(Continued)

—Ryeowook’s POV—

Donghae hyung let us into the house, seeming as normal as he could be. While he told us to wait in his room, he went to make some drinks for us. He returned minutes later with a tray of iced milk tea and we each took a cup from him.

All six of us exchanged worried glances as Donghae hyung hummed lightly to himself, playing a game that seemed rather interesting to him. He raised a brow at us when none of us made a sound.

“What brings you guys here?” Donghae hyung asked, looking genuinely confused. None of us knew what to say, and Heechul hyung didn’t speak for once. He probably didn’t want to trigger any bad memory and make Donghae hyung cry. Sighing, Teukie umma spoke first.

“Hae, why didn’t you come to school?” Teukie umma questioned.

“I was sick. I had a fever since Friday,” Donghae hyung told us, holding out the medical cert from the doctor to prove that he had in fact been running a fever. So Donghae hyung skipped school only because he was sick?

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sungmin hyung asked. Donghae hyung shrugged.

“I don’t know. It didn’t seem significant.”

I bit my lip, unsure if I should voice my thoughts. Would Donghae hyung remember what happened on Saturday then? Well, if he does then Heechul hyung will kill me for bringing this up.

“Donghae hyung, what happened on Saturday?” I asked. Donghae hyung wondered about this for a while before he snapped his fingers, smiling in delight as he remembered.

“I visited you at the hospital! Don’t you remember?” Donghae hyung tilted his head to the side in confusion. I held back a gasp as Kibum went to ask Donghae hyung about what happened afterwards.

“I don’t know. I was sick, and the last thing I remember is going to the Han River. I don’t know why though,” Donghae hyung pouted.

“Then why aren’t you back at your house with Eunhyuk?” Zhoumi hyung questioned. Silence hung in the air and I saw Heechul hyung shoot a death glare at Zhoumi hyung.

“My umma told me to come home so that she could take care of me,” Donghae hyung replied after some time. I looked at Donghae hyung as if he was mad. He really doesn’t recall what happened at all? But his reaction on Saturday had been so… It just seemed like he remembered.

“You haven’t spoken to Eunhyuk for days though,” Sungmin hyung pointed out.

“My phone died. I think I did something to it when I was sleeping, because it was smashed to bits on Friday morning. My house line was cut ever since last year, and I didn’t want to use my family’s phones,” Donghae hyung explained. I stared wide-eyed at Donghae hyung. Is he for real? He probably smashed his phone on Thursday night.

A thought suddenly occurred to me and I glanced at Donghae hyung.

“Donghae hyung, what did you do last Thursday night?” I asked slowly. Donghae hyung knitted his brows in concentration as he tried desperately to recall the events from last Thursday night.

“I went to a bar with Hyukkie and Hyoyeon, and the next thing I knew, I was at home. Maybe I was drunk and Hyukkie brought me home. I don’t remember anything besides going to the bar,” Donghae hyung admitted. I could see that he was upset for not remembering, but it’s for the best. I’d rather he forget whatever happened.

I nodded and forced a smile at Donghae hyung, nudging Kibum and Sungmin hyung who were beside me. They turned to me and raised a brow, and I indicated that we should leave. Sungmin hyung nodded in agreement with me and he stood up abruptly, finishing the last of his milk tea.

“Hae, I think we should go first. Rest well, ok? We hope to see you at school tomorrow,” Sungmin hyung said, going over to hug Donghae hyung. Donghae hyung smiled at us and nodded, seeing us to the door before we climbed into Kibum’s car.

The atmosphere was pretty tense at first, none of us knowing what to make of the situation. After a few minutes, I decided to voice out my thoughts.

“I think Donghae hyung has selective amnesia.”

Immediately, five heads turned to look at me. I saw Teukie umma nod slightly, the movement barely visible. Soon enough, the other four agreed with me, albeit reluctantly. None of us wanted to believe that Donghae hyung was in this predicament, but we couldn’t avoid the truth forever.

