Chapter 6 – A Peaceful Day

“Is there anything we can do to lock his soul back to his body?”

Dongwan’s eyes scanned through pages of the book in front of him, looking serious. “Hmmmm…”

“This is a very rare case, I don’t think there’s even a record about it.” Hyesung pouted.

“Right you are, Hyung.” Andy spoke, sliding his finger over his smartphone’s screen. “No record about it.”

“No luck here, too.” Dongwan lift his head, closing the book.

The Shinhwa members sighed at once.

“Then all we can do is waiting for you to be normal again, somehow?”

“That Jungmo old guy said so.”

“But.” Minwoo looked concerned as he looked at Hyesung. “What if he lied? What if you will never—ever—be normal again?”

“Ey… Hyung, like he doesn’t have enough things to worry about already!” Junjin slapped Minwoo’s shoulder and the latter flinched.

“It’s a what if!”

Junjin retorted and soon he and Minwoo were involved in an argument, with Andy and Dongwan tried to calm both parties. Eric took a glance at Hyesung, the Little Prince was clearly worried, he his lower lip repeatedly, fingers played with his hair. Eric moved closer to Hyesung.

“You okay?”

Hyesung lifted his head, his eyes matched Eric’s, and there was a flash of fear in it.

“Minwoo’s right… What if Jungmo lied to me? What if I’ll never be back to normal again? Eric-ah…”

“You shouldn’t lose your composure, Hyesung-ah.”

Hyesung was stunned at how firm Eric’s voice was.

“You won’t be alone, I will be with you, we will. We will go through this together, okay?”

Hyesung’s lips quivered, but his eyes were widened as he nodded shakily.

Eric smiled reassuringly. “Beside, look on the bright side, you can travel anywhere you want, free of charge.”

The Little Prince replied the smile. “Yeah… Right…”

The smile calmed Eric’s heart.

“Eric-ah…”

“Yes, Hyesungie?”

“If… If I really can’t get back to normal anymore—and it’s an ‘if’.” Hyesung stressed, seeing Eric was ready to protest. “I… I will…”

Hyesung hesitated and Eric was waiting. The Little Prince bit his lower lip one last time before lifting his head, looked into Eric’s eyes.

“I will have to—”

“Geez it’s almost one pm! That’s why I’m hungry! Hyung let’s buy something for lunch!”

Eric and Hyesung were both jumped when Junjin suddenly grabbed Hyesung’s arm and pulled him standing. “Let’s go, let’s go.”

Eric stared at complaining Hyesung who was being dragged outside by Junjin.

“You will have to… what?”

“But why exactly they lost their memory when they’re getting inside your body?”

Hyesung and Junjin were walking slowly, each of them carrying a paper bag filled with foods and Junjin was questioning the AP related things to his Hyung.

“Er… How to say…” Hyesung thought for a moment. “Ah… You know, Jin-ah, when you’re connecting your phone to other PC aside of the one you use first to sync it, the PC won’t be able to read the data, will it?”

“Uh… Yeah…”

“It’s the same. Let’s say our soul is the phone, and our body is the PC. Our soul is synchronizing with our own body, when another soul enter my body, they can’t access my data, my memory that is, but they can’t access theirs either since my body doesn’t have any memory about them, got it?”

Junjin’s mouth formed an ‘o’. “But then why they got back their memory when their name is called?”

“That’s… Uh… What did he say…” Hyesung scratched his head. “When their names are called, it triggered the ‘memory transfer’ and my body automatically ‘downloads’ their data and synchronizes with it. So they got back their memory, who they are, what are they doing, etc.”

“You know, Hyung.” Junjin said after registering the information for a while. “This supposed to be a supernatural occurrence, right? But why did your explanation make it look almost scientific?”

Hyesung shrugged. “That Jungmo old guy told me that way, maybe he thought I’d understand easier.”

“Listen, listen.” Junjin beamed with smile. “After this all over, you should write a book, Hyung. It’s gonna be a hit.”

Hyesung smiled. “Maybe I will.”

Junjin eyed Hyesung carefully. “Hyung.”

“Eung?”

“Aren’t you... afraid?”

Hyesung stared at Junjin. Was this kid crazy or what? Of course he was afraid!

“But you look calm.” Junjin added, answering the killing stare Hyesung gave him. “Rather calm.”

Hyesung stunned. He? Looked calm?

“I mean, I’ve known you for years, and I thought you’ll get panic.”

And a smile blossomed in Hyesung’s lips. “Well… Maybe that’s because I know I can rely on others.”

Junjin raised an eyebrow, wanting to say something but a screech interrupted him. Junjin diverted his eyes from his hyung and looked to the left, where a car approached them in intolerable high speed. Hyesung’s eyes widened when the metal box slid right into his direction. In a millisecond his brain shouted his body to move, but his body had turned into rock, and Hyesung closed his eyes resignedly, waiting for the crash.

