To say things went wrong at the TV show was an understatement. They went horribly wrong. He had sat down near his band mates, his friends, and when the hostess of the show had ask him who would he pick to form a group, aside from his EXO buddies, he saw that as an opportunity to do what he was told to do. In a light tone of voice, that he prayed that made people think it was a joke, he had told her that he wouldn’t pick Jessica in fear that she would suddenly dismissed the group in order to pursue other things.

To his horror, the hostess was actually a leech and absolutely milked the story, asking him to elaborate, which led him to state that he had found unfair that SNSD was working hard improving themselves, as artists, while she was busy doing everything but working hard on said improvements, which led him to believe she was not trustworthy nor fair to everyone around her.

Thankfully she didn’t ask any further questions but Baekhyun wished she did because as soon as the cameras stopped recording he was met with hard stares and a deafening silence. He felt he shame and guilty bubbling on his stomach like poison.

As soon as they got into the vans, their manager and Junmyeon had ripped him a new one. Baekhyun never had wished so much that Junmyeon wasn’t a gentle person because the upset and disappointing tone he used had hurt much more than it would if he had yelled at him.

He didn’t even mention his other members; Tao was refusing to talk to him, Jongdae had calmly stated that he had been a jerk and to get a grip, Jongin and Chanyeol were confused and threw him a few hurt glances, Kyungsoo hadn’t even look at him, Minseok and Yixing were the best of the worst, advising him to think about how it would sound before saying something.

Sehun had been a different story altogether, the sheer look of betrayal the younger had cast on him made bile rise to his throat, which he managed to hold until he got to the dorms because as soon as the front door opened, he made a dash to the bathroom and vomited his guts out.

Minseok must have heard him because he knocked twice and entered the bathroom. One look at Baekhyun and the older boy clicked his tongue and rubbed his back.

“Don’t be like this Baekhyun. It was just a little misunderstanding, apologize and everything will go back to normal. I hate to see you like this.”

Baekhyun was thankful to his hyung, who took him to the kitchen, made him an herbal tea to help with the residual nausea he was feeling. He had also stayed right by his side, when he had apologized to everyone for his behavior had dinner time, which helped to dissipate some tension, even if some members were still pretty pissed at him.

Luckily to him, an apology was enough to have Sehun to forgive him; the maknae was busy fussing over him after Minseok had confided that Baekhyun had been throwing up earlier.

That night, after guiding Sehun to bed and wishing him a good night, Baekhyun sunk himself on his bed. He prepared himself mentally for a sleepless night. He was no fool; he knew that tonight sleep wouldn’t come easy, if it came at all. He was staring at the darkness around him when his phone vibrated next to his pillow, where it laid. He tapped his password and felt his blood run cold at the text message that appeared on his screen.

“ That was an okay job. However I think you can do much, much better. I think you need some encouragement. –S. “

Sooyoung! It was clearly her message. What did she meant with that? He tried his best, he really did. Was she really going to do something? Was she capable of it? She had mentioned it but would she do it? Or it was just to scare him?

Baekhyun prayed that that text message was just an attempt to scare him because he feared to think what that twisted little mind would do.

He fell asleep in the early morning and even his sleep was plagued with nightmares; black wispy clouds, claws that ripped away his friends and a mad laughter that sound a lot like Sooyoung’s.

When Baekhyun woke up he didn’t quite understood why, he glanced at the clock on his bedside table and saw that he had fell asleep a few hours ago. Only then his tired brain registered the loud voices coming from the living room. He looked around and found Jongdae looking back at him in puzzlement. Both boys got up quickly and made a dash to the living room.

They both stood side by side, by the door, looking at the commotion in front of them.

“What’s happening?”

Baekhyun turned to the owner of the new voice, who immediately wrapped his arms around him.

“I don’t know Sehunnie. Jongdae and I arrived just now.”

“Kyungsoo and Jongin were assaulted by three masked man on their way to the coffee shop:” Explained Yixing, coming near them.

“What?”

Baekhyun released himself from Sehun’s arms and made his way to his friends. When he approached his two dongsaengs his hand flew to cover his mouth; Kyungsoo had bruised all around his throat and his wrist had twice the size it was supposed to have while Jongin had a busted lip and large bruise on his cheek.

He let a hand rest on Kyungsoo’s cheek and while the other slid into Jongin’s palm, closing his fingers around the warm hand.

