(Continued)

—Nobody’s POV—

Donghae and Eunhyuk stared at each other. Nobody made a move or a sound. From the corner of his eyes, Donghae could see Yesung, Ryeowook, Sungmin and Kyuhyun tiptoeing out of the room. He relaxed slightly when they were out of the room and looked right into Eunhyuk’s eyes.

“Hyukkie?” Donghae squeaked. Wow. He hadn’t expected himself to sound like that. On the bright side, he hadn’t gotten mad and started shouting at Eunhyuk like before. Donghae mentally sighed in relief – he didn’t want to forget anymore. He had to face up to reality.

“Yeah?” Eunhyuk replied softly. He hadn’t spoken for days, ever since Saturday. He was surprised that he even went to school. For all those days, he had been dying inside. He couldn’t stop blaming himself for what happened although it wasn’t really his fault.

“Come here,” Donghae ordered, patting the empty spot on the bed beside him. Eunhyuk shuffled over nervously. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if Donghae were to push him away again. Eunhyuk could take it if Donghae shouted at and blamed him, but there was no way that he could take it if Donghae completely ignored him. It was fine if Donghae didn’t forgive him, as long as he could still see the younger male.

Eunhyuk sat down slowly, watching Donghae carefully. He was surprised that Donghae didn’t flinch when he touched the latter’s arm gently. He was totally expecting Donghae to become a crying mess, but he was surprisingly calm.

“Hyukkie, I know it wasn’t your fault. I can’t deny that I’m hurt, but you know as well as I do that we can’t live without each other,” Donghae whispered, wrapping his arms around Eunhyuk. Donghae let out a contented sigh as he relished holding his boyfriend. He had missed Eunhyuk so, so much.

Eunhyuk, on the other hand, stiffened when he felt Donghae’s arms around him. What was wrong with Donghae? Why didn’t he blame him for everything? Eunhyuk didn’t understand. He didn’t deserve Donghae’s forgiveness that easily. Angered, Eunhyuk broke out of Donghae’s embrace and glared at his boyfriend.

“What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you scream and shout at me? Why would you forgive me so damn easily?” Eunhyuk demanded furiously. Donghae was taken aback. He hadn’t been expecting such a reaction from Eunhyuk. He thought that Eunhyuk would be glad to be forgiven.

“Why would I do that? Hyukkie, what happened was Hyoyeon’s fault, not yours,” Donghae reminded him, confused by Eunhyuk’s reaction. Who would want to be blamed instead of forgiven? That didn’t even make any sense.

Eunhyuk shook his head adamantly. “I shouldn’t have had with her! Don’t you see, Hae? It was my fault! All the others would never have with someone other than their lover, but I made out with Hyo in front of you and even had with her!” Eunhyuk screamed. Donghae blinked.

“Hyukkie, you were drugged,” Donghae said softly. Eunhyuk messed his hair up and let out a frustrated shout. Eunhyuk was looking desperate, but Donghae didn’t know what Eunhyuk wanted. He wasn’t going to blame his boyfriend because none of it was his fault.

“I don’t deserve you, Hae. Why can’t you ease my conscience by just shouting at me?! I feel so damn bad for making you hurt and god knows I kept blaming myself for it. Don’t just forgive me like this!” Eunhyuk yelled. Donghae resisted the urge to sigh. Eunhyuk was being way too hard on himself. Donghae couldn’t find it in himself to blame Eunhyuk when he knew that it wasn’t his fault.

“Hyukkie, that’s not going to happen. Can’t you just leave it and go back to the way things were?” Donghae asked. Eunhyuk shot Donghae a look and shook his head again.

“No way. I can’t live with myself,” Eunhyuk replied. Donghae could see that Eunhyuk was starting to break down. He got up and walked over to his boyfriend, hugging him once again. Eunhyuk didn’t struggle; he let Donghae hold him as he cried.

