"hey! Baekhyun!" he was walking down the hall, passing groups of people but turns around as he hears his name being called. 

Sehun was running towards him, waving his hand as if to get his attention. Baekhyun stops where he was and waits for him to catch up. 

"Sehun? What's up?" Baekhyun questions.

Sehun stops in front of him panting a bit and leaning on his knees. He looks up at Baekhyun from where he was hunched over catching his breath. "where have you been? I haven't seen you" 

Baekhyun looks away slightly. He hasn't been hanging around them lately, he was avoiding them mostly because he couldn't face being anywhere near Chanyeol after the other night. He was stupid for confessing his feelings, he should've known the boy would never like him that way. 

"I've...been busy" he settles on. 

Sehun was standing up now and Baekhyun had to switch to looking up because of the height difference. Doing something so simple reminded him of Chanyeol and he made a face to himself, what was he doing? Thinking of something so stupid. 

"well, I've been needing to ask you something". Baekhyun raises and eyebrow, what could he possibly need to ask him? They weren't really that close.

"what is it?" he asks curiously. 

"well, have you seen Chanyeol anywhere?" Sehun looks deeply into Baekhyun's and he could see the boy was worried. 

"what do you mean? How would I know? Hasn't he been with you guys?" Baekhyun questions, something stirring in him he couldn't quite decipher. 

"well, the whole group hasn't seen him since last week and I still can't get a hold of him. I checked his house but no one was answering the door, I was hoping he was with you or something but now that doesn't look like the case" Sehun explains. 

Baekhyun watches as Sehun runs a through his hair. "where the hell could he have run off too, this has never happened before" 

Baekhyun was feeling a slight panic start to erupt inside of him. Chanyeol hasn't been to school for almost two weeks? He should've known because they both have second period together but he was doing everything just to ignore him. He was so stupid, the other night in the alley comes to mind, Chanyeol walking away leaving him standing there alone, was it then? Was it then when Chanyeol went missing? He was an idiot, Baekhyun knew something was wrong yet he let him go off by himself. 

"Baekhyun?" he heard Sehun say gently. 

"oh? Yeah?" he was distracted, he felt sick. Knowing no one knew where Chanyeol was and him being the last to see the tall male was nerve-wracking. 

"well, thanks anyways. I'll go ask around if anyone has seen him" Sehun's voice was tight. 

Baekhyun knew Sehun was feeling horrible. Chanyeol was his best friend and he hasn't seen him around and neither has anyone else, he must feel so helpless. Sehun turns to leave but Baekhyun reaches out to grab a piece of his shirt. 

He looks back confused at Baekhyun's actions. 

"I have something I should tell you, let's find somewhere to talk" Baekhyun couldn't keep this too himself, this was Chanyeol's best friend and he had to know. 

----------

"what in the hell!?" Sehun exclaimed. 

Baekhyun had spent the last while telling him about when he found Chanyeol getting beat up, how he tried to get Chanyeol to tell him what was going on, how he kept insisting on going to his stepmother. They were both sitting on a bench out in the courtyard. Of course he left out his confession.

"what the hell was that kid doing!?" Sehun was visibly troubled and upset. He got up and started pacing. 

Baekhyun looked into the dirt. What if he had forced Chanyeol to stay there with him? What if he had pushed him more to tell him what was going on? All Baekhyun could think about was how he could've done everything differently, he also wished he had never confessed.

"so he didn't tell you anything?" Sehun turned back to Baekhyun and he shook his head. 

"nothing" he said regrettably. 

Sehun slumps back down beside him. "this idiot, always doing things on his own, even when he was younger"

Baekhyun looked sideways at him "really?" he was curious. Curious of how Chanyeol was when he was little, he knew it wasn't the time but he wanted to know. 

"yeah, the day he first came here was in the summer, it was only him and his dad" Sehun informs "by the end of the day the whole town found out that his mom had died in some sort of house fire back in Seoul, his dad has said it upset Chanyeol so much that they had to move".

Wow Baekhyun thought, that must've been tough on him. 

"but the kid always seemed out of it. The first time I met Chanyeol he was picking grass by himself at the play ground, he didn't talk to any of the other kids and everyone thought he was messed up" Sehun continued. "some kids started making fun of him, pushing him around and I happened to be near them playing some soccer, I went over to knock some sense into those bullies but Chanyeol just rested a hand on my shoulder and smiled saying 'it's not good to fight, someone could die'".

