The lunch time came soon as Chen worked on the Zenithophone. Sehun had assisted him for the whole process, amazed by Chen’s skills. “Jongdae can’t fix a screw.” Sehun remarked. “Neither do I.”

Chen laughed at that and ruffled Sehun’s hair. “He will definitely learn if he want to survive in my world.” Chen commented. He opened the laptop and tried to connect to his friends, failing. “They are disconnected.”

“I am sure they are busy finding a way to get you back.” Sehun smiled as he made himself a spot by Chen. “Can I … I always wanted to know what Hyung had in his laptop.”

“I was going to check it too, to get to know what the heck is going on anyway.” Chen went through the files when he landed on videos. “Wow… almost a video every day.” He clicked on the oldest one and Jongdae flashed on the screen.

“Hi Sehunnie. You asked me to record you a message somewhere… I thought of a video.” An obviously younger Jongdae jumped suddenly at the sound of his phone. He was shaking, cheeks filled with tears. “Remember… those kids who you told me to avoid. They told everybody that I was selling myself for money in my highschool.” he paused as it did ring. “I thought of confessing to you before I die… I love my childhood friend…”

Chen paused the video. “Is it possible for you to call your friends… I mean Jongdae’s?” He sounded impossibly lifeless and tired all of sudden.

A tense Sehun moved, and picked his phone calling whoever he had to call. He soon returned to his spot. “They are all in Kyungsoo hyung’s place.”

“Perfect.” Chen picked the laptop and stood. “Lead the way.” Sehun was surprised but still led him to the car. He drove the way to it and led him up to Kyungsoo’s flat.

Chen froze at the sight of his friends… the taken ones, sitting right in front of him. If it wasn’t for Sehun, he would have jumped on them and cried. “Hyung… They don’t know you are Chen.”

He made his arm get surrounded by a Jolt of electricity which made the others stiffen. “By pure accident, I and Jongdae swipt places. He is in my world and I am in yours.” Chen made himself comfortable in a sofa in the other side from them. “I am not here for that though…” he looked over Chanyeol who was absently looking on his book by the dining table behind him. “I got something to show you.” Sehun helped him input the TV cable in the laptop and soon, the screen shifted to the TV.

Chen waited no more, replaying the video. “Hi, Sehunnie. You asked me to record you a message somewhere… I thought of a video. Remember… those kids who you told me to avoid. They told everybody that I was selling myself for money in my highschool...I thought of confessing to you before I die… I love my childhood friend…” Jongdae’s morphed into a hurt one. “You know that adorable dork who is too big to be called cute but still is too cute to handle? That boy who keep lifting me in his shoulder? That is my first love… the only one I will ever love… Sehun… The last time I slit my arms open in the school rooftop and you saved me was the day my love Chanyeol confessed to Baekhyun… my best friend…” Jongdae laughed through his sobs. “I am not surprised to be honest… I am nothing compared to the almighty Baek. He is an amazing guy…” The phone rang again. “My phone is annoying me… but I am not going to put it in silent… I am going to sell my body again tonight to five or six men… why? Because they hurt me too much… to the point I can’t think of Chanyeol and I will feel worse and I will try to kill myself again... They hurt me and laugh at me… because I am worthless… I am worthless of Chanyeol’s love. ”

A falling chair made Chen look back to a tall man who had his hands on his faces. The video ended at that. “Jongdae was… sick.” Luhan commented, as shocked as the others were. “Why did he do this to himself?”

“You can’t get it, Minseok hyung accepted your proposition to be his boyfriend in a whim.” Jongin commented. “Even when you went to China, you suffered but not as much as this. Jongdae hyung… he got his heart ripped…”

Sehun stood suddenly. “I know this dates. These dates written in the videos are before his suicide attempts.” It made Chen blink. “I know because I keep a record of them… for his psychologist.”

“He sees a shrink?” Jun Myun exclaimed and Sehun nodded.

“I forced him to.” He picked a date. “This was the day… he got a fight with Kyungsoo hyung.” Before the said man could even comment, the video started.

