+ thirty

When Narda came back to her senses, she picked her cellphone off the ground and brought it to her ear, but the line was already dead. The twenty three year old was surprised by how much something like that had affected her, to the point where she had reverted to being a scared little girl. Since she was alone at the apartment, she climbed onto the couch and brought her knees to her chest, her mind plagued with the thoughts of that morning on the beach. How she was so terribly afraid that something bad had happened to her. The doctor told her that there had been nothing to worry about, but what if they were wrong? It was human to make mistakes.

She sat there, staring off into space until Nari arrived with Kyungsoo. They had been arguing about something, which Narda didn't really pay attention to. "Fine Soo! Fuck off then if you're gonna be that way." Nari snarled at him before closing the door in his face.

She was fuming and she huffed angrily, turning around and becoming shocked as she saw her friend sitting on the couch by herself. Narda hadn't even looked at her phone for hours, hadn't even seen or checked for any texts from her best friend or her boyfriend. Nari's voice softened significantly and a small smile graced her lips, since she was always happy to see her best friend. The only two people she had in her life who were her rocks, the only people who truly cared about her were Soo and Narda. Now she felt like her relationship with Soo was slipping out of her fingers. The only person she could cling to was Narda. Sure, she had the other EXO boys. But would they really still talk to her and be her friends if she was no longer with Kyungsoo. She wasn't sure, but she suspected that they would take his side.

"Hey Guti." Nari said to her, eyes reddened with tears that had wanted to escape while she was arguing with Kyungsoo, but she would never let them. She dropped her handbag on the coffee table and went to sit down next to her friend. She had yet to notice the seemingly lost look in her eyes. When she finally did, she asked her with concern, "What's wrong?"

Nari didn't know about the incident by the beach, no one besides Chanyeol and Baekhyun did. Narda wanted to keep it that way. She didn't want people to know that she had potentially been attacked. That she was no longer pure and clean. It was her business anyway, she it was her fault for walking off by herself. Though Chanyeol and Baekhyun tried to reassure her otherwise, she knew it was true. She would never be the same after that. Even though the doctor said nothing happened, on the inside Narda still felt like something was missing.

Narda shook her head clear of her negative thoughts and told her friend a little white lie. After all of this was over, she would come clean and talk to her about it. She also knew that telling her now would be a bad idea. Nari would probably catch a train to Busan and knock someone's teeth out. Like Narda and Florencia liked to put it in Mexican slang--someone was going to be picking up their teeth on the street after Nari was done with them.

"I was just thinking that I'd like to go back to Busan for a few days before I start my new teaching job at Greenland Academy." Narda said, forcing a smile onto her face.

Her friend grinned at her, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "I think that's a great idea, Guti. I think a little vacation will do you well." A thought popping into her mind, she added, "Chan oppa should go with you too. I'll have to make him look really sick so they can let him miss schedules for a few days..." Ideas were already racing through her mind on how to accomplish her objective. 

"And Baekhyun..." Narda let it slip subconsciously, before she could give it any real thought.

"What?" Nari asked surprised, raising an eyebrow at her in question.

"Nothing." Narda quickly replied, her cheeks flashing red.

Nari said suspiciously, "Please don't tell me you wanna pull off some Felices Los Cuatro crap with the two of them." 

Felices Los Cuatro was a Mexican drama  that Narda had introduced Nari to. It was based off a Colombian drama of the same name and it was about a man who had a girlfriend. But he was seeing an ex, who had a boyfriend of her own, behind his girlfriend's back. When the girlfriend found out what was going on, he proposed something to her instead of it leading to a break up. He offered for her to date the two of them, and that way the four of them would be happy. The thought was perfectly logical in his mind, and they all agreed, except the woman he was seeing at the moment--his current girlfriend.

Her reluctance to accept the poly amorous relationship led to drama and comic antics between the characters. But it was one of Nari's favorite dramas at the moment and she didn't waste any chance to make any references to it.

"Of course not!" Narda denied the accusation.

Nari wasn't completely sure that Narda was being honest with her, but she decided to give her the time and space to open up on her own. Instead, the two started planning how they would convince the managers that Chanyeol was very sick and needed to stay in the dorms for a few days. 

"What if we make them think he has ebola?" Nari thought out loud.

"We want them to think he's going to live." Narda pointed out. There had been a big ebola outbreak in the previous year and though cases of it had died down in the last few months, it was still a sensitive topic. "If anyone thinks he's infected, they'll take him away to be quarantined somewhere. He'll be on twenty four hour watch. We want people to not be watching him."

"Right." Nari agreed.

Narda made a suggestion as the thought came to her mind. "What about the flu? Its innocent enough that they'll leave him alone and its plausible that he won't be able to leave his room for a few days."

Her friend grinned at the suggestion. "Perfect."

-

Narda explained to Chanyeol that she had been summoned to the police station and then for a trial against the person who had attacked her that night in Busan. She didn't have to say another word before he was fully willing to miss out on practices to go with her. For anyone, it would have been difficult to do this alone. But considering it was Narda, and he loved her so much, the last thing he wanted was to leave her alone.

