The past week had been torture for him. At first he had planned to stay inside the house either way, just to show that he was a good patient, but then it had started to rain. And when it rained, his parents wouldn't let him go to the river.

His birthday came closer every day and he just wanted to act as if it didn't exist or at least pull his blanket over his head to not have to face the outer world anymore. Somehow he wanted to see that man, Zhou Mi, again. But mostly did he want to get out again. And he definitely had to go to a music store soon because due to the fact that he had been held inside the house, he had only had his violin to express his mood to neither scare or worry his parents. But now one of the strings of his violin had ripped and he couldn't play anymore. It had just happened the day before but he already felt as frustrated as if it had happened a year earlier.

He sighed and walked out of his room to meet his parents for breakfast. "Good morning, honey!"

He tried to put on a smile. "Good morning, mum. Good morning, dad."

"Good morning, Henry."

His mother looked at him. "Henry-ah, what happened?"

He sighed again. "One of the strings of my violin broke. Please, can I go to the music store later and let someone fix it?" he came up with the topic straight away.

Sooyoung seemed to be releaved as if she had feared her son would come up with something else, something that was more serious. "I guess it would be okay. What about you, Kangin-ah? Should we let him go?"

"Do you want us to accompany you?" his father suggested instead of really answering his girlfriend.

"But you have to go to work!" Henry protested. He needed some time on the outside, some time alone! No, he wouldn't be able to bear having his parents around. Not after a week of having been in this house without any interruptions.

"I could go to work later. One of my colleagues also said that they would take my shift," Sooyoung offered.

Henry shook his head fiercely. "No, you should go to work! You have to get the money! I mean, I can't work and I'm at the hospital so often... someone has to pay for it! And all the other stuff... and reparing a violin isn't for free either. So, just go to work. I will do that myself. You know, I'm 20 years old! It's not like I wouldn't find the way or something," he asserted.

His parents looked at him in slight mistrust, but they also seemed to be hurt by him not wanting them around. Henry sighed. "Look, it's just that I've been with you and in the house for 7 days now, I just need something else okay? And I am the one who knows the most about violins, you couldn't help there either way. I'm not saying you'd be standing in the way, I just mean that..." He tried to find the right words. "That you should go to work and chat with your colleagues. I can do it myself. When I went to the river, nothing's happened either, has it?" He hadn't told them about him coughing blood, so they thought everything was still okay.

Kangin sighed. "Henry, we just want your best. And we wouldn't have to say anything! We could just be there with you," he offered and his son sighed as well. Why wouldn't they understand he didn't want them there? He wanted to be alone! Completely alone! With no one beside him! Not his parents, not Mrs Kim, not Hope and not that stranger called Zhou Mi! No one! Just as in NO ONE! Was that so hard to understand?!

"Just let me do it alone, okay? Maybe you can accompany me next time!" he granted but knew that there would most likely not be a next time.

His parents nodded slowly.

The rest of breakfast went by mostly quietly and if they talked, it was nothing but small talk. After his parents had left, Henry sighed again. Finally it was dry enough outside that he would be able to go to the river again. And then he would also get someone to prepare his violin. Hopefully they didn't need too long to fix the instrument!

After he had quickly checked the time, he went into his room, got his violin and then put on his shoes and his jacket, took his key and left the house. It was freezing already and a sharp wind was blowing. Henry shivered and hugged the case of his violin, then he went through the already busy streets towards the music store where he had left his violin already twice. He knew the prizes there weren't too high and he also knew the people working there, at least a little, and he trusted them far enough to leave his precious instrument in their hands. Everything went over smoothely like it always did.

When he left the shop again, he sighed. He wouldn't get the violin back until three days later - the day of his birthday. What a depressing thing.

He slowly followed the way out of the busy part of the city and into the direction of the river. He could barely see people and if he saw someone, they had umbrellas with them and wore raincoats, were in a hurry to get inside somewhere again. Henry was unable to understand them.

A couple of minutes later, he reached the bench he always sat on but it was still so wet that his parents and Leeteuk would kill him if he took a seat. So he just sighed and went to the riverside. The water was dark and wild, carried a danger along no one would want to face. Henry just looked into it and thought about all those really exciting moments when he would feel his heart beating as fast as the water ran right then that he would never experience. All those things like love, adrenaline, fear, hatred... all things that had passed his live without touching it like this river. The river he always saw but never was allowed to touch, never would be able to touch. Visible, right in front of him but unreachable.

"Henry?" A voice saying his name interrupted his thougths. He looked up and turned into both directions to see where that someone could have called from. But when he didn't see a familiar figure, he shook his head briefly and just wanted to turn back to face the river, as this voice called him again, this time from a closer distance. "Henry!"

Wasn't that....

He spun to his right and finally recognized the figure that was approaching him now, the one that must have called his name. The Chinaman, Zhou Mi. Only, this time there was also someone else in his accompany.

He frowned and waited until the first figure had come to a stand in front of him. "Henry! Where have you been that past week?" he asked and the Canadian thought he heard worry in the other's voice. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

"I... I've been at home. You know, because of that terrible weather." He blushed a little, using the same excuse his parents had told him over and over again.

"But what about before?"

This time he turned his head away. "I wasn't able to come." That wasn't really the truth. But it had to be enough.

"Zhou Mi, who is this?" the other asked.

"I'm sorry, Min-ah, this is Henry, a boy I met here at the river. Henry, this is my friend, Sungmin," the Chinaman introduced the two of them.

Sungmin took a step foreward. "Hi, nice to meet you."

"Y-yeah," Henry replied and shook the other's hand. He wasn't sure if he wanted to get to know that man. But on the other hand - he most likely wouldn't see him again, would he?

Sungmin smiled at him. "You seem to be a little shy, huh?"

Henry diverted his eyes, the day when he was first told he was sick replaying in front of his inner eye. "Not exactly," he replied then.

"Is everything okay with you? You seem to be sad."

Henry looked up, surprised that the other had asked him another question. "No, I'm not." Yes, he was. "Everything's okay." No, nothing was okay! 

Zhou Mi looked at him a little strangely. "Do you want to come with us? Or do you have to go home?"

Henry shook his head. "My parents aren't at home until about six, until then I can stay away."

Sungmin looked at him curiously, but before he could ask anything else, Zhou Mi continued. "Then, do you want to come with me? Min-ah and I met after work and now we were planning to go home. I mean, to my home."

Henry backed a little away in his mind. "No, if you have made up to meet, I don't want to disturb you."

Surprisingly it was Sungmin who answered. "Who said you would disturb us? Mi seems to see you as a friend, so I don't think I would dislike you."

Henry still diverted his eyes. "I don't know..."

"Do you have something else to do?"

The youngest looked up at the Chinaman and then sighed, giving in. "What do you think I could have to do? Even my violin abandoned me..."

"Huh? What happened?"

"You can play violin?!"

Henry had to smile at Sungmin's unbelieving expression. "Yes, I can. And... well, one of the strings broke. I won't get it back until in three days because the one I gave it to also has to do some other things. But he said if he should need more time or even less, he'll call me."

Zhou Mi must have seen the hopeful shimmer in Henry's eyes because he laughed. "C'mon, we'll distract you a little. And when you go home later, you have some stuff to think about that isn't your broken violin, okay?" he asked but didn't wait for an answer until he placed one arm around the Canadian's shoulders and dragged him along. And to speak the truth, Henry was even glad about that behavior because he didn't know if h