nightfall || minsung

Chapter 1

Is the new guy thinking about us? Changbin asked. He didn't stir, didn't lift his head or look at me, as he thought the question.

I shrugged my shoulders, just a little.

You don't know? Can't you hear him?

I moved my head to the left, to the right — slowly, inconspicuously.

Has that ever happened before?

Another subtle no.

Haseong'll wanna hear about this. Do you think Felix will be able to see him?

I didn't answer. I was swimming around in Minho's head. If I focussed, if I blocked everyone else out, the unending talking-talking-talking in my head dulled. I usually couldn't escape the noise unless I was alone — out in the forest, miles away from humans, where the wind and the ocean were all I could hear. Years, decades, a century of layered, grating tinnitus, and I'd never found peace.

Till now. I stared at the table and revelled in his silence.

Jisung, let's go.

Lunch was over — I hadn't noticed. A quick glance told me Minho was still staring at us. I didn't let myself stare back.

The five of us got up and walked across the cafeteria, single-filed out into the rain — not really sure where we were going, only that we could speak freely now.

"Felix is gonna want to know about this, too," Changbin said.

"Know about what?" Jeongin asked.

"Jisung can't hear the new guy's head."

"Felix probably already knows," Seungmin said. He pulled out an empty binder and held it over his head as an umbrella. I ducked under it with him. "As long as the new guy's a human, Felix'll be able to see him."

"We should make sure," said Changbin. "We need to be proactive. Minho Lee could be a Volturi spy, for all we know."

We pushed through the door to Building 2. Felix was there, laying on the floor, grating off the leg of a chair with a nail file.

"Sorry, boys," he said without turning to us. "I can see Minho. He's gonna have breakfast for dinner, read Harry Potter and cry himself to sleep."

Something about that — about Minho crying — made me uneasy. I leaned against the wall, against the anti-drug advert, and scanned the perimeter for teachers.

"Any idea why Jisung can't hear him?" Jeongin asked Felix.

"None."

"Do you think it could be a problem for us?"

"I mean, we'll have to check with bossman, but I don't think so. Not unless Minho gets suspicious about us. Did he seem suspicious, Jisungie?"

"'Suspicious' is a bit much," I said. "He looked kind of curious."

"Well, you were staring at him with your mouth hanging open," said Seungmin.

"I'm, like, seventy-five percent sure my mouth was closed."

"It must have been nice," Felix said to me. "To get a break from the voices, huh?"

I nodded at the floor. "Yeah. It was."

"And Minho is cute," said Hyunjin, smiling at me.

"I guess so," I muttered. "I didn't really notice."

"Someone unplug the smoke alarm — Jisung's pants are literally on fire."

I fake-laughed, and it echoed in the empty classroom. They all saw through it — every single one of them. They were grinning as I stomped out of the building like a crotchety toddler. I didn't bother to say goodbye; we would no doubt spend the whole evening together, discussing the aberration that was Minho Lee.