Infatuation - haobin

-11-

Hao walks silently to class, head held low and trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. Why? Even he doesn't know. Maybe he just feels empty with no one being by his side. Maybe he just isn't in the mood to look at anyone.

His hangout with Jun yesterday went really well, but his mind still had a space in it that thought about Ricky and his words to him. He felt scared yesterday, and he probably still does. To be honest, he doesn't really know what he feels. Maybe there are just too many emotions in him, that they all kind of clash, and create a monotone feeling.

hao wonders what his friends will say to him once he gets to class... maybe they won't say anything at all. Hao wonders if they even know that Hao hung out with Jun after telling them that he was over him. Maybe if Hao doesn't say anything about it, maybe everything will be back to normal.

So when Hao walks into the classroom, he walks to his normal seat beside Matthew and silently greets his friends. A few look at him before looking away, while others don't even acknowledge him. Hanbin is the only one who looks up and smiles at Hao

"Hey," he says softly. Hao sighs in relief; at least one person is willing to interact with him

"Hey"

Hao sits down, pulls his bag on the table, and listens in to his friend's conversation, looking at Hanbin occasionally as  if to ask him why they are all so distant, even though he mostly knows the answer

But he never got an answer until after class, when everyone was packing up, and most of them ran out of class to spare a little snack before their next class. Hao slowly packed and walked to Hanbin, frowning

"Why are they acting like that?" Hao asks. Hanbin shrugs pulling his bag over his shoulder and looking at Hao with a sorry expression

"I'm not sure. Maybe Gyuvin will know" Hanbin says, motioning towards Gyuvin who is looking at his phone while he packs. Hao sighs before nodding, thanking Hanbin, and walking towards Gyuvin

"Hey"

Gyuvin looks up with raised eyebrows and curtly nods "'sup"

Hao looks at the boy for a moment before speaking again "Why are they all acting like that?"

"I'm not sure Hao, I'm really not," Gyuvin answers sincerely "I just know that Ricky wasn't very happy about something you told him"

"Did he tell you that?" Hao asks, fidgeting with the hem of his bag

"No, but I saw it in his face. He was with me on the weekend, and as he was texting someone, he suddenly started to cry. I asked why, but he only said your name," Gyuvin finally looks up and crosses his arms over his torso "I'm not sure what happened there, Hao. All I know was that he was supposed to hang out with you yesterday, but he never went... and Ricky isn't the type to get sad about canceled plans"

Hao looks at Gyuvin for a few moments before nodding

"Alright... uh, thanks"

He immediately walks out of the classroom. He knows why Ricky wasn't happy, but he doesn't understand why he's being fully ignored now. It's not like he directly hurt any of his friends, right? He made up his mind; needed to talk to them during lunch

.

.

.

But he didn't. He stood in front of Ricky in the cafeteria, munching on his food without any kind of appetite. Ricky had fully dismissed him during that time, and whenever Hao even tries to get into the conversation and find a way to directly speak to Ricky, the other boy just cuts him off from reality, as if he weren't there.