The rain lashed down on me, the wind whipped my face. My eyes stung and my body ached.

But I knew I had to keep walking.

I didn't know if I was walking away from something or towards something. I only knew that I had to keep walking through the black night.

I recognised the area. I was at a junction. It was familiar. So why did it feel so strange?

Ah.

There were no cars. Or people. No life.

The wind howled as I shuddered. So cold. So alone.

Afraid.

My breath came in short gasps. Why?  I wasn't running.

I became aware of another presence close by. I turned. A blurry face. My eyes refused to focus.

"Jihyun," a low voice growled. I gasped and stumbled back.

"Jihyun..?"

I started to turn.

"Jihyun, it's me."

Whuh..?

Again, "Jihyun!"

"Jihyun! Snap out of it! Wake up!"

I forced my eyes open and there was Taemin's bright face hovering just inches above mine.

"Ah, Christ. You're not dead then." He sunk into the chair next to my bed.

"...What?"

"I walked in here and you were tossing and mumbling. I think you were dreaming. Here," he said, and pushed a cup of steaming hot chocolate into my hands.

"Hang on... Let me sit up." I rearranged myself and slowly came to my senses. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Um... Why are you-"

"Oh. I just came to say hi. And, I'm sorry. For having to leave yesterday."

Ah. That was right. Taemin left the coffee shop yesteray in a hurry. On the brightside, I'd got talking to a man with a for chicken because of this. Really kind, and friendly, but a little too fond of chicken.

"Don't sweat it, Taemin-ah," I smiled. He didn't reply but instead stared gloomily out of the window.

"How are you?"

"What? Oh. Yeah, I'm okay. You? "

"I'm fine," I grumbled, concerned abut Taemin's weird behaviour. I decided to be brave and threw a question at him.

"So... You didn't mention where you had to go so quickly yesterday." This caught him off guard. He stiffened.

"Er, what?" Still not looking at me.

"Yesterday, where did you go?" I hoped my voice sounded cheerful and inquisitive, not demanding or selfish.

He stood abruptly and crossed the room, looking out of the second window. I placed my cup on the bedside table and moved to stand beside him.

"I..." He didn't finish his sentence.

"What's the big deal?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?" His volume rose and he looked at me with sharp eyes.

"I- I... I'm just curious..." I protested, softening my own eyes in response.

"Yeah? What's the deal?  Do you need to know where I am every single second of every day?!"

"What? No! I-"

"Forget it." He stormed over to the chair to collect his jacket. "I'm leaving."

I scurried after him, reaching out to grab his wrist.

"Wait, Tae-"

"No." His voice was firm. "I'm sorry I even came," he muttered. And with that hewas gone, the door slammed behind him.

I was paralysed with shock, my mouth gaping, eyes wide. I couldn't quite believe what had just happened. Did Taemin just get mad at me? What did I do? I didn't push him that hard. He didn't need to get so upset.

A wave of disbelief washed over me as I crawled back into bed. I couldn't bear the thought of Taemin being mad at me. Especially as I hadn't meant to upset him. Usually I could reply on Taemin to be here and comfort me when I was sad. Now, I was by myself. I rolled onto my side and hugged my knees.

I stayed in that position for a while. It could have been an hour, it could have been fours hours. I had no grasp on time. I only stared blankly at the walls.

My phone beeped. I flew back into reality and my heart leapt.

Is it Taemin?

I wondered. I hoped.

Of course it wasn't Taemin. It was Miyoung trying to make plans with me. She was a close friend but I didn't feel like going out. I didn't feel like moving. Not after what had happened with Taemin. I flung my phone away from me. I just wanted to shut the world out. I wanted to sleep. But I couldn't. My thoughts wouldn't allow me this one luxury. Like having a swarm of angry bees inside my brain, they wouldn't shutup and leave me in peace.

I suspected a few more hours had passed by the change of light in the room. Lazily, I rolled over to look at my clock. Six pm? I'd spent the majority of the day in bed. I checked my phone. Still nothing. Taemin hadn't tried to contact me. Deciding to let him cool off rather than contact him myself, I let my feet carry me to the kitchen. I wasn't particularly hungry but I figured I should probably eat something since I hadn't eaten all day. Plus, it wasn't like I had anything better to do.