Jongdae was bloodied and bruised. “It is over.” He scoffed. “It had been over for a while now, right? What I did do just tore the remaining what I had once…” Jongdae slammed his knuckles on his head. “Kyungsoo hates me… Jongin hates me… Baekhyun hates me… Chanyeol…” Jongdae looked up, an insane expression written in his face. “Chanyeol told me he regretted knowing me from the mere beginning… and I regret it too. I regret being born…” He laughed suddenly. “Oh. Haha, great news. I totally forgot to tell you, Sehun ah. My parents had declared me dead to the authority and did put the house to the auction. Imagine? I am legally dead.” He laughed for a while before it get mixed with sobs. “Pathetic, right? I am a worthless piece of , right? I just wish that you won’t manage to find me before I die this time again.” Jongdae hit himself harshly. “I don’t ing get how you manage to find me. I want to die… let me die…” He sobbed, hugging himself. “Please, Sehunnie… have mercy on me and let me die.”

Chanyeol sobbed harder. “Oh my god… no, please stop.”

Sehun laughed suddenly. “Stop? It only got worse after that.” he picked a video.

“Sehun…” the horror they saw in the video was nowhere expected. Jongdae’s face was disfigured, he had lost sense of his face and seemed to be in his car. Sehun was about to click play but a hand on his wrist stopped him.

“Kyungsoo hyung… let us break up.”Jongin spoke suddenly, his eyes right into Sehun’s. “That day… Sehun had trusted me on Jongdae hyung… and I used him. I was sober the whole way.” Sehun held him from the collar.

“ing repeat that.” Sehun growled but a click on play stopped them.

“Sehun… the week I spent out, the missed calls… I am sorry. I had made the worst thing I could ever imagine of.” Jongdae in the screen picked a paper. “See… the house is under my name now. I sold myself, full use, for a week, to get this house.” Even Chen gasped in horror. “You can imagine the worse and it happened to me but somehow… I can no longer feel pain… I feel soulless. Worthless is little to what I feel.” Jongdae sighed. “Since Chanyeol’s words that day, which actually did hurt more than my own parent move… I feel like I deserve more than this.” Sehun shook his head at that and hugged Jongin as they sobbed while Chanyeol remained there stoned. “I am not going to kill myself… don’t worry. I will put the house under your name, make you an account in bank so that you will manage to reach your goals without struggling after graduation.” Sehun looked at the screen where Jongdae picked a picture of Sehun. “A small thank you gift for handling me these four last years.”

“This is my fault.” Chanyeol spoke suddenly and Baekhyun held his hand only to be shoved aside. “Jongdae was there for most of my life. For the worst part of it too… when I was bullied, he took the hits for me but look what I did… I just avoided talking about what was wrong with him. I trusted he won’t do that… I trusted you…” He poked Baekhyun who pulled him. “I trusted you on talking to him.”

Chen scoffed. “Basically, he had no one but Sehun since the mere beginning. A middle school kid.” Chen mentally admitted that he was surprised by how much Jongdae handled. He looked at Sehun who was crying hard. “But how did you manage to find him every single time?”

“His bracelet, a gift from me in the first week of our friendship, had that device mom bought to find her purse via her phone and I made him swear to never take the bracelet off.” It made Chen blink, shocked while Chanyeol hugged Sehun. “Chanyeol hyung…” The tall man was shaking.

“Thank you… thank you so much for doing what I should have done.” Chanyeol spoke loudly. “He was my childhood friend yet it is you who held his hand.” Sehun patted on his back.

“I asked Jongdae Hyung why he did not persue you or stop you from being with Baekhyun hyung and he said, he can never stop you from loving someone and be with the person you love, no matter how much it hurts.” Sehun sighed. “He was selfishly hurting himself while selflessly taking the pain away from you.”

“So much like Jongdae.” Chen looked over the others who had a silent hard expression. He noticed The couples among them, inculding the two who avoided looking at each other. They settled down, and silence fell heavily at them. “What are we going to do?” Chanyeol asked Chen directly. “How can we get our friend back?”

