In the end the diary was left in Jongdae's room, and he had agreed not to burn it (after some arguing with Baekhyun and the fact that they had no matchesin the first place) and instead of a burnt book, Baekhyun was facing burnt dinner.
    "Hm, yummy," he slipped the words out of his mouth sarcastically as he winced and took a fork full of burnt pasta. It was chewy and black and ugh...it had mini burnt cucumbers in them, and Baekhyun couldn't pick them out because they were practically molted into the rest of the food.
    "Delicious," Jongdae sounded exactly the same as he forced the mounts of food into his mouth, even though it was his fault in the first place.
    Baekhyun ate one more lump before he threw his fork in the plate and pushed the sticky substance away.
    "Nope, I am not eating the rest of that," he refused, even crossing his arms and pouting.
    Jongdae sighed, putting his fork in his own mount of burnt pasta and pushing it away, mimicking Baekhyun's actions except a little less harsh.
    "But we've got to eat something, I'm starving," Jongdae complained, clenching at his stomach.
    "Well I'm not eating that, can't you cook something, anything?!"
    Jongdae rolled his eyes to the ceiling, as if hoping, praying that all of a sudden he would be a great cook.
    Baekhyun clenched his eyes, thinking carefully of any recipes he knew. He had learnt a few from Chanyeol, but the only cooks he knew were Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Yixing, and they were all... well they weren't there!
    That was another thing, in the normal life, you had to make your own food.
    What a pain.
    Baekhyun jumped up and all of a sudden headed for his room, opening it up and grabbing his wallet with a fair amount of cash in it and the door keys, and rushed into Jongdae's room just opposite and grabbed the first jacket he laid eyes on, a dark blue hoodie, and returned back to the dining room, with Jongdae sitting in exactly the same spot as when Baekhyun had rushed off. Baekhyun threw over Jongdae's hoodie and made his way towards the door.
    "We're going out and we're going to get some real food," he explained as he turned around to the face the white door and then down at his hands as he fumbled around with the keys.
    Jongdae behind him slipped the hoodie on in a rush and came up beside Baekhyun as he was finally able to get a grip on the keys and unlock the door. The two slipped out of the apartment and Baekhyun turned around to lock the door from behind, swiftly turning the key in the door before slipping it into his jeans pocket.
    "Oh my god, Baekhyun can you smell that?" A lust sounding Jongdae whined, and Baekhyun turned around to ask what the hell he was going on about, until suddenly it hit him right in the smelling sense. It was like a mix with tomato, basil and onion, and it drifted throughout the hallway of the block of apartments and it smelt so good.
    Without second thought, Baekhyun started to walk towards where he thought the beautiful smell of spaghetti was coming from, dragging him and reeling him in like a heart throbbing fish. Jongdae followed after the older with no resistance, and suddenly the two found themselves standing nearby a slightly opened door, the wafting aroma unlikely to come from anywhere else.
    "It'll be fine, I'll get your goddamn phone back for you and return back for dinner, okay?!"
    "Alright, but hurry!"
    The voices were muffled slightly, but Baekhyun recognised them immediately, and smiled as Chanyeol stepped out of the slightly opened the door, shutting it behind him and looking slightly rushed before he noticed two dumb looking idiots in his way. Baekhyun finally snapped back into his senses and elbows Jongdae to stop dreaming over the food coming from the apartment.
    It had to be good, it was Kyungsoo and Chanyeol's handy work after all.
    "Oh, hi, uh..."
    "Baekhyun," Baekhyun responded, still in quite a daze.
    "Yeah, Baekhyun and...Jongdae, right?"
    Jongdae nodded, and then, an awkward silence lapsed over the three, and Baekhyun couldn't help but feel a little bit upset and betrayed at the fact Chanyeol remember Jongdae's name and not Baekhyun's. For once, the beagle line had nothing to say to each over.
    "A-are you guys hungry?" Chanyeol asked, and by the sudden question Baekhyun suddenly became aware of everything and everyone and knew what was going to come next.
