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Chanyeol struggles to keep up with the orders that keep coming in. He doesn’t even remember where table 11 is located and delivers the cappuccino and a hot chocolate to table 2, on the other side of the café. The two friends look at each other before they turn to the distraught waiter.

“This isn’t our order,” one girl says, pointing at the drinks with a look that is a little bit meaner than it has to be. Chanyeol frowns and thinks, then smiles the brightest he can before placing the two drinks on the tray again.

“My apologies, you will get your order for free,” he says, knowing that his boss isn’t going to be pleased with that. He’ll pay it himself, he thinks and leaves the girls behind, failing to see the effects such a smile had on them. He calms himself down before heading straight for the right table.

He doesn’t make any more mistakes that night and his body wants him to return home already, drained from too many activities, but he has one last stop to make. He brought Baekhyun to the hospital that afternoon and he knew things were bad right as he stepped foot inside. He barely had the time to rush and let his father know what was happening because his part time job was waiting for him.

“Dad,” he says, nearly breathless because he ran the majority of the way to the hospital, “what happened?” His father rubs his temples, squeezes his eyes shut for a moment and exhales. Chanyeol’s heart already beat fast because of his physical activity, but now, it is pounding and he feels desperation grow in the pit of his stomach. This is not a good expression on his father’s face and if anyone would know it, it would be Chanyeol.

“We need to look into it more, but it looks bad… he needs to stay under constant surveillance,” he replies before standing up and unexpectedly embraces his tall son. “I’m proud of you for recognizing it is a serious situation.” Chanyeol swallows some unwanted emotions away and waits for his father to let him go again and sees how the elder’s eyes are watery. He wonders shortly why it touches him so personally, but shakes it off since he has more questions.

“So you don’t know yet if he’ll be alright?” he asks, afraid of the answer although he already knows. His father shakes his head and takes another deep breath, this time to get rid of the tears.

“Come, let’s go home, son,” he urges with a hand on the small of Chanyeol’s back, but he isn’t done here yet.

“I want to go see him,” Chanyeol says, nearly afraid to even request it, but he wants to anyway. His father stops pushing him forward though and looks up at his face.

“He should be asleep by now, but sure, as long as you remember to come home too.”

Chanyeol looks through the glass, seeing how machines are connected to Baekhyun’s body, but he hasn’t studied them enough to know what everything is. He knows they’re keeping track of his heart-rate though. He sees a thin sheet of sweat covering his forehead and he feels his own heart ache at the sight. This used to be someone entirely different, someone who made sure Chanyeol didn’t feel alone at school although he did so in a way that made neither of them very happy. Now, he seems more like someone who has given up and Chanyeol is practically sure that he has already done that.

He wants to go inside and he’s not even sure why that is. Maybe it’s that same feeling that has him interested in him in the first place, maybe it’s because Baekhyun has been acting weirdly towards him. Maybe it’s because Baekhyun’s health is possibly really bad, maybe it’s because he might die. He remembers how the smaller man tried resisting him strongly though and it makes him doubt his own urge to be there for him. Baekhyun doesn’t want that, Baekhyun doesn’t want anything from him.

Then Baekhyun suddenly wakes up, staring right through the window and at Chanyeol, who stands rooted to the spot, but only temporarily. He flashes his best apologetic smile before he turns because he doesn’t know what else to do with someone who doesn’t want his support. He needs to sleep anyway, he tells himself as he feels one of the muscles in his legs protest.

The next day, Chanyeol is surprised when none of Baekhyun’s friends take it upon themselves to bring his homework to the hospital, so despite his ambiguous feelings, he raises his hand himself. He doesn’t explain anything to those annoying, staring faces that start to gossip right away and instead, shoots a glare at one of the boys he believes should have volunteered. He seems surprised because Chanyeol isn’t like that, but it doesn’t bother him because he feels so weird these days already. He puts the sheets of paper in his bag, slings it over his shoulder to make a quick trip to Baekhyun’s room before he has to attend one of his father’s meetings. Fortunately, those are always held at one of the meeting rooms located in the hospital’s left wing, just like where his father’s office is located.

He has some time, so he takes it easy when he gets off the bus near the hospital. He breathes in deep and remembers he needs to pay some attention to his hair as it doesn’t look too pretty at the moment. Maybe, he thinks, he had better just cut it altogether. He doesn’t need another minute to decide that’s exactly what he’ll be doing once he has some free time over the weekend.

He slips into his father’s dressing room and checks for his own suit, seeing it already there, as it always is right before a meeting. He fits himself into the custom made suit and brushes his hair until he deems it alright enough to show himself to important people. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous today, since he never really is about these meetings. He doesn’t have to say anything, except for the part where he will be greeted. He’ll find out soon enough that today will be rather awkward though.

Because Chanyeol’s a student anyway, he doesn’t really care when he picks up his backpack again and makes his last stop before the meeting. He checks carefully to see if Baekhyun is awake, rather uneasy to meet him actually, so he only goes in when he’s sure that the smaller boy is asleep. He puts the papers on the small table located near one of the walls, suddenly unsure whether he would even want to do any school work right now, but since he’s there anyway, he lets it slide. If he doesn’t want to do it, then surely he’ll just leave it all be.

