There were a lot of things Juyeon could have done after hearing what Hwall said. He could have said that it was okay, that it didn’t matter—he didn’t. He could have said he liked Hwall regardless, something they’ve never explicitly stated to each other despite their affectionate moments—he didn’t. He could have said he had even fallen in love, but he said nothing. Hwall remained silent  about the subject as well, even if he offered the older boy a smile at the end of the night before they parted.

For good, it seemed.

Hwall and Juyeon stopped contacting each other after that night, neither of the two really even trying to start a conversation. For lack of a better term, Juyeon sulked. That was what all his friends would end up with whenever they would visit his room, all too cautious and too worried to actually say anything out of the ordinary to their usually carefree friend. None of them could say that maybe if Juyeon actually messaged, Hwall would reply.

Even Chanhee, who was hardly ever shy about butting in his friends’ problems and giving his two cents in, held his tongue. Juyeon had been in relationships before, albeit fleeting and short lived each time the other person wasn’t his soulmate; this was the only time he has seen Juyeon actually feel this bad after another failed attempt. Maybe it was because this time, he had hoped too much and for too long. Still, something about it felt off.

Haknyeon was the only one among them who bothered to talk about the situation.

Away from Juyeon, the youngest of their group of friends couldn’t help the scowl on his face.

“You can’t tell me Hwall didn’t lead him on,” Haknyeon said as the day progressed, voice a harsh whisper as he talked to Changmin. Juyeon was on his bed a bit farther from them, but thankfully too distracted by playing video games with Jacob and Kevin to pay attention to anything else. “This guy knew they weren’t soulmates, knew that they had soulmarks, and he still accepted the relationship.”

Changmin sighed, “you heard what Juyeon said when he told us what happened. Hwall had a pretty valid point, not letting soulmarks rule their lives and all. His worries feel legit. I just thought Juyeon-hyung would agree, for once.”

“Hwall doesn’t seem any different from all the others without soulmarks who tried to get Juyeon-hyung into a relationship with them.”

Chanhee, who had been listening to the conversation, shook his head as the pieces began to make sense to him.

“No, no, I think Hwall really does have good reason,” He said softly as he considered everything. “I mean, I get where he’s coming from. If they take the relationship further and then Juyeon finds out they’re not soulmates and does what he does now—run away and all—it’ll hurt more for Hwall in the end. Juyeon built himself up with the idea that Hwall was his soulmate.”

“If you think about it, it’s really Hwall who got dumped, because Juyeon couldn’t get himself to pursue someone who isn’t his soulmate. If anybody was lead on, it was Hwall,” Changmin agreed, causing Haknyeon’s scowl to fade a little, as all three of them glanced at the dark haired boy. Juyeon already didn’t react as much when playing games, but he was even more stoic that day, far from how Kevin was exaggeratedly yelling at Mario missing a power-up.

“So you’re saying Juyeon-hyung shouldn’t be the one playing victim here?” Haknyeon questioned, a bit too loudly. His timing was off as well, since he asked just in time as the level the others were playing ended, and Juyeon had transferred his attention to them. The dorm ro