Once the bell rung, indicating their recess, Woohyun got dragged by a restless Myungsoo and Hoya to the school’s backyard.

            “I never knew the yard belongs to the school,” Woohyun blinked in surprise as he looked around the grassy area.

            “Just for a change in atmosphere,” Hoya smiled. “I heard you’ve been visiting the rooftop lately. I don’t want to hear any news of a student jumping off the roof anytime near.”

Woohyun let out a soft laugh. “Please. The only time I flew off the roof was only that time when you two bullied me.”

Woohyun laughed more when Myungsoo and Hoya got choked on their food. Gently patting Hoya’s back, he offered the latter his drink.

            “What about me?” Myungsoo whined—wait, did he whine?

            “I hope you haven’t forgotten that time when you forced me to sit next to Sunggyu,” Woohyun leered at him. Myungsoo swallowed thickly.

            “Hey, at least on the bright side, you’re nowhere near awkward around Sunggyu anymore!” Myungsoo let out an awkward chuckle. Woohyun shook his head with a sigh.

            “I’m really confused, Myungsoo… You know about me and Sunggyu,” Woohyun motioned, indicating the whole ‘future’ thing. Myungsoo nodded while Hoya glanced from the corner of his eyes.

            “Then what’s so bad about it?” Myungsoo blinked.

            “Sungjong likes Sunggyu, that’s what,” Woohyun sighed heavily. He raised an eyebrow when Hoya got choked again.

            “What’s wrong?” Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. Hoya cleared his throat and shook his head.

            “N-nothing. How did you—ehm—know that Sungjong likes… Sunggyu..?” Hoya asked. Woohyun huffed and chewed on his food.

            “He told me about it,” Woohyun mumbled. “Now what am I supposed to do? I can’t just steal Sunggyu away from Sungjong. That’s not right.”

‘Especially after hearing Sungyeol’s story…’ Woohyun thought sadly.

            “Don’t talk when your mouth is full,” Hoya frowned. “So he told you, eh…”

‘But why did he—‘ Hoya inwardly questioned himself, trying to remember the conversation he had with Sungjong.

The three of them continued eating their meal in silence, occasionally stealing glances at one another. It kept going that way until Myungsoo suddenly burst out into laughter that the other two followed suit.

            “What’s bothering you lately?” Myungsoo smiled.

Woohyun blinked at him. “Me?”

            “Don’t even try to mask it up. It’s quite visible in our eyes,” Myungsoo chuckled, Hoya nodded along.

            “We don’t know what’s going on between you, Sunggyu and Sungjong, but to be honest, isn’t it better if you resolve things between the three of you as soon as possible?” Hoya said after he swallowed his food down. “Before it’s too late and they’re out of your reach…”

Woohyun swallowed thickly and put down his food.

            “Do you know… About Sunggyu, Sungjong and Sungyeol before?” Woohyun asked slowly. Myungsoo and Hoya exchanged a look.

            “Well… As far as I know the Sung-trio are—were close friends before. I mean, they’re still friends, but it’s just… How to explain this?” Myungsoo frowned.

            “The three of them used to be attached at the hips,” Hoya finished. “I’m not sure what happened, but until about the time you showed up, Sungyeol was a loner. He somehow pushed away everyone from his side—“

Woohyun blinked in surprise. “Wait. It was not Sungjong who distanced himself from everyone?”

            “You think of it that way because the only time you see him is when he’s with Sunggyu,” Hoya chuckled. “Sungjong is everyone’s friends, and he’s quite the chatterbox. It would be a suicide mission for him to distance himself from his social life.”

            “True,” Myungsoo piped up with a small grin. “In fact, Sungjong is one of the few people who managed to get most seniors and juniors’ contact numbers.”

A frown appeared on Woohyun’s feature. Something’s wrong. Something’s contradicting each other, but he couldn’t really lay a finger on it. Placing a palm against the ground, Woohyun pushed himself up.

            “Do you by any chance know where Sungjong is?”

Both Hoya and Myungsoo shared a knowing look.

.

.

He paced along the seemingly endless hallway as he looked for a certain petite male. Thoughts and doubts started filling his mind, contrasting each other. Woohyun almost could see the gears in his head turning.

