"TaeHyung, what are you doing here?"I ask him. It was 4pm and I heard a knock on the door. I went to go open it, thinking it was my mom coming back home for lunch and she couldn't get the keys or something like that. But when I opened it, it was TaeHyung.

 

"I was worried about you. You didn't answer me at all. You didn't answer ChaeMin or JiHye as well. We're all worried." He says. I shake my head and he invites himself in. I close the door after him.

 

"I told you that I want to be alone." I say, he ignores me and stands right in front of me.

 

"Just tell me that you don't believe what MinKyu said." He says, grabbing both my hands. I shake my head.

 

"I don't. But, I need to ask you something." I say. He nods and we walk over and sit down on the couch.

 

"How does MinKyu know about my father's arrest?" I ask. He looks at me and he's showing a bit of resistance to my question. "TaeHyung..."

 

"Okay. I told him. But not in the way you think. He was there when he saw your dad yell at you. He kept making fun of it to me and I just told him to be quiet because it was over. He asked what did I mean. And I told him because your father is away in jail now." TaeHyung responded. "But I didn't tell him for him to make fun of you. You know I'd never do that. I told him so he can shut up. But I guess he used it against you."

 

"TaeHyung! The whole school now knows about it. This isn't something the school should know about. This isn't something anyone should know about! You weren't suppose to know about this but you just had to be there when it happened. I don't even tell my best friends about your mom and you. "I yell at him. I was angry. I was disappointed.

 

"JaeEun, I'm sorry." He says. But I get up from the couch and sigh, shaking my head at the floor. I walk over the the door and open it, looking at him.

 

"See you at school tomorrow." I tell him. His eyes widened from shock and I hear him sigh all the way from over there. He gets up and walks up to me.

 

"JaeEun-" He says. I cut him off.

 

"Goodbye." I say. He stares at me for a while and then walks out my house. I don't know what to do.

 

***

 

It's the next day at school and I haven't spoken to anyone. ChaeMIn and JiHye tried coming up to me, but I said nothing back to them. They just patted my back and left me to be alone. I didn't see TaeHyung at all today. But then again, it's not 6th period yet. I usually see him around that time. It's lunch time, and I'm sitting alone.

 

There are people around, walking. Some even look over at me and whisper something to their friends. Right now, I wish my dad was still at home. I wish I never let TaeHyung walk me home. I wish everything was how it was before. I didn't mind the slight teasing. Right now I don't mind it. It was better than the teasing now.

 

Before, they'd only tease me because I broke MinKyu's radio. And it was only MinKyu and his friends who would tease me, not the whole class or the whole school.

 

Someone trips in front of me and almost hits my face with his bag.

 

"Hey, hey. Chill with this one. She's had enough beatings to deal with." The guy says to his friend who tripped. They both look at me and start laughing, walking away. s. That isn't something you should make fun of.

 

My eyes started getting watery and I want to cry. I want to yell and scream. This was all because TaeHyung told MinKyu about the arrest. This was all because MinKyu was with TaeHyung when my father yelled at me. Maybe TaeHyung told him more that I don't know about.

 

I break. I burry my face into my hands for a while, and then I get up, running to the school's rooftop. I felt a bit better when the rooftop doors were unlocked.

 

I reached the top and go against the railings. I sit down. I start crying hard and loud into my knees. I don't know what to do. I hate everything so much right now.

 

My phone rings and I look at it, seeing TaeHyung calling. To make him feel bad, I answer it and then throw it slightly far from me. Then I started crying harder into my knees because of how weak I seemed just by doing that. I'm a mess. I was a bomb, and I have just exploded.

 

Several minutes later, someone opens the rooftop door. I look up, wiping my tears and see TaeHyung walking towards me.

 

"JaeEun!" He shouts, starting to run to me. I look away from him and I hear him sigh.

 

"JaeEun..." He says again. I still look away, my chin resting on my arms that's placed upon my knees. I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. I'm not stable. I'm a mess. I can't talk to anybody. I just can'.t Especially TaeHyung, not him.

