After Jongin’s frantic call, Chanyeol and Jongdae left for the hospital, running like mad men, leaving Kyungsoo at home, who unfortunately had to take Yixing and Tao at the airport, since both males had schedules to attend to in China. They were very reluctant to go, after all their leader was still missing and both of them were worried beyond sick, however, as Jongdae had explained, they didn’t know when Junmyeon was going to get back and all the unwanted attention to their problem might draw the wrong attention, like crazy saesang fan, and that could hindered them rather than helping.

They both rushed to the hospital room, almost stumbling in and they stopped looking at the scene in front of them: Minseok was standing in front of a glaring Kris, pleading him to calm down, while Jongin was standing at the foot of Baekhyun’s bed. Sehun, bless him, was glaring back at Kris, and there was a red faced Baekhyun hiding his face on Sehun’s chest.

“Did we arrived at a bad time?” asked Jongdae slowly, still trying to access the situation.

“You arrived at the best time!!” exclaimed Kris angrily.

“What happened?” asked Chanyeol cautiously, eyeing a dazed Jongin, who paid him no attention.

“The maknae was assaulting Baekhyun physically.”

“I was not!”

“Yes you were!” hissed Kris.

“Kris, seriously, stop that!” begged Minseok.

“He was making out with Baekhyun!” pointed Kris.

“Because they both like each other!”

“How would you know that?”

“It’s blatantly obvious Kris! Now stop being like that.”

“Baekhyun is not capable of taking that kind of decision yet!” replied Kris, earning an indignant yelp from Baekhyun, who briefly lifted his head from Sehun’s chest.

“He is more than capable to make any decision upon himself. Not everybody runs away from their feelings.” snapped Minseok quickly, with a hidden meaning on his words that was not missed by the people in the room, even Baekhyun, who was still hanging onto Sehun’s sweater.

“Minseok…”

“Anyway” Minseok said, cutting Kris’ speech “Luhan is supposedly thinking about life and apparently Baekhyun and Sehun had a little chat, concerning the whole situation, focusing on Junmyeon and now the only thing missing is…well Junmeyon. We have got to bring him back.”

“How did you settle things with Sehun? Jongin told us you were pretty angry with him.” asked Jongdae to Baekhyun, completely forgetting the topic that was being discussed at the moment.

“Oh fine! I yelled at him for several minutes, he confessed, I kissed him, we had another conversation, and then I remembered our previous conversation and kicked him in the groin.” explained Baekhyun happily while Sehun frown and, discreetly, took a hand from behind Baekhyun’s back and placed it above his groin. When Baekhyun pouted at him, he immediately smiled at the smaller male and put his hand back on its previous place, grinning like mad when Baekhyun snuggled to his side. That had earned him a ‘whipped’ from Jongdae, but Sehun didn’t care, he was too elated about having the man he dearly loved in his arms.

“Back to the original conversation.” cut Minseok with an amused little smile playing on his lips. “Junmyeon? How do we find him?”

“I really don’t know, maybe the GPS on his phone?” suggested Jongin, apparently out of his daze.

“That would be an amazing suggestion, but his battery is dead.”

“How about going to the police?” suggested Baekhyun.

“He left willingly and he’s an adult therefore the police can’t help.”

For a long time they all voiced their ideas, which went from handing pictures to people on the street, who track his credit card, to even search for him on the street. All of the ideas, however, where vetoed since there was always something that invalidated the plan.

“How are we going to find him?” asked Jongin, clearly upset, hands balled up into fists by his side.

“We will find him, don’t worry.” soothed Chanyeol, kissing Jongin’s temple.

“What I still don’t get it, is what made him go astray? What problem did he have that made him sunk like this? I mean this is Junmyeon who we are talking about and he is the person that I didn’t expect to break at all.” commented Jongdae absentmindedly, sitting on the window sill.

“He likes Luhan.” announced Baekhyun sleepily, head resting comfortably on Sehun’s shoulder, making everyone look at him. “He liked him and when Luhan left he couldn’t handle it. He suffered a lot and he is still suffering and I think that was the trigger for him. All the pressure coming from SM, plus all the working and then losing both Kris, the person he could share responsibilities with, and Luhan, the person he liked was just too much. Junmyeon can handle a lot of things but he isn’t invincible.”

“How on Earth do you know that?” asked Kris astounded.

“I noticed and simply asked Junmyeon about it” replied Baekhyun simply. “There are no tales about it Kris, Junmyeon is a very easy person to read if you are watching carefully.”

“Still, he should know that he could have counted on us. It actually makes me feel he doesn’t trust us.” interjected Sehun.

“It’s not a walk in a park being on his shoes Sehun!”

“Sehun is still right. No amount of grief should lead him to do this. But in the end, as unfortunate as it is to say, I don’t what who is going to be worse: you, who have a physical reminder, or him who has to remember forever of what he did.”

But Baekhyun, being Baekhyun, shook his head, mind still foggy with sleep and refuted their opinion.

