Lay's POV it is! I'll keep it short and directly start with the story since I have not updated in so long.

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Lay's POV

The shopping trip ended with buying a matching pair of comfortable clothes that complimented the clothes that Kai had purchased. I hope that I won't forget where I put it on the day of the competition... I peeked at the bag that I was holding and I felt my face heating up. Inside the bag, I also bought the tight clothes that Luhan had chosen for me. I'm slightly regreting it. When would I ever use these clothes when I prefer comfort over clothes? In a daze, I still managed to arrive at home and I reached into my pocket to find my keys. Digging through my pant pockets, I couldn't find my keys even after ten minutes. Hm... where is it? Suddenly, I felt someone put their hands over my eyes.

"Guess who I am," the person said in a husky voice. I got shivers and tried to calm myself.

"Uh... Suho?" I nervously answered back. A familiar chuckle was heard from behind my head, and the hands were removed from my eyes. I turned around to find a set of keys in my face.

"My keys!" I exclaimed after a moment of surprise. I glanced at the face of the person holding it, and grinned before thanking him. It was Kai.

"Why did you think I was Suho?" he questioned me with a barely noticible smirk on his face. Sadly, I just had to see it and blanked out for a second. I had to think about why, but no matter how I thought, I was not able to come up with an answer. Giving up, I just shrugged my shoulders.

"I lost my keys..." I said a little sadly. The keys Kai was holding was the one that my parents left hidden somewhere outside so that my friends and family could enter the apartment if no one was opening the door. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Suho has them. You gave it to him while we were shopping so you won't lose it. Did he not return it to you?"

I had to pause for a moment and try to recall all that happened today when I finally recalled the moment I had given the keys to Suho. My eyes widened and shook my head. Uh... silence covered the two of us, and Kai cleared his throat before unlocking the door for me and placing the key back to its rightful place under the abnormally large welcome rug. I told him thanks and that I would see him at school tomorrow.

I entered the house to find that the house seemed too quiet and a little gloomy. I have never noticed this before, so I felt some fear and started why I willingly and begged to live away from my family where although the house was also big, it was always filled with noise, light, and warmth. Am I feeling lonely? I furrowed my eyebrows in worry. Have I gotten used to the warmth of people again? What should I do if the time comes for me to distance myself from them to avoid them to stop from harming them, what should I do? I don't know if I can resolutely isolate myself again. This cannot do. I have to distance myself from them.

The next few days at school, the expected bullying arrived and I avoided the eleven people that I had gotten close to. I felt discomfort, however, I knew what I was doing would protect and stop them from harming their reputations.

Nobody's POV

Unbeknownst to Lay, Suho and the others were actually very worried about him. They tried to find him and looked at what was happening around school. When they realized that he was being bullied, they decided to confront him in front of his apartment after school a few days later. They waited for an hour before they saw a scrunched figure walking with unsteady steps towards them. When Lay was within a yard of them, I finally looked up and found the furoius faces of Suho, Kai, Kris, Chen, Chanyeol, and Sehun and the sad faces of the other five. He gasped. His expression changed from shock to sorrow to horror. Lay backed a few steps before being ready to run, but just as he turned his body, an unspeakable pain soared through his body. He could not help himself but crouch down and try to support his body that was trembling in pain. Luhan, Tao, Xiumin, Baekhyun, and D.O. immediately moved towards him to help him up. Suho hurriedly took out the pair of keys that he still had and opened the door. Tao crouched and kneeled before picking Lay up and taking him inside to lay him and his bed. With shaking hands, Tao slowly lifted up Lay's shirt. His body that had fading bruises were once again covered with new bruises. Luhan and Xiumin's eyes turned cloudy and Baekhyun clenched his hands into fists. Baekhyun bolted out of the room and asked Suho to take him to the medicine cabinet. After getting to the cabinet, Baekhyun grabbed some things and then rushed back to Lay's room. He moved Tao out of the way and carefully applied the medicine that he had grabbed. He was so careful and he seemed as if he was touching fragile glass. A glass so fragile that the slightlest pressure would shatter it to pieces. After they got Lay to sleep, they exited the room and entered the living room where the rest of them were. They slowly told them the condition of Lay's body and they blanched. Luckily there was still some time before it was the dancing competition otherwise, Kai would have directly went and canceled their participation.

A couple hours later, Lay opened his eyes and found his room littered with bodies. He was slightly shocked and a dim light to see what in the world was wrong with his floor. He tried to remember what happened before he fell asleep but couldn't remember anything. Seeing that they were his friends, he sighed out a breath of relief before getting up to grab blankets to lay on every body on the floor. Then he grabbed some pillows and lightly placed them under their heads. He then left and went through the obstacle course of bodies once again to go to the kitchen and grab a mug of warm water. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and someone placed their head on his shoulder before muzzling their head towards his neck. Lay's body went rigid before relaxing and patted the person's head.

"Why aren't you asleep?" he asked this person.

I know I do not update much. Thanks to the readers that are staying with me. As always, I'll try to update as soon as possible. I may post a picture of Lay's apartment and the dance outfits in the next chapter.