He can’t help but glance at Baekhyun’s face. All of the make-up has been rinsed and he looks terribly white. The bags under his eyes are nearly blue and the light streaks of dried tears aren’t properly washed off. He’s sweating again and Chanyeol wonders whether he wants to wipe it away, but can’t get the image out of his mind – he keeps seeing Baekhyun desperately trying to tell him he doesn’t want his help. And it stings because he’s worried, it stings because now not only is Chanyeol alone again in school, Baekhyun seems to be, too. It stings because not even his father is sure what’s wrong with Baekhyun and he might never be able to get to know him better. Most of all, it stings because he’s sure Baekhyun doesn’t want him to.

He turns away, clenching his fists because he doesn’t want to show any of the businessmen that the son of Dr. Park is weak and crying over a boy. He walks briskly through the halls, meeting nobody’s eye although he’s being stared at. He barely even notices though because his mind is with something much more important to him than people he doesn’t know. He opens the door to the meeting room and is surprised to see that he’s not the first one in, but then remembers that he usually doesn’t drop off homework before attending meetings.

“Ah, Chanyeol!” Mr. Kim says, a little too enthusiastically to Chanyeol and his mood, but he smiles brightly nonetheless. Mr. Kim has been a generous supporter of his father since the beginning of the hospital and he’s always been too kind to Chanyeol.

“Mr. Kim,” he says, bows before he greets the other men in the room. However, when Chanyeol hopes that he can sit down at the end of the table, not minding anyone else’s business, he’s disappointed by the same Mr. Kim.

“Chanyeol-ah,” he says and there’s a good-natured old-man smile on his face when he beckons Chanyeol to come sit next to him. He complies, because he has barely any other choice. There’s a sigh from the older man. “You look more handsome since last time,” he flatters and Chanyeol is entirely unsure how to react as his face flushes red at the false compliment, “I wouldn’t mind if my daughter were to date you,” he says, laughing as if he’s joking, but Chanyeol knows better than that. Mr. Kim isn’t joking and he will probably try to introduce his daughter to him as soon as there is a possibility. And Chanyeol doesn’t want that – he isn’t ready for any kind of relationship right now and definitely not with a girl. That’s why he laughs awkwardly when he thanks the man, then looks down for a while. He looks back up when his father enters and shuts the door behind himself. And he looks so proudly at him that Chanyeol feels embarrassed yet again.

“Good afternoon,” he greets the men in the room and gets greetings in return as well, “I would like to start today’s meeting with something a little personal. As you all know, I will step down from this position in a few years’ time and hand it all over to my son, Chanyeol,” he motions in his direction and all Chanyeol really wants to do, is shrink and disappear, but he musters a smile, like he always does when his father talks about him like this. “I think you need to know this, since I know some of you aren’t too fond of me choosing Chanyeol over one of you, more experienced doctors… My son has saved a life yesterday, I’m sure of that, and I want to tell you all that I’m proud of him and I want you to see that he’s a capable young man, that he studies every day to become worthy of standing on this side of the table. I hope he will convince you to stay with us, this hospital wouldn’t exist without you and my son will need your guidance once I step down.” Then it’s silent for a while and Chanyeol is unsure what to do, does he need to tell his father that it’s all not that great? Does he need to let these men know that his father is exaggerating what happened?

He doesn’t and the meeting creeps by before he even knows it. Afterwards, he is showered with attention he doesn’t want because he wants to go sleep. Well, to be completely honest, he wants to check on Baekhyun one last time before going to sleep, but of course he doesn’t tell them.

“I’m sorry, but I will have to excuse myself,” he says once he answered some of the questions he didn’t ask for. He then stalks his way through the halls again, feeling a strange excitement course through his limbs although he’s sure he won’t talk to Baekhyun. He passes by the room and sees how the light is still on, that the curtains aren’t closed again and that’s when his heart starts beating in his throat and his hands become clammy. Upon passing by, he glances inside, sees something he could never have foreseen – his mother, sitting on the chair next to Baekhyun’s bed and they’re talking. Baekhyun looks down, but he’s speaking to her, and then his mother looks up, meeting Chanyeol’s confused eyes. She smiles and lifts her hand as a way of greeting, but Chanyeol can’t really return it. He shortly shifts his eyes towards Baekhyun’s face and he shouldn’t have done that because he’s met with a same kind of expression that’s on his own face and he’s merely wondering what the hell is going on?

“Mom,” he starts when they’re sitting at the dinner table, eating left-overs from yesterday because nobody had had the time to cook today. She looks up and there’s a smile on her face, almost as if she already knows something – which wouldn’t be that surprising since she’s a psychologist. “Why were you at the hospital today?” he asks and as he does so, the thought comes to mind that Baekhyun’s mother should have been there, not his own. His mom laughs although Chanyeol thinks it’s pretty serious. She pats his arm lightly.