Baekhyun was baffled. Intrigued that such a small kid would say something like that. No one he has ever known has said things like that when they were young.

"I had also thought after that that the kid was messed up but suddenly he started clinging to me, following me around, sitting off too the side when I played with my friends. One day I got so fed up with him following me I turned around and yelled at him 'why the hell are you following me!' he just looked down to the ground, wringing his hands together and said 'I want to make sure you didn't join a gang, I want to protect you so you don't die'".

Sehun let's out a little chuckle but Baekhyun's mind was reeling, Chanyeol was a really weird kid. 

"I was so confused, me being a kid and all. I asked him what he was talking about, he said it was because my face was scary and that I looked mean. After that I got used to him following me around and we got close" Sehun finished. 

Baekhyun saw a faint smile on Sehun's face as If he was remembering things from back then. Baekhyun was starting to wish he had known Chanyeol back then but then again he wouldn't know how he'd react to the weird things he said. If he would be like those bullies or the other kids who labelled him as just messed up or maybe he would've of been like Sehun someone who just accepted him despite his weirdness. But he thinks back to how he behaved in Seoul and ruled that out, he hadn't realised how solemn he has gotten since leaving the city. He's been more in tune with his feelings and he had gotten used to the chores and was surprised how he now called Jeongsuk's house his home. 

"Chanyeol, where the hell could you be?" Baekhyun heard Sehun say quietly. 

Baekhyun's mind drifted. They were skipping class but neither of them had the heart to be in class right now. Suddenly and image pops up into Baekhyun's mind, one that was rather random but made his eyebrows scrunch. It was the image of Chanyeol's step mom the morning in their house, her cheek swollen. Baekhyun was confused, why was that coming into his mind? And then another popped up of the time in the chicken coop when he had witnessed the way Chanyeol winced and cradled his side. But wasn't that because he hit his side? 

"Sehun, has Chanyeol ever looked hurt to you before?" Baekhyun asked.

He saw Sehun face contortnin confusion but he looks to the ground, thinking. "actually this one time we were in the barn he had bent down but made a sound as if he was in pain, why?" he asked. 

Baekhyun felt there was something not adding up that should be. He finally recalls the conversation he heard by Mina and Chanyeol in the kitchen that one day. they were talking about not wanting to leave, talking about how they'll have it bad when they finally go back home.

Baekhyun gasped, suddenly realising. He shot up from the bench and Sehun looks up at him confused. "Baekhyun?"

How could he have been so stupid not to notice? How? The signs were right there. He twirls around to Sehun. "have you ever been to Chanyeol's house?" 

Sehun shakes his head "I know where he lives but he's never let any of us sleep over or come inside, says his dad is strict about strangers".

"don't you think that's weird?" Baekhyun says frantically, everything coming into the light. 

"how so?" Sehun was still confused by the small one. He thinks back to how Chanyeol always got protective and a little bit panicky if any of us suggests going over to his house. How he always had some excuse, his dad being strict the dominant one of them. 

They had all given up asking, but then sometimes Chanyeol would disappear and come back being silent and looking tired. Sehun had once caught him before in gym class with compacts of makeup but he had brushed it off. 

Sehun also shoots up "no" he says as in disbelief. Baekhyun nods. "but he would've told me! I'm his best friend" Sehun exclaims. 

"what if he didn't want you to know?" Baekhyun's says, which was mostly likely the case. 

"that damn kid! He must've been suffering" both Sehun and Baekhyun was feeling a brewing wave of adrenaline hit them. Both were feeling upset and panicked about what they had just discovered. 

"what if he's hurt or in trouble, we have to do something" Baekhyun says.

"but we don't know where he is" Sehun says frustrated. 

Just then the sound of footsteps drifted into their ears from behind. Both of them turn around quickly thinking it was a teacher coming to take them to the principal office for skipping class, but is was a man. He was walking down the front steps of the school, he had black hair, was fairly tall, taller than Sehun probably and Baekhyun could see he had really toned muscles.

Baekhyun feels Sehun go still beside him and looks at him questioningly. 

"that's Chanyeol's dad" he says.