in silence ᴰᴼᴵᴸ

１０.

☄️🚌☄️

The ride home was quiet, only a few people were travelling by bus, heading home or wherever they were needed — they needed to go. Or just enjoying the feeling of going somewhere. They were either chatting or being in their own world; all of that making nice muffled rustle in the background.

Taeil watched the world running behind the big glass thinking about everything and nothing. He didn't pay attention to the outside world, being in his own world and he wished he didn't have to leave the warm place he was sitting in. The Japanese sitting next to him with the gifts on his knees kept quiet as well, but it was a comfortable silence rather than awkward. They were kind of tired after all so they just relaxed, enjoying others presence.

It was the younger, who then broke the silence first.

"Taeil?" He softly asked, not even looking at the said male.

Taeil hummed and looked over his friend, still being in some kind of trance as the boy interrupted his endless thoughts. Yuta bit his lip. He wasn't sure if he should ask something which has been running on his mind since the morning.

"I know you told us not to snoop into this topic but," He took a breath. "There's something which has been bothering me for a while." He finally met Taeil's eyes who furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but nodded.

Yuta started slowly "Do you remember that day when Johnny wasn't in school? That time before the start of our classes, in the hall." He patiently waited for the older's reaction.

Of course, Taeil remembered. It was slightly bothering him as well. No. It bothered him a lot. But he knew it was none of his business, so he didn't think about it that much. And he was scared, although he didn't know why.

He kept his eyes locked with his friend and nodded again. "Why?"

"Do you think Ten and Doyoung knew each other before?"

Taeil sighed. That was it. He diverted his gaze to the front, but not really looking at the scenery. He was thinking hard.

Ten... Well, Ten was a different case. He came just a year ago yet he was already popular. In many ways.

When he first came out of nowhere, he had this new cute guy vibe, making friends with many people immediately. He was fun to hang out, as Taeil heard first from Johnny, and really really talkative. He attended many parties and didn't have problems with getting drunk. It was known that he actually didn't sleep around with anyone, no nightstands, but with people being people, everyone could say anything. Nobody really cared or believed anyway as people liked him. Liked.

Taeil was never close to him, maybe he greeted him once or twice because of Yuta and mainly Johnny. So Taeil knew about the boy only from the others, which wasn't a really good thing.

It was maybe the midterm, something before summer when the gossips started. And there were many of them, spreading faster than any newspaper or television could do. From Ten being slut to Ten cheating on his girlfriend or boyfriend, even Ten dealing with drugs and killing someone. Some of them were really stupid and really unbelievable.

And people didn't believe at first. It was his way of dealing with the situation what made it worse. Ten didn't say anything, he didn't fight it at all. Maybe once, the first time he just laughed and said it was stupid. But as time went, maybe two or three weeks were enough to be too late. People started believing. He randomly showed up without anyone knowing anything about his past and with his boundless attitude of partying and drinking till he was wasted, people started doubting.

And started taking advantages of the situation.

Taeil pitied him, he really was sorry for the boy. But at the same, he kept his distance. After all the boy looked as if he didn't even care; when someone laughed at him, he laughed with them, when someone pushed him, he just rolled his eyes or chuckled. And so on and so on. He seemed fine, not caring at all.

Taeil didn't believe that, but the boy could reach for help anytime. And it was none of his business anyway.

"Do you think he has something to do with—" The Japanese pulled Taeil out of his thoughts whereupon his head slowly turned in the younger's direction. "—with his past? Maybe even his quietness..." Yuta trailed off before he could finish the sentence. Although it didn't look like that, it was a very sensitive topic and he knew that.

Taeil didn't know what to think. He was so confused.

"Yuta to be honest—I have no idea. It makes me think what kind of things Doyoung had to be involved with since they really seemed to know each other. Ten was shocked when he saw him and the other guy even greeted him so—"

Taeil suddenly turned to Yuta, meeting his eyes again. "Who was even the boy talking to Doyoung?"

Yuta sighed which didn't go unnoticed by the older. Meaning the Japanese knew something. He thought for a second and was about to say something before Taeil's eyes caught something.

Was it fate or—no, it had to be pure coincidence, nothing else as a slim figure with coal-coloured hair stepped into the bus. Luckily, Taeil was first to notice and immediately smacked Yuta's arm, who gave him a confused look before looking in the same direction as his friend. The older soon heard quiet 'shit' from the other.

It was that boy. Ten's friend. The one who talked to Doyoung.

Don't look, don't look, Taeil repeated in his head, but his eyes couldn't leave the tall boy in the front.

As soon as he paid for his ticket and started walking to his seat, two boys went quiet completely, too scared to even breathe.
The boy didn't seem to notice them until the very last second, before sitting down. He froze for a moment, making the two almost shit their pants. He was staring straight at them but quickly diverted his eyes after he realized what was happening and threw himself on the seat. Taeil could swear he saw slight panic in the boy's eyes, his own heart was beating fast.

After a minute, Taeil again shifted his gaze to Yuta. He seemed confused about the whole situation, furrowing his eyebrows while still looking at the boy sitting in the front.

"I know him from my dance classes as I sometimes see him there. I think he goes by the name—"

Yuta then quickly mumbled something, but luckily, Taeil's ears caught it. His eyes landed on the boy in the front too.

Sicheng.