Baekhyun tried to remain calm as the door shut, separating him from Minji. 

He, Minzy and Tao had all insisted on going with Minji to the hospital.  There was no way she could have stopped any of them.  The car ride here had been mostly silent, no one really knowing what to say. 

Junhyung had told Minji that Zico was in the hospital, having tried to get himself killed.  In his life, Zico had made a lot of enemies.  He’d gathered a few of those enemies together, taunted them. . . and when they had attacked him, he hadn’t defended himself.  They would have killed him too, if his gang hadn’t caught on and rushed to his rescue.

While Zico was incoherent in the hospital, he’d called out Minji’s name.  Junhyung had called her, frantic, at a loss.  He didn’t want to force her to come, but he didn’t know what to do to calm Zico.  In the end, he hadn’t had to even ask her to come.  She had dropped everything, voluntarily. 

Now as Baekhyun stood outside the closed door, he drew a deep breath.  Minji wasn’t alone in there.  Junhyung was there too.  Everything will be ok. . .

Then Junhyung walked out.

*               *               *

Zico was hooked up to more machines than she could count, bandages everywhere.  She swallowed hard, pushing back memories of the last time she’d seen someone in the hospital.  Now isn’t the time.  She reached a shaking hand out to brush a lock of hair out of Zico’s eyes, careful not to touch the bandage surrounding his head.  His eyes crept partially open. 

“Min?” His voice sounded raw, like he hadn’t had a drink in a month.  His brow scrunched in confusion.  “Are you really here?”

“I am,” she replied.  She retrieved a glass of water from the stand by the hospital bed and held the straw towards him.  He closed his lips stubbornly.  She gave a silent sigh.  Junhyung had told her he’d been refusing any nourishment at all, only getting what was being fed to him by IV.  Well, no more.  “You need to drink some water.”

He tried to shake his head in refusal, but only ended up wincing in pain.

“Do it for me.”

He looked down guiltily, then reluctantly back to her.  “Ok.”

After he had drank a third of the glass, Minji sat down on a chair beside him.  The silence in the room was oppressive and Minji cleared . 

“Why?” she asked.  He refused to look at her.  “Zico, look at me.”  After what seemed like forever, he did.  “Why didn’t you defend yourself?”

“Because. . .after what I did to you. . .I wanted to die.”

“Zico-“ He cut her off.

“No.  Don’t.  I need to say this now.”  He blew out a breath then continued.  “I was supposed to take care of you.  I promised.  Forget the promise, I wanted to take care of you.  I wanted to make you happy.  And I think there was a time when I did.  A time when we were both happy, you and I.”

Minji affirmed his comment with a soft smile, nodding.  “We were.”

“We were good together.  You and I could take on anyone, anywhere, anytime.  And I loved you, even though I knew. . .”  His hand trembled slightly on the bed.  “Even though I knew you didn’t love me.  You went through the motions, but I knew.  Every time a motorcycle drove by and you would freeze.  Whenever we passed a group of street dancers. . . I knew.  I knew you would never love me like you did Minhyuk.  But I couldn’t give up.  Not even when we broke up.  I thought being with Sunhee might make you jealous.  That it might make you come back to me.”  He gave a self-deprecating laugh.  “I was foolish.  I wanted you to come back to me.  More than anything I wanted you to smile again, like you did before the accident.  And then I saw you that night. . .with him.

“I had heard about your encounter earlier that day when you saved that young girl in the alley.  I felt certain my old Min was back.  I knew that you would be happy I had taken care of those guys.  But there you were, walking home with some guy I had never seen before.  And you looked. . .flustered.  I’ve never seen you like that, except with Minhyuk.  And I lost it.”  He turned his gaze to meet hers.  “And then that night, when I got drunk. . .”  Tears gathered in his eyes.  “I wish I could undo it all.  I never meant to hurt you.”  He blinked to keep the tears from falling.  He almost succeeded too, until he felt a warm hand squeeze his.  “Please don’t comfort me.  I don’t deserve it.”

“Zico.  I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.  And what you did to yourself last night, it’s hurting me far worse.”  She released his hand and Zico opened his eyes, feeling the loss.  What he saw froze him.  Minji was standing and leaning towards him.  In what felt like slow motion, she wrapped her arms around him, her face in the crook of his shoulder.  “Don’t you ever scare me like that again!”

His shoulder began to feel damp as she sobbed against his shoulder.  Carefully, he wrapped his arm around her, patting her back.  “Shh, Min. . . Don’t cry. . . I’m so sorry.”  She eased away from his shoulder and gently kissed his cheek, tears still streaming down her face.  She wiped at them, embarrassed, then sat back down, holding his hand in hers.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t love you the way you deserve,” Minji said.  “But I do still love you.”

He squeezed her hand.  “The fact that you still care for me at all. . .It’s more than enough for me.”

“Friends?” she asked.

“The best,” he replied and smiled.  “Now tell me about the guy on the other side of the door who keeps peeking through the window.”

It's been so long since I've updated.  Please forgive me.  This part took me a while to work out in my mind.  I hope you all don't hate Zico! 

Did you see Block B's new music video?  ^^  My B-Bomb looks yummy!  So do the other boys!  U-Kwon and don't even get me started on P.O!  But seriously. . .I've missed Minhyuk!  Block B, fighting!