    Jongdae nodded, but pointed to the doors that led to the stairs, which spiraled down to the floors below, explaining, "Yeah, starving in fact, but we were just going to head out to eat," he laughed.
    Chanyeol's eyes widened, even wider than usual and he indicated to the door he had just abandoned, "Well, we have plenty to spare, if you want to come, we'd love to make friends with the new neighbors," he explained enthusiastically.
    Jongdae tutted between his teeth and rolled his head, "But we don't want to burden you..."
    Jongdae you big fat liar, a subtle smirk made it's way on Baekhyun's lips.
    "No, it's fine, honestly, I'm just going to get Kungsoo's phone, and then I'll be back, Kyungsoo will look after you," he took a few steps back to the door and opened it up, calling into the flat, "Kyungsoo-ah! I'm letting two neighbors in, they're new so please look after them!"
    There was no response, well, of course there wasn't, it was Kyungsoo.
    Suddenly Baekhyun felt a pang of homesickness, he was going to see Kyungsoo, and yet had to act like he had never met him before. It pained him a little bit, because he missed his squishy Kyungsoo, he wanted to sing with him and talk to him like he usually did, but he couldn't. He had a feeling Jongdae probably felt the same as well, and turned to look at his expression as Chanyeol waved them off, left the door open, and rushed away.
    Baekhyun was a little bit worried about Chanyeol, if he was leaving his door open with strangers...
    Jongdae didn't leave a minute pass by as he stepped his way to the slightly opened door and stuck his head through, Baekhyun following a little hesitantly. 
    "Hello? We're the neighbors!" Jongdae called, his voice ringing down the hallways, which was a replica of their own apartment. Being familiar with the laid out area, they knew where the kitchen was, and moved towards it down the hallway.
    The open kitchen had vapor streaming out of it, and standing, small with his tiny shoulders, was Kyungsoo, stirring away at some sauce.

"Are you actually okay?" Jongin asked as Yixing limped slightly, nodding ferociously. It hurt, quite a lot, but Yixing shrugged it off, there were worst things in this seemingly perfect world that Jongin could worry about, not Yixing cutting his feet with plates.
    The two were about to head out once again for a walk in the town, maybe get some things, clothes, more food (Yixing was pretty sure Jongin was secretly snacking on some chicken bites in the fridge). They were about to head down the stairs until suddenly Yixing spotted something, and he knew what it was instantly as he rested his eyes on the object, alone in the corridor.
    A fluffy lamb, with a pink jacket and a pirate hat, sit alone and abandoned.
    "Ace!" Yixing quickly turned away from the path the two were taking towards the stairs and sprinted off onto another course, towards the fluffy lamb. He scooped the plushie up and hugged it in his arms. 
    Although the fluffy animal was Yifan's, Yixing had always been slightly attached to it. Yet he started to wonder, if Ace was alone in the corridor, then where was Yifan?
    Yixing grew slightly apprehensive all of a sudden at the thought of seeing Yifan. He had tried to keep in contact with the ex-member once he left, but it was difficult. He missed Yifan, he missed Luhan and Tao too.
    He missed his friends, and unlike everyone else who had harboring feelings about the gone members, Yixing sent them all good farewells. Yixing was the type to hold in his feelings, and so instead of getting angry when he had first heard about the members leaving, he kept it inside, but normally this grew and grew until he exploded all of a sudden, anywhere, to anyone, and because as one by one each Chinese member left, his burden grew more and more, but he strained himself no matter what, to keep it inside.
    Until he became the last one.
    It was a little bit lonely, and it was hard...actually it was very lonely and very hard, and he couldn't get the image of the others coming up to him.
    "Hyung? Are you leaving?"
    "Hyung, are you leaving us too?"
    "Yixing-hyung, please don't go."
    It was very painful to hear and to look at them all when he could see how happy everyone else was, Yifan and Luhan looked so happy and he felt happy for them too, but he wondered if they ever thought about him, if they ever thought 'I wonder how Yixing is doing?' The most probably didn't, and that's what made him the most sad.
