Maybe it had only been a feeling that convinced me that it would certainly be a good idea to run. I looked up at Jongin who stood next to me, giving me a confused face.

     “Hey Jongin, I have to go. Like now.” I stated and bent down to knot my shoelaces so that I wouldn’t trip when I ran.

     “Eh, sure.” he said with a sheepish, but distant smile.

     I had no time to reflect so I just ran. I ran as fast as I could, in the direction the shape had disappeared into. The world whizzed by: houses, people, lights everywhere. I just ran whilst frantically looking for those special features I knew I was going to recognize anywhere. Had he turned somewhere? I had been running straight forward all this time. Maybe he didn’t want to be found. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest as fast as I the thought appeared and I made a true effort in pushing it away. And failed miserably. But I kept on running; because even though he may not have wanted to be found, I wanted to find him. So badly. I stopped for a second to catch my breath.

     “YIXING!” I yelled as loudly as I could, but it only came out as a faint hiss: my throat was all dried out. I coughed a couple of times before continuing, checking every alley. From time to time I tried to yell but it was no use.

     That was when I saw him. I saw his broad back disappear into a bus and the doors closed behind him. I rushed towards the bus but I was too far away and it left the stop long before I arrived to the spot, leaving me behind, completely out of breath, coughing and shaking of exhaustion. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and I slowly picked it up and swiped the ‘answer’-button.

     “Hello?” I said without an ounce of emotion.

     “Yah where did you go?!” Sujin’s voice echoed through the speakers.

     “I had to check something…”

     What was I supposed to do? Was he mad at me for some reason?

     “Hyejin-ah, where are you, dear?” Inna had taken Sujin’s phone and now spoke directly to me. I looked up at the dusty bus sign that spread its light over the spot where I stood.

     “Toegyelo 6.” I said monotonously.

     “She’s all the way in Toegyelo.” I heard Inna murmur to Sujin who in her turn sighed.

     “How did she get there so fast? She must’ve taken the bus or something.” Sujin murmured back. Something rustled and Inna’s voice came back.

     “Okay, stay where you are. DO NOT go anywhere, you hear me?” she said and I nodded.

     “Promise?” she begged, obviously not hearing my movements.

     “Yes,” my voice was still hoarse. “I promise.”

     There was a click and then silence. Only emptiness left, just like how my insides felt at the moment. Non-existent. A couple of minutes later, a group of 5 people stepped off at Toegyelo bus stop. Sujin threw herself at me and gave me a tight hug.

     “I was so worried! Why did you disappear like that? Jongin was on the verge on panicking when you left.” she yelled, pulling me even closer to her for every word that welled out of .

     “I had to check something…” was all I could say, the words stuck in my dry throat. Sehun frowned.

     “We’ve heard that one before,” he stated and shook his head. ”What was it that you had to check?”

     “Just… Something. But I don’t anymore so it’s okay.” I tried to sound calm. Collected. Confident. But of course it wasn’t okay. It wasn’t okay at all. I had to make sure Yixing was fine. He had to be fine, right?

     “What was it Hyejin?” Inna stressed.

     “I--- Yi-” I staggered and put a hand on my chest, as if that was going to calm my breath. Which it pretty much didn’t. Yixing was alone while I was surrounded by 5 people who all worried about me. Yixing had no one.

     “Yi-what?”

     “Xing.” I said and felt the nausea wash over me, like waves wash over a shore and enclose everything in its way. He had no one to go to. I was probably overreacting, probably he had just passed and happened to go really fast to that bus stop that was really far away and then he didn’t hear me when I yelled and of course that explanation made perfect sense. Yes, of course. What else could it be? I decided to stay strong and wait for his viewpoint the day after. And then I realised that I had 10 eyes intensely staring at me.

     “Yi... Xing? What is that even?” Chanyeol beamed and looked at Jongin with confused eyes.

     “Sounds like a name. But it’s not Korean.” Sehun pointed out, still with the frown buried deep into his forehead.

     “I have no idea, don’t look at me.” Jongin shrugged. Sujin’s eyes lit up in realisation. She looked sceptically at me, to Jongin and back to me.

     “Seriously Hyejin? And you didn’t tell me?” she asked firmly.

     “What?” Inna tugged Sujin’s dress in search for answers, but got nowhere.

     “You could at least have told me, I’m your best friend!” Sujin ignored Inna’s question, now with rage glittering in her eyes.

     “I was going to.” I murmured.

     “’Was going to’ is not going to help you! Hell, you’ve been trying to play that ‘I’m not interested’ for so long and then you go off and secretly starting to do stuff on your own without even telling your best friend!” she rose her voice, but not to the point where she was yelling.

