I’M BACK. Literally today, I submitted my last piece of college work, shut down the computer, left the building, got the bus home, walked in my house, sat down, and began to write this chapter. I told you I was eager to continue xD I’m so sorry for the hiatus, but here it is!

RECAP FROM PREVIOUS CHAPTER (because I was away for a while)

Ryeowook and Zhou Mi finally got together after Ryeowook’s hesitation, Kyuhyun had overheard them, Donghae and Eunhyuk have started getting bullied in class, Kyuhyun got his bag and left the house for the night and the last line he said last chapter was “Sad thing is, if I killed myself...suddenly everyone would care.”

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“In fact, that’s not a bad idea. Who would miss me? I’m lying on a park bench talking to myself, I’m not worthy of living a normal life.” Kyuhyun stared up at the moon. “Right then,” he prompted himself to stand up. “How should I end it?” He traipsed out of the park in search for somewhere high up to jump from.

“Wait…” he stopped dead in his tracks, “this is too sudden, there’s things I want to do before I die.” He went over a plan in his head, his plan was to do it at this time in 2 days, and in those 2 days, say goodbye to everyone he loves. He glanced up to the big tree near him. “I’ll need to acquire a rope within 2 days.”

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“Hey…” Donghae started, leaning against the locker next to Eunhyuk’s, the latter retrieving a series of books from it. Eunhyuk’s eyes whipped around cautiously.

“I don’t think we should be seen together,” Hyuk admitted.

“Okay okay I get it,” Donghae his lips and awkwardly looked around not really knowing where to look. “I was just wondering if you wanted to come round later, my parents are at my Uncle’s house for the night, so you could come round and we could make up for lost time?” he suggested.

“Okay,” Eunhyuk responded quickly. “I’d love to.”

“I wish I could kiss you right now,” Donghae whispered.

“I know, you too. I love you,” Eunhyuk said even quieter.

“I love you too,” Donghae smiled. Debating in his mind whether to put his hand on his lover’s shoulder. It was only a friendly move, right? He lifted his hand up slightly before stopping at the sight of Eunhyuk shaking his head.

“Save contact for later, we’ll make it up tonight, okay?” he asked. Eyes still looking around cautiously. Donghae frowned, but smiled sadly and nodded.

“See you later,” he murmured as he departed in the opposite direction Hyuk was about to go. He walked lamely, head drooping slightly. A certain tall boy caught up with him- quite easily because of the speed Hae was toddling at.

“Are you okay?” Zhou Mi asked, “I was walking a few feet behind and I could practically see the bad energy radiating off you.” Donghae looked up at him in confusion at his choice of words, but shrugged it off.

“Yeah I just…this is…” Donghae managed to utter a few words in between the breaths he was taking to avoid crying.

“Hey-” Zhou Mi stopped him, putting his hands on the shorter boys shoulders. “Shall we go and talk in the library?” Donghae took a deep breath.

“You must get sick of consulting crying people in there,” he chuckled, the sadness still evident in his voice however.

“I don’t mind...I hate seeing my friends sad, and with what’s going on at the moment, there’s a lot of sadness, and I want to help,” Zhou Mi concluded. “Now come on, come and let it out on me,” he ushered Donghae round the next corner. “How long have you got till class?”

“About 20 minutes,” Donghae answered.

“Perfect, I should be able to work my counselling magic in that time.” The pair entered the always quiet library.

“I don’t get why no one comes in here, like, ever,” Donghae commented.

“Well how often do you come in here for study purposes?” Zhou Mi retorted.

“Never, I use the internet-” Donghae replied, suddenly acknowledging his own words.

“Well there you go then.” Zhou Mi sat down. “Come here,” he patted the seat next to him. “Let it out.”

“It’s just,” Donghae sighed. “I thought things were difficult before, I thought holding hands with Hyuk under the table was hard, I thought only being able to give him a manly hug in public was hard. I thought that demonstrating that level of discreetness was hard. But now, we can’t even touch when we’re in school, and we’re in school for a lot of our lives. We can barely talk without assumptions being made, the level we have to go to, just to reduce bullying is-” he started to choke up. Zhou Mi rubbed his back.

“It’s taking a toll on you, right?” he asked sympathetically.

“It is, I miss the relationship me and Hyuk used to have. I used to hate it...but…now...looking back….it was…” he spluttered out in between sobs.

“Hae, just stop and take a deep breath, okay?” Zhou Mi suggested. Donghae put his head in his hands and breathed in long and heavy through his mouth and then out again after holding it for a couple of seconds. “Okay, carry on.”

“I just think, looking back at how things were before, Hyuk and I actually had a cute relationship. Yes, it was hidden, but it was sweet. We held hands under the table, we snuck off to quiet places to snog each other’s faces off, we used to hug whenever an opportunity arose like when we’d see each other in the corridors, because people just assumed it was two friends greeting each other. Compared to this, now, the secrecy we have to maintain, it really wasn’t that hard before and I miss it. If we hadn’t ing messed up that day it would have been fine,” he seethed, now getting angry at his own mistake.

“No it wouldn’t have, you would still be as miserable as you were before, this situation has made you appreciate how things used to be, so when things get better- and they will- you’ll be happier than before. This is just a rough patch, it’s going to be okay,” Zhou Mi assured, still rubbing Hae’s back. The latter just nodded in response before uttering quietly.

“Thank you, Mimi.”

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So yes, it’s short, but this is the last chapter of this section, next chapter is the start of the falling action, so it will start to get interesting again, and at the same time things we start to resolve themselves. Thank you all for understanding and waiting for this chapter, I’ll release the next chapter soon. (And yes, Hae and Hyuk will get their scene round Hae’s house that night...heh).