𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 》TMR, Minho

066

I didn't see Minho for the following two years.

Why? He wouldn't come out of his dorm. Not even to greet me or tell me how he was feeling. He just stayed there. And when he was in class, he only stared at the wall with big eyes.

Alby said he didn't talk to them either. No more jokes or sarcastic remarks. This wasn't Minho anymore. This was a boy WICKED had ruined and traumatized.

Another reason I didn't contact him, was because the forbade me to. They threatened to do it again if I helped him. They said we had to learn our lesson.

Not seeing Minho affected me so much I didn't join the nightly trips anymore. He didn't join either. It broke me. Left me crying myself to sleep, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I knew, that if they hadn't done that to Minho, he would've been teasing me. I was growing up. Turning thirteen, with a more female body and mood swings he would've joked about.

But that day, all the boys, even Minho, looked like they could punch someone any moment. Their jaws were clenched, fists balled.

"He betrayed us!" Newt spat out, slamming his fist on the table. "He said he would join us and now he won't! I hate him."

Surprised, I looked at the blonde. He was always so calm and now... this.

"Who?" I whispered to Frypan.

The boy seemed disgusted. "Thomas."

"What did he do?"

"He's a liar." Minho added. He heard the news too. His face was made of steel, eyes sharp. "I don't want to talk to him ever again."

"You won't have to, because we're leaving tomorrow. Without him." Alby buried his head in his hands. "He promised!"

"What?" I blinked. "You're leaving? Where to?"

"That bloody project of him and Teresa." Newt's eyebrows furrowed in anger. "We're going into that stupid Maze he built."

Frypan madly chewed on his food. "And he told us he would come with us and now he will not."

"What Maze...?"

They all stared at me like I said something crazy.

My eyes rolled automatically. "You're the ones that never tell me anything."

"The project Thomas and Teresa worked on was a bloody Maze they're about to send us in." Newt summarized. "You should've joined us in the cleaning room to be informed!"

Minho and I made eye contact. He swallowed. I quickly looked away again.
"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, we're aware now."

Newt sighed. Stared at the table. "Yesterday he let me see- no, talk to Lizzy. He let me talk to her after all these years. Next day, he betrays us."

"Maybe he didn't know he wasn't going to join. Or he didn't want to hurt you." I stated carefully, hoping this wouldn't trigger their anger even more. "You can't blame him."

"Are you going with us?"

I remained silent for a minute.
"I don't know. They haven't told me."

~

It turned out that I would be send into the Maze half a year after the boys. Half a year of being awfully alone.

I did get to watch them leave. They were all lined up, along with about fifteen other boys. Thomas and Teresa stood in the corner of the room. Thomas had made desperate attempts to talk to them, but they refused angrily.