“He didn’t remember anything bad that happened. It’s not like he forgot Hyukjae, but he forgot everything bad that happened with Hyukjae. The bar, the hospital, everything!” Teukie umma exclaimed, and he buried his face in his hands. Teukie umma hasn’t ever called Eunhyuk hyung by his real name before. This is really bad.

Heechul hyung whipped his phone out of his pocket and hurriedly called somebody. “Hannie? Wait, I’ll put you on speaker.” Heechul hyung then switched the call to speaker mode.

“Hankyung hyung, is that you? We have a problem,” Zhoumi hyung said. Even Zhoumi hyung is worried! Oh god, this really .

“What happened?” Hankyung hyung’s voice sounded through the speaker, sounding slightly panicked. “Did Donghae throw a fit?”

I saw Heechul hyung’s lips quiver as he shook his head, not seeming to realise that Hankyung hyung couldn’t possibly see him at the moment. “No. He didn’t.”

Heechul hyung’s whisper was completely out of character and I think Hankyung hyung didn’t hear it, because he asked us to repeat what we said.

“Donghae hyung didn’t throw a fit,” Kibum, being the only one who wasn’t shell-shocked, replied. Even Kibum sounded a little disturbed by all this, and he never came across as the type to show his feelings about something much.

“He didn’t?” Hankyung hyung asked, clearly surprised by the information.

“Hankyung, can you put us on speaker?” Teukie umma requested. His voice was slightly coarse and I just noticed that he had been crying silently. The thought of all this starting because of my relationship with Sooyoung made me tear up as well.

We heard a few disturbances and a beep before Kyuhyun’s voice sounded through the speaker, telling us that we could continue telling them what happened.

“Did you guys play the recording to Hyuk yet?” Sungmin hyung questioned.

“Nope. We were waiting for you to give us the green light. Should we let him hear it?” Shindong hyung asked. All six of us protested against the idea right away and none of those on the other end of the line spoke for a minute.

“Why?”

“Donghae hyung doesn’t remember anything.”

--------------------------

We walked back into school slowly, some of us still not quite believing what happened. We returned to the cafeteria and immediately headed towards the others.

We sat down and looked at each other, none of us knowing the right words to say about this situation. We had never thought that Donghae hyung would forget everything. We were prepared for him shouting and crying, but to see him so happy, as if nothing happened, caused us to be at a loss. We need to find a new solution to this issue.

“So what happened?” Sungie asked us. “I know that Hae remembers nothing, but what exactly does he not remember? Does he know that today is Tuesday?”

The six of us chuckled bitterly at the question and nodded.

“He knows that he went to the pub, and he knows that he visited Ryeowook at the hospital. What he doesn’t remember are his encounters with Hyuk. Also, he apparently had a fever since last Friday,” Sungmin hyung explained, shaking his head wearily as he leaned against Kyuhyun.

The other six widened their eyes, even Kyuhyun, in shock.

“What do we do now?” Henry asked, his gaze landing on Eunhyuk hyung’s figure in the corner.

We brainstormed for a while in silence, racking our brains to come up with a solution. Suddenly, our train of thoughts was broken by Youngwoon hyung. Wait. Youngwoon hyung?

Hyung came over to our table, and he looked utterly miserable. I felt my heart wrench a little upon seeing my hyung look so dead and lifeless. He looked just as terrible, if not worse, as when the Taeyeon incident happened.

He came to a stop in front of us, and I totally noticed the way he avoided eye contact with me at all costs. He probably doesn’t even know that I was hospitalised a few days ago. I sighed softly, knowing fully well that hyung wasn’t looking for me. And of course, he wasn’t.

“Teukie, why aren’t you talking to me? What did I do wrong?” hyung asked in desperation. I felt Sungie tense beside me and I shot him a glare, shaking my head at him. Sungie raised a brow at me in disbelief, but he said nothing else. Thank god.

I watched as Teukie umma inhaled deeply and stood up, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at Youngwoon hyung in the eye. “What did you do wrong?”

Youngwoon hyung nodded.

