Minhyun stared at Baekho's reply. Confusion swirled in his mind. What did it mean?

'What do you mean?'

But he never got a reply.

Minhyun looked up as his friend nudged him. They were at a cyber cafe and Minhyun having no interest in video games had sat aside. He wasn't sure if Baekho would even show up at the playground and as much as he wanted to leave, his friends seemed to be keeping a keen eye on him today. He didn't know why but he felt the need not to act up and just pretend to be friendly with them.

"Sure you don't want to join in?" the friendly outspoken one of the group, Jin Young asked with a small smile. Minhyun smiled and shook his head. "Okay. You know you can leave if you've nothing to do, right?"

Minhyun nodded. 'I'll be leaving then.'

"Okay. See you next week."

Next week?

Minhyun gasped softly. It was already the weekend and he hadn't even realise it.

'It's the weekend tomorrow. Do you want to meet up?' Minhyun asked Baekho, hoping the other would say yes. He really wanted to straighten out whatever that was suddenly happening between them. He didn't know why Baekho was suddenly being this way and it just hurt him.

"Minhyun?" a small voice made him stop walking. He turned around and noticed it was Jihoon. He nodded as a form of acknowledging his call. "I need to talk to you."

'What about?'

"The guy you've been hanging out with recently. Jisung and the oth-"

"Jihoon. We need you for the game!" Jaehwan called out from the entrance of the cyber cafe and Jihoon flinched. He had a terrified expression.

"I'm sorry," Jihoon said in a apologetic tone before he hurried back into the cafe.

Sorry? Jisung and the others? What about them?

Times like this Minhyun wished he had a voice. Then it would be so much easier. He would be able to speak freely with Baekho and Jihoon. Then it wouldn't be so troublesome. But then again, Baekho was deaf so maybe it would have been pointless to have a voice too. Minhyun sighed and continued walking back home. He caught sight of one of Baekho's friend walking by himself and immediately found his legs bringing him in that direction. He caught up to Aron and patted his shoulder. Aron turned around and raised his brows.

"Oh. It's you," Aron said and smiled. Minhyun felt warm inside because his friends didn't usually greet him with such a friendly smile. He waved. "What do you want from me?"

'Can I know Baekho's address?' Minhyun signed, hoping Aron could help him get closer to the other.

"Why?"

'He's been avoiding me and ignoring my messages or just replying very shortly. I'm worried about him.'

Aron frowned and crossed his arms. His smile had dropped considerably. "Yeah and for good reason. It's your own fault."

Minhyun's eyes opened widely in confusion. His fault? 'What did I do?'

"Next time if you have something to say, say it to him personally. Don't use your friends and make them beat up someone as innocent as Baekho. You guys are the worst."

No.

Minhyun literally felt his heart freeze. Aron was about to walk away but Minhyun grabbed his arm, frantically shaking his head.

It wasn't me.

"Let go!"

Please listen.

Minhyun made airy gasping noises as he continued holding onto Aron. He couldn't sign properly with just one hand but if he let Aron go, the other would walk off.

"Hey! Beat it, Minhyun. You already hurt him enough. I'm not telling you where he stays."

Minhyun's eyes brimmed with tears and he continued shaking his head. Aron snatched his arm back and scoffed.

"Don't play pity with me. You're the one who doesn't want to see or even talk to him. You have no idea how much pain you've caused Baekho. Baekho doesn't deserve to be treated that way and I'm not going to allow you to trample all over him out of pity."

Not me. I would never.

Aron didn't give Minhyun a chance to explain and quickly ran off. He noticed the little limp Aron had when he tried to reach out for him but his own heart was shattering and he couldn't take the stabbing pain in his chest. He hurt Baekho? With his friends? No. He squatted down and clutched his throat. Even without a voice, his throat still hurt from the strangled cries he tried to make. Is that why Baekho was being so cold and distant? It was because of him? But when had he ever say he didn't want to see or talk to Baekho?

Then it clicked.

What Jihoon was going to tell him. Jisung and the others. Jisung. Jisung. Jisung.

No.

Minhyun wiped his tears and pulled his phone out. He clicked the video call button on Baekho's number.

Please pick up.

^^^

Baekho turned to look at his phone that shone brightly. A video call from Minhyun flashed on the screen and he flipped his phone over. He really shouldn't disturb Minhyun anymore. Minhyun was better off without him too. Things would go back to before. He can just admire him from afar while Minhyun would go by his days not knowing who he was. He continued doing his assignments and gradually felt the vibration from his phone stop. He peeked and noticed the missed video call. He dragged his phone over to him and clicked into Minhyun's number.

Block it.

He let his finger hover over the button but gave up. He couldn't do it. He didn't know why Minhyun was still persistently trying to contact him even after that. Maybe it was a mistake after all.

No. It can't be.

