Sehun rolled his eyes when for the 10th time in the past minute something puffed near his ear.

“Can you please stop?” he asked “It’s unbelievably annoying”

“Jeez, calm down” Dara giggled and came back to blowing bubbles with the bubble wand she was dipping in the plastic case she got from Jiyong this morning “It’s not my fault that the wind blows in your direction. Besides what is wrong with bubbles? They make less harm than your smoke”

Sehun rolled his eyes again.

The morning meetings at the roof became their unofficial tradition since the day Dara ran into him here for the second time. They were chatting about random stuff and it was not like Sehun minded.

At first it was strange for him since he liked his morning cigarette breaks alone. Basically being alone was the reason why he kept doing that. Every day, minus winter season, after the first bell rang he was skipping the first 10 minutes of his first class to enjoy the cigarette at the roof alone.

The only person who knew where to find him was Luhan - and now also Dara, who was here every day as well.

At first he wondered why Dara seemed to not care about being late for the first classes because of that but he quickly detected that she is more similar to her rebellious step-brother than he thought.

Basically he also knew that because firstly, she was showing it often and secondly, Luhan loved to talk about her. Sehun knew more about Dara then she probably assumed.

“So, are you dating Luhan or not?” he suddenly asked, while raising his cigarette back to his mouth. Dara still kept on blowing bubbles.

“I don’t know” she answered “For sure not officially”

“And what are you waiting for?” he raised his eyebrow, ignoring the odd feeling of relief he felt “You like him, he likes you, what’s the deal?”

“You don’t have any experience in relationships, do you?” she asked while looking at him. With that she shrugged her shoulders and came back to her bubbles.

“You have to know the person before you will start dating, simple” she continued “My previous relationship lasted long because I was patient enough to get to know the person I was attracted to”

Sehun frowned.

“So why it’s previous, not present?”

“Dunno” Dara shrugged her shoulders again “We just stopped loving each other I think. We became more friends than lovers so we decided to end it”

“Wow” Sehun chuckled “Mature decision and no hearts broken” after hearing that she grimaced and he caught that look immediately “Right?”

“Not really” Dara answered “I had a broken heart once…I think. Now when I think about that it doesn’t matter. But that was other guy, not my ex-boyfriend”

Sehun only nodded, encouraging her to continue. Dara signed and blew another dozen of bubbles.

“He was Jiyong’s informal sensei in Japan, kick-boxing teacher, 5 years older than us. Of course he thought of me as a kid and didn’t take my confession seriously” she chuckled “Later I was getting older and he tried to date me but I was already with Shou, my ex-boyfriend so…And besides he turned out to be kind of weird”

“Oh come on” Sehun rolled his eyes “You were young. It doesn’t count as a broken heart”

“It’s not a matter of age” Dara suddenly became serious “It’s a matter of things you feel and how they affect you”

Sehun wanted to answer but he quickly detected that it was another time when Dara left him speechless because she was right. There was no argument that could fight her in that moment.

He looked away from her and she grinned, knowing well that she won. Again.

Suddenly the doors opened with a big smash. Sehun was not surprised since for the past few days he was able to see as odd people here as Baekhyun or Chaerin but somehow he was really not expecting him. Especially now.

Both him and Dara turned from the railing to see panting Luhan.

“Sehun-ah!” he cried and then stopped, his eyes widening “Dara? What are you doing here?” he looked between the two “Never mind, I’m glad you’re here, I was about to text you...We have a problem with Jongdae!”

“What happened?” Sehun immediately straighten up, feeling the alarming atmosphere around.

“He’s in a hospital!” Luhan exclaimed “He took the pills his mother’s taking for depression or something and he overdosed!” 

Sehun paled and Dara’s eyes widened as finally the whole three ran downstairs, following Luhan to the main entrance.

They saw Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, both crying and Joonmyun, Jongdae’s older brother, looking worried and confused in the same time.

“Joonmyun-sshi!” Luhan cried while stopping in front of him “We’re going to the hospital with you!”

“What hospital?”

Everybody turned around to see Yongguk and Chaerin, entering the school and standing in front of the group, with the puzzled looks on their faces.

Sehun just sighed, complaining quietly about the amazing timing the couple had.

“CL-roo!” Dara ran to Chaerin, hugging her tightly “Jongdae’s in a hospital!”

“What?!” Chaerin and Yongguk both exclaimed, and Joonmyun just covered his face.

“Shh!” Sehun raised his forefinger to his mouth “There’s no need for the whole school to know!”

Yongguk only nodded, looking around his terrified schoolmates.

“He’s right” he said and then looked at Joonmyun “Can we help him somehow?”

“Just try to keep it a secret, please” Joonmyun bowed lightly “I just wanted to inform his closest friends but now-”

“Yeah, right now we would only need Baekhy-“ Sehun interupted, his voice sarcastic when everyone turned to the stairs, seeing Baekhyun there.

