Tao’s father got arrested right away at the campsite and was going to be charged by the Korean law, as he had gone through with intended murder on Korean ground. The Chinese authorities were involved as well, since the man was from higher class, included in corruption and illegal issues within the strict country.

All the students had gotten interrogated by the police on Sunday morning, the right next day after the incident. Tao’s funeral was held three days later on Tuesday back in China, as it was his mother’s last wish. The boys had bid farewell from their deceased friend in a small mourning hall on Monday, before his corpse was flown back to his homeland.

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It was a single day, yet none of the students missed it. They all appeared in black with the most beautiful white flowers wreaths, expressing their condolences. Tao became an angel way before his time. The ones who cried most while seeing him off were Luhan, Xiumin and Sehun. It was the saddest day of their life. They had each other to cope with the situation. Xiumin had gone through a lot already in the past due to Kris, but losing Tao hit him harder. Luhan’s tears were unstoppable during the whole ceremony. Suho in the other hand, stood there, his head tilted to his right shoulder, while he stared at the smiling picture of his beloved boyfriend. The frame was placed on a wooden table, which was decorated with flower ornaments and covered with white lilies. Suho batted his eyes slowly as his tears fell down his cold cheeks. His stare was empty. Jonghyun was the one who approached him after a while and placed his hand gently on his shoulder. He could not help but feel bad for the heartbroken student. It was indeed a sad day, which felt like a never ending terrible nightmare.

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Luhan had packed his stuff right after seeing off Tao and returned to China to attend the funeral. It was his best friend. It was the person, whom he could trust with his whole heart. Tao knew everything about him, to his tiniest secrets. Simply all of it. He was the only friend Luhan had kept, after parting ways with Sehun in the past. Although the funeral was held quick, Luhan did not return to Korea anytime soon. He even missed out to testify for the first trial. It seemed like he needed a while to recover from the loss. Yixing had tried to call him many times, but there was no use. Luhan was out of reach for two whole weeks.

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The gun was luckily found in the brook and the fingerprints of Tao’s father and the one’s of Taemin on it were not washed away. One week later at court for the first trial, with all the students, except Luhan, and their family members, the Chinese man had admitted that he was the one who shot his own son without hesitation. He had added that he would do it again if he was given a second chance. There was no way he would accept the acts of his son lightly. Nor will he ever forgive the others for dragging his son into it. Tao’s father continued that he would have shot more of these sick boys, if they had not gotten him nailed to the ground. The judge and the people at court were shocked that the gunman said all these things with no shame nor fear of being jailed. A lot of the old people nodded to his words, after hearing about the homoual relationship of his son and the sick acts of the other students. They too, were disgusted by the idea of their own sons sleeping with another man. It had no place in this country. The youth was going down the sinful path. The parents of the boys were shocked and disgusted by the accusations of Tao’s father. It was a chaotic trial and the second would take place sometime later this month.

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A little bit over two weeks had passed since the camping trip, which had ended with the most horrible outcome possible. The nation was shocked that a young Chinese student died at age of twenty-one. TV stations reported about it repeatedly. They made it sound like trespassers in their early twenties had gotten involved in a shooting in the Choansan Camping Area. Luhan’s aunt had cleared the misunderstanding with all media outlets, that those students were no trespassers, since she had given them permission to enter the restricted area. Of course, the news could care less about clarifying the truth in this case. Instead, they focused on the ‘group of rascals getting involved in a fight’-part because they did not want to call it a gathering of young men who slept with each other. It would definitely be a shocker, but it was better to keep the nation from this reality. Giving a platform to the queer community was not in their interest. Although the news outlets tried to cover the real reason behind Tao getting murdered, people started to spread rumors, because it happened at the campsite and the one shooting the twenty-one-year-old student, was non-other than his father. No names of the ones involved in this case were given to the public, as they were all innocent, but it was revealed that it included males in their twenties. The students of the faculty had assumptions because the death of Tao spread like wildfire. The university’s chat had gone crazy and two weeks later, they still mentioned it now and then.

