When I woke up the next day there was a little too much space on the bed for me to feel relaxed. Upon opening my eyes, it became apparent that Sehun had left the bed, hence the space. Sitting up and looking around myself, I couldn’t see any sign of him anywhere. It suddenly panicked me that perhaps I had either a) kicked him out of the bed; or b) been snoring so loudly that he had been forced to vacate the bed.

I peeked onto the floor: no Sehun. Well, at least I hadn't literally kicked him out of the bed. I got out of bed quickly and almost ran through to the living room, worried I'd find him curled up in a lump on the couch. He wasn’t there either. And he wasn’t in the kitchen, but his jacket was still hanging up, so I doubted he had wandered far. I internally tsked.

The sound of a door closing behind me caused me to spin. In the hallway, wearing a loose shirt and a pair of shorts was Sehun, looking at me as he towelled his wet hair off. There was curiosity gracing his features as he stared at my slightly frazzled appearance.

Letting out a little sigh of relief, I walked towards him, looking at him closely as I did so. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. But I think I’ve got bed bugs.”

“Bed bugs? Were you itchy?” I wasn’t aware of feeling itchy at all.

Sehun also walked slowly towards me, hands in his pockets. As he got closer, I noticed that his cheek had bruised to the extent that I could see it creeping over the edges of the band aid. “Not itchy. But this small and usually angry creature was in my bed last night. And as far as I’m aware, it wasn’t there when I went to sleep. It probably planned on sneaking out before I woke up.”

My cheeks reddened when I realised he was talking about me.

“If I had to describe it,” he mused, smiling a little as he shook his wet hair towards me. “I’d call it a gnome.”

Rubbing my back, I shook my head in wonder. “How you managed to sleep on that floor all night is a mystery to me. I seriously think I’m going to have to go see a chiropractor after this.”

Sehun chuckled, biting his bottom lip. Looking at his smile, you would never have guessed that he had been beaten up so badly just yesterday. He tossed the wet towel onto my head, causing me to gasp out at the cold dampness.

“Do you have paracetamol at yours?”

Yanking the towel off myself, I huffed lightly before thinking about what he was asking. “Probably. You want it?”

He nodded, face uncomfortable. “Yeah, if I’m going to make it through school I’m going to need it and I’m all out.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to school?”

“Yeah. It’s a school day.”

I snorted derisively as I headed for the door. “Who knew you were such an exemplary student?”

Sehun looked mildly offended. “I’ve always been an exemplary student.”

“I still think you should rest today,” I called to him as I headed out into the hall.

Almost as soon as I was in the elevator, I pulled out my phone and dialled in a number. On the second ring, the familiar voice of Paz sounded to me.

“Mira, what’s happened?” She sounded a little startled by my sudden call.

“I need to speak to my father right now.”

Paz said nothing for a moment but I heard paper rustling. “He’s got a meeting in ten minutes that he’s preparing for right now. Can I take a message?”

“No, no. It’s really important. I need to speak to him now.”

“Mira, he’s busy right now you’ll need to-”

“Now! Like, right now! I have to speak to him.” I sounded incredibly flustered even to myself.

Begrudgingly, Paz told me to hold. It seemed that my hysteria didn’t go unnoticed. After a minute, and by the time I was in my apartment and searching for the paracetamols, Paz returned to the line. “He can give you two minutes. I’ll put you through now.”

“Thank you,” I told her quickly before the line was switched.

The sound of my father’s gruff voice was the signal that it had been successfully redirected. “Mira, I don’t know what this is about but make it to the point.”

I let out a shaky breath as soon as I heard him. “Sehun’s father hits him. His step-mother does as well. He’s completely covered in marks and scars and bruises. He came home last night bleeding and bruised for no reason at all.”

There was silence, then my father let out an very audible sigh. “I don’t know what you are telling me this for.”

“Please do something!” I begged. Even though I didn’t really see what my father could do to help the situation, I felt like he was the most powerful person I knew and so there must be something. There had to be.

“Mira.” My father’s voice was not as cold as it had been a moment ago. “Just keep yourself out of it. I don’t want you getting caught up in something like that.”

“But I am caught up in it, though. Horribly, brutally, inescapably tangled. Isn’t there something you can do?”

My father sighed again. “Mira, I don’t have time to deal with these childish pr-”

“What about this is ‘childish’? His father hits him!”

