Baekhyun was getting worried because it was already getting late and Chanyeol was still slumped against him, unconscious. He really should bring him to a hospital but Chanyeol had said no, but why not? He was clearly badly hurt and what if he had any broken ribs form the way the guys were kicking him. He sighed, he didn't want to leave him alone in the alleyway in case those thugs came back and even if he did, going home wouldn't be any better.

They were leaning against the grimey brick wall and Baekhyun was just watching the sky change colour, who were those thugs? Did Chanyeol know them? And then Baekhyun remembers what Chanyeol said before he out. 

My father is trying to kill me, just like I killed my mother.

What was that supposed to mean? What happened to Chanyeol's mother? Was he talking about Mina or his biological mom? All Baekhyun knew was that his blood ran cold when he uttered those words. 

He felt stirring gainst his shoulder and quickly looked down at Chanyeol, Baekhyun watched as his eyebrows knitted together, what was he thinking about? His head started to sway against Baekhyun's shoulder as if saying no. Beads of sweat were now accumulating on his forehead and Baekhyun was getting even more worried.

"Chanyeol?" he says softly and he brings his hands up to rest it on the boys cheek but before he could, Chanyeol bolts up,

"Mina!" he shouts.

Baekhyun looks at him surprised. Chanyeol's eyes were wide open and when he turns around to look at Baekhyun, his eyes were etched with fright, worry, anger and sadness. He was overwhelmed by all the emotion dripping from the tall male. 

He shakes his head vigorously "I have to get to Mina" he says, getting up hastily noticibly wincing and putting a hand to his side, "" Chanyeol cursed. 

Baekhyun grabs a hold of of Chanyeol's arms and stands up with. 

"Chanyeol, what's wrong, what's going on? Who were those thugs?" he couldn't help the bombardment of questions that left his lips

"I have to go!" he grits his teeth trying to run out of the alley but Baekhyun kept a grip on Chanyeol's arm, trying his best not to let go.

"let go!" he shouts ing his arm back, pushing Baekhyun to the ground.

Chanyeol turns around to Baekhyun, eyes raging and Baekhyun slumps back a little, but then fire was soon gone as Chanyeol stared into Baekhyun's face. 

"Baekhyun?" his voice losing all conviction  "what? Why are you here?" he questions softly, confused. 

The sight that Baekhyun was seeing from where he sat on the ground was heartbreaking. A battered boy with swelling bruises and caked bloody lips, his close dirty from the ground and leaning slightly to favour his right side. A week ago, Chanyeol was looking like his usual handsome self, more than Baekhyun could take, he was confident and smiling now he just looked broken. 

"Chanyeol, what happened?" Baekhyun question, feeling his chest twist and squeeze. Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes.

"where have you been!?" Baekhyun says now standing up " you haven't been to school for days, no one could get a hold of you! It's like you had just disappered" he walks closer to Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun looked up into his face. He brought his hand up and places it against Chanyeol's cheek tenderly. "Chanyeol, I want to know, I know we haven't really been close but I want to know more about you, I don't know why" the words were spilling out without permission. 

"ever since I came here, nothing has gone how I thought it would and then I met you and everything got even more complicated, these confusing feelings I've never had before, my brain saying one thing while my heart said the other" Baekhyun looked into Chanyeol's beautiful eyes, he didn't know what was causing him to say these things. 

"But I found myself wanting to know more and more about you, my heart raced whenever I was near you or you looked at me and gradually even though my mind was still against it I started to accept these feelings. Seeing you like this breaks my heart and even though I don't understand all of it and may not be able to do much, I want to help" the tears were spilling and Baekhyun knew he looked horrible.

Chanyeol stayed quiet just watching him. Baekhyun guided his head down towards him so their faces were now inches apart "tell me what's going on, let me help you. Please"  

Baekhyun passed his thumb over his bruises, he found himself moving closer into Chanyeol's chest, ducking his head into him not caring that he was now burrying his face in his dirty jacket. "I just don't want to see you like this" he spoke against the fabric. 

"Baekhyun" Chanyeol says softly resting his hand on Baekhyun's head gently.

"this has nothing to do with you" he goes on. 

Baekhyun looks up towards him Confused and hurt. "why can't it have anything to do with me? I want to help, even your friends are worried about your disappearances, they can never get a hold of you and you always come back out of sorts"

Chanyeol gives him a soft, sad smile. He pushes Baekhyun back to arms length "I'm happy to hear your confession and your concern but I don't deserve it, I don't deserve to be the person you like so I can't accept it. I'm sorry" 

"what?" Baekhyun stares at him dumbfounded. 

Baekhyun wasn't ready for the pain that pounded in his chest. It felt like someone was hammering a nail into him and shattering his heart into a million pieces. He watches as Chanyeol starts to walk in the direction Baekhyun had came. He clutched a fist in the fabric of his top trying to condense the painful feeling 

"Chanyeol, please. I want to listen to your troubles as a friend" Baekhyun says his voice overwrought with emotion. 

But Chanyeol kept walking away. Baekhyun didn't know when he fell so much for this one guy but every step he took getting further and further away, Baekhyun felt dread drop down on him bit by bit. He felt like if he let Chanyeol leave, he won't ever see him again and he couldn't bare it. 

