Changkyun opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling, the beaming sun striking above the couch. His brain felt so hazy, but the events yesterday evening suddenly struck his mind. Changkyun frowned, squinting his eyes at the particular thought, and could only groan, burying his head at his pillow. Kihyun was nowhere nearby and Changkyun had no idea when he suddenly felt that his body gave in to sleep after so long. He'd still rather not meet him, but moments later, something seemed to come to him.

Pillow? Changkyun immediately rose up to find the blue pillow where it's not supposed to be, and he looked down to see that he was warmly tucked by his black blanket. He turned around to the next room to see that the lights were switched off from the elder's room, and it's only safe to assume he was still asleep. Changkyun deeply sighed, sincerely hoping he wasn't infected with Kihyun's flu.

Another thing struck Changkyun. Kihyun was sick for two days, and he's been more or less passive-aggressive with the elder when it comes to being nice. He looked again at the door, and found it slightly open. Kihyun was probably tired and moreso than he was (regardless of how unforgiving Medicine major is) and probably didn't bother to lock the door when he came in. The younger sincerely hoped he made it safely to his bed.

A heavy weight pulled his heart down; he needs to accompany Kihyun. Missing a class for the day would have to do.

— ¢ —

"Kihyun... hyung." Kihyun hazily opened his eyes, and saw the younger boy was awkwardly standing at the door. He didn't glare at him with so much compared to the days before that, but neither did he ever treated him more crudely than the past few days. 

"Come here." Kihyun smiled at the younger boy, and Changkyun noticed he'd gotten increasingly paler than before, and had grown more tired too. He bit his lips and guilt weighs down his chest.

"You alright? I'll have to check your temperature." Changkyun sat down at the edge of the bed, and Kihyun noticed he was holding the thermometer box. Kihyun weakly nodded. Changkyun put the thermometer in his mouth, and scrunched his eyebrows at the digital reading. 38.7 Celcius.

"Did you feel better after yesterday?"

"Depends on how I am psychologically and physically, I'm better. Situation-wise... not really." Kihyun frowned, turning away from his brother.

"What happened?" Kihyun sighed. Changkyun observed that he didn't look too well, even more down than yesterday. 

There was silence between the two until Kihyun spoke up, "I quit."

Something struck Changkyun, and he couldn't help but put his head down for a while. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Boss gave me warning that I could be fired if I kept on fighting with some of my co-workers. I couldn't care anymore," Kihyun sighed. "good thing I don't have to see their faces anymore. It's apparently the horrible cooks that he kept anyways. His loss and I wouldn't go back just to work."

Changkyun twiddled with his thumbs. Seeing Kihyun look increasingly pissed was new, and with his health, it wouldn't be good either. "It's alright. You don't have to pay for rent anymore."

Changkyun felt awkward just from thinking of it, and still cringed at the way he talked. The older turned to him with surprise. "Well... technically you have to erase rule #4, no?"

Changkyun's face went from a contorted surprise into that of a deadpan; Kihyun couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. It sounded hoarse, and Changkyun knew his exhaustion had played part on him looking more unfit than before, but seeing him relaxen a little was better than making his conditions worse.

"Fine." Changkyun huffed, walking up to leave him, but even Kihyun felt it was more facetious rather than his real self.

"Wait, hyung," Changkyun said, turning back to him. It took Changkyun some time as he paused, taking a deep breath.

"It's just that, would it be too much if we go to the hospital?" 

— ¢ —

"Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia." The doctor said.

Kihyun felt something just crashed down behind him. The remaining colour in him was dry until he looked whiter than bleach, and Changkyun could see his hands visibly shaking at the doctor's words, but his eyes didn't waver. 

"There is 99% chance of you entering remission if we start the chemotherapy as soon as possible, so by luck you did get early diagnosis too."

Kihyun didn't speak. Changkyun had to continue the rest of the horrid afternoon settling with the accomodations, treatments, and slowly found himself holding Kihyun's hand.

Kihyun only wished for the day to be over already.

— ¢ —

"How did you knew about it?" Kihyun whispered, both waiting in front of the doctor's office.

"I thought it was safe to get you checked if you had high fevers for the past few days." Changkyun muttered, drawing circles on Kihyun's left arm. 

There was silence between both of them. Changkyun hoarsely whispered, "We can do it."

Changkyun intertwined with his fingers, pulling Kihyun closer to him, and could feel Kihyun's chest heaving up and down rapidly as he looked on, waiting for the assigned staff to take care of the rest. There's only so much the two can hold on together.