“How are you?” He asked in a soft voice.

“We are fine Baek. It’s just a couple of bruises and a sprained wrist, don’t worry.”

“How can I not?! My friends are hurt!”

Jongin and Kyungsoo shared an amused glance before Jongin, in a joking tone stated that Baekhyun should be the mama of the group, since he was worse than Junmyeon. The joke was enough to diffuse the lingering tense feeling that was wavering around in the room.

“Jongdae can you please grab some ice for Kyungsoo’s wrist please?”

“Sure! Come with me Kyungsatan!”

Kyungsoo threw a nasty glare at Jongdae before following the cackling boy to the kitchen. Baekhyun then turned to Jongin.

“You are coming with me. You need to get those cuts disinfected. Everyone else just do your thing.”

He gently pulled Jongin to the bathroom.

“Baekhyun is such a gentle person.” Commented Minseok and earning a glare from a jealous Sehun, making him snort. “Relax maknae; I leave precious Baekhyun to you.”

“You better…”

“Want to tell me what happened?”

Jongin made a clicking sound with his tongue in answer to Baekhyun’s question, although Baekhyun wasn’t sure if it was because he wasn’t too keen on answering or because of the cotton ball full of disinfectant pressing to his cuts. He guesses it was the latter when Jongin answered.

“I don’t really know. I went with Kyungsoo to get coffee, next thing I know, these three ginormous guys stop on front of us and one of them just grabbed Kyungsoo by the neck. Then everything went to hell. We got away when Kyungsoo kicked one of the guys in the nuts. I grabbed him and we just run.”

“Did they want anything? Did they take anything?”

“No! That is what is been bothering me. They just beat the heck out of us, they didn’t even rob us.”

“That is strange…”

Baekhyun was throwing away the cotton ball when Chanyeol burst into the room, completely disoriented. He paused for a second before realizing it was Baekhyun who was treating Jongin. Then he threw caution away and approached Jongin, cradling his head in his big hands and kissing him.

“I was so worried when they told me.”

“It’s fine. I’m okay. Baekhyun took care of me.”

Chanyeol turned to his best friend and sincerely thanked him for helping his boyfriend. Baekhyun smiled sweetly before winking at them and leaving the room, giving his friends their privacy.

He went quickly to the kitchen to check on Kyungsoo and found him hitting Jongdae with a pack of ice cubes, while Jongdae tried to escape from him and Tao and Junmyeon tried to prevent Kyungsoo from hitting him.

He smiled to himself and went to his room and flopped on the bed. He was still feeling so tired. Maybe, just maybe, he could catch a few more hours of sleep. He picked his phone from the bedside table to put an alarm clock and saw a text message on his phone.

“This is what happens when we don’t give our best! How are poor Kyungsoo and poor Jongin? Was this motivation enough? Will see… Meet me today at the same place in one hour. –S.”

Baekhyun felt his blood boil in his veins then freeze altogether. This was all Sooyoung's fault. Jongin and Kyungsoo were hurt because of that mental woman. He quickly put on some fresh clothes and grabbed his wallet before shouting he was going out, ignoring Sehun’s calls from behind him.

“He ignored me!” Complained Sehun to Minseok and Tao, who were passing by, completely flabbergasted.

“Make him sleep on the couch then.” Replied the elder boy earning himself a giggle from Tao.

Baekhyun drummed his fingers on the table relentlessly, Sooyoung was late and he was still very angry about this whole ordeal. Very, very angry. He could feel ire bubbling in the pit of his stomach, roaring like a monster and it almost made him feel bad for feeling like such a violent person but it was justified, Sooyoung had hurt his friends.

When she finally arrived and sit in front of him, Baekhyun went straight to where he wanted, not letting her make a sound.

“What the hell was that little stunt of yours for? If you have trouble with my acting skill, blame me and hurt me, not others!”

“But it is so much easier to motivate you by doing so.” Stated Sooyoung not even missing a beat, completely unfazed by his outburst “You see, If I had decided to beat you up, you would be in pain but I’m very sure that you wouldn’t step up the game as much as I know you will do now because, from this moment on, you’ll be very aware what’s at stake in here, which is your friends wellbeing and safety. If I want results I had to pick on your weakness: your friends. It’s not like I enjoy it, but it gets the job done.”

