Alex’s POV~

I knocked nervously on Leeteuk’s door, which was practically right across from mine since it was next to Donghae’s and Donghae’s was right across from mine. A second later, the door opened and Leeteuk stood there, a glare in his eyes. Oh wait. That’s natural. He just always looks like he’s glaring.

“Oh, Alex,” he said.

Gee, no need to sound so disappointed about it. We all know you were wishing I was Uki standing here.

“U-um, hey, hyung,” I stammered.

“Is there something you needed?” he asked me, raising an eyebrow in question.

“C-can I come in for a second? I really needa talk to you about something,” I said, keeping my gaze strictly to the floor.

“For goodness sake, if you’re gonna talk to me, can you look me in the face at least?” he asked, an annoyed look on his face.

I snapped my gaze to his face. “S-sorry, hyung.”

He sighed and opened the door wider, motioning for me to come in. “Hurry up.”

I bowed and sat on his computer chair as he sat on his couch, facing me.

“Okay, now what is this all about?” he asked me after he shut the door.

I bit my lip, unsure of how to proceed. Just seeing his steely gaze scared the crap out of me. “Well, I was thinking about this earlier and figured that you’d be the best to come talk to about this since you seem to be the closest to Uki out of everyone else in the house.”

His attention perked immediately and he straightened himself, giving me an intense look. “Why? What’s wrong with Uki?”

Pfsht. Figures. You weren’t interested in what I had to say until I mentioned Uki’s name. I see how it is. I suppose now I know what to say to get my way when it comes to arguing with you.

“Alex!” he exclaimed impatiently. “What’s going on with Uki? Tell me!”

“I think she’s cutting herself,” I blurted. Oops. I didn’t mean to make it that blunt! I wanted to kinda make it sound less horrible, but there it was.

Leeteuk looked at me for a moment and blinked, turning his head a little in confusion. Then he finally says, “Alex, are you high? Drunk? Taking any medications recently?”

“Yah, hyung! I’m being dead serious!” Oh, okay, so now you’re just not gonna believe me and ask me if I were high or drunk?! I don’t smoke nor do I drink, mister!

“Alex, you’re being ridiculous,” Leeteuk said, obviously in denial about his precious Uki. “Uki’s just not the kind of person. For as long as I’ve known her, she’s just loved life.”

“Hyung, I saw the scars with my own eyes. It’d be different if they were old scars, but these are brand new, fresh wounds. As if they happened within the last couple days or so.”

Leeteuk shook his head, refusing to believe it. “No. No, I know Uki. She would never do something like this.”

I sighed deeply. He was too infatuated with her to make a clear-headed decision. “Watch her during dinner tonight. When she’s serving the food, okay? Just watch her wrists and you’ll see.”

He nodded once at me and I took that as my signal to leave.

Well!

This conversation turned out better than I had expected.

Leeteuk’s POV~

After Alex left, I went and laid on my bed, letting out a big breath. What he said couldn’t have been true. It just couldn’t have. Uki wasn’t that kind of person, she just wasn’t! Ugh. But what if it were true? I mean, what if Uki is cutting herself? What kind of best friend/older brother would I be if I were to simply ignore it? Erg! Uki, you better not be cutting yourself or else I’ll kill you!

There was a small knock on my door.

“Come in,” I called, covering my eyes with the heels of my hands.

“Hey, Teukie,” I heard a bright voice say as the door opened.

I immediately removed my hands and sat up. “Uki. Uh, is there something you needed?”

“Oh, no,” she said, “just wanted to say it was dinner time.”

I let a small smile slip in as I said, “Oh, yeah, okay, I’ll be there in a second.”

“M’kay!” she replied with a bright smile. She shut the door and walked away, no doubt to round up all the other guys for dinner as well.

Look at her. A person with her personality just can’t be cutting herself. It’s humanly impossible. I sighed and stood, heading out of my room to the table. Nobody else was at the table, just Uki humming a happy little tune to herself as she was setting the food and rearranging the plates and utensils.

Then I saw them.

I wish I didn’t.

I wish that they just weren’t there.

I wish my eyes were playing tricks on me.

But no, they were there.

I saw them.

Uki turned around and accidentally ran into me, letting out a small “Oh!”

She laughed slightly and said, “Sorry, oppa. Didn’t see you there.”

I grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her sleeve up, revealing the fresh gouge wounds all across her wrist. She let out a small gasp, trying to pull her wrist away, but I tightened my grip, making sure that I avoided touching the wounds so I wouldn’t cause her any pain.

“Uki, what is this?!” I asked fiercely.

“I-it’s nothing,” she stammered, still trying in vain to get me to let go.

“I didn’t want to believe Alex when he came and told me, but now that I see it for myself, I know it’s true. Uki, are you cutting yourself?” I asked.

She stamped her foot, finally giving up in trying to remove her wrist form my grasp. “No, oppa, you don’t understand. You and Alex are—”

“Dinner smells good!” a voice interrupted, allowing her to quickly pull her wrist away and pull down her sleeve again.

“Ahh, Eunhyuk, Yesung, would you mind helping me finish setting the table?” she asked, a fake smile on her face.

“Sure thing, Uki,” Eunhyuk responded, grabbing a stack of plates and going to the table to finish set it.

“It’s the least I can do since you take such good care of my turtles,” Yesung said, one of his three turtles cupped in his hands.

“Ohh, and how is our beautiful Ddangkoma doing tonight?” she cooed.

Yesung’s expression lit up happily as he exclaimed, “You can tell them apart?!”

“Well of course! Ddangkoma is quite distinct from his…Er her…Er, have you ever figured out its gender yet?” she asked with a laugh.

“Nahh. But right now, Ddangkoma feels like being a girl,” Yesung responded.

“Ahh,” Uki replied, “so then she has very distinct qualities compared to her brothers and sisters.”

Yesung smiled happily. “Aww, I love you, Uki. You’re the first one to be able to distinguish them other than me.”

He gave her a hug and quickly went to help Eunhyuk finish setting the table. She smiled at him and opened the drawer to pull out the remaining silverware that was needed. I noticed she avoided looking at me at all costs. I let out a sigh. Someone who does simple little things such as remembering a turtle’s name to make people like Yesung happy does not seem like the kind of person who would go around cutting herself. Someone who put others’ happiness before theirs does not seem like the kind of person who would go around cutting herself. Someone with a smile always on their face does not seem like the kind of who would go around cutting herself.

So why then, is Uki going around cutting herself?