"Chanyeol!" he yelled but the boy didn't turn. Baekhyun's feet was rooted to where he was even though he wanted to break out into a sprint after him. 

"Chanyeol!" he shouted again, fresh tears streaming down his face "please! Don't go!" 

"CHANYEOL!" Baekhyun screamed into the settling night, the tears not stopping but the tall male just disappeared around the corner and out of sight. 

Baekhyun dropped to his knees feeling as if his breath was leaving him. Why the hell was he like this!? Why couldn't he do anything? Why was he so useless? To his mom, to his dad and now even to the boy he loved.

Chanyeol leaned against the outside wall of the brick apartment. He gritted his teeth as tears spilled, why did he always cause trouble for those around him? But he couldn't tell him, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't drag Baekhyun into this, he wasn't going to trouble anyone else he cared about. The confession Baekhyun told him made his heart swell and his chest squeeze against it, he wanted so much to accept it and tell him how much he liked him to.

Chanyeol pushes off of the wall but he had things to deal with and he couldn't be held up here, he had to get to Mina. He looks to his side at the entrance of the alleyway.

"I like you too" he whispers before running off down the street and into the night. 

-------

Chanyeol ran as fast as he could down the streets. The day his step-mom and him left they didn't go back to their house, Chanyeol took her to a town inn, he still didn't want to bring her back to that house nor did he want to go back. His step-mom wasn't opposed to it and he tried to lighten up the mood and make it feel like they were on a vacation. Anything but thinking about the darkness that awaited them in that house they've been held prisoner into. 

But Chanyeol made the mistake the next day of leaving Mina to go get them some food and when he came back she was gone.

Chanyeol was shocked and frantic at first and it only got worse as panic settled in. For days he searched around in every store on the block and on every other block even a local park, he had a bad feeling about the whole situation. He's always been able to be around his step-mom and protect her from anything, he took that responsibility upon himself even if she didn't like it and now that he couldn't find her and they were separated he felt panicked. 

He had went back to the house one day only to find that the doors and windows were locked and all the lights were off, he had tried to peep in but as he got closer to the back of the house he noticed some thugs were hanging around. He tried to stalk them out, see why they were there. They sat at a folded table guns sitting on top while they played some kind of card game. Who were they? Why were they at his house?

That's when the back door opened and out walks his father. The anger that set at the pit of Chanyeol's stomach was feral, he wanted to go over to him and choke him out but not before asking where Mina was, he didn't know how but he was sure he was the one who took her. But how did he know where they were?

"has he come by yet?" his father asked the the group of thugs.

"no, no sign of him. Do you have the pills?" one of the thugs, a burly looking guy asked. 

"yeah, here. They work wonders" he saw his father smile but it looked more like a grimace. "I guess the boy doesn't care about his precious step-mom afterall. He doesn't have the balls to come back here again" he laughed menacingly and the thugs joined in. 

Chanyeol felt his hatred grow every passing minute, but he had to think logically he couldn't just burst out there, he was out numbered. 

"speaking of balls, I'm about to put her to some good use, anyone wanna join? She's semi unconscious less of a struggle"

What the hell!? Chanyeol couldn't believe what the he was hearing, how can he be related to such detestable man, the hatred ripped at his stomach forcing him to propel forward and kill every one of them. Why hadn't he just taken Mina with him, this never would've happened. 

"count me in" two of the thugs said "I've been waiting to get my hands on that beautiful body" 

Chanyeol's fists were clenched so tight his nails broke the skin of his palm and blood trickled out. He was going to kill every single one of them, his face scrunched into a scowl. 

All morals went out the window and he steps forward ready to take action, but as he does so he steps on a twig alerting everyone of his location "" he growls. 

"so you came, huh?" his father sneered as the thugs got up from where they sat, brandishing their weapons. They each started to stalk towards him "I'm going to kill you" he smiled "you're no son of mine, I'll kill you just like you did your mother, it's time you went back to that no good piece of of a woman" 

Chanyeol didn't know what else to do but run. 

Chanyeol came up to a stop, his legs were tired from running all the way to the road near his house. He could see that the house was still dark, his father could be doing horrible things to Mina in there, just thinking about it made his anger flourish, he needed to hurry. 

He hurried down the road and came up stealthily to the side of the house. He walked near the side slowly and peeked behind the house, fortunately the thugs weren't there. He hadn't known when his father had gotten with the thug crowd, but it made sense now why he found syringes in the bathroom wastebasket once, halfheartedly hidden. 

Chanyeol rounds the house and walked up to the back door, he didn't know if his dad was home or not but he didn't have time to wait and check. He wanted his step-mom out of there, now. He tried the backdoor and to Chanyeol surprise it was unlocked, did he seriously not think he would come back?

Chanyeol entered the dark hallway, turning into the open space of the living room. He didn't want to call out in case his dad really was around so he just tiptoed around, was she upstairs? He couldn't think of anywhere else she could be, unless...

He turned around, quickly walking passed the kitchen and his moms piano to the door that homes the far wall. He's only been down to the basement once or twice on the occasion he needed some tools but never other than that. He opened the door and looked down into the semi lit basement.

But what Chanyeol didn't notice, was the figure sneaking up behind him. "you're one annoying, son of a " 

"wha-?" Chanyeol turned around but not fast enough as he felt something heavy connect with the back of his head.