Baekhyun was punctual that afternoon. In fact, no sooner had I put my clean socks away than I heard his slightly deranged calls from the other side of the wood.

Opening the door, I was greeted with – surprise, surprise – another Christmas jumper.

“Christmas has passed, you know,” I told him as I let him in.

Baekhyun smoothing his jumper defensively, “You can still wear these until the Christmas decorations come down.”

“Want something to eat?” I asked, praying I had some sort of ready-made snack in for him.

“No, it’s ok. Sehun told me about your cooking.”

I shot him a look before showing him through to the living room.

“So,” I began, sitting on the edge of the couch nervously. I didn’t really know what to ask first.

Silencing my thoughts, Baekhyun dramatically held up his hand. “Just so you know, I reserve the right to refuse any question you present me with. However,” he closed his eyes and put his hand across his heart. “What I do answer will be completely honest and true to the best of my knowledge.”

I raised an eyebrow at him for making this seem like a court case, but said nothing.

“Plus,” he continued, smiling a little mischievously. “I’ve got questions for you, too.”

Without wasting time, I crossed my legs up in front of me on the couch and rested my head on my hand. “Ok, I want to know about Sehun’s old school. Do you know it?”

Baekhyun thought for a moment. “You mean his middle school?”

“No. Earlier than that.”

Giving me a wary glance, I could tell Baekhyun was wondering whether I knew about Sehun’s family’s business.

Helping him along, I said, “I know what his family does for a living.”

Pausing, then looking impressed, Baekhyun finally answered. “Before his mother passed away he went to this big posh school for rich kids with too much money to know what was good for them.” He quickly tacked on, “His words, not mine.”

So what Luhan had said was true, and he really did knoe Sehun.

“Ok. Do you know why he left that school?”

Baekhyun made a long thinking noise before finally saying, “Yes, but I don’t think I should say.”

I nodded begrudgingly. “Does he ever talk about the people from his old school?”

Although Baekhyun looked a little suspicious, he shook his head. “I never hear him doing it.”

Opening my mouth to ask another question, I was met with Baekhyun’s hand in very close proximity to my face. “I want to ask now,” he said, face a little pouty.

“Fine. Ask away.”

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Baekhyun leant towards me a little. “I’ve never been to Sehun’s at Christmas, but I'm curious . . . When you were there, did you see anything odd?” This was just like what he had asked me about on Christmas day.

“His family is horrible,” I told Baekhyun simply. “Except Kyungsoo.”

“You met Kyungsoo?” He sounded surprised for some reason.

“Yeah. He’s cute, right?”

Baekhyun screwed up his face a little. “I don’t know, he’s sort of seems satanic to me.”

I scoffed. “Don’t be stupid, it’s Kyungsoo’s mother that’s demonic.”

“Phyllis?” he screwed up his face when he said her name.

“She’s awful. I can see why Sehun left there when he was young.”

Baekhyun his lip nervously. “Did he tell you why he left when he was so young?”

Now that I thought about it, he had been very vague about that. “A little.”

Considering this for a second, Baekhyun tilted his head to the side a little. “I don’t think I can tell you about this, either. It’s really not my place, and Sehun and I have fought about this before. I'd rather not do it again.”

There wasn’t much I could say to this; if he didn’t want to tell me, he didn’t have to. “When I was there,” I gingerly began, scratching my head awkwardly. “She hit him. Phyllis hit him.”

Baekhyun looked at me blankly for a moment before letting out a little sigh. “So you do know then?”

From the way Baekhyun said it, and from the way Sehun had taken the hit so casually, I guessed that it hadn’t been just a one-time thing.

“Did his father do anything?” Baekhyun pushed, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

Thinking back, I recalled how his father had been about to strike Sehun but Phyllis had stopped him - it was something I had noted as strange at the time.

“He didn’t hit him. But he was going to before Phyllis stopped him.”

Baekhyun grunted and shook his head. “They’re really twisted, you know that?”

The way they treated Sehun hadn’t escaped my notice, and it seemed that it hadn’t escaped Baekhyun’s either.

“Have they ever seriously hurt him?” I asked timidly.

