Luhan was absolutely livid, he was more than livid. He couldn’t fathom why none of them had told him the truth about what had happened with Junmyeon. It hurt, especially because all of them used to be very close and now secrets were created. He had suspected for a while that the story they had told him before, the one where a robber had done that, was completely fake; he hadn’t said a thing but he didn’t imagine that it would be something like this.

What had happened to Junmyeon for him to react like this? What had given him the right to hurt someone when they had sworn to protect each other? He was so mad at Junmyeon; mad at him for hurting Baekhyun, mad at him for asking for help when he needed to, mad at him for breaking like this, mad at him for turning out to be someone entirely different from the man he thought he knew.

Junmyeon had been one of the first people he had met when he was a trainee and he was actually very close to the boy, sure there was a time where they had distanced themselves from each other but that was something that they had surpassed and they were very good friends again. He had spent his last days with their friends, their brothers, together, joking and sharing little moments all around the clock. How could have this happened?

He angrily wiped a tear that had managed to escape his uncooperative eyes, since he was trying to hard not to cry but, in the end, the news were just devastating. He had felt that the special bond that held him to Junmyeon and actually kept him gravitating towards the other had been severely damaged.

“We figured you would be here.”

Luhan wiped his eyes when another stubborn tear fell and turned his head to watch as Minseok and Kris walked towards him. He scoffed at them.

“Go away!”

“Luhan…” called Minseok tentatively.

“Shut up!” barked Luhan with an unpleasant tone, making Minseok stop in his tracks surprised.

“Be reasonable Luhan!”

“Oh and you were? You hide things from me and you hid a very big thing how do expect me to react? Grin at you and bow over the fact that I now know what happened, despite the fact that I actually had to catch you talking about it?” asked Luhan with a scowl on his handsome face.

“Irony doesn’t look good on you.” commented Minseok drily, getting a little bit tired of Luhan’s dramatic reactions to everything.

“Don’t dare to talk to me with that dry tone! I deserved to know the moment this happen! I deserved to know from the moment that Junmyeon turned out to be a psychotic bastard who couldn’t deal with his own problems and hurt someone.”

Luhan didn’t see the punch coming, Kris however did; he saw how Minseok, placid and reserved Minseok, grew agitated and increasingly angry at Luhan’s less than nice words and he saw how the oldest of the 90 liners just curled his fingers into a fist and swung it at Luhan. He did nothing to prevent it nor did he felt sorry when the fist landed on its designated target, Luhan had it coming.

“Shut your mouth you stupid little brick! You think you know everything but you don’t, moreover you don’t get to say a single word about this matter since you didn’t see it unfold. You are claiming bids on something that doesn’t belong to you anymore because you chose to left. You didn’t see anything, you heard nothing and you can’t say a thing. Junmyeon is not psychotic, he went through a lot on his own and none of us has the right to criticize him about his breakdown because none of us moved a finger to help him, except for Baekhyun. So shut your mouth you little hypocrite and shove your unwanted opinions where the sun doesn’t shine.”

With that speech Minseok, whose face was cherry red due to his furious state, turned to leave but before he could do it, Kris caught him by the arm gently, pulling the other towards his body.

“That wasn’t the best way to deal with this Minseok but I get your point. Go and calm yourself, if you please. I’ll come to you after I talk with him, okay?” he asked in a soothing whisper that had Minseok’s body relaxing almost immediately.

The shorter of the two nodded at him twice and Kris hummed approvingly before pecking Minseok sweetly on the forehead.

“Of you go now Min.” he, yet again, whispered, releasing a flustered Minseok, who left the other two alone.

Kris turned to Luhan, watching as the other rubbed his bruised cheek with the pads of his fingers, hissing softly because of the pain.

“That was very much well deserved.” he commented airily.

The older man glared at him, opening and closing his mouth like a fish testing if his jaw was working okay.

“It’s true though. You deserved it.”

“And why the heck did I deserve to be punched to death, explain to me oh great Kris.” spat Luhan, earning him a raised eyebrow from said person.

“Maybe because you just attacked Junmyeon like a wild beast, without trying to understand his point of view, or even give him a chance to defend himself. You and I are out of EXO and we don’t know what’s happening, we don’t get to say a thing whether someone has the right to break down or not. Also, you know Junmyeon better than most of us; do you really think that he would act like this if he didn’t have a really good motive? I’ve noticed before, Junmyeon has a big burden on his shoulder, a lot of responsibilities and, from what Minseok told me, our departure came to show the worst of him.”

“But he hurt Baekhyun.”

“While he was drunk out of his mind, it doesn’t really counts. It doesn’t forgive him, but you can’t really think he would make right decisions in such state.”

