When Kyungsoo walked into the kitchen the following morning, he was certainly not expecting to find Baekhyun awake, sitting on a chair and cheerfully eating breakfast without a care in the world as Sehun and Minseok stared at him from across the table.

If anyone had thought that the smile on his face couldn’t get any brighter, Kyungsoo would have to tell them they were wrong. As soon as Baekhyun laid eyes on the older singer his adorably rectangle smile became so large that Kyungsoo thought he’d split the sides of his mouth.

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile back, despite seriously not being a morning person. He announced he was going to find Junmyeon, and the look of disappointment on Baekhyun’s face really made him want to stay, but he had to talk to him. They really needed to sort out all of the lawsuit business. He trusts Junmyeon with it all, but he’d like to know how everything is coming along.

“Have you found a lawyer yet?”

Junmyeon looked up at him in surprise at his abrupt entrance before sighing.

“I thought there was a rule about knocking.”

“Come on, Junmyeon, you know no one pays attention to the rules.” Kyungsoo laughed. “So have you?”

“Yeah. I found one, and I was going to take Baekhyun to meet him either later today or tomorrow. They need to talk about things. Baekhyun needs to be able to tell the judge what has been happening to him but I’m scared that he won’t be able to. Or he’ll lie about it.” Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrowed in concern and worry.

“Why would he lie?”

“Well, he’ll be in the same room as that . He might think he’ll get hit again or something if he tells the truth. Honestly, that’s what I’m more worried about. Remember when we went to his house and we didn’t know his face was banged up because he wore makeup and lied to us?” How could Kyungsoo forget? He’d thought one of the members had punched him. “What if he does something like that again? I’m not blaming him, he has every right to be scared about getting hit again, but if he lies then we’ll lose the case and he’ll be sent back there.”

There was a moment of silence before Kyungsoo spoke up. “We’ll just have to do our best to help him through the situation. I don’t even know why but I feel this immense amount of protectiveness over him. He’s just so small and sweet and forgiving I don’t understand why anyone would hurt him.”

“The world is a ed up place.” Was all Junmyeon said in return, and that’s all he really could say.

“You are Byun Baekhyun, the client?” Were the first words Baekhyun heard upon entering the lawyer’s office.

Junmyeon has said he was a nice man, and Junmyeon never lies, so Baekhyun comfortably sat down in one of the chairs opposite the man’s desk after bowing and greeting him politely.

 “My name is Kim Jaekwang. How have you been recently, Baekhyun-ssi?” The man gave a kind smile and spoke in a soft tone, making any nervousness the smaller male still had lingering in his body disappear.

“I’ve been very happy. Everyone has been very kind to me lately. It’s nice.” Baekhyun flashed a one-hundred-percent genuine smile, one that made the corner of his eyes scrunch up until he could barely see out of them.

“That’s good to hear. But if you don’t mind me asking, why are you staying with them, exactly? I would like to hear your side of the story. The media can only tell me so much.”

He didn’t want to talk about it, but he knew that he didn’t really have much of a choice. Junmyeon said that if he needed him he’d be right outside, and that if he wants to get away from his manager then he has to talk about what he did to him.

“Um… Well, h-he hit me. A lot. I had bruises all the time.” Baekhyun hadn’t noticed the man pressing a small red button on a device he was holding, too busy playing with his nails. People had always said his hands were pretty.

“And what did you do to hide those bruises, Baekhyun-ssi?”

“Makeup… I put makeup over them. Sometimes the staffs would help me, but most of the time I had to do it myself at home.”

“And why did you cover them up?”

“Because I was told to…” The tiny male seemed as though he was getting smaller and smaller with each question, like he was trying to merge with the chair he was sitting in. “…Was that bad?”

“No, you did nothing wrong, Baekhyun-ssi.” At this, Baekhyun visibly relaxed. “Who told you to cover them?”

“My manager did.”

The man still had a very kind smile on his face, and he had not once raised his voice at Baekhyun, which the smaller was thankful for. He doesn’t like it when people yell. “And why do you think he told you to do that?”

Baekhyun was silent for a moment, his expression signifying he was in deep thought. “I-I don’t know…” Why did his manager ask him to do that? Baekhyun figured it was because bruises are ugly and he is supposed to be pretty, but if that were the case then he wouldn’t have given him bruises in the first place. It doesn’t really make sense to him. “Sorry.” He added, not wanting to make the man angry.

“That’s okay,” The man beamed before resuming his questioning. “How often did he hit you? Every day? Once a week?”

“Only when I made mistakes. I tried not to make any mistakes, but I always ended up doing it anyway.” Baekhyun pouted.

“So he hit you because you made mistakes? Is that it?”

“I think so.”

“You think so? Are you not certain? What kinds of mistakes did you make, Baekhyun-ssi?”

The man was asking too many questions at once and he couldn’t keep up. He doesn’t know why he hit him. He doesn’t even remember what the mistakes that he made were. He just knows that he made mistakes and got hit. The singer doesn’t understand why he has to answer all of these questions that he doesn’t know the answers to. If he keeps saying that he doesn’t know then the man is sure to get mad at him.

Baekhyun’s breathing started to quicken, his body instinctively moving into a protective stance, and his eyes welled up with unwanted tears that the small male was attempting to will away. He wanted Junmyeon. He wanted one of Kyungsoo’s hugs. He wanted someone else but this man. Anyone else. Jongdae, Chanyeol, anyone.

Jaekwang’s smile fell as soon as he noticed the boy’s breathing become uneven. He wanted to get up and get Junmyeon to come in, hoping the other boy would be able to calm him down but he also didn’t want to get up in case it triggered Baekhyun further. He doesn’t know what set him off, whether it was the onset of questions – something he is regretting doing right about now – or the actual questions he asked.

When Baekhyun shows no signs of calming down himself, he gets up in a haste to find Junmyeon. Thankful to find him sitting in a chair right outside the door reading a magazine with a very bored look on his face, he immediately calls him over.

A look of worry washed over his face when Jaekwang explained the situation. He pushed past him an immediately rushed over to the near-tears form on the chair.

“Baekhyun. Baekhyunnie, what’s the matter? It’s okay. No one’s hurting you, you’re safe here. You haven’t done anything wrong. No one is mad at you.” He whispered into the boy’s ear as he hugged him close. He continued to repeat those comforting words until he felt Baekhyun stop quivering and gently grasp his shirt.

“Are you okay now?” He whispered and felt a nod against his chest. He gently pulled away and looked into Baekhyun’s still-glossy eyes. “Do you want me to stay in here with you for the rest of the meeting?” Another silent nod was all Junmyeon needed and he sat down next to the boy, holding his hand for comfort.

Jaekwang, who had been standing awkwardly in the corner, moved to take his seat again. He looked extremely guilty and nervous as he looked over at Baekhyun again.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. You don’t have to answer those questions if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay.”

Junmyeon wanted to yell at him, saying ‘No, it’s not okay. He should have been more careful.’ He’s a lawyer, not a psychologist, what the hell was he doing asking those kinds of questions anyway?

The lawyer nodded, the rest of the conversation went smoothly with Junmyeon there to support Baekhyun. Junmyeon was worried, though. As was the lawyer. If Baekhyun had a panic attack when he was simply asked a few questions about what mistakes he made, how are they going to get him to explain exactly what his manager did to him in front of his manager?