"In case I'm home early, don't ask."

Changkyun never liked Kihyun's idea of home early—but that doesn't mean he wasn't concerned.

He quietly stared at the calendar; the day's saturday, thirteen days after Kihyun had barged in his dormitory. The drawer felt like he had opened a Pandora's box, and he'd wondered if he regret them.

Nothing in the house felt like a looming threat, yet Kihyun only shot his eyes up to Changkyun's with no words; and he quietly left, retreating to his room. Food seemed to be present in the front of the dining table and at the same eight o'clock in the evening, but he's currently studying in the exact same table, and the time has past half an hour. The table remained empty except for several Biology books and notes scattered all over the table.

Just as the longer needle passed number six of the clock, the door clicked open, revealing the familiar brunette slowly walking towards the table. His eyes were sullen, looking almost defeated. His left hand held tight a sheet of paper; and Changkyun noticed it shook slightly as Kihyun walked. Their eyes met—and Changkyun couldn't help but arched his eyebrows at him. Something felt even less tight about it—the usual twinkle in his eyes were gone, replaced with a dark, almost fixated to an abyss.

Kihyun couldn't look at his gaze long, however—he hurriedly flipped the paper as he quickly dropped his worn leather bag yet slowly walked towards the kitchen, pulling out Teflon utensils as Changkyun focused on his books again. Hearing the water boiling made his breath waver. Something stops him from reading, and he turned to Kihyun warily, who still had his back turned, the sound of fire hissing accompanying him.

The boy waited at the chair, fiddling with his thumbs. He tried to pry on the table near him, albeit almost taller than half of his height. Behind him, the sounds of bubbling and rumbling water made his stomach rumble. He let out a small whine just as the woman turned, a small smile tugging her lips. "Just a minute," she said.

"Mom," he struggled to jump down from the huge chair, walking to stand next to his mother. "Why is there only one plate?"

"I'm not hungry, Changkyun," she continued, her voice wavering. Cream soup poured over one of the bowls. "Dad will be home soon, just eat up first."

"Dinner's served," Kihyun spoke, his voice raspy, almost lower than usual. A plate was handed towards Changkyun, and he noticed the fillings; red kimchi stew. 

As if reading his mind, Kihyun coughed, "Had leftover kimchi from my restaurant, just to save money,"

Changkyun only nodded quietly, pondering over his book even if he couldn't remember a word. He could see Kihyun's darker shadow at the corner of his eye; just as he heard the screeching sound of chair. The older's gaze seemed to motion him to stop and start eating; Changkyun wondered whether his stomach had stopped rumbling at one point.

Changkyun looked away uncomfortably at Kihyun's gaze, and quietly picked on with his chopsticks. There wasn't anything particularly special about it other than the fact it tasted almost indistinguishable from any particular restaurant food, but that usually wasn't what Kihyun cooked; The taste was there; but there's nothing after it that tasted particularly nice.

"Do... you like it?" Kihyun immediately turned back just as he said that, a resounding cough coming afterwards. Then, a series of sharp coughs followed soon after, another harsher, and Changkyun could only cringe as Kihyun started wheezing for air. 

"It's alright, yeah." Changkyun awkwardly looked at his plate. Then he turned to the older guy.

"Look, maybe you should take a rest, or something. You didn't sound good."

"I noticed." Kihyun leaned back, resting his hands at the back of his head. 

Changkyun wasn't willing to pull another hour of arguing with Kihyun, so he got back to eating the remaining dish. Occasionally, he saw Kihyun's heavy eyes dozing off somewhere, and then above the ceiling again. The hot lamp didn't seem to bother him either, although Changkyun started noticing perspiring beads of sweat covering inches of his face. His breathing also got increasingly heavier and deeper, and he almost stopped eating after a while. He took a good look at Kihyun, and ruffled his own hair just as he groaned.

"Go to bed, come on," Kihyun didn't budge. Changkyun was well aware that, behind his closed eyes, he's still briskly moving from the sound of the younger's voice. And he didn't even know why he had suddenly felt the urge to help; all he knew, he could've just left him there.

"I'll help you up, come on," Changkyun sighed, his voice now half-pleading. "please."

"I'm not that tired, Changkyun." Kihyun still stared at the ceiling, his finger scratching the hem of his washed out blue dress shirt. "So—"

Before he knew it, he felt his light body being lifted by someone, and his arm placed over the other's. His knees were weak, and his body felt hot—even as he felt drops of sweat cools at his shirt. "You're hot," Changkyun groaned as he felt the dead weight of Kihyun's tiny frame heaved upon him.

"Thanks, I am." Kihyun sneered. He could see visibly that Changkyun rolled his eyes, but he still knew he was standing (barely) upright as he reached for his room's door. There, Changkyun gently laid him down.

"I'll get you new clothes and cold towel; stay alive and don't joke around, alright?"

"You're crazy; I'll just change clothes after I feel better." Kihyun stared at him, turning away once he'd spoken.

"You're making yourself worse," Changkyun mulled, opening the wardrobe and finding a blue shirt with loose pants at the lowest deck of the pile, amidst stacks of collared shirts and (somehow) plaids. When he closed the wardrobe, he couldn't help but noticed the picture of a child; a girl, with two ponytails at her back, and she was smiling. 

He didn't have time to think her, though, when Kihyun broke the silence, "What are you doing?"

