They had finished their lunch but Baekhyun was still dazed. “Hey, what did Luhan say to you that’s got you looking so happy?” Sehun finally asked as he lifted an eyebrow to Baekhyun’s direction. Baekhyun momentarily put his head down and faced Sehun, a smile slowly creeping up his face. “Chanyeol’s finished!” He shouted as he hopped ahead of Sehun.

He kept on shouting Chanyeol’s finished! Over and over as Sehun watched in embarrassment “Hey, stop it.  You’re attracting too much attention.” Sehun sighed as he grabbed Baekhyun by the collar and dragged him to the bus stop. “So, what are you going to do? You haven’t contacted him since he left 5 years ago, right?” Sehun said as he leaned against the poll, cold winter air crashing into his cheeks.

“I-I don’t know.” Baekhyun stopped bouncing around, staring at the ground as he dug his shoe into the dirty snow. “I don’t want to contact him, it’ll be weird. I want him to contact me first so that I know he’s really coming back.” Baekhyun said with a smile, lifting up his head to meet Sehun’s eyes.

“Alright, do what you like.” Sehun said, trying his best to loosen the blue scarf around his neck. The bus came and both boys hopped on, heading for the direction of their neighborhood. The two hadn’t changed houses, still living in the neighborhood where EXO high was situated in. They both got off, each waving at each other as they went in different directions.

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“I’m home.” Baekhyun shouted as he dusted off the snow on his shoes. “Oh, Baek, welcome home!” His mom greeted him as she passed by the front door, a tray of hot chocolate in her hands. “Hm? Why did you make some?” Baekhyun walked towards his mom, grabbing one of the mugs. “They’re for your friends.” He was gulping the hot chocolate down, not caring if it burnt his throat.

“Friends?” He said as he finished it in one shot. His mother motioned him into the direction of the dining room, where Jongin and Yixing sat. “You guys!” Baekhyun shouted, letting go of the mug unconsciously. Jongin found himself getting of the table and dove to catch the cup in his hands. There was a moment of silence, and Jongin sat up to place the mug on the tray. “God, you’re still the same.” He extended his hand and ruffled the shorter boy’s hair. Baekhyun looked up at him, it felt like he had grown a bit taller than he used to be in high school. Baekhyun stepped forward and extended his arms, bringing the boy into a hug.

“Jongin, did you grow taller?” Baekhyun was smiling, staring up at the tan man in front of him. “Nope, I think you just grew smaller.” He pinched Baekhyun’s nose, it being red due to the cold temperature. “Hey, are you two love birds going to ignore me?” Yixing said, a frown on his face. “Yixing!” Baekhyun ran to Yixing’s side and pulled him into a hug as well.

Baekhyun’s mother had placed the mugs of hot chocolate on the table, smiling at the reunion. “What are you guys doing here?” Baekhyun had sat across them, eagerly waiting for their stories. “We wanted to come back to Korea, so yeah, here we are.” Yixing chuckled, turning the mug in his hand.

There was an awkward silence, Baekhyun staring at the two. They looked like they wanted to say nothing, but kept to themselves. “Are you guys alright?” Baekhyun asked as he cocked his head to the side. “Why, what do you mean?” Jongin looked up, trying his best to flash his best smile. Baekhyun began to look suspicious, making the two boys shift awkwardly.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Baekhyun felt like they were hiding something from him. “Nothing’s wrong with us. We’re just happy we finally got home.” Yixing had lifted himself from his chair to ruffle Baekhyun’s hair, making Baekhyun even more confused and suspicious. “Nope, there’s definitely something up.” Baekhyun did his puppy-pout, a pout enough to make the two boys to squirm.

“Alright.” Yixing sighed, facing Jongin as he did. “Are we really going to tell him though?” He added. Jongin looked at Yixing to Jongin, a doubtful expression spreading on his face. “Yeah, he deserves to know.” By this time, Baekhyun found himself being a lot more curious than he was before. “What is it?” He felt himself at the edge of his seat; as the boys seemed to hesitate on tell him.

“We haven’t heard from Chanyeol for the past 5 years.” Jongin said facing Baekhyun directly. “Also, when we try to find out where he is, no one has the proper information.” He added, biting his lip on Baekhyun’s expression. “Recently, we flew to the US to personally go to Old Man Park’s residence, and it seems… Chanyeol disappeared 2 years ago.”

Baekhyun could feel his insides turn. Chanyeol disappeared? “Haha, what do you mean? Are you joking right now?” Baekhyun tried his best to laugh it off, hoping they were just messing with him. When Jongin and Yixing seemed to have no expression of this ever being a joke, Baekhyun felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach. “His grandfather has been searching for him since, and felt like it was an embarrassment for him to disappear like that, so he never told anyone out of the company. He’s fallen really ill in search for Chanyeol, but he wont give up.” Yixing explained, his teeth grinding against each other. “B-But, Luhan just told me he finished! That he’s done training for his the company!” Baekhyun shouted, slamming the mug into the wooden table.

“That… We told Luhan a week ago, and we discussed if we should tell you.” Yixing said, avoiding Baekhyun’s gaze. “We said that if we told you on the phone, you might do something drastic, so we promised to tell you in person.” Jongin exhaled and looked at Baekhyun, his face twisted into an expression that looked like he was going to cry. “Hey, don’t make that face.” He frowned; he didn’t really know how to comfort people when they were crying.

