(Continued)

—Ryeowook’s POV—

I watched as Henry and Zhoumi hyung left the cafeteria to talk. Then I exchanged glances with Youngwoon hyung, Teukie umma and Sungie. We were probably thinking about the same thing: Should we tell the others what we saw the other day?

Something in me said that everyone had a right to know, but the four of us didn’t know what exactly happened either. Somehow, I knew that this was Sooyoung’s doing. I just knew it. I had a feeling that the other three knew, too. But why? What would make Zhoumi hyung break up with Henry like this? There wasn’t any misunderstanding, unlike the time with Taeyeon. He didn’t have amnesia either, unlike Donghae hyung and Kyuhyun. So why?

In the end, none of us said anything until Zhoumi hyung came back – without Henry. Upon noticing this, Teukie umma looked around and frowned when he didn’t see Henry anywhere. “Mi, where’s Henry?” he asked in concern. Zhoumi hyung scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t mention him to me.”

What the heck happened between them? They were only gone for ten minutes at most, and I don’t think they talked it out properly. It seemed as if Zhoumi hyung was too angry to discuss matters calmly like they were supposed to.

“Zhoumi, what the hell happened to Henry?” Heechul hyung growled.

“You want to know what happened? He broke up with me through text three weeks ago, then claims not to have done so, but doesn’t want to tell me the reason why he didn’t contact any of us for a whole month. That’s what happened to your precious little Henry,” Zhoumi hyung replied agitatedly. “Since he doesn’t want to tell me the truth, fine, whatever. We’re over and I’ve moved on.”

“You’ve moved on?” Siwon asked incredulously. “When?”

“A week ago. Sungmin, Donghae and Eunhyuk know her too,” Zhoumi hyung said, looking at the three hyungs who were born in the same year as him. The three of them looked at each other in confusion before realization dawned on them.

“Kwon Yuri?” they asked in unison.

“Wait, her? Zhoumi, you’ve been as straight as macaroni since I’ve met you,” Shindong hyung commented in disbelief. Well, it wasn’t as if I could really believe it either, but this is the reality that we saw with our very own eyes. Sungie had been even more shocked than Shindong hyung that day, when we ran into them at the cinema. Zhoumi hyung, what happened to you?

Zhoumi hyung sighed and ran a hand down his face. “You know what? I’m leaving.”

Just like that, he grabbed his stuff and walked out of the cafeteria. We sat there and gaped as he left, none of us knowing how to react in a situation like this. What were we supposed to do, chase after him? He could just ignore us and probably cuss at us, seeing as how he’s in a terrible mood today. Zhoumi hyung, from what I knew and could tell, was always polite and nice. He was hardly rude, but if he was there would be a very good explanation for it.

“We have to find Henry,” I stated. Everyone turned to look at me, and then Hankyung hyung looked at the wall clock. I followed his gaze and groaned. How the hell were we supposed to find Henry in ten minutes? Even if we did find him, we had to make sure that he was fine because I’d bet that he was feeling like after being left behind by Zhoumi hyung.

“Hannie, let’s ditch English. It isn’t as if we need to attend lesson, anyway. Come on,” Heechul hyung ordered, pulling Hankyung hyung up and leading him out of the cafeteria. I shared a look with Sungie and we nodded, both heading out to search for Henry as well. Slowly, all the others came with us and we split up to search for our missing maknae.

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It didn’t take too long before Kibum called us, informing us that he and Siwon had found Henry in one of the toilet stalls, crying his eyes out. In fact, as Kibum spoke to us, I could hear Henry crying in the back and I felt like punching Zhoumi hyung, because how could he be so dumb? Whatever happened was obviously set up by Sooyoung, even if I didn’t know what exactly happened. He couldn’t just break up with Henry because Henry was keeping things from him.

Sungie and I hurriedly went to the toilet where Kibum and Siwon were, meeting Kyuhyun and Sungmin hyung on the way. As we brisk walked, a few thoughts came to mind. The main one was why Henry had to keep things from Zhoumi hyung.

“I think Sooyoung did something to Henry. She has a hold over him,” I thought aloud. Sungie turned to me and nodded in agreement, albeit hesitantly. So he had thought about it, too.

Sooyoung had already tried three times to make me break up with Sungie and leave, and it was always the same; she would break one of the couples up and I’d feel horrible about it. Yes, I did think of leaving Sungie so that the others wouldn’t have to go through all this , but they didn’t want me to leave the group. The main point is that Sooyoung always used to same methods to pressurise me into breaking up with Sungie, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she plotted this, too.

“I agree with that. I don’t get why Zhoumi can’t tell that this is Sooyoung’s doing,” Sungmin hyung remarked disapprovingly. “He can be so dense sometimes.”

“But you have to see it in his point of view. If I sent Minnie a text to break up with him, and then come back three weeks later and say that I didn’t do that, wouldn’t he be doubtful?” Kyuhyun pointed out. Sungmin hyung hit Kyuhyun on the arm, hard, and narrowed his eyes.

“You’d better not pull that on me. I would be doubtful, especially if you wouldn’t tell me what happened, but I would have waited for you to get back and explain to me,” Sungmin hyung retorted. Sungie and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

“From what you told me, Zhoumi hyung and this Yuri were pretty close, right? You also said that Yuri used to like Zhoumi hyung. Isn’t it possible that he told her about his heartbreak and she took the opportunity to steal his heart?” Kyuhyun argued.

