The Universe Makes Mistakes Sometimes - Touch

Did it hurt, Jungwoo?

More angst and sorrow :(( I don't want to give spoilers, but there's abuse throughout the book so be careful :((

WARNING: homophobia and abuse

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Yukhei can't see him. He can't see him anywhere and he's starting to panic.

His soulmark is there on his skin, reminding him of Jungwoo every second of every minute of every hour of the day.

And it's getting hard to breathe because Yukhei's worried. He's so, so worried. What if Jungwoo got lost? What if he was kidnapped? What if he went back to Taeho's and...Yukhei doesn't even want to think.

"Have you seen him? Have you seen him anywhere?" Yukhei asks when he sees Jaehyun and Taeyong at lunch. Neither of them have touched their food, evidently too worried to eat.

"No. I checked and he wasn't in any of his classes. I've rung him seven times, I've texted him too, I-" the tears wobbling in Taeyong's eyes begin to drip like a leaky faucet and Jaehyun pulls the elder into his chest, muffling his sobs. He looks up to Yukhei. He looked tired.

"I was up all night thinking of where he might've gone. I started looking for him again around three in the morning. I didn't see him, I didn't see any...any-" Jaehyun opens him mouth wide like a lion and yawns. The bags under his eyes tell Yukhei that he was up all night trying to find Jungwoo.

The thing is, Jaehyun doesn't even know him that well. You couldn't exactly say they were buddies...acquaintances at most? And yet Jaehyun was sacrificing sleep - a sacred thing to a student - to look for him. Jaehyun is caring and dedicated and undeniably selfless and Yukhei realised that it's for that reason, that reason right there, that Jaehyun is the leader of the basketball team.

Yukhei feels worse than ever for claiming to be the only one to care about Jungwoo. Taeyong is here crying his heart out into Jaehyun's chest and Jaehyun literally looks like he could collapse at any second. They care too.

He gets up, walking over to where Yuta and Sicheng are laughing, holding onto one another as if they're the only two in the world. They're been inseparable since Johnny's party and they're adorable. A little sickening, but adorable. And now Yukhei's jealous. He wants to be like that with Jungwoo: so adorable it's disgusting.

Yuta looks up as Yukhei approaches.

"Hey Yukhei. Haven't talked in a while, man," Yuta chuckles, punching Yukhei's arm lightly. Yukhei chuckles weakly. 

"Err I just wanted to know if either of you have seen Jungwoo?"

Sicheng raises his eyebrow. When has Wong Yukhei - the Wong Yukhei - ever taken an interest in his Woo?

"No. I haven't seen him for a while, actually. Why?"

Yukhei stands their uncomfortable, brushing the pads of his fingers up and down his arms.

"A project. We-we've got a project to do together. Y-yeah."

That's strange. Sicheng is almost sure that Yukhei and Jungwoo don't share any classes.

"Oh. Cool. What class is it for?"

"G-geography. Yeah, it's for geography, we've got to...research a volcano...or something. Anyway, it looks like you don't know where he is, so I better go find him. Bye!" with that, Yukhei rushes away in a cloud of mystery and dreadful awkwardness.

Sicheng turns to his boyfriend.

"Jungwoo doesn't take geography. It was the first subject he dropped," he says.