    He really felt alone, even if he did have eight best friends, he still felt very much lonely.
    Yixing hugged the plushie and Jongin came up to him after he stood there, hugging it tighter and tighter, and commented, "That's Yifan-hyung's, isn't it?" He burst all the thoughts out of Yixing's head.
    Said male nodded and then turned around to face Jongin, "We should try and return it to him-"
    "But we don't know where he is..."
    "We'll find out, we can ask people," Yixing explained, but there was something in Jongin's eyes that said it wasn't just the hassle he didn't want, no, there was something more Jongin was feeling at the plea's Yixing was making. But Yixing himself couldn't quite figure out what it was.
    "Yixing, I-"
    "ACE!" Jongin's very gentle like words were interrupted suddenly, as a tall, blond man burst through the doors that led from the stairs, and practically yanked Ace out of Yixing's arms.
    The two surprised dancers took a step back and watched as Yifan stood in front of them, hugging the dear life out of the lamb.
    Yixing just stared. He stared at Yifan, his face, his movements, his voice, everything. He knew this wasn't the real Yifan, but it looked so real to Yixing and Yixing just wanted to start rambling on about EXO and speak in Chinese without hesitation and...
    "Thank you so much for finding him, where was he?" He spoke in Korean, and although Yixing wanted to speak in Chinese, he gathered himself up inside his head and heart and pointed close to where their feet were, answering, "It was just sitting there, and I was going to try and find it's owner because it looked like it had been there for a while," he explained, knowing his voice was going slight hoarse.
    "Yeah, some stupid kids stole him I guess when I was eating in YG, and I haven't seen him for four days," he sighed, patting down the slight amount of dust collecting at the white fluff, then turned back around to look at Yixing and Jongin, "Sorry, you must have thought it belonged to a kid or something, sorry for shocking you."
    The two just shook their heads slightly, and Yifan bowed simply yet handsomely, "Sorry, uh, my name is Yifan, I've lived here for around two years so I know it quite well, but I'm originally from China," he introduced himself, and although the other two clearly knew that, they had to continue to play along.
    "Hi, I'm Jongin," Jongin introduced himself slightly low, and Yixing wondered what was wrong with him,
    "Nice to meet you, I'm Yixing, I'm actually from China too," he laughed, and Yifan raised an eyebrow, smiling and asking in Chinese, "Really?"
    Yixing confirmed with a nod, then continued, "Me and Jongin have just moved in, but I'm going to start work in Some More Cafe tomorrow," he said with a smile, but Yifan winced for a moment, and when Yixing connected one and two together, he knew what that subtle flinch meant. Yifan let out a broken smile and explained in a hurry, "Well I hope you enjoy living here, it really is nice, but I gotta go, I came up here to look for Ace again because I've been checking daily, but I actually have to go to my friends flat, bye!" He waved and dashed off with a hurry, plushie under his arm.
    Yixing smiled, however when he turned to give a glance at Jongin, the latter didn't look at him and grabbed his arm, dragging him back to the apartment.

The combination Jongdae was feeling was nothing but awkwardness but yet the desire to speak, and even sing a little.
    Kyungsoo was finishing off the cooking while Jongdae and Baekhyun rambled on quietly among themselves. And then suddenly Kyungsoo finished off, stood around uncomfortably then sat himself down opposite the two older singers. And then Jongdae had to remind himself, just how shy Kyungsoo was, and that to him they were just two strangers.
    He started to play with his fingers before he asked quietly, "So, um...how long have you...been here?"
    Baekhyun looked at Jongdae and Jongdae looked at Baekhyun; it was so weird to experience a shy Kyungsoo, and yet silently Jongdae preferred it from the usual tsunadre, hitting and scary Kyungsoo. 
    "We only just moved in, roughly a week?"
    "Oh, okay," Kyungsoo nodded and never once looked up to look at his guests.
    Finally the sound of the door opening down the hallways echoed in the background and Jongdae smiled slightly, turning to his right and leaning back in is chair to peek down the hallway and see Chanyeol's long legs taking him down towards the three silent people.
