Besides Kim Younghoon, Changmin had one other friend, his best and closest friend, Choi Chanhee. He was introverted and silent - so silent I often forgot he was around. But Changmin seemed to enjoy the silence that his friend provided. Despite that however, Chanhee was very observant. He caught onto things quickly and was smart. I figured that since he was so close to Changmin, he could help me understand him better, because all I knew was that Ji Changmin was not a "normal" teenager.

I met him at the convenience store down the street from our school. It was a Saturday and the sun was out, but he was dressed in a hoodie and straight jeans. I didn't question his choice of fashion, even though it was so hot, the sun burned my skin the moment I stepped outside.

We sat inside at one of the empty tables near a window, keeping our distance. He had never really liked interacting with people outside of his friend group, and I was used to him being distant towards me by now. "I know I'm in no place to ask this," I started, keeping my voice low, "but what's wrong with Changmin?"

Chanhee sighed and bit into the sandwich he had bought earlier when we walked in. By the looks of it, it seemed as if he knew I was going to ask him that question, as if he'd been waiting for it. "He's sick," he said, setting the sandwich down. "He gets trapped in his head sometimes; he hears voices."

"Sick?"

"No, not si-" Chanhee sighed again, "He's just... different. He thinks no one understands him. He's lonely, has been for a long time. He thinks he has no one to lean on."

"But what does that have to do with the voices?" I asked.

"He has some trauma. It's- it's complicated and a long story, but he developed those voices because of his trauma." He paused, "They're torturing him. They yell at him and twist everyone's words. He finds it hard to trust others because of those voices."

His tone made him sound angry, bothered that his best friend was being tortured and he couldn't do anything about it. "Trauma," I repeated to myself. "What kind of trauma?"

"Abuse," he said. "Mental and physical."

It broke my heart to hear such words. He was abused both mentally and physically - he's been through so much, and I knew nothing about it. I suddenly felt angry. He had been keeping all of this inside and only let it out when he knew he thought he was alone. How could someone go through something like this alone?

Still, who was I to feel angry? I was no one to him - just a fake girlfriend that would hopefully get him out of an engagement. I had no right to feel angry over something like this, and I had no right to question why he had never mentioned it.

But I couldn't help it.