     “It’s not like that, it’s not-” I tried to explain but was interrupted almost in an instant.

     “I don’t care what is and what’s not! You don’t know !” she stormed off with Inna running after her, trying to calm her down. I was left behind with Jongin and his friends, all of them looking baffled.

     “What was that about?” Sehun asked and his frown had now been transformed into something that at least looked like confusion.

     “Nothing.” I had gone back to the murmuring. What was I going to do?

Next day. School. On my way to the class I had together with Yixing. I had barely slept that night; all I could think about was how lonely Yixing must feel and how mad Sujin must be at me. And that made me feel so incredibly guilty, as if they were my responsibility even though I knew they could take care of themselves. With heavy steps I entered the classroom and went to my spot where I plopped down on the chair. Yixing hadn’t arrived yet, which was strange for being him. He was always there before me. This wasn’t like him at all.

     I saw a shadow enter the classroom and sit down next to me. The shadow was in fact Yixing, but something about him was off. He was so pale, like porcelain. Like sure he was pale normally too but today he seriously looked almost transparent, as if he was slowly fading away. The thought made me want to hold his hand to make sure that he wouldn’t disappear. I was almost afraid of looking away from him, afraid that when I looked back at him, he would be gone forever.

     “Hey.” I said, almost a whisper but he flinched when he heard me.

     “Eh, yeah. Hi.” he said monotonously. This wasn’t like him at all.

     “How… was your weekend?” starting a normal conversation would be the key. Maybe he would feel less tense.

     “Eventful. Yours? Did you-” he hesitated with a shaking breath. “do something special?”

     “Nah, I just went to the cinema with some friends. Other than that, nothing much actually.” I tried to say it as nonchalantly as I could, with not much success.

     “So only with friends?” his eyes it up slightly, only a small shift in that empty stare.

     “Yeah, only with friends. I was going to call, you know?” I assured him and his face retained its colour. At least a bit of it. The big wrinkle of worry in his forehead wasn’t completely gone and the thoughtfulness in his voice still lingered there for some reason.

     “Why didn’t you?” he asked curiously.

     “I just thought you wouldn’t like my weird- friends, or maybe I was afraid you would like them more than me.” I admitted and winked to him, and his face was clearly no longer transparent: it had just shifted from bright white to a light pink colour that gradually grew darker and darker on his flawless skin.

     “No of course I wouldn’t like them more than you. But I mean, if they’re your friends they must be great people, right?” Now it was my turn to blush. I thought about how Sujin had yelled at me the day before and a lump formed in my throat.

     “Sure.” I forced a smile and looked down to hide my embarrassment.

     “Hey are you okay?” he asked with concern when he realised what I was doing.

     “Yeah, I’m…” I stopped myself and tilted my face upwards, as if the angle was going to make the burning tears run back into my eyes again. “No I’m not.”

     With only three minutes back from the lesson starting, Yixing embraced me in his strong arms, patting my back, making me feel safe.

     “You guys okay over there?” the teacher had just arrived to the classroom and was just about to start his class when he had spotted us.

     “Not really.” Yixing pulled away and revealed my red face. He mouthed ‘sorry' to the teacher but he just shook his head and sighed.

     “Get her to the nurse or something. And please meet me after next lesson, I want to make sure you guys read up on a couple of things.” I started protesting but Yixing simply nodded and dragged me out of the room.

     “Sorry for running away when I should’ve stayed with you.” he said whe't wan we had left the corridor behind us.

     “So it was you?”

     “Yeah, I thought..-” he hesitated but never finished the sentence.

     “You thought I was on a date with someone?” I filled in and snorted nervously.

     “I did.” he admitted. “I thought you didn’t want to be bothered, so… I went away.”

     “For like 3 kilometres? And why the heck would I have spent two whole weeks hanging out with you almost all the time if I didn’t want to be ‘bothered’?” His face cracked a shining smile and he nodded enthusiastically.

     “I didn’t think of it like that.” he laughed.

     The tension had disappeared completely and everything had gone back to (pretty much) normal. At least us. We were okay.

Hey guys! Sooo, this chapter was really hard writing since I really didn't want to write angst-y stuff but on the other hand it was fitting with the story so I guess you'd have to put up with it. Anyways, I really enjoyed writing and I hope you'll keep on reading this story even if I'm slow with the updates. Can't wait to hear you guys' reactions! Please comment, subscribe and (if you want to) upvote! 

Stay awesome everyone!