“Japan? Why?”

Sungjong sniffled. “Apparently, there’s an impressive physical therapy center in Japan. It’s near where my mom works, so she wants to take me back with her.”

Myungsoo was silent as he processed the situation. He knew that Sungjong would need some serious physical therapy if he even wanted to consider walking again. “You…” he started. “You should go.”

“What?” Sungjong almost squeaked, whipping his head up to look at him? “Why?”

“You need physical therapy,” he replied, sighing and looking away from his boyfriend. “You won’t be able to walk without it. Besides, I know for a fact that there are no good physical therapy centers in the area. I searched for them on my phone and got nothing.”

Sungjong looked defeated. He burrowed his face into Myungsoo’s chest and let out a heavy sigh. “But…what about you, Myungsoo?” he asked. “I don’t want to leave you behind.”

“You have to.” Myungsoo ran his fingers through the younger boy’s hair in an effort to comfort him.

“No I don’t,” Sungjong mumbled almost incoherently against the fabric of Myungsoo’s shirt.

“Come on, Jongie, sit up,” he urged, pulling him up into a sitting position. Sungjong’s eyes were red and swollen, and the corners of his lips were sharply turned down in a dramatic pout. Myungsoo reached forward and pushed the corners of his lips upwards. “This will be your face whenever you Skype me, right?” he asked, smiling as much as he could. I need to keep smiling, he told himself. He needs to go to that center.

“You’ll Skype with me?” He considered the offer carefully. “How often?”

“Every day, if you want me to.”

“And…will you come visit?”

Myungsoo froze. Visit? His father would never let him go on a trip, especially to another country. “I’ll try,” he answered quietly, his smile fading, “I promise.”

“Good.”

Suddenly, Myungsoo heard the loud click-clacking of heels behind him. He turned his head to see Sungjong’s mother standing at the door, shooting him an intense death glare. She’s becoming more terrifying by the minute, Myungsoo thought with a gulp.

“Still here, I see?” Sungjong’s mother questioned, her voice condescending. “I’m sure Sungjong has told you of our plans. And though it absolutely kills me to interrupt you two, I need to give my son some more details about our trip. Alone, if possible,” she said in a tone filled to the brim with sarcasm and irritation.

“Sure, Mrs. Lee,” replied Myungsoo rather shakily. “Can I just say a quick goodbye to Sungjong, though? You know…since I won’t be seeing him.”

Mrs. Lee grimaced, but she nodded slightly and stepped out of the room. Myungsoo turned back to Sungjong. “Remember what I said. Me. You. Skype. All the time.”

Sungjong nodded and wrapped his arms securely around Myungsoo’s waist. “I’m going to miss you so much,” he mumbled into the older boy’s shoulder.

“I’ll miss you too,” said Myungsoo, doing his best to hide the shakiness of his voice. He pulled away for a moment and moved to his backpack, which he had dropped next to the bed. Quickly, he pulled a folder out of the main pocket and fumbled through its contents, fingers shaking, until he finally found what he was looking for. When he turned to face Sungjong again, he was holding a drawing.

“What’s this?” Sungjong asked, taking the paper. He flipped it over gently and gasped. “Is this me?”

On the paper, there was a picture-perfect drawing of Sungjong sitting at a desk, his hair perfectly done and his eyes intensely focused on the assignment in front of him.

“Yes. I drew it on the first day of school, actually. In art class.”

Sungjong blinked. “You mean when you first met me? And you thought my hair looked nice?”

Myungsoo nodded, smiling. “I was too nervous to give it to you before. But, uh, now you’ll have something to remember me by.” He stopped and coughed. “Oh boy. I sound so cheesy,” he groaned.

“Yeah, but I like it,” Sungjong giggled. Then he cleared his throat uncomfortably and pointed behind Myungsoo. Mrs. Lee was tapping on the glass and pointing at her watch meaningfully.

“I guess I have to go,” Myungsoo sighed. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” He swallowed. “I, uh. I love you, Jongie,” he said, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss on Sungjong’s forehead.

“I love you too. Now go to school.”

Right. School. Myungsoo nodded and stood up to leave. As he opened the door and stepped out, he flashed one more encouraging smile at Sungjong, who waved back and whispered a barely audible “Bye.”

On the way out of the room, he avoided eye contact with Sungjong’s mother and managed to hold in his tears until he arrived back in the hospital lobby.

---

Sunggyu and Woohyun were walking along during their lunch break, laughing and holding hands. They always went out to eat lunch nowadays, since Dongwoo and Hoya were always eating out, Sungjong was in the hospital, Sungyeol was busy flirting with a couple of new foreign exchange students, and Myungsoo was…somewhere. No one really knew where he disappeared to during lunch anymore.

