"Mr. Kris, what's wrong?" Jihoon's quiet voice rang throughout the room. Kris could barely hear it over his sobs. He looked up and saw the small boy looking at him with concerned eyes. He couldn't muster up the energy to respond and just sat there, looking at the child as tears streaked down his face, his eyes and nose red.

"Mr. Kris, is this about Mr. Zitao?" Jiwoo asked slowly, walking into the bedroom. Kris's face contorted and he let out another sob, burying his face in his hands. His own tears burned his eyes and he pressed them closed. He only looked up when he felt a tiny hand on his knee.

"Mr. Kris, Mr. Zitao wanted me to give you this." Jiwoo held out something in one hand. "He said it would remind you of him so you won't be lonely."

Kris took it and hugged it.

Zitao had given him his favorite panda plushie.

"He told me he didn't want you to be sad," Jihoon said. "So please stop crying, Mr. Kris, or I'll tell on you." Jihoon stuck his tongue out. Kris's tears stopped rolling

down his face and he gave the faintest of smiles.

"Okay, Jihoon, I'm done crying now. You two can leave."

"But Mr. Kris," Jiwoo whined. "I wanna stay here! He said that you could speak a bunch of different languages and that you could teach me!"

"Maybe next time," Kris said, sighing. He ruffled Jiwoo's hair. "Run along, now."

"Oh, wait, Mr. Kris! I'll be right back!" She dashed out of the room and Jihoon took the opportunity to jump up on the bed and sit next to Kris.

"So how many languages do you speak?"

"Four," Kris replied nonchalantly. Jihoon's jaw dropped.

"Four languages? That's so cool! What are they?"

"Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, and English."

"Can you teach me?"

"When I teach your sister maybe I'll teach you. Speaking of, where did she run off to?"

"Mr. Kris!" Jiwoo said, dashing through the open door. She carried some pencils and paper in. "Can we draw together? Mr. Zitao said you like drawing."

"Maybe next time."

"When are you going to play with us, Mr. Kris?" Jihoon whined. Kris sighed.

"I don't know. I'm sorry." Kris left the room, the two kids gaping.

------------

"Joonmyeon, are you sure it's safe?"

"Has anything in this business ever really been safe, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol answered for him.

"But after yesterday, with Zitao... You said that the victims wouldn't know anything about us coming. So how did she?" Baekhyun said.

"Well, we're not sure..." Joonmyeon said. He put up a picture of Zitao's and Kris's target on the TV screen and laced his fingers together. "We're guessing she had some kind of connection to another previous target and she was informed of the possible dangers."

"But who would be able to tell her what we all looked like? There's no way she pulled a gun on everyone that stopped by in order to find out!"

A loud knock on the door startled everyone and Chanyeol got up to answer it. Yixing was on the other side with Minseok right behind him.

"We volunteer as backup for the mission," Minseok declared. Baekhyun's eyes went wide.

"No, that's too dangerous," Joonmyeon said. "Yixing isn't healthy enough to go yet-"

"Wait," Yixing interrupted. "Why is a picture of the lady that captured me on the screen?"

An awkward silence filled the room until Jongdae cleared his throat.

"Yixing... There's no way that it could be that woman."

"Wait." Zitao's voice came through the earpiece.

"Zitao, you should be asleep right now. Take out your earpiece and go to bed," Joonmyeon chided.

"Wait. The lady I was supposed to kill-"

"You succeeded, Zitao, please-"

"Said she had a sister."

Everyone looked at each other with varying expressions. Joonmyeon and Jongdae with shock, Yixing and Minseok with fear, Baekhyun with understanding, and

Chanyeol with utter disbelief.

"So what you're saying, Zitao," Baekhyun started, breaking the silence, "is you think your target was that woman's sister?"

"Get Jiwoo and Jihoon in here, now," Joonmyeon barked. Yixing and Minseok scurried out of the room to go find the kids.

There was silence for ten minutes as everyone looked at each other anxiously.

"If it was her-"

Yixing and Minseok burst through the door.

"They're gone!" the couple screamed together.

"What?" Jongdae asked.

"Jiwoo and Jihoon! They've gone missing!"

"If you bet you know who did it, clap your hands," Baekhyun sang in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Unfortunately, everyone clapped.

And Chanyeol clapped him on the back of the head.

"I said your hands!"

