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Part 25: I'm Not Your Princess...

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Silence rung after the loud bang of oak doors echoed through the whole house. Three pairs of eyes noiselessly followed the crimson drops on the floor which seemed to be screaming to be noticed against the marble floor.

“Jonghyun.” A blonde boy whispered as his eyes traveled towards the stairs.

“Shut up, Haneul! Hey man. Does this mean, he’s really... gay?” the other two exchanged somewhat disgusted glances. Yoonseok even made a gagging sound.

“This is what I was talking about! That bet would never do good to anyone. Look at all this blood!” Haneul exclaimed, ignoring the previous question and antics of his friends. “What would happen to Kibum now? Shouldn’t we follow him?” he continued to mumble but the other two also continued to ignore him.

“So it’s true that Kibum could turn straight guys gay.” Jeongjin joked again which earned a glare from the Haneul and a chuckle from Yoonseok. “I wonder how great he is in bed to do that.” the two of them high-fived and began laughing, not able to notice Jonghyun descending from the stairs with that unmistakable wrath in his eyes.

The teens didn’t even have time to acknowledge Jonghyun’s presence when he pulled Jeongjin’s shoulder and punched him straight on the face. Haneul immediately pulled Jonghyun away while Yoonseok helped Jeongjin to stand up. He let himself be hauled back to his feet as he mumbled profanities under his breath while wiping blood from his busted lip.

“What the is your problem?!” Jeongjin shouted and was about to grab Jonghyun by the collar but Yoonseok and Haneul kept the two of them separated.

“You are the ing problem! You started all of this and just as I thought everything was perfect you ed it all up you son of a !” Jonghyun shouted back, trying to free himself from Haneul’s hold—almost reaching Yoonseok’s shirt at one of his tries.
Jeongjin scoffed, then laughed mockingly. He pushed Yoonseok lightly, implying that the other did not need to restrain him ‘coz he wouldn’t attack Jonghyun. Granted his freedom, he fixed his clothes and walked towards Haneul and Jonghyun. “Why are you blaming me? You are the one who agreed with the bet and you are the one who ed that , not me.” Jeongjin provoked, pointing at Jonghyun. Yoonseok had just pulled him by the arm when Jonghyun finally pushed Haneul away and was able to reach the other two again. He also pushed Yoonseok away and pulled Jeongjin to his face by the collar, eyes glaring daggers at each other.

“I didn’t even agree on that goddamn bet on the first place!” Jonghyun hissed dangerously and Jeongjin just snickered at him. It just pushed Jonghyun off the edge and he punched Jeongjin again, this time, Jeongjin fell against an accent table by the wall —a crystal-like mini globe fell and rolled on the floor along with the fuchsia pink vase that shattered to thousands of pieces, water spilled and the flowers tattered when Jeongjin stepped on them— but was still able to stand up and return Jonghyun’s punch.

The two continued to beat each other while the other two tried to pull them apart. Unknown to them, one of the younger maids took notice of the commotion. She hurriedly got the kitchen phone off the hook and out of panic, almost called the police but her rational mind took control and punched the numbers listed conveniently on the second page of the phonebook. She chewed on her lip as she waited for the person to answer, her free hand fiddling with the hem of her apron—glancing ever so often to the glass cupboard that reflected the scene from the living room.

“Yeoboseyo?” the person answered after six rings, voice hoarse and somehow deeper—was he still sleeping?

“Ne, Minho-ssi! Your Jonghyun-hyung is brawling with his friend here! Oh my god they’re killing each other! And there are blood stains on the floor! Please come over and try to calm him down!” the maid ranted on, her own voice cracking here and there because of panic.

“What?! What happened before that?! Aish! I’ll be right there! Don’t let him out the house!” Minho commanded from the other line, with the sound of keys clinking and a door being closed roughly.

By the time he arrived, he wrenched the front door open and frantically searched for his hyung with what his eyes could see. His heart hammered in his rib cage when he couldn’t find the older teen and just saw two maids cleaning broken glass and moping something red off of the floor while the house was —rather—eerily silent. The maids hurriedly stood up and bowed to him.

“Jonghyun hyung?!” the knots in Minho’s stomach seemed to tighten tenfold when his voice just seemed to echo through the house. He asked the maids who just exchanged worried glances and had a little silent fight over who would tell him. It somehow irritated Minho and the thought of adding the nearby vase to the pile of broken glass even crossed his mind—Jonghyun could be doing something God-knows-what in God-knows-where at that ing time and these girls chose to be timid to him.

“Minho-ssi, jeongmal... jeongmal joesonghaminda. We tried to stop him but he insisted on going out and he... He’s so angry... we... Joesonghamnida Minho-ssi.” The maid bowed repeatedly as if what happened was all her fault.

