Myungsoo’s POV

“I’m fine, I’m totally fine”, Dongwoo said airily, waving his hand around.

I eyed him warily without speaking, but Sunggyu slapped his shoulder and said, “Dongwoo, you always say that, but are you seriously okay?”

“Yeah, man, I told you-”, Dongwoo started to say, but I cut him off and accused, “Then how come you’re still in bed, huh? How come the hospital won’t even let you go out for some ramen? And why didn’t you tell us about it if it was nothing?”

Dongwoo fell silent, and I glared at him.

Dongwoo sighed and said, “I just didn’t want to worry you over something like this… And besides, we’re not as close as we were before…”

Suddenly, the door opened and Hoya, WooHyun, Sungjong, and Sungyeol all piled in.

“Dongwoo!”, Sungyeol yelled and raced over to throw his arms around him.

I stopped him before he hurt Dongwoo with his enthusiasm.

Sungyeol glanced behind him, and seeing that it was me, pushed me roughly away from him.

I simply said, “Don’t hurt Dongwoo”, and turned to exit the room, but Hoya grabbed my arm.

I looked up at him, expecting to see an aggressive and angry Hoya, but… his eyes were apologetic.

“Can I speak… with you and WooHyun?”, Hoya asked me, his voice soft. 

Without a word, WooHyun and I walked out to the corridor without looking at each other, and Hoya followed us.

“Look”, Hoya said, “I was thinking about it… and I’m sorry.”

I looked at him, confused.

“As friends, we should have tried to help you two to stop fighting instead of being -hurt just because the two of you were going through difficult times”, Hoya explained, earnestly.

I shook my head and said, “No, Hoya, I get it. I understand why you’re all angry… I just. I felt like… we were just friends for power. To be the most popular group of guys on campus. I didn’t feel like we were friends, so even though I felt sorry… I didn’t feel like we should even be friends again. I didn’t feel like there was any point.”

Hoya shrugged and said, “Maybe we started that way… but I don’t think it was a desire for popularity that made us gather together to support you when you divorced your parents or when Sungyeol lost his dog and we spent an entire day searching for it or when we traveled four hours just to get Sungjong the best ice cream ever for his birthday, without even thinking about how we were going to keep it from melting… the A/C in that car was so freaking cold we had blue lips when we finally got back…”

I laughed, despite myself. It had been ninety degrees outside and thirty three degrees in the car. I thought I was going to have to amputate my arms because I’d only worn a t-shirt.

“All right”, I admitted, “you’re right. I’m the one who made this a competition with the whole ‘kingka’ thing. I’m sorry.”  

“And So Eun?” , WooHyun asked, turning to me for the first time.

I looked at him as he said, “Why did you start dating her right after I told you I was going to ask her?”

“It may seem that way to you”, I answered honestly, “but to me… I’ve loved her as family since the first grade… and as a partner since freshman year. It was… I was just trying not to lose her and it became that way, I’m sorry.”

“It’s true that she is like family”, Sunggyu said, walking towards us, “but don’t ever say she’s the only family you have. We’re your family too.” He slung his arm around my shoulders.
Hoya nodded, and out of the corner of my eye, WooHyun nodded slightly as well.

“Me toooo!” , Sungyeol shouted, running down the hallway. He happily threw himself at Sunggyu, who attempted to catch him, but failed, and Sungyeol, Sunggyu, and I collapsed in a heap at the ground.

Laughing, Sunggyu hugged Sungyeol close to him.

“Where’s Sungjong?” , Hoya asked.

“With Dongwoo”, Sungyeol answered.

“C’mon. Let’s go see what the doctor has to say about him”, I said, pulling Sunggyu off the floor.

~

“How bad is it, Doctor?” Hoya asked, as we settled into chairs in the Doctor’s Office.

“It’s nothing now… but it will progress quickly. I do not have much time. He will be bed-ridden for the rest of his life if he does not undergo the proper surgery in two weeks”, the Doctor informed us, his face grave.

A wave of dread washed over me. What? Bed-ridden for life?

“Then why aren’t you doing anything!? If it’s money issue-”, WooHyun began, but the Doctor held up his hand and replied calmly, “No, it’s not a financial issue… Unfortunately, we are waiting on a donor for Dongwoo-sshi. There are three possible matches but we need permission to extract the needed tissue for the match.”

Please, I begged the possible donors in my heart, please agree.

~

So Eun’s POV

I went out to check the mail.

There was a letter from my parents, a letter from the school reminding us to order graduation caps and gowns, and a letter from… the hospital?

I ripped it open, nervous.

I read the first paragraph:

Dear Ms. Kim So Eun,

There is a patient in our hospital in need of a tissue transplant. You happen to be one of the very few matches existing in this world for this patient. You will have to undergo a fairly harmless surgery in order for tissue to be transferred. This will be explained in further detail later. Please respond within two days, as the patient can only afford two weeks. Please call the hospital or come with the letter.

~