He gulped, feeling his soul falter but he shook his head. He can't give in. Minhyun was just too nice to tell him enough was enough and that's why he was contacting him. He turned off his phone and put it away, sighing as he continued his assignments.

^^^

"Baekho told me who did it."

"Who? Tell me so I can sock them in the face," Minki hissed. Aron knew Baekho had told him to keep it a secret from the other two but he felt awfully guilty about that so he had actually detoured to Jonghyun's place after telling Minki to meet him there.

"Were we right about it being Minhyun?" Jonghyun asked and Aron shrugged.

"Not quite. It was his friend group but it wasn't Minhyun personally. They told him that Minhyun doesn't want to see or talk to him anymore. That he was only doing it out of pity."

"Those jerks!" Minki snapped and stood up. Jonghyun held his hand and gently pulled him back down.

"But are we sure that Minhyun actually feels that way?" Jonghyun being the more level headed one asked.

"I can't say for sure. I actually met him on my way here."

"What happened?"

Aron relayed the meeting with Minhyun to the two of them and Jonghyun sighed.

"You didn't let him explain himself?"

"What's there to explain? He hurt Baekho and that's the truth. You can't be thinking that Minhyun didn't actually ask his friends to do something like that, did you?"

"But what if he didn't? Those rumors that we know about don't actually include Minhyun, you know. For all we know, he's actually a nice person."

"Doesn't change the fact that Baekho got hurt."

"Come on, Aron. You're being unreasonable here," Jonghyun sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Let's confront them!" Minki suggested.

"Confront who?"

"Those guys who beat Baekho up, of course!!"

"There's about 11 of them including Minhyun. How would we know who did it? Baekho said there were only 4 of them who went up to him."

"Doesn't matter! We will just beat the crap out of all of them."

"Calm down, Minki. We can't just go around beating people up. Aron has a bad leg. You can't fight. That only leaves me," Jonghyun said.

"Then we are just going to let this be?" Minki huffed and crossed his arms. Jonghyun kissed his temple, hoping to keep Minki calm. He was angry towards those guys who did that to Baekho as well but it wasn't like fighting would solve anything.

"We aren't a group of gangsters. Or popular kids. We are just the 4 weirdos in school, Minki. If we go against those guys, things might get worse."

"Fine. I'll go find Minhyun and ask him about it then!" Minki said instead. "If he is really the cause of it, then I can at least strangle him right?"

Jonghyun sighed and patted Minki. Aron shrugged and muttered, "Can't say I disagree."

^^^

Baekho didn't want to attend college the following week. He had ignored Minhyun throughout the weekend and also his friends. He had hid in his room, distracting himself with assignments and comic books. He had a difficult time sleeping and would often wake up in cold drenching sweat, panting heavily. He didn't know if he was having nightmares or he just didn't feel at ease about closing his eyes anymore. He just wanted to numb the pain in his chest and the loud pounding in his head that even his hearing disability couldn't get rid of.

'Baekho. It's time for class. Are you done yet?' his mother had asked him that morning. She didn't think his behaviour as any different since Baekho would still appear for his meals. She just thought he really had a lot to do. Baekho came down stairs with heavy steps. His mind was a mess but his face didn't show it as much since one look at his baby brother was enough to make him put on a thin smile. The little kid was growing up fast and Baekho wondered when he would be able to walk. He should probably look forward to being the big brother he was meant to be instead of moping around about being beaten up once. He kissed his mother goodbye and trudged to college.

He barely made it to class when he saw them. Jisung, Jaehwan and Sungwoon were laughing at something and Baekho felt his breath stop. He gulped and turned around, walking away from them as fast as possible. He couldn't face them. He didn't want to. He ran into the bathroom and hid in there, clutching against his ears as he tried to stabilise his breathing. The pain seemed to come back, reminding him of what they did. It was only once but it still hurt a lot. He took out his phone with shaky hands and didn't know who to contact. He couldn't calm down and he wheezed softly, cupping his mouth with a hand to cover whatever noise was leaving his throat. Should he call Aron again? No, maybe Jonghyun? He couldn't bring himself to call any of them. He didn't want to trouble them. He could lie and say he wasn't attending class today because he wasn't feeling well but what if they caught him sneaking out? What if they go to his house to check on him instead? His mother would know something was wrong then. He bit his lower lip and gripped his phone tightly.

Minhyun.

No. Even after what happened, why would you even think about him?

Baekho gasped and shook his head. His phone vibrated and he checked it. Messages from Aron, Jonghyun and Minki flooded in. They wanted to know where he was since class was about to start and he couldn't bring himself to respond. He shut his phone again and tossed it into his bag. He didn't think it would be this bad. He didn't think he would turn out like this just from one time. He thought he could handle it but it seemed like it had hit worse than he thought. He bit his nail and rocked a little on the toilet seat as he hugged his legs. He was just going to wait it out here until he felt like he was calm enough to actually step outside.