“If he really loved Henry, he wouldn’t have thought about letting Yuri into his heart,” Sungmin hyung retorted. Ugh, seeing and hearing them argue was starting to get on my nerves. Sungie just rolled his eyes at them as they bickered over something that wasn’t even their problem to begin with.

“Can you guys just stop it? Demand an explanation from Zhoumi hyung another day,” I said, annoyed.

“Maybe I could get Viki to talk some sense into that kid,” Sungmin hyung mumbled. I shot him a glare and he shut up, apologising for talking since I was clearly annoyed. We finally arrived in front of the toilet and saw that the hallways were pretty much empty. Well, we were supposed to have lessons but who could be bothered with that?

As we went in, we saw that Heechul hyung and Hankyung hyung were already there. Shindong hyung walked in behind us, with Donghae hyung and Eunhyuk hyung. Henry was crying into Heechul hyung’s uniform, letting out choked hiccups every now and then.

“I’m going to castrate Zhoumi,” Heechul hyung whispered threateningly, narrowing his eyes at nothing in particular. At this, Henry whimpered more and broke away from Heechul hyung’s hug, shaking his head violently in objection to the idea. “Why the hell not? He broke your heart.”

“Sooyoung.”

Everyone glanced at me.

“I don’t get it. Why don’t you guys see that it’s her doing?”

“We guessed, actually,” Donghae hyung admitted. “She’s done this thrice; I didn’t see why she wouldn’t do it again. Her trademark move seems to be breaking people up.”

Sungie nodded in agreement with a sigh. “We all know it’s her, don’t we? But why did Zhoumi fall for it? Why did he break up with Henry and get together with this Yuri person?” Sungie questioned.

“Oh my god,” Henry breathed out. “This morning, it was her. She was the one who picked up.”

Wait, what the hell?

“She slept at Zhoumi’s?” Eunhyuk hyung asked incredulously.

“Oh hell no,” Heechul hyung growled. “I’m going to screw this up so bad, she’s going to regret ever helping Sooyoung out. Hannie, we’ll look her up tomorrow.”

Kyuhyun smirked. “Count me in.”

“Not again…” Sungie couldn’t help but groan.

“Oh hell yes, again.”

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After Heechul hyung, Hankyung hyung and Kyuhyun left to discuss their plans (rather, Hankyung hyung was dragged away), the others left Henry, Sungie and I alone because I had a way to coax the truth out of people and they knew it.

The moment the others were gone, I sat down beside Henry and pushed his head onto my shoulder, letting him continue to cry as much as he wanted. He could cry till he was hoarse, as long as he felt better after that. Sungie simply stood and leant against the wall, watching Henry worriedly.

It seemed to be quite some time before Henry quieted down and only sniffled. By that time, I myself was rather close to tears. Henry was heartbroken, just as Donghae hyung, Teukie umma and Sungmin hyung were when their relationships had gone wrong. I really wanted to look Sooyoung up and just kill her. I wouldn’t mind going to jail. Then again, I highly doubted that I’d actually be able to do much damage to her. Spraining her wrist was just me being lucky that day.

“Henry, what happened?” I asked quietly. Sungie continued to observe us, not wanting to step in unless Henry broke down again. I was glad that he trusted me to help Henry. Heck, I was glad that all of them trusted me. Nonetheless, I felt responsible for this. I would always feel responsible.

Henry shook his head, clearly refusing to tell me anything. “Henry, come on. What did she do?” I asked again. Again, Henry shook his head adamantly. It was becoming clear that Sooyoung changed her tactics. Instead of threatening her friends, she turned to threatening mine. I recalled what she did do threaten the other three girls and glowered. “She threatened your parents?”

When I said that, Henry whined in protest and I knew that I’d guessed right. How far could she go? Threatening her friends wasn’t enough, and now she had to threaten my friends too? Was she that desperate to make me leave Sungie? But… I didn’t want to leave him. As much as I was guilty, I still didn’t want to leave him. If we really can’t fix this problem, maybe I will leave. Then Zhoumi hyung and Henry won’t have Sooyoung on their case and they can get back together again.

I looked up at Sungie and he nodded in understanding, already taking his phone out to text the others about our findings. I looked at Henry and sighed inwardly, patting his back in comfort. “Henry, don’t worry. We’ll clear this up for you, we promise,” I assured him, even if I wasn’t sure that we could. I couldn’t very well tell him that his and Zhoumi hyung’s relationship was a gone case, could I?

He nodded hesitantly and I tried to crack a smile. “Should we get going? You haven’t eaten much today, have you?” I asked, helping Henry up and waiting patiently for him to wash the tearstains away. He probably hated letting us see his weak side, just like me. The younger ones in the group were all like that, really. When Henry was done, I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and squeezed his shoulder in reassurance.

“It’ll be fine, really.”

Who the hell was I kidding? It wasn’t fine, and it never will be.

AYO PEOPLE I AM BACK FROM THE DEAD! :D (Not really, just exams XP)

I actually wanted to make this chapter longer but my brain died out on me while I was working on this chapter x.x Well, at least EvilKyu and EvilChul are coming back to (try) fix things XD I love EvilKyu and EvilChul. Don't you?

Anyways, unni, I got random and decided that you'd make another cameo in here X) I'm too random for my own good sometimes but oh well~

I might try to update again tomorrow, to make up for the lack of updates in the past weeks. I'll see how things go, but it'll be pretty rushed >< Still, I'll try!

That's all from me for now, and sorry for the long wait! (exams are a real :/) See you tomorrow (hopefully)! Annyeong~! ^-^