**2**

 

 

A few weeks had passed ever since Luhan was called to the faculty room, our relationship with my classmates and I to him had greatly changed.

 

He would still talk to us but only if he needed to. If he does talk to us, his replies were fast and straight to the point as if he was scared of us.

 

Luhan doesn't hang out with us anymore, especially at lunch when all of us would eat together.

 

Now, he's always by himself and at lunch he just stays by the window and eats a biscuit or two. He was beginning to get pale and thin and now he has eye bags on his eyes that was noticed by everyone.

 

The only good thing though is that his grades were going up.

 

My classmates and I were getting worried but we didn't show him that. He looked so fragile all the time and we were afraid that once we do something wrong he might break down.

 

All of us tried to ask him what's wrong but he would only give us a weird answer and it was the same. "I'm already blind. I can't see the bright side anymore."

 

We got scared at his answer at some point. But then we realized that maybe he was just an emotional boy who wanted attention and is going through a rebellious streak.

 

In the end, we stopped giving efforts to talk to him and carried on with our lives.

 

But deep inside of me, I knew something was wrong. But just like what we all decided, we wouldn't talk to him unless he doesn't stop from being an attention seeker.

 

 

****

 

 

"Hey Sehun, can you accompany me to the canteen?" Tao asked me.

 

Tao and I were currently best friends, seeing that Luhan keeps on isolating himself from us.

 

"Why is Luhan acting this way?" He asked me.

 

"Even though the both of us share everything with each other, for once, I don't know what's going on inside that head of his."

 

Tao became silent for a while, "You know... I found cut marks on his ankle..." He said slowly.

 

I stopped walking, "Cut marks? What do you mean?"

 

Tao looked hesitant but he continued to talk, "You know, what those emo people do when they're feeling emo-ish."

 

I suddenly felt uncomfortable. "Why would Luhan cut himself? Is his life that bad already? Is it because of us and the way that we're treating him? We weren't the ones at fault! We were just giving him space!"

 

I regained my composure and told Tao coolly, "Don't worry Tao. I bet he's just doing it to gain attention from us."

 

I probably shouldn't have judged Luhan right away. But with the way he was treating me these days, I have every right to judge him and get mad.

 

 

***

 

 

When Tao and I decided to go back to the classroom we were welcomed by a lot of shouting.

 

"Luhan, why can't you just stop being an attention seeker for once and act like a man!" Jongin shouted at him. He was fuming by the looks of the veins in his neck.

 

"Now that you mentioned it Jongin, maybe he really isn't a man. Maybe he really is gay!" Jongdae snobbily said. He was always the one who never liked Luhan.

 

I was about to stop them but Tao held me back. He shook his head and mouthed the words, "Just watch."

 

Minseok, a close friend of Luhan decided to stop the fight for a while. "C'mon guys, let's not team up against Luhan, okay? Maybe he's just having a bad day." He tried to reason out but my classmates weren't getting any of it.

 

"A bad day? He's been acting like an attention seeker for a few weeks now! And it's getting really annoying!" Yixing, who was always known for being kind and self-composed, suddenly spoke up, surprising us and even himself.

 

"Yixing is right. Luhan, you're not the only one who has problems okay? Stop being selfish for once." Kyungsoo, who was known as one of the peacemakers in our classroom said.

 

"Guys! Stop it!" Baekhyun, one of Luhan's close friends suddenly shouted, "Can't we just stop judging Luhan and trust him on this? It's his problem not ours!"

 

He was about to continue talking but then Luhan said in a calm voice, "I don't trust you."

 

The people in the room were shocked and Baekhyun was dumbfounded, "Luhan? What are you talking about?"

 

"You don't trust Baekhyun? Hah! Don't worry because we don't trust you too!" Chanyeol, who was Baekhyun's best friend shouted.

 

I wanted to run up to Luhan and tell everyone to go away. I wanted to hug him and tell him that everything will be okay. But Tao was still holding my arm, we have the same height but since he was more muscular than me, I can't do anything else except to watch.

 

Everyone became quiet once Chanyeol said that. It wasn't true at all. Not one bit. Luhan is the most trustworthy person in our class. If you have a secret to tell, you can always tell him and it will never go out from his mouth. I can tell that Chanyeol wanted to say sorry and take it back but then Luhan talked first.

 

"I know. That's why I don't trust you." His voice was calm yet lifeless. He packed up his bag and went outside the classroom.

 

Luhan never returned after that.

 

 

****

 

 

"Tao, why did you stop me? I could've protected Luhan if it weren't for you!" I shouted at him.

 

"Hmm, you like him don't you?" He asked while looking at the sky. The two of us were currently at the park. We wanted to relax after the incident earlier.

 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked him.

 

He smiled, "I take it back, you love Luhan, don't you?"

