Twelve || 亦凡

/three/

/three/

The night Yifan made his final decision, there was an unusual calm in the EXO dorms, much like the calm that comes right before a storm hits. They had gone to practices, getting ready for their upcoming first tour as a group. They returned to the dorms and had dinner together afterwards, laughing and making conversation. Even the other members that Yifan actually appeared to be smiling at them, even if it was a saddened smile. He had been in that melancholy mood all week, during interviews and in their most recent showcase, he waved at the fans excessively.

Yena watched him nervously, waving and smiling at them with saddened eyes, like it was the last time they would see him. The rumors about Yifan got stronger until they finally stopped being rumors. His group members' fears proved to be right when one day they were gathered in the lounge for breakfast, Yifan hadn't yet arrived. He had spent the whole previous night awake in his bed, belongings packed and sitting by his door. On many occasions the previous night he had chanced to tell them everything, but he let every chance slip away. 

He couldn't face them.

Instead he would leave them without their knowing, even though he knew they would judge him.

The other members finished eating and Junmyeon asked one of the members to rush Yifan because they needed to head off to practices for the day and they were already late as it was. Their first group tour was coming and was just two weeks away. They wanted everything to be perfect for it. 

Yena offered to be the one to go get him, and no one stopped her. They knew that Yifan only talked to Tao now, and on very rare occasions to Junmyeon. She went to his door and knocked a few times, thinking that he was late because he was probably still sleeping. When there was no answer, she gripped the doorknob and pushed the door open slowly. Her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the room was completely bare. His belongings were gone and his closet door was open, showing the emptiness it had without Yifan's clothes there. Without Minseok's belongings, who had moved out of the room weeks prior, the room looked as though no one had ever lived in it.

She ran out of the room as her heart began to race in panic and she hurried back to the other boys who were just leaving the lounge room together. Their smiling faces dropped into looks of worry when they saw the panic on Yena's face.

"What's wrong?" Lu Han asked her, rushing to her side.

"Yifan hyung is gone." She told them.

There were confused looks among the group as they heard the news. Junmyeon was the first to react and he pushed past her, looking into the room to confirm what she was saying. He entered the dorm and frantically looked around at the bare room as though their group mate were hiding from them, and he walked to the window when something caught his eye. "He's still here." He gestured out the window. "He's sitting out on the sidewalk with his belongings."

Without wasting any time, eleven boys ran down the six flights of stairs and out of the building. Yifan was sitting on the sidewalk with his phone in hand and his luggage by his side. "What are you doing, hyung?" Yena was the first to arrive and she asked the question. Her eyes were full of hurt that not only was he abandoning them, but he had tried to do it without telling them first.

"I'm waiting for an airport van that will get me out of here, and then I'm taking a flight back to China. I'm sick of living like a fucking slave." He told her bitterly. One by one, the other boys arrived, stopping behind Yena.

"You can't go." She told him, eyes on the brink of tears.

"We need you, hyung." One of the other boys pleaded. Yena couldn't see who it was, but it sounded to her like it had been Jongdae.