Sehun doesn’t think he’ll be in the hospital for long. His therapist, a female that sighs with exasperation every time their sessions end has probably told his parents that there was no hope for him.

She’s in her mid-forties, with three children, one boy, and two girls. She’s still married and Sehun feels like if he divulges his deepest darkest secret to her, she’ll change her opinion of him to one of disgust. After all her son seems about Sehun’s age, she’ll probably worry about how Sehun became such a way, and then she’ll worry about her own son.

Sehun figures that he’ll be leaving soon because aside from the stitches in his arm, he’s physically healthy and despite the less than happy thoughts swirling in his head, they have no reason to keep him there. It couldn’t be legal to keep him there, missing school, and exposed to the possibility of contagion. It was only a matter of time.

Despite it all, Jongin had become a permanent visitor at the hospital. The nurses were easily able to identify the older male, and always gave him bright smiles when he visited. Jongin would sit down beside Yixing, telling him tales about his day at school, and would speak of his friends and then afterwards, as if Yixing was awake; he’d excuse himself to talk to Sehun.

They were becoming fast friends and Sehun felt terrible about it, he had a secret, and Jongin would turn his back if he found out about it.

Today is like any other day for him. He visits the therapist and lets her ask him questions he refuses to answer. Then afterwards he heads off to his room where Jongin is already there.

“I’ve been wondering,” Sehun says, when Jongin’s next to him now. They’re taking turns playing a game on Jongin’s cellphone and Sehun has just lost.

“Hmm,” Jongin hums as he gets the phone and starts the game over.

“A boy came to visit earlier,” Sehun says. “He had his hair styled perfectly, and uniform too. His badge showed he was a third year. Do you know him?”

“Perfectly styled hair and uniform,” Jongin mutters, but then pauses, “how did you know his badge showed he was a third year?”

“My neighbor goes to your school,” Sehun answers. “He’s in his final year, but has been going since he was in his second. He’s a foreign exchange student.”

“Lu Han,” Jongin asks. “Your neighbor is Lu Han-sunbae?.”

“You know him?” Sehun asks, he realizes after the question that he’s gotten off track but he figures he’ll just ask again about the boy that came to visit later.”

“Of course I know him,” Jongin says. “The whole school knows him. He’s the captain of our very popular soccer team. Everyone thinks he’s a little strange, but I think he’s nice.”

“Why do people think he’s strange?”

“I’m not sure,” Jongin admits. “I think it’s a mixture of things, like he dyes his hair really often.” Jongin’s eyes rise to look at Sehun’s pink hair, before he continues, “and he’s really close to Kim Minseok, and I don’t know. He strays off the set path and when people do that they get classified as weird.”

“Is he bullied,” Sehun asks. He’s heard about Kim Minseok before, Luhan could barely have a conversation without bringing up his best friend, and would be co-captain. Sehun’s never met Minseok but he can picture the older male in his mind from the way Luhan had constantly described him.

“No,” Jongin asks shaking his head. “He’s the captain of the soccer team, so no one’s stupid enough to try anything, plus he’s Minseok-sunbaenim’s best friend. I heard this rumor once that when Luhan first transferred a few kids were picking on him for being too girly or whatever, and Minseok-sunbaenim took him under his wing and threatened to beat up anyone that so much as looked at his new best friend strangely.”

“Is that true,” Sehun asks. “I’ve never meet Minseok before but when Luhan-hyung describes him, it’s like he’s describing a real life teddy bear or something.”

“He looks really kind,” Jongin says. “I’ve never talked to him but my friend Taemin, his hyung is in Minseok-sunbaenim’s year and said that he’s really good at Taekwondo. He was said to have even hit a kid for making fun of his weight before. It’s all rumors really, but if they’re stopping people from getting hurt, isn’t it okay?”

“I guess,” Sehun says.

“You were asking me about someone else,” Jongin says. “You said he was a third year student?”

“Yeah,” Sehun nods. “His tag read Kim Joon something I could only catch the first syllable. He seemed really proper.”

“Kim Joonmyun,” Jongin says. “He seems to fit you description. He’s the student council president and a third year student. He came to visit?”

“Yeah,” Sehun confirms. “He came and he looked really guilty and sad.”

“That’s because Joonmyun-sunbae sees the school as a second home or something. I don’t really know but he does his best to represent us, when I arrived he made it a point to introduce himself to every freshmen class, so I think he’s a good guy. He probably feels bad being student council president and in the same year as Yixing, and letting this happen.”

“Letting it happen,” Sehun asks.

“You can’t stop bullying Sehun,” Jongin says. “Well, at least not at our school. Joonmyun-sunbae tried a lot of times and at most they stop for a bit but they start back up and are even worse about it. It’s not only the Chinese kids that get bullied, and it’s not only one or two people doing the bullying. Gidae’s bullies are seriously ruthless.”

“Funny,” Sehun snorts. “I wanted to go to Gidae next year.”

“The worse bully will be in his final year, next year unless he’s kicked out. I hope he’s kicked out soon, because with him gone the school would be a lot better.”

“And if someone tries to take his place,” Sehun asks.

“I doubt it,” Jongin says. “It takes a really hateful person to fill those shoes, but if someone did, I’d protect you.”

“Do you have any rumors of how you beat up a kid or something to protect you,” Sehun asks. Jongin looks strong enough, but he doubts he could take on a group of bullies if it ever came down to it.

“Nope,” Jongin says. “I’m not that strong either.”

“So why do something as foolish as protecting someone when you can barely protect yourself.”

“I don’t like seeing people hurt,” Jongin admits, “especially those