The soft cushion of the bed was slowly making Jongin drowsy. After he got home from work, all he could think about was whether he should attempt to save Luhan or leave him as he is. Of course Jongin wanted to save him, the moment he saw him he felt the need to keep him safe. But how could he save Luhan? They've clearly started to change the way the chip works if the people can show emotions now. Leaving Luhan alone doesn't seem like the right thing to do. Not to mention that Jongin has feelings for Luhan. How can he leave the person he cares about the most in the hands of the government. He wanted the Luhan he knew back. There was also a chance that they could escape if he met with Taeyeon again. In the midst of it all, there was still hope. Tired from all the thinking, Jongin's eyes slowly began to close. As he was falling asleep, he thought of a better world, where everyone was normal and everyone was happy.

                        ~

Jongin placed more white papers in the chute. He looked to his left where Taeyeon once stood about a month ago. It had been a long month since he was transferred down to the mail room. A month had passed since he last saw Taeyeon. That whole month he was left in peace. However, it didn’t make Jongin feel any better. Every day he was forced to face the one he loves and cares about. It was torturous and he knew that Tao was trying to get a message across. But Jongin didn’t care about the lesson, he just wanted to be able to speak to Luhan again. He would do anything to have him back. So today, Jongin decided that it was time to bring him back. He didn’t know how but he had to try.

Jongin had been thinking about it the whole month. He figured that the easiest way to talk to him and possibly get him out of the company building is to approach him during lunch. Every day Jongin sat at the same corner and Luhan sat in one of the back tables. If Jongin could find a way to arrive at the lunch area before Luhan, he could sit at the table that Luhan usually sits at. After that, he can attempt to have a conversation with him and go from there. Of course the overall plan is to get Luhan back to his own house but he was not too sure about that yet. Jongin figured that if he could sneak out about five minutes before lunch and hide in the bathroom for a bit, he would be able to arrive at the table earlier.

So that's what he did. About 10 minutes before lunch began he asked to use the restroom. The supervisor was half asleep when Jongin asked so Jongin got past him easily. Jongin went to the bathroom and waited for five minutes before slowly walking over to the elevator. Lunch was always served on the 10th floor, so he pressed the button with the number 10 on it, hoping that no other worker was waiting for the elevator on the upper levels. Once he got to the 10th floor, he saw that a couple workers were already getting lunch. Jongin waited in line with them. So far everything was going well. He picked up his tray, grabbed the usual food and sat down at the table. Waiting for Luhan to walk in the cafeteria was nerve wracking. Jongin though of what to say. How would he sneak out with Luhan? Maybe this was a bad idea. He should just go ba...

Jongin heard the clank of a tray hitting the table. He slowly looked up and saw that Luhan had arrived at the table. Jongin looked around and saw that there was not that many people close by. There was no going back now. He awkwardly picked up his chopsticks and began picking at his food. Luhan seemed to not notice him. Jongin slowly tilted his soup bowl and spilled some of it on the table.

“Ugh, I’m so clumsy” Jongin spoke somewhat to himself.  Luhan noticed the spilled soup and rolled his eyes at the clumsy person. He reached for his napkin and handed it to the person.

“Here. Please be more careful next ti-” Luhan looked at the stranger and noticed it was the guy that was in his house the other day. “You-”

“We don’t have much time. Come with me, I have something to show you.” Jongin spoke lowly.

“What are you talking about. I’m not going anywhere with you. I have work to do” Luhan began to eat his food again.

“It has to do with the reason I was in your house the other day.” Jongin tried to convince Luhan to go with him.

“It can wait.” Luhan ate a spoonful of rice. Jongin was running out of ideas. Soon lunch would be over and it would be more difficult to escape.

“Tao told me to not tell you but..” Luhan looked at Jongin “he wants you to come with me to his office outside of the building. He didn’t want you to know that he was asking for you, but you won’t believe me so I had to tell you.”

Luhan still didn’t looked convinced. “Why would he send you.”

“Because I have nothing important to do in the mailroom. He sent me because he didn’t want to disturb the other workers”

Luhan finished his food and placed his chopsticks down. “Fine. I’ll go with you. Besides, if what you’re saying isn’t true, we won’t be able to get out the front door. Let’s go.” He stood up and began to walk out of the cafeteria.

Jongin quickly got up and followed Luhan. They stood by the elevator waiting for it to open. As soon as it did they both stepped in and Jongin quickly pushed the button for the lowest level.

“What are you doing, the exit is not on that level.” Luhan said

“We were instructed to go out this way. Can you please stop questioning me and just follow” Jongin said.

After that it was awfully quiet. Jongin just wanted to wrap his arms around Luhan and tell him that everything would be okay. That he would save him and take him back home to his parents. It was hard to believe that just months ago, Luhan was in China living peacefully with his parents. Why did Luhan even come here? Why did he have to be on that airplane? He was going to do everything he could to save Luhan and possibly himself.