“You are absolutely mental! Do people actually know this side of yours? The sociopath one?”

“Not many people do. Think of it as a privilege.”

“I don’t get it. Why do you do this? Why hurt people?”

“Because I can.”

“I don’t recognize you. Where is the sweet, mischievous noona that I met?”

Baekhyun noticed quite immediately that he had struck a nerve when Sooyoung face hardened at his words.

“She is dead! That person is long gone! Do you want to know why? Because she got tired of the way people treated her. Since before debuting on SNSD I’ve been trying so hard to please everyone and not disappoint them, can you guess what I get in return? I get harsh words and the title of second best at everything. Someone’s always prettier, better singer, better rapper, better dancer. I’m always the one that they tell that could do better or that her effort is not enough and seriously I’m done with it, therefore I must eliminate all the threats that are keeping me from achieving my goals.”

“So you decided not to try anymore? You decided to stop playing fair? That’s really low of you!”

Suddenly, he felt his hair being grabbed and his wrist being twisted but he managed to utter a single sound despite the pain he was feeling.

“Listen here stupid knight; my motives are my motives alone and you have no right to judge them. Talk like that to me again and I’ll promise you next time I will harm your precious little Sehun.” Sooyoung gave a creepy little laugh when she saw Baekhyun’s eyes widened at her words. “That’s right; don’t think for a second that I don’t know about your little infatuation with the maknae, after all you made it pretty clear. So, just to make things clear, do your job, don’t ask questions and don’t try to get all philosophical about them and I won’t wreck your boy. Got that?”

Baekhyun nodded quickly and Sooyoung let him go, straightening herself after her little breakdown.

“I have a little work for you. You heard Heechul’s comments on how our songs aren’t really that good, haven’t you? Bring him down a little on your next radio interview. I know you have one tomorrow at Sukira.”

“But Ryeowook sunbaenim…”

“He could hate you for all I care.” Sooyoung replied with a saccharine smile.

“We are talking about Heechul here! Do you really think some simple words are going to even to a dent on him?”

“Then use all of your imagination. You have a day to think about it.”

And with those final words she left him alone on the coffee shop. Baekhyun let his forehead lay on top of the table, while massaging his hurt wrist. He felt drained. Sooyoung was draining him and his sanity and, looking at the whole scenario, it had only just begun. What to do? What can he do? He didn’t want to do any of this but he had seen the consequences of it. He felt like scum, the worst person on earth.

He slowly made his way to the dorms, dragging his feet on the pavement and glancing at the sun, mocking him in all his bright glory. Minseok, Kyungsoo and Yixing were the only ones home. He faked a smile to Kyungsoo and Minseok, who were on the living room, and went to his bedroom, closing the door behind him and laying underneath his duvet.

He didn’t know how much time he spent looking at the ceiling when the door opened and someone entered the room. He felt the duvet being lifted and a body joining his on the bed, while arms wrapped around his torso.

“Is everything alright?”

“Everything is alright Minseok hyung, don’t worry!”

“I worry! Since yesterday, you haven’t really been yourself. It’s like you’re not even there. I know Baekhyun very well and this isn’t him at all. Actually, he is exactly the opposite. I am not even going to mention the incident at the recording place.” Minseok could feel Baekhyun stiffen as soon as he mentioned it. “I imagine that you had your motives and I’m not blaming you. I know that there is something on your mind and I’m not asking you to share but, please, remember that if you have a problem you can talk to me okay? I’m here to listen. I promise you that.”

“Thank you hyung. It is really comforting to know that. Just don’t make promises like that, please.”

“Why is that?”

Instead of a reply to his question, Minseok felt his hands being squeezed. He wasn’t really sure that if it was his imagination or something else, but he could have sworn that, a few minutes later, he had heard Baekhyun muttering.

“Because I don’t think you are going to like me for much longer!” 







A/N: Aaaaand here it is! One more chapter. Baekhyun is all torn about what to do, Sooyoung is still a crazy sociopath and Minseok tries to help. Next chapter is going to have a bit of a leap in time (I can't describe in detail all the things she is gonna made him do!!) ,

I hope that you didn't wait much for this chapter, I try write and update it as soon as I can but I got to work too! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and if so, let me now. It's always good to hear you options and it's always a good motivation.^^

Hugs and lots of love to you all. Have a magnificent day!