Painful Consolation

           Maybe it was the way he pushed his hair back when some stray strands fell in front of his eyes, or maybe it was the way his dimple showed when he occasionally showed that angelic smile of his. Mina didn’t know what pulled her towards Yixing but what she did know was that she didn’t resist in any way and happily accepted the mixture of feelings she felt whenever she would be with him.              She had actually known Jaemi a good two years longer than Yixing, reason being that the latter joined their school in first grade, unlike the two girls who had met in kindergarten. The girls had immediately found each other and were inseparable after day one. It was like those childhood friendships that you cherish and would do anything for to maintain it. If it wasn’t Mina that visited Jaemi, then it was the other way around; everywhere Mina went Jaemi followed and vice versa. So when Yixing joined their class, of course Mina would inform her best friend that she was quite fond of the mysterious boy and wanted to become friends with him as soon as possible.              The girls tried talking to him and involve him in activities but he would never really react to whatever was going on. On top of that, his neck but mostly his arms were covered in small scars, scaring the children around him. Since he never had opened up about his life, or anything for that matter, before he met them, it had always been a mystery of where they had come from.              Even until now, Mina and Jaemi had never asked him about them.              Also, he didn’t like to be touched; whenever Mina or Jaemi would reach for his hands, the boy would freak and shut himself in completely. Maybe whenever the time was right, he would open up to them but for now, Mina felt it was okay and didn’t mind.              Eventually after some weeks of persistent attention, Yixing’s mysterious facade cracked and it turned out that this boy had quite the funny bone or two inside of him and could joke around like there was no tomorrow. Mina was happy to see this frail quiet boy of a mere seven years old turn into a joker that loved to interact with the people around him, especially his close friends.              Little things would become more and more evident as time went by.              The still somewhat mysterious boy had little habits that Mina found utterly adorable and others that seemed a little out of place. As a young girl, she didn’t look much into it and just tried to make sure her crush would smile at least once a day, a mission that was active even in the present day. Because the little Mina was so observant and the grown up Mina so smart, the Mina of now could easily put one and one together and saw that something was bothering Yixing. Something big.              The first time she noticed was when Yixing entered the classroom on the second day of school that Jaemi came back, with a major distraught expression. Mina was already feeling a little suspicious because Jaemi hadn’t come into the room with him. Yixing passed the teacher’s table and said something to him before making his way over to Mina. “Hey Yixing, where did you leave Jae?”              Said male sat down next to her and blinked his eyes a few times, staring at his table before rubbing his eyes. “I—uhm, Jae-, she went to the bathroom,” he stuttered out. It wasn’t that he was lying, he wasn’t, but it was something else that alarmed Mina but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was that sent an unsettling feeling down her spine. The way his voice cracked wasn’t like him and his whole act was too suspicious.              “Good morning class, today we will start out a little different as we have a new student in class,” the voice of the teacher pulled Mina out of her thoughts and made her switch her gaze from Yixing to the front. “Mr Kim, please enter.”              The door of the classroom opened and a tall male with dark hair entered the room, gasps clearly heard from the female body of the group. Mina knew him already because she had toured him around a few moments before but still checked him from head to toe and had to admit that he was a fine young man that was definitely a feast to the eye.              Light murmurs broke the silence of the classroom before the teacher jumped in and quieted them down. “Please introduce yourself,” he motioned at the boy in uniform. The dark-haired boy turned his body to the classroom and bowed respectfully. “Hello everyone, my name is Kim Jongin and I’m a new student at this school,” he spoke in a pleasant voice and straightened, running his eyes over the student body. “Yes, Jongin will be joining us star-”              A knock on the door was heard and after the teacher muttered a ‘come in’, it opened, revealing a slightly flustered Jaemi. Both Yixing and Mina sat up and leaned on their tables to get a closer look to see if their friend was okay. They caught her eye but soon she switched to the teacher and started apologizing before stopping midsentence.              Mina was pretty sure it was because of Jongin and grinned but it didn’t take her worries away. The teacher dismissed it and let Jaemi take her seat. The whole time she was up there, Mina couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Just like with Yixing, that unsettling feeling returned and as Jaemi took a seat, Mina mouthed if she was okay just to make sure. Jaemi nodded and showed her a small smile. Mina glanced to her side and saw Yixing’s intense stare on their friend’s profile and it didn’t calm her one bit. Just what happened in the time that she was gone?                    The second suspicious encounter was when Jaemi told about her reoccurring dreams, or nightmares if you may. The whole thing already sounded a bit strange but with Yixing acting weird at the same time, it made Mina’s suspicions even worse. When Jongin had arrived and joined their table, it seemed like the boys had some kind of face off with their eyes solely on the other counterpart. When Yixing broke the awkward moment, Mina’s eyes stayed on him. Something had shifted his behavior that moment. She had already noticed before Jongin entered the picture because his whole stance got stiffer and his answers turned into short remarks. Mina heard Jongin and Jaemi start a conversation but it didn’t fully reach her ears because the silence Yixing gave was louder than anything to her. She did catch a small part of their conversation, however, something that could work in her advantage.              “Jae, Yixing and I have to do something after school so we can’t go home together. Why don’t you help Jongin after school with his homework and go home with him afterwards?” she said with her gaze still on Yixing, who looked up at her with a surprised expression. Mina gave him a subtly shake of her head, implying for him not to dig into it any further. The day went by pretty fast after that and since Yixing had to talk with a teacher for a few minutes, Mina decided to go wait outside. She was checking her nails when she felt a tap on her shoulder and shifted her gaze to the hand.              “So what do you want with me?” Yixing sighed as he started walking, pulling Mina with him. The girl struggled to get out of his grip and heaved her bag onto her shoulder. “I want you to tell me what’s bothering you.”              Yixing glanced at Mina but she couldn’t