*** Chapter 16: Secret Admirer ***

“World’s Number 1 , Park Jihoon.”

Jihoon could not believe that the crazy fans actually made an effort to make something like this. Aside from the awful words, the cut glass was a work of art. He was so stunned that he did not realize that Guanlin who stood by his side actually read the words too.

“Hyung… what…” the foreigner boy actually wondered if he read the words right. “What the hell is this?”

Jihoon quickly put the glass trophy out of Guanlin’s sight and smash it to the ground. The cute boy was taken by his rage that he did not aware that he had made the loud noise with the splattered glass. Some people were looking at him in bewilderment. But then, those who thought that they had nothing to do with Jihoon, chose to ignore him and back to their business.

“Hyung…”

“Guanlin-a, you see nothing of this.. understand?”

“Jihoon-a…”

Guanlin had not yet to reply when Minhyun and Jaehwan were approaching them.

“What happened?” Minhyun asked in worry. He was the one calling Jihoon just now.

“Oh, hyung… Sorry I startled you,” if moment ago Jihoon was showing a rage, in mere second he gave Minhyun a sorry look. “The gift was made from glass. I was opening it when it suddenly slipped off my hand..” Jihoon looked really sorry and Jaehwan truly pitied him. Inside his head, Guanlin was amazed with Jihoon’s acting skill. Indeed his favorite hyung was admitted to SIA for Acting scholarship.

“Well.. things can happen, Jihoon-a. Don’t worry, I’m sure your fan will understand. At least you get the feeling, don’t you?” Jaehwan comforted.

“Yes. I’m very grateful for the gift. But…” Jihoon forced out b tears in his eyes.

“Ya.. don’t think about it anymore. Come on, let’s go to janitor’s room to find something to clean this mess. Come on, let me help you…” Jaehwan grabbed Jihoon’s shoulder and dragged him out.

Once Jihoon done cleaning up the messes and thanked both Jaehwan and Minhyun for their help and understanding, he put his serious look back and glared at Guanlin.

“Guanlin-a… I am seriously asking you to tell no one about this,” he warned.

“You don’t look so surprised, hyung,” Guanlin studied his expression. “Don’t tell me… you have been receiving.. this kind of gift…”

“Yes.. and no…” Jihoon answered shortly. “Come one, will be late for your practice…”

“Hyung, wait…” Guanlin knew that Jihoon did not want to talk about it. But he had to know. “I’ll agree to keep quiet only if you tell me about it…”

“Guanlin, I…”

“Or I’ll tell hyungdeul…”

“Don’t you dare!” Jihoon raised his index finger. But then he regretted it right away that he unfairly lashed out on innocent Guanlin.

“I’m sorry, Guanlin-a. But really, don’t tell hyungdeul about it,” he reprimanded. “Only Woojin knows about this."

Jihoon then told Guanlin everything he knew about the threats. This gift was the first, but he had received thousands of notes. The younger boy could not believe it.

“Crazy fans are indeed… wow…” Guanlin was at loss for words.

“That’s why, you better stay out of this. You’ll never know what happen,” Jihoon reminded him again. “They even dig the fact that Jaehwan-hyung is my classmate although he was rarely seen in Acting ground.”

“You should be careful, hyung.”

“I know.”

*******

After the incident with the glass trophy, Jihoon could not help himself for being extra careful to his surroundings. He started to notice it, that some people were peeping at him with sinister look, especially the girls. He was sure that the culprit must be girls, because even though he recognized different handwritings from the red notes, most of them were calling Daniel ‘Oppa’, and they hated the fact that Jihoon ‘was turning their Oppa into a gay’.

Although LGBT had become common in Korea, there were still some people who could not accept the fact that same people were keeping themselves for each other. Once he got a complaint from his female classmate in high school, that if most boys were no longer interested in girls, then what about the population growth? Females still needed decent males to properly impregnate them.

Albeit he knew that his friend was just being playful back then, it could be a serious concern, especially when the man in bet was someone awfully gorgeous like Kang Daniel. His female fans did not seem to want him to fall into another man. They would fight for him.

This concern should have not become Jihoon’s problem to worry about. He never fully understood the way girls behaved. He had only a few of female friends, because he always felt comfortable to be amongst the males.

Just like the moment.

