Mixed Blood

24: Wrong Timing

"But, Joshie, you need to eat your lunch," Jeonghan insisted.

"It's okay, Han. I am not feeling that hungry yet anyway," before anyone could stop him, Joshua left the classroom.

So the gang, minus Joshua, sat at their usual table in the cafeteria. Jeonghan and Seungcheol were the first ones to return to the table after ordering their food.

"Something is wrong with Joshua," Seungcheol noticed.

"Just let him be for a while," Jeonghan rubbed Seungcheol's right arm.

"By the way, congratulations, hyungs!" Chan suddenly whisper-yelled.

"Oh, yeah! I did not even notice that you were soulmates," Seungkwan remembered, "When did this happen?"

"When we were at the mall, just a few minutes before you arrived,"

"Really?" Minghao gasped.

"Our group is really interesting," Jihoon commented.

"By the way, did something happen to Joshua? He seemed off today," Jeonghan asked. Everyone shook their heads.

Everyone continued eating their lunches after the question about Joshua.

Right at the same moment, Joshua was at his usual spot in the library, kept away from the rest of the university. Since it was lunchtime, Joshua was the only person in the library other than the librarian and the student assistants. Finally, Joshua couldn't hold it anymore. He started to cry, albeit silently.

"What's wrong with you, Joshua? Why are you acting like this?" Joshua started his soliloquy.

But despite how much he restrained himself from crying even more, he wept even more. Throughout the whole lunch break, Joshua bawled his eyes out. The only thing that stopped him was the occasional pain in his chest and abdomen and his phone's alarm reminding him of his afternoon classes.

"Argh... stupid, weak body." Joshua irritably said to himself.

When Joshua arrived in their room, everyone was already there. Thankfully for him, five of the six soulmate pairs in his group were minding their business. Unfortunately, though, Seungcheol and Jeonghan laid their eyes on him as soon as he opened the door.

"Joshie, your eyes look swollen. Are your alright?" Jeonghan inquired as he passed by.

Knowing that his voice would fail him in this particular moment, Joshua simply smiled.

"Josh—"

"Mind your own business, Jeonghan," Joshua snapped as he took his seat. Jeonghan was surprised Joshua used his name and not his nickname.

All his friends turned their heads toward him. It was quite unusual for Joshua to get angry. His friends knew him as the one of the gentlest persons around. They could not believe Joshua burst out like that.

They were about to make a move when their Math teacher entered the room. Sending signals to each other using their eyes, the twelve decided to talk to Joshua after classes.

For Joshua's part, he just wanted to day to end. He wanted to swaddle in his blanket and put his lacrimal glands to work once again. He really wanted to be alone. Each passing minute was like a decade's worth of torture for Joshua.

He was glad when their Mathematics class ended. However, another obstacle faced Joshua when they had an activity for Literature class that should be done either alone or by pairs. Preventing a major emotional outburst for him, he immediately volunteered to be the only student to work by himself. He reasoned that since the number of students was odd, having him work alone gave others the opportunity to be with a partner. Somehow, his tactic worked. The Literature teacher allowed him to be alone.

Surviving Literature, Joshua had Science next. Fortunately for him, Science was just a simple Chemistry activity. The only thing that was out of ordinary was their Science teacher scolding Seungkwan and Vernon.

"Prince Hansol, I know you have Electrokinesis as your ability but please, be very careful. Some of the substances in front of you are electrically conductive, like that liquid mercury in front of you," their Science teacher reprimanded.

After the brief activity, Joshua was particularly glad their Science class ended. Finally, the finish line was within Joshua's sights. He only had to wait for fifteen minutes. If Mr. Hwang will not appear in fifteen minutes, that means no Vampirology class and they were free to go.

"Please, Mr. Hwang... not this time..." Joshua prayed.