“I… “ Baekhyun couldn’t feel any words coming out of his mouth. Chanyeol, where are you? “I’m going to look for him.” Baekhyun said as he put his head up, determination in his face.

The two boys smiled at him, knowing this was the response he’d give. “We knew you were going to say that.” Baekhyun could only fidget in his chair, realizing he doesn’t know where to go and how he’s going to get here, and if he had enough money to spend. “I-I don’t think I can do it.”

“If you’re talking about expenses, that wont be a problem. The two of us already offered, but it seems Chanyeol’s grandfather offered to pay for everything. Since you probably know him the best, Old Man Park requested for you personally. That’s why we’re here, to ask for your opinion.” Jongin said as he sipped from the mug.

“Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will involve going to the US and leaving behind your family.” Yixing playfully said, doing his best to not make it sound too sad. “B-but… my family, my school, my friends…” Baekhyun bit his lip, realizing he’d have to leave everything behind.

“You should do it, sweetie.” Baekhyun immediately turned his head to see his mother leaning against the frame of the door. “I am very fond of Chanyeol, and you can’t just let your boyfriend wander around the world like that, right?” Baekhyun felt himself stiffen at the word boyfriend. Was Chanyeol his boyfriend? Even if they hadn’t met up for the past 5 years? Even if he had no contact with him at all?

“So, are you up for it? We’ll personally let the college you’re at to let you take a vacation until you can find Chanyeol. Please, we just have to find the big guy.” Jongin said as he scratched the back of his neck. “He’s 185 cm, how can no one find him?” He added as he gulped down what’s left of his hot chocolate.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but immediately say yes, unable to regret it in the future. He was going to do this, find Chanyeol, and return to his family to finish his studies.

“I’m going with him too.” Sehun said from behind them, head and shoulders covered in snow. “Yah, Oh Sehun! I told you to dust off the snow before entering my house!” Baekhyun’s mom said as he ran after Sehun, who had turned back to the front door to dust off the snow.

“Sehun!” Jongin said out loud when he saw the slightly more mature looking Sehun. “Woah, did you grow taller? Because I grew taller too! Well, you’re still not up to me though.” Jongin stood from his chair and stood in front of Sehun who was only 2 centimeters smaller.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m going with Baekhyun.” Sehun said again, his face twisting in to a serious expression. Yixing could only sigh at the sight of the tall-but-immature-at-heart boy. “Alright, alright. But not until you make up with Luhan.” Yixing was pointing at him, angry because Luhan was his friend (also because he currently resides in China and he was usually the one who Luhan ran to when the two had a fight.)

Sehun froze and turned from Yixing. “No.” He said firmly. “What?” Jongin could only watch, still unaware if Sehun was actually saying it. “It’s because, I’m going to have to leave him to come back here, and he’s not going to stay in Korea for long, and we’ll be separated again and I don’t want that.” He said it all in one breath, making the three boys smile at his still kiddy attitude.

“Then just meet him.” Yixing said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “I was the one he ran to when you guys fought, it was really annoying.” Yixing said as he ruffled his hair. Sehun quickly turned to him, anger rising in his eyes. “He went to you?” His eye twitched, making Baekhyun immediately get in between them. “Come on, Sehun. Just go to Luhan for now and make up. Nothing’s going to come out of it if you just argue.” Baekhyun said as he pushed Sehun back.

“Also, I didn’t really want to bring this up but, were you guys at a bar last night?” Yixing was annoyed, and was brining out all his secret weapons. “How’d you know about that?” Baekhyun turned his head to Yixing, who had his arms folded across his chest.

Yixing almost bit his lip when he saw Baekhyun’s expression. “My friend said he saw you both in drag.” If this were a normal situation, he would be laughing his of. But Baekhyun had the saddest expression ever that Yixing immediately regretted what he just said. Baekhyun put his head down, shame pulling down his shoulders. “I…”

“I put him up to it.” Sehun said as he went in front of Baekhyun. “He’s been looking for a job, and we’ve done a ton of other stuff. This was the first time we went to a bar.” Sehun was serious now; making sure Baekhyun was fully covered. Tension filled the room as Sehun and Yixing stared back at each other.

“Alright, that’s enough. It’s not like Chanyeol and Baekhyun are together, and Luhan and Sehun split. We’re not in high school anymore, and we have to make our own decisions, alright? Now all of you, stop acting like babies, we’re leaving tomorrow to go meet Old man Park.” Jongin interrupted, quickly grabbing Yixing by the arm. “Bye Baek, Bye Sehun.” Jongin threw them a smile as he headed for the door.

“Oh, you’re leaving already?” Baekhyun’s mom came down from the stairs, looking at the two boys who were getting out of the house. “Yes, thank you for the hot chocolate! Goodbye.” Jongin bowed respectfully, using his right arm to bring Yixing along with him. They their heels and promptly left the house.

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Baekhyun threw himself on the bed, looking up at the ceiling as he remembered the earlier events. “What the hell.” He placed his palm on his forehead, putting pressure on it until it turned red. “Chanyeol, where are you?” He said to himself as he turned to his side, hugging his pillow as he did. He reached his hand out on the table, looking for his phone. He lifted himself up and realized that it was stolen and sighed heavily.

Whatever, He thought to himself. It’s not like I’m expecting a call anyway.

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Ok crappy chapter but i'll do my best in the next one since it's finally the start of the plot i've been working on since before hehe 

thank you for following my stories!