That one day came soon. Near the end of November, a few days before he was caught in this disastrous anxious manner.

During the last Thursday of November, the eight kingkas walked through the school’s cafeteria. They went into line to order food. Kris and Kai ordered their usual chicken, Luhan and Sehun ordered bubble tea, Chanyeol and Baekhyun ordered samgyeopsal and bubbletea, Kyungsoo ordered kimchi spaghetti and Tao ordered masses of western food; and of course, bubble tea.

The eight walked over to their usual table, located in the centre of the cafeteria, where all girls would admire them. Their table was in parallel to the lunch line and perpendicular to the exit doors on both sides of the cafeteria.

As they sat down, they talked within themselves as usual, until Baekhyun suggested they play truth or dare.

“I’ll start!” proclaimed Baekhyun. He smirked, ready to find his first target. “Ya, Sehun-ah, truth or dare?”

Sehun stoically looked up from his phone and said, “Truth,”.

Baekhyun said, “Gah, you’re no fun! Fine then… so… when are you going to ask our deer Lulu…”, he smirked. Sehun glared at him. “Kkaebsong~~~”

Sehun finally spoke, “Never.”

Luhan saw Sehun’s cheeks redden a bit after resuming drinking his bubble tea and playing games on his phone. Luhan discreetly smiled to himself before Baekhyun said to Sehun, “It’s your turn!”

Sehun stopped drinking his bubble tea again, looking slightly annoyed at the small talkative figure. “Kay, Kris, truth or dare?”

Kris stopped eating his chicken. “Dare”.

Sehun looked at Baekhyun slyly. “Okay Kris, take a sip from Baekhyun’s bubble tea using his straw,” Sehun commanded.

Kris looked at Baekhyun’s bubble tea. “Yah Sehun, what do you think you’re doing offering my bubble tea as a sacrifice?!” Baekhyun said, defensively protecting his chocolate bubble tea.

“It’s okay, I can’t drink it anyway. I’m allergic to chocolate,” Kris said, “give me another dare.”

Everyone at the table widened their eyes. “WHAT. HOW ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO CHOCOLATE. YA, GE, STOP JOKING!” Luhan exclaimed, shocked.

“And you guys wonder why I never drink chocolate milk, or eat chocolate, and passed up the chocolate cake at Chanyeol’s birthday party,” Kris explained. All of the kingka’s (except Tao) mouths suddenly formed the ‘o’ shape in realization.

“That’s why my birthday cake was vanilla,” Tao explained, “aigoo, ge, I wish you could try chocolate, you don’t know what you’re missing on!”

Kris smiled sheepishly, “Chocolate is not my style~”. Everyone chuckled.

Sehun raised his hand up to his chin and began to ponder a new dare, “Ask Tao out.” Everyone snickered while Tao almost spit out his bubble tea and Kris gagged on his chicken.

‘Does everyone know? Can they tell it’s that obvious that I like YiFan gege…?’ Tao thought.

At the same time, there were violent thoughts running through Kris’s mind, ‘What. Do they know I like Tao? Even if this is a joke… What do I do…’ Kris made up his mind. He got up and walked around the table to the other side, in order to face Tao, who at the moment, was rising up.

“Huang Zi Tao,” Kris breathed out. A couple fangirls and guys looked over at the kingka table from within the vicinity. Tao blushed. Kris held Tao’s hands in his. The other kingkas had to try and refrain from laughing. “Will you go out with me?” Kris stressed nervously. Tao started to laugh shyly. By this time a large fraction of the students in the cafeteria were watching.

“Ye−,” Tao started to say, before Kris suddenly interrupted him.

“I’m not joking. This isn’t a dare anymore,” Kris stated and looked straight into his best friend’s eye. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kai, Kyungsoo, and Sehun all suddenly gasped. Luhan looked sadly at Kris. He knew that Kris liked Tao. He knew that Tao liked Kris. But he knew even more that Tao didn’t like people to know he liked men.  All of the cafeteria was watching. Kris watched in horror as his best friend’s smile wiped off his face. Tao retracted his hands from Kris’s grasp.

There were whispers circulating throughout the cafeteria. “Woah is TaoRis really a thing?”

“I can’t believe it’s true!”

“Tao and Kris are gay?”

“I wonder how Sulli is going to react!” Sulli was the queenka of the school, whom, everyone knew, had a crush on Tao. She was also the daughter of the school’s principal. The eight kingkas always made fun of how Sulli would have to compete with Kris but they never knew Kris actually had feelings for Tao.

Tao heard everyone whispering about him and Kris. ‘Tao is gay?’ was the thought that kept running through his head. Although many fangirls shipped them together, what would his friends think? What would the other guys think? He liked Kris, very much did he, but how could Kris be so stupid to ask him out in front of the whole school. Was he trying to ruin Tao’s reputation?

