“Right. Right.” Luhan said outrageously. His face was struck amazed and his hand over his pink hair—no longer a shade of brown, but toned down a little darker as they emerged into the cool night air. Both of their shifts ended and Chanyeol came out unscratched, all in one piece, although a little shaken. Chanyeol decided to walk and drop Luhan off to his flat.

“Ten hours. Inside that hell-hole.”

“It’s not exactly a hell-hole.” Chanyeol frowned. “He’s… He’s just like a kid. Easily misunderstood, and easily misunderstands everyone else. You’ve probably said the wrong things to only survive there for three minutes.”

Chanyeol couldn’t help but side against Baekhyun. Although he just met his patient, and Chanyeol was thoroughly so intimidated that he was on the edge of his seat throughout the whole thing; Baekhyun didn’t sound as scary as the stories made it out.

Baekhyun was like a dog. And everyone who makes a dog angry gets the bites. Chanyeol had just approached the dog carefully and gave it a bone before petting it.

Chanyeol tried asking Luhan of how Baekhyun ended up being in an Outstandingly High-Secured ward. Baekhyun seemed so innocent and quiet and unresponsive that Chanyeol thought that the most he could do was just squash a fly. But Luhan shook his head sadly, scratching the back of his neck. “Wish I knew, pal. I’m not allowed to look in his records.”

Chanyeol concluded that the single picture Baekhyun drew on the wall had something to do with his wrongdoings. Because it certainly looked like Baekhyun found the picture as a funny thing, or a fond memory. And to Chanyeol, it was not at all a single bit hilarious.

Who were the two people dead in that scenery?

“What, is Byun like a living questionnaire? Except it’s pass-or-die?” Luhan’s tone was taking a tone of bitterness. The pink-haired man pocketed his hands. “Don’t get me wrong, Chanyeol. I’m proud of you and all that. But… he’s dangerous. We’re already short on staff here in the Institute, and we don’t want you to get scarred. Your first day here with Baekhyun was probably just a lucky .”

“Luhan—“

“You don’t know if he’ll pounce on you when you let your guard down, Chanyeol.” Luhan said carefully, stopping in front of his flat building. “But whatever you do, be careful. I know that you’ve probably just took care of harmless bunnies at the previous hospital, but you’re dealing with the big boys now. You got to be careful, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol, although confused of what he had said, nodded anyways, waving goodbye as Luhan went through the doors. However, Chanyeol heard what he had muttered:

“God, I don’t even know why he’s assigned with Byun, and he’s only new here… Better just pray for the kid, Lully. Pray for the kid he won’t get himself broken…”

The next day, Chanyeol was not greeted by a boy waiting at the back of the door to bite at his arm. And he was thankful that he wasn’t.

It was around 9:00, and he walked into Baekhyun’s room with a tray of breakfast. He was greeted with the same posture of Baekhyun he had been presented with yesterday; curled up, chin tucked into his knees, and steely eyes glaring up at the giant. However, his gaze softened at the sight of Chanyeol—or maybe it was just Chanyeol’s imagination.

“Morning! Great weather outside today, eh?” Chanyeol said, dismally smiling at the windows that were blackened with crayon. “I brought you breakfast!”

Baekhyun remained idly still.

“C’mon. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Chanyeol tried him, getting ready just in case the boy jumped on him. “It’s—It’s uh, sandwiches! Butter and chocolate sprinkle sandwiches!”

Baekhyun remained idle, but his eyes stared at Chanyeol as if he was a madman. He probably never heard of the odd food combination before—most people never do.

“Never tried it before? It’s really good! Nice butter on the slice of bread, and add chocolate sprinkles evenly at the top! My mother used to make these for my breakfast.” Chanyeol grinned, somewhat cautiously.

To his surprise, Baekhyun actually sat up, looking at the sandwiches on the tray with an odd look. Chanyeol watched him as he slowly reached out a shy hand to grab the sandwiches, gingerly inspecting them—Baekhyun’s hand was small, bony, and it looked like it was just skin and bones, as if he hardly had anything to eat.

Baekhyun sniffed it sceptically, before taking a bite. His face seemed to contort to a look of weirdness… then it shifted into… well, Chanyeol didn’t see a smile on his lips, but his face definitely brightened up. And Chanyeol never seen anyone wolf down something so quickly.

“So… like it, then?” Chanyeol laughed softly as the shorter male grabbed another sandwich from the tray; only this time, he chewed slowly as if to savour the taste. When there were just crumbs left, Chanyeol handed him a glass of orange juice, which Baekhyun also gulped down until it was empty.

Then Baekhyun just sat still, cross-legged, looking at Chanyeol expectantly as if he was waiting for something. Chanyeol set down the tray and produced his clipboard, containing notes of Baekhyun’s progress.

“So. How’re you today, Baekhyun? Is it a better state than last time we met?”

Baekhyun just nodded. Chanyeol was yet to see his smile, but his eyes had a certain glow to it that told Chanyeol that he was definitely in a happier mood.

“Good! I’m feeling pretty good too.” Chanyeol smiled. He looked down at his clipboard and sighed. “Ahh, these questions are boring. Tell you what, let’s just ask you random questions. What thing would you really, really like right now?”

Baekhyun seemed to think about it for a moment. Then Chanyeol swore that he saw a lightbulb on top of Baekhyun’s head, because the shorter male had scrambled under his bed and pulled out his notebook and crayon, scribbling something before he showed it to Chanyeol.

“Are those…” Chanyeol squinted. “French fries?”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow and shook his head. He gave the notebook a slight shake, and pointed up his black crayon. Chanyeol’s face brightened up.

“Oh! Crayons, right?”

Baekhyun nodded, satisfied.

Chanyeol spent some more time with Baekhyun, asking him all sorts of questions. But for most of them, Baekhyun did not answer them with his notebook. Chanyeol was careful to avoid any sensitive subjects, and asked questions to Baekhyun as if he was a complete stranger.

Baekhyun didn’t make any sounds throughout the whole thing either.

After a few hours of morning talk, Chanyeol bid Baekhyun a warm “See you in the afternoon, Baekhyun!” and proceeded to his lunch break.

The canteen was pretty big, and to prove that, everyone’s voice echoed throughout the walls. Sadly, the walls were also coloured green.

Waiting for the queue to shorten up, he looked over to the coffee machine, his eyes gazing down at the options.

Regular coffee
Tea
Warm milk
Hot chocolate

He shrugged it off, deciding against getting a drink, and joined the queue.

Chanyeol got his food tray and sat next to Luhan—and, if he could remember the guy’s name properly—Junmyeon, sitting in a small circular table so that they all faced each other. Junmyeon was Luhan’s long-time co-worker and Chanyeol had only met him this morning, and the three of them decided to have lunch together.

“—pretty insane. Sehun was forever threatening to knock me out if the cheese doesn’t align properly on his toast.” Junmyeon laughed, spooning potatoes into his mouth. “He never really hurts me though, so that’s okay. Taken a liking to call me Suho for some reason.”

“Well, at least Suho’s a pretty good name.” Luhan mumbled, crushin