------------

"Sehunnie," Luhan whined.

"What?"

"Let's do something together."

"What did you have in mind?" Sehun asked, raising his eyebrow. Luhan blushed.

"Not... Um... I meant... We could-"

"Luhan, are you hor-"

"Get bubble tea?" Luhan finished, his face turning a deeper red as he realized what the younger was about to say. "No, Sehun, I'm not ," he mumbled. Sehun chuckled and pulled him into his lap.

"Luhan, did I ever mention you're adorable sometimes?" Sehun whispered, kissing Luhan's cheek.

"What am I when I'm not adorable?"

"Unbearably y," Sehun answered, his voice low. Luhan shivered. "But that's not the point. Let's go get bubble tea." He pushed the older boy off his lap and stood up.

"I'll pay for it," Luhan said. "As a little gift."

"A gift for what?" Sehun asked, pulling off his t-shirt and putting on a different one - the one Luhan had gotten him as one of the many anniversary gifts he gave.

"I dunno. You being amazing?" Luhan replied, a little smile on his face as he tugged off his white tank top. He felt Sehun's strong arms wrap around his waist gently and the taller boy rested his chin on Luhan's shoulder. They rocked side to side together slightly.

"Luhan," Sehun whispered into Luhan's ear. "You see this?" He pulled away his arms, making the other pout. He gestured at Luhan's bare torso. Luhan looked in the mirror.

"Yeah, it's my body. What's so special about it?" His eyes fell on the scar on his side and he felt a little bit bad.

"It's beautiful," Sehun said, "even with a scar." Sehun kissed Luhan's cheek, then pulled him in for an actual kiss. His arms looped around Luhan's waist again, but Luhan pulled away.

"How are we going to get bubble tea if I can't even get dressed?"

"It can wait," Sehun said. He pushed Luhan onto their bed and leaned over him, breathing into his ear. "Are you okay with that?"

"No," someone said. The couple looked toward the door and saw Jongdae looking amused and Joonmyeon shaking his head next to him. "We need your help."

"Goddammit, what is it this time?" Sehun growled, getting up and walking over to the door. He towered over Jongdae and Joonmyeon with an angry look.

"The kids are missing," Joonmyeon said.

"What?" Luhan exclaimed, jumping up and running over to the door. "Jiwoo and Jihoon are gone? Where?"

"Luhan, get your shirt on. We're heading back to Jeon Manor."

"Oh my god," Luhan whispered. "Not there..."

"Why?" Sehun said.

"We'll explain on the way. Be ready in half an hour," Joonmyeon said before closing the door. Sehun sighed.

"Once, just once, that's all I want." Sehun mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What?"

"I want to be able to show you how much I love you just once without getting interrupted."

"Sehun, you've shown me that many times before."

"Not what I meant," Sehun said, sighing. He traced his fingers along Luhan's chest. "I want to mark your beautiful little body as mine for the first time." His voice was dangerously deep. "Kiss everywhere, everything, every single bit of you. " Luhan blushed.

"Your lips." He leaned in and kissed Luhan, slipping his tongue into the older boy's mouth. They moved their lips together, Luhan occasionally.

"Your neck," Sehun growled as he pulled his lips from the shorter boy's, letting them roam all over his boyfriend's neck and collarbones. He bit and at random places, making Luhan moan again.

Luhan knew they didn't have time for this and pulled himself together.

"Sehun, are you ?" He pushed the younger boy away, leaving him shocked.

"Shut up," he muttered when he collected himself. Luhan chuckled. He pulled on his white dress shirt and black suit jacket and tied his shoes quicky.

"One time, you'll get to," he said once he stood up.

"What?"

"You'll get to kiss every single bit of me, and I'll get to do the same to you." Luhan walked over to Sehun, running his finger up the boy's spine. "Especially the parts that nobody else gets to see. Now get your mission clothes on."

" you," Sehun replied.

"One day."

Luhan bit his lip as he watched Sehun tug off his t-shirt to get his dress shirt on. Sehun caught his eye and slowly slipped his jeans off, biting his lip, trying to tease Luhan. He decided, hey, why not, and slipped his boxers off as well.

" you, Sehun," Luhan muttered.

"You'd love to." Sehun chuckled and pulled his boxers back on, then put on his dress pants. The couple walked toward the door together, the younger slapping Luhan's .

"Don't do that!"

