(Several days later)

—Ryeowook’s POV—

A week. Seven days. 168 hours. It had been that long since Henry left for Canada. It was the school holidays, yes, and I didn’t expect any less from Henry. But the reasons that he left for Canada weren’t exactly good. He did go to see his parents but not so much because he missed them.

I hadn’t known this till eight days ago, but apparently, Henry’s mum wasn’t exactly in the pink of health. She didn’t have any terminal illness or anything, and she’d really wanted Henry to study in Korea because she trusted her sister with him. However, eight days ago, she was diagnosed with leukaemia. I didn’t know why she suddenly got leukaemia, but Henry booked the next flight to Canada as soon as he heard the news.

Zhoumi hyung had been quite upset. He really missed Henry. After all, it had been a week since Henry left for Canada. Henry didn’t contact Zhoumi hyung since he left, according to him. I could understand if he didn’t want to text or call Zhoumi hyung because it was expensive, but not even dropping him an email or message online? It was out of character.

The problem was that Zhoumi hyung didn’t know how to contact Henry either. He had tried all the ways to contact Henry online, but Henry didn’t reply. Zhoumi hyung didn’t have Henry’s house number, nor did he have Henry’s father’s number. Henry didn’t have any siblings, so it was almost impossible for Zhoumi hyung to find Henry.

I felt bad for Zhoumi hyung because I knew that he really wanted to hear something from Henry. Whether it was good or bad news, he wanted to know that Henry still remembered him. He had confided in me once. Why he chose me, I didn’t know. Perhaps he felt that I was a good confidante.

Well, it was afternoon and I was still lying in bed. The reason, simply put, was that my was sore. Yes, I made love with Sungie again. Now you may giggle like the fangirls that you are.

I glanced up as Sungie walked into the room with some lunch, personally cooked by my dearest boyfriend of course. There wasn’t anyone at home since Jongjin went out on a date with Jieun, while Sungie’s parents had work.

“Still hurting?” Sungie asked, a slight smirk evident on his face. I hit him on the arm as he sat on the bed, making him chuckle as he kissed my forehead. “Just eat your lunch. You asked for this,” he reminded me. I blushed and turned away immediately. I couldn’t very well deny facts, now could I?

As I ate, I could see Sungie texting away. Being curious, I had to see who the heck he was texting. And I was also jealous, I wouldn’t deny it. I widened my eyes when I saw the contents of the message and immediately put my food down, hurriedly swallowing before snatching the phone right out of Sungie’s grasp.

‘I think something happened to Henry.

-Mi’

‘What?

-Yesung’

‘He would definitely contact me if he was fine!

-Mi’

‘Did you get a hold of him?

-Yesung’

‘No, but I received this:

“Mi hyung, I can’t be with you anymore.”

Henry would never address me like that! Do you think that someone got hold of his phone?

-Mi’

‘I don’t think it’s that… maybe something really happened. When did you receive that text?

-Yesung’

‘About an hour ago, maybe. Why?

-Mi’

“What the heck happened?” I demanded. I knew that my intuition was right! It usually was, but that’s the main problem. I didn’t want my intuition to be correct, especially when it came to issues such as these. For some time now, I had thought that something was really wrong. Ever since the second day that Henry left, I knew that there was something off.

Sungie shook his head and went to pick up his bag, already leading me and my sore out of the room. When I gave him a questioning look, Sungie just told me to get my wallet and stuff. It was only when we got downstairs and into a cab that Sungie finally told me where we were headed.

“We’re paying a visit to Mi.”

-------------------

Twenty odd minutes later, we were seated in Zhoumi hyung’s apartment. We had been there before, to celebrate his birthday. It came as a small surprise when Zhoumi hyung didn’t offer to serve as any drinks or whatnot, but I figured that he was too worried about Henry to care about small formalities like that. And we were his friends, so we shouldn’t need him to serve us anything.

Before any of us could speak, Zhoumi hyung’s phone vibrated. He immediately whipped it out of his pocket and opened the message that he had just received, frowning in confusion at the contents of the message.

“He wants to meet me at Han River later on, alone. He never even told me that he was back in Korea!” Zhoumi hyung exclaimed in exasperation, tugging at his hair in annoyance. He let out a frustrated shout and looked at us helplessly. “What should I do?”

I had to think it over. I knew that it definitely wasn’t Henry who texted Zhoumi hyung, since Henry loved adding emojis at the back on his texts and he wouldn’t address Zhoumi hyung as anything other than Mimi gege. Based off the assumption that it wasn’t Henry texting Zhoumi hyung, it very well could be that someone else was arranging a meeting with Zhoumi hyung.

So should Zhoumi hyung meet this person?

“I think you should go,” Sungie replied. “What if Henry’s in trouble and needs your help?”

Zhoumi hyung widened his eyes in what seemed like realisation and took a glance at the time, starting to freak out and run all over the place to get himself ready for the said meeting. “What time do you have to meet?” I asked.

“A half hour from now. I can make it if I run there, since it isn’t too far away,” Zhoumi hyung told us, continuing to rush around his apartment and make himself look somewhat presentable. Just a few minutes ago, he had been looking completely worn out yet now, he looked ready to attend a fashion show. Well, this is the Zhoumi hyung that I’m used to.

