"Yunho hyung."

Yunho whirled around, eyes still closed. 

"Changmin." Yunho whispered back, squeezing the hands that were currently holding him.

Drawing strength from within, he finally mustered up enough strength to open his eyes, his vision swimming out of focus.

"What happened?" Yunho questioned, blinking his vision for clarity. Moving his right arm a little, he was surprised to find his movement hindered by an IV drip that was attached to his right arm. 

White washed walls with paint peeling off them and the smell of disinfectant in the air... I must be in the hospital then. 

Yunho thought dreamily as he looked to Changmin for elaboration on what had happened.

"You fainted immediately after he said those words," Changmin explained, "We cancelled the fanmeet and called for an ambulance immediately, sending you here as soon as possible."

Wait. Did that mean they were still in China?

"Changmin ah, where's hyung?" Yunho questioned, attempting to get out of the bed, "Is he here with us?"

"I'm here," their manager answered Yunho as he walked into the room, "Don't worry and stop moving about. We've flown you back in Korea."

"But hyung, I need to see him. The date.." Yunho spoke, his voice dying out towards the end.

Looking straight at the clock before him, Yunho's eyes widened. He started pulling the IV drip in his hands and struggled to sit up on the bed, willing his limbs to cooperate with him just this once.

"Stop it hyung, you're only injuring yourself further." Changmin chided as he stopped Yunho in his tracks, pushing Yunho back to the hospital bed.

Their manager looked at Yunho whose eyes were sending out desperate pleas of help and sighed. 

"When you fell during the fanmeet, you hurt your head and got yourself a concussion. Apparently you fainted due to sheer exhaustion. You are thereby strictly ordered not to move about by the doctor and you're being kept here for observation."

"But my father, I need to see my father.. Where is he?"

Yunho spouted out as he looked at their manager, an ominous feeling washing over him at their manager's gradually darkening expression.

"Your father..." their manager continued, treading on dangerous waters, "They... They can't afford to wait for you so they.."

No. No. No. 

It could not be true. His manager was not saying what he was thinking. He must be lying. He must be!

It could not be true.

"They pulled out the plug today Yunho, while you were still unconscious. Your father's officially declared dead now."

NO.

Yunho's mind went blank. All thoughts escaped him at once and he barely grasped what their manager was saying. No. He did not want to comprehend. For once, he did not want to understand.

Dead?

His father, a man of strong will, was dead?

Yunho stared at their manager, his mind working overdrive to understand what their manager was saying.

How could it be that their manager was moving his lips, speaking Korean words and yet Yunho did not make sense of any word he just uttered to him? It was incomprehensible to Yunho. It was unbelievable.

"What are you talking about hyung? What's going on?" Changmin demanded, a tint of fear evident in his voice at Yunho's frozen expression of shock.

Their manager shook his head towards Yunho, indicating to Changmin that he would tell him later. Yunho remained still, not moving a single inch. It was as though he had not heard what their manager just said. It was as though his mind was still struggling to process what had happened.

"Get out." 

The statue finally moved, glaring at their manager who for once did not shrink back at its ferocity.

"Get the out of this room."

"No Yunho. I'll stay, and so will Changmin. Your mother and sister will come by later to visit you and give you the details for the wake."

Wake.

Death.

Gone forever.

No.

"GET OUT!" Yunho bellowed as he his fist against the vase on the table beside him, causing the vase to topple and fall. It shattered into a million pieces and the flowers in it were strewn onto the floor.

No. It could not be true. It did not make sense. It could not be true! It simply could not!

"Yunho hyung," Changmin spoke softly, trying to calm Yunho down so as to not aggravate his wounds, "We'll just leave now. Just try to calm down okay?"

Pulling onto their manager's sleeves, Changmin dragged him out of the room, leaving Yunho to stare out of the window beside him, a single tear running down his cheek.

"Explain." Changmin commanded, folding his arms and glaring at his manager after he finally dragged him to a more discreet corner. Their manager bowed at Changmin's eyes of ire and slumped down the wall, sitting on the hospital floor.

"Yunho's father had a a few days prior to the China fanmeet. He was officially declared brain dead since then and has been surviving on a fake respirator. Still, Mrs Jung did not want to give up any hope, and so did Yunho and Jihye. For three days they waited, but there was no sign of Yunho's father displaying any brain activity."