“Shh, don’t cry. You know I don’t like it when you’re sad. I won’t blame you for something that isn’t your fault. I swear, if you keep beating yourself up, I’ll have to slap some sense into you,” Donghae warned. Eunhyuk continued to cry and Donghae just held Eunhyuk tightly.

It seemed like an eternity before Eunhyuk stopped crying. He pulled away from Donghae’s arms and looked at his boyfriend. “Why are you so nice to me, Hae?”

Donghae scoffed and rolled his eyes. Was Eunhyuk serious? “I love you, duh. Now stop looking at me like that and wash your face. I want to cuddle with you,” Donghae instructed, pointing towards the toilet. Eunhyuk nodded and hurried off to clean the tearstains off his cheeks.

Eunhyuk scrambled onto the bed, wrapping his arms around Donghae’s waist. He felt Donghae bury his face in his chest and smiled lightly. He still hadn’t forgiven himself, but he couldn’t deny that he had missed hugging Donghae.

Five pairs of eyes peeked through the slightly ajar door and smiled when they saw that Donghae and Eunhyuk had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. They hi-fived each other, closed the door and sat down on the row of chairs outside the room.

Within minutes, another seven pairs of curious eyes peeked into the room and everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief. If EunHae was fine, then everything would be well.

—Ryeowook’s POV—

I’m so glad that Eunhyuk hyung and Donghae hyung are back together. Eunhyuk hyung was stupid though. He should have saved Donghae hyung the trouble of explaining all that obvious to him. I told Sungie what I thought and he merely sighed.

“I’m not implying anything, Wookie, but you’re like Eunhyuk too,” he told me. I raised an incredulous brow. How on earth am I like Eunhyuk hyung? I didn’t make Sungie explain… Oh.

I flushed lightly as I realised what Sungie was talking about. Fine, he was right. I did make him explain obvious to me too. But we’ve always known from day one that I’m insecure! Eunhyuk hyung just came across as a confident person who’d always believe in himself no matter what.

Sungie laughed as he pinched my cheeks, tinged with a faint shade of pink. “It’s alright, I still love you. Hey guys, what do you say about heading over to the hospital canteen to celebrate?” Sungie suggested. Heechul hyung didn’t even reply before dashing off to the canteen. What’s his idea of a celebration, exactly?

The rest of us eyed Heechul hyung’s shrinking figure and followed after him calmly. Sungie and I decided to walk at the back with Kyuhyun and Sungmin hyung. In front of us were Siwon and Kibum and, “Oh my gosh, is Kibum trying to hold Siwon’s hand?” I whispered excitedly, stopping dead in my tracks and holding a hand out to stop Kyuhyun and Sungmin hyung as well. I pointed to Kibum and Siwon and, sure enough, Kibum was extending his hand towards Siwon’s, although barely.

“Aww,” Sungmin hyung and I cooed at the same time. Kibum is too cute to be true! I can’t believe that he’s only two months younger than me! I empathise with him, I really do. It to be so near yet so far from the one you love, but I’m sure it more if that person refuses to acknowledge his love for you.

The four of us watched in anticipation as Kibum’s hand inched slowly, but surely, to Siwon’s hand. We all cheered silently for Kibum and a huge wave of disappointment washed over us when Siwon pulled his hand away, just as Kibum made the slightest of contacts with it. I frowned and caught up with them, grabbing their hands and lacing their fingers together. They both looked at me in shock, but Kibum was grateful to me. I could see it in his eyes.

Siwon was horrendously nervous though. I think he finally got over that ‘Christians are not supposed to love another of the same gender’ thing. He probably doesn’t know how to treat Kibum as a crush instead of any other friend.

“You guys stink. Siwon, you’re too wimpy. Kibum, you’re just too adorable!” I squealed and hugged Kibum for a brief second, pumped my fist in the air, and skipped back to my own boyfriend. I instinctively found Sungie’s hand and held it in mine, interlacing our fingers together. I could see the humour in Sungie’s eyes, as well as in Kyuhyun and Sungmin hyung’s eyes.