“I tried to act normal around him, until one day Sungjong told me that it doesn’t work that way.”

Woohyun furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to recall the conversation with Sungyeol earlier. The latter hinted that Sungjong distanced himself from him after Sungyeol stumbled upon Sungjong’s past.

“I thought I was going to die that day.”

Why, though? Woohyun assumed that Sungyeol was shocked—he was terrified and probably surprised to find his close friend to be in that state.

“All he ever asked for was attention. All he ever asked for was to be loved.”

He shut his eyes tight as different thoughts started to jumble up inside his mind. There was something peculiar, but he’s missing a part—the main piece of the puzzle.

Woohyun let out a gasp as he halted in his steps when a certain petite boy almost crashed into him.

            “Jesus—Woohyun, can’t you announce your arrival the next time you come?” Sungjong frowned as he held a hand against his chest. He could almost feel his heart leaping out of its cage.

            “I need to talk to you.”

Sungjong blinked and raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh, sure. Go ahead and say it.”

Woohyun shook his head as he peeked into the classroom Sungjong just came out from. A few students could be seen chatting inside. “Not here. It’s a bit private.” He couldn’t risk it.

Sungjong looked at Woohyun skeptically before he slowly nodded and reached to grab the older male’s wrist.

            “Follow me then.”

.

.

Sungjong tugged at Woohyun’s wrist dragging the other male with him towards the stairways. Woohyun almost laughed at the thought of the two of them heading towards the rooftop.

‘There ought to be something about this rooftop,’ Woohyun shook his head at the thought.

The whole journey towards the so-called sanctuary was plainly awkward. No one spoke a word; neither threw any glances towards each other. Only when they reached their destination that Sungjong finally turned to face the other male.

            “So, what is it that you want to talk about?” He crossed his arms over his chest, eyes fixated at the other. Woohyun almost gulped at the thickness of the atmosphere surrounding the two.

            “Uh, this is about Sungyeol,” Woohyun noticed the way Sungjong flinched slightly at the mention of him.

            “What about him?”

            “We kind of had a heart to heart talk,” Woohyun started cautiously, eyes scanning for any movement or hints made by the other. “And he mentioned something about him being close with Sunggyu and you before.”

Sungjong nodded before he turned to approach the railings, Woohyun followed after him slowly. If he didn’t know him any better Woohyun would say that Sungjong was somehow avoiding his gaze.

            “The three of us were best friends before,” Sungjong muttered, leaning his arms against the railings.

            “You were, until the incident happened,” Woohyun said softly, not wanting to scare the other away from the sensitive issue. Sungjong let out a weak chuckle.

            “He even told you about that? Wow, he must’ve trusted you so much,” Sungjong muttered as he sent a bitter smile towards the other. Woohyun’s face confronted to one between pity and guilt.

            “I’m sorry—I was…” Woohyun trailed off as he tried to find the right word. Curious? Confused? How to word it?

            “It’s okay, I understand,” Sungjong sighed. “You’re somehow close to us anyway, so I guess you sensed the obvious discomfort.”

Woohyun nodded, “Yeah. I couldn’t help but worry over both you and Sungyeol.”

            “Mhm. It’s a bit awkward after what happened,” Sungjong stared ahead, eyes fixated on the somehow bright blue sky contrasting the vibe of their conversation. “Then again however hard I tried, Sungyeol just won’t open up to me ever again.”

Woohyun blinked before he flashed the other a confused look. Sungjong let out another sigh as his grips on the railings tightened, his knuckles turning white.

            “He suddenly cut out all connections with us. He avoided both Sunggyu and I. He walked around the campus alone, preferring to be left with no one by his side,” Sungjong said, his words trailed off into a whisper.

            “Sungyeol did..?” Woohyun was pretty much lost now, but concern masked his confusion well. Sungjong nodded.

            “It was my fault too, though. I shouldn’t have been too harsh on him,” Sungjong smiled sadly. “I shouldn’t have butted into his family matters…”

What?

            “… But trust me, I did it to help him,” Sungjong’s voice started to crack by this point. Woohyun glanced down and noticed his hands starting to tremble. “We were worried. He was too scared. His mother did nothing but stay mum. His father broke him, Woohyun. He ruined him.”

Hold on—What?