“He should have asked for help then!” replied Luhan stubbornly.

“From who? You? What are we discussing here Luhan? Is it the fact that he didn’t ask for help, or the fact that he didn’t ask your help? It sound to me that you are taking this very personally.” guessed Kris, watching Luhan deflate.

“He didn’t say a thing to me. He was hurting and didn’t call me! Why, Kris? Why did he choose to grow apart?”

“What about you? I heard that he was devastated when you stopped answering his phone calls, when you stopped calling. So, I guess that it’s your fault too.”

“I didn’t have the time!!”

“He didn’t either and yet he would always find time for you Luhan! So don’t pin this one him, who walked away from him, not once looking back, so don’t expect him to be okay, nor expect him not to do the same!” criticized Kris, rather harshly, he couldn’t help to get frustrated over the fact that Luhan couldn’t admit to his mistakes.

Seeing Luhan’s demeanor, defeated and shocked, Kris let out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair.

“Look, I don’t want to sound patronizing, but you really have some things to sort out with yourself, things to figure out, so I am going to leave you to think. When you reflect upon everything, remember that you do know Junmyeon and let your heart speak as much as your head does, okay? Now, I’m going downstairs, looking for Minseok and then check upon Baekhyun to see if he didn’t kill Sehun or anything.”

Kris walked past a paralyzed Luhan, patting his shoulder twice before finally leaving the rooftop. Luhan stared for a while at the blue skies in front of him and sat himself. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply and let all his worries, all his thoughts and emotions surround him. Hearing Kris’ advice and made him want to stop and think about things, without any pressure and what better time than the present time. He would do it; he would get his own answers.

“I’m sorry!”

When Sehun was called to Baekhyun’s room, he couldn’t possibly imagine that he would find his tiny hyung ready to give him the scolding of a life time. He pretty much realized he was screwed from the moment he had stepped inside the room and looked at his hyung’s angry face. More than the anger it was the disappointment he could see on other’s face that made Sehun’s heart lurch painfully in his chest and his throat go dry, he felt like worst person ever.

Baekhyun had, in a calm and hurt tone, asked him why he had said all of those things to Junmyeon, to which Sehun had answered with vagueness because, let’s face it, how to admit to Baekhyun that he only reacted that way because it had been him who got hurt, the hyung who he liked so dearly and treasured so much? How to convey that all his attitudes where because he loved him? Instead he chose to apologize again and again.

“I really am sorry, Baekhyun!”

“You really should be Sehun! What you said was very cruel and Junmyeon didn’t deserve to listen to such things. He took good care of us for so long and he was just affected as we are with all the things that we have been going through. He has the right to break down too!”

“I know and I am sorry!” begged Sehun, looking imploringly at Baekhyun, who didn’t mind him, and continued his speech.

“Also, he has been going through some stuff and things are magnified to him right now, every single problem is much bigger than it really is, and in most cases it’s justifiable. You really should have apologized!”

“Yixing hyung told me that too.”

“And did you?”

“No…”

“Sehun!”

“Don’t Sehun me, he hurt you!” exclaimed Sehun with fervor, making Baekhyun falter slightly.

“…he didn’t mean to, he was just upset and I was collateral damage! Everything is okay!” reasoned Baekhyun.

“Collateral damage? Okay?!” exploded Sehun. “Are you really saying that it doesn’t matter that he hurt you? Look, with all respect, I know I shouldn’t have said all of those things, that I have crossed the line and probably am one of the reasons that he is not here with us, am I am truly sorry for letting my emotions cloud my judgement. However, you have got to realize that you shouldn’t have been ‘collateral damage’ in the first place! You shouldn’t have to almost die for him to realize that he had hit rock bottom. He is the leader and a good one; therefore he should have been more mature than this. I get that he was really upset over everything, like deeply upset, ‘eat-buckets-of-ice-cream-while-watching-the-notebook-three-times-in-a-row kind of upset, but that doesn’t give him the right to be selfish. You think I don’t want to cry myself to oblivion sometimes when I think of all that happened lately? I do but I also have to think of you all: how can you be strong and be there for me if I, myself, am not strong?”

Baekhyun grew quiet. Sehun did have a point in some things that he had said, however, he still though that the maknae was blowing things out of proportion.

“Still! Nothing happened and he could have done worst.”

Sehun absolutely lost it after hearing those words.

“Are you insane? Could have done worst? He hurt you Baekhyun. Your heart stopped, you had to be on a coma, how can you say that? How can you break my heart with those words? You are important to all of us, you are important to me! I can barely imagine what would have happened if you died!”

“Why are you making such a fuss out of this?” asked Baekhyun, absolutely frustrated.

“Because I love you, you dammed midget!” hollered Sehun, while Baekhyun face contorted into an expression of surprise.