But Hyesung felt a grip on his wrist, followed by a yank that got him out of the way, saving him from being ran over by the incontrollable car. There was a loud crash and shrieks when the car turned over in the road and stopped by the railroad, completely wrecked.

Shocked, Junjin lifted his head up and saw people swarmed to their direction, shouted for an ambulance. Junjin exhaled, still trying to register what happened and convincing himself that he was okay. Then, he looked down to the man he had saved. . Junjin cursed. Not even a single peaceful day.

“Hyung?”

Hyesung’s eyes were shut and he didn’t move, possibly fainted. Junjin shook Hyesung lightly. “Hyung.”

Hyesung grunted, and Junjin sighed.

“Are you okay?”

Hyesung grunted again, trying to get up. Junjin helped him to sit. Hyesung blinked, still looked lost. Nearby, people were trying to rescue someone who’d trapped inside the car while some detained the driver to crawl back inside. The driver was crying and shouting a name repeatedly.

“Where… Is this?” the older asked, stunning Junjin. Junjin scrutinized the man who was supposed to be his hyung, who was now looking around in a blank expression in his face until their eyes met.

“Who are you?” both of them queried in unison.

Damn. Junjin cursed again. Why is this happening now? What am I supposed to do?

“Uh… You’re… My brother.” He said. “You’re kinda sick, you’re not supposed to be outside. Hyung, let’s go home. Come on.” Junjin took Hyesung’s hand with his and pulled him away. Eric would know how to deal with this.

“She’s alive!”

The shout made Hyesung halted his steps and turned his head to the wrecked car. Junjin saw some men were carrying a woman whose skin looked so pale, blood stained her outfit, and laying her in the road. Her face was blocked by a man who was busy talking with his phone, trying to explain the situation.

“I need to go there.”

“Huh?”

Before Junjin could react, Hyesung had already freed himself from his grip and quickly walked toward the unconscious woman.

“Hyung! Wait!”

Hyesung didn’t stop and just kept walking until he reached the small crowd surrounding the girl. Junjin joined him and grabbed his hand. “Hyung, really, we don’t have a time for this, we have to—”

“What is this?” Hyesung whispered, frightened, eyes locked to the girl’s face. Junjin followed Hyesung’s stare and looked at the girl’s beautiful and pale face. “What… What do you mean by ‘what’…?” he questioned, having no idea what Hyesung was talking about.

“That’s… That’s me.” Hyesung pointed his finger to the girl. “That’s me… But then if that’s me…” he touched his cheek, nose and hand. “Who… Who am I?”

Junjin frowned, looking back and forth between Hyesung and the girl. The girl was alive, very pale but alive, but her soul entered Hyesung’s body? How it could be?

“Wait.” Suddenly Hyesung blinked, looking at Junjin sternly. “Aren’t you Shinhwa’s Junjin?”

Ok, first thing first. Junjin sighed. He approached the man who talked on the phone earlier and asked. “Excuse me, Sir, is the ambulance on its way here?”

The man nodded vigorously. “It’s dispatched from the hospital near here so it should be here in a minute.”

“Great.” Junjin excused himself and then went back to Hyesung, finding him trying to console the shocked driver while saying. “Uncle, it’s fine, I’m fine, I’ll be fine.” Earning a puzzled stare from the driver.

“Come on.” Junjin gritted his teeth and dragged Hyesung away from the driver. “Now, please, get out from my hyung’s body, will you?”

Hyesung frowned. “Your hyung…?” and at that time they walked passed a store display and Hyesung’s eyes widened seeing his reflection. “I AM SHIN HYESUNG?!” he shouted.

“Sssst!” Junjin covered his mouth resignedly.

“But… But… Wait, all this time I thought I’m Choi Minji and apparently I’m Shin Hyesung?!” Hyesung was excited, pulling Junjin’s hand over his mouth.

“No you’re not!” Junjin hushed. “You’re in my hyung’s body by accident. You are not supposed to be there. You’re Choi Minji like you said, so please get back to your body and give me my Hyung back.”

Hyesung eyes sparked. “I don’t want to.” He said. “No, if I go back there I’ll be dead really soon anyway, I want to live a lil bit longer, now that I have this body.”

“What?” Junjin was stunned by the words.

“Whoa… I’m Shin Hyesung, the Little Prince of Shinhwa…” Hyesung looked like a little girl as he clapped his hands and giggled in very feminine way. Junjin rubbed his forehead, he needed his hyungs.

“Oh, by the way Oppa.” Junjin shivered at the mention of the word ‘oppa’. “Can we see other Shinhwa members? Can we?”

Hyesung was grinning so widely in front of him, and Junjin sighed in defeat.

He really couldn’t handle this.