    "Aish, were you making the room awkward again Kyungsoo?"
    "N-no..."
    "Don't lie to me," he fanned the air, "I can practically feel it," he muttered, throwing his coat over the small fridge and placing a mobile down next to Kyungsoo's twiddling hands, which stopped messing around and grabbed the object.
    "Thanks, " he gave out a tiny squek and took in the phone, while Chanyeol stood there grinning (like always), and then turned to look at the two stiff guests.
    "Sorry about him, he's shy," he explained, then turned to look back at said boy who started twiddling his thumbs again, adding, "Very shy," and shook his head.
    He started to take steps towards the dinner and peered into the contents of the delicious smelling food, smiling from ear to ear before turning the extractor off and turning down the flames that cooked such wonders.
    "Dinner's ready," he hummed with satisfaction and Jongdae swore he was drooling unconsciously. 

Jongin dragged Yixing back into the apartment and sighed once the door was tightly shut, while Yixing looked up at him with half worried and half annoyed eyes.
    "What's wrong? I thought we were going to go out-"
    "Well I don't think we should, especially if we bump into Yifan again, or even worse, Luhan or Tao," he didn't know what he was saying anymore, it all poured out of his mouth in a giant wave. And yet he had a clear view of the message he wanted to send across to the Chinese male. 
    "You speak about them as if they're an illness Jongin, what's wrong with you?" The annoyed look had suddenly been replaced with disgust, but it still balanced out with the worry that dripped from Yixing's lips.
     And to be honest Jongin didn't know that something was wrong with him, he thought it was clear what he wanted to happen, or more accurately, what he didn't want to happen.
    "I just...I think we should be careful how we act around them, and I don't hate them Yixing, they were my friends too, very close, but it's just..." he tried to think of the nearest thing that came to mind, and it turned out to be exactly what he didn't want to say, as well as that, it came out wrongly too, "They abandoned us"
    In reality, what he wanted to say was 'they're not real', but somehow, deep down, his trail of thought had dug down to a part of him he didn't want to think about, and it dragged it out of him and made him spit out words he hardly even thought about.
    Yixing was silent, he bowed his head and looked at his feet, and Jongin could see his struggles all of a sudden, they were showing and pulsing through him, as if on display, and it looked very painful to control and keep down.
    "They did, but please don't make me think like that...that makes me an...unfair person," he sighed, and started to walk away, but it was as if suddenly something else was controlling Jongin, and he reached forward and grabbed for Yixing's wrist.
    "How? You should feel about them however you like Yixing, you should be at least a little bit angry, a little bit upset-"
    "I am upset and I am angry, so don't you dare tell me to be even more of those things!" Suddenly Yixing snapped his wrist away from Jongin and took a step back. This was the side Yixing had been compressing for so long, and it was frightening for Jongin, because he didn't know how to deal with an overly emotional and angry Yixing. His eyes were wide and he breathed heavily, but he continued nevertheless, "You don't know what it's like to be left alone! To be burdened, to help eight other people with their Chinese and to dance and to sing in Korean, in the language you weren't even born to speak, and to miss your family who are thousands and thousands of more miles than everybody else's and to know that you've been abandoned not once, not twice, but three times, and to know that you can't get angry at them because that isn't how you're supposed to be," tears started filling in his eyes but he continued, "This is how I really am, but I don't want people to see this and I certainly don't want you goading me on to be like this either, I have to be strong!" 
    He took a few steps back, as if he was about to fall, and the tears started to stream out and his face became red, and he clutched at it as if he wanted to rip all the tears away.
    "I have to be..." his voice was shaking and Jongin didn't know what to do, because it was so painful and burning to watch.
    And so he did the best thing to do, he took a few steps forward and he wrapped his arms around the crying male and he held him tightly.
    He cried into his coat but Jongin didn't care.

    He didn't care about anything.

    "You don't have to be anything Yixing, I'm sorry."