Wonshik was still in denial. In denial at the fact that he was in love with his best friend, and that denial had turned him into a different person – grumpy and a little awkward whenever he was with the latter. He tried his best to contain the feelings but it was getting harder and harder each passing day as Hongbin started hanging out with him every second of every day. Except for when they had different classes in school, since Hongbin took up photography while Wonshik took up literature as extra credit.

And when he was alone, that was the time he dreaded the most, even though it gave him the liberty of being away from Hongbin even for a few hours so he could finally breathe and not think about how beautiful Hongbin was. But even when he was attending his own extra classes, he was always on edge.

People knew what he was, what his preference was and they made sure to make it sound like he was different. They a lot, calling him names and pushing him around like a bag of meat – a walking punching bag.

. Hoe. Gigolo. Harlot.

They called him all kinds of things but he never really took it to heart, since his dad called him those things all the time at home. He was pretty sure they took in Sanghyuk to replace the shame he brought onto the family name but he would never tell Sanghyuk that, not after how much the little kid had gone through with his real family that had dumped him at the orphanage.

The names were definitely harmless to him, but it was the stares they’d give that made him want to turn invisible. The look of disgust on their faces whenever they looked at him, the disgust they’d show whenever he accidentally bumped into someone. It made him feel like he was different, like he was some kind of disease nobody wanted to catch.

So as usual he would sit by himself at the back of the classroom, jotting down notes as his teacher was giving a talk. Their teacher was giving a talk on the book they recently read – Romeo and Juliet – a classic for a literature student. The story was beautifully written, romantic yet tragic and it had actually brought a few tears to Wonshik’s eyes when he had finished it. And Wonshik never cried, not even when his father whipped him for being who he was.

He was giving his utmost concentration, not wanting to fail this subject since he knew he was a goner in math, when a pink sticky note was plastered on his desk from the student who sat beside him. He tried to ignore it but another sticky note was attached above the first one, and he stole a glance at the writing on it.

Why you being so serious, ?

Wonshik tore his gaze from the note and fixed his attention back on their teacher but more notes were pasted, every note became harsher and harsher until Wonshik felt his blood start to boil.

Why study so hard when society will never accept what you are.

A dirty, ty .

Just go to hell already. You’re a nuisance, a stain in society.

God must’ve given up on you the moment he made you.

He could ignore the others but the last one, written on a blue sticky note in the most hideous writing Wonshik had ever seen, was what made him lose his control.

Does your pretty little friend, Hongbin know what you are? Or is he a like you too?

He didn’t care who wrote it but he lunged for the dude who sat beside him, tackling the male to the floor with a loud thud. His fist connected with the male’s jaw several times as the male screamed in pain, struggling to throw Wonshik off but Wonshik had him trapped on the spot, his muscled thighs wrapped around the male’s lower body rendering the male useless from stomach down.

“, get off me!” the male screamed, blocking Wonshik’s punches with his arms but Wonshik managed to get a few across before he was yanked forcefully back by foreign hands, screaming at him to stop. But Wonshik was feral, he heard nothing and saw nothing but the disgusting male he had beaten, his nose a bloody mess.

“You talk about him that way again and I swear it won’t only be your nose that I’ll break!” Wonshik warned as the hands dragged him out, he struggled against them but he suddenly felt weak, felt exhausted when he was finally out of the classroom and out of sight from the bloody-nosed male he stopped struggling and noticed the man that had dragged him out was his teacher.

Breathing heavily, his legs gave way and he fell to the ground, the wave of feral fury subsided as he felt his eyes warming, a foreign liquid staining his cheeks.

“Would you mind telling me what just happened in there?” his teacher questioned, moving so he could kneel in front of Wonshik. The teacher was relatively young, probably only in his late twenties, he was handsome in a roguish way and his eyes seemed to bore into Wonshik’s as he questioned him.

“He- he,” Wonshik mumbled, still trying to calm the sudden burst of emotions he felt.

Is he a like you too?

“Hey, hey calm down kid. Breathe.” His teacher replied, trying to soothe Wonshik so he could speak. He helped Wonshik stand up and brought him to his personal office and shut the door, making sure there were no prying eyes or ears. He sat Wonshik down and waited, waited till Wonshik calmed down and was ready to speak.

Wonshik didn’t know if he should tell his teacher the truth about what just happened, about what he was. Wonshik had enough people thinking he was disgusting already, he didn’t want one of his most trusted teachers to start looking at him differently too.

Wonshik opened his mouth when he felt like he was calm enough to speak but the words didn’t come out and he shu