Ellie stared at Minhyuk as he was eating his breakfast. So many thoughts were going through her head. She wanted to know if Chen was the father of the little boy that was eating breakfast or if it was his younger brother. If Chen was the father, then Ellie thought that it explained why Chen was always so secretive about his life. It made sense that Chen wouldn’t want anyone to know that he was a father, especially in a school like that. But even so, then what was the reason for him withdrawing himself from the school? The boy appeared to be older than one, since he was sitting up and eating by himself, but Ellie wondered why, if the boy was the reason, would Chen wait until then to withdraw.

            “Ellie, I’d like for you to meet Minhyuk,” Chen said introducing the two to each other. “Minhyuk-ah, say hello to noona.”

            “Noona?” Minhyuk asked as he stopped eating for a moment to stare at Ellie. “Hello, noona.”

            “Ah, hello,” Ellie said slightly bowing as she was slightly taken aback by Minhyuk. She wasn’t sure what she expected when Chen asked if she wanted to go to the hotel, but she surely wasn’t expecting to see a kid there.

            “So, you’re probably wondering why I asked you to come here, right?” Chen asked.

            “Um…yea,” Ellie said as she followed Chen to the bed and sat down next to him. “But if you didn’t eat, it can wait until afterwards.”

            “It’s no problem,” Chen said showing a smile. Plenty of times he went without eating, so one time wouldn’t hurt him at all. He was even planning on keeping the rest of the food that was extra from the room service to take with them since Chen didn’t know where he and Minhyuk would end up next after the time spent at the hotel.

            “Anyway, so,” Ellie said looking around the hotel room and her eyes once again landing on Minhyuk. “Is this…” She didn’t know how to end the sentence. Ellie worried that if she called the boy sitting there his son that Chen would feel slightly offended at it. So she didn’t know what to call him and let the sentence just fade away.

            “Oh, he’s my nephew,” Chen said without thinking a second thought about it.

            “You have a nephew,” Ellie said nodding her head as she looked at Minhyuk. “Do you have an older sister or an older brother?”

            “Brother,” Chen said. He didn’t want to go into all of the details and just figured that saying that much about his family would be good.

            “But anyway,” Ellie said moving the conversation forward since she could kind of feel that Chen didn’t want to stay on the subject about his nephew any longer. Ellie still had question about the subject and she even wanted to know why Chen was the one that was watching after him, but Ellie had to restrain herself from asking all of those questions and only focus on what was the matter at hand. “Why did you withdraw from the school?”

            “Because I had to,” Chen said sighing. “If not, who else is going to look after Minhyuk?”

            “But why does someone have to look over Minhyuk? Where are his parents?”

            “I’d rather not talk about that.”

            “Oh, alright,” Ellie said nodding her head. “Um…so…what was the reason that you called me here then?”

            “That,” Chen said as he attempted to think of a good reason. He actually didn’t know why he told Ellie to go to the hotel. It wasn’t like he had anything to tell her or anything, but just a part of him wanted to see her. He wanted to see her one last time before he went away for who knows how long. It could be forever, it could only be for a couple of days. Despite however long he was going to be gone, Chen knew that he probably wouldn’t see Ellie ever again. She was destined for greater things, things that weren’t in the path for Chen.

            “Yeah?” Ellie asked as she kept her eyes focused on Chen.

            “Well…that was to say goodbye,” Chen softly said.

            “Goodbye?” she asked.

            “Yea, goodbye,” he said as he looked at her.

            “What do you mean goodbye?” Ellie asked. She was confused. Why would Chen want to say goodbye? Surely he wasn’t leaving. Ellie didn’t want him to leave, it seemed like there was still a lot to discover about Chen and he was a good friend within the school, it seemed like he was the only one that was able to keep Ellie level headed. She was sure that without him, she would lose her control and possibly end up losing Jiyeon as a friend.

            “Goodbye,” Chen said with a half laugh. “I’m leaving.”

            “Where would you be going? What would you be doing?”

            “I don’t know, but…I just have to get out of here. Minhyuk is going with me.”

            “But still,” Ellie said as she attempted to get her head wrapped around the thought. “What about your parents? Surely they don’t want you to leave.”

            “I’m pretty sure it’ll be better for all of us if I left,” he honestly told her. Despite him possibly never seeing her again, Chen still didn’t want to tell Ellie about his family situation. It was just something that wasn’t going to get voiced, no matter how much he trusted that person.

            “Hey, my parents aren’t around, but you don’t see me saying that I’m going to leave,” she said as she attempted to place reason as to why Chen could stay. It would be a lie if Ellie said that she wasn’t going to miss his presence besides her.

            “But you have Kris and you have Luhan,” Chen said with a heavy heart. He didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed like Ellie had other important guys in her life and didn’t need Chen there. He was just the third party, an unknown person entering a world that didn’t belong to him. He belonged in another world, in another life, one that surely wasn’t one that he was living.

            “Yea, but still, they’re not in school with me.”

            “Ellie, you don’t need me,” Chen said shaking his head as he looked at Minhyuk. “I have other people that need me now.”

            “Oh,” Ellie said as she looked at Minhyuk. She guessed that Chen was right and even though she didn’t know the full story, it seemed like Minhyuk was the one that needed Chen more than she did. Chen was right, she had people around her when it seemed like Chen was always alone. Still, Ellie wanted to be there for him, to be there as support and as a friend, but it seemed like Chen didn’t want any of it. “But listen, Chen, if you ever have a problem, you could always come to my house, you’re always welcome. That way you can get away from your parents for a little bit and whatnot.”

