Hyukjae knew coming to his school after being home-tutored for over a month wasn’t a good idea, seeing how all eyes were on him the moment he arrived. But there were some things that needed to be settled. And he couldn’t find any day better than this clear, sunny Monday. Some of the students would greet him as he made his way into the main building, and there were some who just timidly watched from the side, silently wondering why the almighty Lee Hyukjae was at school on a bizarre day.

“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t ing talk back to me!”

Hyukjae stopped in his track as he heard a voice, a quite familiar voice that he was sure he'd heard before. Taking a peek into the male washroom he was about to walk past, he could see Jang Wooyoung, one of the school hooligans cornering a wounded freshman.

“Huh,” Hyukjae snorted. “Look who’s here.”

He then kicked the door open and grabbed Wooyoung by his collar, before slamming him hard against the wall. The surprised freshman quickly took the chance to get away, afraid of getting involved in their dangerous ‘argument.’

“Nice to see you buddy,” Hyukjae said in a sarcastic tone. “You sure have a lot of free time.”

“The ?” Wooyoung hissed. “I thought you left school!”

“Well, yeah, but I thought some of you guys would miss me, especially you.”

“ you.”

“ you too, you son of a ,” Hyukjae scoffed. “Don’t think you can get away after what you did to me.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Yeah, except for lying to the teachers that I joined you selling drugs and then my dad found out and I was grounded for a month. All thanks to you.”

“Dude that happened like decades ago!”

“Two months ago, actually,” Hyukjae tightened his grip on the latter, before pulling him forward and slammed him to the wall again.

Wooyoung winced in pain, but apparently no one had the guts to help stop the fight if Lee Hyukjae was involved.

“So as a payback, why don’t you strip and stand in the middle of the hallway? The kids would love to see it.”

“W-what?”

“Strip,” Hyukjae said sternly, and he could see how the so-called school heartthrob in front of him nervously gulping down his saliva. Oh, what an amusing sight. This was what he wanted to see.

“S-spare me this once please,” Wooyoung begged, clasping his hands together in a desperate attempt to change Hyukjae’s mind. “I’ll…I’ll do anything for you. I promise.”

“Oh,” Hyukjae quirked an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“A-anything! And…and I’ll tell you something interesting.”

“What else is more interesting than your hilarious face right now?”

“Your cousin came here before when you weren’t around.”

Hyukjae frowned. His cousin? As in, his y cousin Gyuri?

“Why the hell would my cousin be here? She’s not even in Korea. Stop lying.”

“I’m serious! It was a guy. I saw him myself, he was asking the school clerk about you!”

A guy? Hyukjae’s frown deepened. Now that would be weird. The only cousin he was close to would be Gyuri, and only Gyuri. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he had other cousins aside from her.

He finally released Wooyoung, who wasted no time and stormed out of the washroom as fast as he could. Was he really telling the truth?

“No,” Hyukjae shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

_________________________

“We’re here.”

Hyukjae glanced at Donghae beside him, before taking a proper look at his surrounding through the car window. They had finally arrived at the graveyard where Yunho was buried.

Buried for eternity.

Hyukjae gripped on the door handle, trying to muster what it would take to get out and face the reality he'd been trying to avoid. Come on, he told himself, You can do this. He inhaled deeply before finally getting out of the car, hesitantly stepping forward with Donghae trailing closely behind him. No one was around, and the gloomy weather somehow gave him an eerie feeling.

He'd never liked going to the cemetery. It’d always remind him of the day his mother died, but he wanted to at least pay Yunho a visit once. They'd been friends for so many years after all.

“Donghae?” Hyukjae threw a glance behind him, trying to make sure that the latter was still there.

“Still here, don’t worry.”

“I hate graveyards,” Hyukjae admitted. He was too tired to even deny it now.

“I can see that.”

After searching for about 10 minutes, they finally arrived in front of Yunho’s grave, situated right at the center of the graveyard. Hyukjae somehow felt guilty for avoiding Yunho’s parents, but he didn’t have the courage to meet them. He was afraid. He didn’t want to see them in tears. He wasn’t strong enough to do that.

“,” Hyukjae clutched his stomach, starting to feel nauseous when the images of his dead mother flashed through his mind. He quickly searched for Donghae, and god knows how relieved he was when he found him standing a few steps away behind.

“Dong-“ Hyukjae hastily took one step forward, but it was a wrong move. His knees suddenly weakened, and he almost fell to the ground, but Donghae was quick to catch him.

“Hey, careful.”

“I…I don’t feel good,” Hyukjae mumbled. He could feel Donghae’s hold around him tightened, but he couldn’t push him away. If Donghae were to