"i swear if that kid touches you again, i am actually going to kill him."

it was almost seven at night and yedam and his ten other friends were currently at a food stall right outside their university. doyoung and yedam had split about two hours ago after the younger male told the other that he had something important he needed to do, and the masked male just nodded, slightly disappointed that he didn't get to spend more time with the first year university student.

"it wasn't that bad," yedam defended, having no idea as to why he was protecting the one person who made his life so miserable.

it wasn't like yedam got bullied by his bully and his group of friends everyday, more like three times a week, but when he does get bullied, it was usually extremely harsh and life threatening. for some reason, it always involved baby powder, and after the first few occurrences last year, yedam got to know that he was being bullied for his allergy.

he hated it a lot, that was no doubt. no reasonable human being in the world would enjoy being bullied, especially if it was life threatening, but yedam couldn't fight back. he was too weak to face all five of them, who would usually gang up on the masked male and do whatever terrible activities they planned to do to the boy. all he could do was sit there and accept his fate, which would soon most likely become death.

"yeah, because pouring baby powder all over his hand and grabbing your wrist so harsh to the point where there was a bruise AND a hand print along with a severe allergic reaction isn't that bad," jihoon said, obviously being sarcastic. "sure, it's less brutal than his other attempts at bullying you, but it's still bullying, and life threatening at that, nonetheless."

jihoon was referring to what yedam's bully had done earlier today during his break time. the masked male was walking over to the vending machine, planning to get doyoung some strawberry milk at the location where he always sleeps during break, when he was suddenly cornered by his group of bullies. they had pushed him against the wall harshly, nearly knocking out all the air from him and making him extremely weak and vulnerable, and poured baby powder all over their leader's hand. he then forced the right sleeve of yedam's shirt all the way to his elbow and aggressively grabbed onto the masked male's wrist, pulling it up and nearly causing yedam to hang from where his arm was being pulled up. the second year university student was crying and begging for the bully to let him go, but he had refused.

that incident caused yedam to be unable to give doyoung his strawberry milk because he had spent the next two hours at the hospital, getting treatment and a bandage for his arm. if anything, yedam was lucky to be alive, but that doesn't mean he should keep his guard down. anything could happen to him by this point, and it was no doubt that in the future, there would be something related to this that would cause the masked male to fight for life or death, literally.

yedam's allergy, as silly as it may sound, was nothing to be taken lightly. that was the main reason why he was (social) distancing himself from doyoung, the boy who smells like he uses a whole bottle of baby powder in the morning. earlier that day, when yedam and doyoung crossed paths at the library, yedam had hidden his injury from the younger male, knowing that if the other saw, it would raise suspicion and curiosity, eventually leading to questions that yedam had no will to answer.

the masked male also didn't comment or correct doyoung when the younger had said that yedam was distancing himself from him because he was scared of the younger, which was obviously not true. yedam only remained silent because after realizing that doyoung had believed that the masked male was distancing himself because of what he had suggested, he decided to go along with it so that he wouldn't have to spend an excessive amount of time explaining to doyoung everything, although there wasn't much to explain.

however, yedam couldn't deny that maybe it was something else. everyone that yedam knew grew apart from him and left him when they found out about his baby powder allergy, all claiming that it was absolutely ridiculous and evidently fake. maybe the masked male didn't want the same to happen to doyoung, or even worse, develop another bully. although the first year university student seems harmless, yedam couldn't take any chances. he did realize that sooner or later, he would have to tell doyoung about everything, but as of right now, later was a better idea.

"you don't even know who he is. none of us do," yoshi said to jihoon, taking another bite of his rice. the other boys at the table nodded their heads in agreement.

it would be very accurate to say that no one out of the eleven boys at the table knew who yedam's bully was. he and his friends always wore a mask while bullying yedam, most likely to keep their identity a secret from everyone else, and the bullying always passed by with celerity, leaving yedam to forget every detail of his bullies. it wasn't like the masked male was ever able to even get a proper look at them because the only time they would interact was when the second year university student was being bullied.

"doesn't mean i can't hunt him down. obviously, he's in the same faculty as yedam, so we can start there," jihoon said with his mouth full, causing everyone at the table to turn their heads away in order to shield their eyes from the atrocity that was being shown.

"hoon, dear," hyunsuk called out to his boyfriend from his right side and put a hand on his shoulder. "please finish what's in your mouth before speaking."

spending a few seconds to chew and swallow what remained in his mouth, jihoon apologized to everyone before continuing what he was planning to say. "damie, do you remember anything about your bully?"

a shake of a head was all that was needed for the entire table to let out a whiny groan. but could you blame yedam? no. his hyperventilation did a good job at forcing yedam to forget about specific details about his bullies. he only knew that they wore black masks with something written on it, but he couldn't recall exactly what they said, and he was aware that there were five of them. nothing else about the bullies registered in the masked male's head, and digging up information from his brain would be like searching for a lost pearl at sea.

it was frustrating, not being able to remember anything about the bullies, because if the second year university student could remember, maybe even the tiniest detail, they would've been caught and possibly expelled from the school already. but no, that was not the case, and it was not only making yedam's life more and more at risk, but it was also stressing his friends out by not being able to catch the culprit responsible for yedam's pain and suffering.

"i swear... that guy is getting a really good beating from me," jihoon said, being very close to punching someone right now, most likely hyunsuk because he is the only person sitting next to him.

"jihoon, chill out. we will find him eventually," junkyu said, trying to calm down the male who was getting more and more worried for his younger brother with each passing day. it wasn't that junkyu wasn't worried for his friend; if anything, all of them were really worried about yedam and his life that was constantly being put on edge because of his bully. but the worry from the other ten boys towards the one with a baby powder allergy didn't mean that they should handle the situation irrationally.

"we don't really have any leads, though," haruto butted into the conversation, stating an obvious fact that no one was getting to. "we know that there are five of them that bully yedam hyung at the same time, and they wear black masks, but other than that, there's nothing else we can use to help us. hyung also wears a black mask, more than half the students on campus most likely have a black mask, it would be nearly impossible to find who it is."

"hey, baby powder allergies were usually impossible, but yedam had that exact allergy," yoshi replied to the younger japanese male's statement. "shows that everything is possible, and if baby powder allergies exist, that means its possible for us to find the bully."

hyunsuk was found nodding his head, agreeing with yoshi's statement. "yoshi's right. it might take a while, but that doesn't mean its impossible."

yedam slightly smiled after seeing his friends become so determined to find his bully and put an end to his constant suffering. he wasn't involved in the conversation, but listening in on the words and claims that his friends were voicing out made him realize that he wasn't alone in this after all. sure, he felt like a burden to everyone that was actively participating in being part of his life despite all the assurances that he wasn't one, but that didn't mean that yedam didn't want his friends and family to stick by his side. his friends were proud to be friends with yedam, jihoon was constantly overly enthusiastic about having yedam as his younger brother, and his two dads were always supporting and helping him however they could with what yedam likes to do.

his life would've been what others call perfect, if it weren't for his one-in-a-million allergy that no other human in the world has. that was the only downfall, and although it does make yedam's life super miserable and at risk, he couldn't deny that some good things have come out of having this allergy. majority of that would include that he has protective and caring friends as well a supportive family that he has a really good relationship with, but there was also something else.

yedam felt that if he wasn't allergic to baby powder, maybe his life would've never collided with doyoung's, and if they had, then maybe it wouldn't be as interesting as yedam made it out to be.