𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁? junhao

7: let's run away forever

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Two red strings, interwoven and yet hanging onto each other desperately by a single strand.

If only they had met on that pathway to school; if only Junhui had caught Minghao leaving five minutes before he arrived, flushed and out of breath.

His lack of oxygen however, didn't sway him from scanning every inch of the school.

"Where is he? WHERE?"

The students had never seen the boy lose his temper, nor seen him as angry and irrational as he was in that moment - but he couldn't possibly care less.

He flung open doors, looked in every storage cupboard - even running up to the roof - before coming to the conclusion that either they had hidden his boyfriend, or Minghao wasn't at school at all.

"HWANG JUNHO!"

Hearing his name called so furiously, the usually cocky school president felt his knees buckle as he stepped forward to greet Junhui.

"What have you done with my boyfriend, you cunt?"

Several gasps could be heard circling the corridors - Junhui had never displayed himself in such a way before. Hearing some of the girls giggle and call his anger hot only made his blood boil further.

You disgust me, was spat silently through a pointed look - they got the hint and quickly turned serious.

"He's... I think he went home." Junho finally muttered, his head down in what could only be described as pure fear.

The school president barely finished his sentence before Junhui had turned on his heel, running out of the school toward the front gates immediately.

This time, no one dared stop him.

He ran and ran until he found what he was looking for, stepping up to knock on the door with shaking hands.

Minghao's house.

The boy had never invited him over before, yet Junhui had taken measures to ensure that he knew where he lived if his boyfriend was ever in danger - he couldn't live with himself if the younger was ever followed home and Junhui was unable to locate him.

The door opened slightly, bringing him out of his thoughts.

A petite woman with a heart-shaped face and kind eyes peeked her head out from behind the door, yet she didn't seem at all surprised by the sudden visit from a stranger.

"Mrs Xu?" Junhui rasped out.

"That's me." She responded gently.

"I'm-"

"I know who you are, honey. He's upstairs, second door on the left."

With that, she stepped aside and opened the door for him.

From what he could see of Minghao's house, it was everything and nothing like he'd expected it to be. Though much smaller than his, it looked as though it would feel more like a home than his own house ever had.

A thousand questions ran through his mind, yet his first priority was Minghao.

Junhui gave the boy's mother a grateful smile, before practically hurtling himself up the stairs to find his boyfriend.

Mrs Xu shut the front door with a heavy sigh, smiling softly.

"Mother?" Minghao whispered weakly from his bed, immediately sitting upright in surprise when seconds later his boyfriend appeared through the door, rather than his mother.

"Junhui?" He croaked out, not entirely sure why he had immediately begun to cry.

When he looked up, he saw that Junhui's eyes were raking over his beaten up body, and he cowered slightly under the elder's gaze. Yet Junhui simply shut the bedroom door behind him, walked forward a few steps and then fell to the ground in a heap.

Before the younger had the chance to cry out in alarm, he realized Junhui was crying.

"I'm so sorry, Hao. I'm so sorry."

The boy was stunned, unsure of how to respond.

"What? No Junhui, no shh... c'mon now... it's okay, see! I'm okay... it wasn't your fault... nothing's wrong!"

Yet even he couldn't fool himself, as he winced every time he talked.

And so he gave up, opting instead to envelope Junhui in a tight hug on his bedroom floor as they sobbed into each other's shoulder.

"I should have told you I knew. Maybe you wouldn't've had to..."

"You knew what?" The younger inquired huskily, his voice almost gone from the pained screaming and crying he'd done over the last couple of hours.

"I knew what they were doing to you. I hated the way you pretended to be okay, but I didn't want you to think you were burdening me if I told you I knew. I was still yet to think of a way to get them to leave you alone, and then my mother..."

Minghao listened attentively as Junhui explained everything that had gone down.

That would explain why he was almost always first on the scene when people were trying to beat the younger up, and also why Minghao would receive less hateful messages on some days compared to others.

Junhui had been trying his hardest to protect him, even more so than he'd realized.

The thought made Minghao feel inexplicably grateful and filled with intense guilt.

"Does your mother know about us?" Junhui suddenly felt the burning desire to ask.

"Yes. She's always supported me, she just can't be too open about it because people would look down on her."

That explained why Junhui had immediately been welcomed in and felt safe in her presence.

After clearing up any further misunderstandings, the two begged Mrs Xu to allow them to take the last few days of the school term off; Junhui of course couldn't return home with the way things had gone down, and Minghao couldn't necessarily return to school either.

Naturally, Mrs Xu agreed and things were arranged accordingly.

It would be their last moments of peace.

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was it wise to publish this? maybe not but if i run out of things to update then... that's a later problem