Barely another minute later, Zhoumi hyung was already putting his shoes on, not bothering to lock the door as he made a mad dash out of his apartment and began to press the lift button repeatedly, heaving a loud sigh of relief that we could hear from inside the apartment when the lift stopped at his level.

“I won’t take too long!” Zhoumi hyung promised, but I highly doubted that.

And just like that, Zhoumi hyung was gone, leaving Sungie and I in his apartment. I turned to Sungie as a question appeared in my mind. “Why’d Zhoumi hyung contact only you?” I questioned curiously, feeling a little jealous that Zhoumi hyung was closer to Sungie than to the others. Sungie noticed my jealousy and chuckled, pulling me onto his lap and pressing a kiss to my cheek.

“He’s closest to Min, but he figured that Sungmin needed more time with Kyuhyun. Then Hyuk and Hae are the horniest couple around, plus Hae injured his hand while playing soccer. Leeteuk would be too naggy and worried and it would be more burdensome than helpful. Heechul would freak over Henry as well and be totally useless. Shindong’s on a date with Nari. Siwon and Kibum are busy on an acting project. That leaves just us,” Sungie explained, ticking each couple off since we all knew that they would come together. I nodded in understanding and let out a sigh.

“Do you think Henry’s alright?”

Sungie bit his lower lip and gave me a look.

“To be honest? No, I don’t.”

---------------------

—Nobody’s POV—

Zhoumi panted as he came to a stop in front of the Han River, looking around to search for his smaller boyfriend. He walked over to where they would usually sit for their dates, hoping that maybe Henry might be there, but he wasn’t. Zhoumi groaned and continued to run along the length of the Han River, even looking into the water to make sure that Henry wasn’t in there.

After ten long, agonising and panicked minutes of searching for Henry, Zhoumi was exhausted and sat down at a bench, panting from all the running that he’d done within the past twenty or so minutes. He was just about to get up and continue searching for Henry when he felt his phone vibrate, taking the device out of his pocket and unlocking it to read the text he’d just received.

Zhoumi felt the colour drain from his face and his heart came to a standstill when his eyes scanned over the words on the phone screen. He read it time and again, willing the words to change or morph or simply disappear. They didn’t, even after Zhoumi closed reopened his message inbox a few times. The dreaded message simply remained there, as if mocking Zhoumi.

‘Mi hyung, let’s break up.

-Henry’

For a few minutes, Zhoumi sat staring at his phone dumbly, still in shock about the fact that Henry had just initiated a breakup with him. The words let’s break up rang in Zhoumi’s ears, and he could just imagine Henry saying it to him – but Henry would never have said something of such magnitude to him over text. Henry would have met up with him, explain everything, and apologise profusely while crying because he was just like that.

“This isn’t Henry,” Zhoumi mumbled, but it still didn’t help that the text was still on the screen. Despite believing that it wasn’t Henry who sent the text, Zhoumi’s heart clenched painfully and he let himself cry. He wasn’t the type to cry often, but there were times when even the strongest person would break down.

“It isn’t Henry,” Zhoumi said to himself, chanting it like a mantra. No matter how many times he repeated that to himself though, Zhoumi found it hard to believe that someone could have just unlocked Henry’s phone and used it to text him. Henry’s password wasn’t easy to figure out. It was the date of the day they got together, and few would know the exact date, much less guess it.

He continued to cry even as a soft tap on his shoulder was felt. He merely turned to look at the person somewhat hopefully, thinking that it might have been Henry. He was a little shocked when he saw that it was Yuri, a girl he knew was from Sooyoung’s group. He should have known better than to talk to her, but the thing was that she was also a good friend from high school. She had taken the same diploma as Zhoumi, in fashion, and the two shared many similar views on a wide range of endless topics.

“Zhoumi oppa, what happened?” Yuri asked in concern. She knew what was going on, of course. She didn’t want to be one of Sooyoung’s pawns either, but like the other girls, she had no choice. Sooyoung’s threat had been the most intimidating thing that she had ever heard.

Zhoumi sniffled and attempted to keep the tears at bay. He had always been rather close with Yuri, and the two had kept in contact over the years that they’d been in their current institute. Yuri knew very clearly who Henry was, and she would be honest – she was jealous of Henry. However, she just wanted Zhoumi to be happy and she was willing to be his second choice. It wasn’t like she had a choice either, because Sooyoung was keeping tabs on her.

“Henry broke up with me.”

Yuri’s heart broke when she heard how pained Zhoumi felt, how hurt he was. She knew what was going on. She knew that Henry would never break up with Zhoumi voluntarily. Henry loved Zhoumi too much to do something like that to him.

“Shh, it’s alright. I’m here, ok? I’ll be here for you,” Yuri assured.

Zhoumi nodded and let her hold him as he cried.

Well damn, I wasn't planning for the next issue to just appear out of nowhere. How many of you were like 'wtf...?' at the first few words of the chapter? (the part about the time that Henry was gone)

Anyways. Here's another issue for you people to curse about because you all obviously know who's behind this already (it's so fcking obvious) so feel free to pelt her with stones or tomatoes~

As usual, I don't really know how long this issue is going to go on for so... be patient and don't bash Henry. Bash Sooyoung XD

That's all from now, so I'll see you guys next week! Annyeong~! ^-^