"The time limit given to them by the doctors was a week. This meant that the day the decision would be made would be the very day we returned from the China fanmeet. The original plan was to wait for us to come back so that Yunho could get to say his final goodbyes if it ever came to that.."

"But he never did because he fell unconscious due to the concussion.." Changmin uttered, the magnitude of the horror gradually catching up to him.

Their manager nodded his head.

"Yes, and Yunho's family couldn't wait anymore. There was another patient who needed the bed. They were left with no choice but to pull the plug out before Yunho woke."

"Oh God, hyung. Yunho hyung..."

Changmin whispered, joining their manager on the floor, the horrors catching up to him. Yunho did not even get to say his final goodbyes to his father. He did not even get to see his father. Yunho was not even there when he died.

"Why then did he still go to the fanmeet? He should have stayed in Korea!" Changmin screamed, wanting to punch some sense into Yunho. 

How could he be so stupid? Did he not realize that his father was more important?

Their manager chuckled bitterly.

"Is this the first day you've known your Yunho hyung?"

Yunho hyung. 

His hyung who promised to stay with him no matter what happened.

That idiot!

Changmin cursed as he punched his fist against the wall, causing his knuckles to bleed as tears streamed down his cheeks.

I would have been fine alone you fool! You should have stayed by your father's side. Idiot idiot idiot!

Suddenly, Yunho's reply to the emcee's question in their fanmeet before flashed in Changmin's mind and Changmin was struck with a new realisation.

".....What would be the thing you most regret not doing?" the emcee had questioned amidst Cassiopeia's screams and shouts.

"Not telling the people I love that I love them." Yunho paused a moment before replying him.

Back then, Changmin had assumed it was referring to his other three hyungs but now that he thought about it, he could recall seeing a glimmer of light reflected in Yunho's eyes. Light that would not be reflected unless there was a medium for them to be reflected in. The medium which could only be water that came from a single source: Tears. There were tears in his eyes. Yunho was crying back then and Changmin never even noticed.

"Idiot hyung, why didn't you stay with your father?" Changmin bellowed as he continued pounding the wall, hoping to ease the pain and guilt that now weighed his heart.

No wonder he was so distracted, no wonder he forgot that we were in China.. His father was dying and he was not by his side because of me. Because of my stinking fear and insecurities. He stayed behind for me. Why do I have to be so weak?

"Changmin ah," Their manager whispered, laying a hand on Changmin's shoulder, "it's not your fault."

"Like hell it isn't," Changmin muttered angrily before he whipped out his phone and started punching those familiar numbers, his face a mask of fury. If that was the case, there was only one solution to this problem. Changmin knew he could not do anything to change the past. The only thing he could do was to change the present and he damn well was going to do it.

"Changmin, what are you doing?"

"Changmin?" their manager questioned once more as Changmin wiped off the tears on his face and now proceeded to glare at his phone as though he was waiting for someone to pick up the call. 

Waiting for someone to pick up the call?

Their manager wondered.

He was not going to do whatever he thought he was going to do was he?

"Changmin, what are you doing? Are you crazy?" Their manager shouted as he tried to snatch the phone away from Changmin when he finally realized what he was doing.

Is everyone going out of their mind?

"Since Yunho hyung has proven to be unable to take care of his health by himself, it's time for me to bring the big guns out." Changmin hissed venomously, explaining himself and avoiding his manager's hands. His worry for Yunho already transformed into anger and fury.

"You know that no one apart from Jaejoong hyung can take care of Yunho well, hyung, and our phone call with them did end on an abrupt note. Besides, SM wanted us to reconcile with them right? I'm just fulfilling the company's wish by doing so." 

Changmin smirked before walking away, talking on the phone while he sauntered off.

"Changmin ah."

Their manager whispered at the fading silouhette in the distance, eyebrows creased in worry.

 Do you even know what you are doing?

Author's Note: I might not be able to update as often 'cause I've finally found a job and will begin work soon. Still, I find it hard to believe that this fic actually gained 52 subscribers so THANK YOU TO EACH SUBSCRIBER OUT THERE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO MY FICS CAUSE YOU ALWAYS MAKE MY DAY AND GIVE ME INSPIRATION TO CARRY ON. <3 Thank you every single one of you. :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. Heehee~ ^^ (I will try to update at least once or twice a week.)