            “I told him to report his father to the authority, yet he refused to do so. Sungyeol said he would be as good as dead if his father manages to bail out of prison. But I—I couldn’t stand seeing the bruises on his arms and all—So I—“

            “You reported to the authorities,” Woohyun finished Sungjong’s sentence for him, acquiring a small nod from the other male. It took a few seconds for Woohyun to finally piece them up together.

The way Sungyeol hesitated before he opened his mouth, the way Sungyeol seemed to be in deep thought before he started his story.

“All he ever asked for was attention. All he ever asked for was to be loved.”

Sungyeol started the story with those sentences. He was describing someone and Woohyun assumed and reached the conclusion that he was talking about Sungjong.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking about.”

No—Sungyeol was talking about himself. He was telling his own story. And it wasn’t exactly the nicest one either. Even the thought of it made Woohyun cringe, but then again he remembered what Sungyeol said previously.

“I thought maybe you could help him too…”

He was asking for help. Sungyeol needed him, for Woohyun does not know what. Woohyun’s eyes darted from one side to another as he tried to think of any possible reason. Any possible thing that might happen. The worst scenario—Woohyun froze.

            “Sungjong, you reported Sungyeol’s father, didn’t you?” Woohyun asked tentatively, his hands clenching into fists.

            “I did,” Sungjong mumbled.

            “Do you know what happened to him?”

            “They took him away. From what I know, he was supposed to be sentenced for imprisonment,” Sungjong replied weakly.

            “Supposed to be?”

            “I heard his trial was moved to next month or something—he was still in police custody the last time I heard from Sungyeol’s mother, though,” Sungjong tentatively glanced at Woohyun. He wasn’t expecting to see Woohyun looking very pale, as if blood had been drained out completely of his face.

Sungjong called out his name as Woohyun broke into a sprint before he quickly caught up to him. He was beyond confused when Woohyun grasped onto his hand tightly.

            “Sungjong, you know where Sungyeol resides, right?”

A tremor of fear went through him. Sungjong quickly nodded when he took notice of Woohyun’s trembling hand.

            “He’s staying with his mother. From what I know, they haven’t moved yet,” Sungjong said with furrowed eyebrows.

            “They haven’t moved—For the love of God,” Woohyun felt like slapping himself. “Please show me the way—I’m begging you, Sungjong.”

            “Woohyun, calm down and explain what’s going on,” Sungjong squeezed on Woohyun’s hand, trying to slow the other down from frantically pacing through the hallway.

Woohyun turned to Sungjong, a broken look somehow made its way to his face. He shook his head and muttered a soft “You won’t believe me” despite the reassuring squeeze Sungjong gave him.

            “Then convince me. Make me believe,” Sungjong frowned. Woohyun let out a sigh of defeat.

            “This would sound really weird, but Sungyeol is in danger. His father must’ve bailed out or something—Sungjong, we really don’t have time for this—“ Woohyun gasped as he felt a painful sensation against his stomach, successfully knocking the air out of him momentarily.

It was too much, everything hurt. Woohyun could see the panic in Sungjong’s eyes as he sank onto the ground, clutching onto his side with a pained groan escaping his lips.

            “Sungjong? Woohyun? What’s wrong?” A familiar voice reached his ears. Woohyun couldn’t even bring his head up to check on who it was.

            “I don’t know—He suddenly just dropped down onto the ground!” Sungjong was visibly panicking by this moment.

            “Did you do anything to him?” Another voice. Those two, could it be?

            “For love’s sake, Myungsoo, I’ve told you he just dropped down by himself!”

            “What are you guys doing here—Woohyun? Why are you on the ground?”

            “Dongwoo! I swear I didn’t do anything, he just suddenly fell down—“

            “I’m okay, really,” Woohyun let out a weak grunt as he lifted his head and his heart almost stopped beating when he met Kim Sunggyu’s eyes filled with worry.

‘Why are these people are all here?’

            “Woohyun, what you said earlier—“

            “We… don’t have much time…” Woohyun croaked out, cutting off Sungjong’s words. Tears started to prick his eyes as the pain started to be too overwhelming.

“You don’t know me. At least not the real me.”

Woohyun could only pray for a certain Lee Sungyeol to not do anything stupid.