It was almost night by the time they reached Sunggyu’s house. And since his house is located at the mountains, the air was chilling cold and freezing. Sunggyu saw Woohyun entering his room, probably to sleep since he had been driving while everyone was sleeping in the car. He turned back and saw the new boys entering the house.

They looked around at the new unfamiliar surroundings.

“I’m Sunggyu,” he walked and offered a handshake to the tallest one.

“Sungyeol.” He replied.

“I’m Myungsoo and this is Sungjong.” The limping boy added.

“I see. We better get you leg treated.” Sunggyu motioned to his leg. The sleeve of his pants was stained with red patches. “Your room is at the end of the hallway. I’m sorry but you have to share it since our rooms are limited.”

‘No it’s okay. It’s better than the agency.” Myungsoo replied, slowly following Sungyeol towards the direction of the room. Sungjong nodded to him before following suit.

After helping the boys to settle down in the new room and watching Sungjong treating Myungsoo’s leg, Sunggyu was finally able to let out a sigh of relief now that one work is done. He had wondered where Hoya and the other one had gone to but was reminded they could take care of themselves. They weren’t called assassins for no reason at all.

He went to his room just to find Woohyun staring at the ceiling.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” he asked, slipping off of his coat and then putting on a more comfortable but thicker cardigan.

“I’m too tired to sleep. What did they say about the house?”

“Nothing. Myungsoo said it’s better than the agency. Truthfully, I’m not sure they even remembered to be outside of the compound. It’s like their world revolves around it.”

“Myungsoo?” Woohyun perked up on his bed.

“Yeah. The handsome one. The tall one is Sungyeol and the other one is Sungjong.” He described the boys as simple as he can.

“What about the red haired one?” Woohyun asked. Sunggyu glimpsed at Woohyun’s curious face. He still hadn’t forgotten Woohyun’s behaviour in the car before.

He raised his shoulder. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen him and Hoya around. They’re outside probably.” Sunggyu threw himself on his bed, directly opposite to Woohyun’s and was quickly asleep a minute later.

“Hyung...” He heard Woohyun calling his name as he drifted in and off of sleep.

“Sunggyu hyung...” He heard him calling again.

“Hyung, open your eyes please...” Woohyun was crying.

“Hyung...” He felt something trickled down to his cheeks.

“Woohyun?” Sunggyu opened his eyes slightly and saw Woohyun on top of him with tears streaming down his cheeks.  Woohyun sobbed when he saw the older awake and pulled him into a hug and buried his face to Sunggyu’s shoulder. Sunggyu felt the bones on his abdomen crushed even more.

He screamed.

-- --

“Yes, Sungjong here.”

“Sungjong! Sungjong, where are you?!!” Woohyun’s voice shouted over the phone. Sungjong pulled the phone back from his ear instinctively and turned to Seyong by his side. The older was busy munching his fries. They had been fighting over fries a second before Woohyun called him. But the frightened voice of the older had notified Sungjong that something was wrong.

“I’m with...”

“He’s with me!” Seyong shouted. “We’re dating!”

“We are not!” He elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s wrong, hyung?”

“It’s Sunggyu hyung. H-he got hurt. I don’t know what’s wrong but I think he broke something. I can’t think of anyone else but you. I know you’re angry at him but he didn’t want to go to the hospital.”

Sungjong automatically stood up. The fries fell from his lap. “Hey, you-” Seyong fell silent when he saw the panic-stricken face of Sungjong. Sungjong turned to him. “Sunggyu hyung’s hurt.”

“What?”

In just a few minutes, Sungjong and Seyong had grabbed a taxi and arrived at the house. Sungjong saw how panicked Seyong looked. He ran into the house and saw Sunggyu on the couch, bleeding and Woohyun beside him, kneeling and trying to keep the hyung awake.

“Thank god you’re here!”

“I’ll need clean sheets and bandages for the cuts!” Sungjong quickly ordered. He went to Sunggyu. The older’s eyes were half opened and he looked weak. There were no major cuts or wounds but based on how bad he looked he must have broke something.

When Sungjong tried touching his abdomen, Sunggyu screamed loudly. It was his ribs. Seyong and Woohyun came back soon after with the things he needed. While Woohyun was pacing around the couch, Seyong was biting his nails as he hugged a pillow in between his arms on the couch opposite.

“Do we have Motrin?” Sungjong turned to Woohyun.

“It’s in the cabinet in the kitchen. Where we keep the first aid,” Sunggyu answered between heavy breaths. “I remember putting it there.” He coughed again.

“Shouldn’t you do something?” Seyong asked while Woohyun rushed to the kitchen to find the Motrin. “He looks like he’s in pain.”

