Avoidance.

Soonyoung had woken up at the medical center to find the Dean, Mr. Lee Yu Jin, waiting for him.

“Ah, Kwon Soonyoung, is it? You had us all worried for a bit there, my boy,” Mr. Lee said, his smile not really warm.

Soonyoung tried sitting up and felt a drip attached to his hand pinch slightly.

“Oh, no need to greet me. Take rest. The nurse told me you’re exhausted. The second student from drama club to end up here in the past couple of days I have been told. As President, you should really tone the drama club activities down a bit. We don’t want our rising club to fail because of overwork, right, my boy?”

Soonyoung nodded slowly, not really understanding why the Dean was here at all.

“You all should have fun too. Rest, have fun, study, and so on. I must say, I would appreciate it if you don’t party at my house in the future.” Mr. Lee laughed, seeing Soonyoung’s panic at the revelation. “Don’t worry. I know my son, Chan, hosted the party. He doesn’t listen to his father at all.” He got up and handed Soonyoung his card. “Let me know if there is anything you need. I feel responsible for what happened on Chan’s behalf.”

“It’s no problem. He wasn’t involved,” Soonyoung said.

Mr. Lee muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “It would do him well to not get involved, for once.”

Soonyoung’s curiosity was piqued but he didn’t ask further.

Avoidance.

His friends asked him all sorts of questions. He chose to laugh it out.

“Really, I have no memory of what happened after entering the party. I had taken a shot of some weird tasting drink from Jihoon earlier so that must be it.” He laughed. “I really shouldn’t trust Jihoon’s wine cabinet from now on.”

Jihoon made a move as if to choke him. “Hey, my wine cabinet is exquisite, okay?”

Seungcheol laughed. “Didn’t you buy it off someone’s garage sale? It must have lots of expired items in it.”

“Wow, you had food poisoning? Cheol here nearly murdered a guy over your food poisoning, dude,” Junhui said.

Soonyoung’s smile dropped. Wonwoo. “You what?”

Junhui continued, “And that too when I was about to exchange numbers with that guy’s friend. Now, I have no date.”

Jihoon pushed Junhui. “Oi, priorities?”

Soonyoung tried to joke and smile again. “You can just date me, Junnie.”

Jun made a gagging sound. “I’m not that desperate, ugh.”

Joshua looked unconvinced by the banter. Soonyoung knew he wasn’t buying any of this. He also knew his friend had been crying. It hurt him to see the pale redness at the edges of Joshua’s eyes. He wanted to talk to him, to thank him…he didn’t.

Avoidance.

When he was fourteen, his therapist had told him he had trouble with facing his problems.

“Soonyoung, you can’t avoid your problems forever. Avoidance breeds toxicity.”

What was he supposed to say?

Facing his problems had led him here.

“Now, will you tell me what is bothering you?”

He didn’t.

Avoidance.

When he was discharged from the medical center and alone in his dorm room for a bit, he opened his inbox to see if he had contacted him.

There were several messages.

There were messages from his drama club members.

“Hey, I’m sorry you fainted. Hope you’re feeling better now, Hoshi. Wonwoo wouldn’t have hurt you. He’s a nice guy. He just looks scary.” --Seungkwan.

“Hoshi! Please get better soon. We need our Tiger back.” --DK

“Wonwoo got off on the wrong foot. He’s a friend. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm.” --DK

And messages from random people.

“HEARD YOU GOT BEAT UP?”

“Are you okay?”

“You owe me 15 dollars! Don’t die yet!”

And calls from his parents.

He wondered who had told them. He sighed. There was a part of him that wanted to call them right now and tell them that he had been right all along. Jeon Wonwoo did exist. He was here in the university where he was studying. They, apparently, even had common friends. He wanted to shout and scream. He wanted to be comforted because he had been wronged all these years.

Instead, he messaged, “Mom, Dad, I’m well. Don’t worry. I’ll call in the morning.”

Avoidance.

Wonwoo was walking beside Mingyu as they made their way to the language building for their respective electives. The crowd was louder than usual today. There were still whispers but they seemed to be more about Wonwoo than Mingyu today.

Did you see him--yes, that one there--he beat up Hoshi--ye