Tao raised his hand to the parallel of Kris’s face and slapped him. The sound echoed throughout the cafeteria. Tao’s face darkened and turned stoic to match the equal expression of Sehun. He gave a disgusted look towards Kris. He used his foot to push against Kris’s chest to make him fall to the floor. “You… like me? You like a man? Aren’t you disgusted with yourself? I always thought you were just my friend. I’m appalled you see me in that way,” Tao said, disgusted, while equally fighting and praying that Kris saw through why he was doing this.

Eyes were still on the scene in the cafeteria. All students were silent and listening to what Tao was screaming at Kris. Tao didn’t know what to do. None of the kingkas knew what to do either.  If he walked away, people might assume that he really did like Kris and just couldn’t express it. So he did the cruel thing Kris feared. Rejection. He took his tray of food and tipped it so that all the contents would fall on Kris. He then took his bubble tea and drenched Kris with it. Kris looked up in a daze at Tao. The light in his eyes had been lost again. His eyes were exactly the same as when Tao first met him. Emotionless.

Tao couldn’t bear to look at Kris in the eye. Kris, already humiliated and hair, seeping with bubble tea, stood up and stepped closer to Tao. Tao looked away to the side.

“Tao, face me,” Kris said quietly. Tao turned his head slightly and kept it hung low while his eyes looked up. Kris tilted Tao’s chin up to face his face directly. “Say it to my face.” Tao kept staring directly into Kris’ eyes. “Say that you don’t care. Tell me that that kiss on the forehead meant nothing. Tell me that all those years you defended me and comforted me, it was all out of friendship,” Kris commanded.

“Omo! Tao kissed Kris oppa?” many fangirls were whispering throughout the cafeteria.

“Tao,” a girl suddenly spoke from the cafeteria. It was Sulli. “You kissed Kris? I didn’t know you leaned towards that way. Wouldn’t you two be cute,” she said in a sickening fake sweet voice.

Tao glared towards Kris. He was ruining his reputation. “I,” Tao started, “don’t care. What kiss are you talking about? Have your dreams caught up with your retarded mind? Comforting you, and defending you… That wasn’t friend ship,” he admitted, “it was out of pity. I’m sorry if you mistook my actions as affection.”

Kris grabbed Tao by his collar, “Don’t lie!” he expressed angrily. Tao, in fear, grabbed the nearest thing to him, which was Luhan’s water bottle and thrashed it upon Kris’s head. Kris got knocked out cold as Chanyeol, Sehun and Kai went to hold Tao back to restrict him from harming Kris further. They brought him out of the cafeteria. As soon as Tao was out, bursts of conversations appeared in the cafeteria. Many students, looking at Kris in disgust. His head was bleeding. He denied that Tao could possibly not like him. They thought he was pathetic.

Luhan, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo immediately got up and went to examine Kris. People started to crowd them.

“YA. EVERYONE GET OUT!!!” Baekhyun demanded. Fangirls obeyed quickly and pushed out all the guy students too. The bell rang shortly afterwards. That afternoon, none of the kingkas went to class. Sulli didn’t go to class either. She went out to seek Tao. Maybe she could get him at his vulnerable point. She smirked and arrogantly walked out.

Luhan lowered his head to hear if Kris was breathing or not. He heard his breath. Kyungsoo felt Kris’s pulse; it was slow... and getting slower.

“Guys, he’s losing a lot of blood. Should we call an ambulance?” Baekhyun said, nervously.

“No,” Luhan responded, “that’s only going to alert the teachers, if the ambulance comes to the school.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo agreed, “let’s just take him to the hospital directly; it’s only a 2 minute drive.”

The three nodded. However, Luhan first took Kris’s school uniform off and replaced it with an extra pair he kept in his bag. He also took out a towel and wetted it with the water from his water bottle and used it to clean the bubble tea and red blood stains from his head.

Kyungsoo and Luhan lifted Kris up together while Baekhyun ran to drive his car to the front of the school. They laid Kris down and drove to the hospital.

There, he got admitted into the emergency room and the nurses took it from there.

Outside, Luhan, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were waiting anxiously.

“Why would Tao do that…” Kyungsoo pondered aloud, “I thought he liked Kris…”

“Does he really think of gays in that way?” Baekhyun shuddered at the thought of Tao finding out he liked Chanyeol.

“I talked to Tao a couple of weeks ago,” Luhan said, as Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s attentions were directed towards him, “he said he liked Kris, but,”

“But he didn’t want us or anyone in the school to know because they thought they would judge him?” Baekhyun finished for Luhan. Luhan nodded his head.

