This is an early update as I'm unsure if I'll have any free time tomorrow. It's my friend's birthday and we're going to a CHINESE BUFFETTTTT YEAHHH XD sorry, too excited. Anyway, yh, hope you enjoy. Not much really happens in this chapter but I thought I'd give you something :)

I’m in a terrible mood as we return to the dorms, mutterng to myself and cursing my luck. Who would've thought that Chanyeol, the person who’d enjoyed beating me the most, would have chosen this University out of the huge selection?

I can sense Baekhyun and the others sending me nervous and worried glances.

“Tao, are you ok?” Kyungsoo pipes up. I flick my glare towards him and he cringes back slightly at my scary expression.

“Oh I’m good, wonderful, in fact, I feel like puking rainbows” I say sarcastically.

They look at me in surprise and I shrug, feeling bad for taking out my bad mood on my new friends, “sorry, I’ve just spend two years in England. Sarcasm has become second nature to me.”

Luhan pats me on the back, wordlessly telling me to cheer up, as he breaks off with Kyungsoo to head to their room.

Once in our room I fall face first onto my bed and unsuccessfully try to suppress a groan of despair. I hear Baekhyun close the door and seconds later feel the bed sink a little by the edge as he carefully sits down next to me. He places his hand on my shoulder softly and gently nudges me, prompting me to roll over with my arm over my eyes.

“Come on Tao, what’s wrong? And don’t say ‘nothing’ because you’ve changed completely since before dinner.”

I move my arm slightly, peering up at him. His face is open and caring and I can feel myself letting my guard down. I sigh, knowing that I’ll have to tell him sometime anyway and pull myself into a sitting position, leaning back against the head board.

I pull my knees to my chest and he shifts back on the bed, resting against the wall; obviously sensing that there is a long story to tell.

He waits patiently as I collect my thoughts, unsure of where to begin.

I glance at him quickly before fixing my gaze on the duvet, tracing the black and purple striped pattern with my eyes as I begin.

“I came to Korea to study when I was 13. My parents were pressuring me too much with the role of taking over the family business and I just felt the need to get away. Everything was fine at first; I made a few friends, found somewhere to practice my Wushu, and overall I enjoyed school. I don’t remember exactly when it all first started, but by the third week I noticed several of the boys watching me quietly out of the corner of my eyes. Whenever I turned to look at them, they’d flick their eyes way. This continued for another week or so, and then things changed. On that day, when I looked at them, they just looked straight back at me, forcing me to look away first. Their expressions were… predatory.” I run my hand through my hair, uncomfortable with thinking about this.

“That afternoon after my last lesson, I hurried to my locker, eager to get away. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, I just wasn’t sure what.

Just as I was turning the corner by the sports hall, a hand grabbed me and gave me a hard tug, dragging me inside. It was dark and I couldn’t see very much, just silhouettes, but I could recognise several of the forms, if simply because of their height. I was unsure about some, but I knew that the two tallest were Kris and Chanyeol, two of the school’s richest pupils.”

I pause, reluctant to continue. Baekhyun keeps silent, waiting for me to be ready.

I let my breath out in a rush, “to put it bluntly, they beat me up.”

I hear Baekhyun’s sharp intake of breath but refuse to look up, unwilling to see the pity in his eyes.

“This continued practically every day for the rest of the two years I was here. Many of my friends left me, scared of being target too, and only a few people stayed with me through it all. I became exhausted, putting off sleep in an attempt to escape the nightmares, but only succeeding in making myself drowsy and an easier target.

Finally, a few weeks before the end of year exams in my second year, they beat me so badly that I was taken to hospital, unconscious. Less than a month later I was on a plane back to China.”

I finally raise my eyes to meet Baekhyun’s and to my surprise, I see no pity there, only a simmering anger.

I flick my eyes away, deciding to finish my story as quickly as possible, so that I can just get out of this situation. Talking about everything that happened has brought certain memories to the surface of my mind that I'd desperately buried years ago, and I can feel cracks appearing in the mental wall I’ve built to protect myself.

“To summarise the rest, I spent one year in China, two years in England and during my free time I underwent vigorous training, not only in Wushu but in many different types of martial arts and fighting styles.”

I look up at him, forcing myself to appear stronger than I feel. “I refuse to be knocked around like that again. I am stronger than I was last time I was here, and if anyone decides they can mess with me like that here I will not hesitate to defend myself.”

Baekhyun sits still for a while, just absorbing everything I have told him. and finally he asks, “why you?”

Seeing the confusion on my face, he continues “why did they target you? What did you do to make them hate you?”

I hesitate, unsure if I want to reveal this secret. Looking hard at him, I examine his face, searching for anything telling me not to tell him. He simply looks back, his expression calm and kind so I decide to trust him; I’ve told him everything else, why hide this?

“They did it for a lot of reasons I think, because I never did anything against them. I think the main reason was that they guessed something about me.” I watch his face closely as I continue, “they guessed that I’m gay.”

As soon as I say the word Baekhyun’s face darkens and he clenches his teeth angrily.

I wait nervously for him to speak, hoping his expression is not due to the fact that he has a gay roommate.

Finally I speak, “do you mind?”

He looks at me, unsure what I’m asking.

“Does it bother you? Having a gay roommate?”

He looks at me silently and I’m on the verge of freaking out when he replies, “I thought it was obvious. I’m gay too.”

I look at him, surprised at how… unsurprised that makes me feel. I think back to what I know about him so far and then proceed to facepalm. “Oh man I’m such an idiot, that really was obvious” I groan, remembering what Kyungsoo had said when we first met.

