"Why can't they just ever send us down to some shop five minutes away from the apartment? Why does it always have to be so far away?" Baekhyun asked, he and Tao slowly making their way down the road with frowns and pouts on their faces. 

"I just don't see why Kris and Joonmyun couldn't do this themselves! Sending us to do their work!" Tao exclaimed as Baekhyun sighed 
"I guess it comes with the job" he grumbled, failing to notice that Tao had stopped walking until he bumped into the guy's back 
"What's wrong?" he asked but Tao didn't reply, Baekhyun failing to see why until he looked ahead and saw Jaejoong standing there with a smirk on his face. 

"What are you doing here?" Tao asked but Jaejoong didn't answer him. Instead the smirk remained on his face as three more people emmerged from the shadows to join him. Tao and Baekhyun were now, most definitely, outnumbered... 

One day earlier

It didn't get better when Yixing left work the next evening 

Deciding that if he didn't get anything before he went back home, he and the others were going to have to live on instant noodles for the rest of the week. Something he wasn't really keen on if asked himself. 

Unfortunately, that meant having to stay out in the open for longer. That meant having to get stares from the odd person as he rushed down the road to the nearest shop and threw himself in there. At least if Yunho decided to turn up and try to cause trouble, there would be witnesses around to hopefully help Yixing out. 

"What was it Jongin and Sehun liked again?" he muttered to himself, walking up and down every aisle in the shop trying to remember whatever it was that he could cook up for Jongin and Sehun whilst he and the others ate something else. Then there was the issue of getting something he and the others could eat without having Kyungsoo react to it... why was shopping for food so freaking hard? 

"Aha!" he said when he finally found something. With everything sorted, he could just quickly make his way home. If the others didn't like what he bought, tough. There was no way he stepping out of the apartment for the rest of the evening! He just wanted to go back and lock himself in with a relaxing shower and a chat with Joonmyun like he did every... oh... wait... they didn't do that anymore. 

Sighing to himself, Yixing paid for the shopping and turned to make his way out of the shop. Looking out, he could feel his breath hitch and eyes widen when he saw Jaejoong there staring into the shop from across the road. 

At least... Yixing thought it was him... It had to be. Who else out there looked like Jaejoong?

Wait 

If that was Jaejoong watching him, did that mean that Yunho was sending the others out to follow him now? Watch him? 

Without a second thought, Yixing quickly made his way out of the shop and down the road towards his apartment. Feeling like it was more than just someone watching him, he gradually began to speed up until he was sprinting home and didn't stop until he slammed the door shut to his apartment behind him, leaning against it to catch his breath and calm himself down. 

Too bad the others were there to watch the scene and stare at him with various looks of confusion, watching as Yixing composed himself and cleared his throat 
"Dinner should be ready within the next hour" he said, dropping the shopping onto the kitchen table before walking to his room to avoid the gazes the others were shooting him. 

~

"Eugh, all these couples around me are making me sick" Sehun grumbled, looking over to where Kyungsoo and Jongin were. Kyungsoo with a slight blush on his face and Jongin with his arm wrapped around Kyungsoo's waist 
"Hey! We're not as bad as those two over there!" Jongin replied, pointing to Kris and Tao who were muttering something to each other in Mandarin, sitting pretty close together, as they paused and looked up to find people staring at them. 

"Can we help you?" Kris asked and upon getting no reply, nodded his head and went back to whatever it was he discussing with Tao whilst Joonmyun sighed and stood up 
"I feel you Sehun. I feel you" he said, patting Sehun on the head before walking away, leaving Sehun there to grumble to himself before he got up and walked away to get away. Giving Jongin the opportunity to speak to Kyungsoo with a smile on his face. 

"So, I spoke to Kris earlier" he began in a hushed 
"And I managed to convince to let me take you out to help me out tomorrow" to which Kyungsoo had to double take before his eyes widened 
"Really?" he asked and watched as Jongin nodded his head and his smile grew bigger. 

"Yep. Of course we're going to have to disguise you up a teeny tiny bit, but we'll be fine" he replied but Kyungsoo wasn't entirely convinced 
"And you're sure nothing will happen?" he asked 
"Of course not. We're going ten minutes down the road to pick up a few boxes and some material. What's the worst that could happen?". 

~

Lying there in bed, Yixing couldn't sleep. It was well past midnight and yet he hadn't once been able to shut his eyes and drift off to sleep. Instead it was a case of tossing and turning and counting sheep. Both turning out to be very ineffective methods. 

Turning on his side, Yixing was met with Joonmyun's sleeping figure from the bed next to his. Watching him, Yixing could still feel the guilt eating away at his heart. It was there he decided he had enough. This had gone far enough. Later in the morning he was going to visit Yunho and finally put an end to all of this. 

He couldn't really care on what happened to him now. He could return to his father dead for all he cared. He was just fed up of hurting those he cared about the most. This was the final straw... 

Ahh I'm sorry if this chapter didn't live up to the expectations after the previous chapter! 

You would not believe the trouble I had to go to today with my laptop to get it working, opening this up and getting this chapter written up! 

On another note; I'm so going to love writing the next chapter and the chapters to come after that. Oho it's going to be brilliant! >:D 

Should I give you a hint as to what's going to happen/ potentially happen? Hmm... *ponders* 

I'll guess I could give it to you through song... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt1kc_FniKM (but seriously, listen to this, it's amazing!) 

Until the next chapter!!

*evil laughter in the distance*