Death Threat

Sixteen ❤

Donghyuck's POV

Taking small steps towards the building that I feared entering, I tightened my grip on my bag's strap, hoping to see Jaemin at his locker.

I felt a pair of eyes burning holes into my back as I walked up the steps, but didn't dare to look back when I heard footsteps following close behind me. I badly wanted to turn around and look at the person's face, knowing it probably was the one who was sending me those letters, but decided against it since it meant coming face to face with him.

I just walked ahead with whoever that was following me, my steps starting to get clumsier and clumsier from anticipation, from wondering whether the person will reveal himself. But, the footsteps just stopped and turned right and went in that direction. Whipping my head to behind me, I scanned the hallway to see if I could still spot the person walking away.

From the dread that was forming inside my chest, I realised I didn't pay attention to anyone I had passed as all of my mind was on the sound of the footsteps. When I turned to where I last heard the sound from, my eyes met those of the guy who I saw last night, the one who said he'd help. He was standing with a few other guys who were involved in some conversation he didn't seem to be interested in. Heck, he wasn't even looking at them.

This whole 'Target' ordeal was making me dizzy and I broke eye-contact when I saw a corner of his lips turn up into a smirk. My thoughts drifted back to the person who had been following me as I walked ahead to my own locker.

Opening it, I expected another letter to be inside, but surprisingly there wasn't one. Not thinking too much about it, I grabbed my books and closed the locker, hoping that he'd given up on me as a target.

I turned towards Jaemin's locker to see if that boy had reached school yet, but there was no one there.

He's not coming to school today, is he?

Taking out my phone, I called him and unconsciously started softly tapping my locker as I waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"
His voice was hoarse and soft, probably strained from crying.

".. Are you okay?"

There was a silence across the line for a while before I heard soft sniffling.

"Do you want me to come over? I'll bring you whatever you want--"

"N-no. It's fine, you don't have to come over."

"I don't want to stay here either."
I contemplated for a while whether I wanted to tell him about the letters, but decided not to, since he had his own problems to deal with.
"It'll be really boring without your lameass here."

I heard him giggle before sniffling and clearing his throat softly.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
He sighed before continuing,
"I'll be there in a while but, I might be late."

"Wait, you're gonna come to school?"

"Yeah."

I looked around to see if I'd spot the guy Jaemin was avoiding yesterday and spotted him talking with the guy named Mark, whose piercing gaze was still aimed directly at me.

"Don't. Just stay at home, I'll come over after school ends."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"Then why--"

"Just for the sake of courtesy."

I walked towards the classroom where I had my first lesson while still being on the phone with Jaemin. He blabbered on and on about what food he wanted me to bring over when I'd go over to his place, and I was glad his mood was lifted up a bit from that.

Taking a seat in my chair, we both ended the call after he made me promise to buy him all the food he had just listed out. I took my books out of my bag to flip through the pages aimlessly while hoping that class would start soon.

The bell rang and I looked up at the doorway, expecting to see the teacher walk in but instead met eyes with those of the black-haired boy, his soulless eyes glinting when they met mine.

I didn't understand how to feel about him anymore. Was he really going to help me? His aura would say otherwise, but I guess I didn't have any other option but to trust him.

I looked back down to glue my eyes to my book, not wanting him to think that I was staring.

The chair beside me was dragged outwards before someone sat on it and moved closer to me. I felt him staring at me, but ignored it since I didn't want to find out who it was.

"Are you just gonna be staring at those math sums or what?"

Rapidly turning my head towards the person beside me, I softly let out the breath I was holding when I saw that it couldn't be the person I was anticipating, the one with the letters.

"Hey."

Mark was leaning back on the chair beside me as his hands lazily fiddling with the pens on my table.

Unsure of what to reply him, I just said a "Hi." which came out as a whisper. I was sitting really tense on my seat, fidgeting whenever I felt his arm brush against mine.

Diverting my attention back to my book, I mentally cursed at him for taking a seat beside me. He let go of my pen and brought his hand back to his table.

"Chill out, sweetheart."

He pulled his chair closer to his table and leaned his head on it, facing me. The smirk on his face made me shift myself further away from him and I gulped at his words.

"I said I'd help so, did you get any letters yet?"

I looked forward at the whiteboard as I shook my head, still uncomfortable by his gaze.

"Alright."

His hand went to my thigh and used it as support to bring his head back up from the table. But, he didn't remove it after he lifted his head up.

Gripping tightly on my pen, I tried ignoring it by scribbling in my book.

"Hey, where's your friend?"

I looked up to see the guy Jaemin was running away from yesterday, the one who was Mark's friend. I was glad I didn't let Jaemin come to school today and went on to shrug my shoulders.

"Don't know. He's not in school today."

"Is he at home, then?"

"Probably. Why?"

He couldn't possibly know his address, right?

"Just asking."

He turned around and walked out of the class, his hands reaching into his pockets.

The guy beside me watched with disinterest before sighing.
"Not a smart answer, sweetheart."

"Why?"

He shrugged before leaning back into his chair and ruffling his hair.

Frowning, I pulled out my phone to call Jaemin, but the teacher walked in and started his lesson. The guy beside me removed his hand from my thigh and reached out towards my arm.

"Can I see your wrist?"

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