“Hi guys, sorry for being the here” he said while looking with the raised eyebrow at the unusual group below him “But the teacher’s wondering why Kyungsoo’s gone for so long and told me to check up on him…”

Luhan and Dara’s eyes widened, Chaerin and Yongguk exchanged the looks, Kyungsoo cried even harder and Sehun face-palmed. This could not be happening right now.

Suddenly everyone heard Chanyeol’s voice, as he ran few stairs and grabbed Baekhyun’s collar.

“You ing bastard, it’s all your fault!” he roared “It’s because of you!”

“What?!” Baekhyun only blinked his eyes, ignoring the pain around his neck and observing how Yongguk and Sehun took Chanyeol’s arms to stop him.

“Shut up!” Yongguk exclaimed while looking at the taller boy, his voice commanding.

“Jongdae’s in a hospital, you dumb !” Chanyeol snarled again, completely ignoring screams from the others telling him to end it “He wanted to commit a suicide!”

“We don’t know that yet!” Sehun gritted his teeth, tightening his grip around Chanyeol’s arms more.

But it was too late already.

Baekhyun paled and his whole body started to shake.

“Oh ” Luhan covered his mouth, looking at the boy before his eyes.

“Baekhyun-sshi” Joonmyun took a step forward “Please do not take these words personally…”

Baekhyun looked at him, his eyes widened and teary.

Then he shoved past the group, running to the exit.

“” Chaerin hissed and went after him “Bacon! Bacon, wait!”

She caught him in the middle of the boulevard, standing before him to make him stop.

“Bacon, listen…” she began, while raising her hands and looking at him. He looked utterly broken, close to being almost psychotic in that moment.

He was looking around, his eyes scanning everything while breathing heavily.

“Bacon” Chaerin took a step forward “Don’t listen to Chanyeol, we have no idea what-“

“Shut up!” he screamed and looked at her with teary eyes “Shut the up! I don’t need your pity!”

“What?!” Chaerin frowned.

“Yeah, you heard me” he said, this time his voice stable but the tears started to fall from his eyes “You think I don’t know what you’re doing? Being all nice and friendly all of the sudden? I may not be Kyungsoo but I’m not dumb!”

“What the are you taking about?!” Chaerin exclaimed “What was that supposed to mean?!”

“Lee Chaerin, the girlfriend of Bang all-mighty Yongguk, will show everyone how all-mighty she is as well by befriending the most miserable guy in school” he chuckled, his voice broken “Well played”

Chaerin’s eyes widened as she stood frozen to her spot, looking at the boy with pure shock. He was mad and crying, feeling the whole world crushing down on him right now. Finally she took a deep breath, recognizing his current state.

“Ok, I get it, you’re angry now” she cleared “You need to get rid of your emotions, cool, I can take it”

“I am not!” he roared again “You have no ing idea what I am going through right now! Don’t act like you care and like you can relat-”

SLAP

Baekhyun’s face turned in a matter of one second, his profile visible and red. Chaerin’s hand was still raised, as she just slapped Byun Baekhyun. Across his cheek. Hard.

“Don’t act like you know me” she simply said “And for the record - I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there” his visible eye widened and she continued “As for this unexpected friendship we have you are partly right. I felt kind of pitiful but later I saw that maybe you’re not as bad as I always thought”

Baekhyun finally faced her, still crying. Chaerin crossed her arms.

“Now get a grip of yourself. We’re going to see Jongdae”

“I can’t” Baekhyun shook his head “I cannot face him”

With that he fell on his knees, covering face with his hands and crying loudly. Chaerin looked at him for a moment, not sure what to do. Finally she took a seat on the ground next to him.

“What are you doing?” he sobbed, looking at her for a moment. Chaerin shrugged her shoulders.

“Waiting”

Baekhyun cried for one more minute before he began to calm down. Chaerin managed to write Yongguk to tell him they’re going to see Jongdae together with Baekhyun, to what he happily agreed, thinking of it as a better plan than going to class.

She looked at the main entrance to see Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Sehun, Jongdae’s older brother, Luhan and Dara. She sensed she was not the only one with the idea of visiting a hospital.

“Are you sure you want to skip class?” Joonmyun asked, looking down at Kyungsoo.

“It’s important but not as much as Jongdae now” Kyungsoo smiled weakly to what Joonmyun only nodded, pointing at his car.

Kyungsoo called Chanyeol, who was still fuming with anger, and Sehun, so they ran up to them.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Dara asked, while looking up at Luhan. He stopped before her and squeezed her shoulders.

“I’d love to, but go back to class” he smiled “Also I don’t want to overwhelm you with that, you know” he pointed with his eyes at his friends, gathered around Joonmyun’s car. Dara smiled and nodded.

“Xiao Lu, move!