Meanwhile, Tao, Kai, Chanyeol and Sehun were at a park nearby their school.

“Yo Tao, what was up with that?” Kai asked him. Tao looked down in defeat.

“I thought you liked Kris hyung,” Sehun said.

“How would you felt if the world would judge you based on your uality?” Tao responded.

Chanyeol stood up and slapped Tao across the face. “So you like him, but you’re afraid that you’re going to be judged for it, so you humiliate him in front of the whole school just to save your reputation?”

Tao sighed, “You wouldn’t understand. You don’t have a pretty girl like Sulli going after you. If the guys at school found out I would choose Kris over Sulli, what kind of reaction do you think they’d have. Aren’t you disgusted with me too?”

Kai stood up abruptly. “YA. I GET THAT WE MIGHT JOKE AROUND SOMETIMES ABOUT SHIPPING EACH OTHER, BUT I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE KYUNGSOO!” he confessed.

Chanyeol nodded, “I also really like Baekhyun.”

Sehun scratched his head, “Well… Luhan hyung and I are already dating…”

Tao raised his eyebrows at Sehun. “Since when?” he questioned.

Sehun said in a low and secretive voice, “Two weeks ago.”

Chanyeol and Kai patted Sehun on his back and congratulated him while Tao leaned against a tree and slumped down.

“Tao,” Sehun called out, “I don’t know if Kris hyung would forgive you, but if I was you I would go and apologi−,”

“TAOOOO OPPAAAAA!!!” a cheery voice called from afar. Again, it was Sulli. Sehun turned in annoyance towards the source of the screeching voice.

Sehun, Kai and Chanyeol made an annoyed face towards Sulli. She, in turn, gave them an ice cold glare before going to Tao and cooing over him.

“Looks like we’re going, Tao. We’ll catch up with you later. We’re gonna go check up on Kris,” Kai said. Tao nodded his head to acknowledge the goodbye.

“So Tao oppa~~~” Sulli started to fawn over him.

Chanyeol started to drive Sehun, Kai and himself.

“Ya, Sehun-ah, call Luhan and find out where they are,” Chanyeol asked Sehun.

Sehun called Luhan.

“Ah~ Sehunnie~ Where are you?” Luhan asked him.

“Lulu~ We’re driving around. Where are you guys and Kris? Is he okay?” Sehun’s voice filled with concern.

“We’re at the hospital, but don’t worry! The doctors said that he will be okay,” Luhan reassured him, “but… they said that he might be traumatized, according to his past medical history…”

Sehun bit his lip, “Alright, we’ll see you there in a couple of minutes, bye bye Lulu~”

“Bye~~” Luhan responded, and hung up.

Chanyeol looked into the back of the car at Sehun, “Where are they?”

“Hospital, but Kris is alright, maybe a bit traumatized though,” Sehun responded.

“Alright,” Chanyeol replied, and sped his car towards the hospital.

They arrived at the hospital soon and found Luhan waiting for them at the entrance. They hurriedly followed him into Kris’s room, and surprisingly found him awake.

“Hey Kris,” the three that just arrived said in unison.

Kris looked up, almost as if he didn’t recognize them; scared, traumatized. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo looked sadly at Luhan.

Kai walked towards Kris. He saw Kris clench his fist and start to tense up. Kris had gotten stiches in his head. Kai lifted his hand towards Kris’ hair to move the hair so that he could see the damage Tao had done. Before Kai could even move his hand closer, Kris flinched away.

“Who,” Kris croaked out, “w-who are you…”

Kai pulled back his hand. “Kris… don’t you… recognize… me…?”

Kris shook his head, “Can I… trust you? Can I… trust any of you…?” He started to ball up and cry. No one in the room had seen him in this state before. Tao was the only one who knew anything personal about Kris.

Kai stuttered suddenly and felt guilty, “Hey, hey, hey… don’t cry! We’re your friends here.” Kai approached Kris to embrace him, but Kris pushed him away.

“DON’T HURT ME! PLEASE! I’M BEGGING YOU. LEAVE ME ALONE!” Kris cried out. Kai backed away and looked at Luhan. Luhan gave him a sad look.

He mouthed, “I think you guys should leave… let me talk to him.”

Everyone else left the room which left only Luhan, and a crying Kris.

After a while, Luhan broke the silence. “Yifan ge,” Luhan said softly in Chinese, “you know Tao loves you right?” Kris shuddered at the mention of Tao’s name.

He shook his head, “He doesn’t,” he responded in Chinese, “and even if he did, he doesn’t anymore.” Luhan showed Kris his conversations with Tao. Kris shook his head and denied that Tao still liked him.

“Sigh… do you want me to ask him?” Luhan asked Kris.

Kris let out a sigh. “He’s going to say ‘no’.”

