Daehyun's POV~

"I'm going to drop out," Luhan repeated to Mr. Chae. 

"B-but you only have 3 months left until you graduate and you suddenly want to drop out?!" Mr. Chae asked in disbelief. 

"You said that I may not be able to graduate on time, right? Well, what difference does it make if I drop out now? It saves me time," he said without a soul. "Can't you respect my decision, Mr. Chae."

"I really want to Luhan," he said; he was desperate. "I want to respect your decision, but I can't!"

"Why not?" Luhan asked. 

"B-because!" Mr. Chae answered. I knew he was having a difficult time. 

"I'm going to drop out," Luhan repeated and made sure Mr. Chae heard it loud and clear. The old man sighed. 

"Are you sure this is what you want? Please reconsider it, Luhan. You only have 3 months left-"

"I know, but it's better to just leave. Besides, I'm sure the students would like it better if I were gone. So I ask that you respect me and my decision," Luhan softly said. "Well, I'll be going now."

Mr. Chae nodded and Luhan bowed, walking towards my direction. I quickly left and hid behind a wall, so he wouldn't see me. He walked in the opposite direction to the classroom to grab his stuff and walked out of the school. I followed behind till we got to the front gates and he stopped walking. 

"Are you going to follow me all the way home?" he suddenly asked. I stood in my place and cleared my throat while rubbing the back of my neck. He turned around and those eyes of his were pitiful. "Answer me."

"I have no reason to follow you home. I just happen to be heading out too," I lied as he let out a scoff. He turned around and began walking away. "Are you really dropping out?"

He stopped. 

"What did you say?" he asked. 

"Are you really going to drop out?" I asked, softer. He turned around and narrowed his eyes at me. 

"Why do you suddenly care about what I do?" he asked with a soft tone. 

"It's just..." I my lips and let out a sigh. "Leaving won't do you any good."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"It's a sign of you giving up," I said, looking at him in the eyes. "You're giving up by running away from your problems-"

"What are you-"

"Don't play dumb with me," I interrupted. " 'Its better for me to just leave. Besides, I'm sure the students would like it better if I were gone.' That's what you said to Mr. Chae, am I wrong?"

"You were listening?" he asked as I nodded. "So what if I said that?"

"I know you're not this weak Luhan," I said, walking towards him. "Just because those kids said terrible things, doesn't mean you give up to them and have them stomp all over you. I know it's hard to endure it, but if you were to drop out, it'd just kill you even more. So don't run away."

"I will do whatever I want and I'm not running away-"

"Then what are you doing? Taking a break?" I asked him as he gave me an irritated face. "Tell me. What exactly are you doing?"

He stayed quiet and looked away. I saw his Adam's apple bob up then back down. 

"Are you not going to answer me? Then does that mean you agree with me? You're going to run away from this and have those bastards stomp all over you like you were some piece of shi-"

"Yes! I'm running away! So what?! What does it have to do with you anyways?!" he yelled with fierce eyes. "Don't get into my business and worry about yourself. Be happy that a burden like me won't get in your way again."

With that he turned around and walked away when I ran after him and grabbed his arm, pulling him to face me. 

"Then what about your friends, huh? What about the ones who were backing you up all this time? Are you just going to throw them off like that?" I asked as he scoffed and glared at me. 

"Friends? I had no friends to begin with," he firmly said and tried to walk away when I grabbed his arm, pulling him to face me again and once he did, I punched him. He fell on the ground and covered his mouth, seeing blood drip down. 

"Aish, this bastard," I huffed. "Bwoh? You had no friends to begin with? Then what was I? Did I mean nothing to you? What about Hanbyul? Krystal? Sulli? Youngjae?!"

He looked away and heavily breathed as I did too. He slowly got up on his feet and brushed himself off. Suddenly his fist met my face, making me stumble onto the ground. 

"What were you to me? You were my best friend, my only friend," he harshly said. "But because I was stupid I lost you! That's why you hate me! That's why you can't stand seeing me! And the others, they were nothing but mere classmates."

I stayed quiet and felt my tears fight to come out while Luhan's tears were already pouring out. 

"Don't act like you care for me now," he said with trembling lips. "I'm going to drop out and that's that. I don't care what they have to say about me. As long as I'm not here to hear it, then I'm fine. Now leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, like how you wanted it to be in the first place."

He walked away as I stood up. 

"Luhan!" I shouted his name, but he ignored me. "Hyung!"

I didn't want to waste the energy to chase after him, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and deeply exhaled. I wiped off the blood at the corner of my lip and started walking home.

Halfway home, my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and it was Hanbyul. 