"Do what?" Sehun asked, giving little puppy eyes and trying to look innocent.

"Why do I love you so much?" Luhan grumbled.

"I don't know, Lu. Come on."

------------

"So, what's the plan?" Jongin asked as the group walked down the street. Everyone was present, except Kris and Zitao. Yixing and Minseok had insisted on going, even though Joonmyeon really didn't want them too.

"Well..." Joonmyeon started.

"We don't know!" Jongdae said, laughing. "We're gonna make it up as we go."

"Oh my god," Kyungsoo said. "Joonmyeon, not having a plan?"

"We only found out about half an hour ago that they were missing. We don't have time for a plan. We just go."

The night was cold and loud, filled with the noises of cars passing by and footsteps of pedestrians, bells ringing as store doors opened and happy laughter from couples. It was illuminated by streetlights and neon signs, advertisements on large TVs and cell phone screens, paper lanterns hung up to celebrate the nearing of Chinese New Year and blinking signs on buildings that told whether or not they were open, the moon's light all but forgotten in the busy city. Flyers hung in store windows, advertising about sales and upcoming events: sports games, concerts coming to the city, charity events, and more that nobody could be bothered to look at. The cold air made people rub their arms and bundle up with scarves and winter coats, looking more like walking clothing racks than people. Exhaled breaths of air could be seen from everyone.

"So..." Sehun said.

"So..." Luhan echoed.

"Why aren't we wearing coats?" Kyungsoo snapped, shivering. Jongin walked up behind him and back-hugged him.

"Just keep walking with me, Kyungsoo."

"We're not wearing coats," Joonmyeon said, "because we won't have an opportunity to take them off."

"Won't we look weird knocking on the door of Jeon Manor in cold weather without coats?" Baekhyun asked.

"We're not going to knock," Yixing said. "We're going to break in." He pulled out a little dagger from his pocket. "I'll try to pick the lock."

"And if you don't succeed?"

Jongdae smiled.

"Well, I could explode the doors open."

"You'd explode everything else in the process."

"I could burn them open?" Chanyeol suggested.

"You'd burn the house down. We're trying to save the kids, not kill them," Joonmyeon said.

"I brought some stuff," Kyungsoo said. "Chemicals that can corrode the metal lock or the wood of the doors. If I put the right amount it won't be too damaging. Just don't touch it."

"Too slow," Sehun said. "How about we just break it down?"

"How would we possibly do that, Sehun?" Luhan asked, looking at the younger like he was crazy.

"We could just go in the back," Minseok said. Everyone looked at him.

"What do you-"

"We hop the fence and Baekhyun can disable the security systems, then we break the door."

"Why don't we just walk through the door?" Jongdae said.

"It needs a key, and breaking it is faster than picking a lock. Sorry, babe," Minseok said to Yixing. "But we have to save the kids."

"What are we going to do to their mother?"

"We'll ask them what we should do."

"They're six years old, we shouldn't listen to them."

"Seven," Yixing corrected.

"It's simple," Joonmyeon said. "Abduction is illegal."

"Then we'd go to jail," Sehun said. "We took them in the first place."

"Well, after you all got back, I spent that day and the next working on paperwork to legally transfer guardianship. Then I took Jongdae out to lunch. But we have legal custody now, so we get their mother in jail."

"I'm pretty sure that'd take more than a day," Kyungsoo muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I know people," Joonmyeon answered, smirking.

"Why didn't we just drive?" Jongin asked, changing the subject.

"Too suspicious. Ten guys in suits in a van? Hell, ten guys in a van would look weird. Ten guys in suits walking down the street looks weird already," Jongdae said.

"If anyone asks, let's just say we're going to the meeting about the cancer charity event tonight," Yixing said. Everyone looked at him.

"How did you know there was a charity event tonight?" Jongin asked.

"It was on the flyers in the store windows."

"You actually bother to read those?"

"Well, why not? They're there for a reason."

"You're... You're odd, Yixing," Sehun responded.

"And I love him for it," Minseok said, pecking his boyfriend's cheek. Yixing giggled quietly and smiled, kissing Minseok's cheek in return.

"Gay!" someone shouted.

"And proud!" the entire group responded together. They'd kind of gotten used to it. But there was an extra voice added to their call. A quieter, female voice. They stopped and looked around to find a short girl with brown hair and a red scarf sitting on the bench to their left. Her face was red, but not from the cold. She'd been crying not long ago.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Yixing asked, walking up to her and gently putting his hand on top of hers.