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Suho was still in denial. The little spark of happiness and warmth that Tao had made him feel after the years of deep heartbreak was wiped out from his soul. He had no more tears left to cry. He needed therapy, and he attended it the last two weeks straight. He went every single day, but there was no process in it yet. Suho needed time to heal mentally. He stopped attending the faculty for the rest of the year, although the finals were around the corner. This would make him repeat the courses in the upcoming fall. His parents and his four-year older brother tried to convince him to keep going to the faculty as it would distract him, but Suho had barricaded himself inside his room back in his hometown Busan. Every day, he sat on his bed with his legs pulled to his body, wrapped his arms around them and buried his face in his knees. He did not cry, he just sat there like this for hours and drowned in his deep dark thoughts. Every single day before he went to therapy he read the messages he had received from Tao weeks prior. Sometimes his lips escaped a tiny chuckle, then he teared up and cried while a sorrowful smile graced his face. His heart was broken.

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Xiumin and Chen had attended the therapy sessions together more frequently, as the cat eyed student needed it more than ever now. The prankster had not drunken a single drop of alcohol since that night. He was so angry and upset about his drinking habits because he had missed out on everything. He had not been able to help his friends. He blamed himself for not being dependable for the others. Thoughts like, ‘maybe we could have saved Tao if I wasn’t drunk’ crossed his mind repeatedly. Chen had sworn that he would never drink again, and he managed to keep his word since then. He had missed his exam on Monday, which he should have absolved right after their camping weekend as well, because he was interrogated that day by the police. After the traumatic trip, he would have failed the exam for sure anyway.

Although, their parents knew that they were involved in this case, they did not judge them or scold them. Xiumin’s mother and little sister knew about his encounter with Kris and abuse from two years ago. Now, thanks to the horrible weekend, his worried mother was aware of his relationship with Chen. She had reacted with tearful eyes and had hugged him tightly. She felt sorry and happy that her son had finally opened up to her about his real feelings. Xiumin’s little sister was totally okay with it, since she kinda had a feeling about it because of the way her brother talked of boys and especially that one guy called Jongdae. When she realized that Chen was that guy, she giggled and shook her head. She was envious, because the boyfriend of Xiumin looked stunning. She had hugged her brother and told him that it was okay that he liked men, as long as he was happy. Chen’s parents and his older brother were shocked to hear about it from himself. The prankster no longer wanted to keep it a secret, as the way Tao had suffered all these years, broke his heart. Not being able to tell this to his parents must have had been the worst situation ever. Having to constantly fight with the feeling to yell at them and tell them who he really was, but being scared to get killed because of it, Chen could not even imagine, how awful Tao must have felt. And he definitely did not want to go through the same thing. So, he straight out told them at the police station, when he had to wait for his turn for being interrogated. His father was first upset and irritated, but as the older son tried to make it clear to him, that it was Chen’s life to live, his father broke out in tears and hugged him. He apologized for not knowing better and making him suffer for so long. Chen’s mother had cried too and joined the warm family hug of the four of them. Both students had returned to the dorm after the interrogation and now that their family members knew about them, they could finally date freely without having to fear that one day they would get outed or caught. Their parents and siblings have given them blessings as long as they were happy and would not neglect their education. They made the couple promise them to not hurt each other and always talk things out if there were misunderstandings between the two.

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Kyungsoo was brutally forced out of the dorm right after his parents were informed about his involvement at the campsite. He had to move back home and was no longer allowed to meet any of his friends. His father and his mother became furious about their perfect son being involved in a shooting that had a scandalous story behind it. Kyungsoo had begged them to let him go back, but his father had threatened to disown him. His mother slapped him. When they returned home from the first trial after hearing the horrendous accusations of Tao’s father, Kyungsoo’s mother went to the extent that she grabbed the wrist of her son and pulled off the silver ring that Sehun had given him. She coldheartedly flushed it down the toilet, walked back to her son and dragged him to his room. His father followed. Kyungsoo’s mother yelled at him, grabbed his phone too and smashed it with her high heels. She scolded him with tears in her eyes and told him that he was a disgrace, that she regretted giving birth to a son like him. His father spat on him, turned around and left the house with the angriest expression. He had no chance to explain himself to his parents. His mother slammed the door to his room and locked it from outside. She grounded him. That was the moment when Kyungsoo bro