"What?" I answered. 

"Where are you?" she asked with a worried voice. 

"I'm almost home," I said. "Are the others with you?"

"Yeah, but your mom is entertaining them for now," she responded back. 

"She's still home?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's still here.... How did things go?" she asked in her softest voice. I didn't know what to tell her. "Daehyun?"

"I'm going to cancel the group study," I said. "Tell them I'm sorry."

"Eh? Why?" she asked. 

"I want to be alone for today. We'll continue tomorrow," I said and hung up on her. I sighed and looked up at the sky. "Sorry guys."

Hanbyul's POV~

He just hung up on me....

"Where is he?" Sulli asked. 

"He said that he won't be coming today," I said looking at them. 

"What? Why?" Krystal asked, annoyed. "Don't tell me we just wasted our time coming here."

"Is something wrong?" Youngjae asked as I shrugged. 

"I don't know, but it's best to leave him be for today," I said and sighed. "We can still study without him though. We can go to my place, so that we won't disturb Mrs. Jung."

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm quite good with your school subjects, so I can help you guys," she smiled. Krystal and Sulli immediately agreed while Youngjae and I exchanged worried glances about Daehyun. 

We studied all evening when Krystal's dad had come to pick them up. We bid our goodbyes for the day and I stayed after to help Mrs. Jung clean up our mess. 

"You should go home, Hanbyul-ah," she smiled. "Your parents will worry."

I shook my head. "They won't worry about me, especially if I'm here."

"Is that so?" she questioned as I nodded. 

"Yep. Like last night, they were the ones who told me to sleepover," I said unconsciously, then gasped after realizing what I just said. "M-my parents aren't that carefree though."

Mrs. Jung giggled. She had a cute giggle. 

"I'm quite envious of them though," she sighed. I looked at her as she just smiled and continued to clean up. 

Once we had cleaned the place, I grabbed my backpack and she escorted me to the front door. 

"Thank you for today," I bowed. She nodded and I walked out of the house. I started walking to my house when my phones started to ring. 

"Hello?" I picked up without looking at the caller ID. 

"Where are you?" the person asked; I immediately recognized his voice. 

"I'm just left Daehyun's house. I'm on my way home now," I answered. "Luhan, where are you?"

"Me? I'm packing up," he said. I felt my heart stop as my feet did. 

"You're packing up?" I asked. "Where are you going?"

"Don't worry, I'm just moving places. I'll still be in Seoul," he snickered. I felt relieved; I didn't want him to leave. "My house is too big for one person to live in and my paycheck isn't big enough to pay any of the bills."

"Ah, I see," I smiled and continued walking home. "So, where are you moving to?"

"A smaller place of course," he said. "But I'm moving a bit further away from school."

"Eh? Why?" I questioned. "Wouldn't you want to move closer to school?"

He chuckled. "I couldn't find any cheap places near school."

"Ahhh~" I responded. "Well then, do you want some help? I can come by tomorrow after school to help you."

"Oh, will you?" he asked with a bright voice. "Packing alone is hard."

I giggled. "Of course I'll help! Should I have the others help-"

"No," he bluntly said. "I just want you."

I blinked my eyes; flustered. "Oh, okay then."

I got to my house and walked up the stairs. "I'll see you tomorrow then, oppa."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," he replied. "Good night, Hanbyul."

And with that he hung up. I opened the door and shut it behind me. I thought to myself why he didn't want the others to help him. Didn't he just say packing alone was hard? Two people wouldn't make a difference, would it?

I sighed and quietly went into my bedroom to make sure I wouldn't wake halmeoni up. 

Luhan's POV~

I sat on the floor against the wall of my new "home" while letting out a long sigh. I looked at my surrounding and saw that everything was rusting. The light was extremely dim, flickering here and there. The smell was horrible, so I left the front door and windows open. The only thing I had brought to my new place were memories; memories of my mom, my dad, Daehyun and so much more. 

"Everything's going to be okay from now on, Luhan," I whispered. "You'll be fine without them."

I tucked in my knees and laid my head between them, falling asleep. 

The next morning, my neck was sore from the way I was sleeping. I ended up not going to school for today and went back to the old house to continue packing my stuff. I started out with my clothes since there was a bunch of them. 

I felt my phone vibrate in my pockets and I took it out. 

Hanbyul: Are you not coming to school today?

Me: Not today, I'm going to continue to pack my things. I'll text you my address. 

Hanbyul: Okay. I'll see you later then.

I smiled and stuffed my phone back into my pocket. I took a few breaks here and there. It was hot today too, so I was sweating like crazy. 

