Kyuhyun headed into the company’s cafeteria with one of his managers as they discussed about his upcoming schedules. Regardless of all the heartache that he’d been enduring for the past weeks, he decided to be as professional as possible when it came to work. He always tried to keep his personal problems at the back of his head during schedules or while discussing works, but things didn’t always go as smoothly as he hoped especially when he had to run into a certain someone whose cold eyes instantly caused his heart to feel the stinging pain again just like today. No matter what method he’d tried, Hyerin still stubbornly avoided him only leaving behind the memories of her cold back walking away each time.

This afternoon was different, though. Hyerin knew she would start to draw suspicion from other people soon if she continued to deliberately avoid Kyuhyun like that, so she decided to just greet him as a senior when there were other people around while acting as nonchalantly as possible so that he wouldn’t have any lingering feelings anymore.

“Good afternoon, Kyuhyun-shi. It’s been a while. How are you doing?” Hyerin asked as she came face to face with him on her way out of the cafeteria making Eunjung who was standing beside her heaved a silent tired sigh. Yeah, that’s because you’ve been avoiding him for all this while.

Kyuhyun bit the inside of his lips as he looked straight into Hyerin’s eyes. He wanted so much to shout out to her that he was not in the least fine, and that he was dying, but he couldn’t. Not in a place like this where there are tons of other people around. His eyes trembled as he forced himself to give her a decent reply with a bitter smile.

You ask me if I really don’t feel anything

Or if nothing’s wrong from time to time

Do I really look like nothing is wrong? Do I?

Even now when I look at you my heart hurts

Even if it’s for a moment, I try hard not to let my tears fall

Don’t you know that I’m smiling like a fool?

“I’m fine…”

“Glad to hear that. Then please excuse us.” Before Kyuhyun could utter another word, Hyerin excused herself away with her manager in tow. She couldn’t bear standing there another minute. Her heart was pierced so deep just by being near the one person she knew she couldn’t have.

Kyuhyun didn’t turn to look at Hyerin’s disappearing back this time. It hurt too much having to see her walking away from him time and again. All he could do was to lock his eyes in the direction she was standing earlier, clenching his fist tight.

“Eh? Whose iPod is this?” His manager’s voice brought Kyuhyun back into reality. Looking at the device in the manager’s hand, he recognized it right away.

“It’s Hyerin’s. She must have forgotten it.” He remembered how she always carried the thing around causing him to wonder sometimes what could be in stored in there that she treasured so much.

“Then here. Give it to her when you see her at home.”

“Ok.” Kyuhyun accepted the device into his hand, glad that he finally had a good excuse to talk to her.

……………………………..

Early the next morning Kyuhyun hurried to his musical rehearsal. He didn’t have much to do today, but because of other stars’ schedule, the rehearsal had to be set on such an early Friday morning, much to Kyuhyun’s disappointment as he was hoping to see Hyerin and talk to her as soon as possible. Regardless, he still put his best effort in his work as always telling himself to be a little more patient.

However, as Kyuhyun stood on stage with his eyes closed immersing himself in the role and lost in a world of his own, he faintly heard a ruckus surrounding him and abruptly opened his eyes, confused.

“Kyuhyun-shi, watch out!” He snapped out of his trance, looked at the direction the person was pointing and was struck in horror at the sight of the stage light fixtures collapsing and coming right at him. It happened so fast he didn’t have the time to get away, so all he could do was to duck and cover his head from getting hit, and then everything out.

“Urgh! Careful! He’s hurt….Kyuhyun, hey, talk to me. Are you alright?” Faintly, some voices were sent into his system, and he somehow recognized that one of them belonged to his manager hyung. It seemed like the metals were lifted off of him, but he could still feel a sharp pain on his back right next to his left shoulder as he slightly opened his eyes.

“Thank goodness, he’s come to. Tell me, do you feel your bones broken somewhere?” The manager sighed in relief before asking, afraid that the singer was moved recklessly which would cause more damage to the broken bone if there was any.

Kyuhyun closed his eyes a bit and shook his head slightly. The metals may be quite heavy, but not enough to fracture his bones.

“But my back…” He slowly spoke under his breathe, not wanting to move any of his muscles too much.

“I know. You got cut by a sharp end of the metal. The wound’s pretty big and deep. Let’s get you to the hospital.” Kyuhyun nodded allowing his manager to lift him up with the help of some other people whose faces he didn’t get to see clearly as his consciousness was thinning by the second.

“Hyung, don’t let this leak…” Worrying that the news of this incident would only cause them more headache, Kyuhyun gathered his little remaining energy to speak his last request.