“The thing is: it doesn’t bother me to have a scar on my neck. It was never about that, honestly, I do think that you are more concern about it than me. It is a reminder of a less than fortunate episode, which thankfully I survived. I know you don’t agree with me but if this made Junmyeon to realize that he was destroying himself and, in the end, as you said, it’s going to be him with the worse kind of scar.”

“Aren’t you resenting him a little bit?” asked Jongin, perching himself on the edge of the bed, near Baekhyun.

“Not even a little bit. I forgave him the moment it happened. Love is a powerful force and it makes you act in ways you wouldn’t belief. All around the world there are stories that tell the tale of tragedies that occurred due to love, so why would he be different?”

“Aren’t you scared of the public reaction?” asked Jongdae quietly.

Baekhyun hesitated in answering the question but Sehun gentle nudge and soft gaze made him go for it.

“Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?”

“On one side, I couldn’t care less of what people think about it. I love my fans but if they are going to judge me because of something I had no control over than I guess their opinion is not really worthy of taking notice. However, it does concern me the fact that it may affect EXO or even Junmyeon if this story leaks out. Honestly speaking, I am more afraid of your reaction than everybody else!”

“And why is that?” asked Jongdae softly, watching Baekhyun struggle a little with the questions.

“It is because I’m afraid you’ll start to see me in another light. I’ve seen your reaction when the doctors change the bandage. I don’t want to lose you to this.”

It was clear to everybody that Baekhyun was still a little self-conscious because of his scar and there was a certain heartwarming feeling when they realized he worried about it because of them, because he treasured them all above anyone else. It was very true to Baekhyun’s style, not caring about the majority of people’s opinion, but vulnerable when it came to them.

“Baekhyun, no one will think any less of you because of that, especially us. It’s a sign of your strength and it is a reminder to us that life is brief and we should treasure what we have in front of us while we have it.” declared Sehun passionately, gazing intently at his little gem, who smiled at him and snuggled into his side, hiding his red face. Baekhyun was terrible with compliments.

Chanyeol squealed a little at the scene before Jongin lightly pushed him, indicating the little giant to be quiet and chuckling lowly when Chanyeol playfully threw himself in his lap. The real giant, Kris, tried to look at Minseok, but the elder wasn’t even looking in his direction, clearly upset with a conversation they both had previously.

While Jongdae found the situation in the room amusing, read he found Kris clear attraction to Minseok, and cute, thanks to both couples, it was time to stop it, especially since Sehun had started to peck Baekhyun’s lips and the other was not coherent anymore.

“I hate to interrupt, it’s a really nice soap opera we got in here, but we still got to fix the Junmyeon problem, and we are clearly running out of options.”

“How to catch a wild Junmyeon?” asked Sehun in a joking matter that lacked sincerity. He clearly wanted to retrieve Junmyeon as much as everyone.

“Like you catch flies, with honey…” replied Minseok absentmindedly.

Apparently Minseok’s words made something click in Baekhyun’s mind, who bolted into an upright position, hissing softly when he bumped the wound in his neck, leading Sehun to fuss with him.

“That’s it. That’s it Minseok!”

“What?” asked the older surprised at the outburst.

“You catch flies with honey, meaning you have to attract them to you in order to catch them. What if apply the same principle to Junmeyon? We can catch him if we spread a rumor that reaches him and makes him come back here? You know that we will come back if he hears something happened to one of us!”

“That is brilliant! Devious and kind of cruel but brilliant!” commented Jongdae in awe “What do you suggest oh genius one?”

“Oh I have the perfect plan!” stated Baekhyun with a pretty smile on his lips

“Hit us pretty boy!” smirked Kris.

The plan had been simply enough, spreading a rumor to the media that Baekhyun’s condition had got worse, to attract Junmyeon to the hospital; Baekhyun was sure that Junmyeon would come and Minseok fully believed in that theory too, their leader was not capable of leaving them knowing that one of them was in bad condition, especially Baekhyun, due to the whole situation they were surpassing.

After a little conversation and a carefully revision of their plan, Minseok had left the room, Baekhyun had fallen asleep, guarded by Sehun and Jongdae, while Jongin and Chanyeol went to eat something. He, himself, had to leave the room and was sitting in a vacant waiting room, in the VIP area, since the air was beginning to get too suffocating.

“Are you still mad at me?” asked a voice from the doorway.

Minseok looked at Kris, who entered the room, closing the door after, and scoffed slightly, returning his eyes to the magazine he had open on his lap.

“Minseok?”

“Go away Kris. I am not in the mood to talk to you right now!”

“Is it still about the conversation we had before?”

“When was it not? Seriously Kris, I think you should just go for a while…”

“Try and understand me…” began Kris when he was interrupted abruptly, and quite angrily, by Minseok.

“Try and understand you? What about me? Did you try to understand me? Why the heck do I have to hide what I feel for you in front of our friends? Most of them are already in a stable relation or working towards one! I don’t want to have to hide from our friends, nor do I want to think overly before getting too affectionate towards you or anyone else for the matter. I want to be able to express freely what I feel. I understand that it’s not accepted here, it’s a taboo but I want to have my love life on track too. I want to be happy!”