 

The word love and Luhan made me blush. But I looked away not wanting him to see me in this state.

 

"O-of course I love Luhan! He's my best friend!"

 

"Well, if you love your "best friend", why didn't you comfort him on the day when he returned from the faculty room when you know that he had been crying? We all know that he wasn't really acting like an attention . Every single one of us in the classroom knows. You were just calling him an attention , because you were all hurt that he wasn't being the cheerful Luhan that he is."

 

I was speechless.

 

"You know, Luhan might've never acted this way if you all didn't treat him differently that day." He said in a sing-song voice.

 

"Why are you blaming this on us? You were there too!" I told him angrily.

 

He smirked, "As a matter of fact, Oh Sehun, I was the only one who talked to him normally that day. I would've asked him what's wrong, but we weren't really that close. So I only did what a normal person would do to make a sad person smile, I told him a joke."

 

I didn't reply. I knew he was right.

 

"I have to go now. Just one piece of advice, sometimes, the bomb can be stopped from exploding. Ok, bye now! I have to go and shop for some Gucci baby!"

 

The bomb can be stopped from exploding? I just hope I'm not too late.

 

 

****

 

 

The next day, everything was back to normal. Or so I think it is.

 

Normality faded away once Luhan arrived.

 

He was still himself though. He still looked pale and thin and had bags under his eyes.

 

He acted like nothing happened yesterday. But the rest of the people in the room haven't forgotten about it at all.

 

They were all looking at him like he was some piece of scum, while some looked at him in pity.

 

I began to approach him but I stopped once I saw the cut marks on his arms and legs. I was suddenly filled with anger.

 

When I was in front of him, he looked at me with bored eyes and I suddenly punched him.

 

Gasping, my classmates stopped what they were doing and decided to see what was the commotion about. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" I shouted at him and grabbed his arm full of cuts.

 

"Something is wrong with you. You punched me." He said in a bored tone while holding his bloody lip.

 

"Yes! I punched you! The question is, why did you cut yourself?! Instead of telling us what's wrong, you start cutting yourself?! Are you even thinking of what could happen to you?!"

 

He looked straight at me. I shivered at it. His eyes were full of sadness and hurt.

 

"Why would I tell you?"

 

I shouted in frustration, "It's because we're your friends Luhan! Best friends to be exact! Best friends are supposed to be there for each other in dark times!"

 

Luhan didn't reply at first. Instead he laughed bitterly and smirked, "Wow Sehun. I can't believe you'd say that now. Let me give you a little recap, when I had a dark time, hmmm, shall we say that time when I returned from the faculty room, where were you huh?"

 

"Can you get any more dramatic Luhan? It was just your grades! You already told us the first time we tried to comfort you about your grades and that you don't want to be comforted about it!"

 

"It isn't about my grades." He mumbled.

 

"What?"

 

"Mr. Lee did ask me to come to the faculty room to tell me about my low grades but that wasn't the reason why I wanted to be comforted. I'm not that dramatic to cry so hard about my grades."

 

I tried to hold his shoulder but he pushed me away, "Don't."

 

And for the second time, he left the classroom without saying anything. He didn't come back for the rest of the day.

 

 

****

 

 

I decided to talk to Mr. Lee about Luhan.

 

"What seems to be the problem with Luhan? I assume that all of you are treating him well, right?"

 

"Um sir, the thing is..."

 

Mr. Lee sighed, "He is such a nice boy. So talented and smart. Too bad his parents were taken away from him though."

 

I gulped, suddenly feeling anxious, "What are you talking about sir?"

 

"Well, the last time he went here, I talked to him about his grades and well his family. The school got a call earlier that day from the hospital and told us that his mother, father, brother and sister got into an accident. None of them made it out alive."

 

I ran out of the faculty room as fast as I can. I tried to dial Luhan's number but it was turned off.

 

"Hey dude. What's the hurry all about?" Tao asked me.

 

"And why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Baekhyun added.

 

I grabbed the both of them and the three of us we went to the schools garden.

 

"Luhan's family."

 

"What about them?" Baekhyun asked.

 

"That day when he returned from the faculty room, he wasn't crying about his grades, he was crying because of the death of his family."

 

"A-are you sure, Sehun?" Tao asked.

 

Baekhyun suddenly crouched down and began to gulp and blink rapidly, "And we ignored him that day. And said all of those mean things to him a few weeks after. How can we be so cruel to him at that kind of time?" He said.

 

"What should we do now?" Tao asked me, wiping sweat from his face.

 

"We need to find him before he does something stupid."

 

 

****

 

 

Tao, Baekhyun and I searched for Luhan until it was already 9 in the evening.

 

We went to every possible place where Luhan might be. We even went to his aunt's house! But all she said was she never saw him since the funeral.

 

"I've never felt so guilty in my whole life, Sehun." Baekhyun said.