“Where do you think Myungsoo is today?” Sunggyu asked Woohyun.

“I dunno. Doesn’t he usually go to the library to text Sungjong? I saw him there the other day. Poor guy, he doesn’t have anyone to hang out with since Jongie’s still recovering.” Woohyun sighed.

“Should we hang out with him then?” Sunggyu suggested. “I’m pretty sure we have the same study period as him this trimester, so once lunch is done we could track him down.”

Woohyun considered the idea and nodded in approval. “Okay, sounds good.”

The pair continued to discuss their plans for today until they got to a patch of gravel on the sidewalk.

“Ooh, I love gravel!” Woohyun laughed, kicking the small rocks everywhere. Sunggyu watched him with an amused look on his face, as his boyfriend danced along the path. He eventually convinced Sunggyu to join him, and the two went skipping down the path, hands still clasped together, until they were cackling and gasping for breath.

“What the hell?” A disgusted voice interrupted their laughter. Sunggyu and Woohyun slowly turned around to face the group of guys that had gathered a few yards away. There were three of them, and they were all shooting looks of pure distaste towards the two of them. Then, suddenly, a look of recognition passed across the face of the man at the front of the group. “Hey there, pretty boy,” he snarled, chuckling darkly.

Sunggyu’s eyes widened and he tightened his grip on Woohyun’s hand. He knew that nickname.

“Got another boyfriend, huh?” the bully asked mockingly. When Sunggyu responded, he laughed obnoxiously and elbowed his buddies. “This guy’s the dumb little boy I told you about a while back. And I bet that dude with him is his sparkly little monkey. Isn’t that right, pretty boy?” He laughed, and his friends quickly joined in, forming a chorus of menacing hyena-like cackling that echoed through the streets.

“What did you just call him?” Woohyun growled, stepping towards them. His free hand was clenched into a menacing fist. “You’d better take that back, you s.”

“Woohyun.” Sunggyu whispered, squeezing his hand again. Woohyun turned his head to shoot Sunggyu a questioning glance. “Let me handle it.”

Woohyun seemed skeptical. “Are you sure?”

Sunggyu nodded and let go of Woohyun’s hand. Keeping his expression completely blank, he slowly approached his childhood bully, until there were just a few feet separating them. The bully cocked an eyebrow. “Well?” he questioned as mockingly as possible. “Got something to say, pretty boy?”

At first, Sunggyu was silent. After a few moments, though, a smile crept onto his face. “You know,” he said, looking the bully straight in the eyes, “I pity you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I pity you. Which is funny, because I used to wish I could be you.” Sunggyu smirked and gave everyone in the group a once-over. They all had greasy, unwashed hair, acne, and yellow teeth. Some of them were overweight, too. Not a single one of them was the least bit attractive. “I assume none of you have girlfriends?”

The guys looked flustered. They all started mumbling incoherent sentences, until one of them cried out a little too indignantly that he was, in fact, in a relationship.

“Good for you,” Sunggyu grinned. “I, for one, am in a wonderful relationship, and I’m very happy.” He focused his attention back on the leader of the group. “I’m not asking you to be comfortable with the fact that I’m gay. But you should know right now that nothing you say is ever going to keep me from being happy. Also, I’m going to take that nickname you gave me as a compliment. I spent extra time on my hair today, and I’m happy to know that it makes me look pretty,” he added.

The look on the bully’s face was one of pure disbelief. “You’re different,” he mumbled, coughing. “But you’re still a stupid fa—” He stopped himself mid-sentence and looked at the ground. “I, uh. Yeah. Let’s go,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“But—” one of his friends began to protest.

“Let’s go,” the leader demanded, his face flushed bright red. His group of friends all hung their heads and followed him as he made his way past Sunggyu. Woohyun looked ready to punch all of them as they walked by.

Once they were out of sight, Sunggyu let out a loud sigh of relief and walked back over to Woohyun, who immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispered.

“I’m proud of myself too,” he replied, smiling weakly. “That was terrifying.”

“You sure showed them, though,” Woohyun laughed. “Did you see their faces? They looked pathetic.”

Sunggyu nodded in agreement. Then his stomach growled noisily, reminding him that he still needed to eat lunch. “We should probably get going,” he said, grimacing. “I’m starving.”

On the way to their favorite restaurant, they ran into Myungsoo. Woohyun was the one who spotted him, walking in their direction with his eyes glued to the ground. “Myungsoo!” he called out, trying to get the boy’s attention. He looked up after a few moments, and both Sunggyu and Woohyun were shocked when they saw how red his eyes were. He had clearly been crying. “Are you okay?” Woohyun asked him, his voice full of concern.

