Double update Bc the last chapter is super short! Make sure to read Chapter 8 first.

Luhan rubbed his hands together, desperately trying to warm his frozen digits. The temperature had suddenly dropped over the weekend and Luhan was trying his best to keep warm. He had a wooly red scarf wrapped around his thin neck, keeping him all warm and cuddly. Luhan tapped his fingers anxiously against his thighs as he walked. He was late to class, all because Minseok refused to wake up. Usually Luhan woke up, made breakfast and got ready before waking up Minseok. The older male was a hard one to wake and especially on a cold fall day, Minseok really didn't want to get out of bed.

Now Luhan was late to math and he was borderline sprinting across campus. He looked behind him when he heard a distant shout. Not paying attention to where he was going, Luhan smacked into something. He got the air knocked out of him as he fell towards the ground. Luhan hissed when his hip connected with the cold asphalt. He looked up annoyed to see Jongin standing over him, eyes wide. Luhan frowned and stood up. He brushed off the dirt from his white skinny jeans and waved to the tan male before taking off again.

"Wait!"

Luhan stopped in his tracks. He turned around, squinting as the sun shone in his eyes. The wind picked up as well, making his loose top billow around his lithe figure.

"You....you lied to me." Jongin spat out. His chest was heaving, like he ran a mile or so. His fists were clenched by his sides.

Luhan tilted his head slightly to the right, not understanding why Jongin was so upset. Jongin snarled, "Don't make that face....like you're innocent. I know now. I always thought you were too shy. A cute boy keeping mum because I was too attractive but no."

Luhan really didn't like Jongin's tone. He couldn't understand why Jongin did such a 180 on him. The tan male was always so sweet and kind but now...he looked like he hated Luhan. Luhan backed up slowly, not wanting to face Jongin's wrath.

"Don't run you...you mute!"

Luhan froze solid in his spot. His heartbeat quickened as he struggled to keep his breath steady. His eyes were prickling with tears but Luhan didn't dare give Jongin that satisfaction. Luhan turned around, giving Jongin one last look before sprinting.
 

Luhan burst into his math class. The teacher wasn't there yet and the students were socializing. A couple kids were drawing on the board. Luhan scanned the room and sighed audibly in relief when he saw Chanyeol in the corner, a pencil in each hand and a highlighter in his mouth. He had two textbooks open in front of him and a notebook laying off to the side. His eyebrows were furrowed, obviously he was concentrating very hard on the topic he was working on.

Luhan slowly made his way to the giant, dropping his baby blue backpack at Chanyeol's feet. The said male looked up in surprise, the highlighter falling from his mouth when he saw Luhan's teary eyes.

"Oh go- Lu what happened?" Chanyeol asked, scanning the smaller male for injuries. Luhan just shook his head and buried his face in Chanyeol's chest. The taller male stiffened at the sudden contact but wrapped his long arms around Luhan once he felt the smaller start to weep.

Luhan's shoulders were shaking and Chanyeol could hear tiny gasps as Luhan tried to catch his breath. The taller male rubbed Luhan's back, trying to comfort him, "Come on Lu, what's wrong?"

Luhan looked up miserably, pointing to his throat. Chanyeol swore under his breath, "Um I picked up on the alphabet....spell it out for me?"

Luhan nodded and slowly stuck his pointer finger diagonally, his middle finger horizontally, placing his thumb in between.

"K."

Luhan put his pinky up and his other fingers down with his thumb going across his fist.

"I"

Luhan made a fist and had his thumb peek out from underneath his forth finger.

"M....Kim Jongin? What's wrong with Jongin? Is he sick?"

Luhan shook his head and threw his hands in the air. Chanyeol scrambled to find a piece of paper and pencil. He placed it in front of Luhan and looked expectedly at the Chinese male. Luhan grabbed the pencil and wrote what had gone down this morning. Chanyeol looked at the piece of paper and frowned, "J-Jongin said this?"

Luhan nodded sadly. Chanyeol opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Sehun sitting down next to them.

"Five more minutes and it hits the fifteen minute mark." He said nonchalantly.

He looked up from his phone and froze when he saw Luhan with tears in his eyes. His gaze turned murderous as he slowly spun towards Chanyeol. Chanyeol raised both hand up in surrender, "It wasn't me!"

Sehun narrowed his eyes at the piece of paper in Chanyeol's hand and made a grab for it. Luhan's eyes widened as he swiped it away from Chanyeol before the black haired male could get to it. He knew how close Jongin and Sehun were. If Sehun finds out about Jongin....

Luhan didn't want to be the reason that a friendship was to be broken so he tore up the paper. Sehun glared at him but didn't say anything else. The three sat in silence for another couple minutes before a teacher came and announced the class to be canceled. The students cheered and within two minutes, the classroom was cleared except for Sehun, Luhan and Chanyeol who didn't move an inch.

"You going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to find out the hard way?"

Luhan got up and left the room.

Sehun sighed and turned to Chanyeol, "Tell me and that new set of expensive paints are yours."

Chanyeol faltered but shook his head. This was Luhan's secret and he had no business sharing it with Sehun, even though the latter might have a small crush on Luhan.

"I'll get you two days for a display at that art gallery you visited last week."

Chanyeol shook his head.

"A week!"

A hand came flying down on the table, making a loud noise as Chanyeol stood up, "When will you understand that I can't be bought? Luhan has a problem...TALK TO HIM."

With that Chanyeol stormed out of the room. Sehun sighed as he stared at the spot where the angry red headed male was, "What did I wrong?!"