"Did your parents throw you out because you're gay?" Luhan asked, sitting next to her.

"No. Well, kind of. I ran away because of their constant disapproval and I've been living with a roommate and she kicked me out because I'm gay." She looked at Luhan. "You're really pretty."

"I'm a guy!" Luhan said, somewhat offended.

"That wasn't an insult. You are really pretty."

"He is, isn't he?" Sehun said, pecking Luhan's lips. "He's absolutely gorgeous."

"So are you," Luhan said.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Joonmyeon asked quietly.

"Oh god," Jongdae said.

"No," she answered.

"Joonmyeon, you're not-"

"Jongdae, take her back to the hotel, give her a room on floor 15, and make sure to take care of her."

"Joonmyeon, are you serious? We already have two kids to look after!"

"I'm fifteen, you don't need to look after me," she said.

"What's your name?" Joonmyeon asked.

"Minyoung. Kim Minyoung."

"Nice name," Minseok said. "I'm Kim Minseok."

"Nice to meet you."

"The introductions are great and all, but we have to get going," Jongin said. "Things to do, kids to save, abductors to destroy, all the normal stuff."

"You're funny," Minyoung said. "I'd think you were lying but this entire scene seems like something from a TV show, so I don't know what to believe."

"Come on," Jongdae said. "You get a free room on floor 15 at Lotte Hotel, apparently."

"No way," Minyoung whispered, her eyes widening. "Lotte Hotel is a five star hotel!"

"Yes, well, it also happens that I'm the owner," Joonmyeon said, smirking. "A five star hotel needs a five star owner, and that's me, Kim Joonmyeon."

"Right," she said, glancing at his face again in an attempt to remember him. "This is definitely something from a TV show. I'm dreaming, and I'll end up pinching myself, and I won't wake up, because pinching yourself in a dream doesn't wake you up. And then I'll wake up on that bench, freezing cold and probably dying from hypothermia."

"Well, at least dream-you won't be, then. Come on," Jongdae repeated.

"Right." The nine members parted ways with Jongdae and Minyoung and began walking again.

More awkward silence filled the air.

"So... You never told me your name," Minyoung said.

"Kim Jongdae."

"Jongdae. Right. Okay. So tell me, am I dreaming?"

"Unfortunately not."

"Unfortunately?"

"Well, to be quite frank, you just got Kim Joonmyeon - my boyfriend - to trust you enough to get a free room at Lotte Hotel."

"What's so unfortunate about that?"

"Well, if he trusts me enough to give you a free room, it means that you'll probably end up working a job there."

"I still don't see the downsides."

"Oh, you will, trust me."

"Great. Because that's not foreboding at all," Minyoung muttered, sighing.

Jongdae laughed.

"You know, I think that we might get to be good friends," Jongdae said.

"You mean if I live that long, right?"

"Oh, don't worry, you're not going to get killed. Worst case scenario, you'll get dumped out here again with no memory of who we are."

"Indirect death, then."

"Don't say it like that," Jongdae said, sighing. He stopped and put his arm on Minyoung's shoulder. "Look, it's just... There's a lot more going on here than just hotel management. It's dangerous. If you can keep your mouth shut, though, you'll be fine."

"I'm good at keeping my mouth shut," Minyoung replied. "I'd been in the closet for four years. I came out by choice. A bad choice, but still a choice."

"Good." They walked in silence back to the hotel.

------------

After a while of Jongin's whines filling the silence about how cold it was, they finally arrived at the back of Jeon Manor.

"Who wants to jump first?" Joonmyeon asked, flashing a smile all around.

"Why do we have to jump instead of just opening the gate?" Kyungsoo asked, sighing.

"It's more fun that way, Kyungsoo," Baekhyun said.

"Plus, if they're aiming anywhere, they're aiming at the gate door," Chanyeol added. "If we jump over it they'll have to take a second to find us, especially because

it's so dark. So it's safer."

"It's theoretically safer," Kyungsoo muttered. "Whoever is the best with self defense should go in first, beat up anyone who should be beaten up, then let the rest of us in through the gate."

"Well," Sehun said, sighing. "Jongin, that means you and me. Sorry, Yixing, but we're not going to let you get hurt here again."

