Chapter 10                                                                                                    “Do Kyungsoo was a person who was in the same class as Kai since he was young. It was surprising seeing him again after many years.” Tao chewed on the leftover tuna as everyone crowded up against him on the table like ahjumma’s gossiping by the market. The youngest Chinese boy was happy to get attention and he smiled in satisfaction. “They were very close way until Kai quit school because he had to help work in his parents place. When Kai left, he didn’t tell Kyungsoo a thing. He just disappeared, left like dust.” Tao mumbled dramatically, waving his hand in the air. Everyone looked over to Kai who was kneeling on the ground in front of Kyungsoo, wiping his bloody feet that were in a bowl of warm water. Kyungsoo was sitting on the couch, both of them quiet like there was awkward tension between them.   “So he’s Kai’s best friend?” Chen concluded, snapping his finger at Tao who swatted Chen’s hand away irritated. Tao wagged his finger in front of Chen, his facial expression disagreeing with whatever the blonde haired guy said. Tao pounded against his own chest, his fist hitting his lack of manboobs making the circle around him sway away just to lean forward once again. “I am Kai’s best friend. That dude over there was…” Tao lowered his voice into barely a whisper, everyone going closer to hear what he was saying. “His first love.” “WHAT THE !” Luhan exploded and everyone looked at him, Baekyoung laying a hand on his heart that jumped with the sudden reaction. Kai had looked up and Luhan shook his head, making a shooing motion with his hand as if telling him to continue what he was doing; Kai nodding and going back to rubbing Kyungsoo’s feet softly, careful not to hurt him. “So he’s only a because he doesn’t girls!” Luhan babbled and Kris, who was the originator of all this smirked. The ex-police man shook his head as if everything made sense to him, Chen frowning at all of them. “I don’t see what the problem is. They look really close.” “Of course you don’t, we all see how you act with Baekhyun.” Luhan answered, Baekhyun turning bright red. The small boy slapped Luhan on the head with embarrassment disguised as anger. “Anyway, they haven’t seen each other for years. Kai kept worrying about Kyungsoo when we first started out as Double Force.” Tao on his finger taking in the remaining tuna and Kris hit the boys hand, scolding him in Chinese for being messy. Tao pouted, continuing on his story. “Kyungsoo was always being bullied for being the bakers’ son in school, I don’t know. That’s what I heard from Kai, I’ve seen him by the small bakery in Seoul. It was called “D.O Pastries” if I’m not mistaken.”   “D.O pastries? I love that place. I always go there and buy stuff from them and she doesn’t report me to the police.” Luhan inserted and Kris glared at him. “No wonder when I asked her if she saw something she always kept quiet.” The policeman crossed his arms at the criminal who flinched. “Heh, I forgot you were the one in charge of my case. Funny how you did not recognize me since the start.” “We had no photos of you.” Kris cracked his knuckles, seeing Luhans’ face that was all smiley-smiley. “Is that a smug look I see?” Luhan’s smile disappeared, “N-No….”   Meanwhile, Kai had already finished washing Kyungsoo’s bleeding feet. The tan boy moved the bowl over to the side, and finished up by laying a towel on the ground. They knew that the rest were watching them, even moving made them self conscious. “It really has been awhile, D.O.” “It’s been awhile someone has called me that.” “You didn’t change at all. You’re just as boxy.” Kai looked up at D.O, smiling. “Your eyes are just as big, you’re just as squishy, and you’re just as quiet.” Kyungsoo leaned forward, his elbows on his thighs. He wasn’t smiling and Kai’s smile faltered for a bit, their eyes met and Kai could not help but avert his gaze. “It’s always the one who is left behind that never really changes.”   