My limbs felt like all the energy had been drained from them. I wasn't up to cooking something intricate. If anything at all. With this in mind, I grabbed an unopened box of Pop Tarts from the cupboard. I flicked on the tv; a little background noice was nice. I bit into the first pop tart. Mmm. It tasted good. I took another bite and slowly started to feel how hungry I really was. Within a few minutes, I had demolished the whole box, without really thinking about what I was doing.

I groaned. That couldn't have been healthy. I stumbled over the the sink for a glass of water. Water would help. Water was refreshing. I soon gave up on filling the glass and just my hands under the tap. I splashed my face. The water was cool and calming. My whole body started to shake from the tears that begin falling from my eyes.

Stupid Jihyun. Stupidstupidstupid. Stop crying.

I shut off the tap and trudged back to my bedroom. As I crawled into bed, I pulled the covers right over my head. Hiding was best. Hiding from what? Nothing. Everything. I didn't know.

"...and I asked YooJin-ah what she'd told him and she said she had only said what Hyunbae Hyung had told her, which was that..."

I struggled to keep up with Miyoung as she chattered on in her usual flustered manner on our way to class. I couldn't really keep trap of what she was telling me.

"...but she was never actually there and- Jihyun? Jihyun-ah, are you listening to me?"

"Sorry, I'm just a little tired."

"Yaaaah, you should really sleep more you know. Always falling asleep during class. Mind you, I don't blame you most of the time."

I nodded as we took our seats in the classroom.

I'd had no contact with Taemin for three days now. Was he that mad at me? My concentration abilities had plunged. And they weren't that great to start with. Now that I was in maths, a subject I could never quite grasp anyway, the situation was not helped. Numbers swirled around my page and merged into weird, alien shapes. By the time I'd managed to calculate an answer, the question had escaped me and I had no idea of what I was supposed to be doing in the first place.

I couldn't go on like this. I was losing my mind. I had to speak to Taemin soon. I had to see him.

I had to.

Taemin POV

I stared blankly at the bowl of noodles infront of me. They were most likely cold by now. It didn't matter, I didn't have much of an appetite anyway. It had been three days since I'd spoken to Jihyun. I would've called her but she was bound to blow up and start yelling at me. Bound to be mad at me. I had freaked out over nothing. I could have just lied.

Goddammit, Taemin. Why didn't you just make something up.

I was kicking myself. I'd messed up. Why would she want to talk to me now? A hopeless case. A waste of space.

Well played, Taemin. Well played. You pushed away your only real friend.

The phone began to ring, loud and shrill. The water fled from my mouth. An uncomfortable lump rose in my throat. The hairs on my hairs prickled.

Not Jihyun. But somebody else. Someone darker, more dangerous.

Never Jihyun.

Jihyun POV

I'd survived another school day. Miyoung had driven me insane with her non-stop babbling. She couldn't help herself, any opportunity to gossip about anyone and everyone, she grabbed with both fists.

It was hard to stay focused at school, but at least it was easier to distract myself from my thoughts. At home I tried my hardest to busy myself, yet somehow, Taemin would always find a way to saunter back into my head. I'd managed to hide my anguish over the phone when speaking to my parents, they didn't need to know about the fallout. Besides, there was nothing they could do.

I stirred my ramen mindlessly, not eating it, watching it grow cold. I didn't feel like eating. Nor did I feel like studying. Or watching TV. What I really wanted to do was just curl up next to Taemin and have him my hair and jabber away at me like he usually would. But that couldn't happen. I simply made my way into bed and shut my eyes.

It wasn't that I felt like breaking down crying all the time. I wasn't upset in that way. It was more like a grey cloud lingering over my head, following me everywhere I went. Like a weight pushing down on my shoulders, forcing my actions to slow down. Like my heart was being suffocated. Like a constant shrouding of guilt and regret. I felt helpless and weighed down. In a strange nonsensical way, lying in bed eased some of the weight, almost as if the bed itself took on some of the imaginary mass.

I'd stayed strong all day and now I allowed myself to quietly crumple behind the walls. I allowed my tears to fall freely and gently sobbed into my pillow.

Silent and alone, I lay.

Author's Note

So! I included Taemin's point of view! I figured I should probably explain how he felt and that he wasn't mad at Jihyun, just concealing something... Ooooh, things are about to get veeeerryy interesting^^