When Jin went to the library that morning like she usually did, she was surprised to see that Wonwoo was not there. Mingyu was sitting in his usual place, absorbed in his studies, but Wonwoo was nowhere in sight. She had planned to tell him about what happened with Mingyu last night.

She texted him: hey Wonwoo. Where are you?

Wonwoo replied later with: haven’t you heard?

J: Heard what?

W: right. You don’t use social media, do you?

J: what happened?

W: everyone knows I’m gay now. I don’t know how it got out, but it’s everywhere on social media.

Jin froze for a moment. She was at a loss for words.

J: omg.

W: yeah :(

J: I don’t know what to say…

W: Favor? Can you come over and get me food? I don’t want to leave my room right now and I’m verryyyyy hungry, and Sena and Seokmin have a class.

Jin assuredly agreed, of course. After getting his residence hall information, she went and bought him ramen noodles and drinks.

She could not imagine how Wonwoo would be feeling. This was a very personal secret for him, and it was the one thing he had been the most insecure about in te time that she knew him. Now that it was out in the open, she could just tell that he was not in the best state at all.

She also underwent a period where personal secrets of hers ended up in the hands of someone else. She remembered how devastated she felt when that happened. She was depressed, and there were dark thoughts running through her head for a long time. Lucky for her, however, those secrets did not travel beyond Vernon. Not yet at least. For Wonwoo, his secret was everywhere.

She arrived at Wonwoo’s dorm. People that were passing by eyed her suspiciously. She could feel the judgment in their eyes. She wondered if it had to do with what they found out about Wonwoo.

When she knocked on his door, he opened it and let her in quickly, before quickly closing it again.

Wonwoo’s dorm was different from Seokmin’s. It was much smaller, and the walls and lights were clearly older. Wonwoo, however, was a lot more organized than Seokmin. She glanced at the other side of the room, and saw that there were bags and boxes everywhere.

“My roommate wants to move out,” Wonwoo explained. He seemed hurt when he said it, sullen almost. Jin noticed a crack in his voice, as if he were really, really tired. He had bags under his eyes, and was all in all in a really bad state.

“Why?”

“Why do you think?” Wonwoo replied.

“I’m sorry,” Jin said. She handed him the bag with the food she had bought him, which he heartily accepted.

“It’s okay,” Wonwoo, said, putting the bag to the side. He invited Jin to sit on his bed as he started a kettle to make the ramen. “I didn’t like him very much to begin with,” he explained, “but now I would have to pay full rent, which I can’t afford with my budget.”

“If you need money, I can lend you some.”

“No,” Wonwoo told her, “I won’t accept money from anyone. I just need to find a job somewhere.”

Jin nodded. “I can help you look for a job,” she offered. She felt like she needed to do something for him.

Wonwoo nodded, and sat beside her. He rubbed his head, clearly stressed out from all that’s happening.

“I thought that Korea was more progressive now,” Wonwoo said in between long breaths. “I thought I would be able to get by even with everyone knowing I’m gay, but I now see that that’s not the case. So far I’ve been spat at once, ignored by two people I thought were my friends, called a ‘’ three times, and I barely left my room.”

Jin herself did not consider that this would happen to Wonwoo. She had almost forgotten that the prejudice that exists against homouals is still apparent and very real. It hurt to think that Wonwoo was experiencing this, and it to feel like there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Just then, the kettle indicated that the water was boiling, and Wonwoo proceeded to make his ramen. When he finished, he sat at his desk and began to eat. He seemed really hungry.

“How long have you locked yourself up in here?”

“Since yesterday,” Wonwoo replied with his mouth full. “That when the rumors started.”

“Is it because of the party from the night before then? Did something happen?”

“I didn’t do anything ‘gay’ though. I mean, I talked to Mingyu at a bar and refused to dance with girls. I also didn’t take advantage of Sena when she was drunk, but surely that’s not enough for people to accuse me of being gay. I don’t know.”