“Yeah,” Myungsoo sniffed.

“Did something happen?” asked Sunggyu.

“Uh.” Myungsoo gulped. “I don’t think I can say. Uh, don’t worry about it, okay? It’s not a big deal.” He didn’t know if Sungjong would be okay with him telling his friends about him moving to Japan.

“Okay…” Sunggyu still didn’t sound convinced. “Wait a second. Did you skip school?”

Myungsoo nodded.

“You could get suspended for that, you know.”

“I know.”

“Oh.”

“I’m heading to school now,” Myungsoo said, shifting his gaze back to the road. “I doubt anyone will even notice I was gone.” His voice was bitter and downcast, and it made Sunggyu and Woohyun uncomfortable.

“Um…” Woohyun began, “we should get to lunch. And you should get to school before lunch ends. That’s your best chance of not being caught.”

Myungsoo nodded again, and waved awkwardly towards each of them before shuffling off in the direction of the school.

“What’s up with him?” Woohyun wondered aloud.

“Maybe something to do with Sungjong?” Sunggyu speculated. “We can ask Jongie about it later.”

Woohyun agreed, and the two continued on their way, rushing into their favorite noodle restaurant with just enough time to grab some food.

---

Myungsoo silently tip-toed into the science lab, the location of his first class after lunch. He dropped his backpack down in the far corner of the room and plopped down on a stool. What he didn’t notice was the school’s chemistry teacher sitting at his desk, eating his lunch as he graded papers. He looked up when Myungsoo walked in. “Good afternoon, Myungsoo,” he said. Myungsoo nearly jumped off his chair.

“Hello, sir,” he said nervously, twiddling his thumbs.

“Where were you this morning?”

Uh oh. I guess someone did notice. “I-I, um,” he stuttered. He desperately wanted to lie, but he couldn’t. “I was visiting someone.”

The teacher narrowed his eyes. Unfortunately, he was known for being unforgiving and strict when it came to school rules. “And did you have a note from your parents? You were marked absent.”

Myungsoo hung his head. “No,” he answered, biting his lip, “I didn’t.”

“Come with me. You need to have a chat with the head of school.”

“Yes, sir.” Myungsoo took a deep breath and followed his teacher out of the classroom and down the hall to the principal’s office.

The head of school was an older-looking woman with a kind face. However, she was just about as strict with rules as the chemistry teacher. When Myungsoo entered her office, she raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you found him?” The teacher nodded. “Good. Sit down, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo obeyed and sat down in a chair on the other side of her desk. After dismissing the chemistry teacher, she clasped her hands in front of her and pursed her lips. “Why did you skip school?” she asked him, sounding genuinely curious. “You’ve never done it before. In fact, you’re one of our best students.”

“I was visiting a friend in the hospital, ma’am,” Myungsoo answered, keeping his eyes on the wooden surface in front of him.

The principal’s gaze softened. “Oh, really? Who?”

“Lee Sungjong.”

“Ah, I see. I heard about him. It’s really unfortunate what happened to him.”

“Yes.”

She sighed. “Though I think it’s great that you were visiting your friend, you knew that you’d be skipping school by doing so. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to suspend you for the rest of the week. You’ll need to call your parents, too.”

“Yes, ma’am, Myungsoo said, pulling out his phone. He dialed his home phone number and tried to keep his breathing under control as he waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

“Hello?”

Myungsoo let out a relieved breath. It was his mother. “Hi, Mom.”

“Why are you calling from school at this hour? Did something happen?” She sounded frightened.

“I got suspended.”

“What?” His mother’s voice wavered and she sounded like she was going to cry. “Myungsoo…why?”

“I skipped school. I’ll explain everything later, but could you come pick me up?”

“O-Of course,” she answered. “I’ll be there soon. Stay there.”

“Yes ma’am.” Myungsoo hung up the phone and dropped it into his lap. Dad is going to murder me, he thought before burying his face in his hands. 

a/n: So it's midnight right now and I am too lazy to edit this chapter. I apologize for any typos and I will fix them tomorrow ;u; This story is going to be coming to an end soon! I'm thinking there will be another three to four chapters ^^ 

Once again (and I know I say this every time), thanks so much for your love and support, guys! You're all so nice to me. Every time you guys comment I feel all warm and happy and spazz out like some kind of awkward chicken and yeah. It's pretty comical. Ooh, also, one more thing. I'm not sure how many of you guys are on Tumblr, but if you are and you want to talk to me/follow me, my blog is here. c: