CAUTION: Love Ahead! | HAOBIN |

Twenty-Two

Soon everyone had arrived and were seated in a circle, some more anticipating than others.

Zhang Hao inhaled a sharp breath upon meeting Hanbin's gaze, knowing it was time. "I wanted to reveal everything to you guys," he said, looking into each one of their eyes before continuing, "it's a secret I've kept to myself all this time, and...well, I...I wanted you guys to know it."

Yunjin nudged the hyung closest to him, Jiwoong, and turned to him with a 'what is this?' stare. Jiwoong shrugged.

"Even though it hasn't been long, I've started to trust you guys, and I believe you guys will keep my secret." Zhang Hao softly spoke. "Please don't tell this to anyone..."

Taerae exchanged glances with Hanbin, who nodded to him. "Don't worry, Zhang Hao. Don't rush it if you don't want to. You don't have to feel pressured, but if you do decide that you still want to tell us, then we all promise to keep your secret." Taerae reassuringly said, as everyone nodded along.

"He's right. We won't tell anyone!" Matthew stated.

"Thank you..." Zhang Hao whispered, feeling overwhelmed by all the emotion he was feeling. He teared up as Matthew embraced him, softly patting his head as he did so.

The rest of them joined in on the hug except for Hanbin, who proudly stared at his group of friends.

"It began when I joined the school for the first time. I was so different...so cheerful and bright—that's what people always described me as..." Zhang Hao reminisced, smiling at the memory.

"It was all so new; I had never been in such a big school before, so everything was shining in my eyes. I honestly thought this would be the school for me, where I would make many friends and improve my grades—and that I did, but it came with a price," he continued, as the boys inched closer, begging for a better listen.

"I was struggling to find my classroom on the first day, and the person who helped me was him, Yoon Jae-Yun. He was very kind and welcoming—certainly not as much as you guys have been, but it was better than nothing. We talked a lot and bonded over lunch. It turned out that he had plenty of friends, almost the whole school, and a whole lot of fans. Everywhere he went, they kept calling his name like some sort of celebrity, and I then believed that he was some great god for having people care about him so much."

"Imagine my surprise the next day when everyone suddenly started trying to make friends with me. It was very different from when I first stepped into the school—everyone now actually wanted to talk to me. I was definitely overwhelmed, but I didn't want to let this chance slip away. So I shook everyone's hands, not knowing it was all nothing but a plan..."

"Plan? What sort of plan?" Yunjin asked, unable to contain his curiosity as Taerae sent him a negative look.

'Don't interrupt!' he mouthed as Yunjin shrugged.

"They wanted to make me look like a complete fool; that was their plan." Zhang Hao muttered, wiping away a single tear that fell from his eyes as he recalled the incidents.

"Their? Whose?" Yunjin again interrupted.

"Jae-Yun and the school. Everyone, including seniors and juniors, wanted to make fun of me. I later found out that they had a group chat where they decided to do harmless pranks on me, the new kid, to welcome me. They..." he shook his head as the memories started getting to him again.

He wanted to keep all the bad memories stored away, locked, and thrown away so they didn't haunt him anymore. And now, as he spoke of his life's worst moments, he finally realized how hard it was and how much courage he was showing.

He looked to Hanbin for support. The latter gave him a gentle smile, gesturing him to take his own time despite Yunjin, who was getting more and more curious, rushing him in the background.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "They did things to me, worse than you can ever imagine. I...don't want to mention the details. It was all just some harmless, stupid little prank for them, but for me...it almost cost me...my life,"

"A few days later, I was shocked to see the changes when I came to school in the morning. The people who used to welcome me every day with tomatoes and eggs on my uniform—those same people were smiling at me like they did nothing wrong, like they never ruined any of my days, like they didn't make me go into depression or get suicidal thoughts, like they never meant anything they did..."

"It turns out that they found out that my father was one of the shareholders of the school. They told me that they were sorry and that they didn't want to be kicked out. They begged me to forgive them, and I did. They told me that the Principal had warned to suspend or expel them if they continued this behaviour...and it made me realize - they were never sorry; they just wanted to secure their place in the school."

"Why didn't the Principal take action sooner?" Hanbin asked, getting serious, knowing that someone from his family could never support or not take action against any form of violence.

"He didn't know. Even the teachers didn't know, and I was warned against approaching anyone. I got scared and hesitated to spill about the bullying to anyone, even my own father."

"What happened then?" Yunjin asked.

"Jae-Yun was nowhere to be seen for a few days after that. When he finally came back, he started acting sweet and saintly again. He apologized and started hanging out with me despite my discomfort. Everything turned back to normal, and I started treating him as my friend-"

"What went wrong, then?" Yunjin interrupted yet again, only to be nudged by Jiwoong, who gave him a look to shut up.

"I always thought that that vote was the reason we broke apart yet again." Zhang Hao narrated with a distant look in his eyes. "The vote was randomly held on our school's student-controlled online platform. It was based on looks and popularity. Everyone expected Jae-Yun to win, like every year, since that's the way it has always been, but many students voted for me. I don't even know what I did wrong, but Jae-Yun got vicious at me after that. He stopped talking to me, and no matter how hard I tried to talk to him, he always ignored me. And then one day, I heard him speaking about it. About what he had done—accidentally." He closed his eyes, feeling a shudder as he recalled the time when he stumbled upon Jae-Yun admitting to something he never expected him to.

"What did he do?" a question came, this time from Matthew, as everyone leaned in, with wide eyes, each of them forming their own assumptions in their heads about what it could have been.

"He was committing to...his...crimes." Zhang Hao said with a shiver of fright. 

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What crimes is he talking about? And what about the pendrive? Try guessing, everyone!

Also, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!! Enjoy 2024, own it and be proud! 

To anyone who is struggling just know that you've got this! If life gives you one, give it two back!

Fighting!