The night before they were to leave for Busan, Chanyeol got out of the shower and coughed into his hands. When the sound pulled Baekhyun's attention to him, he said to no one in particular inside the dorm room, "I think I'm coming down with a cold or something." Just a little sentence that would make his dorm mate believe that he was actually sick.

As soon as Baekhyun was asleep, Chanyeol jumped out of bed and went across the street in the dark of the night to Nari and Narda's apartment. It was well past midnight and there weren't very many people present on the streets. Still, he was careful to avoid being seen. When Nari was done with him, he appeared pale, hair disheveled, and eyes red and puffy. He truly looked like he had the flu. Narda touched his forehead in mock worry. "I swear, it actually looks like you might collapse from the flu."

Nari smiled, proud of herself. "Thank you."

He gave Narda a peck on the lips and hurried back to the dorms. The moment he opened the door, Baekhyun was waiting there wide awake, and with the night stand lamp dimly illuminating the room. His eyes narrowed into a glare that was directed at Chanyeol. "I knew you were faking!" He accused with venom in his words. "What? Are you finally sneaking off to your honeymoon with Guti tomorrow?" The thought of them together was one that not only angered him, but even sickened him. He missed her so much and he was resentful that she was now with Chanyeol. His best friend, of all people.

Knowing himself caught, he decided to tell his room mate the truth. If he lied to him, Baekhyun would probably rat him out to the managers and then he wouldn't be able to travel with Narda. But if he were to tell them the truth, then Baekhyun might stay quiet, if even for Guti's sake. That was good enough for Chanyeol, as much as it angered him to think so. 

He heaved a sigh of frustration. "You can't tell anyone, but Guti was called by the Busan Police Department this morning."

At the mention of the police department, Baekhyun figured what this was about.

"What did they want?" He gulped.

Chanyeol continued explaining. "They said they found the person responsible for what happened to at the beach that night, and they want her there as soon as possible. You have to understand. I can't let her go alone. If you won't keep quiet for me, as your best friend, at least do it for Guti since you say you care about her so much--"

"Of course I care about her." Baekhyun quickly cut him off.

"Then keep quiet." Chanyeol insisted.

Baekhyun gave a shake of his head. Chanyeol was so close to curse him out. But when Baekhyun finally spoke again, it took him by surprise. "I won't tell anyone. But I won't just stay here either. I want to go with her. She needs me."

"Stay out of it, Baek." Chanyeol warned through gritted teeth. "She's with me, and that's all she needs."

"Come off it, Chanyeol." Baekhyun said with a scoff, rolling his eyes in annoyance at Chanyeol's jealous boyfriend behavior. "I'm not going to be there to try to win her back or anything. That's the last thing she needs and the last thing on my mind right now. I'm going to be there to offer my support. She needs me just as much as she needs you there too."

For some reason, Chanyeol couldn't argue with that.

Instead, he climbed into his bed with a sulk on his face and reached over to turn the lamp off. "We leave after the others head off to practices for the day." He informed his room mate.

Baekhyun nodded and set his alarm bright and early for the next morning. He was going to get up before everyone else. Chanyeol had an excuse because he looked sick. But Baekhyun didn't have the make-up effects that Nari had provided his room mate with. He was going to instead provide the managers and the other members with audio. From very early in the morning he would be ready to leave for Busan. But one they could come to check for him and Chanyeol, he would be locked in his bathroom faking a gag from the supposed flu he had come down with.

And that's what he did the next morning.

When Junmyeon came knocking on their door, the two boys started their charade. Chanyeol croaked weakly, asking him to come in, while Baekhyun made sure the door to the bathroom was locked. He then started making very believable gagging noises. 

At the mere sight of Chanyeol, Junmyeon's face was etched in worry. "How are you feeling?" He asked, though it was obvious that he looked like he was very sick.

Chanyeol coughed loudly. "I think I may have come down with the flu, hyung."

"And what about Baek?" The EXO leader wondered, looking towards the bathroom door.

Baekhyun saw that as his cue to gag even louder. 

Chanyeol gestured to the door. "He's been in there all morning throwing up. Will you talk to the manager hyungs and let them know we need to be quarantined for a few days? We'll be okay if we take medicine and rest."

Junmyeon nodded and promised he would talk to the managers about letting them rest. He left the room and informed the other boys that Chanyeol and Baekhyun wouldn't be joining them at practices or schedules for the next few days. 

Moments later, the boys piled into their company cars and headed off to practices for the day.

As soon as they were gone, the two boys hurried out of the dorm building.

-

some action is coming up. i know i have updated pretty often for this story now. but i'm feeling really inspired. especially since i really just want to finish this story so i can work on my other exo ones. 

i'm also almost done with my bts series, which is connected with this one. and then i want to get full on into this one. then when i finish, hopefully within the next few months, i want to fully start concentrating on my shinee series, and then my nct series. then i might start a suju series in the same universe.

so please stay tuned for that. there is definitely more to come.

thank you for reading. only ten more chapters til the end of this story. also, turn up if you caught the maluma reference. lol

-clary