The air was buzzing with excitement and flies as they left. Chanyeol promised them a huge bonfire for the time they got back. Sehun hugged Jongin tightly and asked if he could move into his room if Jongin didn’t make it out. Jongin said he could.

“So what is this The Book you guys kept saying?” Jongin asked Baekhyun.

“It’s the only book you’ll ever need as a student here,” Jongdae replied instead, much to Jongin’s dismay.

Jongdae laughed when he caught Jongin’s expression. “Baekhyun, your puppy is sulking,”

“The Book is legendary notes taken by some of the best students who went here,” Baekhyun said, completely ignoring Jongdae, who spluttered. “They say there’s notes for pretty much all majors. Some lucky ones will have two, maybe even three, students’ blood and sweat and tears. I don’t know when it started, but some seniors started leaving their notebooks to their favorite juniors when they graduated.”

“Or little siblings,” Jongdae said.
 

“Then they started compiling them into a giant folder. Everything you can dream of, not just seminar or lecture notes —”

“Most elaborate notes you’ll ever read.” Jongdae interrupted. “Tips on professors, how much chance they give you. How often they repeat questions on exams. And —” Jongdae stopped (for a dramatic effect, Jongin guessed) and looked at Jongin. “What actually came out on exams. AND!” he shouted louder and came very unnecessarily close to Jongin and whispered. “All the copies of essays and assignments they did.”

“Go away.” Baekhyun pushed Jongdae aside. “Come on, Jongin.” he added to him in a much different tone he used on the freak. “Let’s go in.”

The doors opened with a mighty groan, like a beast waking up from a long nap.

“Well, won’t hold you guys back from getting it on in this magical place!” Jongdae said, winking at Jongin, who immediately felt sick at the sight. “I’m going up to the top, where they definitely left the book.”

Jongin meant to go after him, but a soft hand was placed on his own. Jongin looked down at Baekhyun, who was watching Jongdae run upstairs with his phone’s flashlight on. He shook his head slightly and Jongin stayed quiet.

“Let’s just look around — who knows if they even left it here!” Baekhyun said, a little bit too loudly, since Jongin was right next to him.

Baekhyun then led him to their right where four rays of light were coming down. Jongin looked up and saw square windows on the roof. All of them were open.

“How do they open those windows?” he wondered aloud. “Even now, when I see them in malls, I feel bad for those who go up there.”

“Ah, it’s not that hard. You just go up to the roof and be really careful as you walk. These days, they probably use protective gears and stuff. But this one is dangerous, yeah; the roof is round.”

It was a creepy place. Apart from where they stood, the library didn’t see a single ray of light. Jongin wouldn’t go through the empty halls and the abandoned rooms even if they gave him a chest full of diamonds — okay, fine, for a chest full of diamonds, it was definitely worth taking the risk of getting killed by a mad ghost in a white dress.

Baekhyun leaned against one of the heavy-looking desks and Jongin stood next to him. Usually he would have stood opposite of Baekhyun, but he wanted to be as close as possible to him.

“Why did they hide The Book here, again?” Jongin said, shivering slightly as he imagined the pitch blackness that stood behind them. He could just see a weird shape with long hair, waiting for them to look back. It was no good to keep his back exposed.

“Well last year, some of the seniors, Minseok hyung included, deemed the book to be too powerful a weapon for one to wield. So they decided that that one should be the craziest, cold-blooded er — sorry — of the school. They hid the book, graduated and never looked back.”

Jongin looked at Baekhyun, who was gazing up at the partially-in-view moon, looking very pretty. “Hyung, do you curse? Usually? If you do, I don’t want you to … don’t hold back because of me.”

“Not much. I usually curse at my friends as a joke. I don’t think I ever cursed seriously, actually. But I do have been… careful around you.”

“Why? I don’t mind.”

“Out of courtesy, let’s say.”

Jongin tried to exhale as silently as possible. His heart was beating way too fast for someone just standing. And after a minute, he wondered why Baekhyun was just standing there, looking at the sky and letting Jongdae go through the library. 

Now and then, they would hear a loud swear or a thud as Jongdae explored around. Jongin jumped each time and looked around frantically.

After Jongin did a particularly violent turn-around, Baekhyun said, “Do you wanna hold hands?”

“Excuse — hyung?”

Baekhyun held his hand out for Jongin. As if he was asking him for a dance, Jongin thought wistfully. “I dragged you into this. So, if it helps…”

Feeling way too happy for his given situation, Jongin nodded and took Baekhyun’s hand without looking at him. And they stood there for a minute, holding hands. It did make Jongin feel better. So much better.

