Yo, bro, how’s school?

That voice. Jongin froze on his spot and swallowed thickly. How long had it been since he last heard that familiar voice? How long had it been since he last saw the owner of the voice that he’s hearing at that time? With trembling lips, Jongin tried not to let go of his phone as he looked around nervously, watching out for other people following or staring at him. When he made sure that there was none, he went ahead to stand beside a post and leaned against it for support. He’s not sure if he’d be able to stand properly whilst talking to him.

“I-It’s good,” he replied, pausing to swallow his nervousness once again. “It’s the last year. A-Aren’t you c-coming back?”

The man on the other line scoffed and heaved out a soft “uhg”. Jongin assumed that he plopped down on something soft. “Why would I? There’s nothing there for me to come back.”

“… W-what about m-me?”

Silence.

The man on the other line frowned. He didn’t know what to answer, but he was sure that Jongin already knew his answer to that, if anything. Sighing, he sat up from the bed and took the glass of wine from the table beside him, bringing it to his lips before drinking the liquid in one go. “You? What about you?”

Jongin bit his lower lip as he sighed softly against the device. “A-Aren’t you b-bringing me b-back?”

“Jongin. Listen to me.” The man crossed his leg over the other and stared at nothing in particular; though his eyes possessed something that couldn’t be explained in one go. “There’s no reason for you to leave, Jongin. You’re staying there, whether you like it or not.”

“Wh-what?! Yah, yah—“ and the line was cut.

You’re staying there, whether you like it or not.

Jongin tried to keep his feet on the ground. He didn’t want to have a breakdown in the middle of the street, in a place where someone can see him. He’s staying in this place whether he liked it or not? He’s been there for almost three years now, and he wanted to go back to the place where he actually belonged. Why did it have to be him? Why not someone else?

Oh yes, that’s because there’s no one else but him who could do it.

He sighed. “It hurts…”

Yes, his heart hurt so much. Literally. Why did he agree to do this in the first place? Why did he give in? Why?

Why was he so stupid?

His chest felt like it was curling inwards. He didn’t know how to explain it, but it just hurt so much. Before he knew, he was already on the floor, body curled as his hand clutched on his shirt, like as if it’d help on easing the pain away. But no, it didn’t. Instead, the pain got worse and he swore to whoever was up there that he felt like something was squeezing the life out of him.

“It hurts…”

***

“How is he?” Joohyun stood up from the bench and asked the doctor when she saw him coming out of the emergency room. The doctor had a light expression and so she assumed that Jongin was fine. She hoped that he was fine.

“There’s nothing to worry about. The young man is strong, and he’s in good condition. But—“ the doctor looked down on his connected hands, looking somewhat hesitant on the words that he wanted to say next.

It took him a few minutes before gathering all his courage, and a few seconds before Joohyun could lose all her patience with the doctor. “His heart… he must be careful with it. You’re a friend of him, right?”

Joohyun, although still shocked by what she just heard, nodded and responded with a simply syllable. “Yes.”

“I hope that you could watch him for me. There are no other people in his contacts—no mother, no father, or any siblings. None. I don’t know who to contact so I’ll just tell you everything. Jongin, the patient, has a very weak heart. He should not be pushed over emotionally. He should refrain from succumbing into his emotions to keep him safe. I know that it’s hard, but it’s the only way to avoid another episode of him fainting on the street without anyone to help him. It was a good thing that you happened to be there, or else, we wouldn’t know what have happened to him.”

We wouldn’t know what have happened to him…

Just by thinking about it, Joohyun was already having the chills. She could be shivers running down her spine. She could see images of Jongin flat on the ground, not breathing, immobile, lifeless. At the last word in her thoughts, Joohyun closed her eyes and sighed out heavily. She shouldn’t be thinking about such things, instead, she should think about what’s good.

Bowing politely to the doctor, Joohyun made her way towards Jongin’s ward and stared at her by the door for a good minute. The poor guy. He’s going through a lot. How long had he been suffering in such disease? Why wasn’t he telling anyone about it? Why didn’t he tell her about it? She thought that she was his best friend? Maybe he didn’t want to hurt her by telling her about it, she understood that. But it still hurts to not know anything all this time.

She sighed as she sat down on the chair beside the sleeping man. Even in his sleep, Jongin looked so peaceful, so kind, so vulnerable. Somewhat, she wanted to wake him up, because seeing him with his eyes closed somewhat scared her. She could still remember the scene that she saw before at the street.

“Ah, it’s the first time that I didn’t go to school just because of this…” Joohyun sighed out as she looked at the small bag of medicine in her hand. It was just a simple dysmenorrhea. She would have tried to endure it through the whole day, but the pain was excruciating that she had no choice but to stay at home.

At least, she was feeling better later that afternoon. After going to the pharmacy, she was planning on going to school, thinking that Jongin might still be there doing his chores. However, just as she was about to make a turn, Joohyun saw a figure on the ground. Being the kind-hearted girl she was, she immediately went up to the unconscious body and crouched next to him.

