A/N: Hey guys ! Sorry for taking longer than usual to update !! I've been writing bit by bit every night after doing some of my holiday assignments and I'm STILL not done yet ): It's 1am now, and I still have tuition tmr morning. I hope I can wake up, hehe ! Anyways, here's an update ! Though it's short, I really hope it's good though, since I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Thank you so much for all the comments you guys have given me for the previous chapter !! Really really appreciate it so much and I hope you guys can keep it going ! ^^ I'd really appreciate it ! Thank you for reading by the way, and please do subscribe if you haven't ! :B Enjoy ! OH YES, wasn't able to proof read since I just finished writing it and wanted to post it up as soon as possible so I'm really sorry if there are mistakes >< 

Another few weeks passed yet again. ___’s condition has improved by a small margin though she hasn’t started to speak yet. She had started listening to the rest of the members, and Donghae had also been bringing her to the hospital once a week for therapy. ___’s parents will soon be done with their schedules back in Singapore and will be returning to Korea to be present for ___’s trial.

Whenever Donghae sent her for therapy, the psychotherapist would always be asking her questions, getting her to try to speak and open up to him, but it didn’t seem to work at least for now, and ___ would always start pulling at her hair and hugging her knees, breaking out into quiet sobs. Donghae who would be sitting by the corner of the room would always feel his heart ache, but there was nothing he could do to help. The psychotherapist had mentioned that this was common for mentally ill patients. Upon sending her back home after the therapies, she would coop herself up in her room, not willing to see anybody. This was how she would normally behave on days where she visited the psychotherapist.

DONGHAE’S POV

It was 10 o’clock at night and I had finally returned back home. I placed my haversack on the couch and headed to the kitchen to grab a bite. The day had been spent doing a photo shoot in the morning, followed by interviews and filming variety shows. Though I did well for my schedules, it was tiring. Sure, the audiences had a good laugh on the show, but I had a hard time wrecking my brains for ideas, especially when the other guests were good at talking too.

I was feeling tired, my body felt a little warm. I took a quick shower before going straight to bed. I was feeling weak, my eyelids heavy. I just wanted some rest.

------- The next morning, -------

“Donghae…Donghae ah,” a voice called and shook me slightly. “Oh ! Why is your body so hot ?”

I felt a hand on my forehead and I slowly opened my eyes adjusting to the blinding sunlight. What time was it already ?

“Donghae ah, you’re having a fever !” It was Leeteuk.

“Oh…good morning, h-hyung,” I managed to whisper out.

“It’s already noon, Hae,” He said, “You just rest in bed, I’ll get you some food so you can take some medicine alright ?”

“B-but…schedule…” I mumbled, I was still pretty much exhausted.

“Aish, don’t worry about it, I’ll tell manager hyung to get one of us to replace you, now please rest,” He said before leaving the room.

Leeteuk hurried to the kitchen where Ryeowook was almost done preparing lunch for the entire household.

“Ryeowook ah ! Donghae’s sick, he’s down with a fever. Can you make him some congee ?” Leeteuk asked. “I’ll finish up the rest of the dishes for you over here.”

“Donghae hyung is sick ? Omo ! Araso, I’ll cook him some food,” Ryeowook replied.

When Leeteuk was done finishing up the dishes, he served them and called the rest of the members to gather for lunch. Meanwhile, Ryeowook was about done and was placing the food on a tray in preparation to bring it to Donghae.

“Is anything wrong with Donghae ?” Shindong asked, munching on some Kim chi.

“Donghae hyung is sick, I’ll bring him some food,” Ryeowook said before walking towards his room.

On the way out to the living room, ___ had seen Ryeowook carrying a tray of food entering Donghae’s room.

What’s wrong with Donghae ? Is he ill ?

The door was left slightly ajar, and she took a peep inside, to see Ryeowook gently waking Donghae up from his sleep and helping him to sit up, before feeding him the food he had cooked.

He’s ill, ottoke.

“Komawo, Ryeowook ah,” Donghae thanked him sincerely, appreciating how much his dongsaeng was taking care of him.

“You’re welcome ! You have to finish this okay ? And then take your medicine and go back to sleep,” Ryeowook said authoritatively.