Everyone shuddered when they looked at the look in Eric face as Hyesung hugged him and then freaked out. “OMG what to do, I freakin hug him. I just hugged Eric Mun. Kyaaah~!”

Again, everyone sweat dropped.

“Everyone, she’s Choi Minji.” Junjin said. “She accidentally entered Hyesung-hyung’s body after a car crash… And here she is.”

“Where’s Hyesung?” Dongwan asked concernedly while Hyesung walked around the apartment admiring every room and every single thing there was.

“He’s supposed to be around here, right?” Minwoo looked around. “From what he said, this one entered his body without his consent so he’ll stay close to his body to force her out of it?”

“True that.” Andy took a glance at Hyesung, who was bombarding Eric with questions, and then turned to Junjin. “Not only you don’t bring any food with you, but you also brought back a Shinhwa Changjo inside Hyesung-hyung’s body. Really, Jin-ah.”

“It’s not my fault.” Junjin pouted to the maknae. “Hyesung-hyung is a magnet for every moving thing. You should thank me I saved him right on time or I might be bringing you a Hyesung-sandwich.”

“Don’t say that!” Dongwan smacked Junjin’s head.

“Ow, Hyung!”

Minwoo took a glance again at Hyesung and chuckled. “Somebody needs to save Eric.”

The four looked at Eric who seemed ready to explode while Hyesung was chattering noisily beside him. Knowing that Eric was at his wit’s end, the Shinwa members went to Hyesung and dragged him away from the poor Leader who sighed thankfully.

“Come, Minji-sshi, why don’t you sit with us? Are you hungry? I will cook you something.” Andy said sweetly, to what Hyesung responded. “Aw… You’re so nice, Andy-oppa, you’re exactly like what I thought you are.”

Andy smiled and went to the kitchen.

“Minji-sshi you’re not underage, right, you wanna drink?” Dongwan took a can of beer from the fridge.

Hyesung shook his head. “I’m 28 this year. Thank you, Dongwan-oppa.”

“Don’t you think you need to go back to your body, Minji-sshi?” Dongwan opened the can and gave it to Hyesung. “Your parents must be worrying about you a lot after the accident.”

Hyesung took a sip of beer and shrugged. “Won’t. They are actually questioning when I will be dead, since I’ve survived long enough.”

It took everyone’s attention, and Junjin, recalling the previous words, asked seriously. “Now it’s the second time you talk about death. What’s happened with you actually, Minji-sshi?”

Hyesung sighed. “I’ve been on my sickbed ever since I was born. I’m too weak to have outdoor activity, I didn’t go to school, and my parents work their off to pay for all those expensive equipment I have in my room.” He smirked. “Uncle Kang was on his way to take me to hospital because I had collapsed at home, he was worrying about me a lot, that kind Uncle. Then the accident happened.”

“I thought I’ve dead when I saw my body lying on the sidewalk but then I found out that I’ve entered Shin Hyesung’s body uwaaaah!” she suddenly jumped in excitement. “You know, now that I’m healthy I can run around, take a walk outside, I even can go to your concert—no, I can do the concert by myself. Isn’t it wonderful?”

The Shinhwa members stared at each other, didn’t really know what to do or say. Indeed, Minji’s life had been awful, but they wanted Hyesung to be back, too.

“Minji-sshi here, eat this.”

Everyone turned their head to see Andy who was back from the kitchen with a bowl of hot ramyun.

“Hyesung-hyung and Junjin were supposed to go out buying something to eat but since a lot happened now we only have this.” The maknae smiled supposedly sincerely, but the Hyungs sensed something evil from the smile.

“Thank you, Andy-oppa.” Hyesung grinned and took the bowl. “I haven’t tried instant ramyun even once in my life before.” And he slurped the noodles deliciously. “Wow, it’s great! I don’t know an instant noodle is so great.”

Andy’s smile didn’t falter as he watched Hyesung emptied the bowl in a flash.

“Thank you for the food!” Hyesung put down the bowl. “Ah, life really couldn’t get better, eating delicious food made by the member of a group I love surrounded by my biases, and…” Hyesung head turned to Eric’s direction again. “Eric-oppa!”

Eric jumped in time to avoid Hyesung’s hug. Quickly he ran into a nearby room and locked himself there before Hyesung could reach the door.

“Eric-oppa, yah!” the slender man knocked the door impatiently. “Why are you so cold? I know you’re kinda uncomfortable with woman but ain’t I Shin Hyesung you like a lot? So what’s the problem?”

“Problem is Hyesung-hyung will never, ever, act like that to Eric-hyung, not even when he’s really drunk.” Andy murmured.

“Agree.” Everyone said altogether.

“Tch, so annoying.” Hyesung sat down. “Wait… Why’s suddenly so shaky here? Uh… My eyes…”

The Shinhwa members watched in amazement as Hyesung swayed and fell into the couch with a light thump.

