Mir stopped in front of the tall building, walking inside nonchalantly with a small bag he had been bringing with him to the practice and went to the front desk where a woman in all white was sitting there, typing into the computer.

          "Hello." Mir greeted.

          "Yes, may I help you?" The female looked curiously at Mir, smiling politely.

          Mir smiled, knowing the lady didn't recognize him as a celebrity. Plus, she was probably too busy working in hospital to spend time watching television, not to mention, MBLAQ haven't been promoting these days. Especially him, the member with the least exposure and the smallest fan-base, however small it is, he still very much grateful for the love he got despite thinking so low about himself.

          "I'm sorry for coming so late but I have a referral letter here." Mir handed a letter to the nurse whom was taking her time opening it and screening the content. "There's a memo attached there for Dr. Song, the orthopedist."

          The nurse nodded and reached for the post-it note in yellow color, reading it carefully. "Well, I will just confirmed with Dr. Song for a moment." She nodded towards Mir with a permanent sweet smile on her face and picked up her phone, so Mir decided to step aside for a while, frowning as his phone kept buzzing in his pocket. It must be call from Seungho again since the leader had been bombarding his phone with calls ever since he was on the bus just now which, of course, he ignored.

          Mir was looking at the pictures on the wall when he felt someone walked past him and when he glance, he was only able to take a second worth look before two figures rounded the corner that if Mir wasn't mistaken, would lead to the hospital canteen. Mir tilted his head, they looked sort of familiar.

          "Bang Cheolyong-shi."

          Mir was snapped out of his thought as the nurse called his name and when he turned, the angel in white was already standing behind him. "You need to fill a few forms first." She walked back to table she had been sitting at, fishing out a few papers from under the desk and handed it to Mir.

          Mir took his time filling the form as the nurse continued typing into the computer when she suddenly talk again,

          "Do you have anyone to keep you company? Here, we are a bit lenient with visitor. We can allow at least one person to stay in your room." She offered kindly.

          Mir shrugged once. "I don't need it." He said with empty voice and looked away when he noticed some sort of sympathetic look from the nurse, ignoring it. She couldn't possibly understand what he was thinking about. "Here." Mir slide the forms he had filled towards the nurse and waited for a few more minutes until the nurse is ready.

          "Follow me, I will show you to your room. Dr. Song would be meeting you in 10 minutes since she is still attending her patient."

          "Yea, sure." Mir tailed after the lady and they went to the fourth floor, walking down a long hallway when Mir walked past a room that made him paused in his walk. He thought he saw someone entering the room just before he walked past it and that someone felt so familiar. Again. He frowned at the closed door.

          "Mr. Bang?" The nurse called and Mir shook his head, following the nurse until they stopped at a private room just across two rooms from the one that attract Mir's interest just now. "Here is as you request it. Only authorized personnel and allowed visitors can came inside your room." She explained. "Dr. Song will be here soon. Please do rest."

          "Thank you." Mir said with a small smile, sitting carefully at the edge of the bed and let his bag flopped next to him. He felt queasy in this room. He felt queasy in the hospital. The general surrounding just made him uneasy but then again, he couldn't spoil himself and need to be strong. No one care about him except for himself so he only have himself to rely on. Moreover, he didn't want to worry his family.

          Mir winced a bit at the sharp pain on his back, remembering the happening at the practice room. If Seungho know why he was doing really bad at the dance practice today, would Seungho still spat such sharp hurting words to him?

          Half of Mir was hoping it wouldn't but the other half was denying it and it was surely dominating the thought. No. It won't change anything. To them, he was just a nuisance, an eyesore in the group, the talentless country boy that should have just stay at his farm instead of coming to the city, trying his luck in entertainment industry.

          "Hello, Mr. Bang. I'm Dr. Song." A knock on the door and a beautiful lady with a ponytail and wrapped in white coat entered the room. "You came late." She stated.

          "Well, I have dance practice."

          Dr. Song frowned, seemingly unhappy with those words. "Are you trying to break your back or something?"

          Mir chuckled. "Don't worry. I didn't push myself and I have the back supporter on the whole time."

          Dr. Song shook his head. "You are really stubborn." She sighed. "Dr. Min had warned me but I didn't expect you to be this stubborn." She widened her eyes playfully.

          Mir just grinned and shrugged.

          "Well, the schedule of your surgery had been confirmed for tomorrow at 11. So you should started fasting from 6am. If you want to eat anything, you should eat now."

          Mir patted his bag. "Yea, already got myself some snacks here."

          "Sneaking in outside food huh?" Dr. Song rolled her eyes. "The anesthesia team will come by tomorrow for one last assessment before your surgery. Do you have someone to keep you company tomorrow?"

          Mir shook his head. "I'll be fine on my own."

          "Are you sure, because if you have someone you want me to call for you..."

          "No, it's okay."

          Dr. Song didn't insist in which Mir was thankful to. "Well then. If you need anything, just ask the nurse." Dr. Song went out of the room. "Have a good rest tonight."

          "Thank you, Dr." Mir was sincerely grateful for the friendly doctor. He laid down on the bed, staring at the ceiling in silence. Surgery on his back. Prolapsed disc. Mir sighed. "It's nothing. It's fine. I will be fine." Mir whispered into the night. "I don't need anyone else. I can take care of myself. I always have been."

          Even convincing himself that way, a stubborn drop of tears still make way down his cheek.

@@@@@@@@@@@@

Cheondoong ended his nightly routine phone call with Sandara after a few minutes. They have quite an often talk almost every night but mostly only a short talk of how was the day and ended with goodnight greeting. But it was definitely a routine.

          Tonight had been a longer call as he told Sandara about what happened to Joon but he left out the little fact about Mir and Seungho's conflict. Sandara had promised to come for a visit tomorrow morning if she got a chance and although Cheondoong had told her that there was no need for that since Joon can go back the next day, there was no changing Sandara's mind.

          Cheondoong headed back into the room but before he closed the door again, he stopped halfway, poking only his head back out when he thought he saw someone walked past.

          "What are you doing there, Donggie?" Seungho called out sleepily from his chair located next to Joon's bed.

          Cheondoong walked back inside, closing the door softly. "Aniyo. I thought I saw someone." He walked towards the bed, watching Joon's pale face with heavy heart. "He didn't wake up even once."

          "Let him rest." Came GO's voice from the couch he was sprawled at, half sleeping already. "Come here Sanghyun. You need to sleep too."

          "I..." Cheondoong looked down to his feet. "I don't think it's a good idea." Cheondoong mumbled, missing the exchanged gaze between the 87-line.

          With a sigh, Seungho stood up, putting one arm around the distressed younger. "We know about your sleep paralysis. That is one of the reason Joon is a light sleeper isn't he, for him to notice your problem. He is a good hyung, isn't he?" Seungho smiled when Cheondoong gave a micro-nod. "We can be a good hyung too. Go to sleep."

          "Okay." Cheondoong finally agree and went to rest on the couch as GO stood up and sat on the armchair instead.

          "Want me to sing you to sleep?" GO offered with a teasing smile.

          "Just shut up, hyung."

          They chuckled lightly at Cheondoong's rare tantrum.

          "And hyungs." Cheondoong yawned slightly. "You guys are good hyungs. We're just expecting too much from you guys. We should have not demand so much."

          "Thank you, Doongie. But, it's not wrong to demand more." GO said, ruffling Cheondoong's hair affectionately.

          Cheondoong smiled, drifting into his sleep with the small smile still stretching his lips.

          "It would get better."

          He had heard just before he walked into his dreamland.