“Araso… Is ___ okay ? Is she taking her lunch ?” Donghae asked. He was still worried about ___’s appetite. She has been losing a lot of weight recently, becoming smaller and skinnier than she already was.

“The hyungs will take care of her. She’s listening to us already, so don’t worry too much about it, okay ?” Ryeowook told him. “Now eat.”

Meanwhile, at Seoul University, Hye Rin has been worried about ___ since there was no call from her at all, and she didn’t turn up at school either. She had tried looking her up at SM Academy’s dorm but the security guards had turned her away. Even if she asked if they had any idea where ___ would be, they had explained that she had moved out of the academy. This made her slightly surprised yet worried. Has something cropped up ? Why didn’t ___ tell her anything about her moving to a new place ? The thought of Donghae being back in Korea now had eased her mind a little, as she assumed that the two of them must’ve been together. However, the fact that there wasn’t any news from her at all just kept bugging her, yet she couldn’t do anything about it.

Jake on the other hand, has been out of trouble so far. No one had suspected him, and he pretended to be worried along with Hye Rin about ___’s absence.

It was a bright morning. ___ had gotten out of bed early to prepare some food for Donghae knowing that he was still sick in bed. Though he still came to ___’s room to check on her if she was taking her medicine, the other members came in more often now, and it also made her worry quite a bit although she didn’t voice it out. She was in the kitchen, wanting to cook a western styled breakfast for Donghae since that was what she used to eat a lot before she came to Korea.

She had cooked some bacon and sausages together with baked beans, and all that was left now was to cook the sunny side up egg. This would be most challenging for her since she had never actually tried cooking one herself. It was always her Mom preparing such breakfasts for her.

She poured some oil into the pan and to begin with, even cracking an egg was difficult for her. Whenever she felt that the egg was done and cooked, she would use the spatula, hoping to pick it up from the pan nicely and put in on the plate. However, she always had trouble with it. The egg would either be stuck onto the pan causing the bottom to be charred, or she would be using too much strength and flip the whole egg over instead. Thus, she placed all her failed attempts on another plate. Guess I would have to eat eggs for the whole of today, she thought.

The sound of metal clanking with one another woke the members up one by one and they were sure surprised to see ___ in the kitchen cooking. No one had asked her about it or talked to her though, but simply watched quietly from outside.

“Is that really ___ cooking ?” Siwon asked, raising his Sibrows.

“…whoa, look at how much worse she is compared to me,” Kyuhyun said, staring at the plate of failed eggs which was accumulating in awe.

The members then smiled quietly to themselves and headed to the living room, waiting for ___ to be done and letting her take her time in the kitchen so that Ryeowook could start preparing breakfast for them. Meanwhile, they were simply just watching some television.

About another 15 minutes to half an hour of trial and error, ___ was finally done cooking and she garnished her food as nicely as possible, pouring a glass of orange juice as well and putting all of that onto a tray to bring it into Donghae’s room. As she walked out of the kitchen, she bumped into Heechul who seemed grouchy from being forced to wake up early by Leeteuk for a schedule after drinking with a couple of friends the night before. He was having a hangover, causing him to be in a state whereby no other member would want to bother him at all. He was hungry and as he walked into the kitchen, he was met with a mess.

The unwashed pots and pans, together with plates and several cooking utensils was all placed in the sink, unwashed, filling it up to the brim. The kitchen counters were dirty, and there was also a whole plate of burnt eggs. Heechul really needed full breakfasts on days where he had schedules and without them, he would be seemingly sulky. Looking at the mess, he got slightly annoyed, not knowing that ___ was the one who had caused the mess. Thus, he decided to settle for something simple like ramyun. It was then when he found out that there weren’t any eggs left in the fridge, and his eyes naturally darted to the plate of burned eggs.

“YA ! WHO’S THE ONE THAT MADE ALL THIS MESS AND DIDN’T LEAVE A SINGLE EGG FOR ME AT ALL ?!” Heechul shouted loudly from the kitchen, startling everyone in the dorm.

___, who had heard that immediately panicked, and dropped the tray in shock. She was too, startled and surprised by his sudden outburst.