“Your friend? I prefer if he remain there…” A bip made him look down to the laptop and zenithophone. “They are trying to reach me.” He connected the devices and soon the screen popped on Kai. “Kai?”

“Brother… We tried to reach you earlier.” He seemed to notice something and Chen noticed Jongin by his side. “Lay is in coma, you know that?” D.O said so in th previous chat, Chen remember so. Yet, Chen carefully nodded. “Yet, his power, or the opposite of his power exploded, so we fled the nest. Jongdae is with us, right now.”

“Is he fine?” Chanyeol rushed to ask. “Is he ok?”

Kai blinked. “His mental state is worrying the lieutenant chef but other than that, we don’t know.” Kai disappeared and reappeared with Xiumin who snarled.

“I will freeze your , Kim Kai!” It made Minseok and Luhan blink at the TV. It was shocking. “What the is it, Chen? My sleeping shift is next.”

“Kai. I want to talk to Xiumin in private.” Kai disappeared at that, making Jongin flinch and hide behind Chanyeol. “Lieutenant, I got to admit to you that this is a Baekhyun case.” Xiumin groaned. “I want you to be his mentor. I can not trust the others on this… especially not my husband.”

“Like that big blue headed dofus is sane right now!” Xiumin exclaimed harshly. “He is a handicap since your disappearence.”

Chen smiled. “You were a handicap without Kris. It took you a lot to stand back on your feet.” Xiumin tensed. “I am not twisting knives but they need you. Jongdae and Chanyeol need you. You had been there, you knew how to pull Baek out.”

“Baek pulled himself out. I did nothing. All I did is to give an advice.” Xiumin growled and sat down sighing. “Today, I trained Jongdae… I don’t know, he seems beyond repair and the issue is that he hurt himself.”

“Like what?” Chen looked up to see Minseok touch the screen.

“He could barely breathe properly and he was swaying, yet...” Xiumin leaned close to the camera. “He had exactly the same expression as those Red Force robots.” Chen shivered considerably. “My point. I will call your husband over.” Xiumin clicked on a button. “Hey. Yeol, your wife is in the phone. Line 3.” a new screen showed up, with a breathless topless blue haired Chanyeol.

“Oh hello there pampkin.” Chen teased. “You were sleeping.”

“Sehun’s sleeping shift.” Chanyeol looked down. “Happily he is sound asleep. Dae, do you want to come over too? I see your friends on the screen.” an equally topless Jongdae showed up.

“… what is this?” Yifan pointed in the screen on the obvious gushes in Jongdae’s arms. The rest rushed to the camera.

“Jongdae! Are you ok?” Minseok was one to ask. “Do you eat well? Do you sleep well?” as he slowly hide himself behind Chanyeol, they looked at each other. “We missed you.”

“Lies.” Jongdae hurtfully mumbled. “You are just wondering if I seduced this Chanyeol to bed, don’t you?”

Jongin showed up in the screen. “No one is as low as I am. No, we all trust you.” The bubble blue haired Chanyeol pulled Jongdae close to the screen. “Hyung… I know I asked your forgiveness countless of times before, and I will ask that again. I am sorry for that day. It was my fault and you took the blame.” Jongdae looked up, confused, before looking at Chanyeol. “Hyung…”

“Can you burn me?” Chanyeol stepped back, surprise. “I think I am dreaming.” Chanyeol pinched Jongdae instead and the man groaned.

“FOR THE SAKE. LET ME SLEEP!” Jongdae made himself small, shocked, while Chanyeol held him close. Chen noticed how Chanyeol looked panicked and sighed. Sehun seemed to fall asleep because Chanyeol shushed Jongdae.