The elevator made a *ding* sound and the door opened on the last level of the building. Jongin walked out and tried not to look like he was being secretive. In the month that Jongin had been working in the mailroom, he noticed that the workers came in and out of a certain door. The door apparently led outside and most of the workers would go out to smoke or just sleep. No one was there at the moment since it was lunch, so this was the perfect exit. He walked out and saw the there was a fence.

“” Jongin cursed under his breath.

“How is this an exit?” Luhan questioned Jongin as he turned to look for a gate or something. He saw it and ran up to it half expecting it to be locked.The lock was there, but it was unlocked. He quickly opened it and let Luhan out.

“It’s an exit” Jongin said as he walked away with Luhan. They walked in silence until they reached his home.

“Whose home is this?” Luhan looked at it from left to right as Jongin opened the gates. Once they were both in Jongin locked the gates. He knew that people would notice their absence and quickly begin to search for them. He took Luhan towards the abandoned shed and led him in.

“Are you sure this is Tao’s office?” Jongin also locked this door and led Luhan towards the table.

“Sit here” Jongin told him. He went to look for his supplies that he would use to take out Luhan’s chip.

“Look I don’t know why brought me here but clearly Tao is not here so I’m leaving.” Luhan stood up and walked towards the door. Jongin grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to the chair.

“Just sit okay? He’ll be here” For a moment Jongin didn’t doubt that Tao would show up.

Jongin had everything ready. To make sure that Luhan wouldn’t leave as soon as he started, he had to tie him to the chair. He found a rope and slowly approached Luhan. When he wasn’t looking, he wrapped the rope around him and quickly tied it.

“What are you doing?! Why are you tying me?” Luhan began to squirm around.

“This is for your own good Luhan. I’m going to save you and bring you back to your parents in China. I promise.”

“What are you talking about, let me go!” Luhan continued to put up a fight. Jongin grabbed some duct tape and taped his mouth shut. He then took Luhan’s left arm and felt around, looking for the chip. He touched everywhere, but he didn’t feel the chip anywhere in his arm. Did they move it? Jongin began to search his other hand but he still felt nothing there.

Suddenly he heard banging on the door of his shed. They were here. He had to get out somehow. He quickly cleared everything from the window in the back so he could get out. The door of the shed flew open and three men ran in.

“Hey!” They saw Luhan tied and Jongin trying to open the window. Jongin quickly grabbed the thing that was nearest to him, which happened to be a shovel. Two of the guys were trying to untie Luhan while one guy went after Jongin. Jongin quickly went to stop the men that were untying Luhan but they reached Jongin first. He was knocked onto the floor and they were trying to restrain him. At this point the two men had managed to untie Luhan and they were taking him away. Jongin was not going to allow them to take him away again so with as much force as he could, he pushed the man that was holding him, got up and ran towards Luhan. The two men heard him coming and threw Luhan out of Jongin’s reach causing him to trip and hit the back of his head on the corner of a small cabinet. Jongin took another nearby object and hit both of them men. One of them passed out while the other began to bleed from his head. To finish him off, Jongin hit him with his elbow and he passed out as well. As for the other guy, he quickly ran back to him and tied his hands and feet with the rope. Once he was done, he went back to when Luhan fell and carried him on his back. He walked out of the shed, seeing that more cars were coming and ran out the back door and into the woods.

                        ~

At first, it was unclear of where Jongin should or was going. But after he thought for a while, he knew exactly where to go. When he was younger, Sehun and him would always go through the woods to get to Taeyeon’s house. So that’s how Jongin found himself at the poor neighborhood once again. Taeyeon had been right. The neighborhood was very poor and in very bad condition before everything happened, but now, it was even worse. Houses made of cardboard, very few were bad of cement like they used to. When Jongin used to come with Sehun, they would often smell a delicious meal being prepared but now, there was a god awful smell that was hard to describe. The people that Jongin managed to see were wearing dirty and old clothes and they looked very skinny. It was a horrible scene. Slowly Jongin approached the neighborhood with Luhan still on his back. Jongin was sweating from the walk there. He walked straight toward the house where he spent some of his childhood. People that were outside stared at him. They weren’t judging him, they were just trying to comprehend who he was and whether he was dangerous. Jongin was wearing a white button up shirt and black jeans after all. He reached Taeyeon’s house and he hoped that she would be there. He knocked on the door and waited.

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Guys I am extremely sorry for this extremely late update. 

I know it has been so long since I updated, I am really sorry I took so long. My father recently passed away and school on top of that has not helped. I hope you guys will understand. I will try my best to update when I have free time. The school year is almost over so I have time during the summer. 

I also hope you liked this chapter, sorry for any mistakes etc. 

I would also like to take the moment to ask you all to please Pray For South Korea. I'm sure most of you have heard what happened, if not, there was an accident on a ferry. A lot of students were trapped inside and they are currently still trying to find everyone. There was about 475 passengers and 25 have already passed away. I hope some EXO fans can be more understanding and patient. Right now this is more important. Thank you all, have a nice day!