“For your information, there are no treatments for broken ribs. Only Motrin and plenty of rest. He could do surgery but since he’s too stubborn to go to the hospital!” Sungjong glared at Sunggyu.

After successfully forcing Sunggyu to take the Motrin, Sungjong planned to wrap his ribs with bandages. “Hyung, I need you to support his body. Seyong, you keep him from falling.” They followed his orders and as Woohyun lifted Sunggyu’s body slowly for Sungjong to wrap the area, Woohyun felt guilty for what happened to him. If he hadn’t leave Sunggyu, it would have never happened.

He could feel his own heartbeat against Sunggyu’s back. It was slow. Had always been when he was with the older. Sunggyu wasn’t the type to take chances. He was the kind of guy who just liked to sit and see what happened around him without participating. He would agree on what he believed but never initiate anything.

So when they selected him as the leader of the seven boys, Woohyun didn’t quite believe he could do a good job. He was totally wrong because the oldest did a splendid job. And probably because of their difference personalities, he fell for Dongwoo at the first sight. Dongwoo was the thrilling type, always doing something crazy when he had the chance.

Dongwoo gave him excitement and adventure. Sunggyu gave him safety and confidence.

“Done,” Sungjong finally said. “You can let him go now.”

Woohyun moved away from his back slowly and placed the leader gently on the couch. He took a pillow and put it under his head. The older was slowly falling asleep from the pain. “Is there any ways to take care of him?

“When he coughs, it’ll be slightly painful so gave him pillow or something soft to ease his ribs. He shouldn’t move too much. To be safe, he should just lie down for a few weeks.”

“But-“Seyong suddenly cut in. “How could this happen?”

Woohyun bit back his lips. “A few hours ago, we got a call from Hoya. He informed us that Dongwoo hyung got hurt in the mission and their identities were exposed to the company. So I... left to help them. But on the way, I felt like something was wrong at home and so I came back here, and found him like that.” He said carefully.

“If our identities were exposed, we were supposed to...”

“I know!” Woohyun looked at Sungjong. “We should stick together at least in a group of two so we can watch each other’s back. I did wrong and Sunggyu hyung was paid for that. I realize that now. I’m the one to blame.”

“Well at least you admit your fault. By the way, how’s Dongwoo hyung doing?”

“He’ll be fine. Hoya’s with him.”

-- --

“What the hell happen?” Sungjong heard Sungyeol’s familiar voice from the living room. He rolled his eyes before making his way to the place. Myungsoo was there with Sungyeol. They stood rooted to the ground at the sight of Sunggyu sleeping on the couch. Woohyun was also sleeping   there on the opposite couch.

“Someone attacked Sunggyu hyung,” Sungjong answered, glancing at Myungsoo before looking back to Sunggyu. They only got back from their one day backpacking trip. They were still wearing the same outfit they wore before departing.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol went to the leader’s side and Myungsoo pushed a lock of hair from Sunggyu’s hair to the back of his ear to take a better look of his face.

“He got beaten pretty badly,” Myungsoo said when he saw the bruises on his cheek and the cut at the corner of his lips.

“Broken ribs. He’ll be okay but he can’t do much work now,” Sungjong answered again. He saw Myungsoo caressing the leader’s hair and Sungyeol adjusting his blanket so the leader was comfortable. Then it hit him. They really cared for the leader.

Even though they knew each other for only four months, they cared for each other more than anything. And as much as he hated to admit that (because he’s still in a fight with Sunggyu) Sungjong do care about him. When Woohyun called him, telling him about Sunggyu’s injury, he had skipped a breath and he felt like his heartbeat had done the same.

“And Woohyun hyung?” Sungyeol glanced at Woohyun. He knew there must be a reason why Woohyun was sleeping there. Maybe he’s accompanying Sunggyu. But why?

“He’s at fault. He left Sunggyu hyung alone at home when they found out Dongwoo hyung is injured,”

“Dongwoo hyung is injured!” Myungsoo and Sungyeol yelled at the same time.

“Don’t worry. He’s okay now.” Sungjong said. He went to Sunggyu’s side and felt his forehead. “I think he’s coming down with a fever. It’s hot. I’ll go to the pharmacy to buy...”

“No I’ll go.” Sungyeol suddenly offered. He pushed his backpack to Myungsoo before exiting the house. When he was out of their sight, Myungsoo went to Sungyeol’s room to put his things before going to his own room to do the same thing. But when he was about to go to the kitchen, Myungsoo saw Sungjong staring at Sunggyu’s face and he didn’t know if he see it all wrong but Sungjong almost looked like he was feeling guilty.

“Sung-“ He stopped. Maybe he shouldn’t be interrupting. So he proceeded to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

u didnt think i'd kill sunggyu, right? he's afterall, what? my biased! but, i did consider on killing him.. anyway, comments very very much apprieciated!