Sojin's POV

 

Three signals rang before he picked up.

 

"Hello?" his familiar voice answered from the other side of the line.

 

"Hi. It's me. Sojin", I said, feeling both happy and relieved to hear his voice again.

 

"Oh, Sojin", he said.

 

I furrowed my brow and gazed out the window. He sounded more troubled than happy to hear from me.

 

"I just wanted to call to hear how you are doing", I said, biting my lip.

 

"I'm just fine", he said quickly. "Are you doing okay?"

 

I frowned at the quick change of topic. "I'm doing fine. Was your first day of school good?" 

 

"Like any other day. Honestly, Sojin, there's nothing you have to worry about", he replied, on the verge of sounding annoyed.

 

"I was just asking", I mumbled.

 

He sighed and I could almost see how he buried his face in his hand. Something was clearly not okay, but I couldn't force him into telling me when he was miles away.

 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just been a long day and I'm tired, that's all", he explained.

 

But it sounded wrong in my ears. Every word her told me sounded weird. But I pretended to not notice.

 

"Okay", I said instead. 

 

"Right. So you made it through today without getting hospitalized?" he joked.

 

"Yes, I did actually. Peniel and Ilhoon walked me to class", I retorted, a smile breaking through my frown.

 

"That's nice to hear. Tell them I said hi when you see them tomorrow", he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

 

Once we hung up, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Something had definitely happened, but he refused to tell me what it was. But I was going to find out what it was, one way or another. After all he'd done for me, it was the least I could do for him.

 

Minhyuk's POV

 

It was only temporarily. I would soon make some new friends, and then there would be nothing to worry about. That was why I didn't tell Sojin that my first day had been horrible. She shouldn't have to worry about me when she had to get through her own life. 

 

Sojin's POV

 

The weeks passed, and Minhyuk kept on sounding wrong everytime we spoke over the phone. Instead of becoming better, it seemed to just become worse. And it was killing me to not being able to help him. So in the end, I decided to take the matter in my own hands.