Nodding, Baekhyun sat back and ruffled his hair. “Yeah. Sehun had to go to hospital once. When he was about thirteen his father threw a golf club at him. He still has a scar under all that blonde hair from the wound.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and knowing Sehun was there right now only made me feel worse. Getting to my feet, my breathing became unsteady. “We should tell the police. Or child services.”

“They know,” Baekhyun said quietly.

“What?” I gaped at him in disbelief.

“They know what happened. That’s why they let Sehun move out when he was so young. But since Sehun is old enough not to have a guardian now, they’ve stepped back. The only way it will change is if Sehun himself reports something. That’s what we fought about before.”

“But I-” What, Mira? What were you going to do? “But I’m worried about him.”

Baekhyun offered me a sympathetic smile. “So am I. But since he met you, he genuinely seems to be happier. He really likes you, you know?” He smiled, a little more like his usual self again, “It would be nice if the two of you ended up together.”

“What do you mean?”

Baekhyun shrugged, “Just you know, being together the way you both want to be,”

“He likes someone,” I burst out before I could stop myself. Maybe it had been bothering me for a while.

Looking at me like I was stupid, Baekhyun moistened his lips, “Eh, yeah.”

His reaction surprised me. “Do you know her?”

This time he chuckled, trying to fight a smile that I couldn't understand. “You could say that.”

“Is she nice?”

“Yes.”

“Is she nice to him?”

“Very. They are probably the cutest would-be couple I’ve ever seen.”

“Is she-”

“Ask him,” he cut me off, still fighting his smile. “I’m sure he’d love to tell you all about it.”

A knock suddenly sounded from the door. Both of us turned and I checked the time.

“Speak of the devil,” I told Baekhyun as I got up to answer it. I managed to open it before the person on the other side had time to knock again.

Standing in the doorway was Sehun, smiling softly when he saw me. My eyes quickly scanned over him to make sure there was no sign of harm. I couldn’t see any, other than the small bags under his eyes. He looked very tired.

“Were you waiting for me?” he asked a little shyly, peeking to see my reaction. Maybe it was unlike me to answer the door so quickly.

I nodded. “Even though you’ve been warning people off my food, I bought stuff in so we can make dinner.”

Sehun blushed a little and cleared his throat. “I see you’ve been speaking to Baekhyun.”

With a teasing raised eyebrow, I stepped to the side. “He’s in the living room.”

As if on cue, Baekhyun came galloping through. “Sehun!” he exclaimed excitedly. I watched him closely and saw that, as I had, his eyes ran over Sehun with scrutiny. It was something I hadn’t noticed before, but maybe Baekhyun did this every time Sehun returned from his father’s house.

“How’s Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun asked as he slung an arm around a rather reluctant looking Sehun.

“He’s fine,” Sehun grunted as he tried to free himself from Baekhyun’s grip. “He was asking after you,” he told me softly.

“Really?” I hadn’t been expecting it.

Sehun nodded, finally free from Baekhyun. “Yeah, and I managed to sneak back one of his cars for him. I told him only to play with it at night though.”

“Good. He looked so sad when he was told to leave it,” I replied as I took Sehun’s jacket from him to hang it with mine.

There was suddenly a gagging noise and I saw Baekhyun clutching his stomach in a dramatic manner.

“Are you ok?” I asked, but not overly-concerned.

Baekhyun shook his head. “You two are making me into the awkward third wheel!” Sehun and I both rolled our eyes and chuckled at this, causing Baekhyun to gag even further. “See! You’re even laughing the same now, you old married pensioners!”

Exchanging a quick glance with one another, Sehun and I stifled a giggle as we thought of a certain pair of old married pensioners that would have loved to hear that.

“Actually,” Sehun sobered up, turning to Baekhyun questioningly. “Why are you here?”

Baekhyun looked like he had never been so offended in his life. “It’s not me you have to worry about anyway!” he practically shouted, shuffling around so he was standing in front of us both. He pointed to me, “She has another friend. An attractive young man friend!”

Sehun’s face looked a little amused by Baekhyun’s choice of words, but then it straightened out again. Looking to me, “Lu?” he asked almost snidely. Crossing his arms in front of himself, Baekhyun looked smug that he had managed to relay this information to his friend.

“Yeah, the very one.” Who you apparently kno