The teen rubbed a hand over his eyes and let it through his locks—the clock-works of his mind turning. Think, Minho! Think! “Where did he say he’ll go? What—a sigh— what happened here in the first place?”

There was the annoying exchange of glances again, the girl in front of Minho looked back to the other as if asking for support and she just bit on her lip and nodded. The girl inhaled deeply, hands fiddling with the handle of the mop that she was clutching and voice shaky. She told Minho about how Jonghyun came home with some friends after his morning jog, how she served them with juice and how she caught some of what they were talking about. She said that when they arrived they were talking about a game from last night and how Jonghyun missed it.

“Then they began talking about a bet and some... personal stuff about Jonghyun-ssi and his bo... Kibum-ssi...”

.

“...then there were... drops on the floor. I heard him shouting for Kibum-ssi to open the door. When he did, there was silence... then... then I saw him walk out of the house with blood on his hands and clothes... there was silence again but Jonghyun-ssi’s friends started to talk again then... then he punched the noisy one... that’s when I... called you.”

. . .

Minho called Jinki as soon as the girl stopped talking, heart still hammering in his chest.

“We have a problem, hyung.” —silence— “I’ll pick you up.”

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He stepped on the accelerator not caring if he was exceeding the maximum speed. At times like this, he’d rather not care about the rules or the laws because he had to find Kibum.

“Kibum, what happened to you?” he mumbled to himself, eyes scanning the immediate surroundings looking for a certain blonde boy. He tried calling the younger’s phone but he couldn’t reach it anymore. “Please just be fine.”

“Yoboseyo?”

“Amber-ssi, sorry to disturb you, but do you happen to know where Kibum is?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

“Ani. Why, what happened?” she asked back, there was suspicion under the tone that she used but he could care less. He had to find Kibum first.

“He called me a while ago and he sounded like he was crying.” He explained. “He asked me to find him because he was lost.” He passed through the park but immediately stepped on the breaks when his eyes caught something golden behind a tree. The tires skidded to a stop, leaving black marks on the cement, and he bolted out of the door not even bothering to kill the engine. He could hear Amber talking through his earphones but her words were all jumbled as he run towards that direction.

“I found him. I’ll call you back later.” He said breathlessly, cutting her strings of curses or whatever they were. She was about to ask why or how her fried was but the line was already off.

“Kibum...”

Said boy was sitting with his knees pulled up near his chest with his left arm resting on his knees which acted as pillow for his bowed head. His phone was on the ground beside him, blood stains adorning its usually clear case which made the other male to worry even more. He reached a hand to Kibum’s immobile body and shook him lightly, calling his name again. Panic coursed through his system when he got no response. What if he was too late? He lifted up Kibum’s head but his eyes stayed closed, lips pale and cheeks still wet with tears. He tried to shake Kibum again which cause for the younger’s legs to give away in weird angles and for him to see the injured hand. He shifted to cradle Kibum’s head on his arms and try waking him up once again.

“Kibum! Kibum you must wake up! C’mon open your eyes for me...” he tried again, tapping the unconscious male’s cheek lightly. “Yah! I’m here now! Kibum!”

His eyes lids fluttered lightly and opened the slightest but it was enough to see the other’s face.

“You found me... Dongwoon...” he said almost inaudibly and a weak smile appeared on his almost colorless lips.

“Of course I will, you pabo!” his heart pounded in his chest. What happened? He wanted to ask but he was sure that it could wait until Kibum was okay, until those dark stains on his clothes and body were cleaned, until the color on his lips were back again. “Let’s get you out of here before people think that I killed you.” Dongwoon murmured as he picked Kibum up and rushed towards his hyung’s car.
By the time that he put Kibum down on the passenger’s seat, the dancer’s eyes were closed again as he slipped into unconsciousness. Dongwoon quickly drove out of the park and to the hospital.

“Where are you?!” Amber immediately said once Dongwoon called her back.

“We’re on the way to the hospital.” He replied as he speed trough the highway, eyes trained on the road but would ever so often glance to the blonde boy on the passenger’s seat.

“Why?! What happened?”  He could hear other people in the background; maybe she called the others after he informed them about Kibum.

“He had cuts on his hand. Let’s just meet there. Bye.”
 
 
Dongwoon got bloodstains on his shirt too but he didn’t mind it as he was sitting across the corridor where he could see the red light on the sign that said “Emergency Room”. He tried to calm himself as he waited for anyone to tell him that his friend was fine and nothing was wrong.

