Kai silently stirred the vegetables and chicken strips in the boiling pot as he listened to the other EXO members on the phone in the living room in front of him. He didn't particularly like what he heard.

"Charity concert or not, we have a member who can't participate with us at the moment! Besides, what happened to this being our rare time off?" Lay protested.

The phone was on speaker. "We're sorry about this. We'll make it up to you, but this concert luckily will be quick compared to others. Only two locations, four days. Beijing, and Hong Kong."

"What are we going to do, take him with us?" Baekhyun spoke up. "We told you already, his fever is really high! Travel wouldn't help him. Please, manager-hyung....can we reschedule?

"That's out of the question boys. I already asked our superiors about that. All we can do is simply leave him at a hospital, come back, and hope for the best."

Chanyeol sunk in his seat on the couch, the others sulking just as much. They muttered to each other.

"Sorry guys. The plane leaves tonight at 9. You'll have some time to say goodbye, we'll call a car to take him-"

"Wait." Jongin stepped out of the kitchen and toward the living room, letting the soup cook. "What if we take procautions. Everyone goes. I'll stay behind with Kyungsoo. I don't trust him in the hands of stranger doctors. Besides. You know how much of an uproar it would cause if word got out. You know that even if we get him a private room, it won't stop the news from getting out one way or another."

Silence on the other side of the line. He was listening.

"It's just a charity concert. The absence of two members will be dissapointing, but it's not like fans are going to critizize. I'll stay with Kyungsoo in the safety of the dorm, updating on how he's doing and everything. Just tell the concert people that we missed it because of a variety show or something." Kai spoke with a confident voice.

".....fine." The manager finally spoke. "But if he gets worse..."

"I understand." Jongin was trying not to smile at the fact that his fellow members were staring at him in awe. The manager is not someone you can convince like that, not even in Suho's case.

"Good. Boys, pack your bags. A film crew will be arriving shortly, we're vlogging the trip for a possible for the new season EXO Showtime. Jongin, get D.O back on his feet. A car will come pick you all up at 6. Luckily no one knows of this yet, so fans will probably not flood the airport. Good luck."

The line went dead.

The next five minutes consisted of hard pats on the back, cheers of approval, and preparations for packing.

The soup was ready. Kai carefully poured the contents into a bowl, put it on a tray with a spoon, and walked toward D.O's room. He was going to hate telling the news.

But it seemed as though it was too late for that. When Kai opened the door, Sehun, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were already crowded around the sick boy.

"We're sorry, hyung...but you'll have Jongin with you, m'kay?" Sehun smiled kindly.

"Be a good little penguin while we're gone!" Chanyeol pecked D.O's warm forehead. 

Baekhyun tussled with Kyungsoo's messy bangs in a brotherly manner as the other two members reassured him.

Jongin cleared his throat, making everyone in the room quickly turn and notice.

The three visiting members grinned, rising from their positions from the bed. "We're going to go pack, okay?" "Feel better!" "See you soon." The walked out, making teasing lovey-dovey faces at Kai.

Jongin approached the bed, sitting on the edge. He put the soup tray on the nighttable. "Since you couldn't make up your mind....I helped you and mixed both."

Kyungsoo cracked a smile. He started to try getting up. Kai's hidden motherly instincts kicked in, and he helped his hyung do so. 

Jongin placed the tray on D.O's lap. "Eat. You need it."

"I'm not hungry..." 

"You have to try. Just eat a little bit, ok?"

Kyungsoo nodded, taking small bites. In the end, the most that his stomach would allow was half of the soup's contents. 

Jongin accepted it. "You'll have to eat more later though. For now, try to sleep again, ok?" 

D.O hummed. He slumped back down and stared at the ceiling with glassy eyes. The fever was muddling his brain a bit.

Kai felt bad for his hyung. "This'll be over soon, ok?"

Kyungsoo nodded slightly, his eyes closing and his clammy body trailing back to sleep once more.

Jongin did not leave his side for the next few hours straight.