Kai was in his room, doing his homework and studies. He could not concentrate at all, but at least he tried to. His mind was set on something else, the words of Yixing. He spun the pen with his fingers and spaced out in deep thoughts.

“Jongin?” his sister called for him and knocked on the door, “Can I come in?”

The sun-kissed boy shook his head as he was torn out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat, put on his mask to cover his bruised lip, and asked her to enter the room. She had seen the bruise earlier in Kamong, yet he wanted to avoid her focusing on it now. Jungah carefully opened the door and peeked through the gap first, checking if her brother was busy, then she stepped inside and approached him.

“Are there any issues bothering you lately?” she asked him and sat on his bed.

Kai tapped his pen on the paper and turned with his chair around to face his older sister.

“It wouldn’t make me of a better person, if I hurt someone back who has hurt me, right?” he asked and kept twirling his pen with his fingers.

Jungah pursed her lips and leaned back on the bed, still sitting up. She tilted her head to the right and gave it a thought. Kai glanced at her for a while, then he turned back to his desk and flicked through his book.

“Well, to be honest, it would not make you any better of a person, but it sure would make you feel better. But it would not last for long... that feeling.” Jungah finally added and leaned forward to look at her own feet that she was waggling back and forth, “I didn’t want to bother you about this but… Why did your senior yell at you? Did something happen in uni? Did you skip tutoring today?”

Kai looked up again and shook his head. He bit his lips under the mask and lowered his glance. Jungah got up from his bed, turned his chair and patted his head with a cute smile.

“If there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m here for you.” she told him and hugged him gently.

His head rested on her stomach, as she was standing. She caressed his hair, then she let go and squeezed his cheek, making him panic for a second because he thought that she was going to pull down his mask. But of course, she did not. Jungah was not that kind of a person. She knelt in front of him and grasped his palms. She gently pressed her thumbs into the back of his hands. The student became nervous about her approach.

“I don’t want to be nosy, but… Would you like to tell me where you’ve been last night?” she finally asked him with a worried smile, “I won’t scold you about it… I just want you to be honest with me and to trust me.”

Kai clenched his lips and gulped. Would she understand if he told her, that he had slept with another guy? Would she tolerate it, or would she judge him? Kai remained silent and slowly pulled back his hands. He escaped her eyes.

“Jongin… You are still wearing a turtleneck and a mask… You don’t have a cold…” she said and got back up on her feet, “Last time you’ve asked me about sleeping with someone… I wonder if you-”

“No!” Kai cut her words immediately with a blushed face and shook his head frantically from left to right, “No, no, no!”

He raised his hands and shook them mid-air too, then he crossed his arms to show her the letter ‘X’, indicating that he had not done it. He lied to her because he was nervous and insecure about it. He was afraid of more questions to follow this topic if he told her. Jungah giggled and squeezed his cheeks again.

“Look at your face! You are all red!” she stated with a bright smile, “Whoever you slept with, I’m okay with it as long as you are happy, Jongin!”

Kai’s face turned entirely red, and he brushed her hands off, all ashamed and trembling in nervousness. His sister kept laughing and patted his arm.

“Oh, by the way!” she suddenly shrieked and clapped her hands all excited, “I’m organizing a small party at Kamong this weekend. May I ask you for help? Pretty pretty pretty please!”

She clung to his arms and shook them with a cute expression, looking at him with puppy eyes and sulky lips. Kai sighed and slowly nodded. He would not decline. She squeezed his cheek and thanked him. Then she told him to sleep early and left his room with dancing steps.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

After a while Kai took a shower and was ready to get in bed. As soon as he lay down, he unplugged his phone from the charger and turned it on. He had been away from social media the entire day. When the display glowed all brightly, the messages started coming. Hundreds of them in the university’s chat.

.

.

“What’s up with all the boys here?!”

“They got caught!”

“Who knew they were gay?!”

“I can’t believe they did it!”

“That photo is now my new wallpaper!”

“I thought that he was into girls!”

“Even sportsmen aren’t straight anymore...”

.

.

Kai scrolled up faster and faster, his heart was racing. Did he get exposed? Did Taemin post something? What photo were they talking of? Did the senior record them last night? The sun-kissed boy trembled in fear.

.

.

“I think you guys should leave them alone.”

“I’ll beat the crap out of them. They can’t call themselves men. Disgusting beings.”

“I wonder how someone becomes like this…”

“Is it a disease? Do I have to be worried now?”

.

.

Then Kai got notifications in their own group chat. He immediately stopped reading the university messages to check up on his friends. Perhaps they knew more about this chaos.

“Since when are you two together??”- Chen

“Geeeezus! It really did happen a lot while I was gone!”- Yixing

He pinned the photo in their chat of the two boys. Kai’s jaw dropped at the sight of Chanyeol and Baekhyun almost kissing. He coughed and felt eased a lot. He was happy that it was not about him, yet the next moment he was sorry for his friends. Getting exposed like this must have been hurtful to them. No wonder the students went crazy about it.

“Who took that photo? (>_<)”- Xiumin

“I don’t know. We didn’t see… We were careless.”- Chanyeol

“Too careless, buddy...”- Chen

“Well, the cat’s finally out of the bag.”- Sehun

“You knew?? O.o”- Chen

“Why didn’t you tell us too?”- Xiumin

“They didn’t tell me. I noticed it by myself a while ago. (づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡”- Sehun

“And you kept it to yourself?? Selfish Sehunnie! Bad Sehunnie!”- Chen

“(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )”- Sehun

“Kai, why aren’t you texting bro? I see that you are online. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you...”- Chanyeol

Kai sighed to the messages and requested a video call right away. Chen picked up instantly. He was sitting on the sofa together with Xiumin.

“Did you know about this?” Chen asked Kai because he was Chanyeol’s best friend.

Kai shook his head silently. Yixing picked up too and smiled into the camera, while he put away his guitar that he had played earlier.

“Alright, let’s wait for the other two.” he said and took place on his bed.

Kyungsoo finally entered their chat and picked up too. He was sitting in his room, trying to compose a new piece that he could play with Jonghyun the next time.

“Oh, Kyungsoo’s still ha