HENRY POV

We didn't move, as Yoseob ran out. Taemin couldn't- he was frozen, lost in his memories. Chanyeol was reduced to sobbing, his head buried on Baekhyun's shoulder, while Baekhyun comforted him, trying to save a drowning man. And I just sat there, suddenly cold. What had happened to Yoseob wasn't the most terrible thing we had heard of, or in Kikwang's case, not heard of, but it was still up there. It was still terrible. It was still enough to hurt horribly, still enough that the memories of his own past might wake the tears of the others. We just sat there, as Taemin finally shook himself and got up, robotically, eyes unfocused but staring at one point, before he tore them away from the invisible threat and moved to the kitchen, methodically turning off the burners, cleaning the stove, sweeping the floor, and I, with nothing better to do, helped him.

It was late; 12 o'clock, to be exact, when we had almost finished cleaning the kitchen, and Chanyeol had wiped away his last tears, closed his mental armor again, took a deep breath, and slid off the table without a word; to Baekhyun, to Doojoon and Dongwoon, who had just appeared in the door, to me. He just lowered his head, hair falling to his eyes, and walked out, following the path to his room, on the third floor, shared with Baekhyun.

My heart heavy, the general aptmesphere so different than usual, I lifted my eyes to meet Dongwoon's puzzled ones. 

"What-" Dongwoon started, his voice so cuttingly loud that Baekhyun, who was still sitting on a table, eyes glued to the stairs where Chanyeol had disappeared, flinched and cast a glance over at the two newcomers. 

I cut him off before he could hurt anyone more than they already were. It was that, when Yoseob had told his story, it had bared old wounds, that Taemin and Chanyeol had tried to bury so deep. And they had succeeded- but those words had brought them back to the surface, red and raw. 

"Yeseob's missing," I said, because it was true. Yoseob had a night shift tonight, with Taemin and I, but he had disappeared out the back door and hadn't reappeared. Dongwoon narrowed his eyes at me. 

"Do I have to look for him?" He asked, his tone slightly annoyed. Doojoon, beside him, was slightly more observant; he was staring at Taemin, who was wiping the same spot over and over, head bent. He sensed something was wrong, but I didn't want him to find out anything more. Blithe was a wound right now; cut, revealed, vulnerable. It was not the place of someone so new to see, to know about. He would find out eventually, I know. They always do. But I will not let that night be tonight. I will not let these vulnerable people, barely more than kids, be hurt more. 

So I solidified my tone, made him leave. "Neh. He went out the back door maybe a half hour ago. Bring Doojoon with you, and when you find him, bring him to the door. Then go get some sleep, neh? You both don't have a night shift tonight, and we'll all wake up early tomorrow. So get some rest," I told him, shooing them out the door when they didn't make a move to leave. 

After they had gone, I took a breath, pressed the heel of my hand to my temple, feeling my pulse throb under my hot skin. Then I let out a puff of air, turned away from the gust of cold air that slammed into the interior of Blithe from the opening of the door, and when Taemin offered the mop to me, I took it without a word.

*     *     *

CHANYEOL POV

The room was dark, but I went in anyway, feeling my way across the small room to fumble with a switch for a second before flicking on the light. The soft yellow glow lit up the two twin beds, the dresser, and small desk. It was my room; mine and Baekhyun's, the one we had shared ever since we had both come here. The window, tightened against the cold, was foggy with white. I made my way across the carpet, and as I crossed the room, habitually grasped my wrist, so my palm could feel the slightly raised ridges marking the back of my other hand. It comforted me, somehow. It reminded me that I was here; They were healed, years old now, the inflicters were in jail, and I was safe. I was safe, I always think to myself, but how can I be safe if a simple story, a simple retelling of the past could make me so weak? 

As I leaned my palms on the lip of the window, peering out at the semi-flat roof that stretched from the room's only window, I suddenly felt so suffocated, so hot and claustrophic. So I let my fingers wander to the groves carved in the windowsill, and on a whim, I pushed up, so a blast of freezing air hit me straight in the face, as well as stray flakes of cold that blew from the stack of snow about three inches high pressing against where the window was, but I managed to open it all the way. But it still wasn't enough. 

So I did something I had never done before, not even in the heat of the summer. Wearing only a thin coat, jeans, and a hat, I brushed the snow away, and slowly folded myself up to slide out of the window, until I was sitting in the melting snow, numb and free, on top of a three story building, looking over Seoul. 

