket over his feet, he’d gotten an even large blanket and spread it over his entire body.

He was currently in the middle of getting Baekhyun some comic books to read while he’s in the hospital. He was going to get magazines, but seeing as though most magazines have Baekhyun’s adorable face all over them with the words ‘hospitalised’ and ‘abused’ and ‘assaulted’ covering the front page, he opted for the comic books instead.

The only problem was that he didn’t know what Baekhyun’s reading level was at. Can he read comic books? Surely he can, right? It’s not as though comic books are only something for high schoolers. They’re aimed at middle-schoolers, so Baekhyun should be more than capable, right? Well, if they’re not then he’ll just give them to someone else or keep them for himself and he’ll buy Baekhyun movies to watch instead.

Maybe he should do that anyway. Reading comic books for the entire stay doesn’t really seem all that interesting. And that way he can watch movies when he’s too tired to read. Or too in pain to read.

His immediate thought was nope. Don’t go there, Jongin. Don’t think about that. It will just make you angry.

He sighed, picked up a few copies of Iron Man and One Piece and headed towards the counter. It’s a good thing it was so late at night; he didn’t have to worry about crazy fans.

Ah, the downsides of being an idol.

Baekhyun’s face when he gave him the comic books made his entire day worth it, though.