            “Thanks for the offer,” Chen said with a smile. “But it’s one that I’m going to have to refuse. I think it’s just better for all of us if I don’t do that. I…I have my own discovering to do.”

            “Alright,” Ellie said nodding her head.

            Slowly, the time passed and it grew dark outside. “You should get going,” Chen said as he escorted Ellie to the door of the hotel room. “Well, I guess it was nice knowing you.”

            “Yeah, I guess so too,” Ellie regretfully said as she looked at Chen. “Remember, if you ever have a problem, I’ll be here for you.”

            “Thanks.”

            “And you can always call if you want to chat and even if you’re in town and want to hang out for a little bit. Don’t forget me, alright?”

            “Alright,” Chen said with a bitter laugh. He didn’t want to leave, but his judgment was telling him that he shouldn’t associate with Ellie anymore. He had a feeling that his life wasn’t going to be the same after the disappearance of Minhyuk’s mother and the sudden appearance of Lay. “I promise. Goodbye, Ellie.”

            “Goodbye, Chen,” Ellie said as she looked at Chen one last time before she began walking away.

            Chen stood in the doorway and watched her go, but not before he would tell her one last thing. “Ellie, wait,” Chen said as he stepped out into the hallway. Ellie turned around and stared at Chen as he walked up to her.

            “Chen, what are you doing?” she asked.

            “This,” Chen said before he lightly placed his lips on hers. It was a short kiss, short but simple. Without words, it showed Ellie how much Chen cared for her and loved her and how much he didn’t want to say goodbye.

            “Chen,” Ellie said staring at him with wide eyes. She was slightly confused as to why he would do something like that.

            “Goodbye, Ellie,” Chen said looking into her eyes once more before he returned into the hotel room and closed the door.

            Ellie stood in the hallway and stared at the door for a long time before her hand slowly reached up and touched her lips. Her mind was confused and she didn’t know what to think. Chen liked her, but he was saying goodbye. Still, Ellie wasn’t sure what her feelings towards him were. There was still Luhan and Kris to think about. “Goodbye Chen,” Ellie whispered before she made her way out of the hotel for good.

“Here we are,” the officer said as he dropped Minhyuk and Chen off at Chen’s house later that night. “Now, are you sure that your mother is okay with Minhyuk staying there?”

            “Of course,” Chen lied. “I already told her about it and she said that she’s happy to have Minhyuk there. Sadly, she won’t be back from her business trip for a couple of days.”

            “Yes, alright,” the officer said looking at Chen. “Well, you two go off and if we have any information about anything related to his mother, we’ll be sure to contact you.”

            “Of course officer,” Chen said as he got out of the car and grabbed their bags. “I would want nothing less.”

            “Alright,” the officer said nodding his head as he looked out onto the road before looking back at Chen who was holding a sleeping Minhyuk. “I guess I’ll be seeing you guys later. If you have any trouble or figure anything out, don’t be afraid to call.”

            “You got it,” Chen said with a smile.

            He stood outside as he watched the police car drive away before slowly entering the house. Chen wasn’t going to stay there any longer than he had to. Honestly, he didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t know what he was going to do. The only thing he was certain of was that he had to get out of there. Whatever happened to Minhyuk’s mother might happen to him. He figured that something was probably out there to get him, maybe they were working with the people that took his mother but maybe they weren’t, he wasn’t sure. At that point in time, Chen wasn’t sure about anything.

            After placing Minhyuk on the couch softly so he didn’t disturb his sleep, Chen made his way upstairs and started grabbing anything and everything. He grabbed bags and filled them with things that he knew he’d be able to carry. Chen also went downstairs into the kitchen and packed what little food he kept in the house. Making sure that the bags were still light, Chen placed them in the living room next to the sleeping Minhyuk before he went to grab the money that he had been saving for years. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to get them by for a little while.

            Going into the kitchen once more, Chen stared at the note that was on the fridge. He remembered that he was going to call Lay, but then the police knocked and he was never able to speak with anyone. Chen wasn’t sure if he should bring the phone number or not and figured that if someone were to go into the house, they would probably call the number to see who Lay was. So, for safekeeping, Chen took down the note from the fridge.

            As Chen was getting ready to head out of the house, his cell phone began to ring. Chen put Minhyuk and all of his bags down and quickly answered his phone so that it didn’t wake Minhyuk up. “Hello?” Chen asked.

            “Chen,” a somewhat familiar voice said. “It’s Lay, just in case you were wondering.”

            “Ah,” Chen said wondering why he would be calling.

            “I’m guessing you’re wondering why I’m calling, right?”

            “You could say.”

            “Well I heard that you’re leaving.”

            “Where did you hear that from?”

            “Doesn’t matter,” Lay said. “All I want to know is if you want to stay with me.”

            “Why would you give me an offer like that? I don’t even know you,” Chen said. He didn’t trust Lay, who knows what he could’ve been doing to his mother. Why would he just be offering Chen a place to stay?

            “But I know all about you. I give you my word that I won’t do anything to you or your nephew.” Chen was about to ask how Lay knew that he had his nephew with him, but his thoughts were cut off by Lay continuing speaking. “If you want to, there’s a car waiting out front for you. If you want to come with us, get in the car.”

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Is Chen going to take Lay's offer? Where is Chen going? Who is Lay? What happened to Chen's mother? Will Ellie do anything about Chen? How will life continue for them?

Here's Chapter 21. Hope you enjoyed :D

And ah, college life. The reason why my updates are always delayed. So sorry about that.

And one of my other fanfics is going to end, so, here's a poll to ask who the main character(s) of my next fanfic should be.