“I know what to do.” And that was the last thing he heard as he fell in unconsciousness again.

………………………………..

Kyuhyun woke up to find himself in a hospital bed. He closed his eyes for a second before opening them up again to examine his surroundings. At his left side was Dr. Hyojin who was checking his IV drops. She smiled gently as she noticed him looking at her.

“Hey.”

“How long have I been out for?”

“About an hour.” Checking the clock on the wall, he realized it was only 9 o’clock in the morning, and so he nodded his head slightly.

“None of your bones is fractured, thankfully.” Taking a seat next to his bed, Hyojin started to explain his conditions. “But you’ve lost quite some blood due to the deep wound on your back. But don’t worry. I’ve stitched it up properly, and all you have to do is to stay out of trouble. That is why although you’re capable of getting out of bed and walking around, I’d like to advise you to stay hospitalized for at least 2 days to make sure you don’t overexert yourself and cause your wound to pop open.”

Kyuhyun nodded in understanding as she finished talking. Although he hated staying in the hospital having had so many histories with the place, he couldn’t think of any excuse to protest against it.

“Ya, you’re awake? You got us worried sick, Kyuhyun-ah.”

“Kangin hyung, why are you here?” Kyuhyun turned to look at Kangin who just walked in carrying so many plastic bags as if he planned to camp in the hospital.

“I was the first manager hyung could reach, so I rushed here. Hyung already went back to settle your schedules for the next few days. Luckily, he made sure nothing leaked out, or you won’t be able to rest in peace like this. I’ve called the others letting them know you’re safe so they can concentrate on their jobs. And Henry just left for his recording a moment ago.” Kyuhyun could only nod at the train of information Kangin was giving him, and before he could say anything in reply his phone rang and Hyojin who was closest to the phone fetched it for him.

“Yeoboseyo, Eunjung-shi?” Kyuhyun answered the phone while looking at his hyung meaning to ask whether Eunjung had already known about him being in the hospital, to which Kangin shook his head.

“Kyuhyun-shi, umm, is it a bad time to talk?” The pause from other line showed a clear hesitation making Kyuhyun felt uneasy all of a sudden.

“No, it’s ok. What’s the problem?”

“Umm, it’s just that…Hyerin drove off to Busan about half an hour ago…”

“She’s driving to Busan? ALONE? But it’s a five hour long drive!” Not waiting for Eunjung to finish, Kyuhyun choked out the questions the moment the information sank in drawing attention from the other two people in the room.

“Yeah, she asked me for 3 days off saying that she wanted to go see her parents in Busan, so I agreed seeing how she seemed exhausted and stressful lately.”

“To see her parents in Busan? But isn’t her hometown in Daejeon?” Kyuhyun started to panic as the conversation went on. None of this seemed right at all. And this time, Hyojin got closer to him as she started to pick up pieces and bits from the one side of conversation that she could hear.

“That’s the point. It kinda slipped through my mind completely when she asked, so I agreed. It’s only a moment ago that I remembered that her parents are actually living in Daejeon. That’s why I’m calling to ask if you know she has a relative of some sort there at Busan. Please tell me that she does. I can’t reach her on the phone at all.” Eunjung herself was also panicking. Her voice hitched as she wished someone could tell her she worried for nothing.

“Does she know anyone in Busan?” Kyuhyun immediately turned to Hyojin and asked her hoping the doctor knew something.

“Not that I know of. At least I know she has no relative there.” Without having to ask who Kyuhyun was referring to, Hyojin understood and quickly answered him, “Though her family does have a small vacation house in Busan which is rarely visited. She used to ask me to bring her there twice before when she didn’t want to deal with life back at home.”

“She may be going to her vacation house to get some fresh air then.” Back on the phone, Kyuhyun informed Eunjung of the house so that she wouldn’t be so worried, although he himself couldn’t get this anxiety out of his head.

“But then she’s gonna be alone for the whole weekend. I thought she was gonna be with her parents when I let her go, but, but…and here she forgot all of her medicine, too. She’s been overexerting herself lately she couldn’t even sleep and eat properly, and, and –”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that she’s fine.”  Inhaling, Kyuhyun decided on the one thing that would cut both Eunjung’s and his own worries altogether.

“Yes?” Confused Eunjung asked what he could possibly mean, while the two onlookers in the hospital room were furrowing their brows, starting to feel uneasy at what he had decided on.

“And how do you plan to do that, Mister?” Kangin asked for clarification, and Kyuhyun replied to them both in and outside the phone call.

“I’m gonna go after her. Please rest assured, Eunjung-shi.”

