There's a call of his name but he doesn't look up. He knows who it is, knows what looking up would mean for him and he can't afford to go home with tears sliding down his face and another crack in his self-esteem. There's a push at his shoulder, more than a soft nudge, and he almost falls out of his seat. He clamps his hands down on the edge of his chair. Fifteen. Only fifteen more minutes before the break is over and they'll all have to go back to listening to instructions and taking notes. They can't bother him then.

His name is called again. Minseok can feel them looking at him, judging him, thinking about how he's that quiet kid who only has two friends, who can't stand talking to people and freaks out. He can't bear to look at them when they're already looking at him. His heart races and sweat gathers in his palms, on the back of his neck, across his forehead. He's going to be sick, he thinks, but he keeps everything in and hopes no one notices how pallid his face has become. Because he wouldn't know what to do if they found out, if everything got worse.

Minseok suddenly pushes his chair out and stands. Eyes glued on the floor, he breaks past the group of boys surrounding his desk. He pretends not to be terrified when they follow behind him. They ask him where's he's going, why he won't look or talk to them. He doesn't say anything, he can't. His tongue is thick and dry in his mouth. When he's shoved into the wall, he gasps. Sliding to the floor, he tries to crawl away. He only wanted to go to the bathroom. Someone pulls his hair. Someone kicks him in his side. Someone spits in his face. All of them laugh. All of them tell him to speak up, to call for help. He doesn't because now his eyes are open and he can see the way they're looking at him, can see the way the uninvolved others in the hallway are looking at him. His stomach drops. His breathing picks up. There's another kick. And then another after that. He thinks he's crying. He wants to wipe the wetness on his face, but he can't move.

They leave him there for a teacher to come past and see. The one that comes to his delayed rescue is one of the upperclassman teachers. She tries to pull him up off the floor. He flinches. She asks what's wrong. Minseok can only scramble out of her arms and curl into himself. He hides his face in his knees, shaking. She says something about calling his parents, a worried tone to her voice. He tells her 'no' so she doesn't. His parents don't need to know. They're moving in the next couple of weeks. And then everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.

Lu Han walks into his apartment after a long day of classes and drops onto his bed. Cheek sinking into the stiff sheets covering his mattress, he stares at the counter separating his bedroom from the pathetic excuse of a kitchen he has. A studio apartment. It was all he could afford on the money he secretly moved from his old bank account to the new one. It wasn't enough but he'll get through somehow. He doesn't need all of the luxuries he's used to having, doesn't want any of it. He wants to be normal, wants to be his own person without anyone to tell him how to live his life.

His stomach growls and he remembers how he hasn't gone shopping for groceries yet. He just moved in two days ago and with classes starting, he hasn't had the time. Neither does he really have the money. He hasn't started working yet. As he sighs, his phone rings. It's his mother. She asks how he's adjusting, if America is treating him well so far. He says everything is fine. Lu Han's lying to her on multiple levels but that's okay. She doesn't need to know. She says that she and his father already miss him, that things aren't the same at home without him there. Laughing, she makes him promise to call home twice a week, at least once a week at the minimum. He agrees. Another lie. She rambles on and on about how a business trip his father is going on to London. He doesn't care. She talks about how their next door neighbor has found out that they're expecting twins. He doesn't care.

Rolling off his bed, he ends the call with the excuse that he needs to go out and buy supplies for school and some more things for his apartment. She bids him goodbye and says she loves him. He only hums. He makes another phone call to the company handling this particular cell phone and tells the representative on the line that he wants to cancel his services. When the call finishes, he opens the window next to his bed and tosses the device out into the street. He walks over to the counter and opens the box that's sitting there. From it, Lu Han takes out his new cell phone. He mutters out an apology to his family. He shouldn't lie to them like this. He shouldn't. But he wants to start anew.

This is probably a disaster in the making and if anything goes wrong he's not going to know how to fix it. But then Jongdae remembers that this is all for Minseok and he swallows down all of the worries building up within him. His friend has his first psychiatric appointment today. He looks over at Minseok as they walk, wondering how best to strike up a conversation. It's never this quiet but Minseok seems adamant on not opening his mouth. Chewing at his lips nervously, Jongdae feels desperation set in. He does whatever comes to mind. He sings, he tells jokes, he commentates what he thinks people down the road are talking about as they pass by. He listens to himself talk and talk and talk to no response. There's a smile on Minseok's face when Jongdae glances over at his friend and he feels his heart settle just a little bit.

The storm comes in the form of thrashing limbs and ear-splitting wails as Minseok does everything he can to escape. Jongdae tries his best to calm his terrified friend. He owes the secretary an apologetic smile. She only asked which of the two of them was the patient. He nods at her as he takes Minseok back outside. He tells Minseok that he doesn’t need to be afraid, that none of the people in there care about him. When Minseok calms and slumps against the wall of the office, Jongdae turns around to go back inside. He needs to apologize properly. A man leaning up against the front desk flags him down. He says that he saw what just happened and that it would be for the best if he could meet with Minseok. Taking a piece of paper from the secretary, he hands it over. It’s an address. To a coffee shop, he says. Just something to help get the treatment started since Minseok obviously doesn’t feel comfortable at the clinic. Jongdae takes the address and nods his goodbye. Minseok’s still in the hallway, curled up against the wall. Helping his friend up, he slings his arm over the other’s shoulders. He sings as they walk back to Minseok’s house.

The deadline for his preferred graduate school is in two weeks and he’s nowhere near finished his application. Emails about internships have been sent but none have been replied to yet. Worry is settling in and Yixing wonders if anything will go his way. He greets his uncle with a smile when he enters his office. Maybe he should send follow-up emails for the internships, he thinks. His uncle asks if he’s heard anything from Lu Han. He shakes his head. But Yixing knows that just last week Lu Han sent him an email complaining about how he lost another job. His uncle asks about Lu Han all the time. Both his uncle and aunt constantly search for any clue that will lead them to Lu Han. He knows they’ll never find anything. It’s been four years. Lu Han’s not coming back.

Yixing asks if he can leave, that he promised his friends he'd go out with them. They’ll be here in a few. Anger flares up in his uncle and red spreads over his face. He says this is a serious conversation, that their current situation is more important than a group of useless college students. He scolds Yixing on his lack of sense of responsibility. It happens all the time but this is the first time his uncle’s ever had that tone of finality in his voice. And once the man dismisses him and he’s allowed to go back to his room, the first thing Yixing does is trash his applications. All because of Lu Han.

Yifan wakes up to smoke and the chattering of his neighbors out the window and his mother screaming at him to wake up. It doesn’t register that his house is on fire until he’s rushing out the door and, with a last glance over his shoulder, he sees lines of smoke flowing out of the entryway of the kitchen. His father is already outside. Yifan stares at the building, wondering if the fire will spread elsewhere, if they’ll be able to come out of this with just damage in that one room or if they’ll need to move. He wonders and wonders but he can’t tell. The firefighters take much too long to arrive and as two men whisk his parents away to ask about the cause of the fire and others get to work putting it out, he has a feeling he’ll never be able to come back to the house he spend his entire life in.

They find themselves staying with a friend of his mother’s for a few weeks. She’s nice. Yifan’s met her plenty of times before. But he misses their house. They can’t rely on her kindness for much longer. But then one day his father tells them that an old classmate of his who runs a real estate business has a house that can be rented out to them until they can get back on their feet. He thinks about ways to repay his mother’s friend for her favor. He buys her a potted plant. When it comes time to repay his father's friend for the rental house years later, the repayment isn’t so cheap.