Chapter 8

Alexander, Kevin and Kibum were in the living room; the latter two cuddling close and laying soft kisses over each other, and the former trying not to throw up at their PDA-ing. "Guys, for God's sake, stop..." Xander rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the sounds they were making. "Or else, go somewhere where you can't be seen. It's grossing me out."

Kibum turned, raising an eyebrow at the elder's expression, before sliding his hand up Kevin's shirt once more, making him moan softly. "We were here first, hyung. And we're not doing anything... Yet..."

"Ugh. Fine." Xander got up, before turning again. "Just... Don't dirty the sofa, alright?" He was about to leave the room when the phone rang. Sparing the couple in their own world another glance, he reached over and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello? Alexander-ssi?" an unfamiliar, female voice crackled over the line. "I'm Miss Park, Dongho's form teacher." Maknae's form teacher? Why would she be calling?

"Uh, sorry, hold on awhile please." Xander covered the mouthpiece of the phone and glared at Kibum and Kevin. Kevin's shirt was half-open and Kibum's hand was in... Ugh. He didn't even want to think about that. "Guys. Shut up. It's Dongho's teacher." Kibum retrieved his hand, and Kevin pulled away from the deep kiss they had been sharing, both leaning in to eavesdrop as Xander put the phone to his ear again. "Yes, Miss Park?"

"Just calling to notify you of a few things. Dongho hasn't been attentive in class lately. He's writing notes during lessons but when the teacher calls him to answer a question he just stares blankly and cannot give an answer. Also, he doesn't really talk to anyone anymore, unless its about something important."

"What about his schoolwork?"

"He's doing fine, but not as good as before. I hope you'll talk to him about this, Alexander-ssi. Maybe you could consider sending him for extra tuition if he has the time."

"Ah, yes, I'll do so. Thank you for calling, Miss Park." Xander hung up, and was immediately ambushed by the couple. "YAH! GET OFF ME!!"

Kevin unclasped his arms from Alexander's waist, looking at him, concerned. "Why did she call?"

"Dongho hasn't been listening in class, and Miss Park says his grades aren't that good as they used to." Xander reported. "I gotta have a talk with him later after he comes back from playing baseball."

Just as he said this, the front door banged open and Dongho came in. "Hey hyungs." Shrugging off his jacket, he put it over his shoulder and headed to his room. Pushing the door open, he stopped in his tracks, staring at something in the room. "Yah!"

~

About 20 minutes earlier.

"Remind me again why are we doing this?" Kiseop complained as he followed after Eli into Dongho's room.

"He's hiding something from us. And shut up, Xander hyung is gonna kill me if he finds out we're doing this." Eli hissed, stepping inside and shutting the door after them. "Try to find anything unusual. Most likely a notebook." They were taking advantage of the fact that Dongho was attending the prelim rounds of a baseball competition to search his room.

"But I need to do homework..." Kiseop whined, pouting. His eyes widened in surprise as Eli kissed him lightly on the lips. "If you do this, I promise we can have some alone time later." Kiseop's eyes lit up, his expression brightening considerably at the suggestion.

However, after fifteen minutes of searching every possible place in the room, they hadn;t found anything yet.

"Eli ah, I'm tired~" Kiseop said in a singsong voice, sitting down on Dongho's bed. "Can we go? Maybe Maknae was really doing homework..."

"A little while longer. Dongho hasn't come back from baseball practice yet." Eli, being ever determined, was currently going through the contents of Dongho's table. "Ew. Why can't he throw away the empty packet after eating the chips?"

"Aish. I wanna sleep. You go find whatever it is by yourself..." Kiseop closed his eyes, flopping back onto the bed, before sitting up again. "Yah, why does the pillow feel so weird?"

Eli frowned, stepping over and feeling the pillow. There was an odd shaped thing inside it. Turning it over and shaking it vigorously, he grinned when a battered notebook fell out of the case. "Aha!" Picking it up, he flipped to the first page.

I remember the first time I saw Soohyun hyung, I thought he would be our manager. He looked like it, anyway.

"What?" Kiseop poked Eli. "What's this?"

"Shh. I want to read this." Eli flipped from page to page, reading through the hurriedly scrawled words.

...Soohyun hyung promised Dongho that he would be supporting him at the prelims of the baseball competition tommorow. He said that if Dongho managed to get into the finals, he would--

"Yah!" Both turned around to see Dongho standing in the doorway, eyes fixed on the book in Eli's hands. "What are you doing?!" He ran over, making an attempt to grab the book from Eli. The older boy held it out of his reach, however, looking at him sternly. "Dongho. What is this?"

"Give it back!" Dongho screamed almost desperately, frantic tears forming at the corners of his eyes. "Give it back!"

Alexander, Kibum and Kevin appeared at the doorway, the eldest looking back and forth from Dongho and Eli.  "Eli, stop bullying maknae!"

"Hyung, he's--" As Eli started to explain everything to Xander, Dongho made a quick grab for the book, ripping it away from Eli's iron grip, before running out of the dorm.

~

Dongho gripped the pen tightly, staring at the page, words blurring together into dark lines. "Hyung." he whispered tearily. "Soohyun hyung."

For the first time since everything had started, he felt no familiar warmth by his side, didn't breathe in that familiar scent or hear that low, warm voice. "Hyung... Where are you?" He turned, seeing something move at the corner of his eye. Soohyun was beside him, but he didn't look like the Soohyun he knew. He was pale, body wavering as if he was seriously ill.

"Hyung..." Dongho reached out, his hand slicing through Soohyun's. He stared down at it, shocked, trying again. Why couldn't he hold Soohyun, why couldn't he touch him anymore? "Hyung!" A startled cry as Soohyun disappeared all of a sudden.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

The pen dropped from his grasp, falling onto the book and starting to leak over the page.

"Come back!"

A slight shimmer in the air, but still, nothing.

"Please..."

Dongho fell to his knees, sobs shaking his lean frame.

"Don't leave me again... Hyung!"

The sobs softening, as the room remained as cold and empty as it had been before.

"This isn't supposed to happen... It wasn't... It wasn't in the story..."

A gasp as the tears flowed without stopping, a string of broken pearls.

"We were supposed to be together... Always..."

~

Yay! I updated~ Sorry for the very boring first part... And the last part too... Hope you enjoy it anw:) The story is gonna end soon, btw. Maybe one or two more chapters... Even then, please comment too:)

Thank you for reading~

Ps. Please forgive me for any typos, I wrote this in a hurry...