“You go ahead to the old building. I have to meet with Chen. I’ve been blowing him off for weeks and he’s pissed.” Kai takes off, leaving Sehun alone in front of the cafeteria, tray of food in hand. He shrugs and goes outside, squinting into the blinding midday sun. It’s already June and the humidity is suffocating. He hurries across the soccer fields, making sure his soup doesn’t splash out of the plastic bowl.

Xiumin and D.O. aren’t there yet. “I guess I’m early,” Sehun says to himself, sitting down in front of the building and placing his tray next to him. He picks up his chopsticks and shovels rice into his mouth. “Thank God for the shade,” he comments, looking up at the giant maple trees that surround the old building. He closes his eyes and enjoys the feeling of the cool breeze on his skin.

Just then, he hears the rattle of metal chains behind him. Sehun whips his head around to stare at the old building. The padlock falls to the ground with a thud and the heavy chains on the wooden door soon follow. “Who’s there?” Sehun calls, panicking. Ghosts don’t come out in the daytime, right?

“Sehun,” a familiar voice whispers through the door. “I need to talk to you. Can you come inside without being seen?”

“I think so,” he replies, trying to identify that voice. The soccer field is deserted and he doesn’t see Xiumin, D.O., or Kai walking towards him.

“Hurry!” the voice hisses. Sehun quickly opens the crumbling door and enters the building. It’s dark and smells like rotting wood. He feels a little claustrophobic.

“Sehun, it’s me!” Sehun’s eyes finally adjust to the darkness and his eyes widen in shock.

“Luhan!” he shouts, pulling the boy into a tight hug. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

“It’s a long story,” the petite boy replies. “Lay’s here, too.” Lay gives Sehun a little wave from behind Luhan.

“I missed you guys so much!” Tears well up in Sehun’s eyes. “Are you still on the run?”

“Yep. I have to say, being a wanted criminal is getting a little old,” Lay says drily, and Luhan nods.

“I keep telling Tao and Kris we should just turn ourselves in but those two are so stubborn!” Luhan adds. “And what about you? How did you end up going to school?”

“Oh, it’s a long story,” Sehun teases, and Luhan pouts. “The detective in charge of the case took me in and I have to go to school. I’m not a legal adult like you.”

“Really?”

“But why this building?” Sehun demands.

“We picked the lock over the weekend. It was convenient, especially since Tao found out you were going to this school.” Luhan claps his hands over his mouth when he realizes what he’s said, and Lay sighs.

“Tao’s looking for me?” Sehun asks, words rolling off his tongue with difficulty. “Does he still think I tattled to the police?”

“We tried to convince him it wasn’t you, but he wouldn’t listen,” Lay admits.

“Where is he now?”

Luhan plays with his fingers. “Stealing food from the convenience store with Kris. He isn’t ever around during lunch time.”

Sehun slumps down onto the floor as the past eight years come flooding back to him.

Luhan crouches down and looks the boy in the eyes. “I want to you to meet him, Sehun.”

“He wants to kill me.”

“I’ll ask him to give you a chance to explain yourself. I’ll make sure he won’t bring any weapons and we’ll be there to protect you.”

“When?” Sehun asks, voice flat and emotionless.

“I’ll let you know.” Luhan helps him up and pushes him lightly in the direction of the door. “Go.”

“Everything’s going to be alright,” Sehun adds. Not so much to comfort them, but to comfort himself.

~~~

Byun Baekhyun’s tape recording: 0:00 to 2:34

-I was kicked out of the house when I was eight.

-That young?

-I’ll get to that later. It’s not as relevant.

-Sorry, go ahead. I won’t interrupt again.

-They found me crying, wandering around the city calling for my parents. Four Chinese boys named Luhan, Kris, Lay, and Tao. You probably know them already.

-The boys from the newspaper.

-Exactly. They’re all orphans, children whose parents were killed by the Chinese mafia. They don’t like to talk about it, so I don’t actually know much about their past. They took me in and helped take care of me. They taught me the rules of the streets and how to defend myself. They speak decent Korean too, so there was no trouble communicating.

-Can you tell me a little about each boy?

-I thought you said you wouldn’t interrupt.

-Sorry.

-I’ll start with Kris, I guess. He’s not the oldest, but he’s like the leader of our little... family, I guess you would call us. We weren’t much of a gang. He’s big, strong, and dependable. But best of all, he’s a really good pickpocket. He would steal us a wallet every week and we lived off of convenience store food. When the pickings were slim, he would just shoplift directly from the store. He never got caught. Should I move onto the next one?

-One second... Okay, I got it down. Who’s next?

-Luhan is the oldest, but you wouldn’t know it. Life on the streets the childhood out of you like a black hole, but Luhan somehow kept his. He’s carefree and innocent; until you get to know him. He’s actually really smart. Even cunning, sometimes. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, though. We’ve all had to fight in his place once or twice.

-...Fight in his place... Okay. How about Lay next?

-Lay is just... Lay. He’s serious and quiet, but he has an unexpected funny side. He has this guitar that he found laying out by the curb and he taught himself how to play. He’s really musically talented. He can sing, too. If one of us was hurt, he would sing a song with the guitar to take our minds off of it. He also sang for us when we were bored or hungry.

-And Tao?

-He’s the youngest, after me. Before his parents died they had him enrolled in some kind of martial arts class. He’s a really good fighter. Every time he beat someone up it made me relieved I was on his side. He’s also kind of emotionally unstable, though. He has a big temper and does things without really thinking. It also goes the other way. He really cared about us and was always thinking of ways to get us off of the streets.

-Like what?

-I’ll get to that later.