Hours later, I heard the doorbell. I walked to the door and opened it to see Hanbyul. I smiled and welcomed her into my house. 

"Glad you could make," I said. "Sorry that it's messy."

"It's alright. My house was like this too when we were moving from the States," she snickered and set her bag against the wall. "So, what should I help with?"

I looked around and tapped my chin. "Oh, you can help me pack the things in my bedroom closet. I've already packed all my clothes, so all you need to do is pack the junk. I'm going to pack my things from the bathroom then the kitchen."

She nodded and started to walk away when I grabbed her wrist. 

"You should change first. Dust is going to fly everywhere and packing in your school uniform is going to be uncomfortable," I said and dug into my pile of clothes that I was going to donate. I pulled out a gray v-neck and an athletic short. 

"It may be a bit baggy, but it's better than the uniform," I chuckled and handed her my clothes. 

Hanbyul's POV~

I came out of the bathroom after changing and putting my uniform away. Luhan was packing his things in a separate bathroom and so I went into his room. 

It was completely empty. The only things left were past drawings of stick figures and other things on his walls. 

I walked around the room, looking at every drawing when I came across one that looked like a little family. Written above the 3 stick figures said, "Dad. Mom. Luhan."

I smiled and brushed my fingers over the drawing. I walked off to another drawing that had Daehyun's name written on it. 

"He's leaving so much behind," I whispered as I traveled my eyes up and down the wall. 

I finally broke away from the drawings and went into his closet to pick up the remaining things. All that was left were old toys, shoes and junk. I took an empty box and started putting things in it. 

Every little thing I picked up, I examined them because I knew there was a story for each item in the closet. But what caught my attention was a box, designed like a treasure box without an actual lock. Without thinking, I grabbed it and opened it to see a bunch of different notebooks. 

I tilted my head to the side and out of curiosity, I picked the pink one with hearts all over it. It was a bit too feminine for Luhan's taste. 

Having the notebook in my hands, I opened it to the first page and read it in a whisper. 

"Dear diary," I started. The handwriting was poorly done, but readable. "No, that's too girly. Dear journal, I made a new friend today. His name is Jung Daehyun. He's the same age as me, but I'm older by a few months! We both met at a party where rich people meet..."

I flipped through the pages and went through the rest of the notebooks. 

*Appa took me to the ocean today and we went fishing! I caught so many today that I didn't want to leave....*

*Daehyun and I had our first sleepover at his house! We jumped on his bed to see how many stars we could stick on his ceiling....*

*I sprained my ankle today. Umma was so worried...."

*They're yelling at each other again. Umma and appa are fighting again...*

*My parents divorced....*

*I ignored my best friend for the first time today....*

*Umma is sick...I don't know what to do....*

*I had my first alcoholic drink today. I also had my first cigarette. It was horrible, but I didn't hate it....*

*Umma passed away this morning. I cried like a child....*

*Guess what I did today, Journal? I assaulted my best friend, Daehyun. He's currently in the hospital because of me....*

That was the last note in the last notebook that I read. I felt my heart squeeze reading all of that. I felt my eyes burn with tears now knowing that Luhan was enduring so much pain and no one knew of it. 

Out of nowhere, a notebook was held next to my face. I widened my eyes and looked above me to see Luhan. His head was turned away. 

"I guess you can read this one too since you've read the others," he said as my eyes averted to the notebook he was holding. I hesitated to grab it out of his hands and he sensed it, so he dropped it besides me. 

"I'll go buy dinner," he said and left, shutting the bedroom door behind him. I stared at the door then slowly grabbed the notebook he left. 

I turned to the front page and read the date; it was written recently. 

*I guess I'm back to writing, Journal. Well, it's been years now since I've tried to get Daehyun's friendship back. Do you think he'll accept my apologies?*

*Dae made a girl cry today hehe. She had confessed to him, but he rejected her....*

*Say, what does it feel like to be in love? I'm not quite sure of this feeling I've been getting lately....*

*I love seeing her smile everyday. I love her laugh. I think I really am in love with her, but she doesn't love me. She's in love with him, I can tell by the way she looks at him...*

*Dae got injured today by Youngjae. It reminded me of myself back then. I hate myself for that....*

I continued to skim through the pages when I came across one that was written 2 days ago. 

*I've finally made my decision. I'm going to drop out of school tomorrow. I'm going to stop chasing after someone who can't even stand seeing me. I'm going to confess to my first love even if I get rejected. At the end, I will have no regrets and live my life peacefully....*

A lump grew in my throat as I tear rolled down my cheek to my jawline. 

"He dropped out of school?" I whispered. "He's not going to reconcile with Daehyun?"