“Is it ok to bother you like that?” Not knowing about Kyuhyun’s state right now, Eunjung started to feel relieved.

“It’s not a bother. I, myself, am worried about her, too. I’ll let you know when I get to her. Bye.” Hanging up, Kyuhyun turned to face the stern look of his hyung and the worried look of the doctor. No matter what they were going to say would not stop him, Kyuhyun moved to get out of bed without a word.

“Do you think I’m gonna let you go like this? What did the doctor tell you? Didn’t she say not to overexert yourself?”

“But I’m not gonna do anything, hyung. I’m gonna just drive there, find her, and make sure that she’s fine. That’s it.”

“You, yourself, are not fine. How do you suppose to look after another person?”

“It’s not that serious, and Hyojin-shi did a good job stitching it up. What’s there to worry?”

“But Kyuhyun-shi –”

“Please, Hyojin-shi. You’re worried, too, aren’t you? Then you should know that there’s no way I can lie here in this bed quietly with all these worries building up inside my head. I’m gonna go crazy within 2 hours’ time at most. So please, let me go.”

“Fine. But you have to promise not to do anything reckless.” After a long moment of thoughts, Hyojin let out a defeated sigh as she agreed, “And if anything happens, get to the closest hospital in Busan as soon as possible –”

“What?” Exclaimed Kangin, not expecting the doctor to give her consent.

“Can you promise me that, Kyuhyun-shi?”

“Ok.”

“Hey. You can’t just let him go like this!” Kangin still protested, but Kyuhyun was already out of bed and grabbed his clothes to change, and Hyojin left to sort out the paper work for his discharge.

As Kyuhyun was good and ready to go, Hyojin still couldn’t help having this uncomfortable feeling when she sent him off, so she reminded him one last time.

“Please remember this, Kyuhyun-shi, while I’m worried about Hyerin, I am also worried about you just as much since you’re my patient. I will be held responsible for anything that will happen to you during this trip, so don’t you ever do anything against your better judgment.”

“Please don’t forget to text me the address of that vacation house.” Kyuhyun nodded as a reply before reminding her not to forget about the address.

“Wait up. I don’t trust you to stay out of trouble going there alone. I’m driving you.” Knowing he couldn’t stop his dongsaeng, Kangin decided the only thing he could do to ease his mind was to tag along with him, to which Kyuhyun thought for a moment before agreeing knowing his hyung wouldn’t let him off easily, anyway.

“Let’s pop in at the dorm and change first, hyung. I don’t want her to freak out seeing my blood stained clothes.”

“Isn’t that good. That way you can be reminded that you’re an injured person, magnae.” Kangin spoke half-jokingly, but still headed toward the dorm. It would be too troublesome if he was spot in that state.

…………………………………..

Hyerin tried to concentrate on the road as her stomach started to hurt again. She had to slow down as she searched for her medicine only to realized that it was nowhere in her bag. She slapped her forehead hard, blaming herself for being so forgetful. And here she was in the middle of nowhere, too. There was no way she could find a pharmacy or clinic around here. Now she couldn’t help but regretted having skipped breakfast. Driving a little longer, Hyerin was glad she has reached a rest stop. It was almost lunch time, too. At least, she could stuff her stomach with food so it wouldn’t hurt too much although the pain wouldn’t go away completely.

Kangin was driving in a considerably fast speed the minute they were out of town, and Kyuhyun decided to take the time to rest. He was glad when they got to an empty dorm earlier, or else he would be held down to his bed or the car would be packed right now.

“Kyuhyun-ah, d’you want me to pull over at this rest stop, too?” Kyuhyun opened his eyes to see that they have really reached another rest stop. He was about to complain how they just stopped to have brunch at the previous one, but then his eyes widened at what he saw out the window.

“Hyung, I’m a little thirsty. Can you get a bottle of water for me?”

“Ok. Wait here. I’ll be right back.” As Kangin got out of the car and finally out of sight, Kyuhyun hurried off the car and run toward the other car which was about to move out of the parking lot.

Kyuhyun knocked on the car’s window surprising Hyerin who had to hit the brake immediately.

“Kyuhyun-shi? Why are you here?”

“Let me in.”

“Wha-? No!”

“Kyuhyun oppa? Isn’t that Kyuhyun oppa?” On the far end of the parking lot some girls noticed Kyuhyun and started to get close to make sure.

“Unlock the door now, or they’re gonna mob me. Quick!” Not having another choice, Hyerin let him in and immediately drove out of the place. Luckily, they were too far to see who was driving the car or recognize whose car it was.

“Phew! That was close.” Kyuhyun heaved a sigh of relief as the gi