But tomorrow was even more hopeless. Besides the emptiness emanating from Sojin's absence, my illness was taking over.

I scored unbelievably low in the evaluation, my teammates quickly ascribing my poor performance to my degraded health. Our trainer seemed convinced but was not pleased all the same.

"Really nice shot, Luhan. Braving the rain to prove you're manly." Lichen rolled her eyes as the three of us headed out the Faculty lounge.

I chuckled despite my throbbing skull. "I wasn't trying to prove anything."

Yixing and Lichen exchanged knowing looks before Yixing turned to me. "Did you call her?"

I didn't answer. It wouldn't help telling them afterwards that I got nothing but network operators announcing in their rigid, static voices that the number I was trying to reach was already unattended.

I led our descent, concentrating but failing to steer my mind away from Sojin and focus on my devastating mark. Twenty-three out of forty. That was like the worst score I had ever landed in my entire educational career.

Lichen's voice came again. "Take a good rest, Luhan. Quarter exams are just around the corner."

"Yeah," I replied sluggishly. It was next week for a Prefect like me.

She leapt and stood before me. "I'm serious, Luhan. And.." From stern to frolic, she glanced past my shoulder.

I frowned. "And what?"

Her eyes remained unfocused, unsure.

I went straight for the kill. "Are you going to tell me that you two are now official?"

The air went momentarily still before it erupted to a string of unreserved protests - both from Lichen and Yixing.

"- he hasn't really told me he likes me -"

"- I don't think she's thinking that -"

"- it's studies first so -"

"- I wanted to focus on dancing -"

"- we can't afford to get sidetracked -"

"- Senior year demands total attention -"

If it weren't for the cracking sensation in my head, I would've allowed them to just go on - they looked and sounded hilarious. But my skull was already on the verge of bursting so I stopped them both - with palms to my ears. And they instantly ceased.

"Thank you," I said, outwardly amused, and resumed my descent.

"Wait, Luhan!" Lichen blocked me yet again. "I was saying, if you wanted to take a break, er, Friday next week before, uh, I mean after your quarter exams - I keep forgetting you're a Prefect." She fumbled for something inside her purse, produced a tiny card and held it out to me. "Yixing and I are joining a dance contest. Um, yeah. In the Metro Dome, you know, in the city proper.."

I scanned the card. It was a ticket, dated six days from now. Six o'clock. Metro Dome.

Duo Dance Battle. Metro Dome. Six o'clock.

I could outline the concert hall's spherical nob as I hopped out my car and peered beyond the metropolitan horizon. If six days ago my skull was attempting to gape, I didn't know what state it was right now.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol had insisted to tag along the moment they heard of the contest. Chanyeol's sister managed to get them tickets, too.

"You drive fine for a person whose head is supposedly shattering," Chanyeol commented as he jumped out the backseat and adjusted his coat. "Wish I'd have my own license."

"You'd actually have to train and pass  driving lessons first," Baekhyun chided. He turned to me. "When did you get yours anyway?"

"April, just after Junior third quarter examinations." My hand shot impulsively to press my forehead. My headache had intensified - as though there was still room for worsening. "Sorry, I'll have to buy pain relievers or I won't survive the night." I pushed on this black and tiny lock remote and the car beeped to signify its compliance.

Aimlessly, I trudged along avenues. There was bound to be a pharmacy somewhere. There had to be. The contest wouldn't start in two hours but it wasn't that that I was worried about.

Pure urban life was different. Everything seemed escalated - people shuffling endlessy, cars honking impatiently, buildings towering animatedly. It was like a movie on fast forward, and I was in the midst of it - a lone ranger who opted to slow down.

Five gargantuan blocks later and there were still no pharmacies. I wanted to stray deeper into the city, but just as I skewed around a bend, I bumped headfirst into someone.

I staggered a few steps back, rubbing the nonexistent bump on my forehead. Maybe if I weren't crouching so low - believe me, my head weighed ten times heavier with its current state - I would've avoided the collision. The person infront of me, looking just as startled, was undeniably shorter.

I narrowed my eyes. I knew this person. Yes, indeed.

"Luhan!" Minseok exclaimed before I could acknowledge him. "Hi, long time no see! What're you doing here?"

"I.." What was I doing here again? Ah, right. Medicine. Pharmacy. "I'm -"

"You're not looking for Sojin, are you?"

I flinched. "What?"

He ironed his top with his palm, as if our impact had caused creases on his white shirt. I realized then that he was still in uniform, minus the polo supposedly worn over.

"Sojin," he repeated. The way he conversed to me about her seemed so natural to him; you'd think she was a regular topic we discussed. As if we had ever discussed anything in the first place. "Her school's just by the next block but she's not in school. She's in Lemon Hospital right now and I'm going to see her after I fetch my laundry from - hey!"

I had sprinted off, my destination fixed. Lemon Hospital. Hospital. What on freakin earth was she doing in a hospital? Thankfully, it was the same hospital we had gone to with her brother just a year ago.

Was it really just a year ago? Why did it seem like I'd already lived a lifetime - no, two lifetimes; one with her and one without her.

As I tore my way towards where I recalled the hospital was, the population's congestion had thickened. I would've thought it normal since it was Friday and it was just around time for people to get off from work and school alike.

The pounding in my head was worse than ever but with a more ominous matter to attend to, it had almost felt negligible.

At last, I arrived at the hospital. Gasping, I inquired the nurse manning the counter. I almost couldn't articulate Sojin's name; I got stuck with just 'Yang.' Fortunately though, the nurse was quite quick. She had saved me from my breath-hitching, stuttering mess and had immediately provided me a room.

Ninth floor. Why did she have to be way too high up from the ground? I forced my mind to not imagine the altitude on my way up the elevator.

As I padded through immaculately clean hallways, I flipped my actions inside my head. Never mind that Sojin would find my presence uninvited. Come to think of it, maybe this was why she had never answered my calls, because she was ill.

Ill. Why did the notion suddenly swallow me into the pits of consternation? I had spent hours in the past seven days trying to contact her, and hours I bore in dismay because she never, not once, had answered.

She couldn't be seriously ill, could she? No, of course not. That reality would be way beyond my threshold of pain. I thought I'd rather my skull finally split in two than bear even just the thought of Sojin seriously sick.

She was the love of my life. I just couldn't afford her to be very sick. Why had I even allowed it in the first place?

Nine-two-seven. I was here. The white door looked impassable. My heartbeat had gone erratic again, the deafening pulse adding up to the pounding in my h