It’s not as if he got in an accident and injured his head. He won’t die. Those were just cuts on his hand, maybe he just fell down or something. But there was so much blood. No, he’ll—

“Dongwoon hyung!” his head snapped up and saw Taemin, Amber and Sulli running towards him.

He told them what he knew because he wasn’t able to ask Kibum anything more. So they sat there and waited. Amber tried to keep the two youngest from crying and Dongwoon just stared hard on that door as if he was trying to burn holes through it. And soon enough, the door opened and they all stood up facing the doctor who came out.

“You must be his friends.” He noted as he took the green sterile mask off his mouth. “He is fine now, you don’t have to worry anymore. We removed the shards in his wounds and disinfected them. But we’re still waiting for the results of the tetanus test for precaution. He also had a few deep cuts that needed stitches. But as I have said, he is fine now.” The four of them nodded, relieved that there was really nothing serious about the injury. “If the results came out well, then he’ll be allowed to go home when he finished the dextrose. The nurses will bring him to a room in a while.” With those final words, the doctor left to check on other patients.
 

Taemin sat quietly by Kibum’s hospital bed, his head perched on his crossed arms as he watched the rhythmic rise and fall of Kibum’s chest. Sulli, sat on the foot of the bed, her feet dangling above the white floor, her eyes focused on the patterns on Kibum’s hospital gown that was not covered by the blanket. Dongwoon was standing against the wall across the bed with his arms crossed over his chest, scrutinizing the fog-like mist that came out from the apparatus mounted on the wall above Kibum’s head. When the door opened and Amber entered, they didn’t move a single muscle to acknowledge her presence.

“His mom said she’ll come over in thirty.” She announced as she walked to the small couch by the window and sat down. “Do you think he’ll wake up soon?” Amber asked to no one in particular.

“Hope so.” Sulli replied softly. “What do you think happened? Did he and Jonghyun oppa got in a fight?”

“Hyung wouldn’t hurt umma.” Taemin answered, his voice a little muffled by his arms. “But Minho hyung said he’s gone missing too.” And just as he ended this, his phone rung and made him jump a little. “Ne, hyung?” then he stood up and walked out of the room.

After a few more minutes, Taemin returned with Kibum’s mom behind him. She looked worried which was reasonable since Kibum was her only child and all. So when the doctor came in and gave the results of the test which were all good, the creases on her forehead disappeared and she smiled softly. She stayed there for a while more and asked the young adults why. But they could only tell what they knew—with Jonghyun’s name excluded. She bid goodbye to them not long after because of her commitments in the office but not forgetting to ask them to keep her updated.

They were eating the takeout food that Kibum’s mom ordered for them when Kibum opened his eyes. Amber had to pat Taemin’s back since he choked on his food when he was about to shout ‘Ki umma’. Dongwoon was the nearest to Kibum by that time so after placing his meal on the bedside table he hovered over Kibum.

“How are you feeling? You need anything?” he asked, eyes roaming on Kibum’s still-pale face. Kibum shook his head slightly and tried to get up with difficulty. Dongwoon quickly helped him sit up, placing the fluffy pillow on his back for comfort.

“I’m fine.” He replied hoarsely and Taemin handed him a cup of water. “Thanks baby.” He took a generous gulp and handed it back with a smile. “What’s with those faces? Do I have a brain tumor or something?” he asked playfully and he received glares from them. “Woah! Okay I’m sorry for making all of you worry. I won’t do it again. Promise!” and he raised his right hand but then realized that it was covered in bandage and gauze. “Oh.”

There was an awkward silence which was broken by soft chuckles from Amber that soon became a full blown laughter followed by Taemin. Shortly, they were all laughing.

“Pabo. Just eat this and finish that dextrose so we can go out soon.” Amber placed the last take out container on Kibum’s lap and opened the lid. “There, eat up.”

“Erm. I’m not a lefty nor am I ambidextrous.” He stated as he looked down on the food on his covered lap then looked on his friends’ faces. They looked back at him and he just gave an innocent smile at then.

“Aish. Always being a baby.” Dongwoon said under his breath as he split the chopsticks apart and got the container off of Kibum’s lap. “Ah.”

The other three looked at them suspiciously and mouthed silent questions at each other. But they didn’t bother to voice those to Kibum. When he finished most of the food, the soft pink tint of his lips was almost back and the IV drip had a more or less than a quarter left. They didn’t dare bring up any topic that might bring Jonghyun’s name up or anything close because from what Minho told Taemin, Jonghyun and Kibum might have had a fight.

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a/n: long wait is oveeer.so there you go.confused? lost? annoyed? ask and you shall be answered~! haha

later guys...i'm gonna go to the grocery first :P

Photo by: FINIFEATURES @deviantart