“Do you have a pet?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I don’t. Not anymore. I used to have a hedgehog though.”

“A hedgehog?” Baekhyun asked, obviously surprised. “How?”

Jongin chuckled. “My father found one just walking on the road when he went to the countryside. So he brought it home and we named him — or her, actually. Now that I think about it, we never checked. How do you even check? Do hedgehogs have a ?”

“I —” Baekhyun paused and stood there, his mouth still open. “I… don’t know. Probably? Most likely? They reproduce, so… wait, how do they give birth to babies with spikes on their backs? Is the mother hedgehog’s made out of steel? They don’t lay eggs, right? How do I not know anything about hedgehogs?”

“Pfff — we should check,” Jongin said, silently giggling. Then he promptly turned around, still holding Baekhyun’s hand.

“Jongin? What’s wrong?”

“I… I thought I heard rustling. Like someone was coming at me.” Jongin answered, running his free hand over his body, where goosebumps were popping out all around.

“Jongdae?” Baekhyun yelled, probably to see if the weird dude was trying to pull some sort of prank on them.

“What?” came the answer from somewhere upstairs.

“Do you wanna get out of here, Jongin?”

Jongin blinked. They hadn’t even started looking for The Book. “What, now? But hyung — what about the book?”

Baekhyun put his finger on his lips and pointed at the ground. “You’re standing right on it, actually.”

“WHAT?” Jongdae yelled again, sounding irritated.

Jongin looked down at the tile he was standing on and moved his foot back and forth, and sure enough, it was loose. 

They bent down, picked up the tile and started to dig the dirt out.

“Why is the dirt wet? damp?” Jongin whispered.

“WHAT IS IT? WHY DID YOU CALL? WHAT ARE YOU, MY MOM? WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME AND THEN GO ON A SILENT MODE?”

“I think it was because of the rain? It rained like crazy two weeks ago.” Baekhyun whispered back. “I have a bad feeling. Yep, there it goes.”

They took out a pink bundle, which had sleeves.

“Luhan hyung’s hoodie,” Baekhyun said. “He said the book would get dirty — it’s all rotten now. Oh, no…”

“BYUN BAEKHYUN!”

The Book was damaged beyond repair. Even as Baekhyun opened it up, they could see all the pages were smeared into oblivion. Baekhyun tried turning a page, but it ripped and came apart right away. 

“PUPPY, ANSWER ME! I’M YOUR SENIOR! OBEY ME!” 

“Oh well,” Baekhyun sighed and Jongin saw that he was smiling. “The kids will be so disappointed.”

“How did you know it was here?” Jongin asked, running his fingers through the unreadable words.

“Well, they came to give it to me, actually. I didn’t want it so they decided to hide it. I came along since they were all pretty wasted.” Baekhyun said nonchalantly. “I just… didn’t want it. Besides, things were getting out of hand for those who wanted to get their hands on this. I’m actually glad it’s ruined.”

“HOW DARE YOU?”

“Did you, perhaps, oversee that this would happen? The windows were open and this tile is right here with gaps around it — and you were the only one sober that tonight…”

Baekhyun grinned. “Maybe I did —”

“I'LL EAT YOUR COW!”

Jongin frowned and looked up. “Why did he say The Book was upstairs?”

“Aaaaah, that…” Baekhyun sniggered and got up to his feet, wrapping the book back into the rotten pink hoodie. “They built a huge stack of rubbish, out of everything they could find in the library, until they got tired. It’s a hoax meant to divert the simple minded.”

“We’re leaving!” he shouted and they both winced as a ferocious crash echoed throughout the library. Then there was a clank and the sound of Jongdae groaning.

“I’m okay!” Jongdae said, and then something metal hit the floor and the sound of it rolling away was heard before stopping. “I’m okay!”

“A pity,” Jongin mumbled. 

Baekhyun grinned and shoved Jongin gently with his shoulder. 

“Damn,” The Minho dude said as Baekhyun laid the book down on the table and told everyone what had happened to it.

“Man, I was so excited when I saw Baekhyun hyung holding something when you two came out,” some guy Jongin didn’t know said, looking at The Book, with a little pout. 

“What happens now?”

“What do you mean? It's gone. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Can’t we repair it?”

“No chance. Look, it’s all just colorful blurs now.”