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­ “Alright, everyone!” Baekyoung clapped his hands loudly after him and Kris just came from the kitchen. He had taken a look at the remaining food while Kris was double checking the silencers and seeing how many bullets they had left. Kyungsoo was on the couch, still looking very blank and it made the others wonder if he was actually listening to them, or something was wrong with him up there. Everyone ignored Baekyoungs’ call, the house becoming noisy because of all the male creatures talking and rambling about god knows what. Chen was being wrestled on the floor by Kai who had pushed Chen’s head against the floor. Chen had asked to show him how Tao and Kai fought, the boy curious about the many positions that was possible in martial arts. It didn’t start nor end well; Chen was sprawled on the floor struggling to breathe while Kai was able to stretch his body in many different ways imaginable. From a figure 8, to a pretzel, to a plain donut. Tao and Luhan were speaking in a battle of Chinese words that no one really understood, except Kris if he was actually in the conversation. Even if there was no comprehension, the action of Tao slapping Luhan on the head was enough to show that whatever they were talking about was intense.   “Hi.” Baekhyun said to Kyungsoo who was still staring blankly into space, his eyes darting to look at the puppy faced boy. Baekhyun moved and threw himself next to Kyungsoo, even taking himself by surprise. Kyungsoo merely looked at him, no sign of emotions whatsoever when Baekhyun leaned forward- his face so close to Kyungsoo it make the owl faced boy blink. “I heard you own a pastry shop.” Baekhyun started, not backing away. His eyes were narrowing onto Kyungsoo’s face when Kyungsoo saw Baekhyuns’ nose move.   Before he knew it, he was being sniffed.   Baekhyun was all over him, his nose buried in Kyungsoo’s neck as he took a big whiff, slowly moving down to his chest. His nose moved vigorously and Kyungsoo found all this so strange that he lifted a hand and hit Baekhyun on the shoulder. Baekhyun was not taken by surprise, but he moved backwards and stuck out his tongue. “Well, you do smell like flour. Did you bring any bread?” Kyungsoo was taken aback by such a nonsensical and stupid question. If he remembered correctly, he was just busy running away by his own dead parents and these noisy people were not helping him cope with it at all. At least, emotionally. “No.” Kyungsoo said the whites of his eyes staring at Baekhyun who did not seem fazed by all this. Baekhyun did not say anything, just back away slowly, his eyes not going anywhere. The way this hobbit-like boy reacted to normal situations was a mystery to him. There was neither reaction nor a single bit of emotion coming from the boy. Baekhyun had to conclude that Kyungsoo was just exhausted. He hated to think that this newcomer could actually hate him.   “Attention, please!” Baekyoung yelled again, his voice breaking in the middle. He cleared his throat, Kris coming up to pat him on the back. It seemed like everyone was starting to catch a cold after they all stood out in the rain. Baekyoungs’ ears were red and he pounded against his chest like he was having trouble breathing. Everyone turned to Baekyoung in worry, Baekhyun biting his lip and standing up from the couch to walk closer to his brother. When everyone began to crowd around the nicer Alpha, Baekyoung supported his body on table. He leaned forward. “We’re running out of food.” The 7 people in front of him looked stunned for a moment. They were all living in the present, worrying about Tao when they all took the food they had for granted. Baekyoung knew that the remaining food would not last them 3 days. Since they were all men, they ate so much that they needed more food each day to satisfy their stomachs. “How much do we have left to last?” “Not up to 3 days. If we’re lucky, a few hours more than three days.” Baekyoung answered Kris, rubbing his shoulder. “The next town is an hour away from this place. We need some people to go there.” “It would also be good to look around that town to see how the situation is there. We’ll have to pass by that place anyway. It would be good to find survivors or survivor camps around.” Kris stated, taking off the coat that hung around his shoulders. He was wearing a muscle tank underneath and he stretched his arms, his muscles flexing. Tao who was at the opposite of the table leaned over and poked Kris’ biceps making the older boy jerk his hand away in surprise. Tao gave him a meek smile, Kris making a face in return. “Psychotic…” Kris mumbled under his breath. “So who’s going?” Luhan asked, pointing at the males that were surrounding the table. “The usual? Me, Kai, Tao?” “Not Tao.” Kai interrupted, shaking his head. “Too dangerous, and he might not be fully well just yet. I don’t think we can handle bringing a turned Tao home if ever he actually does turn into a zomb- one of them.” Kai stopped his wor