"I'll go find him."

 

 

 

Jungsoo left where his mother, Mrs. Han, and the rest including his kids were at, tearing the crowd apart to look for one particular man who had mysteriously been missing since the closing ceremony. He ran back to the building and noticed that some of the students were still inside. But to his disappointment, he didn't find whom he was looking for. He decided to look around the building, observing each and every person with sickeningly identical attire, making his finding his student tens times harder. It was when he circled the corner outside the building when he heard a familiar voice talking to a person. It was intruding and he was well aware that was rude. But something inside him forced him to stay behind the wall and listened to what they were talking, if not arguing, about.

 

 

 

"Cut it out!" Heechul shrieked.

"See? You've been avoiding me, Hyung. And I won't let you do that again. Answer my damn question!"

Jungsoo had to hold his breath to keep his emotions in place listening to the heated conflict between his husband and the person who was never keen on him in the first place.

 

 

 

"What else should I say, Kyunghoon-ah? I told you I'm still the same—"

"You're not! And you're ing aware of it," Kyunghoon aggressively shut Heechul off. He breathed harshly and threw his fist on the wall right beside Heechul.

"Tell me, Hyung. Should we just abandon our plan?"

Heechul's eyes shot open on the crazy suggestion. Tears immediately pooled in his eyes as he desperately shook his head. Kyunghoon drew a long breath and backed away, his hair out of frustration.

 

 

 

"How is it, Hyung?"

He heard Kyunghoon let out a dry laugh.

"How is it to have a family? I mean... Not necessarily a real family, but your behavior betrayed what you said at the first time you told me about your plan on being a fake husband and blah blah blah."

 

 

 

Heechul couldn't answer the question nor could he deny the accusations. Deep inside, he knew sooner or later, everyone would start to notice it. He was never one of being a person who wore his feelings on his sleeve but not going to lie, neither was he a person who could hide everything.

 

 

 

"You told me not to worry about you. You convinced me that you did this only for the money so we could go away from here. But now... What's this, Hyung? Should I be worried now that you can't even answer my painfully easy question?"

"I—"

"Answer me, Kim Heechul. Do you still want to go?!"

 

 

 

It was dead silence after the question rolled out that Jungsoo grew impatient about the answer. His heart twisted into a tight knot that made his stomach flipped uncontrollably. No longer able to bear the tension, he decided to peek at them. He wished he hadn't.

His heart dropped.

His breath was caught in his throat.

His eyes began to sting.

Through the blurry sight and even from a relatively far distance, he could still clearly see that his husband, his man, his Heechul was being embraced tightly by another person. He wanted to yell, to tell them that he was there, witnessing whatever sin they were committing. But, who was he again? Other than a pathetic fake husband?

 

 

 

"You know I love you, Hyung. Why can't you see me even only for a damn second?"

 

 

 

His blood boiling, his rage already in the top of his head, Jungsoo didn't waste any more time and immediately left the scene when he knew for sure that they were talking about something he used to treasure; that Heechul and Kyunghoon were on the journey of finding the love they had been searching for. And at the end of the day, he knew this was not the path he was supposed to take and he had gone way too far—far enough that he didn't know how to backtrack. His mind was full of nothing but regret, anger, and hurt—jealousy, perhaps, he didn't want to admit.

 

 

 

Heechul, oblivious to what just happened, was still sobbing in his friend's arms. He let Kyunghoon provide him comfort and to be the most honest, he wanted Kyunghoon to be able to give the warmth he needed. He wanted Kyunghoon to be his one so that he could forget whatever uncalled feeling he had right now towards the person he would never have—towards his professor. 

But, love did know no one. 

It came accidentally even to the person one never wanted to be engaged with.

 

 

 

"I'm sorry," Heechul rasped out, pushing Kyunghoon's body away with the remaining energy. Thankfully, he succeeded.

"I can't, Kyunghoon-ah. Hyungie can't do that. I... I—"

"Don't say it."

"I love Prof. Park."

And that was what Jungsoo got no chance to hear. That was what he needed to hear but he missed. 

That Heechul loved him;

loved him back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

»»————-　♡　————-««

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heechul gripped his phone tightly as he was striding back and forth in the living room. He checked his notification for the goddamn time and still none. Jungsoo hadn't replied to his message nor called him back.

 

 

 

"Dammit, where the heck is he?"

 

 

 

After all the event today, they went home like usual but what was unusual was how his professor behaved around him. It was as cold as Jungsoo was the first time he met his professor. Jungsoo answered him curtly or even left him hanging. This evening when he was bathing Donghae, his professor suddenly vanished without leaving any clue telling him where he headed to. It confused him but it was nearly impossible to confront his professor.

 

 

 

Heechul almost dropped his phone when it buzzed and the screen lit up.

A message.

From: Prof. Park Dffyt vftesseu bydesrdt,,! (received: 10:13)

 

 

 

He blinked his eyes and the text was still the same—unreadable nonsense. He knitted his eyebrows and was about to reply to the message when another text came in.

 

 

 

From: Prof. Park Yoi dojy. Dibt go. (received: 10:15)

 

 

 

Heechul rolled his eyes and decided to call instead. And when he thought it would be different this time, his call still only reached the waiting line. However, a second before he intended to end the call, the other line finally answered.

"Hello?"

Heechul's heart began to thump loudly when he heard indecent noises but he could easily tell that Jungsoo was in a crowded place and if he was spot on, a bar or a club it is.

"Prof. Park? Are you—"

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