November 12, 2020

It's early Thursday morning and the members of EXO are solemnly getting ready for what they were sure would be one of the worst days of their lives. Junmyeon has been trying to mentally prepare the men for this day with sweet words of encouragement thrown to them here and there, but now that the morning is actually here they find Junmyeon just as quiet as the rest of the members. It was a lot harder to be optimistic now that they couldn't run from it anymore. Sehun has been nervously fidgeting with the tie on his suit all morning to the point where Minseok had him take it off, claiming that he would "choke him to death with it if he didn't leave it alone," so naturally he decided that he would go without a tie. 

Today marked two years, ten months, and twelve days since Byun Baekhyun disappeared during their break from touring. They thought by now that they would have found Baekhyun but if anything the strange case surrounding him only became more mysterious as police dug at it. Hours, days, weeks, and then even years ticked away and they never did hear from the talented vocalist again. They had hoped that maybe it was a prank he was playing on them at first, but that hope was pretty much demolished after the first week had gone by; Baekhyun was never one to intentionally cause worry among people.

EXO was still together and they did go on a brief six month hiatus after Baekhyun had first gone missing. There were rumors flying left and right at the time that they were going to disband now that Baekhyun was gone, but if anything the disappearance of one of their closest friends made the boys want to stick together even more. It became nearly impossible to get them separated for the first year; fear running through everyone's heads that someone else would go missing if they were to go anywhere alone. They were more relaxed now, but they still enjoyed it most when all eight of them were together. They were on another hiatus; their management knew that this week would be taxing for them and they were free from their schedule for the next two weeks before they'd be back promoting one of their upcoming albums. 

While they were still a normal band promoting together, things never really went back to normal after that. Jongdae and Kyungsoo had to take on even more lines and were pressured into making up for Baekhyun's absence in songs, which resulted in Jongdae straining his voice several different times with the pressure he was putting onto his vocals. There was still banter among the members but there was always an odd tension whenever things got silent or whenever Baekhyun was mentioned. In fact, the men often tried to avoid talking about Baekhyun's disappearance. They still spoke about the boy, however they acted as if he never went missing; always talking about him in present tense. Never past tense as so many people around them did. Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongdae, and Zhang Yixing took Baekhyun's disappearance the hardest. Of course all the members were close to him, but these three had been the closest to Baekhyun, especially Chanyeol. To Chanyeol, Baekhyun was his best friend. Losing him was one of the hardest things he's ever had to deal with and still is something that he has to deal with. He has to restrain himself several times a day from tagging Baekhyun in an Instagram post that he thinks he would like. It makes his heart sting every time. 

Last week the Gangnam Police Station had made an official statement that they would be closing Baekhyun's case despite public pressure until more evidence was found. It was currently a closed and cold case. On top of that they declared him legally dead. Naturally it was complete and utter chaos when this came out. The fans were livid, demanding that justice be served for Baekhyun and to not become just "another unsolved file" in the police department. It was chaos in the dorms as well. Chanyeol went into shock when he was told that not only were they giving up on the case but that they were also declaring Baekhyun dead. He had thought about the possibility of his best friend dying, but to hear it out loud from a police department had made it feel so much heavier than he ever expected it would. Kyungsoo went into complete shock and did not utter one single word for the next two and a half days while Jongdae walked straight out of the living room and into his bedroom with a loud slam of his door. Sehun and Jongin cried. The two cried a lot and no matter how much Minseok, Yixing, or Junmyeon had tried to comfort them it did absolutely no good. Minseok took the news rather well, but only because he felt he had to as the oldest member. His motherly instincts came out and he tried his best to ease all the members' pain. Yixing kept to himself, not wanting to bother anyone and while he didn't cry in front of anyone, he did later cry himself to sleep for the next three or four days. Junmyeon was at a loss; he had no idea what to do. As a leader it was his job to make sure that the members were okay, but at the same time he was also trying to deal with the loss of . He was never trained on how to handle this kind of situation. He was trained on how to deal with members walking out, but never disappearing and then becoming legally dead. It was all so much. 

And now it was Thursday; the day of Baekhyun's funeral. They avoided this day as much as possible, everyone refusing to talk about it (with the exception of Junmyeon) until the day arrived. They were all dressed in suits and Chanyeol wondered how any of them were going to make it through this. His parents would be there which would no doubt add fuel to their pain, and Wu Yifan, Zitao, and Luhan would all be there as well. It was a little overwhelming, but the men were secretly glad that their three former members would be showing their respect to Baekhyun. Jongdae didn't want to go and he had voiced it various times when they were sat down by their manager and told about the date of the funeral. The first thing out of his mouth was, "how is there going to be a funeral when there isn't even a body to bury?" That was the last time they talked about the funeral as a group. They were all crammed into a van that would drive them to the funeral. They knew it was bad, but they had all secretly hoped it would be quick. 

When they arrived they all remained seated in the van, no one wanting to get out and face this harsh and unforgiving reality. The first one out of the car was Kyungsoo who then helped Sehun and Jongin out. The two younger men were on the verge of crying again and this time no one stepped in to comfort them. It was inevitable; everyone would be cryin