"I understand," Yixing said.

"Sehun," Luhan whispered. "Don't get hurt."

"I'll try," Sehun replied softly.

"Can we have five minutes of time before we go in?" Jongin asked. "Just in case we don't come out."

"Don't say it like that, Jongin!" Kyungsoo said nervously.

"Five minutes is fine," Joonmyeon said.

Sehun wrapped his arms around Luhan, pulling him close, as though it would be the last time. Sehun was nervous, to say the least. He had a really, really bad feeling about the whole situation.

"I promised you I'd protect you, Luhan," he whispered. "But if I fail, please don't be mad."

"Sehun, I-"

Luhan was cut off when Sehun's lips connected with his own. He reached up to twist his fingers into Sehun's hair as the younger boy pulled him infinitely closer by his waist. Sehun poured all of their memories together into the kiss and filled it with love. Luhan pulled away when he felt a warm tear fall onto Sehun's lips.

"Sehun, what's wrong? You never cry," Luhan said, wiping away the younger's tear with his thumb.

"Luhan, if I don't get out of this, I'm sorry I never got to do a bunch of things with you."

"Sehun, what-"

"I'm sorry I never got to take you to the beach, or meet your parents in China, or take care of you when you were sick, or save your life, or sing with you, or dance with you, or wear couple clothes with you, or baby you, or show you how much I love you, or prop-"

"Time to go!" Joonmyeon shouted.

Luhan didn't understand a word Sehun had said. He'd been talking way too fast.

"I'm sorry," Sehun whispered. He pecked Luhan's lips one more time and turned around.

"You ready?" Jongin asked him.

"Whether I am or not, we still have to go." With that, Sehun took off in a run. Jongin ran right next to him.

They both jumped the gate at the same time. Sehun rolled on the ground and stood up, which was a much safer way to land than on your feet, which is precisely what Jongin did. Still, both of them were unharmed. Sehun stood up as Jongin took off again, toward the other side of the garden. Sehun dashed over to him, arriving right was Jongin jumped and punched a guy in the face. Sehun focused on the guy to his left, which happened to be someone he recognized...

The guy who stabbed Luhan.

His anger took over him as he swang wildly. He felt his hand connect with skin and bone over and over again, felt the blood on his hand cool and freeze, ignoring the pain in the adrenaline rush. He kicked and heard the guy groan, followed by the sound of a body collapsing. He wound up to kick again and felt someone push him against the gate, grabbing his wrist.

"Sehun. Sehun!" Jongin shouted. Sehun blinked and finally came back to the real world. All of his senses rushed him at once and he felt the hot tears on his face, freezing blood on his knuckles. His cheek felt like the cut had been ripped open again, but he didn't care.

"Jesus, dude, that's the second time you've done that! You always seem to space out when you're-"

"I'm sorry," Sehun interrupted quietly. "Let's open the gate."

Jongin blinked, then nodded and trotted off toward the gate. Sehun stood for a second, then walked over to him slowly.
He heard a loud bang, followed by an intense pain in his leg.

He fell to the ground, screaming.

Another bang. More pain in his shoulder.

The world began to blur.

"Sehun! Sehun!" A voice shouted. He could see the silhouette of a boy with blonde hair who was shorter than him, but that was all he needed to recognize.

"I'm sorry, Luhan..."

(A/N: Oh my god I'm so sorry I'm so late ;~; Since I got home my mother has been yelling at me a large amount more than usual and it's honestly messing with me a lot. I always try to ignore it but it just really hurts. It's been affecting my writing and my art - I don't write when I'm upset because it always ends up really twisted and dark and difficult to understand - it sort of leaked in to this a little bit, some of the things in here were a little bit personal for me. And the quality of the art I do when I'm really upset just drops and the motivation disappears. I feel really bad, actually, because I didn't finish my art of Sehun in time for his birthday, but I'm not going to do something I can't be proud of. Especially because I'll end up beating myself up for it later. ANYWAYS, topic change: I sing all the time but I absolutely at rapping. At least in foreign languages. I haven't actually tried to rap in English. Life of a kpop nerd right here. My friends tell me I'm good at singing, but I lack the confidence to sing when I'm not listening to the song and end up really out of tune ;~; Oh well. Have a good day/night, guys. Hope you liked this chapter. Once again, sorry it was so late.)