"Picking up your clothes." Changkyun replied, his voice dry. Kihyun only stared at him, his body hunching away towards the window without a word. Changkyun silently sighed.

He laid the new apparel at the edge of the mattress and sat down, pulling his legs closer to his knees. For a while, he quietly looked above the window, where tiny droplets of rain struck the clarity of the dark night; the sounds of raindrops thundering down the brick walls of the apartment broke the engulfing silence of both men.

"I'm surprised," Kihyun broke away the silence. Changkyun turned to him, the cold towel still at his forehead, but he hadn't turned his back. "You helped me."

"Doctors saves lives," Changkyun mumbled. "better than having to drag you unconcious, since you're so stubborn about it."

"Hm," Kihyun said, slightly nodding. "so you're planning to be doctor?"

"No."

"Then?"

"Not sure. But still saving lives."

"You just said doctors saves lives."

"The analogy isn't as good if I said, 'med students saves lives' and then you'll complain that it sounds funny. And not all doctors are able too," Changkyun said.

"Since when did you care about what I thought? For someone who has been very open about being rude for almost two weeks, you sure sound different. But then you made it sound like all doctors should have that as an oath." Kihyun said, his hoarse voice letting out a chuckle. 

Changkyun frowned. Kihyun was an annoyance, but arguing with Kihyun when he's sick and he himself still needing to study isn't a good idea either, and he had found no reason standing in silence. So he quickly went out, closing the door behind him. Kihyun raised his eyebrows, but then turned away again, saying nothing. His body is begging for him to sleep, but he's even more unwilling to catch a cold from soaked clothes and having to wash his mattress.

He slowly got up, head extremely dizzy and body still emnating heat. He stared at the apron tucked away neatly inside his half-opened bag. Since when did Changkyun brought his bag? But looking at the bag again, he's only hoping that Changkyun hadn't started rummaging the insides (not that he would given the current situation, but nobody knows).

Pulling his old clothes to change, he started to remember something; they had lived together long ago. And as far as he'd remembered, it's always been quiet around the big house they had. The first time he saw Kihyun, Changkyun didn't have the best first impression of him. 

Changkyun had seen the slightly older boy only occasionally when he first came to the big house. 

The eight-year-old, on this chance, had first seen him coming out of his car. It wasn't anything shabby; far from it, even. The polished, dark blue car had parked in front of the relatively wide, sparse garden of the house. He quietly walked in front of the door, trying to take a look at his 'brother', as his mom had said. 

As he made small running steps towards the door, he panted, huffing, in excitement on how his brother would look like. How would he act? What kinds of cool games would he knew? What kind of things do rich kids talk about? He knew his friends in his old school who had brothers, and while they sometimes fight, it's better than being alone. He's always alone. He wants a friend that is in the house, not someone he only meets at school almost everyday.

And he knew of the Cinderella story well, though; but he's a guy and his mome is a good woman, so the story is not going to be going again, right? Changkyun thought nothing of it.

The door finally, opens, revealing a slightly older boy. He was walking straight and in a proud posture; two adults were seen walking behind him, although they had looked wary, continuously watching the boy's acts.

Changkyun and him suddenly met eye-to-eye; so in a moment, he waved, grinning at the boy, expecting another wave and a smile.

But the boy only stared at him, speaking nothing before turning away. Changkyun was surprised; and then, a heavy feeling settled in him as the two adults sent him pitying looks. 

"Right, since when did I care?" Changkyun angrily remarked, vigorously scrubbing the now empty food dishes he'd just eaten. The sound of crashing plates and loud cupboard being slammed echoed through the room. 

After the raging while, he sat down again, heaving a sigh. He's tired and not even interested in studying even if the exams are closing in—all because of one tiny man who barged in his home. He quietly breathed in the foggy, cold air of the evening, calming himself down, before grabbing a vacuum bottle from the table. Inside, he'd brewed chamomile tea a few hours ago, still warm and almost full.

As he poured the drink, he'd find himself being resorting to memories; adrift in the evening, reminsincing the presence that was supposedly lost. Then he looked at the vacuum bottle again, and then glanced at the door to Kihyun's room. 

"Save lives."

While he hated Kihyun for having poking out the sore spots, he couldn't help but pour a drink into a glass. But now, not without a pink Post-it Note. He quietly smiled, walking in to the room.

He'd found Kihyun in the middle of trying to fall asleep, eyes droopy and body extremely pale, but when the latter heard of the sound of creaking door, his eyes perked up. Changkyun placed the tea next to him, and left without a word, although relief seemed to be written across his face.

"Hey," Kihyun said. Changkyun turned, giving a genuinely curious look.

"Sorry about that. I should've been more careful talking." Kihyun said. Changkyun only nodded, the smile still there.

When Changkyun quietly closed the door, Kihyun noticed a pink note being scribbled  next to the warm tea. The light, flowery scent remind him of chamomile tea. As he drank it, he read the whole note. A slight nod formed in his face.

"I just don't know how to be a doctor. But saving lives are what I've always wanted to do... no matter who they are. I'll find the answer once I get through them." — Lim Changkyun.

a/n : had to abandon this fic for sometime after a really busy schedule and loss of inspiration (i promise this would be the last boring chapter... i think.) buuttt now I had some little time and I had to finish it. aahh hopefully it's not too bad.