“Ryeowook, that has to be one of the coolest things that you’ve ever done this year,” Kyuhyun told me. I grinned cheekily at him, knowing that it was true. For the entire year, all I’ve done is get beaten up by Sooyoung and cry about stuff. I didn’t do that many meaningful things together, and I suddenly felt very brave after forcing Kibum and Siwon to hold hands. Who wouldn’t? Siwon is relatively scary.

We trailed behind Kibum and Siwon, making sure to keep a minimum of five metres between us. By the time we arrived in the canteen, Heechul hyung and Hankyung hyung were gone. I wanted to bang my head against the wall, knowing quite clearly where they were. The others were seated around a table with their food in front of them.

We hastily bought some random porridge from one of the stalls and made our way over to the table. Siwon was obviously avoiding everybody’s gazes and Kibum looked really happy. I’m glad that I was the one who let them be like that. Siwon needs to wake up and face his feelings already.

When we were almost done eating, Heechul hyung and Hankyung hyung appeared out of nowhere. Their hair was unkempt and their shirts had been exchanged, so we all knew that they had . But they also held a crate if what seemed to be beer. The aura around Teukie umma suddenly darkened. I turned to look at Teukie umma and he was glaring at Heechul hyung. Heechul hyung wasn’t intimidated, but the rest of us were.

“Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to drink in a hospital…” Zhoumi hyung commented. He had an arm around Henry, and Henry was kind of shaking. Is he that afraid of Teukie umma’s deadly aura? I’ve felt it several times now, and every single time it happened I was in my room.

Sungie nudged me. “You’re not drinking, are you?” Sungie asked. I shook my head and Sungie heaved a sigh of relief. “Leeteuk would murder you if you get drunk, and I can tell that you can’t hold your alcohol well,” Sungie teased. I pouted but didn’t retort. I wasn’t about to prove to him that I could hold my alcohol well, because I knew I couldn’t.

Heechul hyung began handing out cans of beer to everyone and received looks of disapproval from the hospital staff and other patients. He ignored them though. I mean, this is Kim Heechul we’re talking about. He wouldn’t care about how others see him, I’m sure.

One by one, we handed the cans of beer back to him. Nobody wanted to make Heechul hyung angry, but a furious Teukie umma was way scarier. And if possible, Teukie umma’s aura darkened even more. It was bad enough that I almost shivered.

Heechul sighed and shook his head disappointedly at Teukie umma. “Teukie, you know Kangin loved beer. If he were here, you would so totally let us party in the hospital.”

Teukie umma was seething with anger. He stood up and walked up to Heechul hyung. Hankyung hyung attempted to block Teukie umma and was shoved away. Whoa. An angry Teukie umma is strong too, apparently. He stopped in front of Heechul hyung and glowered at him.

“You do not bring Youngwoon up until I decree that it is allowed, understood? I will cut your precious clothes into pieces, and then burn you in them while I torture Hankyung. It will not be pretty,” Teukie umma hissed. Heechul hyung gulped and nodded. Kim Heechul actually gave in. The world is going to end!

Heechul hyung ran out of the hospital canteen, presumably to store the beer somewhere else. Teukie umma straightened his shirt out and sat back down. He looked at the bits of food left on our plates and glanced at us.

“Is something wrong? Why do you guys look so scared?”

A chill ran down my spine.

Bipolar much?

Whoosh the EunHae problem is finally solved. I'm being abit emo now so don't expect much of an enthusiastic A/N ><

Yesung's leaving aft SS5... God I cried a bit when I watched his solo stage TT Why can't he finish the whole tour before leaving? :( He broke so many non-Korean fangirls' hearts ;A;

I'll probably update on time again so don't worry about it. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one. Annyeong!

Just gonna go drown in my sadness now...