Luhan texted Tao, unknowingly that Sulli was with him at that time.
------------------------------------------

Message Sent at 2:30pm:

Lulu ge: Can I ask you a question?

Seen 2:31pm.

-------------------------------------------

Sulli was hanging out with Tao at that moment and was enjoying their time alone.

“Tao~~ let’s take pictures okay~” she said. Tao gave her his phone. “Say ‘selca’!” she said as she held up the phone to take a picture of the two of them.

“Selca~~” they said in unison, as Sulli took the photo. She looked at it after and smiled.

“I’m going to make this my facebook profile okay?” she said. Tao nodded and smiled. Talking to Sulli really took his mind off Kris. Kris was probably okay. It’s not like anyone of his friends had called him with bad news about Kris.

“Wait here, I have a surprise for you,” Tao said to Sulli and ran off without taking his phone with him.

Sulli giggled to herself as she went through his phone and went through his messages. She clicked on his messages with Kris.

-----------------------------------------

Last Conversation on November 28^th

Fanfan: Tao.
             Wake up.
             Please :’(
             I need you… :’(

Panda: What’s wrong? :(

Fanfan: I’m scared.

Panda: Wahhh… Why is my fanfan scared?

Fanfan: You know when my mom called…

Panda: Yeah, something happen?

Fanfan: It’s because she got it from my modeling agency…
             I’m supposed to model with her in a photo shoot next month
             I don’t want to see her face
             It’s going to make me sad and remember things I don’t want to

Panda: Doesn’t the company allow you to deny the photo shoot?

Fanfan: No.

Panda: It’s going to be okay, you’ll have Lulu gege and Kai with you.

Fanfan: :/ I guess…

Panda: And ofc I’ll be there too. c:

Fanfan: …promise…?

Panda: Promise. No matter how many people leave you, I’ll always be there.

Fanfan: Thank you.

Panda: Np! Go to sleep now okayyyy, stop worrying!! You need to get some sleep!

Fanfan: Okay! Okay! Nighty night panda

Panda: good night c: <3

Fanfan: <3

Conversation ended 3:03am
------------------------------

‘So this is how close Tao and Kris are...’ Sulli thought to herself. “Ha, he even wakes up at three in the morning to comfort Kris. Why is he called Fanfan? Nickname? Real name? Aigoo… these men, so confusing. Well, poor you Kris, Tao doesn’t like you. He will love me, and only me.”

Sulli tapped on Tao’s facebook app and deleted Kris. She smirked to herself. Tao had not been back yet, so she went through the rest of his phone like his photos. She was shocked to see so many pictures of Tao and Kris together. There were at least three thousand. She scrolled through them all the way to the first photo. It was Tao and Kris in elementary school. How cute. Kris looked shy back then. Did Tao transform him into some popular kid?

Sulli was even more shocked, however when she saw the photos Tao had taken of Kris. They were candid photos of when Kris was sleeping, and modeling, even when Kris was doing nothing. Did Tao actually like Kris? This infuriated Sulli. Suddenly, Tao’s phone vibrated. It was a text from Luhan. Sulli read his text.

------------------------------------
2:31pm

Lulu ge: Can I ask you a question?

-----------------------------------------
2:32pm

Panda: Yeah, what’s up?

-------------------------------------------

Sulli responded for Tao, curious what Luhan had to ask him.

----------------------------------------
2:33pm

Lulu ge: Do you still like YiFan gege?

----------------------------------------

Sulli assumed the YiFan was referring to Kris. So Tao did like him! That boy… Tsk tsk. Sulli laughed and immediately replied back, clattering her nails against the screen of Tao’s phone.

Luhan and Kris were still in the hospital room as they waited for a short amount of time to see Tao’s− or what they thought was Tao’s response.  

Kris and Luhan read the response at the same time.

-----------------------------
2:33pm

Panda: No.

------------------------------

Kris felt a tear spill from the corner of his left eye as he read the straightforward rejecting response. He wiped it away but more kept spilling. Luhan carefully embraced Kris and told him repetitively that it was okay.

Kris nodded while trying to choke back his tears, “I-I-It’s a-alright… I-it was expect-t-ted… I-I’m ok-k-k-kay.” That was a lie. He wasn’t okay. He felt speechless and couldn’t say anything else. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and it was only followed by more sobbing. He had gone back to being mute. His mind raced back to the times before he met Tao.

He felt alone.

He felt scared.

The stress was too much to handle.

He felt like the whole world crashing down on him.

He wanted to hide.

He wanted to escape.

He wanted to die.

AN: Hey guys! I took a couple of hours off my studying to write this! It’s exam season! Study hard and I hope you all do well. I hope you enjoy this update! ^ u ^