“Relax. He slept… relax, Jongdae.” The words made the boys look up to the TV noticing Jongdae tense even deeper. “Chen… What happened to him? I don’t know… he is tensing so hard. I can feel his skin shake…”

Chanyeol from Chen side spoke. “I had never regretted knowing you, Jongdae.” His voice was more soothing as memories rushed his mind. “Remember that time when we ran to the beach and I fell down, I remember how you acted like you did fall down too so that I laugh instead of crying.” It made Jongdae burry his face on the bare skin in front him. “I remember how you did tease me for crying over a baby mouse. I remember… every single thing we did together.” Chen handed him the laptop and observed like the rest. “Everything you had lived so far is my fault.” Jongdae shook his head, and sniffs were heard. “I was so into Baek to realize how much I destroyed you.”

“We failed you as friends.” Baekhyun spoke softly. “Instead of scolding you, we should have done something more effectif.” Jongdae looked over the screen. “Everything started because of me and Chanyeol…”

“I could live with being a … but not with you both hurt.” Jongdae spoke sadly. “I had to project my pain somewhere else… selling my body came just by pure accident.” Chanyeol burried his face in Baekhyun crying. Minseok, Luhan, Yifan, and Yixing stepped in the frame, lookig sad and serious. “You are not at fault. I was meant to live as much.”

“No, you are not.” Looking up from Baekhyun’s side, Chanyeol hissed. “Not even what Jongin did to you…”

“I am thankful he did that. I truly wanted to cut ties with you…” Jongdae wobbled under their stunned tears. “I just could never do that with you or Baek… he offered the opportunity for you all to cut ties with me.”

Jongin chuckled. “You say so but it did hurt you… the way Kyungsoo hyung insulted and mistreated you…” Jongin looked at the man who remained stoic and still. “It did hurt you to lose Kyungsoo.”

“He was a little brother… He is.” Jongdae paused and Chanyeol held him close as he fainted.

“JONGDAE!” It wasn’t just his friends outburst but also the blue haired Chanyeol who looked way too panicked. “Sehun! He is not breathing. Help! Get D.O ! Do something.”

A topless Sehun showed up in the screen. “Step aside.” With a hand move a gush of air showed up, in a neon green light. “The air is not reaching his lungs.” Chanyeol dashed out while Sehun tried to send air inside Jongdae. “Wake up! Wake the up!” coughs made the Sehun wobble. “By the two moons, this is scarier than facing a ing android.”

“Definitely.” Sehun jolted in surprise and noticed Chen on the screen. “Is he breathing?”

“Yes. But he is unconscious.” Sehun glared on the screen. “I hope next time you call, you won’t call in the middle of my sleeping shift.” Chen just smiled at that. “See you later, Mentor.”

“Sleep well, Mentee.” Soon Chanyeol got in followed by Xiumin and D.O. they held Jongdae. “Can you move the camera toward Jongdae?” Chanyeol picked the camera and Chen could read the panic in his eyes before noticing Jongdae peacefully sleeping as D.O got the diagnostic from a scanning device.

“A heart failure.” D.O started. “A prostate disfunction, several internal injuries. I guess he sustained them for a long period.” D.O looked up to Xiumin before noticing his expression. “What?”

“He got scars. All over his body.” Xiumin looked up. “You said nothing.”

Chanyeol sighed and facepalmed. “Baekhyun told me to not say a word. He said Jongdae got the right to keep his scars hidden from us.”

“Can I see them?” Chen asked suddenly. “He is my dobbergang, I want to see.” Chanyeol moved the HD camera toward every scar in Jongdae’s body. The men with him gasped among themselves except Sehun. “Wait… these look like bullet scars… or cigarettes.”

“Most likely cigarettes, Chen. It is an old method of torture, I didn’t see it in ages.” Chanyeol wondered aloud. “I wonder, just wonder, what did Jongdae do to deserve this.”

“He fell in love with his childhood friend.” Chen said for the tall man by his side to dash out, unable to handle more. “Is he getting better?”

“Yes. I think he is stable for now.” D.O’s voice wavered. “Sorry but…” the camera went up on D.O’s face. “I am scared for you, Chen. You are my best friend… please don’t tell me you are facing his torturers.”

Chen looked up and smiled at Jongdae’s friends expression. “Don’t worry. I am as strong as Jongdae is.” His eyes landed on D.O’s dobbergang who seemed torn and confused.