It had been four days, and all five of them were back in school again. Minhyun looked more and more tired by the day, while Minki kept avoiding them more and more. Dongho constantly got himself into detention, so Jonghyun was the only one noticing how Aron had stopped eating and drinking. And because he was so worried about Minki, too, he had no idea how he should try and point it out.

“Jonghyun-sshi! Pay attention!”

“What?.. Oh, yeah, of course… Sorry”. He straightened his back and looked at the teacher again. He realised he had been staring out the window for almost ten minutes.

“And Minhyun-sshi, are my classes really that boring? Do you really find my teaching so mediocre that you think you can allow yourself to SLEEP IN MY CLASS?!”

Minhyun, who had been resting his head in his hands, eyes closed and obviously asleep, almost jumped in his seat and looked confused and shameful at the teacher. He was pale white and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“I’m sorry sir” he muttered; even his voice sounded raw and worn out.

“Detention for you. And in the future make sure that you sleep at night as you should!”

Minhyun looked as if he was about to burst into tears when the teacher continued talking about today’s topic. It was clear that he used all of his might to keep his eyes open, his lids looking painfully heavy.

He was unusually quiet during lunch. Minki compassionately tried to take his hand.

“Hey. Is something wrong?” he asked in a low, soothing voice. Minhyun shook his head, forcing out a smile.

“No, I just… I didn’t get much sleep last night. We had a major psychology assignment for today, and I was a bit late writing it so I had to stay up till like 3am.”

“Man, that sounds harsh.” Dongho looked sorry at him. “Don’t stress yourself too much, okay?”

“Sure”. Minhyun smiled again, then looked away as if he was about to faint from fatigue.

“Aron, you phone is ringing” Jonghyun noticed, when Aron seemed to be too swallowed up in thoughts to have heard it.

“Oh… right. I’ll be right back”. He took out his phone and went to the empty basement of the school. “It’s me”.

“What’s up Aron, is everything going smooth?”
“Hey Fisher… Yes, everything’s fine. I mean, I’m not dead yet”.

“Great. So, have you any idea of who the spy is? The leader called me up a few days back and told me. Talk to me, you must have a few theories by now”.

Aron couldn’t help but smile. Fisher was his allied in Seoul, something like a ghost; he had no idea what his real name was, or where he got his information from, but he was always a reliable source and so far he had saved Aron quite a few times.

“Of course I have, I always do, right? But it’s too risky to talk it over by phone. I’ll give you a name and then we can meet up tomorrow and you can tell me what you found out, deal?”
“Yes sir. Who should I check for you?”
“Hwang Minhyun”.

He stopped right in time to avoid bumping into the other one. Quickly he bowed, his hands buried in the pockets of the expensive new coat; it was fresh from the store, only an hour had passed since he had cut off the price tag.

“I’m sorry”.

“Don’t think about it… Minhyun?” The other one looked at him for a while, at first unable to recognise him beneath the black wig. “Is that you?”
“Dongho?” Minhyun bit his lip. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhm… I’m actually here to meet a girl at a café. You know we’re not supposed to be out this late so I didn’t tell anyone”. He blushed a bit and started to nervously curl his lips.

“Yeah, well… Me, too, I guess.” He sighed. “Please don’t tell the others that you met me here… looking like this. Couldn’t it be our little secret? I don’t want anyone to know”.

“Sure thing. Then please do the same for me. If they found out I was seeing someone they wouldn’t leave me alone for a sec!” He laughed, and Minhyun smiled.

“Deal then.”

“By the way, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to meet someone, too… Just a friend. I’ll see you tomorrow”. With a quick nod he hurried down the street, trying to disappear in the crowd. He hadn’t expected to meet someone he knew, and his heart was beating fast from anxiety when he thought of how easy this whole thing could slip now. Taking a deep breath he slowed down when he reached the fancy looking street, full of designer shops and expensive restaurants. The lights from the overpriced buildings lit up the road and he soon found the one he was looking for. He went inside the lobby and with his most breath-taking smile he walked to the reception desk of the five star hotel.

“Excuse me miss?”

The female receptionist looked up, obviously stunned by his good looks.

“Excuse me, but I was wondering which room Mr Choi Jungshin stayed in?”
“Is he expecting you?”
“Oh yes, I certainly hope so”.

He squeezed his knees towards himself, completely unable to stop crying. His back hurt as if someone was pulling wires through his skin, his legs were numb, and on top of that he urged to just lie down and fall asleep so that he could get rid of the dark circles that destroyed his face. Even the dirty bathroom floor looked soft and comfortable.

