Stigma #3 » k.th ✓

thirty four

There’s still no sign of Mingyo anywhere around campus. I'm positive he won't be where he used to work at, when the bus went past that gasoline station.

Clara would only get hurt more if I visit her at home. The abused should never be forced to speak or fight back if they don't want to. A little encouragement wouldn't hurt, right? Then again, Mingyo might have forced her to remove her passcode so as not to keep any hidden conversations from him.

The bruises I saw on her body last time we met were fading. He's probably calmed down for a while since I was gone and he had no competition to look out for. And here I thought, we'd finally be rid of him.

What is Mingyo up to? He's plotting a revenge on me, I can feel it in my gut.

If I call the police on him, he's eventually going to find out Clara turned him in. Highly likely to happen since nobody else is aware of this. I'm going to have to check out the police station, see if they out up a wanted sign regarding his disappearance.

     "Hey, Tae. Your stare is going to burn through." I heard Jimin chuckle as he crouched down behind me.

"Oh, hi," It's been a while since we last talked or even said hi to each other. "I was thinking about something."

"What's the matter? Your little love story going downhill?" How did he even know that? His tone sounded suspicious of me the first time he approached me today.

"No, not really." I don't have that life anymore. Not when she's being held captive under a psychopathic monster. "I have to, uhm, get to class. You better go, too."

Strange. He didn't say goodbye like he always does. He dressed differently today, too. What's going on with him?

♠️

Yoongi-hyung, as expected, I found him staring off into the dark space of the piano inside the music room. Exactly how I found him like last time.

"Hyung! Missed me?" I tease him when I entered, sitting beside him on the chair provided.

"Don't scare me like that." He looked so adorable just now, holding on to his heart. I could hear it beating rapidly from where I was positioned. "I'm going to have a heart attack the next time."

"Sorry, I was gone for three days and missed my hyung!" My only hyung, you could say. The other friend apart from Jimin and Clara.

"Nothing much," he scoffs, tossing his notebook on where notes are placed on pianos.

"Is this a poem?" I was about to grab it off the top, but his hand grabbed it at the same time, startling me. "Ah, it's personal? Sorry. . ."

I was returning it back, but he pushed it towards me, scratching the back of his ear. "It's fine. You're a friend and I trust you. Sort of."

I smile at him for calling me one. "Come to think of it, what are your other friends like, hyung?" The notebook was still in my hand and I didn't want to force him to let me look so I pretended to scan through it.

"There's you."

I blinked at him. And only then did I come to the realization that, "I'm your only friend?"

He nods, proudly. "One trusted friend is enough than to be betrayed all over again by a huge group." I know how that feels. How Mingyo and his team turned out to be bad news. Then again, I was never comfortable with their group to begin with, anyway.