Jungryul entered the dorm of INFINITE with a foreboding thought hanging in his head. He sensed that something was amiss...something was wrong but he could not point out that exactly it is. Slipping quietly inside the dim living room of INFINITE, he was surprised with the scene that greeted him.

Sunggyu was still glaring at the door as if expecting some killer to magically emerge from it, on the other hand, Sungyeol was looking at Sunggyu with an inquisitive look. Remembering the event earlier wherein he accidentally bumped with their maknae, Jungryul immediately knew that whatever occurred earlier, the two person standing in the living room were involved...indirectly or not.

"Any problem, kids?" Jungryul asked, crossing his fingers at the same time hoping that his intuition was wromg. But instead of hearing answers, the two remained rooted at their spot as if shocked and guilty about something.

"What's wrong with Sungjong? Why is he running outside with only his sleeping clothes on?" Jungryul continued, wishing to get some answer. And that confirmed everything...why was their maknae was running as if some devil where after him...the murderous aura that was coming from the leader...and the confusion that was surrounding the choding. Already stressed from his hectic day plus the exhaustion and frustration that he was currently experiencing, Jungryul couldn't help but to scream and angrily send the two members into their rooms saying that the two of them should be ready for an interrogation the next day, answering every what, why, where, and how that he were going to ask them. And that send the two of them into their room, scampering and wanting to avoid the wrath of their manager.

Jungryul slumped down on the couch, indecisive whether to run after their maknae or wait for some miracle that would show him the whereabouts of the kid. He was contemplating of what happened with the kids. Just a few years, everything was fine - perfect – everything about the team was going smooth. But recently, the team began to crumble because of the leader and the maknae. The maknae became the scapegoat of the rage and anger of the leader. Jungryul didn’t know what triggers the leader to be like that to the maknae and he will dig everything just to find out what happen before.

Digging on the past could wait and what concerned Jungryul the most was the current location where the maknae is. He decided to call the maknae’s phone but the only response he received was from the voice mailbox. He already planned to call the kid’s friends when someone entered the living room.

Woohyun’s POV:

Waking up in the middle of the night just to fetch a glass of water for myself was really bothersome but still I need to do it since my throat was parched. I haven’t realised that I fall asleep after my head hit my pillows. Recently, the fight between our leader and maknae became more frequent. Everyday the two of them will have some petty fights over petty things. It’s not what you call an argument or that kind of fight because only the voice of Sunggyu-hyung could be heard. Sungjong would just stare at the ground, silently accepting the verbal abuse that our leader was giving him. At first we tried to intervene, but Sunggyu-hyung have stressed that we would be hurting our maknae. I don’t know when everything started but as days passed their fights became worst and the only thing that I was thankful was, Sunggyu is not physically abusing Sungjong and would settle with the verbal abuse. Still verbal abuse was more hurtful than the physical one. Sometimes, I would silently observe our maknae and I could see the changes surrounding him. It was like that he was slowly fading away from us. His eyes were vacant and empty now. He would talk less to us and would only give us small smiles. He would not even eat with us. I even suspect that Sunggyu was the reason for this. Sunggyu’s my lover right now and I’m supposed to trust him but with the things that were happening, however, I slowly doubt if he was worth everything.

Yawning as I walked towards our kitchen, I remembered the words that Sungjong told me when I talked to him once. I could not bring to hate Gyu-hyung, he may be hurting me now but I am the reason why he was acting like that. Hyung, love Sunggyu-hyung with all your heart…love him unconditionally…give him the love that I could not give him. Take care of him. I trust you with Sunggyu-hyung. I know he will be happy if he was with you. Weeks after that night Sunggyu became my lover but it was also the start of the crumbling relationship of our leader and maknae.

I almost lost my soul because of shock when I saw our manager slumped on our living room’s couch. He looked really exhausted and stressed even with his eyes close. I wonder what was he doing here since it’s already late and we have an early schedule tomorrow.

“Hyung?” I gently shook him awake. He slowly opened his eyes and gave me a weak glance..

" Aigoo…Woohyun, why are you still awake?” He asked me with a gruff voice.

“I’m supposed to ask you that hyung.” I countered but before he could answer me, his phone beeped, signalling him of a new message. I could he the look of relief as he read the message that he received. Few minutes later, he excused himself, saying that he needs to make a call while I went to the kitchen to get my badly needed water.

After drinking, I went to the bathroom to relieve myself but I could hear him talking inside and heard some snippets of his conversation.

“Is he with you?”

“A fever…how come?”

“I’m coming over there with his stuffs.”

Before I could hide myself, the door suddenly opened revealing our manager that was massaging his forehead.

“Yah, Woohyun… don’t scare me like that!” Our manager shouted, clearly shocked of my presence.

“I’m sorry hyung, but I need to use the bathroom.” He silently sidestepped so that I could use the bathroom. After doing my business there, I returned to my room when I saw our manager rummaging inside our maknae’s drawer. He gathered some of our maknae’s clothes and put it insides Sungjong’s bag. Then, he walked towards the bathroom. I followed him, asking some questions of what’s and why’s but instead of answering me he opened the drawer wherein some of our toiletries where kept. He was searching for something inside there and after a while he stood up with several medicine bottles and syringe in his hand. One bottle accidently fell from his grip and it rolled to me. I picked it up and read its label. Topamax. Anti-seizure. I was confused. Why were there some anti-seizure drugs in our dorm? Carefully, Jungryul-hyung put it inside our maknae’s bag.

“Do you really want to know what is going on?” He asked me. I was speechless that’s why I only answer him with a nod.

“I think, I can trust you with this…but promise to keep this from the others.” With that, he gestured me to follow him. We slowly walked towards the parking lot – to the company’s car. I have many questions to ask but decided to keep quiet. I will eventually find out the truth.

