Enigma || an EXO fanfic ||

| 11 |

Are you okay?

Chanyeol and I stood up in alarm when Bay gasped, disturbing her own peaceful slumber. I rushed to her side, trying to soothe her by taking her hand in mine and rubbing my thumb against her palm. Chanyeol appeared on the other side of her and gently caressed her face. "Shh," he shushed her. "Are you okay?"

Bay's eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked from me to Chanyeol and quickly sat up, furrowing her eyebrows. Then, she frowned, looking down, ashamed. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Why?" I spoke up.

She was silent for a moment, then decided to look straight at me as if she was confronting a friend. "You shouldn't have seen that," she stated, her gaze unwavering. Her aura was completely different from when we had found her in the park. She wasn't timid and terrified anymore. Instead, she seemed stronger and... angry. However, she wasn't angry at us; that's for sure.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Chanyeol tried, taking a seat in front of her on the bed. "Before we found you. And I don't just mean at the park."

She started fidgeting with the edge of the blanket, suddenly finding great interest in the loose thread that was threatening to fall out from the hem. Bay knew very well what he was getting at. He wanted to know who she really was. But, sadly, even Bay herself didn't seem know.

She shook her head. "The day we ran into each other, or rather, I ran into your van," she sighed. "I was running away from a prison." She spat the word, obviously holding much hatred for that particular place.

Chanyeol urged her to continue but I was wondering if I should stay to listen to her story. Of course, my curiosity won the best of me and I continued to listen. "It wasn't a good place but it was my home. To be honest, I don't really remember being anywhere else but there."

Chanyeol and I exchanged a look. We knew she had disappeared from the face of the earth when she was around eleven or maybe even twelve years old. It seemed as though she didn't even remember that or before that. Perhaps she didn't remember anything but that prison of hers. "How'd you get out?" I whispered.

"A friend," she said. "I'm just praying he made it out okay."

She said it with a forlorn expression, as if she didn't even believe in her own prayer. "I have him to thank that I don't have to go through all that shit again."
"What do you mean?"

"Those constant experiments. All the drugs," she spat. "All the medicine. The abuse. If he's still alive, they're probably abusing him now. I shouldn't even be telling you this. You guys could get in some serious trouble for knowing about this."

"Bay, we don't ca-"

"No," she interrupted Chanyeol. "Keep this a secret. Pretend I never said anything." She sighed, rubbing her arms, trying to console herself. "I really don't want to go back."

I immediately wrapped my arms around her, shocking the both of them. I hadn't realized this but she was trembling a bit. It wasn't visible but once she was in my arms I could feel it. I couldn't help hugging her when I realized how much shit those bastards (whoever they were) had put her through. And her friend. I wondered where he was and silently prayed he was well because after all, he had saved Bay, so he must have been a good person too, right?

"Your secret is safe with us," I assured her and she breathed out a sigh in relief.

"Ahem-," Chanyeol coughed. "You should rest a bit more, alright. Baek and I will take care of dinner."

Bay nodded sullenly, slithered out of my embrace, and laid back down, pulling the blanket up to her nose. Chanyeol pulled me out of the room by the arm, carefully closing the door behind us.

"What did you mean by that?" he questioned me. "Are we really keeping it a secret."

I shook my head in defeat. "I don't see what else we could do, Channie," I said. "We're dealing with something completely unknown here."

"They. Kidnapped. Her," he hissed.

"And they dangerous, too," I argued. "Bay doesn't want to have anything to do with them anymore and we have to respect that."

"Baekhyun-ah. We don't have a choice. She's not normal. She even explicitly said she was experimented on, so whatever she is now, is not human."

"I do-"

"We should at least look into it."

"SHE ESCAPED FROM THAT FUCKING HELLHOLE. SHE'S FREE NOW. If we meddle, we risk sending her back there."

"But we need to make sure she's not in danger."

"Of what? What could she possible be in danger of now."

Chanyeol exhaled, running a hand through his messy hair. "... herself."