Omo, it’s…it’s me. Ottoke…Heechul oppa is going to kill me… I…I’m scared. Ottoke, Donghae oppa ! The way he shouts, …it reminds me exactly of Jake.

Hearing the breaking of some glassware, the members turned their heads towards ___ who was at the hallway, in the midst of making her way to Donghae’s room to see that she had dropped the whole tray of food she had spent the morning preparing, spilling them on the floor and breaking the glass.

“H-hyung…we can always go buy some more eggs later, don’t shout so early in the morning, please. Look, you’ve startled her !” Sungmin immediately said and hurried over to ___ who stood there in shock.

“___ ah, are you okay ?” Sungmin asked and shook her slightly while Siwon came to start helping to clean the mess.

“DON’T TOUCH ME ! I’M SORRY ! LET GO OF ME,  IT HURTS !!” She shrieked.

The members looked at one another for a while, before Siwon gently talked to  her. They didn’t even made skin contact with her, and this made them utterly confused. “Aniyo, ___ ah, we’re not blaming you, it’s okay…Calm down, calm down…”

But she squatted, hugging her knees, her eyes wide opened staring at the floor. “I’M A MURDERER, I DIDN’T MEAN IT !! IT HURTS, PLEASE LET GO OF ME !” She continued.

Just then, Donghae heard the commotion coming from outside which disrupted his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling for a while, trying to make out what was happening from outside. Upon hearing her screams, he immediately jumped out of bed and got out of the room, to see his girlfriend surrounded by his shocked members, looking so broken.

“Donghae oppa, why don’t you want me anymore ? Help me…help me… Save me from this monster, please… Oppa…” She cried aloud.

Donghae was too stunned at what he heard. Ever since he came back from Taiwan, ___ has never called his name and now that she did, it had to be a situation like this. He didn’t bother asking what had happened, but immediately ran towards ___ and hugged her tightly, not caring if she shrieked or struggled against him.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He had often restrained himself, but not this time. This time he couldn’t. ___ struggled hard against him, crying loudly and screaming a little but he kept a firm grip on her, not wanting to let her go, wrapping his strong arms around her.

He gently rubbed the side of her arms in attempt to calm her nerves down before he spoke, trying to make her listen to him, “___ ! ____, listen ! You’re fine, you’re okay, I’m here… I’m here alright ? Nothing’s going to happen to you, you’re alright now…”

Initially she panicked a little more, but after a bit more of his comforting and embrace, she calmed down, quieting down as well she immediately grabbed his arm tightly, burying her face in it.

“It hurts…Donghae oppa, where are you, come quickly…” She continued sobbing. She had been crying so hard that sweat had started to form.

Heechul stared at the couple, not knowing what to do about the mess that he had caused. There was silence in the dorm, apart from her sobs. The members looked at her, stunned yet feeling their heart aches from watching the scene in front of them. After making sure that ___ was more or less calmed down, Donghae carried her gently to her room and sat down on her bed beside her, letting her continue to hug his arm tightly.

Seeing her in this state, he couldn’t help but start to tear. “Mianhe…mianhe…”He said, hugging her gently so that he wouldn’t startle her.

___ had her eyes closed now and she continued sobbing quietly into his arm, hugging it at the same time and holding onto his hand so tightly that even her knuckles turned white, but he didn’t mind, he didn’t move away from her.

“Donghae oppa…come and help me. Where are you ? Don’t leave me alone here…come quickly. Donghae oppa…” she continued to say in between her tears. “I…I’m not clean anymore…I…I’m sorry.”

She continued saying similar words, before gradually drifting off to sleep with her head leaning on his shoulder. He didn’t know under what mental state was she saying all these to him. All he knew was that he felt extremely bad and guilty for what he had done. She must have suffered so much then, he thought sadly. Tears were flowing from his eyes endlessly and he laced his fingers with hers. Careful not to wake her up, he gently laid her down on her bed and he sat beside her, still holding onto her hand.

“Why are you apologizing, hmm ? It’s my fault, it’s not yours… I’m sorry…” Donghae said with his lips on her hand.

She was asleep by now. He then bent over to kiss her on her forehead.

He really missed doing things like that. He really missed her.