Baekho pulled out his phone just to be sure he hadn't missed another call or text from Minhyun but there was nothing. Last online was an hour ago too. He texted Minhyun instead.

'Still not done yet?'

He waited for a couple more minutes before a message popped in but it was from Aron.

'Do you want those coconut chocolate we talked about last week?'

Feeling confused and a little upset that it wasn't Minhyun, he chose to make his way to the lecturers' room instead.

'Sure. Make that two.'

'Aren't you doing assignments right now?'

'Supposedly but it's been over an hour and Minhyun still hasn't shown up.'

'Ah I see. Well. I'll be coming back to the college later. See you at the library?'

'Okay. Lemme go find min now.'

He tucked his phone away and slipped down the steps before making a turn. He poked his head into the lectuers' room, smiling and greeting those he knew. He looked around and found the lecturer in charge of Minhyun's last class.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Oh hello. How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if Hwang Minhyun is still helping you."

"Minhyun? Ah. He left about an hour ago."

Baekho's eyes widened and he was stunned but quickly bowed and thanked the lecturer before leaving the room. What was going on?

Baekho made his way to Minhyun's class to find it empty. He called Minhyun immediately but it went straight to voice mail. He was at a lost at what to do and ended up texting Aron about it first before deciding to go around to ask some students if they had seen Minhyun.

"Nope."

"Haven't seen him. Sorry."

"Minhyun? Nah. Maybe you should check at the other table."

"Ah. Minhyun sshi? I saw him earlier."

Jackpot.

"Where did you see him? Do you know where he went?"

"He was with a couple of his other friends. They went that way."

"That way? Are you sure? There's nothing but the old storage room there," Baekho asked just to be sure and the person nodded.

"Yeah. Without a doubt."

"Thank you so much."

~~~

"Thanks for your help, Minhyun."

"No problem, sir. See you tomorrow." Minhyun checked his phone and smiled. Only 10 minutes had been used up. He headed towards the library but as he was heading up the stairs, someone appeared in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. His eyes widened a little as he tried to side step the man but was promptly blocked again.

"Don't be like this, Minhyun. Aren't we friends?" Jisung chuckled and Minhyun frowned.

"Move aside, please."

"I see you're using your voice a lot more. Getting comfortable with your soulmate?"

"None of your business." 

He turned around but Jaehwan was there as well as Sungwoon. 

"Why don't we have a little chat, hmm? Now that you have a functioning tongue." 

"I've got nothing to say to you." 

"Ah... But you wouldn't want anything happening to your little sunshine, right? I know he's waiting for you at the library." 

Minhyun stiffened and gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare do anything to him." 

"So you'll come with us then." 

Minhyun didn't have a choice. He didn't want to cause a commotion or get himself in trouble for fighting with a fellow student especially one who reigned supreme in the college. And he definitely didn't want to drag Baekho into this. "Fine."

They led him down the stairs, keeping a close eye on him so he didn't run off. Minhyun glared at Sungwoon a little. 

"Why are you still helping him?" he said softly so Jisung couldn't hear him. Minhyun didn't care if Jaehwan could. Sungwoon flinched and eyed Minhyun bewilderedly. He glanced at Jaehwan and pursed his lips, averting his gaze from Minhyun. "You have to stop. Doing this will only hurt your relationship with Aron more." 

"He's... He's not my soulmate," Sungwoon said in a pained tone. Minhyun gritted his teeth. The nerve of this guy but he couldn't bring himself to throw a punch at him. Minhyun had always been more vocal about his problems rather than action even when he was mute until he had to somehow convince Baekho to listen to him that one time. They reached the old storage room that had been left to collect dust. Old mattresses and all kinds of random stuff piled up in the storage. Minhyun knew what Jisung was up to, bringing him to such a secluded area which was why even when Jaehwan had shut the door, he didn't flinch. He glared at Jisung instead and reached into his pocket. 

"So? What do you want from me?" Minhyun asked in the flattest tone he muster. Jisung chuckled and spun around with a wide grin. 

"What do you think I want?" 

"I think you want to find a way to silence me. I know too much and I can speak now. Maybe even find a way to get me to quit school or for the school to throw me out. Which is it?" Minhyun hissed. Jisung shrugged and leaned against the pile of mattresses. 

"You already know then, smarty pants. What are you still doing here? Having too much fun with a buddy that you don't want to leave?" 

Minhyun growled a little, clenching his fists. "Baekho is my soulmate. Don't speak about him like that." 

"I'll speak about whoever I want however I want." 

"You're despicable, you know that? What have we even done to you to deserve this? Just because we don't follow your words, suddenly that makes us your enemies? People change, Jisung. Someday you will leave the safety of college too. Your dad can't protect you always."

At the mention of his father, Jisung lifted his hand and flicked it. Minhyun turned around but was a step too late as Jaehwan and Sungwoon grabbed his arms. 

"Let go!" he hissed at them. 

"I think I prefer you...mute." 

Minhyun gasped as Jisung approached him and landed the first blow right onto his stomach. He choked on air and bent forward, not used to getting a punch straight to his gut. 

"You know what to do."