Even when his male classmates were gathering to having an unimportant discussion that was actually disturbing for Jihoon, he still chose to be with them.

“Ouch… poor zebra…” Jaehwan acclaimed after he saw a certain scene from Animal Planet channel in his phone.

“Ya… Jaehwan-a… You should just go to Africa if you like the wild life that much,” Minhyun teased.

“I don’t have the money, hyung,” Jaehwan responded.

“But can we watch something else instead a video of crocodiles quietly hide in the waters waiting for their prey to cross? Do you like seeing crocodiles chewing some poor zebra alive that much?” Minhyun tried to get a grab of Jaehwan’s phone. But of course he could not win from the witty boy.

“Ah, hyung. This is a good knowledge. I don’t have the bravery to go anywhere near wild animals. Let me at least watch some videos…”

“But not everyone of us enjoy watching that kind of video..” Minhyun remarked as he was pointing his look to Jihoon, who had been scrunching his face into weird expression.

“You don’t like it, Jihoon-a?”

Jihoon literally threw his face away when Jaehwan showed him the video.

“Don’t , hyung,” Guanlin intercepted, shoving Jaehwan’s phone back to its owner. “Jihoonie-hyung could not bear to see animals getting hurt.”

“Oh, really? You don’t like it?” Jaehwan’s genius-sane brain quickly grabbed the tension. “Do you have bad experience, Jihoon-a?”

“Once I went to my grandparents’ farm when I was a kid,” Jihoon did not mind to explain. “Unfortunately I witnessed my own grandpa slaughtered one of his cow, for its meat. I know it’s actually what he usually did. Farmers are raising cow for food. But that scene disturbed me badly that I fell into an attack. Since then, I do not really have the appetite to eat beef.”

“But you love chicken,” Minhyun claimed. “Don’t you…”

“Yes I know. I eat chicken meat,” Jihoon quickly responded. “But at least I never saw a chicken being killed. All I ever see was live chickens and pieces of meat that are ready to be consumed. It makes a difference. I don’t know, and DO NOT NEED to know the process,” he quickly added before Jaehwan telling him the unnecessary things.

Jaehwan tilted his head, “Okay then. I can understand that.”

The Genius boy then changed the topic into something more interesting, and Jihoon sighed in relief that he had managed to escape the crisis. These hyungdeul were fun, and he glad that he could make some friends with anyone outside the Bangtan circle.

Because of the threats he received lately, Jihoon preferred to spend more time with his friends. But there were inevitable times when he had to spend some time alone, because his classes were over, Bangtan team needed more intense practices, and Woojin’s class in Dancing department was not over yet.

Jihoon was on his way alone to the Dancing ground, when he heard some people were gossiping about him, and to his surprise, openly. Some did not even lower her voice that Jihoon could hear her.

“Look… That’s him… Park Jihoon…”

“Oh… now when I see it, he’s not that cute…”

“Eeyy,,, he is truly cute and pretty…”

“Yes I know.. but apparently he is too confident with his looks that he thinks that he is the cutest person alive..”

“What a shame… He already has the whole Bangtan team under his finger, and then that tall and handsome Chinese boy… and now he’s targeting Kang Daniel?? What does he want??”

Jihoon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He did not even know that girls. Yes he noticed that they were students of SIA because he knew he might have met them somewhere in the college. But he knew nothing about them. They should know nothing about him either. What made them saying those accusations? Jihoon really could not understand the way crazy fans these days acted.

He just tried his best to shut his ears as he fastened his steps and hoped that Woojin’s class was over. As usual, they would go to the gym together.

At least Jihoon managed to get home safely that day, and Jimin and Taehyung were showing no sign that they knew anything about his problem.

Yet he should have never underestimated the power of Bangtan and their fans.

Jimin, Jungkook, and Woojin were hanging around in the corridor when they were in the short break between classes when Hoseok came to them like a storming wind.

“Guysguysguysguysguys…”

“What’s up, hyung? You look like you had just found a bag of gold,” Jungkook greeted.

“I do hear about something shocking, but it’s not a bag of gold!” Hoseok retorted.

“Breathe.. hyung… breathe…” Jimin gently tapped his friend’s back while the older boy was catching his breath after such a run.

“I hear rumors…” Hoseok started. “About Jihoonie…”

“Jihoonie? What happen with him?” Jimin turned stiff instantly upon the mention of his brother who most likely heard as if he was in deep trouble.

