"What?"

"You're coming with us for Christmas break."

Lay looked at the brunette like he was out of his mind. "The group? What makes you think I will come? I don't even talk to you guys."

Baekhyun sighed, glancing around a bit. Being with Lay kinda made him nervous because of what he did. God, he barely knew the guy. 

"Although we aren't close, we can change that. With Sehun being gone and everything, we can start new. I know about the blackmailing and all that, but that still doesn't change who you are and what you did. Dara asked you guys to help her and Chanyeol asked her to help him. To be honest with you, it's in the past now and I kinda want to forget about it." Like he'll ever forget. 

Crossing his arm, Lay leaned back in his chair. After a long moment, he said, "There's something you need to know, Baek."

"What?"

"It's about Sehun. He didn't do it."

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun asked, bit taken aback. Did Lay know something that he didn't?

"Back in our freshman year. We were a big group, the 12 of us just being together. Remember when you and Sehun were really close?"

Baekhyun remembered. The taller boy was someone that Baekhyun could never put a finger on, but at one point in time, they were like brothers. But those things just never lasted. "I hurt him even though I promised him something."

"What did you promise?" Lay asked, leaning closer to him from across the table.

Baekhyun looked down for awhile, deciding whether to tell Lay or not. After a minute, he decided that it was time to let it all out. He wanted someone to know the truth, even if it is someone he barely trusted. 

"I promised him I wouldn't let anyone know about Taemin's death."

Baekhyun barely knew Taemin. Taemin was Sehun's friend and was on the dance team in school. They spoke a few times when Taemin was hanging out with Sehun or Jongin. Although Baekhyun and everyone thought Taemin was normal, Sehun was the only one who knew that Taemin had something to hide. 

It was Freshman year when Baekhyun noticed something about Taemin. Baekhyun was over at Luhan's place when Sehun and Taemin came to hang out. They were all somewhat familiar with Taemin, but not enough to know the boy's last name or favorite color. Then came the time when Taemin offered to take them to go swimming on a cold night. Baekhyun didn't know that Taemin was a swimmer, but somewhere along the line, he was someone who caught his eyes. When Baekhyun acknowledged those little things about Taemin as he watched him, it became a scary thing. 

Once they were in the water, Taemin' skin started to glow a bit but it was nothing much. Luhan stayed on the sand watching them while the three of them were swimming. Baekhyun liked swimming, but it wasn't his forte. 

"Did you notice Taemin?" Baekhyun asked Luhan when they were nowhere near the other two boys. 

Luhan looked up and glanced at Taemin before locking eyes with Baekhyun. "Yeah. Kinda weird huh?"

"Totally." 

The didn't talk about it anymore.

And then it became a thing. And Baekhyun knew he wasn't the only one who noticed. With the way the taller boy barely smiled, with scaly cold pale skin, and a solemn face every time they met, Baekhyun was the first to get it. Taemin was sick. 

"What's up with Taemin?" Baekhyun had asked Sehun one day when he and Jongin were over at Chanyeol's place one weekend. They were all planning on throwing a birthday party for Kris and they were just waiting for everyone else to come and bring some stuff. 

"What do you mean?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Baekhyun whispered. "Is he okay?"

"He is." Sehun didn't manage to say anything else. 

Baekhyun knew something was up. Why was Taemin sick? Why isn't anyone saying anything? It was kinda driving him crazy.

Taemin's death came 3 weeks before his birthday. Baekhyun can clearly remember the things that had happened that very night. Something that will always haunt him. He wasn't supposed to be there when he saw it. It was an accident. 

"He kept running away from me."

Baehyun turned around to look at Taemin's body, a knife pressed deeply into the heart. He was dead and Sehun was the last one with him, covered in dark blood. 

"What did you do?"

"I killed him."

Baekhyun's body shook. They were so close to the school, yet so far from everything else. He just knew they were going to get into trouble. "How?"

"He wasn't supposed to die."

Baekhyun walked closer to Sehun. "Sehun, please be honest. I'm the only witness here. Why did you kill him?"

Sehun shook his head and grabbed Baekhyun's hand. "We can't call the ambulance. We have to go now." 

"Taemin's dead. We can't leave him here!"

"Someone will come and see him." Sehun grabbed his arm. "Please."

Baekhyun shook his head, still staring the dead body. It seemed like a nightmare because Taemin shouldn't have died. Baekhyun knew Taemin was a good guy; he deserved better than this. "You killed him?"

Baekhyun just stood there, but it was Sehun who finally knocked some sense into him. "We have to go. You don't want to get caught do you?"

They ran and far as they could. Taemin's body was left near the school, lifeless and soulless. This wasn't supposed to happen. They ended up taking a taxi all the way up to Seoul where Baekhyun witnessed Sehun crying for the first time in his life. Sehun was crying because of Taemin. They walked up near the Han River and were silent for most of the time. But Baekhyun was scared, but at the same time, he needed some answers. 

"He was my first love. You don't understand."

Baekhyun stared at Sehun for the longest time. Although they knew so much about each other, they didn't understand each other. 

"Taemin was sick."

"He wasn't sick!" Sehun yelled and Baekhyun flinched. If Taemin wasn't sick, then what? 

"Sehun, stop lying to yourself. We can all see that he was sick, but you seem to throw that of proportion. If he's not sick, then what is he?"

