Everyone was out in a flash, leaving only Sehun and I at home to clear ourselves up. Even after we have completed all our tasks and waited in the living room, there was no sign of either of their whereabouts.

“Do you think they would find them?” I asked nervously, squeezing my hands together and staring at the white walls.

“I’m sure they will, don’t worry,” Sehun reassured me.

Then the sound of rattling through the lock was heard and I quickly stood up.

“We’re back!” Kai shouted.

The four of them came through and looked around; also hoping that Lay and Baekhyun might have came back while they were out looking for them.

“They haven’t come back either?” Xiumin asked.

I shook my head.

After a few more minutes, Luhan, D.O and Chanyeol came back but they have no signs of them either.

“Where could they have gone?” Chanyeol asked.

“I don’t know, can any of you guys think where Baekhyun could have gone to look for his dad?” D.O asked.

“Shall we look in his room?” Luhan suggested.

“Good idea!” Chanyeol agreed and ran up the stairs, two step at a time.

The curtains in Baekhyun’s room were closed and his bed was untidy, the covers were scrunched up in the corner of his bed and clothes which he has worn before where littered around the room. Crisp packets were lying around on his desk and his computer was still .

“Why does this boy never clean up?” D.O said angrily and started chucking the litter on the table into the bin.

“Look what I found!” Chanyeol shouted.

He was looking in a drawer and found a biscuit tin. Carefully chucking the content onto the bed, postcards, pictures and stamps were scattered everywhere. Everyone grabbed a piece of paper and I held a postcard in front of me. On the front was a picture of the beach. The sun was just setting and the waves crashed against the large rocks beside it. I flipped it over and it was from his father. Sadly, there was no address which could give us a clue to where they could be.

“I think I’ve got the address!” Kai surprised us, flapping a piece of paper above his head, “This letter has a return address!”

“Let me see!” Sehun and Luhan shouted back in unison.

“That isn’t far from here,” Kris informed us after peeking over Luhan’s shoulder to get a glimpse of the address, “Maybe an hour or so drive away.”

“We should get going then!” D.O said, “How long is there left Raine?”

“Less than six hours,” I replied.

“I think Raine, D.O and I should go and the rest of you stay at home,” Kris said.

“But I want to go too!” Tao whined.

“We haven’t got all day for this, everyone is probably tired and we need Raine and Lay to find out what happens.”

“Yes, everyone stay here and you guys go,” Xiumin said.

Before anyone else could object or join, we started jogging back down the stairs and out towards the car.

“Be careful, make sure Baekyun’s wish is fulfilled,” Xiumin said.

“I will,” I said and closed the door.

Soon, we were on the motorway, zooming at full speed to get to them as fast as possible. I sat at the back with Kris driving and D.O beside him. Silence filled the awkwardness.

“Did you bring that book?” Kris asked.

“Yes,” I replied, looking at the book on my lap.

I was tempted to tear out each page and rip them into tiny pieces and then chuck them out of the window. It would make a pretty scene with the paper fluttering in the windy breeze like snowflakes. This book doesn’t fully explain what happens or tell us what to do properly. Words appear and disappear whenever it feels like and it doesn’t help when I need it to.

“We’re here!” D.O said and got out of the car.

We have entered a town on the opposite side of the island. It was getting quite late so the streets were a little deserted with just a few people wandering around with their shopping bags. No one noticed the car appearing or the fact that the doors were opening and shutting themselves.

With the address in Kris’s hand, we followed him down a narrow street, past the park where people were walking their dogs and then into a road where houses seemed more prosperous and elegant. The walls were painted white on the exterior and a long tarmac road led up to the front door with tall hedges surrounding the side.

“Baekhyun’s family is pretty well off,” Kris told me when I looked around in awe.

“What was the door number again?” D.O asked Kris.

“134,” he said.

“This is 120, its further down.”

“132,” D.O said, reading the door numbers out loud every time we walked past one, “Here it is!”

I looked up from the address on the paper and noticed two figures standing by the door.

“Lay, Baekhyun!” D.O shouted.

The two figures turned around and look at us. I was sure it was them; they walked down from the path.

“How did you find us?” Baekhyun asked grumpily.