“Did anybody else know besides Seokmin, me and Sena?” Jin asked him.

Wonwoo shook his head, “I only told you three. Nobody else knew.”

It took Jin a while to gather that there was actually someone else who knew that Wonwoo was gay besides the three of them. Vernon…

Vernon could not have been the one who revealed anything though, could he? Jin could not imagine that it was Vernon. He had been keeping her secrets for a few weeks now, why would he reveal this particular one now? It didn’t make sense.

Her mind traced back to the day before when she came out of Seokmin’s dorm that morning. She ignored him when he called out to her, and he said that she would “regret it.” She also remembered his intervention when she rejected Mingyu.

Rather than thinking about it, she made a note to ask him later. If he was the one that started the rumors, then Jin would hate herself. It would mean that it was her fault that Wonwoo was suffering like this. She would be the passageway that led to the rumor spreading…

“Can’t you deny it?” Jin asked Wonwoo. “Say it’s just a rumor?”

“I don’t know,” Wonwoo responded with a shrug as he continued slurping down his ramen, “I don’t even know if I want to deny it. It’s not like it’s a bad thing. I feel like if I deny it, I’m contributing to our own subjugation.”

Jin nodded, “I understand. Well, you can’t lock yourself in your room forever either. We have a class in half an hour. Come on, let’s go.”

Wonwoo pouted. “I don’t want to go.”

“The sooner you face it, the better.”

Wonwoo took a deep breath and nodded, “you’re right. I’ll go to class.”

Wonwoo finished his noodles, got dressed and the both of them left his residence hall together.

Wonwoo’s eyes did not leave the ground as he walked. His hands were in his pockets, and his only goal seemed to be getting to class unnoticed. Jin looked around, however. She noticed the looks some of them gave Wonwoo. Some of them were in their theology classes doing theology majors. Some of them, Jin had actually thought were kind people until now.

Jin also realized how difficult it must be for him in the theology major specifically. Most people who decide to study theology are religious after all, and so Wonwoo was literally in what may be the most conservative part of the university.

One of their classmates pretended to bump into Wonwoo. Wonwoo ignored him.

“Why are you studying God if you don’t follow him?” the guy spat, “you don’t deserve His grace! You don’t even deserve to learn about Him.”

Jin was so surprised that someone had overtly spewed those words at Wonwoo. She gave the guy a surprised look. She wanted to say something, to stand up for her friend. But she was too shy, and no words came out when she tried to respond. She turned to Wonwoo to see his reaction to what the guy said, and he looked hurt.

“I’m sorry, Jin. I don’t think I can do this,” Wonwoo whispered so that only Jin could hear, “I’m going back.”

Jin shook her head, and reached out and took his hand in hers. Wonwoo eyed Jin curiously.

“No one would do anything if you’re holding hands with a girl, right?” Jin asked, trying to look encouraging. When Wonwoo stood there frozen, she pulled him forwards towards where their class was. Wonwoo blinked and then cooperated, walking alongside Jin, hand in hand, to class.

Jin could feel that Wonwoo’s hand was sweating as they walked. It felt as though he thought the world was going to eat him up. She would squeeze it as a sign of encouragement, and he would glance at her and give her a small, thankful smile.

As they walked, a lot people looked at them and whispered. No one talked to them though. No one asked them questions. Even when Mingyu passed by, he only glanced at them a couple of times with a look of slight surprise on his face and carried on his way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Diary,

Someone started a rumor that Wonwoo was gay.

I don’t know who it is, but something inside of me is suspecting Vernon. He’s the only one besides me, Seokmin and Sena that knows because he read my diary. All I know is that if he was responsible for all the crap Wonwoo is now going through, I’ll hate him, and myself for writing this stupid diary.

I’m going to ask him after class today. And if it actually was him, I don’t know what I would do.

A/N: I hope you guys had the merriest of Christmases :)

Also thank you to those who checked out the other story!