For a moment, everyone went quiet and continued to stare at the crumpled pieces of paper. The bonfire Chanyeol promised was merrily crackling not far from them.

Then, “How could you just leave me behind?” someone whispered into Jongin’s ear. Wild shiver went through Jongin’s spine and he screamed. The girl standing next to him got startled and screamed too, dropping her drink. Almost everyone yelped and screamed and shouted until they heard Jongdae’s ugly cackles.

“Du-uuu-uuude!” Chanyeol said clutching his chest as if he was going to collapse. “Stop creeping on people!”

“What? They left me behind.”

“There’s a reason why you’re always left behind.” Chanyeol muttered and quickly ran behind Joy as Jongdae lunged at him.

“Maybe it’s like one of those moments,” Joy said, tugging her hair behind her ear. “We had been too focused on the legendary book that we didn’t think to enjoy what we have on our hands? Like, we’ve been doing just fine. We wanted it so much much that we didn’t stop to think if we really needed it.

All this time, we had what we needed, you know? Each other. Tonight was great not because we thought we would get to cheat our way through university, it was great because we were together, waiting for Baekhyun oppa and the new hot dancer to come out. It was exciting and fun — and let’s be honest, nobody really expected for The Book to be found.”

Jongdae whipped his head around, furiously pointing at himself. “What about me? Me? Hello? Miss? Me?” 

“Like, the real treasure was the friendship we made on the way?” Joy continued, smiling bashfully. “We all read moments like this in books when we were kids. Now we’re old enough to live through it. I’d say that’s pretty nice.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone contemplated Joy’s beautiful words.

Then, “Bull!” Jongdae wailed.

“I was so excited!”

“Might as well drop out now.”

“It’s not like I can disappoint my parents any further.”

“I still think we might be able to restore it.”

“Can’t we salvage at least a page?”

“Why do I even — hyung!”

Baekhyun took The Book and threw it into the bonfire. There was a collective scandalised sharp inhale from everyone and then nobody spoke. 

Shuuuuuuuuuung! Pooooooofffff! Bew! Bew! Bew! Bew! Bew!

As if of one body and mind, everybody looked up and watched the fireworks explode. Chanyeol pointed at a small group of people, who had gotten up to the nearest building’s roof.

People started laughing. They clunk their drinks and cheered up as more and more fireworks were launched into the sky.

Sehun gave Jongin a little nudge and looked pointedly at Baekhyun, who was still standing by the fire. Jongin nodded, fixed his hair up a bit and went to stand by Baekhyun.

Baekhyun didn’t say anything when Jongin joined him, but he did smile and tentatively took a hold of Jongin’s hand.

And just like that, Jongin thought, it was the most beautiful night he had ever lived through. Until —

“WATCH OUT! SUHO! STOOOOOP!”

It all happened like the highlight scene of an action movie: in slow motion as people stood staring. Jongin watched in horror as the mad goat came charging through the crowd. He saw Jongdae frozen on the spot, ready to be killed.

Without thinking, like an idiot, Jongin moved faster than he thought he was able to — his body seemed to be moving before his brain could catch up — and pushed Jongdae aside just in time. He gasped and grunted as a sharp pain shot through his leg and then up through his spine.

Someone screamed as Jongin fell. This, too, seemed to happen in frame by frame.

He caught the sight of the moon, the stars and the endless, cloudless sky. How had he not realized and appreciated just how beautiful life was?

Everything went dark.

For, like, four seconds, as Sehun would tell him later on with a scoff.

Someone was slapping him gently but urgently. Jongin wished they would stop. He opened his eyes and was momentarily stunned as he looked at Kim Woobin’s fierce ones.

“What’s your name?”

“Kim Jongin.”

“Do you know where you are?”

“At a party? I’m on the ground right now though.”

“How many fingers am I holding?” Kim Woobin asked, holding out three fingers.

“Three?”
 

“Are you not sure?”

“No, I’m sure. I’m just wondering why you’re asking me that.”

“To see if you have a concussion,”

“Let me through! LET ME THROUGH!” Jongdae burst in from somewhere and threw himself on Jongin. “You saved me!” he moaned and then started planting kisses all over Jongin’s face, as if he was some sort of an alien trying to plant his eggs inside him.

“Get off! Dude — Jongdae, let him breath!” Kim Woobin — Jongin’s hero — shoved Jongdae aside, who fell on his but then took a hold of Jongin’s hand, clutching it to his face like Jongin was bleeding out and was to die in any minute.