“You threw your own brother out of the house! How do you expect me to talk to you?” Teukie umma exclaimed. He clenched his fists when Youngwoon hyung snorted. I felt my eyes begin to tear up, and I bit on my lower lip to stop myself from crying.

“He isn’t my brother,” Youngwoon hyung scoffed. At that, Heechul hyung got up and walked around the table, slapping Youngwoon hyung across the cheek.

“You bastard,” Heechul hyung bit out. “He doesn’t need someone like you. Whatever happened to the Kangin who was overly protective of his brother? Where did he go?”

Youngwoon hyung smirked and replied, “The old Kangin died when his trust was betrayed by the person he trusted most. You won’t see him again, I promise.”

That broke me. I stood up and ran off, passing by Youngwoon hyung as I ran. I could sense somebody following me, but I ignored the person. I spared Eunhyuk hyung a brief glance before I escaped from the cafeteria, and to the field.

I ran to the tree where Sungie cried on the first day of school, and I let my legs give way. I landed on the damp grass and I just curled up into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest as I cried. Somebody hugged me from behind and I instinctively knew that it was Sungie. There was nobody else who would follow after me.

“Wookie, Kangin just… he’s being stupid. It’ll take him some time to come around, but he will. For now, just let it all out,” Sungie told me gently, my hair soothingly. The action was amazingly calming, but that didn’t have much of an effect on me. I continued crying, maybe even harder than before, and Sungie just held me without saying another word.

It took quite some time, of course, before I eventually caved in to exhaustion and stopped crying. I felt like I ran out of tears. However, I stayed in my foetal position, refusing to get up and move. Sungie probably knew that I stopped crying because he lifted me easily and begun walking somewhere.

Eventually, I guess Sungie brought us back to the cafeteria because I heard the hyungs begin to fuss over me. I rubbed my swollen eyes and tried to wipe the tear stains off my cheeks, trying to force a thin smile at them.

“Ryeowook, don’t take his words to heart. He’ll get over his stubbornness, don’t worry,” Heechul hyung assured me. I nodded, deciding not to fake any smiles. Heechul hyung patted my back encouragingly.

“What happened to the idiot?” Sungie questioned. He put me down and I looked around the cafeteria. Hyung was probably long gone by now, and Eunhyuk hyung had disappeared too.

“He left,” Siwon replied. Sungie nodded, his brows furrowed in annoyance.

“Let’s just try to think of a plan,” Kyuhyun suggested. I was thankful to him for changing the topic and we sat back down at the table. “So Donghae doesn’t remember anything that is related to Eunhyuk, right?”

“Yeah,” Sungmin hyung replied, sighing deeply.

“We can’t just let them get back together then. Donghae will just break down and forget about it,” Hankyung hyung pointed out. We nodded in agreement.

“We’ll have to tell Donghae the truth. We’ll have to give it to him straight,” Zhoumi hyung decided.

“There’s no other way,” Teukie umma agreed.

We settled on telling Donghae hyung tomorrow, since it was already getting late. We finished finalising the plan before we each made our way home. Sungie decided that I wasn’t in the condition to take a bus home, so he flagged a cab and we climbed in.

The moment I stepped into Sungie’s house, I headed towards his room and grabbed a set of clothes. I took a quick shower before plopping down on his bed beside him. I didn’t say anything. I merely turned to face him and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into his chest.

“I’m so tired of all this,” I mumbled. Sungie nodded, patting my back lightly.

“Just get some rest.”

I looked up at him then, a puzzled expression on my face.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Sungie smiled and shook his head. “Sleep already.”

I chuckled slightly and nodded, giving in to him. I briefly felt his lips touch my forehead.

I really am so tired. When will all this end?

I shook my thoughts off, not having the energy to think about anything at the moment.

Sungie’s arms around me tightened and before I knew it, I was asleep.

Ok, so baby Hae has selective amnesia now ._. And Kangin is such a bish now...

ANYWAYS. I hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat-early update and I'll try my best to update again on the weekend :)

Oh, and a slightly belated Happy Lunar New Year to you guys! :D

I don't have much to say now so... Annyeong! See you guys on the weekend! ^^