The ride towards our unknown destination was silent…well, it was unknown for me. We arrived in another residential area which was near to our dorm and I was shocked when I saw Kiseop on the building’s entrance. Apparently, he was waiting for our manager. Kiseop walked towards us and gave us a bow as a greeting.

“How is he?” Our manager asked, making me confuse.

“I don’t know hyung… I really don’t know.” It was Kiseop’s answer.

We walked inside the building with me trailing quietly behind them until we reached their dorm. It seemed that they didn’t acknowledge my presence anymore.

As soon as we entered their dorm, Kevin took Sungjong’s bag from our manager and quietly entered one of the rooms in their dorm. Kiseop told us to follow him. When we entered the room, the first thing I saw was our maknae sleeping on the bed. There was a cold compress on his forehead but he looked peaceful as he slept there.

“It’s only rare nowadays that I could see this kid sleeping peacefully.” Our manager commented while he gently pats the pale face of our maknae.

“Why is he sleeping here hyung?” I asked our manager when I found my voice back.

“Because your leader chased him away.” Kiseop answered briefly with disgust in his voice.

“What do you mean?” I questioned again, lost in the situation.

“Checked his hands and shoulders to know what I mean.”  Kiseop responded.

I fall down beside our maknae and carefully take his hands under the blanket. I rolled one sleeve of the pyjamas that he was wearing and a gasp escaped me when I saw the blue patches on his pale skin – patches that were shape like a man’s hand. The same could be found on his shoulders. I can’t believe that Sunggyu could do this to our maknae and I pray that Kiseop was just making some false accusation.

“So, Sunggyu really did it.” Our manager murmured. “Maybe that’s why, he looked like he was going to murder me when I entered their room earlier.” And that prove me wrong. My own lover has hurt our maknae. I thought that he was satisfied with the verbal abuse that he was giving our maknae but no – he has hurt him physically.

Before I could stand up, Kevin softly asked me to sit at the other end of the bed and hold our maknae’s hand while he prepared an alcohol prep pad and a syringe with a hazy fluid in it. He ed the pyjama top that our maknae was wearing to reveal his forearm and patted it softly before he wipe the prep pad he was holding into it. Whispering soft comforting words to our maknae, he carefully injected the needle in our maknae’s arm. I could feel the kid wince as his grip on my hand tightens. He looked so helpless…pitiful. I want to know what is wrong with him and it made me nervous to find out about the truth.

“Hyung, what is wrong with him?” I asked our manager, voice weak and close to tears.

“We don’t know, Hyun.” Jungryul-hyung answered. “The doctors can’t diagnose what’s wrong with him. They have some assumptions but they still need to do further testing.”

“How…long…?” My strength seemed to leave me as I look at them. I know that they knew about our maknae’s condition but they decided to hide it from us.

“Months…or years…we don’t when it started…but it was only recently that he manifested these kinds of symptoms.”

“It was worst than you can imagine hyung.” It was Kiseop that continued. “He was tested every week but up till now they couldn’t diagnosed what was wrong with him. Each test hurts him that much but he have to endure it until they can diagnose what he has. His doctor talked to me last time. He told me that they have the preliminary findings but they needed to perform some genetic testing to confirm if their findings were correct.”

Tears began to escape Kiseop’s eyes. Kevin gave him a sympathetic hug as he broke down. I don’t know that Sungjong became this close to the members of UKiss. I tightened my hold on Sungjong’s hand and what Kiseop told us next brings us all to tears.

“They told me it was something genetic – a disease that runs through their blood. His doctor told me that Sungjong will slowly be taken away from us…excruciatingly slow.” Kiseop said in between tears. “He told me that if the findings were true, Sungjong will slowly lose everything…his memories…his body function…and eventually his life. Everything will be taken away from him hyung…everything. I don’t want to lose him hyung. I scared to lose him.”

I have no clue of the attachment that these two have but I feel that Kiseop knew more stuffs about our maknae compared to us. The reasons why they kept it from us is still to be find out but with the revelations told me, I tightened my grip on our maknae’s clammy hand as tears continuously flow from my eyes. Afraid that if I let go of his hand, he will vanish into the thin air.

And it was only then that I realize the real meaning of his words.

Hyung, love Sunggyu-hyung with all your heart…love him unconditionally…give him the love that I could not give him.

Because Sungjong knew that he will die – that his disease is slowly taking him away from us. He may love the other but fate would not allow him. He will not give Sunggyu the love that will be short-lived. That was why, Sungjong entrusted Sunggyu to me…because he think that I could supply the love that he could not give our leader. 

And as I and my manager return to the comforts of our room, I fervently prayed that everything was a dream…it was only life’s cruel joke…that everything will return back tomorrow…and our maknae will be on our dorm, healthy and full of life.

Hello there guys!

I am back with another update... it have been months since I've updated this story... well, March 25 was almost 4 months away from June 27. ^^

So people, what do you think about this update.

-What do you think is the disease that our maknae have?

-What will happen to the relationship within INFINITE?

Please stay tune for the next installment of this story.

And lastly, I have updated my other stories, namely, Cutting Through It All and On the Edge Once More. And the reason for this, well, I recently turned 19 last June 22 and as a token of appreciation for being a part of my life, I updated some of my stories. I was very thankful with you guys for being with my stories and supporting it through thick or thin. Thank you guys for reading this story and my others story. Thank you for subscribing and leaving some comment guys. every story I made are for you guys. I love you all and I promise that though I have a busy schedule ahead of me I will not neglect or abadon all of my stories and I will update occasionally. Again thank you and I love you all! *bows*

Yours truly,

Rhay

PS. naznew, thank you for reminding me about this story. I love you and this is for you.

PSS. Please leave some comment and please subscribe. I will greatly appreciate it.