“Hey, are you oka—“ but her words were cut off when she flipped the body and saw who the unconscious man was. “Jongin?!”

Without thinking about what she’s going to do next, Joohyun immediately took out her phone and dialed the emergency line. It was unusual of her to stutter a lot. She was mostly calm and whatnot, but seeing Jongin so pale and lifeless was being her oh so nervous, that she couldn’t even speak properly.

After the call, Joohyun faced Jongin once again and held his face. He was so cold and stiff, and the thought of him being dead immediately struck her. But no, he couldn’t be dead. She could feel his pulse against her finger. At least, he was alive. When the ambulance came, Joohyun forgot about anything else that was with her—even her painful womb became nothing to her.

She could still remember how bad he looked like earlier, and she couldn’t help but feel sad over what was happening to him. Bullying at school, and now, poor health? Why did he have to be the one experiencing all of this? Jongin was a good man, why let him suffer too much?

“What happened to him?!”

The voice sliced through Joohyun’s clouds of thought and she turned around, only to see Ailee panting at the door.

She was confused. “Why are you here?” to which Ailee responded with a raised eyebrow. “Why do you have to know?”

Joohyun didn’t say anything else anymore, because she knew that doing the latter was better. She was still confused though. Why was someone like Ailee here? For all she knew, Ailee never cared about Jongin, so why did she look like she was about to lose Jongin?

She heard heavy footsteps from behind her, and she knew that it was Ailee approaching them. The blond woman looked at the idle body on the bed, and Joohyun swore that she saw softness and concern in her eyes for the first time in her life. “Jongin…” Ailee whispered softly, holding the man’s hand. Joohyun somewhat felt awkward watching all of this happened, but still, her curiosity was biting on her head.

I’ll have to think about it outside..

She felt like she needed to give the two of them some privacy, so she stood up from the chair and her heels to leave the room. Before her hands could hold the doorknob, Ailee turned her head and called for her attention, sighing before saying, “Thank you. Thank you for bringing him here.”

Joohyun’s confusion and curiosity got worse. “It’s fine…”

And there was silence once again inside the room. The women didn’t know what else to say, the other was already sitting on the chair beside the bed, whilst the other was still standing by the door. The latter wanted to go out already, but there was something stopping her. She wanted to ask the other—still wanted to ask the other why she’s here.

“I’m here because…” Joohyun flinched. For one moment, she thought that Ailee was able to read her mind. Well, it seemed like it. Slowly, she turned around, facing the woman’s back as she spoke. “I’m here because… because of a reason that you didn’t have to know.”

Of course, she won’t tell me.

“I hope that you’ll keep this as a secret.”

Joohyun frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t tell anyone that I visited Jongin…”

Oh…

Joohyun nodded to herself. She wanted to ask her why, but the topic seemed sensitive enough for her to ask. Without saying anything, she went out of the room and leaned against the door when she was finally outside. A lot of things have been happening, and nothing existed to help her with her questions.

She was about to leave, when a figure from her peripheral vision caught her attention. She snapped her head towards the direction, but no one was there. However, she swore that she saw a shadow leaving from the first hallway a few steps away from her. The hair and the body form looked so familiar. Like as if she was used to seeing it every day… like as if it belonged to Jongin.

Inside the room, Ailee was still silent whilst she was staring at Jongin's peaceful face. Even with her strong resistance, she wasn't able to help but run her fingertips on his cheek. "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing all of this just to escape, huh? Jongin..."

She just couldn't believe how far he was going just to keep everything out of him-- even coming to the point when he'd pretend that he's sick. But at the very moment, he looked genuinely sick. She almost fell for this once again. A bitter smile played on her lips. "Yah, wake up, will you? Stop playing. I'm the only one here..."

But Jongin didn't respond; didn't move a muscle. Ailee felt frustrated. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't, because she knew that Jongin was just testing her. She never cried for him before. She never got jealous because of him before. But now... it seemed like everything was happening in one go. She's tempted to cry because of him, and she's so jealous because of the fact that he's closer with Joohyun now.

"Are you testing me?"

***

“The doctor said that his heart is weak, and that he should be more careful.”

“That’s it?”

The man in black suit nodded as he handed over the envelope to his boss, Jaejoong. Jaejoong took the envelope which contained the copy of Jongin’s medical papers and findings about his health. As he read each notes jotted down by the doctor, he couldn’t help but believe that this was all true. Weak heart… unstable heartbeat… emotional stress…

But no, he’s not going to be fooled.

“He’s lying!” he exclaimed, throwing the papers on the floor and kicking the table in front of him. “He’s goddamn lying!”

Jongin would do anything to keep the doubt away from him, he thought. Jongin have lied to him—to them before way too much, and he’s not going to be fooled once again. He won’t allow Jongin to fool them ever again. 

--

Yey! ;A; An update before I disappear again because college TuT uhuhuh. But yeahhhh, another confusing chapter from a confusing author. I hoped that I'm not being to vague or confusing on this chapter. ;u; and I hoped that you liked it, guys. Sorry for the crappy and short chapter. I promise I'll do better! xoxo