Well, yeah, Jihoon was in deep trouble indeed.

Hoseok told them about the rumors that spread amongst the students. It was pretty much similar with the nasty words Jihoon heard before. He was rumored that he was seducing Kang Daniel so the superstar fell into his trap. They even added more gossips as if Jihoon was using Daniel to get some fame and connection in entertainment industry. The gossips were becoming more and more irrational when it said that Jihoon was even selling his body to get through some directors.

“NONSENSE!!” Jimin was engulfed in sudden rage. “Who the hell are spreading about those nasty things?? Let me find them at beat them to pulp!!!”

The hound Chimmy was clenching his fists and his muscles started to bulge in scary appearance.

“I’m not sure, Jimin-a,” Hoseok replied. “I heard it from our fans. Some said that they found strange red notes in the garbage dump in the far back corner of this campus.”

Woojin slapped his own face innately as he did not want to show any suspicious reaction about the last info. He knew it. He should have convinced Jihoon to burn those papers. But his twin-soul insisted that it was not necessary and they should not waste their time on that since the garbage were cleaned up and recycled in garbage dump every day. He failed to take it to his count that small papers had the possibility to fly away.

“What notes?”

While Jimin and Jungkook were showing more curiosity to hear more explanation from Hoseok, Woojin was still lost in his thought that he should have burnt the papers albeit Jihoon’s disagreement.

Thanks the hell that Jimin turned super sensitive when he heard about this, and he was a smart boy, that he noticed, that Woojin was not paying attention to Hoseok. It was something related to his precious bestfriend. Jimin knew it best, although the two loved to fight and bully each other, they would never let anyone harm their twin-soul. Unless, of course, the news were not that shocking for him.

“Woojin-a…” Jimin started to investigate. “You… know… something…”

Woojin closed his eyes and took deep breath. He knew it well that it’s not wise to defy the raging hound if he wanted to survive. He was tired to keep everything to himself anyway. Sooner or later, he really should let Jimin knew all the truth.

The sparrow surrendered and told his hyungdeul everything he knew. He was showing some frustration too because he thought Jihoon was not telling him everything. Even the incident with glass trophy, he heard it from Guanlin, not Jihoon.

“I need to find him now,” Jimin rose from his seat. “I need to…”

“Don’t act rashly, hyung,” Jungkook was the one stopping Jimin and held him in his space.

“But I need to make sure that he is fine. How dare he tell me nothing of this?” Jimin was struggling to free himself from Jungkook, but of course, he could not win from the strong muscle pig.

“Think carefully first. Don’t you realize, that this is exactly why Jihoon is not telling you anything?” Jungkook insisted, forcing Jimin to sit back on his side.

“What do you mean?”

“Try to see things from his perspective. If you were him, will you tell your temperament brother about this problem?” he tried to reason.

“Of course I will…” Jimin almost blurted the answer instantly, but apparently, his brain could work faster this time. “I… I…”

“You won’t tell him if you are having any issues, right?” Jungkook guessed correctly.

“Yeah…” Jimin was glad that his senses were winning against his emotion. “He doesn’t want to make me worry and do stupid things.”

“Yes..” Jungkook agreed. “I have an older brother too, hyung. So I know how he feels. He doesn’t want to keep relying on you.”

“But still, we need to do something about this,” everyone knew that a Park Jimin would not keep silent about this matter.

“You sure this is Daniel’s fans doing?” Jungkook asked Woojin.

“Yeah. Most likely,” the sparrow assured.

Jimin nodded and bumped his fists. “Then we’ll find the culprits behind this.”

*******

The next days turned into some kind of hell for Woojin because he had to act like a double agent amongst his brothers. Jimin had informed Tae about what happened to Jihoon, and Woojin was afraid that the tallest boy in the house might burst into Jihoon anytime like a ticking bomb. The sparrow kept making pleading look to Taehyung behind Jihoon’s knowledge, begging the older not to confront Jihoon about what happened. Woojin knew it for sure that Taehyung was on the top of the list of persons Jihoon did not want him to find out the truth.

Taehyung noticed it too actually. That’s why he’s trying not to say anything, but he kept keeping an eye to his beloved boyfriend, every time he could.