“Hyungie? Is that you?”

Suddenly he realised that he must have been crying loud enough for others to hear. Outside the small toilet stall stood Minki, sounding equally surprised and sad.

“Please come out and tell me what’s wrong”.

“I can’t… I can’t let him see me like this!”
“Who?” His voice was tender. Minhyun bit his lip till it it started to bleed, then he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Aron” he sobbed, swaying a bit as a tremble ran through his whole body.

“Oh… I see…” Minki leaned towards the door. “Do you like him hyung?”
“It doesn’t matter, he wouldn’t want me…”

“Why not? You’re smart and beautiful hyung, I’m sure Aron would…”
“I’m awful!” Minhyun pressed his eyes closed, tears flowing down his face. “You have no idea, none of you have!”
“But hyungie… what are you saying, you…”
“Please don’t ask me anymore… I can’t talk about it…”
Minki couldn’t stand it; he tried to force the door open, but he wasn’t strong enough to break the old lock.

“Would you at least open the door and let me comfort you a bit hyung?”

For the longest time Minhyun didn’t answer, then he lifted his shivering fingers and turned the lock so that Minki could go into the tiny stall and place his arms around Minhyun. Slowly he started to his bag, but Minhyun let out a small scream, turning in Minki’s arms.

“Please don’t touch me Minkiah… It hurts…” He was so devastated he didn’t even notice Minki’s teary eyes.

“Why? What’s wrong with your back hyung?”

But the other one was too crushed to say another word, so Minki had to do with just holding his hands as tight as he could, whispering how everything would turn out to be fine somehow.

Of course they were late for class, and both of them got detention as punishment. Minhyun closed his eyes in pain when the teacher lashed out at his back.

“It’s the second time in two days Minhyun-sshi. Do you find this whole school beneath your standard? Are these lessons not worthy of your precious time? I thought so. You’ll have to do better in the future, or I am forced to speak to your parents about how you behave, understood?”
“Y-yes sir…” Minhyun’s voice was about to break and his eyes were completely swollen and already filled with tears again as their lesson went on.

Aron was about to flip when he left the class at the end of the day, looking one last time over his shoulder at Minki, who were now all alone in the room with Minhyun and the teacher. And once again there was nothing he could do. He would have to wait outside until Minki was off, then walk him home and hope Solum wasn’t stupid enough to try and attack them while being together.

If just Minhyun hadn’t been there…

He had gone over it inside his head again and again, and the more thought he put into it, the more it seemed as the only solution.

Minhyun had been there in class at first, but had left after a while, ten minutes or so before Jonghyun walked in. He would have had plenty of time to poison Aron’s water while he looked away. And with Aron in the hospital he would be able to attack Minki as easily as stealing candy from a child. It was the typical Solum-strategy: get rid of the guardian, make the Helix-murder look like an accident.

And he had known that Minki had been pushed off the bridge, even though the official statement from their teacher had been that he had fallen. He was always so tired as if he had been up all night and Aron was sure that Solum of course had placed a lot of new and younger scouts like Minhyun, to make sure that they were able to kill Minki the second he stepped outside the house alone.

So how could he have been so stupid as to let him be alone with Minki like that? How?!

If it hadn’t been for the teacher, he would have tried to get himself into detention, too, but he had dumped the idea when he realised how obvious a move it would have been.

Cursing over his own stupidity he found a spot outside the school where he would be able to see most of the class room through the window. Now all he could do was waiting.

“So…” Minki bit his lip and looked at Minhyun when he was sure their teacher had left the room to get coffee. “Will you please tell me something? Anything… I’m worried about you”.

“Why don’t you tell me why you don’t want us to know anything?” Minhyun crossed his arms in attempt to look strict, but his concerned eyes made it impossible.

“It’s none of your business hyung…” Minki muttered and look away, blushing.

“And neither is this”.

They sat for a moment in silence, then Minki sighed and looked to the ceiling, eyes full of tears.

“I’m being bullied, okay? There, I’ve said it”.

A single tear fell from his eye and Minhyun had to place his arms around the younger boy.

“Are… are you serious?” he whispered and Minki nodded slowly.

“Yes. It’s just the usual stuff you know, stealing my lunch, pouring water in my shoes and write on my stuff… I didn’t want any of you to know…” He shrugged and tried to make it sound casual, but it was clearly visible that he was severely ashamed. “It’s because of my new hair…”

“Minkiah… Oh God, you should have told me… And here I’m going around being all selfish about my own stupid problems while you’ve suffered like this!”
“Hyung, please don’t cry too…”
“But Minki, it’s horrible! Your hair is ing fantastic, you look like a rock star! It’s not fair…”

“Then make it fair. Tell me what’s going on with you hyungie… You’re tired all the time, you never have time to hang out. Don’t you want to see us anymore?”