 

"JaeEun, I didn't ask 5 people, and yell at 3 of them to find you just to hear you not speak to me." He says. I still look away from him.

 

"I need time alone." I say. He sighs loudly.

 

"JaeEun, it's not good to keep things like this to yourself." He says. I grab my phone, look at him and scoff.

 

"Says the person who has told nobody about his mother and problems at home. Says the person who has kept this hidden for that long, and finally tells someone about it later when he sees someone going through the same thing. And who says I'm keeping this to myself? Didn't you tell? The whole school knows." I shout at him, my voice cracking from trying not to cry.

 

He stands there, looking at me with shock from what I said. I regretted every single thing I said as soon as I finished saying it. That's not what I meant. His face turns serious. He then grabs my hand and pulls me up, dragging me back downstairs with great speed.

 

The bell rings to go to the next class, but he ignores it. He keeps walking, in search for something.

 

"MinKyu!" He shouts, going up to him. I have no idea what he's doing. I try to get out of his grip, but he's holding my hand tight. MinKyu turns around and looks over at us. TaeHyung then lets go of my hand as MinKyu walks towards us. I should leave, but I was curious and stayed.

 

"Yes, Tae?" MinKyu says, his voice cold.

 

"I have to tell you something." TaeHyung says. I look at him and realize what he's doing.

 

"What is it?" MinKyu says.

 

"You've known me since we were little kids, and for the past few years I kept something hidden from you." TaeHyung starts. My eyes grew wide and I went to him and grabbed his arm. He's doing this in front of the whole school.

 

"But first, I want you to leave JaeEun alone. I want you and everyone in this school to stop making fun of what happened to her. It's not funny. It's sick and sad what happened." He goes. "If you were really my best friend, you wouldn't treat her like this."

 

"And why is you being my best friend going to change this?" MinKyu asks.

 

"Because I'm going through the same thing." TaeHyung says. MinKyu is frozen.

 

"My mom doesn't hurt me physically but she hurts me." He continues. I tug at his shirt and keep telling him "don't do this" but he doesn't listen.

 

"She mentally and emotionally abuses me. But I could never tell you because I thought you'd laugh. I'm thinking that I was right. You make fun of her for getting hit, I don't know what you'd do to me if you knew about the verbal abuse." TaeHyung finishes. I freeze looking at him and then he looks down at me.

 

"Says the guy who just did this for you." He says, and walks away.

 

TaeHyung...

 

***

 

I didn't go to school for the next week. My mom forced me to go but I said I couldn't face it. I got calls from ChaeMin and JiHye still, but not as much. I guess they got the hint that I don't want to speak to anyone. But from TaeHyung, no calls at all. No messages.

 

Speaking of messages, I just got one from ChaeMin.

 

ChaeMin: "I thought you'd like to know about this, but TaeHyung hasn't been going to school for the past 3 days. MinKyu has turned quiet."

 

That one got my attention. That one got me worried. That one also got me confused. I put my phone away and just stare into nothing. I didn't know how to react to that.

 

He didn't have to do that. The fact he said it out loud in front of the whole school, or the students who were nearby, saddened me. He did it for me? What did he mean by that?

 

Did he want to show me that he wouldn't keep things bottled up inside? Why? He didn't have to. I started getting worried about him and I got up and threw a sweater on. I went and walked to his house.

 

***

 

I reached his house and it looks the same, but it feels different. The car isn't in the driveway so I should be happy, it means his mom isn't home.

 

I go up to the door and ring the doorbell.

 

No answer.

 

I ring it again.

 

No answer.

 

I then start knocking on it. There was still no answer so I started yelling his name and telling him to come downstairs.

 

"What are you doing young lady?" The neighbor asks me. I turn and face him.

 

"Calling for someone." I say. He raises an eyebrow.

 

"No one lives there anymore sweetie." He says. "Something went down here a few days ago, involving the cops. Honey, ever since then nobody has lived there."

 

My heart dropped.