-- Back to Hyemi's POV.

School was stressful on the first day back. For every class I entered, homework and assignments happily greeted me. I struggled to understand the information that was written on the whiteboard and my notebook was filled with scribbled words as I hurriedly jotted notes down. I just sat there and stared blankly at the teacher, not understanding the material being spoken about. 

After surviving at least half a day of cluelessness and boredom, the bell finally rang for lunch. Exo-K and I carried our foodtray and sat on a table in the cafeteria. 

"Hey, has anyone seen Sehun?" Kai asked out of the blue. Everyone looked at each other questioningly. 

Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him at all since school started. 

"Yeah, I did," Baekhyun said. “I spoke to him just before. He said he wasn't hungry and just decided to go to the library."

"Why?" Chanyeol asked. 

"I just told you. Because he wasn't hungry. Listen carefully next time." 

"I heard you! I meant was there anything wrong when you guys talked?" he cleared up.

"Well, he did seem a little down. It didn't look like he wanted to talk," Baekhyun observed.

"What happened?" I curiously asked. 

"I don't really know. He walked away before I could ask. But I think it had something to do with his family. His dad dropped him off to school this morning and I noticed that Sehun looked angry when he got out of the car."

"Oh, that’s why," they chorused with a frown.  

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked out of curiosity again. 

"You don't know? Sehun has a complicated relationship with his father. They don't get along," Kai started to explain, frowning.

"Oh, really?" my brows rose.

"Mr Oh is really strict. If Sehun makes a tiny slip or mistake, he'd get scolded heavily. They fight about almost everything.”

"Really? I didn’t know that…"

"Yeah. There was this one time when they had a huge fight and Sehun asked me if he could stay at my place for a few days. The look on his face was very serious. It scared me," Kai shared.

"It was that bad?" I looked at him in disbelief.

"He never asked me to stay at my place again after that, but I’m sure their arguments didn’t stop."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Mrs Oh would sometimes call one of us to know if he was staying at our place because he never returned to his own house," Kai replied.

"He runs away?!" my eyes widened in surprise.

That doesn’t sound like something Sehun would do.

"But everything’s been going well these past couple of weeks. Sehun hasn’t gotten into trouble up until now." 

"I'm not sure when it started,” Baekhyun continued. “Sehun and his dad used to be very close when Sehun was young. I guess he got busier with work after a while. Mr Oh’s a lawyer, by the way."

That explains why Sehun is smart. Genius runs in the family.

"And if you’re wondering where Sehun got his good looks from, it’s his mom. She’s gorgeous. Like, oh my god, truly," Kai unknowingly lifted a hand as he described her beauty.

"You’re talking about my mother?"

Our heads immediately whipped in the direction of Sehun’s voice. He was a few steps away from our table, an apple held in one hand.

"Sehun! Where have you been?" I asked him. 

"Just wanted to grab a quick lunch," he tossed the apple in the air as he approached us, giving Kai a glare in the process.

"Do you want to join us?" I offered.

"No. I just came over to tell you guys that I can’t hang out after school. I’ll be…busy," he spoke, not meeting our eyes. 

The boys exchanged worried glances.

"Oh. So that means you won’t be dropping by Hyemi’s store after you’re done?" Chanyeol asked. 

"No, probably not," Sehun responded. They stole a quick glance at me.

"Oh, that’s okay I guess," I awkwardly laughed. "Just do what you need to do."

"Anyway, see you later," Sehun said before walking off. My eyes didn’t leave him until he completely left the cafeteria. 

"There’s definitely something wrong," Baekhyun observed.

"Should we go make sure he’s okay?" Kai asked in concern.

"We have a class with him later on so we’ll ask him then," Chanyeol suggested.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any more classes with Sehun for the rest of the day. 

Soon, the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch. We made our way to our lockers and prepared for the next period. Again, I was stuck in a lesson with a blank mind. I didn’t make an effort to concentrate on my History teacher talking half way through and just leaned back on my chair, uninterested. 

Coincidentally, just as I turned my head towards the open door of the room, I caught Sehun walk by. He noticed me, but didn’t react as he casually looked straight ahead like we didn’t just make eye-contact. He was carrying nothing, clearly choosing to be somewhere else instead of his own classroom.

Sighing, I rested my chin on my palm and stared at the row of thin, straight lines on my notebook.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I secretly took it out and read the message I had just received:

Bored?  -- Sehun

My brows rose at his one worded text, surprised that he would even send me one. I knew he just pretended that he didn’t see me.

Very. Where are you going?  -- Hyemi

On my way to the library. Meet me there?  -- Sehun

"Hyemi!" teacher suddenly shouted my name, causing me to shoot my head up. "Are you texting in my class?!"

"U-um, no," I slowly hid my phone under my desk.

“Hand it over! I’m confiscating it and you will get it back at the end of the day!” she stated, gesturing me to surrender the device.

I groaned on the inside as I stood up, walking to the front to place my phone on her desk. There goes my chance in getting permission to go to the library...

♦ ♦ ♦

School finally ended and I met Exo by the school gates. As expected, a certain someone was already missing. Rather than going straight to my bubble tea store with them, I made my way to the library to borrow books so that I could begin my assignments tonight.

I explored the aisles of the library for specific books, occasionally selecting one from the shelf and flipping through the pages. I stopped in my tracks when I reached one end of the aisle. A table was right across from it.

On that table was no other than Oh Sehun...sleeping.