❝Well, he clearly noticed my intention to avoid him. I scoffed. Is he trying to boss me around?
"Not everyone is willing to follow whatever you say just because you're the handsome face of the school." I spat at him.❞
❝"I'm not gonna fail a class ju...
The next day, Soobin has not shown up at school and Taehyun was alone.
"Aghhhh! Goddammit, where is he?!" he groaned out loud and checked his phone.
No messages.
He waited for another minute or two, and in the end, texted Soobin himself.
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Taehyun suddenly got worried.
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With that, their conversation ended. Taehyun was sitting in the courtyard when he was found by Beomgyu who approached him.
"Taehyun! What are you doing here alone? Where is Soobin-hyung?" the older asked.
"Beomgyu? Why do you care? We're not partners anymore." Taehyun answered. Though his response was pretty harsh-sounding, he couldn't deny that he missed the boy's blabber mouth for that past week since they'd finished the presentation. It felt nice to know that Beomgyu was concerned about him being alone.
"Did Yeonjun-hyung ask you to come to ask me that because Soobin-hyung is his friend?" he added.
"Why would he do that? They have each other's phone numbers. He can text." the black-haired boy answered and sat next to Taehyun. "I just saw you alone, so I decided to check. Usually, you and Soobin-hyung are always together."
"He is not feeling well, so he stayed home. And I have no other friends. So here I am."
"You know I want to be your friend, right?" he heard the boy next to him say.
"Why? I don't like you. Why would you even try to be nice to me and be my friend?"
"I just--"
The two were interrupted when they heard a cheerful voice.
"Hyunggg!! Is it really you? Wooow, it's been only a year but feels like I haven't seen you in forever!"
They both looked up to see a boy who definitely seemed taller than he was a year ago. His shoulders were broad and he had black hair.
"H... Hueningkai... good to see you too..." Taehyun looked back down to his lap.
"I see you still gather attention in this school just like you did last year too." the taller kept looking back at the memories.
Taehyun felt uneasy. He couldn't look up and face his old friend. His palms curled up into fists as he wanted to grip onto something.
Beomgyu saw it and placed his hand on top of Taehyun's, hoping to make the younger feel better.
"Why haven't you texted me? You just left without saying. Didn't know you were right nearby." the tallest of the three said.
"I couldn't. And why didn't you text either?? Sorry, I gotta be somewhere--" with that, Taehyun quickly stood up and practically ran away. Beomgyu followed him, giving Hueningkai one last glance.
+×+
"Taehyun-ah!! Taehyun, wait!" Beomgyu tried calling out to the younger.
He finally caught up with him and caught him by the wrist.
"Let me go! What the hell?! You think you'll be able to get close to me if you continue pulling those tricks of yours on me?!" the younger yelled. "Stop digging in my life! It's none of your goddamn business!! You don't know anything! You don't know me! I don't want you to know me!" the boy shoved his hand out of Beomgyu's grip. "Just leave me alone for fuck's sake!!" he was about to leave but Beomgyu caught him again, but appeared to pin the younger to the wall due to him trying to run away again.
"You motherfucker-! Let go of me!" the red-haired yelled, trying to break away but the older didn't do anything.
"Taehyun."
The two stared at each other as Taehyun's hand was pinned to the wall by Beomgyu's who was looking down on him.
"You're right. I don't know you." Beomgyu's tone was soft, quiet, and calm. He knew that he needed to stay calm and be patient with Taehyun. "But I want to."
Taehyun was quiet. After a while of having his eyes locked with Beomgyu's, he averted his gaze from the older and looked down to the side.
"Leave me alone..." his voice was soft too. Maybe sad in a way. Beomgyu, later on, let go of the younger's hand and stepped away from him as the boy then left, not looking back.
+×+
Soobin was in his room all day long. He tried sleeping, but it was quite hard with his parents' screaming. He wanted to escape the house but his body felt weak, so he couldn't even lift himself up.
"How are you doing?" he heard a voice approach him.
"Hyung?"
It was Soobin's older brother.
"I'm better. Not really, but better." the younger answered.
"Is this yours? I found it in the living room on the floor."
Soobin turned around to see his brother showing a notebook. It was his diary.
"YOU FOUND IT IN THE LIVING ROOM?!" the younger yelled terrified.
"Do you think our parents saw it?"
"I hope not......"
+×+
Soobin was running away from his house. Bruised up and hurt. Still sick. To his luck, it was pouring rain. He didn't care. He didn't care anymore. He just kept running.
He couldn't feel any energy anymore. His body was still weak because he was sick. Add up the punches into his stomach. He felt like he could fall to the ground and pass out, so he needed to find somewhere to sit.
He didn't care about him being soaked wet as tears overwhelmed him. He was alone. He felt alone.
"Soobin-ah, what are you doing here?!" the boy heard a voice and recognized it immediately.