 

Luhan wiped away the last of his makeup as he stared at the mirror. His red eyes stared back at him, giving away that he had been crying. The bags under his eyes have gotten worse as he was suffocating under a pile of homework, tests and projects. Jongin hasn't spoken to him for a week and never bothered to show up when the rest of them hung out. It wasn't like Luhan went either, Chanyeol had been telling him everything that had been happening.

Luhan sighed again as he prodded at a pimple on his chin. He was drawn out of his thoughts by gentle rapping against the front door. Luhan flicked off the light in the bathroom and made his way to the door, peering through the peekhole to see who would visit at eleven in the morning. His jaw dropped when he saw a familiar head of black hair and long legs clad in dark jeans. Sehun had come to see him. Luhan unlocked the door and opened it. The tall male held a greasy brown bag in his hand and a plastic bag in his other hand. He smiled weakly and held them up, "I brought cheap Chinese food."

Luhan let him in.


 

Luhan set the last of the plates down on the glass coffee table in the living room before taking a seat next to Sehun on the couch. He turned the television on but Sehun took the remote and muted it. "I came here to...talk." He said, putting some beef and rice in Luhan's plate.

Luhan looked at him, just blinking in silence. Sehun felt himself losing his train of thought as he stared at those hazel orbs. He realized what he was doing when Luhan suddenly turned away.

"Listen, Jongin hadn't been coming to classes for a week and neither have you. Chanyeol seems uneasy whenever we bring the topic up."

Sehun frowned as Luhan kept eating, making no attempt to start writing something down. Sehun slowly raised his hand, hesitating a bit before gently placing it on Luhan's shoulder. The latter froze underneath his touch.

"I know I may not seem like it but I care about you...and um Jongin. And Kyungsoo. Because you know, we're friends and all and..."

Sehun shut his mouth after seeing the look on Luhan's face. The latter looked confused and oddly satisfied. Sehun sighed, "Look. Something has been bothering you and I don't like it. Can you tell me? I want to help."

Luhan took a long sip of his water and uncapped his pen.

 

Chanyeol grinned as Kyungsoo sat back up, connecting their lips. Chanyeol was holding his boyfriend's feet as he was doing sit ups and as a reward for Chanyeol helping him, Kyungsoo gave him a chaste kiss every time his chest hit his knees. It was a good work out and motivated Kyungsoo. Chanyeol was just happy with the amount of kisses he was getting.

"Hey...peck...I have ... peck.... tell you....peck...something."

Kyungsoo stopped when he was sitting up, "Shoot." Chanyeol fidgeted uncomfortably. How was he supposed to tell his boyfriend that their best friend was a complete to their other friend? The answer was...you can't.

"I..um..I know why Jongin and Luhan were out all week."

Kyungsoo's eyes widened as he sat properly, "Wait...you do?! Why didn't you tell us?"

Chanyeol shook his head, "It wasn't my place to tell."

Kyungsoo leaned closer, "Tell me baby, it's okay."

Chanyeol bit his bottom lip, struggling to find the right place to start, "Y-You promise you won't be angry?"
Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, "Why would I get angry?"

Chanyeol grinned sheepishly, "Because Jongin found out Luhan was mute, made it a really big deal, and was a complete and Luhan had come crying to me?"

"HE WHAT?"


 

Sehun stormed through the hall, one hand tightly intertwined with Luhan's fingers. The poor male was being dragged along by the angry Sehun.

"That son of a , I'm going to kill him." Sehun muttered lowly. Luhan glanced at him worryingly. As they approached Jongin's dorm room, they heard a low thud and a loud shout.

Sehun unlocked the door with his key (yes the four of them had keys to each others' dorms) and barged inside. To both his and Luhan's surprise, Kyungsoo was standing over Jongin, a fist raised in the air. Chanyeol was near the corner, scared out of his mind. Luhan pulled his hand from Sehun's iron-like grasp and ran to Chanyeol who embraced him tightly. Sehun walked over to Kyungsoo and shoved him over. He helped Jongin up silently. The room seemed to be frozen in time. No one knew what anyone else was going to do and the tension was very high. Kyungsoo stood a couple feet away, breathing heavily and his hands curled up into two fists. Sehun blinked once...then twice before brushing non-existent dirt off of Jongin's shoulder.

"Thanks man, Kyungsoo just came in here like a mad man and just punched me out of no- aH SON OF A ."

Jongin screamed when Sehun's fist connected with his jaw. Kyungsoo grinned wildly while Luhan just stared at Sehun in horror.

"That's right Sehun! Beat the out of him!" Kyungsoo cheered.

Sehun ignored Kyungsoo and pulled Jongin closer, holding him tightly by the collar of his shirt, "Listen you douche." Sehun hissed lowly, "If I ever see you even near Luhan. I will kick your . If I see you talking to Luhan. I will kick your . If you make my Luhan cry ever again....."

Sehun left the threat hanging and walked out of the door. Kyungsoo shot Jongin one last glare before following the black haired male. Luhan gave Jongin a sad disappointed look before leaving the dorm. Chanyeol was about to leave when he heard a thud. He turned to see Jongin on the ground, on his knees. His head was lowered and his shoulders were shaking uncontrollably, like he was crying. The red haired male bent down and out of the pure goodness of his heart, placed a light hand on Jongin's shoulder.

"I don't know what came over you. You are such a nice and sweet person. Luhan is the same as when you met him. He doesn't deserve to be treated like this." Chanyeol paused, smiling softly,"Remember when that little boy got lost and you stayed with him and bought him ice cream until his brother showed up? Or the time you went out of your way to help advertise for the animal shelter just because you wanted to see those puppies get a home? I don't know why you're like this but I want the old Jongin back."

With that, Chanyeol stood up and walked out of the dorm, gently closing the door behind him.