“Someone catch THAT GOAT!” came a booming voice of Chanyeol, not far from where Jongin was. 

“Someone call Junmyeon! He’s the one who brought the goat.” someone was saying. “Why didn’t he come tonight anyway?”

“Dude, he is off in the army.”

“Oh, . Really?”

“He should go to a hospital!” a girl cried.

“He’ll be fine. You’re just saying that cause he’s handsome.” a boy said.

“So what if I am? People as hot as him should be protected at all cost.” the girl defended herself. Jongin felt warm despite his bizarre situation.

“Well then, handsome. Do you think you can get up?” Kim Woobin asked.

Jongin shifted a bit and nodded. “Yeah,”

“Then, come here,” Kim Woobin clasped his hand and pulled him up, surprisingly gentle for someone so tough looking.

Jongin sat up and felt someone rub his back soothingly. He turned to his left and smiled at Baekhyun, who was looking very small and pale. “Hyung…”

“You okay?”

“I think so.”

“Baekhyun, get him up and see if he can walk straight. I’ll meet you up at my car — it’s in front of Love Shot. I need to go get my key.”

“Yes, hyung.”

Baekhyun’s right arm was wrapped around Jongin’s back as they walked. Sehun was frantically searching up ways someone can die minutes after getting knocked out by a goat.

“It’s almost like you’re hopeful,” Jongin said, feigning hurt. “You want my room that badly huh?”

“Shut up. Your brain might be bleeding.”

“It’s not.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Okay, fine. I don’t know that. But I do know that your eyes will go bad if you don’t stop squinting at your phone in the dark. My eyes hurt just looking at you.”

“I lowered the brightness.”

“Still bad for you.”

“This here says you might die!”

“The Internet always says we’ll die, Sehun. You sneezed wrong? You’ll die. Your eyes are red? You’re dying. You didn’t drink eight glasses of water today? Your funeral was last week. Seriously, Sehun, don’t read those.”

Sehun mumbled something (probably a curse) and put his phone in his pocket. 

Jongin eyed Baekhyun, who was so unusually quiet. He smiled though, when he noticed Jongin looking at him.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah. You’re the one who passed out just now.”

“Who is this Junmyeon person? Did I hear it right? He brought the mad goat?”

“Hey, he was afraid of the fireworks,” Sehun said.

“ Why are you defending that stupid goat?” Jongin turned to Sehun, feeling very betrayed. “

“We clicked.”

“What do you mean you ‘clicked’? It’s a goat, Sehun. A mad one.”

“He got startled, is all! Those idiots were blasting stuff everywhere!”

“I almost died!”

“You just said you were fine!”

Suddenly, Baekhyun started laughing and then Jongin was laughing too. Sehun looked alarmed for a moment but then he burst into a stupid laughter of his own too.

When Kim Woobin arrived at his car, that was how he found the three of them — clutching their stomachs and trying to hold on to each other for support, their eyes twinkling with happy tears.

So, the reasons why this chapter wasn't posted two-three days ago:

1.) I wrote over three thousand word for the library scene, which I ended up completely scrapping. It got way too supernatural and I decided to make it into a whole another story. So I had to write everything from the beginning. The ghost was real and she knew who Jongin and Baekhyun were...

2.) Jongdae wouldn't shut up.

3.) I ended up deleting some small scenes and details (that I thought were unnecessary) and then had to edit the story around to make each parts fit.

4.) I thought this chapter was boring. Otherwise, it would have been out yesterday lol. But I read through it today and seemed okay, so here you go ^^

The next chapter will reveal: Did Jongdae see the ghost? Will Baekhyun kiss Jongin to make his boo boo better? lol I'm so sorry about the planted kiss btw. From the beginning, I saw Jongdae being the first to kiss Jongin.

Now I gotta figure out if I want to include the car ride to the hospital, in the next chapter.

Also, The Book was slightly inspired by my senior year notebooks. Not that you asked lol

I was actually a pretty good student and my notes were really good. I didn't, like, use them or anything (I regret to say I was quite lazy) but my notes were good because I simply enjoyed writing down stuff neatly. My hand writing was good and my primary and middle school teachers really drilled into my head the importance of neat, organised notebooks. Throughout high school some of my teachers would take my notebook that I used that year. They would use it the next year to check what they taught and when they taught it. So the youngsters already knew about me before they met me. A girl asked if she could have my Biology notebook and I said yes, and then someone else wanted it and there was a small argument... and I just wanted to go home, watch Ouran High School Host Club and eat ice cream.