Sehun groaned and brushed the hair out of his face. "Taemin once told me that he loved me, but he didn't tell me why we couldn't be together." He kept walking and stopped in front of the water. "And then I found out that he had a heart disease," Sehun looked back at Baekhyun before continuing. "He also had some skin cancer. I guess I already knew he was sick before, but it was only when he told me the truth."

Taemin had heart cancer? Baekhyun looked away from Sehun. "So what exactly happened?"

Sehun told him. They were both hanging out near the school when Taemin suddenly ran away from him and Sehun tried to chase him down. 

 When Sehun found him at the end of the school, Taemin was suffering from a heart attack. Sehun was scared less and tried to help him but it kept getting worse. The bad thing was that Sehun couldn't do anything to stop it and he was so scared. 

"I killed him and I will never forgive myself."

"Taemin! Are you okay?" Sehun was in panic. Oh . 

Taemin was crawling his chest out, like it was burning his insides. "Call someone!" he gasped.

Sehun couldn't.  All he could do was stare at Taemin suffer. But after a moment, he quickly dialed Taemin's dad but he didn't pick up.

"Your dad didn't pick up. Tae, I don't know what to do. You're having a heart attack!" 

Before he knew it, Taemin took out a knife. "Just, please, kill me. Now."

"What?" Was Taemin carrying a knife the whole time?

Taemin was having a heart attack and he wanted Sehun to kill him. 

"I can't kill you."

Taemin was dying and Sehun watched the boy stab himself to death. 

Baekhyun had arrived moments later and saw Taemin lying on the concrete. He was taking a night jog around the area. He wasn't supposed to see anything, but Taemin was there dead. The only thing he didn't know was the truth of really happened. He just saw Sehun covered in Taemin's blood. 

Sehun didn't tell him that Taemin had killed himself. 

Taemin's funeral took place a month later. Not many people knew Taemin and the funeral only consisted of his family, Jongin, Baekhyun, Sehun, and Taemin's cousin, Key. Key said he was never really close to Taemin, but his death was so sudden he regretted not being close with him. Taemin's death wasn't well known around the school and people often asked who he was when his name floated around the hallways. Baekhyun had talked to Taemin's family about his death, but his family never really seemed to care much about him. Baekhyun realized that maybe Taemin wasn't well cared for at home. He had asked them about his sickness, however, they refused to talk about it. 

The cops have done their part of the investigation which took only about a week and said that Taemin has committed suicide. Sehun, Key, and Jongin have been questioned individually and they only came to a conclusion that Taemin took his own life. BothSehun and Baekhyun made a vow to never speak about what happened. Baekhyun promised he wouldn't say anything about his death, but Baekhyun was scared too. He had to tell someone, but he didn't know who. 

"I have to tell someone, Sehun." They were both outside near the EXO park. They had met up around the night time because Sehun had a part time work during the afternoon. 

"You can't."

Bakehyun studied the taller boy. "It will be alright. Taemin deserves better than this. You were the one who wanted to leave him on the end of the street."

"Why would you want them to know that I killed him?"

Baekhyun bit his lips. "Did you really kill him?"

Sehun looked down at Baekhyun. "You already know."

"Does Luhan know anything about this?"

"Luhan? Oh no. He doesn't need to know."

Baekhyun finally made his decision. He was going to tell someone. He just needed to know who.

Jongin was in the middle of living watching a youtube video when there was a loud knock on front door. It kinda freaked him out since he was the only one home. He glanced around a bit before standing up to look through the peephole. 

It was Baekhyun. 

He opened the door to see Baekhyun fiddling with his fingers. "Baek, what are you doing here?"

The smaller boy looked up at Jongin. "I have to tell you something."

Jongin was confused. "What do you need to tell me?" 

Baekhyun quickly walked in and closed the door. Jongin was also Taemin's friend so it made sense to tell him. "Sehun did it." 

Jongin made a face. "What are you talking about? Did he do something to you?" 

"He killed Taemin." 

"He what?" Jongin grabbed onto the boy's shoulder. "What do you mean? They said Taemin committed suicide." 

They were sitting down on the couch now. "He told me not to tell anyone, but since you were close with Taemin too, I thought you should know. Sehun said he killed Taemin while he was having a heart attack. Taemin didn't commit suicide."

Jongin had to piece everything together. What he didn't get what why Sehun would kill Taemin in the first place. The boy loved Taemin like he was his other half. Something was off. 

"Why would he kill Taemin?"

Baekhyun was silent.  He didn't have an answer for that.

"Baekhyun, he did tell you why right?"

"He didn't."

"It's okay Baekhyun. Thanks for telling me."

Now Jongin just needed some time to think for himself. There was just no way Sehun could kill Taemin. 

Jongin found Sehun the next day after school. Sehun was closing his locker when someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Can we talk?" 

Sehun turned to see Jongin, sporting a very nervous smile. Jongin was usually never nervous around him. 

"About what?"

"We're friends. We can always talk right?"

Sehun knew something was up.

They went to a boba shop on the other side of the city. Jongin said that it would be better for them because they didn't need distractions. 

"What's up?"

Jongin just shrugged. "Could've been better. You?"

"Fine." 

"So what have been up to these days? Dance practice isn't the same without you. Or with Taemin either." Sehun had been skipping practice for almost 4 weeks now. 

"I've just been here and there."

"Taemin died. It was a shock for everyone."

Sehun just nodded. "It was."

Jongin sighed, leaning towards his friends. "Where were you when we needed you? Taemin died right out of nowhere and you disappeared. He needed you. " 

"I was busy."

"I know you weren't."

Sehun just looked at Jongin. The gu