Jaehyo was frozen as he looked at Minhyuk's back. 'Disgusting' that was the word he'd used. And 'people like him'. Did he mean.. homouals? It was the only reasonable explanation he could come with in his mind. 

It was unfair. He wasn't even sure that that term applied to him, the one thing he was sure of was that he shouldn't have kissed him that night.. It was just that he'd been on the verge of loosing Minhyuk and even though he'd come to the forest and Minhyuk was still here today, this was the price he had to pay for his mistake. Minhyuk was disgusted by him. repelled by him. But why would he even come to Jaehyo's rescue? What could possibly be his reasoning behind that? Why help someone who makes you feel sick in your stomach? Pity? Feeling tears well in his eyes he turned around and left, slamming he door behind him. 

Jaehyo knew he had to go to Ukwon, Zico and Kyung who were probably still trying to explain what happened. But to be honest he couldn't care less. He just wanted to go home, lie in his bed and pull his bed sheets over his head. 

He loved Minhyuk. He had loved him for years. They had been glued together by hip ever since they became friends as children. Closer than brothers, they had faced any hardships head on together. They took care of each other when one of them was sick, always protected each other and Jaehyo couldn't count on one hand the amount of times he had blown of a girl just so that he could hang out with Minhyuk. 

He had always figured that this was normal for best friends, to always wanting to be close to the other person, knowing you would do everything in your power for the one you loved so dearly. But now he began wondering if it hadn't been something more. If it wasn't something more today, at leas for Jaehyo. Could it be that he was in love with Minhyuk?

It didn't matter. he knew now how Minhyuk felt about him and 'people like him' so there was no point in torturing himself more. Just a few more weeks and he would be done. 

He stopped in his track. He had just walked outside were the sky had turned grey and rain was pouring down. No he wouldn't. He wouldn't be free from him because Minhyuk was going to the same college as him. He looked up to the sky, thankful for the rain that was pouring on his face so nobody could see the tears that were streaming out of his eyes. What had he done to deserve this? God, why couldn't he just be free?

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The next few weeks flew by in an eye blink. Thanks to the fact that Jaehyo had forgotten his umbrella that day, he was now sick. Even though he did drag himself to school every morning. He had been left off with a warning, as had Ukwon, Kyung and Minhyuk. Only Zico had detention for the rest of the year since this was not the first time he'd been in trouble. 

The halls were buzzing with students, many were excited to have almost finished high school, others were running around with coffee and had dark circles under their eyes due to the lack of sleep. Jaehyo's and Ukwon's grades were good so they didn't have to worry too much. Only Taeil's was slightly stressed about his English exam that was coming up, so he forced Ukwon and Jaehyo to spend their afternoons in the library. 

Taking their last classes felt strange. Jaehyo sat next to either Ukwon and Taeil while they made their last notes. After what had happened you would think that their fellow students would be all over the incident that happened that morning, but most students were too stressed out to care about gossiping. Even Jaehyo and his two best friends had not touched the subject. Ukwon had tried to talk about it with Jaehyo but had quickly experienced that it was a subject he could best leave alone. And even though Jaehyo still wondered about the conversation Minhyuk and Ukwon had had, he was too scared for the answer to ask his friend. And so Minhyuk had gotten a forbidden word. 

A strange thing had occurred when Minhyuk showed up after a week of absence. Jaehyo figured that the other boy would stay home for a few weeks to rest, his grades were good enough to miss a few classes. When he did return he still looked awful. It wasn't just his face that was still swollen and bruised, though now the bruises were beginning to look yellow and greenish instead of purple and red. Everything about him just felt.. wrong. He was thin, thinner than ever before. And he looked so pale under his bruises that you would think he would pass out any moment. 

Of course, after what he'd done there was no way Zico would forgive him easily. Zico and Kyung completely ignored Minhyuk's existence. However there was one Block B member that didn't. Against everyone's expectations the boy had grabbed his bag and had sat down next to Minhyuk, who was sitting all alone in the back corner of the classroom.

Jaehyo only knew him by name: Jihoon (even though his friends called him P.O.). He had been his favorite Block B member back then, he never participated in the bullying himself and even though he did laugh there were also times he would interfere when he felt they had gone too far. He was the youngest of the class and of Block B, even though there was no way he could call himself a member anymore since his action would be seen as betrayal. 

Minhyuk barely looked up at Jihoon even though you could see gratitude in his expression. Jaehyo knew he shouldn't care, still it made him feel glad that Minhyuk's still had someone left. Although he felt his heart ache when he thought about that person could have been him. That it should have been him. It didn't matter, he thought bitterly. Even though he could swear he could feel Minhyuk's gaze on him when he thought Jaehyo wasn't looking. Jaehyo decided it was best to just ignore it, though his feeling stayed. If it stayed this was he'd just have to burn out his crying heart. 

Before they knew it the exams were over and he was ready to graduate. Jaehyo, Ukwon and Taeil all had done well and even though he knew he could have done better if he had been able to concentrate at his school more, he was still content. It was over, he could finally move on from this dark episode of his life. It felt bittersweet, he was glad he would be gone from this town, and although he would probably run into Minhyuk because the campus was rather small, he could still but some distance between them. But he would miss his friends, Ukwon was going to a dance school near his own college, so they would be able to see each other. But Taeil was moving to the other side of the country to study ichthyology (the study of fish). 

''Jaehyo, are you ready?'' His sister called him from downstairs.

''Yeah'' Jaehyo shouted downstairs. He looked into the mirror and put his hair in a bun. Pathetically he recalled Minhyuk once saying that he liked his hair that way. 

His parents had failed to show up for his ceremony. He wasn't really surprised, it had always been like this, they were busy with work and because of that they had been absent for the most important moments in Jaehyo's life. As long as he had his sister, who was almost in tears when she saw Jaehyo walk downstairs in his toga, he would be content. 

The graduation ceremony went by just like it was supposed to. Some honor students made some predictable and boring speeches while Jaehyo sat next to Ukwon and his sister. Unfortunately Minhyuk sat only a few seats away since Jihoon had insisted on sitting next to Taeil. A strange friendship had emerged between the two boys and Jaehyo was beginning to suspect this may have also weighed in when Jihoon decided to sit next to Minhyuk. Taeil was now showing pictures of his fishes and whispering a story about the stray cat Jaehyo and him had found earlier that year while Jihoon looked at him with fascinating. 

Minhyuk was just staring straight ahead, while his mother who were sitting next to him were giving dirty glances to Jaehyo, clearly still blaming him for what had happened. 

Ukwon moved close to Jaehyo to whisper in his ear:

''There is this after party, you wanna go?".

''Where is it?'' Jaehyo whispered back. 

''At Suzy's house'' 

He couldn't help but feeling a de-j a-vu. Wasn't it there where this all had started? Maybe it was only right that it ended in the exact same place. 

''Taeil is coming too. It will be great, I promise. Besides there is something I want to talk to you about'' Ukwon muttered in his ear, feeling his warm breath against his neck.

''Sure'' Jaehyo decided finally.

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This chapter wasn't that exciting I know, but things will go down the next chapter I promise!

Anyway, I hope you like it!

xoxo