Breaking Walls

Chapter 24

Still no reply.

Lately it had been hard to get Jeonghan to reply his messages. Ever since he caught the scars on the omega's hands, the latter's attitude towards him changed. Although he should have expected such a change, Jeonghan's actions when they actually meet face to face were warm, he even kept his usual routine during the day but their nightly games and texts stopped. Even their morning ones.

Seungcheol thought the man got back to his old night life but there were no lingering alpha scents which, surprisingly concerned him. Because he knew there are worse thing the man could be doing at night. The scars on his upper arms were healing like he promised but there were other parts of his body not visible – most of them. There could be more scars there. Seungcheol shivered just thinking about it.

Per usual, he looked at his bookmarked page, trying to read other people's experience with loved one's self-harm issue. He didn't know what to do because he knew Jeonghan was still seeing his therapist for help, and it was not as if he was living with the omega to monitor him frequently. All he could do is contact him once in a while but with no reply, there was nothing else left to do.

Closing his laptop, the young student got back to his book to distract himself with calculus. He hated the subject but right now, the complicated field was exactly what he needed.

Hopefully he would at least get a 'Good night' tonight.

*****

Jeonghan stared at the date, unconsciously scratching his left arm before Joshua held his right to stop him, 'It's red.'

'Owh.' He nodded, quickly putting both his hands on the table. Lately he started scratching again – something he hadn't done in a very long while. He only did it when he was extremely anxious but that problem was fixed the moment he chose to sleep with random alphas hence why he stopped. Before that, he had to depend on medicines provided by his doctor which were only prescribed when his condition worsened enough for the adults to realize it. It was weird, having it reappearing now when he thought he was over it. Granted, he was feeling a bit distressed lately; he still hadn't found an alpha. Because he still couldn't find the courage to return to the club.

Scratching his head softly, Jeonghan sucked on his caramel latte rather quickly, coughing as the cold liquid entered his lungs. He felt a few thud on his back trying to ease his violent cough. Joshua handed him his bottled water before asking again if he was okay, to which he replied with a nod. He knew his foreign friend was curious about his action just now, as well as his other random light injuries like his lip cuts but chose not to ask. Because the man knew Jeonghan get defensive and lie about it. And he never want to lie about it, not to his friends but he was already used to it – to pretend he was fine unless in front of professionals.

This was good. He knew Joshua was concerned, he knew the man somewhat knew about what was going on as he did dropped hints which he knew Joshua got, and he knew Joshua was doing everything he could to help. But he didn't want to spill what was on his mind because he was afraid it would ruin what they have right now – a relationship where he can feel normal.

'Hi, Joshua, right?' An unknown female called out, 'And you must be, Jeonghan?'