Taehyung found it hard to maintain cool expressions during the play rehearsal because he kept glaring dangerously to Daniel. The said superstar was not making any more trouble with his boyfriend. Yes he was super flirty and romantic when he acted with Jihoon, but when their part was done, Daniel knew his place to stay away. Jihoon had told him that he had chased Daniel away, and the wolf was taking his words seriously that Taehyung actually felt grateful for that.

But now when he thought that Daniel’s action was the core that was causing these problems with Jihoon, Taehyung found it super hard to stay cool around the superstar.

Fortunately, Hans and Kristoff never had a face-off sequence in the play. Otherwise, Taehyung would use it wisely to beat the crap out of Daniel. Well yes, Taehyung was not a violent type of boy. But, who knew?

The safest way for him to stay composed was to drag Jihoon out as soon as the rehearsal was done. It was the time for their official short date. As long as Jihoon could still give him those cute smiles, he would let it slipped, and working hard with his friends to find the culprit behind Jihoon’s terrors.

“Do you want something else to eat, my dear?” Taehyung asked while they were munching their chicken.

“I want some ice-cream,” Jihoon answered instantly, with apparent blushed on his cheek because Taehyung was using sweet words, and excited smile because of the thought of having ice cream.

Taehyung’s heart was melted. Jihoon’s smile never failed to make this effect on him. He knew the boy was not okay. But as long as he still looked strong like that, with those big appetites intact too, Taehyung was grateful enough.

His heart nearly skipped out some time later that night though. They were enjoying their ice cream on their walk to home, when Jihoon suddenly stopped and hastily holding his head, dropping the remaining ice cream on his hand.

“Jihoon-a!!”

“Aarrghhh..” Jihoon grimaced while holding his head tightly.

“Why? What happen?” Taehyung abruptly holding into Jihoon, forgetting his ice cream too.

Jihoon did not look steady from the way he stood. Taehyung checked if the younger boy was trembling or having hard time to breathe because those were the common symptoms if Jihoon was under attack. But Jihoon was showing no sign of it.

“Br…brain.. freeze…” Jihoon managed to say those words after he lightly patted his own head.

Apparently he ate too much ice at once that his head became too cold all of sudden, hence the brain freeze happened.

Taehyung heaved a sigh of relief. “Aigooo… you scared me…”

“Sorry, hyung…” Jihoon replied weakly.

“No, Jihoon-a, it’s okay..”

“But the ice cream…” Jihoon looked pitifully to the ices that were dropped in the ground.

“It’s okay… We can but it again some other time…”

Just then he saw that Jihoon was barely breathing at all.

“Jihoon-a…”

“Hhh…”

“Look at me, my dear,” Taehyung put a firmer grab on Jihoon, making the younger focused on him. “I’m right here with you… Breathe with me… In… out… in.. out…”

Jihoon was clutching his hand on Taehyung’s chest, and he looked straight into his lover’s eyes as he did like what the older said. He tried to breathe in and out slowly, until he gradually got his normal breathing pace back.

“Feeling better?” Taehyung asked, and Jihoon answered him by nodding weakly.

“Get on my back and I’ll carry you home,” the older said as he turned his body.

Jihoon wanted to refuse it, but his body was betraying him. Their apartment was already nearby, but Taehyung did not want to bet a chance that Jihoon might collapse again in the way. Jihoon silently cursed at his pathetic condition who loved to come and go whenever as it pleased. There was definitely no reason for his attack just now. There was no way he would go panic just because he dropped his ice cream.

Although Jihoon would never admit it, Taehyung got the feelings, that the terrors Jihoon got, must be taking its toll on the cute boy. He had prepared himself with more knowledge about the condition since long before. Panic attacks might strike out of the blue, without any warning, and sometimes with no clear trigger. But Taehyung knew it, the boy he loved must be stressed out.

He must do something quickly to end his beloved boyfriend’s sufferings.

But things were just getting worse because it started to get physical.

*******

With full conscience that Jihoon was now in danger everytime and everywhere, both Woojin and Guanlin always tried their best to make sure that Jihoon was at least never left alone. They were free to nag the bullying victim because they knew that they were the only ones who were supposed to know about Jihoon’s bullying. At times Taehyung almost lose himself trying to accompany Jihoon whenever he went, but Guanlin always stopped him at the right moment.

