~Fast forward 2 months~
Half way through term 3, and the teachers are piling on the assessments, homework and practice tests. Because graduation would be 1 week after exams, the school wouldn’t be giving us a term break, but would give us longer summer holidays. I think I’m going to die from the workload. Luckily for me, I have Kai. I haven’t seen Luhan for months, and every time I think about how I rejected him so violently, I feel so guilty that I don’t dwell on thoughts of him for long.
I walk into my room, and throw my bag next to my desk, then collapse on my bed. This workload is taking its toll. I haven’t been getting a full night’s sleep; 4 hours, and my eyes are always burning. I slowly get up, and change out of my uniform. It’s time for some exercise, I think. I really need some fresh air, even if its just 10 minutes worth.
I walk to the park, and let the cold air dance around me. Out here, I don’t have any worries. I involuntarily smile thinking about how great life is going. I continue to walk, but soon start to feel like something is wrong. Like someone is following me. I turn around, but no one is there. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising, and I start to walk faster. I have to get home. Suddenly, a hand grabs my left arm and I scream. I turn around, my right arm flailing and trying to hit my attacker.
“Hey! Hey, ow! Hey! Stop it!” I stop when the voice is familiar. I open my eyes, realizing I had closed them. It’s D.O.
“Ohhhhh my god. You scared me. What did you do that for?!” His eyes are wider than usual, and he looks pretty stressed out.
“I was just on my way to get you. Come on, be quick!” This feels almost like de ja vu, except with D.O and not Sehun. My legs are still slightly wobbly, but I try my best to keep up with D.O.
“Where are we going?” I ask. I follow him to a busy road, where he hails a taxi. He ushers me inside, and gives the driver rapid instructions.
“D.O. Where are we going?” D.O’s lips tighten, and he looks grim.
“Kai’s in some trouble.” It feels like I’m dreaming.
“What kind of trouble..?” I hesitate to ask. Do I really want to know?
“You’ll see when we get there.” He doesn’t say anymore, and looks out the window. My stomach flips around and does weird stuff while I sit in my seat and try not to panic.
The taxi pulls up in front of a convenience store, and I look at D.O, hoping he’ll see the complete and utter confusion on my face. Is Kai’s problem that he doesn’t have money or something? I can only hope it’s something just as insignificant. We get out, and D.O crosses the road, to a patch of trees.
“OK! Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?” I cross my arms across my chest and yell at D.O from across the road.
“Can we just hurry it up? We have to go!”
“Go where?! D.O, just tell me!”
“I will! But let’s get moving first!” I sigh, and cross the road too. I notice that it’s unnaturally deserted. There are no cars, no other stores and not even a soul in sight. I am feeling pretty nervous about this- it’s the start of a really bad horror movie.
D.O turns and starts to weave past the trees. I hurry so I don’t lose him, and I follow the path he takes. It seems that he knows exactly where to step so that he doesn’t trip over tree roots or get hit by branches. I, on the other hand, trip over every exposed root and get battered by all the branches. My face stings from the cold wind blowing into it, and I marvel at how D.O doesn’t seem bothered by this at all.
We finally reach a clearing after several minutes of me battling with nature. I’m out of breathe and I can feel bruises forming on my neck and face from all the branches hitting me.
“Ok… Ok… you really owe me an explanation big time.” I manage to spit out while bent at the waist and trying to get my breath back. I’m way too unfit.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. You see that building at the end?” I follow his finger, and see a large, tattered storehouse/shed on the other side of the clearing. How did that manage to slip past me? It’s huge and overly sinister. A place you would expect to be blown up in an action movie. It’s even complete with the broken windows and vandalized door.
“Yeah, what about it?” D.O suddenly starts to walk towards it, and I have to hurry forward again. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go near it. I’m getting bad vibes from there…”
“That’s the thing, see. Your precious boyfriend is in there.” I nearly trip over when he says it. I almost forgot that Kai is in ‘some’ trouble. Is ‘some’ an accurate word? That shady building screams ‘lots’.
“You remember when you broke up for a little while? Well, Kai got back into his bad habits a little bit after. I went to his house one day and stumbled across a small bag of sugar in his room. Turns out it was cocaine. We had a fight about it, and I was trying to put some sense back into his head, but he wouldn’t listen. He said he had nothing to lose anymore. After you got back together, I thought he would stop again, but he didn’t. He said that if you really love him, you would accept the fact that he was taking drugs. But he couldn’t even tell you about it, that’s the thing. He’s still scared of what you’ll think of him despite what he says.”
We stand in front of the building, and my mouth has gone dry. So many problems are arising, but why has Kai never told me about them? I feel so betrayed; he couldn’t even disclose this information with me. Does he really have such little faith in me?
“So, so what’s he doing in there?” My voice comes out scratchy, and I clear my throat.
“I… I called the police. This place is called The Warehouse. It’s where Kai can get high in comfort, pretty much. They also have fights here. I only know about this place because I followed him here one day. I brought you here because I hope he’ll listen to you. He’s had more than enough close shaves with the police, but he doesn’t seem to give a damn.”
“The police? Are you crazy?!”
“TJ, they are fighting in there. Someone will get hurt and I refuse to have that on my conscience.” D.O looks at me angrily, and I can see how much Kai’s actions have affected him. I nod, and he puts his hand on the door’s rusty handle. From inside, we hear a cheer. D.O takes a deep breath and then pushes the door open.