For the longest time Minhyun didn’t know what to say; he just stared at the solid surface of the table, then he started to shake in distress.

“Please don’t hate me Minki… I couldn’t bear it, I like you too much…” He cut off; surely he thought that he had been too straightforward, but Minki tenderly placed a hand on his shoulder, careful not to touch his back.

“I couldn’t hate you Minhyun… Please tell me?”

“It started six months ago, right when I started posing for photographers…” He took a deep breath and kept avoiding looking at Minki directly. “Some of them asked me if I was willing to pose for some… a bit more shady pictures. And I said yes, and they kept giving me new jobs… and I began to think that… if I could take my clothes of in front of people like that, then why not just take it a step further?”

His voice sounded as if it had fallen apart, the last pieces clinging desperately to his throat, and Minki had to wipe both of their tears now.

“What do you mean hyungie, are you saying that you…”

“I slept with people for money, yes... It wasn’t that bad, I just wanted to feel alive… And it was just so easy. I spent the money on new clothes and beauty products to attract richer customers and I bought a new phone only for work. I have a few clients who keep calling me up in the middle of the night, inviting me to V.I.P.-parties and expensive hotels and such, that’s why I’m so tired all the time”.

It was hard to tell who of them looked the most devastated.

“But why hyung?” Minki whimpered. “Why are you doing this to yourself? I thought you liked Aron…”
“I do though! He is the reason for all this!”

“How?”

For a moment he forgot about the other boy’s pain and his back as gingerly as ever, but Minhyun almost flew out of his chair, in agony.

“Sorry! I’m sorry… God…”

Helplessly he took his hands instead, gently caressing his trembling fingers.

“I’m sorry Minhyunah… I forgot about… whatever it is”.

“Oh, it’s nothing… Just… Some of my clients are into stuff. I spent last night being beaten with a metal whip, and it’s been hurting like hell ever since…”

“What?!”

“It’s okay, really, it’ll heal eventually and he promised me he would pay for any potential plastic surgery if I end up being scarred.” Even in his current weeping state he didn’t seem to care much. “I don’t care about pain, okay? And scars doesn’t matter to me, I just… I just want Aron…”

“I’m sure if you just tried to talk to him…”
“No! You don’t understand… You don’t know what it’s like. There has never been anything I couldn’t have, never. And then, finally, I find someone whom I really want, and I can’t have him. For the first time in my life there’s something I can’t have and it’s destroying me Minkiah… I’m such a spoiled brat and it’s so selfish of me, but it’s ruining my life. I’ve tried to forget about him by sleeping with others, seducing them just because I could, having them beat me up as much as they pleased, but not for a second have I been able to get him out of my mind! The only thing I can do is forgetting him, no matter the cost so I have to keep trying…”
“But… why?...”
“Because he only cares about you!” For a moment Minhyun looked enraged at Minki, then he maintained his weeping. “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean it…”
“That’s not true! Aron doesn’t like me like that, how could he?”

“He does though… Haven’t you noticed? Minki, half of the guys in your class is crushing on you, how can you be the only one who doesn’t know?”

Minki looked terrified at Minhyun, unwillingly leaning back in his chair.

“But… but that can’t be! Half of them?! You’re joking Minhyun, please tell me you’re joking…”

“I wish I could, but I can’t. Aron likes you. And so does Jonghyun, and Dongho and…” He bit his lip, then he closed his eyes and turned his head away. “…me”.

“You?”

“I can’t help it, all right?! I should be hating you as if you were the black plague, but I’ve already told you, I like you too much…”
“But I thought you liked Aron”.

“Well, I like you, too. I’m sorry, I promise I won’t try to make things any different between us. You’re my best friend and I don’t want to ruin that. So please forget that I told you”.

He looked even more miserable than before he started to talk. Minki couldn’t help but nod.

“I will. I’m… sorry I made you talk about it. Especially when you’re trying to forget and all…”
“Hey, don’t worry about me darling” he said, a bit of his usual confident cockiness returning. “As long as you’re not telling anyone everything will be fine, right?”

“U-huh…” The blonde one wiped his tears one last time before clearing his throat and looking around. “By the way… Isn’t he a bit slow on just getting a cup of coffee? The teacher” he added, when Minhyun looked confused at first.

“You’re right. I wonder what’s taking him so long?”