The day after Dong Woon’s comeback from the hospital

The rest had a busy schedule the next day so they woke and left early. They didn’t want to leave Dong Woon behind, but they wanted the maknae to have his rest so they insisted he stay at home. Dong Woon protested at first, but he knew the hyungs didn’t need to worry any more about him so he let it go. He figured he could stay at home and watch TV the whole day or something. He sent texts to the hyungs, partly to irritate them, and partly to remind them to get plenty of rests in between their schedule. It wasn’t much, but they had a full day of practice. They had vocal training in the morning, followed by dance practice, and some English lessons and then it was back to vocals and dance again in the evening. Dong Woon normally wouldn’t be the one nagging at the hyungs to rest. That was the job for Jun Hyung and Doo Jun, since he was wiped out everytime at the practice.

Suddenly, Dong Woon’s stomach growled. He blushed, looking around before remembering that the hyungs are not there.

‘Alright! Time to feed the tummy! Kaja!’ Dong Woon said to himself, and got ready to go out. He texted the hyungs to remind them to eat their lunch before he left the dorm.

‘Wah, it feels good to be out in the streets! I should get the hyungs to do it together soon.’ Dong Woon smiled to himself. He had on a long sleeved cotton shirt and track pants, and shades that covered half of his face. He tried not to attract attention to himself, partly to prevent sasaeng fans from seeing him, and partly to prevent anyone from seeing his numerous bruises that was hidden behind the sleeves of his clothes. It never hurts to be extra careful. He walked down the street, thankful it wasn’t very crowded, and he spotted his favourite deokkbokki stand. He happily ordered a serving of the delicious rice cakes and ate it while he went in search of more food to satisfy his stomach.

When he finally decided to head home, he walked past a pharmacy. He didn’t know why, but his feet had led him into the store. He was just looking around before something caught his eye. It was a bottle for some painkillers. He looked up and saw that he was in the section that shelved pain relievers. He looked around, not knowing what to do. He didn’t want to use painkillers, but he was afraid he needed them in the future if his headaches and migraines continue. He agonized a while, but he didn’t buy any in the end. He walked out of the pharmacy and headed straight back to the dorm.

After booting on the computer, he went to search for painkillers. He was munching away on his kimbap and he still had some kimchi jjigae left on the dining table that he brought back. On the table, bags of snacks and junk food piled beside Dong Woon’s lunch. He had snapped a picture of the bags and sent them to the members, tempting them. He knew the contents in the bags will be gone within the week since they all plow through food like beasts. Oh that’s a good one, Dong Woon congratulated himself. He returned his attention to the computer before him, looking at what the search engine came up with. He knew that over the counter painkillers are not the strongest by far, judging from the aspirin that he took in the morning that barely made any dent in relieving his headache earlier. He knew if he wanted to buy, he had to get pills that are stronger than the over the counter ones. He went online to search for sites that do sell prescription painkillers, and he found a site that looks trustworthy. He gathered the courage and mailed the order form for a bottle of Tramadol of 50 pills. The pills will arrive through mail by tomorrow night, the latest. He didn’t really expect himself to use it, he just bought it in case there really was a need or he needed an emergency relief from the pain. He also knew that keeping the hyungs in the dark was not right, but he didn’t want them to worry and fussing over him so he decided to keep mum about his purchase.

He spent the rest of the day either napping or playing with his phone. Dinner time came and went, and Dong Woon nuked some sandwich he bought earlier for dinner. He was just too sore and lazy to go and get some decent meal. He lounged around the dorm, clearing things up as he waited for his sandwich to be ready. Just one day back home in the dorm and the rooms are back to their messy states again. He didn’t always tidy up the rooms for his hyungs, maybe only when it gets too messy to stand, but these two days he was just too bored and he was finding ways to relieve the boredom. Dong Woon had tried to practice earlier, in the living room with their song blasting from his phone. He had took half an hour of stretching before he even felt like dancing. He started off with a few of their previous songs before attempting their new song. He felt rusty, after three days of bed rest and he hoped he can do better tomorrow when he was finally allowed to practice with the other members. He was in the middle of the routine when another of his headaches striked. This one was quite severe, one of the worst ones he had in these few days. He had to stop whatever he was doing and he just lied on the floor, holding his head and waited for it to pass. The good thing is, the headaches passes after a few minutes. But the bad thing is, during those minutes, if it was really bad, then Dong Woon was essentially crippled. He cannot even move when the headaches hurt so much that any movement will increase the pain twofold. He can’t even shout to save himself. The only sound coming from him was a strangled groan. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and hoped like heck it passed soon. Very soon.