Just like this late afternoon, with many efforts, Guanlin had succeeded to make Jihoon stayed at basketball court, watching the team practicing. Because rather than letting Jihoon loitering somewhere alone while waiting Woojin to finish his class, definitely it was better if Jihoon was somewhere within the protections of Bangtan’s army.

Apparently his abusers were cowards too since they did not dare to confront Jihoon directly in open, because the fame and influence of Bangtan around the campus was not a joke, especially when they were on high alert now.

But crazy fans always found their way to do what they wanted. Jihoon was excusing himself from the basketball court because he needed to use the restroom. Taehyung almost followed him instantly, but he was stopped by Guanlin, because at the moment, coach Seo was glaring daggers to Taehyung since the Point Guard was distracted too much during the practice, by paying too much worry looks to his secret boyfriend.

However, Guanlin regretted his own decision since until a noticeable time later, Jihoon was not coming back from the restroom yet.

Woojin had arrived in the basketball court, and when he saw that Jihoon was not around, Yoongi told him that Jihoon went to the restroom some time ago. Now when he thought of it, the assistant coach did wonder why Jihoon had not come back yet.

The sparrow was quicker than his wit, and he had sprinted to the restroom, only to find his bestfriend in a pitiful state. Jihoon was alone there, because at this time of the day, most students had left the campus, but he was drenched wet in noticeable dark colored water, and the smell was genuinely disgusting.

The boy looked perfectly fine though. He was standing by the sink, already putting off his sweater, trying to wash it in the sink, leaving him in his T-shirt that was not badly damaged with the dirty water, because it was black. Woojin came closer, smelling a combination of food sauces and other strong fragrance around his bestfriend. Jihoon’s face was inexpressive, flat and cold, with droplets of water was dripping from his hair.

“Jihoon-a… what happened?”

“I was done doing my business and stepped out from the stall when someone threw me a bucket of mop water which apparently had been mixed with fish sauce or whatever the hell it is,” Jihoon answered flatly. Woojin indeed saw a black plastic bucket was laying abandoned on the floor.

“Did you see who did this?” Woojin clenched his fists.

“Yes, but she was wearing oversized black hoody and training pants, with mask and sunglasses on, so I don’t know whom she was. Her built was average, so it could be anyone in this campus…” Jihoon’s tone remained calm.

“Those crazy es… acting ridiculously just because their idol…”

“Woojin-a, can you do me a favor by fetching me my bag? I have spare clothes and toiletries there. I can’t go around like this. I left my phone in my bag back at the court so I cannot call for any…”

“We can’t keep quiet about this, Jihoon-a…” if seconds ago Jihoon was interrupting his rant about the crazy fans, now it was Woojin’s turn to stop him because Jihoon looked too damn untroubled by this incident.

“Then what can we do, Woojin-a?” yet Jihoon finally snapped and threw his sweater away to the basin. “You want me to act? Those crazy fans will just abuse me more. Reporting this incident? To whom? The authorities? But this… is too childish!”

“Your safety is threatened, Jihoon-a…”

“They won’t get further than this…”

“What make you so sure? Yes they never offended you openly in public knowing who you are. But see… they even stalked you and started to attack you.. like this…”

“I’ll just have to bear with it until the play ends, Woojin-a. Later when I have no more business with that Daniel, I bet his fans will stop, eventually…”

“It’s not that simple, Hoon-a… You know that…” Woojin almost lost all his patience and he might go through if he did not notice that Jihoon started to shiver under his wet clothes.

“Just do me a favor by grabbing my stuff in the court, okay?” Jihoon shot him a meaningful look.

Woojin looked as if he wanted to disagree but Jihoon beat him to that.

“And don’t tell the team. Just say something like my pants are ripped and we’ll just go straight home after you grab my stuff. I can’t go back there in this state. This smell is… uurrghhh…” Jihoon pinched his nose with his fingers.

Woojin scrunched his nose too, “For this one I’ll agree with you, because, dammnn.. you do need a good shower…”

Accordingly, Woojin left to grab their stuff in the court and bid farewell to the team by saying lame excuse that Jihoon’s pants were ripped. And Jihoon prayed hard that he did not have to face his brother and his lover if they found it to be suspicious.

