jeno came back running towards his two boyfriends. noticing the chinese's state, he kissed him softly on top of his head.

"why don't we go now?" jeno broke the sad silence they were in.

"now?" jaemin asked surprised, looking at jeno who was nodding.

"i'll go then." renjun said, wiping the tears that had fallen of his eyes with his sleeve.

"we're coming with- "

"no jaemin. the three of you can't miss class at the same time. i'll go alone, don't worry."

jaemin eyed jeno who was as worried as him.

"my father is a policeman, i'll call him if anything happends."

"renjun, i'm not sure it is a good idea." jaemin added.

"it's my best friend we're talking about. i'll do anything to protect the ones i love. and as i said before, my father is in the police. he'll come within seconds if i call." renjun assured.

jaemin looked a jeno again.

"go then. but please, be careful." jeno said, surprising jaemin who was about to protest before jeno shut him by stepping on his foot. "we really care about you. promise us you'll stay safe." jeno finished.

renjun nodded. "i promise."

jeno gently pulled renjun towards him to kiss him on the lips. jaemin did the same seconds after.

"please, be careful." he said before looking at renjun running towards the exit. "jeno, i hope you know what you are doing." he said, eyes still glued on the chinese.

"don't worry, i know." jeno responded.

XXXXXXXXXX

renjun walked quickly to his best friend's house. he would have preferred running, but his legs couldn't run anymore. so, he walked, quick enough to be in front of donghyuck's door within 8 minutes.

he approached the house, slowing down, checking if his phone was still in his pocket before knocking on the door. as there was no answer, he tried opening it, widening his eyes when he realised it was open. he entered the house silently, letting the door open to run away easily if he had to, and checked if there was anyone in the kitchen and in the living room. seeing no one, he approached the corridor that led to the bedroom and the bathroom. there, he could hear voices, and they certainly didn't own to his best friend. he approached the bedroom's door slowly, careful not to make any noise, to see what was happening. when he was close to it, he heard the toilet flush, signalling someone was going to show up behind him. he rushed to the living room, looking for a place to hide and heard a door opening (the toilet's one) and someone getting out. he then heard the bedroom's door opening, now he could clearly hear the voices inside the room, but he didn't expect at all what was about to happen.

"guys?" one of the voices said. "why is the front door opened?"

renjun cursed underneath his breath. he had done it on purpose, but he admitted that it wasn't the best idea he's ever had. plus, he hadn't found a hidden spot, so, he was just stuck at a wall, not visible from the corridor.

he then heard a noise that he never thought he would hear in his life, or at least, not in that situation: a loading gun... you know, this *clik* *clak* noise you hear when you pull the top of a gun to make the bullet go up in the canon? well, as renjun didn't know pretty much about guns, he couldn't be sure, but far away, in his old gamer memories, he could recall that this sound didn't mean anything nice at all.

so, he curled up in a ball, on his spot and watched as a man entered the living room with a gun pointing at the door, not looking any second towards renjun. the poor boy was now trembling, eyes watery, and he put up a hand to cover his mouth to prevent letting a whimper out.

the man with the gun opened the door wide and closed it after. renjun knew he had to move right now, but his body was glued to the spot, he couldn't move a muscle: he was terrorised.

and what had to happen happened: the man turned around, and found himself face to face with renjun, curled-up on the floor. he pointed his gun to the boy's head, making him tremble even more.

"hum... taehee?" he yelled.

"what?" a voice replied from the bedroom.

"come here."

then, the said man, taehee, came in and noticed renjun.

"we have a host." he stated.

"what do we do? should i kill him?"

this made renjun panic even more, and it was visible in his eyes.

"not there junseo! the whole neighbourhood will hear it."

"what do we do then? they asked us to guard the other, but they didn't precise anything if someone came..."

"let's bring him to the room. we'll see with daeho."

the armed guy made a head movement in renjun's direction, gun pointed at the latter's head, telling him to go to the bedroom.

he entered the room and was horrified at the sight. his best friend was attached to his desk chair, from head to toe, and had some duct tape on his mouth. his face had bruises, cuts and his eyes were purple. he seemed asleep at the moment, or perhaps just passed out.

"who's that?" the man that was in the room, daeho, asked eying renjun.

"we found him in the living room. he doesn't represent any danger." taehee said.

daeho approached renjun, that one being more and more nervous.

"who are you?" daeho asked, without any politeness.

renjun didn't respond.

"i asked you a question, young boy."

renjun stayed silent. not that he didn't want to speak, actually, he would prefer telling them everything about his life so that they could leave him alone. but he couldn't speak. his mouth refused to.

daeho got a gun out from his holster and gripped renjun's arm tightly, shaking him.

"who the hell are- "

his words were cut by a bullet that came by the closed window. it broke the glass, shattering it everywhere, and then it landed right in daeho's thigh, causing him to let renjun go. the poor boy rushed towards his best friend, hiding behind his hurt body, while daeho was holding his leg, lying on the floor, and the two other men at the window, shooting every now and then.

what the hell was renjun doing here. he kept asking himself that.

he got interrupted in his thoughts by the bedroom's door opening, revealing men wearing all black. one of them punched jaeho, who was trying to stand but didn't really managed because of his leg, in the jaw, making him black out totally. the others were shooting the two at the window. and when the three bodies were on the floor, the men who had just entered approached renjun and donghyuck, making renjun let out tears of fear once again.

one of them took out his beanie, revealing red hair.

"hello, i'm taeyong." he introduced himself to renjun. "i won't hurt you, don't worry. me and my friends are here to help." he continued approaching the two boys. renjun saw him taking out a blade from his pocket and shrieked in fear, but calmed himself when he saw the red-haired man cutting free donghyuck's body.

one of the people who were with him took donghyuck in his arms. "it's dangerous to stay here. come with us, we only want to help."

though the voice wasn't demanding at all, renjun still felt obliged to do what he told. he approached the boy carrying donghyuck and walked past the bloody bodies that were laying on the floor. and that was too much for renjun to handle in a day. he tried talking, grabbing the attention of the red-haired man, but his words didn't come out, and he fainted, falling on taeyong who caught his light body without problems.

donghyuck and renjun weren't made for a world like this. and that, taeyong knew it very well.