After a couple of minutes, the pain had released its hold on his head and he slowly relaxed his body, lying face up on the dorm’s floor. He was breathing quickly, and his eyes held unshed tears. He would never, ever let the hyungs see that willingly. He knew that if he hadn’t bought the painkillers, and this happened during a performance, he would be so screwed. He felt so much better when he thought about the bottle due to arrive, and got up. The sandwiched had cooled again by now, and he couldn’t be bothered to heat them up again. He decided to abandon his attempted practice and went to take a long, hot shower.

He was sleeping on the couch when the rest finally came back. It had been such a long day, with the gruelling schedules, and all they wanted to do was to collapse and sleep. They paused when they saw Dong Woon spread out on the couch and they looked around the dorm. They spotted the snacks on the table and Yo Seob immediately perked up. A new batch of fanmails was sorted out and was beside the snacks but those were ignored. They spent the next few minutes munching on crackers and all sorts of unhealthy stuff before Dong Woon stirred. They hadn’t been exactly quiet, but the maknae was wiped out after his two and a half hour long of practice in the evening that he wasn’t awakened at first. As it is, he only woke up when Yo Seob yelled at Ki Kwang who nabbed some of Yo Seob’s cheese crackers. He slowly sat up, already feeling the muscle ache and looked at the scene around him.

‘Hyung! When did you all get back?’ Dong Woon asked Jun Hyung, who was the nearest to him. Doo Jun had won the first shower and the rest just lounged around waiting for their turn.

‘Hmm? Oh hey maknae, you’re up. We reached about 15 minutes ago, I guess. And why are you not in bed?’ Jun Hyung said sternly.

‘Ahh, wae? I’m not a kid, hyung. I wanted to be awake when you all come back but then I dozed off.’ Dong Woon said.

‘You’re not a kid, but you are injured! You need to take care of your body, Woonie. Now go, head to bed.’ Jun Hyung shooed Dong Woon to his bed.

‘Ahh, alright alright. I’m going. You would have thought I wasn’t wanted.’ Dong Woon grumbled. He felt Jun Hyung grab his waist to support him. He wanted to shake him off, but he knew it was just his hyung trying to help him, and frankly, he wasn’t quite steady on his feet after the earlier practice. He felt the pull of the muscles when he lied down on his bed. Jun Hyung said a quick goodnight and turned offed the room lights and closed the door softly behind him. Dong Woon’s body was tired, but his mind refused to rest.

Ahh, I hope tomorrow my body will be better. I can’t believe I tired just after two and a half hour. Tomorrow’s practice will be at least six hours! How am I gonna get through it in this condition? He almost dozed off but then he had another of the flashes. He suddenly remembered his weird dream yesterday night. He had forgotten about it when he woke up, but now he remembers. In his dream, he can see somebody on top of him, looking down. He didn’t know who that person is, because his features were blurry, but he thought that the man was familiar. That person wasn’t doing anything, until Dong Woon moved. After that, the dream just became weirder when he can’t move despite the flurry of fists raining on him. Thinking back, he thinks that what the trigger for the punches his dream-self received was probably the movement of his dream-self. Soon, the maknae finally fell asleep, the weird dream still going through his mind.

Doo Jun opened the door gently, being warned by Jun Hyung after he came out from his shower. The rapper had told him not to wake the youngest and Doo Jun agreed. He carefully picked his way around the room, since the only light source was his phone. He plugged in his phone to his charger and hanged up his towel before leaving the room. He left a crack in the door, before walking to the living room. They would just sit around until someone felt like sleeping before all of them retiring to their own room. They were just talking among each other when Dong Woon suddenly appeared in the doorway of his room. Ki Kwang was the one who saw him first, and alerted the other members when his eyes widened. They turned and saw the maknae slowly walking towards them. The half asleep Dong Woon stopped a few feet away from them.

‘Night hyungs.’  Dong Woon turned and walked back the way he came.

Yo Seob was the one who finally said his goodnight to the retreating maknae’s back, which prompted everyone else to say their goodnights too. They turned back to each other and began chuckling at the cuteness of their maknae.

‘I gotta go sleep now. I need to crash.’ Hyun Seung was the first to stand up, and the rest of them also moved off to their respective rooms. After the lights were off, the dorm settled down once again.

[a/n u guys had prolly seen the poll? i hope u guys voted, or else im gonna have a hard time making up my mind.. teehee. hope u guys still like the story! :D i didnt know anyone could vote, with or without account at AFF.. wow! hehe means that silent readers can also vote! yay! comment please! and enjoy the story! :D]