Jihoon barely went through the night safely when both older boys noticed funny smell from Jihoon’s laundry basket but he said that he accidentally spilled his strong flavored dinner in his shirt. Both Jimin and Taehyung could see that something was off, but they did not confront any further because they knew that this pig-headed pink sausage would not tell them anything even if they forced him.

Woojin, again, become the victim of suspecting glares from those two, but he chose to lock himself up safely in the protection of his shared bedroom with Jihoon. Jimin and Taehyung would not be able to corner him while Jihoon was around.

Jimin messed up his hair in frustration, thinking about the best thing he could do. His way of thinking started to get ugly just like those that gangsters would do while facing the situation.

Yet the fate decided that none of Jimin, Taehyung, nor Bangtan boys were able to do anything significant like finding the culprit before the situation turned for the worst.

*******

Minhyun and Jaehwan were just heading out from Acting department building after their class was over, when a random girl in black hoody and mask was shoving him a card box tied with red ribbon.

“Please give this to Park Jihoon-ssi,” the girl asked quickly and left the scene right after she ensured that Minhyun had held the box properly.

“Another secret admirer is giving Jihoonie gift, eh? That boy is really popular,” Jaehwan remarked.

“Yeah.. can’t help it,” Minhyun admitted. “He had all the quality to be famous.”

“But I heard there are some strange gossips about Jihoonie..” Jaehwan scratched his own chin.

“The more famous you are, the more fans and antis you get. It’s no wonder,” Minhyun shrugged lightly. “Come on, I need to get back to class to give it to him. He’s still there, right?”

“Perhaps. He and Guanlinie were discussing about their project..”

They walked light-heartedly back to the building and reached to their class in the second floor to find Jihoon and Guanlin were still in their seat, working on their project. But they were almost done with current part and they did not intend to stay any longer, because Guanlin needed to go to basketball practice.

Jihoon properly thanked Minhyun and Jaehwan for sending him the package, although by his defensive mechanism, Jihoon guessed that this box must be another threat. He could not open it then in the class because some students were still there. He gave Guanlin a silent look, and the younger knew what he meant. Minhyun and Jaehwan already left after giving him the box because they had something else to do. Jihoon and Guanlin quickly packed their things on the table, and then proceeded to exit their class, to find some deserted corridor where no one would see them opening the package.

On their halfway reaching the gate though, Minhyun suddenly felt that something was off with the package. The box was warm. He thought that it might some cake. But then, if it was a cake, something sweet and delicious smell must be noticed. But instead, he smelt some strange smell from the box, and the smell was not pleasing.

“Hyung… what happen to your hand?” Jaehwan noticed some strange patches between Minhyun’s fingers.

The taller boy looked into his hands and found what Jaehwan meant. There were some spots of reddish liquid in his fingers. He drew it closer to sniff them, and his face turned into horror. His negative hunch was right. There was something wrong with the box. It had blood in it.

Minhyun almost ran back into Acting building, but then he remembered, Jihoon and Guanlin were about to pack their stuff when they left. With the basketball tournaments enclosing, perhaps they were going to practice. He noticed it anyway that lately the basketball court was always noisy because the team were practicing, accompanied by their fans cheering. Rather than going back to Acting building, he might as well went to basketball court because he thought they must have been heading there.

But once he and Jaehwan arrived at the court, Guanlin and Jihoon were not there yet. Taehyung wondered why his juniors whom he knew that they were Jihoon’s classmate were there. He asked them if they were looking for Jihoon and Guanlin, but they were telling him something else, and it alarmed the whole Bangtan team.

The mention of bloody box in Jihoon’s hand had pushed both Taehyung and Jimin beyond their limits. They left the basketball court without the coach’s permission, sprinting to Acting building because they thought that both Jihoon and Guanlin must be there still. And in fact the rest of the team was following them because they heard Minhyun’s words clearly just now, including Yoongi and Coach Seo themselves. The whole team was aware of the threats that Jihoon had been receiving. And they could not help but to worry too.

On the deserted corridor on Acting building, Jihoon proved his hunch was right, because once he opened the box, he saw something that shocked him beyond words. On top of shredded papers on the base of the box, there laid a dead rabbit, with knife stabbing its body. On the inside of the box lid, he saw some words were scribbled, with blood.

“You will end up like this bunny if you keep leeching around Daniel oppa!”