“What?”

Junmyeon’s phone rang once again but he didn’t even take it out of his pocket. What was the point? His team members were calling him every ten minutes and sending him messages. He felt hopeless. Why would they send him text messages like that? Was it to make fun of him? To say more hurtful things? He was afraid to read them and see what they had to say; it would probably make him cry and, though he really wanted to, he was in public, so that was out of the question. He didn’t have much more battery left anyway, by his calculations, twenty to thirty minutes was the time his phone had left.

He wondered if Baekhyun was okay and what would he say when he got to see the monstrosity that sat on his neck; his own despicable art. Would Baekhyun be made at him? He hoped the other didn’t since he had been his main support, unknowingly, all this time and he really wished that Baekhyun, in all the goodness of his heart, would forgive him.

His thoughts wandered from precious little Baekhyunnie to Luhan. How he wanted to be with the other again, to touch him and hug him, however how can you face someone that you held so dear into your heart, knowing what you did? Minseok had told him that they hadn’t told Luhan but, as the sun, the truth always comes up, so he would imagine that it was just a matter of time until he knew, that is if he didn’t already.

The more he thought about it, the more depressed he got. Why? Why did he have made this mistake? Why hadn’t he thought for two seconds before falling down the rabbit’s hole? He had the best support system, he had people who would let him cry and pour out his emotions whenever he wanted. Now he was paying the price.

Unconsciously, he bumped into someone, who yelled at him, however, the screams of people and their rude ways, made Junmyeon feel better, like this was his punishment, his penance. Not everybody was rude of course for example, a man had asked him if he was okay and needed something when he stumbled out of the tiny motel he had slept in.

He was tired, sincerely tired. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t have a plan and everything was just a big mess. He wanted to return but at the same time he didn’t, he wanted what he could not have.

A tug on his shirt made him look down. Beside him was a little boy, no more than five years old, looking cutely at him.

“Are you okay hyung?” asked the boy sweetly.

“Not really, dongsaengie.”

“Are you sad?”

“I am!” replied crouching to be at the child’s level.

Without any announcement, the little boy gave Junmyeon a hug, which took him by surprise.

“I know I can’t do much, because I am little, but I hope my hug will help it get better. Hugs cure everything. Mommy’s and daddy’s always do!” the boy stated with a big smile, before running away into the arms of his parents, who were watching a few steps away.

“Thank you dongsaengie” whispered Junmyeon “But not everything can be cured with hugs.”

Chanyeol kicked the chair in frustration while Jongdae yelled at him to calm down.

“I can’t calm down. We have calling him repeatedly for hours and he doesn’t answer the phone. I am worried sick!”

“And I fully understand that but kicking things around are not going to help, Also, if anyone comes home right know you’ll get them more anxious. The situation is already worse as it is, let’s not mess it up further.”

“This was all our fault wasn’t it?” asked Chanyeol leaning forward to rest his forehead against Jongdae’s shoulders.

“Absolutely, therefore we must reverse it. We owe it to everybody!” stated Jongdae firmly.

“I really want Junmyeon back!” whispered Chanyeol.

“So do I, so do I!” said the older of the two, running a comforting hand through Chanyeol’s back.

They stood there silently, drawing strength of each other, when Chanyeol’s phone started to ring. Chanyeol hurried to answer it, hoping that it might be a phone call from their leader, however it was Jongin.

“Chanyeol!” called Jongin hurriedly as soon as the giant picked up.

“Jongin, is everything alright?” asked Chanyeol putting it on speaker.

“I don’t know! Sehun and Baekhyun hyung were fighting just a minute ago and I am really afraid that Baek hyung might have murdered Sehun because I can’t hear them yelling anymore…”

“What?” asked Chanyeol looking at Jongdae who had his eyes wide open.

“Also, Minseok punched Luhan and now Kris is comforting Minseok, but they lfet Kris on the roof top and Luhan is still there. I think they argued too!”

“What?” asked Chanyeol, very confused at the poorly articulated speech that his boyfriend just had spewed.

“And Kris is very worried with Sehun and Baekhyun, so we are heading up to his room to see if they are okay, actually, we are here already and… OH MY GOD!”

“What, Jongin? What happened?”

“Baekhyun is kissing Sehun!!!”

“WHAT?!”

A/N: And applauses for me! I am so happy to have written this chapter and finish it before it was supposed. I feel like I can bend time xD (don't mind me much, I had a sleepless night thanks to a cat yowling to his heart's content all night). What you think about this chapter? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! And also, this little funny ending (at least I thought of it as funny... but what do I know!) just to cut a little bit of the tension and angst of the chapter.
Lots and lots of love to you all, have a magnificent day!