He chuckles at me, rolling his eyes. “Don’t tell me you were there freaking out that I’d kick you out or something?” he says, his voice full of amusement.

I shrug sheepishly, “I’ll blame this on jetlag.”

He smirks, and then his expression turns serious. “What happened to you was horrible, but I don’t understand one thing.”

I listen quietly, waiting.

“Why did you suddenly get overwhelmed by that this afternoon? Earlier you were fine…”

I run my hand through my hair, looking out the window and glaring at the sky.

“It’s Chanyeol.” I say, returning my gaze to his face. “He’s here.”

I gasp, rushing into a sitting position, my eyes snapping open and shifting around the room in fear. My body feels slick with sweat and I’m out of breath.

Taking in the sight of Baekhyun sleeping peacefully on the bed against the far wall, reality rushes back and I run a hand through my sweaty hair, sinking back down onto the mattress and pushing my duvet off to cool down. It was just a dream I tell myself, staring wide eyed at the ceiling. That was the first nightmare in over a year, and probably happened because I’d seen Chanyeol again. Maybe I’m not as strong as I’d like to be.

I glance at the clock through blurry eyes, reading 04:23. Groaning, I roll over, knowing I won’t be able to sleep again after this; my body’s going to hate me tomorrow. I’d lain awake until half one, worrying about what Chanyeol would do now that he’d seen me.

Dragging myself out of bed, I change into a hoodie and sweat pants, tugging on my trainers and checking that I haven’t woken Baekhyun up.

Grabbing my Ipod, key and some cash in case I need it, I let myself out quietly and head down the corridor towards the stairs.

A minute of climbing stairs later, I push open the doors and step out onto the roof and quick glance around as I walk out to the middle, tells me the place is deserted as you'd expect at this time in the morning.

I spin in a circle, taking in the beautiful night view of the city and after a few minutes, I put on my headphones and turn my music up loud.

I revel in the stretch and pull of my muscles as I move fluidly through various sets of positions. Flinging myself onto my back I push myself upright using only the strength in my back and legs. I move through a series of punches and kicks, breathing deeply and feeling the calm seeping back into my mind.

An hour later I finish and stand there panting. Closing my eyes, I enjoy the feel of the breeze cooling my sweaty skin before reaching to my toes and beginning to stretch and warm down.

I lie staring up at the sky, watching as it gradually begins to brighten before pulling myself up and heading back inside as I enjoy the ache in my body, feeling satisfied with my exercise.

Sneaking back into the room I see Baekhyun still sleeping and I quickly slip out of my clothes, leaving just my boxers on. I grab a towel as I head into the bathroom for a long hot shower.

I brush my teeth as the water heats up and check my reflection. The bags under my eyes are significantly darker than yesterday, but they’ve been worse.

I give myself a quick mental word of encouragement before stepping into the shower and closing my eyes as the water washes over my aching muscles. Resting my hands on the tiled wall I lean forward letting the water run from my head down my back for a few minutes.

Using my fingers, I push the water from my face and glance around. I realise that I’ve forgotten to buy shampoo so I borrow Baekhyun’s, hoping he won’t mind. I lather my hair, washing it carefully, before rinsing and putting in conditioner. I wash my face and body, leaving the conditioner in, and then rinse all over.

Refreshed, I turn off the water, and am just stepping out of the shower when I hear Baekhyun’s alarm going off. Deciding to vacate the bathroom for him, I tie a towel around my waist and pad into the bedroom to my bed.

I check the time on my phone, 06:35, before turning to go to my wardrobe.

I'm faced with a sleepy eyed Baekhyun standing infront of me. He rubs his eyes before they widen and he glances over my exposed upper body, swallowing and looking away before muttering, “nice abs.”

I smirk and shrug before turning to grab some clothes.

“Where did you go earlier?” Baekhyun suddenly says, and I turn back to look at him, lifting an eyebrow questioningly.

He shrugs, “I woke up earlier at about quarter to five and you weren’t here.”

I gesture to my work out clothes piled on the floor and say “I couldn’t sleep.”

He glances back to my face, taking in the shadows under my eyes, “nightmare?”

I stare at the floor, confirming his suspicions and he sighs. Reaching up, he puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes lightly. “Next time you can wake me up if you need someone to talk to. If not, leave a note at least so I don’t freak out again.”

I glance at him and nod, grateful for his offer, and also for the simple fact that he cares.

He turns and heads into the bathroom to shower, and I rifle through my wardrobe, searching for something I want to wear.

I pick something that reflects my current emotions, my black leather jacket, white t-shirt and black, ripped skinny jeans. I put on a black and silver leather bracelet that I’d received from Kevin for my birthday back in England a while back. The black represents my fear, I decide, and the white and silver represent my sense of hope; that things won’t be as bad this time around.

I pack my bag, wasting time until Baekhyun is ready, then straighten my shoulders and give myself a quick once over in the full length mirror inside my wardrobe door.

Baekhyun gives me an encouraging smile before leading the way out.

Hwaiting Huang Zitao.

Thanks for reading :) If you have time, leave a comment cos I love hearing from you guys :)

Updates might get scarce for a bit, like I warned you, but I'll try my best not to leave you waiting too long :) <3

Oh btw, I feel like I'm writing Tao as too feminine or something because I'm a girl and I think it might be influencing my writing. If you think Tao seem's too feminine pls let me know XD