"I get out of bed, go over to the window, and look at the night sky. And think about time that can never be regained. I think of rivers, of tides. Forests and water gushing out. Rain and lightning. Rocks and shadows. All of these are in me."

- Haruki Murakami

soundtrack: unfinished business by White Lies

He arrived on her doorstep in the slight grey hours of the morning, panicked and tense- although muted under the façade of strong oldest brother. “Something wrong Sungjong.He's hurt, can you help?” The restrained fear he felt for the youngest was shining bright and black in his eyes. He watched as the girl widened her blue eyes and ran back inside, only to return wearing sneakers and carrying an old backpack. He hadn’t been sure about asking someone they barely knew for help but was even more reluctant to expose Sung Jong to the media by going to the hospital.

“What’s happened?” She had quite liked Sungjong and the idea that something was wrong with him was upsetting. Crossing the corridor and opening the other door Sunggyu haltingly explained that Sungjong and Hoya had fought and Sungjong had slipped and hit his head. He was conscious but dazed and they were worried about him, but unable to go to the hospital for some reason.

Well “Awake shaky hurt head not Hoya fault but did fight can’t hospital” were the exact words but she was good at inference. Passing through the darkness of the hallway she felt a fleeting unease at the violence which was quickly quashed.

Hoya stood next to Sungjong who was lying on the sofa, both were pale and Hoya looked positively stricken. Myungsoo made a weird little noise when he saw their neighbour, at which point Sunggyu realised that she was wearing an incredibly short pair of plaid pyjama shorts as well as the oversized sweatshirt and trainers she had put on before following him out.

 He took a moment to admire her slender legs before he pulled his eyes away in time to hear her asking for a bag of frozen peas and a pillow case. Sungyeol was oddly enough the only other person who had understood ‘pillowcase’ so he donated a clean one of his while Sunggyu ordered Hoya to fetch the frozen peas.

Scarlet wrapped the peas in the pilowcase, absentmindedly explaining that they were for the bruise and that Sungjong might be experiencing hypoglyceimic shock. They didn't understand but it seemed like she was good at this so they allowed her to continue.

Their neighbour gently placed the wrapped peas over the small, slowly purpling bruise on Sung Jong’s temple. She then turned around and quietly asked for the kettle to be boiled. Myungsoo complied and as he did so she brought up a hand to shade Sung Jong’s eyes. His pupils dilated normally and she let out a small breath of relief. If they had not it would have indicated a concussion of greater severity. She quietly asked him questions first in English and then in Japanese, once or twice Korean but there were specialist words she didn’t know.

Was he nauseous? A little. Dizzy? No. Did he remember the incident clearly? Wincing, yes he did. Was his headache generalised or was it only the bruise which hurt? Just the area where his head had glancingly struck the bed. Gently rearranging the peas she assured him that as he didn’t seem to have a concussion there would be no need to take a trip to the hospital.

“But, if you experience any weirdness in the awakeness you have to go to the hospital. Real talk.” Smiling a little at her bizarre mix of formal and informal Korean and English he acquiesced and she looked over at Sunggyu, who also replied in the affirmative that they would take him. 

By now the kettle had boiled so she went over to the kitchen and politely asked Myungsoo if she could “If possible please use the honourable teacup, sir” Using the so-called honourable cup she made sweet tea with the milk, sugar and teabags she had brought in her bag, while Sunggyu watched her from the doorway to the kitchen as he was a little mystified as to why milk-tea counted as first aid.

She then brought this out to Sung Jong. “This is the last of the first aid to help with your blood sugar. I don’t think you have a concussion but if you experience any of the things I asked you about go straight to hospital. Okay?”

“I will. Thank you for tea.” He smiled up at her, colour areayd returning to his cheeks.

“It’ll make you feel better, but take some painkillers as well. I’ll be going now, you should get some rest too.” Getting up she repacked the teabags and milk bottle and Sunggyu walked with her to the door.

“Thank you. We are going to the debt.”

“It’s fine Sunggyu sa- shi. I’m glad it is not worse.”

Opening the door she crossed the corridor and unlocked her own apartment. Turning back, so her long sandy hair swung to the side, she smiled at him. “Good night Sunggyu.” blithely forgetting to add the honorific she took a step back inside and closed the door.

Shaking his head and frowning at her manners he went back inside, thinking that the way she had taken care of Sung Jong was nice. It almost made up for her wearing that terrible fox jumper.

A/N: Hello again! Its's another short chapter I'm afraid. It feels strange to purposely write the dialougue like this but they're at the stage where neither party speak the others language fluently.

Next chapter!!I Inroads in languages are made, Sunggyu grumbles, Hoya thinks he's a mystical creature, Sungyeol thinks he could make a secondary career as a teen romance novelist and Sungjong thinks everyone has lost their mind...

#neverforget