『Home』

"Fifty Two„

«»«»«»«»

If there was one thing Taeyong was certain of, it was that this needed to end soon. Their house was quiet, way too quiet, especially with Lucas and Hendery gone. Even Jungwoo, who was usually shy and quiet, was louder now that he had grown accustomed to everyone. 

Not to mention Doyoung wasn't planning on coming back.

Not for another week or so, at least. 

Mark couldn't leave Canada until they were sure Ellie could leave. That solely depended on what her grandparents said. Taeyong thought they would be pushing their limits if they insisted on sending Ellie sooner; it already took a while to convince them that he was a capable parent, even though he was incredibly young.

Jaemin and Renjun were just starting to get over the death of their uncle and friend, respectively. They weren't as, for lack of better words, depressed, thankfully. 

Jeno and Donghyuck were finally allowed to go back to school, leaving the house even emptier during the day. 

Thank God that their doctors were feeling better, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to do their job properly. Even so, they mostly kept to themselves and each other. 

This is the point in Taeyong's thoughts that made him really nervous. With everyone either at school, keeping to themselves, or out of the country, this would be the perfects time to strike. 

He, of course, knew that people were dying to get him isolated. Taeyong was, in all honesty, anticipating his attack. He didn't know when it was going to happen, but he was waiting for it. 

It all came down to if they were going to be successful. He wanted to doubt it, be sure that he could make it out on his own and not worry everyone, but he couldn't help it. 

Every single plan of theirs, up until this point, has been meticulously thought out and careful. They hadn't been caught and were slowly driving people into their own thoughts. 

As a result of this, he was becoming paranoid. The smallest of noises woke him up at night and it was really starting to annoy Jaehyun. 

"If you keep waking up every ten minutes, I'll put you on sleep medication. For your sake and my own," he threatened.

So as to not irritate him anymore, Taeyong had started throwing himself into his work, day and night. He spent hours upon hours looking over different jobs and missions they could do whenever things got better. 

He organized things, over and over again, changing his drawers for the sake of it. He talked to Byun Baekhyun, deciding the two of them could organize a group together. 

However, even Byun Baekhyun was worried about Taeyong, seeing as he only texted him past 4:00 in the morning, 

In the end, despite how ready Taeyong thought he was, he didn't notice he had basically given himself up to the enemy. 

How? Oh, he thought it'd be a wise decision to visit Jaehyun at his office after pulling three all-nighters in a row and drinking approximately five cups of coffee. 

This most definitely made him weaker, his usual strength gone, leaving him defenseless when someone came up from behind him and shoved him into a van. He felt a needle penetrate his skin as he lost consciousness. 

This conflict was ending, one way or another. 

«»«»«»«»

Jaehyun arrived home just before dinner, like every other day, but something felt off. Someone was missing.