Guanlin noticed that Jihoon’s face turned pale instantly upon the pitiful sight. He remembered the fact that Jihoon could not stand the sight of animal being hurt. Dead rabbit with knife stabbing through it, was definitely one of the thing Jihoon should never see.

Guanlin hastily seized the box from Jihoon, planning to get rid of it. But it was too late. Jihoon had widened his eyes, vigorously.

“An animal… innocent… and harmless..  was being… killed… just to… threaten… me…”

The pain in his heart was unbearable. Jihoon lost his balance and Guanlin quickly grab a hold on him after throwing the box aside.

“Hyung… stay with me…”

Jihoon was starting to drown in his panic, and Guanlin did not really know what to do because he had not yet any experience in dealing with it.

“Hyung… stay focus…”

But Jihoon had started to breath heavily, and his face had turned redder and redder.

On the other side of the building, Kang Daniel was searching the class thoroughly. He was a Theatre student but he had some importance to do there. He was rarely seen on the campus because he had some schedules to attend although he was not yet filming another drama. He heard it from his bestfriend Seongwoo just now, that there were bad rumors spreading about him and his musical partner. Daniel could not believe that his fans would actually do silly things, and he wanted to confirm it with Jihoon, if the Jeojang Kid was having difficulties with his fans.

Daniel saw Jihoon and Guanlin left their classroom from afar a moment ago. He tried to reach them quickly, but he could not really run, because the corridor was packed with the students, and they did not stepped aside right away because they were amazed to see such a superstar so close right in front of their eyes.

When Daniel found them at the other side of a deserted corridor, he started to run full speed.

Jihoon still had his last bit of senses when he heard someone was running, rushing to him. When he saw that the person was Daniel, Jihoon completely lost his mind. He remembered the words written in blood he read just now. The first thing he could think of right then, was to stay away from Daniel, as far as possible.

He started to run away although Daniel was almost reaching him. The corridors were interconnected with each other. Jihoon found a way to escape from Daniel although he had to push Guanlin aside to make his way. Guanlin was utterly shocked that Jihoon could actually run in his current state.

“What happened to him?” Daniel asked the fallen Guanlin. He saw Jihoon was pushing Guanlin roughly that the tall skinny boy must have lost his balance, because Daniel was already aware of Jihoon’s strength.

Guanlin was not answering yet because he was in pain after his shoulder hit the wall, but then Daniel saw what was splattered on the floor, out of the box. He turned into horror. Jihoon was indeed in danger because of his fans. Daniel quickly ran to reach for Jihoon.

Jihoon did not know where his feet were taking him. All he wanted was to escape from Daniel. When he heard loud quick steps behind him, he knew that Daniel was chasing him. He ran faster and faster, until he saw the stairs that would bring him down to the ground floor. Although his heart was thumping violently and he was short of breath, he hastily reached for the stairs.

After he was running with all he got, he should have put some brakes on his legs to take small steps carefully to climb down the stairs. But needless to say, Jihoon had lost control over his own body. One false step half the way down, was enough to make him lost all his balance, and he helplessly stumbled down, rolling hardly down the stairs.

Jimin and Taehyung had arrived on the Acting ground floor at that moment, and they were witnessing every bump and smash that were crushing the body of their beloved Jihoon.

“JIHOONAAAA…!!!”

To Jimin’s surprise, Taehyung was actually reacted faster than him upon Jihoon’s fall. His bestfriend ran and dropped his body at the right moment before Jihoon reached the ground. Jihoon’s head would have hit the floor hardly if Taehyung did not catch him at the right time.

“Jihoonaa…” Taehyung was checking his secret lover in panic. He was jolted at the hot red face of the boy, and one of Jihoon’s hands was still clutching his own chest tightly. Jihoon opened his mouth widely, but he did not seem to breathe properly. Taehyung knew what that meant.

He heard another steps down stairs, and when he saw that it was none other than Daniel, he snapped instantly.

“You stay away from Jihoon!! Don’t you have enough with him??!!! GET LOST!! HE IS MINE!!!”

With his last bits of energy, Jihoon was trying to reach for Taehyung, but his heart could not take it anymore. Taehyung managed to exchange a short glance with Jihoon, before the smaller boy gave up and fell into unconsciousness.

*** to be continued ***