When my father spoke again, it was just as cold as ever. “And what about the rest of them? You want me to go around like some damn saviour for every child that’s ever been hit by their parent? I’d never stop!”

Of course I knew Sehun wasn’t the only one this was happening to. “What should I do then? I don't think he'll call the police about it.”

“Even if he did, there wouldn't be any point. Mr Oh would get a slap on the wrist and he'd be free to leave. That's just how it works for those with money. But Mr Oh is a heavy drinker – you found that out for yourself. When he’s sober, he’s not like that.”

“But it shouldn’t be happening at all.”

“No. It shouldn’t. But it is, so just keep clear of it. He’s not the first child to be hit, and he won’t be the last either.”

I wheezed a breath.

“Mira,” my father spoke again, a little softer again. “You need to leave this alone. It is neither your right nor duty to interfere. In less than a week you’ll be back at your real school with Luhan and the others where you belong.”

Although he couldn’t see, I was shaking my head. I didn’t want to leave Sehun at all now. These feelings that had been stirred within me were something I didn’t think I’d be able to supress so easily.

“I’ll get Paz to make an appointment for you to speak to someone about this. You’ve become a little emotionally uneven lately and I don’t want it effecting your work when you return.”

Before he even waited for my response he hung up. I was left standing there with a dead line at my ear. Glaring at my phone, I slammed it onto the counter and resumed searching for the paracetamol tablets with a new source of frustration.

I returned to Sehun’s in my uniform and with the medicine which he gratefully accepted. As he got out a carton of juice from the fridge to drink with his tablets, I leant onto counter beside him so I could see his face as he chugged down the juice.

Seemingly noticing my stares, Sehun stopped and held out the carton to me. “Want some?”

I screwed up my face and he shrugged, resuming drinking.

“Are you going to tell anyone?”

“That you don’t want any? I don’t think that’s particularly newsworthy.”

“Sehun,” I said sternly, not willing to let him get out of this one.

“That we kissed? Maybe.”

“Sehun,” I said, this time with a little sigh. “You know what I mean.”

Scrunching up the empty carton, Sehun shoved it into the bin. “Remind me to buy more on the way home,” he said as if he hadn’t heard me as he walked past.

“Sehun!” I called louder this time, wheeling around.

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“And I understand that, but I really think you should tell someone.”

“If I say I’ll think about it will you let it go?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll think about it. We’ll be late for school if we don’t go now.” And with that he grabbed his jacket and threw it on.

“You better actually think about it,” I warned as I lifted my school bag.

“Why are you being so stubborn?” Sehun demanded with a slight huff when I pulled my hand away from his for the fourth time in a row. “Just let me hold your hand.”

“No,” I told him firmly, stuffing my hands into my pockets as a preventative measure. “I don’t want people to see us holding hands.”

“But we do it all the time,” Sehun whined, stomping his feet a little as he rounded the corner of the gate to our school.

“Not in public we don’t. We never hold hands in school.”

“We did in Britain. We should start here,” he said as he sped up and turned towards me so that he was now facing me whilst walking backwards. His face looked a little worse in the natural light and I noticed several students gaping and pointing at the bruises and band aids. Occasionally Sehun would wince with the pain in his side, but he otherwise acted like nothing was wrong.

Over his shoulder, I saw Baekhyun, Kai and Chanyeol loitering around the doorway. As soon as Baekhyun saw us, his eyes ran over Sehun’s back like they had done the other day. I felt almost guilty for taking Sehun to him like this.

“If you don’t turn around you’re going to bump into Chanyeol,” I told Sehun, pointing over his shoulder.

With an almost resigned sigh, Sehun turned to face them but not before muttering to me, “Don’t tell them.”

Although this surprised me, I kept my mouth zipped.

The three of them looked aghast when they saw Sehun’s face. Chanyeol was the first to react. “Oh my god! What happened to you?”

It didn’t escape my notice that whilst Kai and Chanyeol were looking to Sehun for an explanation, Baekhyun looked like he already had one and looked to me for confirmation. I subtly nodded once in response. I saw him bite his lip as his eyes roamed over Sehun’s face, concern clear.

“I was mugged,” Sehun casually told them. If I hadn’t known the truth, I might have been convinced by him.

Kai made a disgusted sound. “You need to stop walking around in such dodgy areas so late at night.”

Chanyeol nodded. “Yeah, you look like awful.”

“I’d say like hell,” Kai corrected.