The city was really very beautiful at this time of night. The light coming from the streetlamps, from the little square windows of buildings, from shops open late, was peaceful, excluded from each other, and yet so joined together, in a grid of life. The snow muffled everything, made it softer, prettier, less real, and the full moon shone bright as flakes drifted slwoly down. The cold air was frost against my skin, but now, in this moment, I was invincible. I was alone, I was myself, I was just a viewer of life. 

I don't know how long I sat there, eyes soaking in, muscles relaxed, but as I heard a door open and close, scuffling feet, and a shrieked explanation, I broke out of my trance to glance over at the open window where I had climbed out. Baekhyun was standing there, shivering from the cold air that had invaded our room, eyes huge and mouth open. If I wasn't so out of it, I would have laughed. But I was, so I just looked merrily at him until he regained his voice. 

"Channie! What are you doing? You're going to get sick, if you sit out on the roof like that! Come inside," he yelled, but I didn't want to go. This was my best friend, my best friend in the world, and I would die for him. I would. But I can't forget how he hurt me today too, even if he doesn't realize it, even if I don't know why he had hurt me, or how.

But when he realized I wasn't moving, he adapted a softer tone. "Channie, please. Please come inside." So I got up, my soaked, and teetered across the roof to crouch down and enter the room again. Baekhyun had backed up to let me through, but he watched me with such sad eyes that I couldn't help but comfort him. 

He let me hug him for a while, and then pushed me off, more gently than usual, and pointed toward the dresser. "Change. Now," his tone implying to me that I shouldn't argue, so I didn't, and changed out of my soaking clothes to warm, fluffy ones, and climbed into bed after, the room slowly warming up after Baekhyun had shut the window behind me. Baekhyun changed too, and then went over to me, his eyes still that soft brown. 

"Channie..." He started, but he couldn't get any further. He just shook his head, and started to turn away, but I was cold. I was suddenly lonely, empty, and I was tingling, in between being warm and freezing. So I caught his hand, pulled him back, and when I gave him aegyo eyes, he relented, and climbed into the bed with me. And that was how I feel asleep, warm, wrapped in Blithe's embrace once again, my mind clear, my worries calmed for now.

*     *     *

YOSEOB POV

I hadn't known where to go. So I just ran, out of Blithe, out of all that sadness that I had brought to the surface, and ran. I ran like if I moved fast enough, I could escape everything. Seoul blurred in front of my eyes, so I could only see the snow covered pavement in front of me, and the traits mad turns in a city that I had no idea how to navigate. I ran, putting all my anger and frustration into my steps, into my raising breath, until I couldn't run anymore, and I was curled up, breath heaving, the only sound coming from me. I closed my eyes, and when the tears came, I didn't try to stop them. I let them fall, spotting the snow with more water, I let them trickle down my face, down my skin that felt like ice, I let them go until I didn't have anything left to give. 

I had probably ruined my chances of ever going back to Blithe again. I had ruined the fragile friendships I had built, I had broken people, I had hurt people that didn't need more pain. I was alone. I was truly alone. 

So when a hand, shy but sure , entered my vision, I started in suprise. Looking up, my eyes still blurry, I was even more suprised when I saw the owner of the hand was Kikwang. Big eyes steady, mouth drawn into contained sadness, hand still and palm facing up, he met my eyes. 

He was offering me a choice; to accept him, to accept his tentative reach out of himself, or to stay here, to be alone, to cry. So I did what he asked. I lifted my shivering hand from the snow, and grasped his hand, his warmth, and I unknelt, stretching towards the sky, and left wherever I was, behind.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Soooooo sorry for the like month and a half wait. I know. It was unacceptable. But I started a new fanfic, and then a couple more, and then I sorta dropped this fanfic, and then like a week ago I wanted to update this but I had totally lost my train of thought for this story. So here you go! Chapter 6!

I have said this, but I will stay it again. Comments make me motivated. They make me want to write. Since literally no one had commented, I stopped this for a while. But then KiSeOb2STbias, (who I am so thankful for and luvvvvvvv) commented, and then I started thinking about this again. But then I started school, and got soooo freakin busy, so IM SORRY!!!! 

And then BlingBlingKey (who I luvvvvvvvvvvvvvv, like, luvvvvvvv) commented today, just when I was starting to write, and made me motivated to finish this chapter. So thank you, both of you! 

You see. Comments makes me excited and so happy and make me want to write. So please, please, just spare like five seconds to make me happy:)

Over my, ahem, break, I've gotten better at writing angst! So this story might get sad!!!

Guys, please calm down. Please, calm. I know it's exciting. Just try to control yourselves. 

THANKS FOR READING!!!! COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, BE AWESOME!