“All I asked…”

“All you asked was for me to hide what I feel and not be affectionate towards you because people might notice. I don’t really know if you are embarrassed of me, if you don’t want to ruin things for yourself or some other thing.”

“I am not embarrassed of you!” exclaimed Kris, indignation dripping from his tone.

“Than what is it? What is it that makes you say no, even before anything started?” asked Minseok, completely defeated.

“I am only looking after us! Imagine that you lose your job or I lose mine? What then? How could we live like that? Plus you like what you do! Can you really say goodbye to what you’ve been doing for so long?”

“When you ask that, I wonder if you ever knew me at all.” replied Minseok with a bittersweet smile on his lips. “I may have worked a lot to reach the place I am today, however, fame is ephemeral, it ends, one day you will wake up and it will cease to exist. That day, you are going to realize all the things you left behind. Money can’t buy everything.”

“Minseok…”

“I’m going to look for Luhan! Maybe to apologize for that punch, also he spent too much time on the rooftop.” stated the older rising from his chair and walking to the door.

“Minseok wait! I do care about you and I do have feelings for you!” interjected Kris, grabbing the other by the shoulder, quickly, clearly panicked.

“But I am not your priority! After such a long time of treating my dongsaengs, taking care of everyone’s needs and working myself to the core, I think I deserve to be considerate a priority and I won’t settle for less. Either you accept that or don’t. Regardless of your choice, I will still be your friend.”

With those final words Minseok abandoned the room, leaving Kris behind. As soon as he turned the corner, he almost felt the need to giggle: when did his whole life became a TV series? Junmyeon, Baekhyun, Luhan and know him? May the Gods give him strength to survive all this.

He rubbed a hand on his forehead and moved towards the rooftop entrance; Kris had left Luhan there, so maybe the was still there. While Minseok agreed he was a bit too harsh on Luhan, he did punch the heck out the man, he still tough the other was a real idiot, especially for not realizing what everybody else knew: he liked Junmyeon. It was glaringly obvious but, then again, Luhan could be as thick as a brick when he wanted to. Mix being dumb with obliviousness and you got the perfect recipe for disaster, hence the reason why everybody was in the current situation.

He almost reached the door when a frantic Luhan opened, almost hitting him in the process, and looked at him with wild eyes.

“Are you okay?” asked Minseok surprised at the other’s state: messy and with puffy red eyes.

“I like him!” mumbled Luhan.

“Who?”

“I like him!” repeated the younger man.

“Are you on drugs?” asked Minseok, eying the other with suspicion.

“I am not! I just realized. I like Junmyeon.”

Minseok’s eyebrows shot up and the shorter camouflaged well the bubble of laughter that almost erupted from his lips.

“And you only realized that now?”

“Yes!”

Minseok looked at the other skeptically. Was the man really discovering this now? With an amused, and equally sarcastic, tone of voice, Minseok congratulated Luhan.

“Congratulations! Welcome to reality you huge idiot!”

It had been approximately three days since the battery of his phone died and Junmyeon felt oddly at peace; there was no more phone calls, no more pressure, nothing more from his past to bother him, except his own memories. He didn’t fight them, it was his penance.

He walked the streets of small city near Seoul, after all that was what he did all day, it was systematic: he would get up and eat a little due to the insistence of the lady of the inn he was now staying, since the motel where he had been previously had kicked him out, telling him he was too strange. The he would walk all day, passing places that he now knew like the back of his hand. At night he would return to the inn, eat a little more, because the old lady really liked him and fed him and then he would stay awake the majority of the night, staring blankly at the TV screen, seeing but not seeing all movies, dramas, newscast and such others.

It was already night and he was sitting at the foot of his bed, completely unfocused on the newscast on the TV. His mind was absolutely blank which he reasoned that it was due to the lack of sleep, however closing his eyes meant nightmares and he didn’t want those. He wasn’t strong enough to bare them.

The noise of the TV was loud enough to drown his own thoughts and he usually wouldn’t paid them a of attention if not by the word that the news anchor said, the world he loved the most and was really familiar with: EXO. So, naturally, he focused his attention on the words that were being said.

“...unfortunately, EXO’s main vocalist, Byun Baekhyun, wasn’t able to fight the infection that was sustained after his surgery and fell into a coma again. Specialists are reporting that it was due to his already fragile state. It has been reported that the idol might be on the brink of death. At the moment, the hospital where the idol is staying in is refusing to comment the situation. The case will be investigated further and more news will be released as soon as more information on the matter is revealed. We wish the idol the best luck fighting against this situation and we are all EXO.”

Junmyeon’s heart dropped; when he left Baekhyun had woken up! How could this be? He had to see Baekhyun! He had to see him and see, with his own eyes, the state of his friend.

Hastily, he grabbed a coat and put on some shoes; there was no time at all, he had to rush to the hospital.

“Wait for me Baekhyun!” he muttered while running. “Wait for me!”

A/N: I updated AGAIN! I am so proud of myself! xD   Dun Dun Duuuuuun! That was quite of a cruel rumor, don't you agree? Let me know all your thoughts about it! Comment, vote, subscribe and enjoy it!
Have the most wonderful day! Lots of love to everybody and be happy! ^^