“How many people did you inform of this?”

“What do you mean?”

Yeonjun walked towards Yeosang and Seungmin, seeing the two engulfed in a hushed conversation. He let his eyes briefly linger on the mourning group on the couch, but his ears paid attention to the questions bouncing back and forth.

He needed something to distract him from the aching in his heart.

“The campus security, okay, I get that, but who else?” Yeosang gestured towards the door, sure of the fact that the staff members were standing outside.

“What? No, no, I didn’t tell anyone. The security showed up because they realised that I had too many people over. There’s a limit to the number of visitors.”

“You didn’t bother discussing our disappearance with anyone? Seungmin, what is wrong with you?”

“What?” Seungmin sounded genuinely hurt by that. With furrowed brows and his arms folded across his chest, he clarified, “What happened to being quiet about this whole thing? Besides, I wanted to wait for at least a day, and you all were only gone for a little over four hours.”

At that, Yeonjun finally straightened up, the hair on his skin standing up as he processed the words he just heard. “What?”

He was rather loud, loud enough for everyone to turn their heads towards the conversation happening behind the couch. With everyone now looking at Seungmin with concerned eyes and definitive confusion, Yeonjun clarified: “It’s only been four-to-five hours?”

“Sort of. Why?”

It was Felix who spoke next, a simple sentence within the silence. “We were away for nearly three days.”

They watched as Seungmin’s frustration relaxed into one of sheer disbelief. They watched as he took a step back and fished out his phone from his pocket, furiously typing away.

The silence was deafening, but the shocking revelation stunned them in their positions. With pleading glances exchanged with each other, they could feel the gravity of the situation settling in. Their sudden disappearance wasn’t something to take lightly, not when three days was only roughly short of five hours.

Everyone immediately began checking their phones, seeing the date and the time, and the rather short list of missed messages and calls. The realisation that it had only been a few hours was frightening.

Seungmin kept his phone aside, heading towards the front door. “The others should be able to drop by soon. I’m going to talk to the security and request them to let us be.”

“Don’t tell them what happened.”

Seungmin nodded towards Yeosang, before gesturing Yeonjun to follow him. “I think your dad could help us. Everyone, stick together.”

With one pitiful look at Taehyun and Beomgyu, who remained on the couch with swollen cheeks and reddened eyes, he let himself and Yeonjun handle the situation waiting in the hallway.

As Jisung hesitantly rummaged through the fridge and heated up some leftovers he found, Wooyoung helped distribute the food amongst the others. The hunger and exhaustion were catching up, although their limbs had stopped aching. That was the first of good signs, but they couldn’t ignore all the warning signs and flashing pains of misery.

Some of their friends were gone.

Taehyun held a warm sandwich in his hand, staring at it with lifeless eyes. His voice was hoarse as he murmured, “What can I do to make things right?”

Soobin leaned forward to look at the younger with sincere eyes. He shook his head. “No, Taehyun, please. Just eat, okay?”

“His family… I need to tell them. How do I look them in the eye?”

“Taehyun-ah…”

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry.” The monotonous voice was somewhat disturbing to listen to. “This is my fault. Beomgyu is… He’s gone, just like that?”

“Taehyun-ah, eat your food before it gets cold.” Soobin, despite having said that, couldn’t help but sulk at the taste in his mouth. The sandwich tasted like sand, bland and revolting. He could feel his heart hammering against his chest, and before he could even think, he was gagging on the piece of bread in his mouth.

“Soobin!”

Quickly keeping the sandwich down, he got off the couch and beelined into the washroom, ignoring the voices chasing after him. He locked the door and bent over the sink, his mouth opening just enough to let him breathe and still keep the half-chewed bread inside. He then forced himself to swallow the only piece of actual food he had tasted in the past three days.

He couldn’t help but cry. He had just lost one of his best friends.

The burning feeling in his throat was enough of a sign for him to fall to his knees and hunch over the toilet seat, the nauseating urge building up.

He wondered what Beomgyu felt in his last moments of life.

He wondered if Beomgyu was angry at him.

He wondered if he could ever forgive himself.

In the distance, he could hear muffled voices, two of which he easily recognised.

“Why didn’t you…” Kai shook his head, burying his face in his hands, rejecting the plate being brought towards him by one of the others. “We were so close to being home. Taehyun, what were you doing?”

Yeosang cleared his throat, patting Taehyun on the back as he said, “Come on, get up. Let’s go for a walk.” He then looked at Wooyoung from across the room, shifting his eyes towards Kai for just a quick moment. As he received a nod, he grabbed Taehyun by the shoulder and helped him up.

“Come on. The weather’s nice outside. Grab a sandwich and let’s go.”

He stepped out through the door, turning his head to the side to see Yeonjun on a call while Seu