two.

“The stress is going to be the death of him.” Sungmin muttered with a sigh, watching from the doorway as Eunhyuk scolded a group of girls. Kangin could only nod, not wanting to talk too loud and be the subject of Eunhyuk’s wrath.

Label SJ had never been extremely strict about things like dieting, having cell phones, or even venturing outside of their dorms, as long as they were still focused on their practicing- but when four girls decided to skip out on a scheduled rehearsal with Eunhyuk, he couldn’t help but snap on them.

“We waited for you for thirty minutes! And even after I messaged all four of you, there was no reply!” He narrowed his eyes, watching as the girl’s lowered their heads and shuffled their feet in shame. None of them spoke up to explain their reasoning. “Hand over your cell phones. You’re losing your public privileges for the next month.”

If anyone was going to go hard on the trainees, Eunhyuk was definitely one of them.

After a little more scolded, he sent the girl’s out of the room. He needed time to cool off before going on his way. A little while later, Eunhyuk was stomping out of the practice room, nearly bumping into Kangin on his way out- Sungmin had already left to take care of his new baby.

“Woah, buddy!” Kangin laughed, hands moving to hold the younger by his shoulders. “Where are you in a rush to?”

“I’m already late for my dinner with Donghae. I wanted to talk to those girls before I left, but aish… They only made me more irritated than I was before…” Sighing heavily, he ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the now closed door as Kangin patted his shoulder. The elder held his hand out for the confiscated cell phones, silently offering to put them in the main office for him.

There was a little smirk on Kangin’s lips as he nodded, taking the phones. “Don’t worry about it, Hyuk. I’ll make sure that all of the trainees understand properly the consequences of missing schedules. Go have dinner.” The man insisted, gently pushing his friend away from the practice room.

Muttering to himself about the girl’s annoying behavior, Eunhyuk brushed it off and made his way out of the company building, not even bothering to stop at his office first. “Ah, it’s chilly…” He mumbled to himself, a wrinkle forming between his brows as he felt the sudden night air. “It wasn’t this cold last night…”

Seeing how it was mid-November and Eunhyuk wasn’t wearing more than a light jacket, it was safe to say this weather wasn’t going to do him any good. Lucky for him, the restaurant he planned to meet Donghae at was only a couple blocks down the street, and walking there was easy enough. The boys made sure to get a building on the outskirts of Seoul, where they wouldn’t be so bothered going to and from the office every day, as long as fans didn't know that the nondescript building was much different inside.

As a slight shiver sprung up his spine, so did a bout of coughing. Eunhyuk paused in his walk to cough, lightly hitting his chest. “Note to self, get medicine before tomorrow..”

Getting a cold definitely wasn't going to help anything, he was too busy to get needlessly sick.

After a short walk, he finally arrived at the restaurant and greeted the hostess. If he had to be honest, they were extremely lucky. Since a lot of the members of Super Junior had built up a good rapport with the staff, they treated the boys well, and kept their visits low key.

“Aish, what took you so long?” Donghae complained childishly, leaning back in his chair when Eunhyuk sat across from him.

“The girls. I swear, they’re going to be the death of me. They never listen, and they always break rules! I’m sick of it.”

Donghae laughed, taking the offered menu when the waitress handed them out. “It’s not hard to guess who. Kang Heju and her little posse, right?”

The older simply nodded, frowning still as he searched the menu. They didn’t talk again until they had both ordered food.

“I’m going to talk to Leeteuk about them. They’re nothing but trouble. I confiscated their phones, but you know as well as I do, that it won’t be punishment enough.”

“True,” Donghae sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair. “But it’s a start. We’ll get them in line, I’m sure of it.”

Eunhyuk disagreed, but he let the subject drop. He had let out the frustration he was feeling, and now he could move on and have a relaxing dinner with his best friend. There was no use talking shop the entire night, they got enough of that during work. Situations could wait.

Dinner with his best friend was the same as always. Laughter getting louder than needed, eating double servings of meat each, and a small bit of drinking, too. The difference this time, though, was the coughing that seemed to interrupt the laughter and eating.

By the time the two were leaving the restaurant to head back to their apartments, Eunhyuk could barely get through a few sentences without coughing.

“You seriously need to go to the doctor,” Donghae told him, a small frown of concern on his face. Eunhyuk simply shrugged and waved a hand absently, trying to play off the concern as he lightly hit on his chest. “No, stop it Hyuk, you’re definitely sick. You can’t deny it anymore. You’ll go to the doctor tomorrow, I’ll even take you myself if I have to.”

With a soft sigh, Eunhyuk slowly nodded. The two silently made their way up the elevator, parting quiet goodbyes outside of Donghae’s door. Heading down the hallway by himself, Eunhyuk struggled to keep himself from coughing again, wondering to himself if everyone else was right. Maybe he had a cold. As long as he didn’t need to get any shots, just take a little bit of medicine, he’d be fine.

Right?