 

"We are all to blame for," Tao suddenly said, "Luhan has his faults too but we're not here to talk about whose fault it is, so let's stop blaming ourselves." Baekhyun and I nodded at what Tao said, but worry was still evident in our eyes.

 

We went to every small restaurant and grocery stores in the city. We even went to some night clubs and bars. We finally stopped looking for Luhan at around 11:30 in the evening.

 

"Let's just continue this tomorrow, Sehun. We're all tired and hungry and we still have school tomorrow." Tao said.

 

Baekhyun nodded in agreement, "Don't worry. We'll find your lover soon enough." Then he winked at me.

 

I laughed at him and I was about to slap his arm when we heard an all too familiar voice and the sound of rolling skateboards.

 

"You owe me 5000 won for doing that stunt!"

 

The three of them turned around and there we saw a laughing Luhan with five other boys.

 

"You just got lucky that time. Next time, you'll be the one who pays me when I do a stunt." The tall boy told him.

 

Luhan just laughed and stuck his tongue out. It was the happiest I've seen him these past few days. And he was even laughing! The last time he laughed that loud was about two months ago!

 

We were just about to leave the place, seeing that Luhan was safe and happy when one of the guys spotted us.

 

"Hey! You three! Come over here!" Seeing that they were older than us, we obeyed them.

 

As we were nearing them, I can see that Luhan was surprised to see us. But he didn't show his companions that.

 

"What are your names? You look kind of young to be roaming these streets at this time of the night." The short one asked us.

 

"Um, my name is Sehun and this is Tao and Baekhyun."

 

He smiled, "Nice names, I'm Jonghyun, the tall one is Minho, the one with brown hair is Onew and the blonde one is Key, that guy who looks like a girl is Taemin..."

 

"Hey!" Taemin retorted.

 

"Oh shut up," Jonghyun rolled his eyes, "And this fellow right here is Luhan. I know what you're thinking, that we might be some gang or something. But we aren't! We're just people who bet on reckless skateboarding stunts." He smiled at us.

 

Tao, Baekhyun and I sighed in relief.

 

"Do you want to see a stunt?" Minho grinned at us.

 

Luhan looked at us desperately but we ignored him and nodded at Minho. "Good. Luhan, I want you to skateboard at the national highway and slide at the rails in the middle. Are you up for it?" Minho challenged him.

 

Luhan hesitated for a while but then he nodded at Minho, "If I die, all of you are paying for my funeral."

 

Minho and the others laughed but Tao, Baekhyun and I knew that Luhan wasn't joking at all.

 

When we arrived at the national highway, there were only a few cars left who were driving so I guess it was probably safe.

 

Jonghyun, Minho, Onew, Key and Taemin decided to go to the nearest convenience store to eat before letting Luhan do his stunt. Tao and Baekhyun decided to join them so that leaves Luhan and I sitting on the side of the national highway.

 

"Why are you here? Why were you, Baekhyun and Tao outside on the streets at this time of the night?" Luhan asked me.

 

"We came to find you. The three of us already know the truth."

 

"I don't need your pity."

 

I sighed, "Luhan, we aren't here to pity you. We're here to say sorry for being jerks and judging you."

 

"Apology not accepted. Now go." Luhan stood up but before he can walk away, I hugged him.

 

"What do you think you're doing?!" He shouted at me in annoyance but I can see a blush creeping on his face. I smiled and hugged him tighter, "I know you like it."

 

He rolled his eyes but I can see a faint smile creeping on the edges of his mouth, "You're out of your mind, Sehun. Let go or the others will see!"

 

I snuggled my face on his neck and inhaled his scent that always seem to drive me crazy, "So? Let them see, I don't care."

 

God must've heard my prayers because for the first in the past few weeks, Luhan laughed.

 

The sound of his laughter somehow closed up the dark hole that was inside of me from the disappearance of Luhan's presence.

 

"I know this doesn't fix anything but I want to start all over again with you." I whispered in his ear.

 

Luhan stiffened for a moment but then he nodded with a smile. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and we returned to our original positions.

 

Once everyone was back, Luhan prepared himself to do the stunt. He was sweating and he kept rubbing his hands, which means he was nervous a lot.

 

"Do I really have to do this?" Luhan shouted at Minho.

 

"Yeah! Or are you afraid that your boyfriend here will see you get humiliated?" Minho then put his arm on my shoulder.

 

Luhan and I both blushed at the same time which earned us a laugh from the guys.

 

"You think we didn't see your little moment?" Baekhyun smirked.

 

"We saw the entire thing, actually." Taemin teased with an innocent smile.

 

Luhan grumbled a few curse words while getting ready to the stunt trick.

 

"On the count of three, two, one..." Minho started.

 

But then I saw a truck approaching really fast.

 

"LUHAN WAIT! / GO!" Minho and I shouted at the same time.