“We looked through your stuff in your room and Chanyeol found a tin with postcards and letters,” D.O told him.

“You looked through my stuff?” Baekhyun bellowed.

“We had no choice!” Kris shouted back, I have never seen him raise his voice like that before, “There’s only a few hours left and you are not telling us the truth, we don’t want you to end up where Raine was earlier!”

“Where were you earlier?” Lay asked worriedly, grabbing my hand and turning me around towards him, inspecting me, making sure my arms were fine, and questioned “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’ll explain later,” I said, “Baekhyun; you need to tell me the truth.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Baekhyun, don’t be so rude,” Kris warned him, “Lay and Raine is here to help you and you should be helpful by telling them the truth, we saw the comment in the book so Raine isn’t lying.”

“So you believe in the book as well then?” Baekhyun sighed, “What has happened to you all?”

“Nothing has happened to us, it is you!” D.O suddenly butted in.

“I haven’t done anything wrong!” Baekhyun shouted and kicked the stone by his foot.

The stone flew up and hit one of the windows. A face appeared behind the curtains and frowned. A man came out.

“Who’s out there?” he shouted angrily, annoyed.

“Dad?” Baekhyun whispered.

We looked at the man, he looked like he was in his thirties but his white hair showed his age. The resemblance of his father could be seen on Baekhyun too.

His father was about to close the door when Baekhyun shouted out, “Dad!”

He stopped. The door opened again. Did he hear that?

I looked at Lay telling him to lend his body to Baekhyun, if he is unwilling to tell us the truth, then he can formerly speak to his father if that is his wish. Lay placed his hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder and he slowly vanished. Lay has transformed to Baekhyun, he stood right at the end of the pathway in the view point of his father’s.  

“Son?”

“Dad.”

“Where have you been?” his father asked, running down in his slippers and then giving his son a big hug.

“I miss you dad!”

“I have missed you too son!”

“I’m so sorry!”

“They couldn’t find your body, so they thought you are dead, but you are still alive!” his father said happily, shedding grateful tears.

“Dad, I am dead.”

“No you’re not; you’re standing right in front of me.”

“I am, dad, I just want to ask you something.”

“What?”

There was a pause and then Baekhyun asked, “Do you still think I’m ugly?”

“What are you on about?”

“Just answer me!”

His father placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him directly in the eye, “I am very sorry for what I have said. Yes, I admit I thought you weren’t my son and did a DNA test to make sure because you looked very different. But after I knew the result and found out that you had surgery, I was very angry at myself so that’s why I shouted at you.”

“I only had it to make you happy.”

“I’m sorry you had to. I never wanted any of my kids to undergo the knife. Maybe because I’ve seen a lot of people who are not pleased with how they look, that’s why I’m so judgemental with appearances, so that’s why when you was born, I couldn’t look at you properly because you didn’t look like me.”

Baekhyun just replied with a nod.

“After the business went down, I was depressed. Nothing seemed right and seeing everyone so sorry for me made me ashamed of myself. None of this is your fault. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for telling me, if only you told me earlier then I wouldn’t have made the stupid decision of jumping off the bridge.”

“But you’re back now,” his father said, a little unsure of what his son meant, “You’re back and everything is going to be alright again.”

“I need to go back now; it’s been nice having you as my dad in this lifetime.”

“Where are you going?” his father asked.

“I actually don’t know, but I need to apologise to my friends. So goodbye,” Baekhyun said, holding back his tears and turned away.

His father was still watching as his son suddenly vanished before his eyes. He gasped but then walked back towards the house, probably thinking it’s just a hallucination.

“I’m so sorry guys,” Baekhyun said when he reached the end of the path.

“You should be!” Kris said.

“Kris!” I snapped, “This isn’t anyone’s fault, blame the damn book and Baekhyun, you don’t need to apologise, I know it’s hard to trust someone you don’t know too well.”

“Raine, I’m so sorry for saying all those horrible things to you,” Baekhyun said, “I was just really ashamed of my stupid death that I didn’t want anyone to know so that’s why I lied.”

“That’s okay.”

“What’s so bad about your death that you have to lie?” Lay asked.