“Now the sleeping pills work.”

Everyone shot their glare to Andy.

“What? I have sleeping problem and all we need to bring Hyesung-hyung back is by putting him to sleep, right?”

“Nevertheless, thank you, Andy-ya.” Junjin patted Andy’s shoulder. “Eric-hyung you can go outside now, it’s over.”

The door clicked open and Eric’s head popped out. “It’s over?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Eric shuddered and approached s who were standing in circle with sleeping-Hyesung as the center.

“I don’t get that one. The girl’s not even dead, how could the soul switching happen?” Minwoo asked to no one in particular.

“Maybe it’s because she’s almost dead, too?” Dongwan suggested. “You know, there’s this saying about when we’re about to die, our soul will have our last moments completely detached to our body, isn’t that what happened here?”

“Must be , 28 years living like that.” Junjin murmured. “To be honest I sympathize to her… If there’s a way we could help her.”

“But we don’t even know if she’s telling the truth. What if she lied to us just to win our sympathy and then steal Hyesung’s body?” Minwoo frowned.

Junjin frowned too. “Well… That’s possible, too. But when I see her after the accident, really… I think she’s at least being honest about her illness part. I thought she’s dead by then. She looks so pale and unwell.”

“But I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, why does this man keep attracting those poor souls of women with health problem? First Yoori, then this one…”

“…too long.” Eric suddenly spoke. The others looked at him.

“He’s been unconscious for too long. He only needed seconds to re-renter his body. Why doesn’t he wake up?” Eric looked around. “Jung Pilgyo.”

Hyesung was still sleeping. His chest rose up and down.

“Maybe it’s the effect of sleeping pills?” Andy tried to calm the Leader. “Why don’t we give him sometime to sleep, Hyung? We will wake him up…” he took a glance at his watch. “…in half an hour.”

And that was the longest half an hour Eric ever had in his entire life. Andy suggested ordering a delivery from Chinese restaurant nearby and everyone agreed. They chattered about the new album preview while waiting for their delivery to come but everyone could see clearly that Eric wasn’t focus since he kept glancing towards Hyesung’s direction every now and then, sometimes whispering something inaudible to himself while looking anxious.

“Eric-ah, please, Hyesung is going to be fine.” Dongwan said, eyeing the Leader.

“Yeah, Hyung, he’s gone through more than 35 years in his life sleeping alone without supervision and he’s still alive til now.”

“But not when his silver chord is weakened and there’s a soul who wants to take over his body.” Eric got up and walked back and forth. “Dongwan-ah you love this kind of things so much, tell me, is there really anything we can’t do to prevent this out of body experience?”

Dongwan hesitated. “Well…”

But then the Little Prince mumbled, interrupting him. Eric quickly kneeled beside him.

“Hyesung-ah?”

“My head hurts.” Hyesung muttered, rolled his body to the side. “My head feels so heavy… Aish… What happened…”

“I’ll make you a cup of hot tea.” Minwoo said, disappearing to the kitchen.

“What’shappened? Where have you been?” Eric asked concernedly.

“Talking.” Hyesung said, getting up to a sitting position in the couch.

“With Minji?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

Hyesung facepalmed, still looked drowsy. “Everything’s okay now.”

“What did she want?”

“To have my body… “ Hyesung shuddered.

Minwoo was back with a cup of warm tea. “Here, Hyesungie, you’ll feel refreshed.”

Hyesung took a sip of the tea. “Thank you, Minwoo-ya.” He looked around. “Oh, Eric-ah, I have something to tell you, can we speak… er… somewhere else?”

Eric hesitated.  “Well… Okay.”

The other members exchanged glance when Eric followed Hyesung silently outside their apartment.

“Let’s go to the nearby park.” Hyesung said calmly, hands in his pocket. Both of them walked in silent for a while, Hyesung looked busy thinking while Eric tried to guess what his companion wanted to talk about.

“So what is it, that you want to talk about?” Eric asked after they arrived in the park. “Something you can’t say in front of the members?”

Hyesung chuckled. “Actually it’s about us…” he turned his head to see Eric, smiling delightedly. “Eric-ah… You like me, right?”

Eric was stunned.

“See, I’m right.” Hyesung chuckled again.

“No.” Eric stated clearly. “No I don’t like you, Minji.”

Hyesung’s chuckles stop abruptly as he looked at Eric again, and then he made a face. “What… You know?”

“Of course. I’ve been together with him for more than fifteen years. Why wouldn’t I know if you’re not him?”

Hyesung kicked a feeble nearby.

“I need you to get out from Hyesung’s body immediately, Minji-sshi.”

“Easy. He allows me to use it.” Hyesung said nonchalantly. “And I mean it, that’s why I re-entered, because he allowed me… Term and condition applied.” He added grudgingly.

Eric brows furrowed.

“He told me not to bother you.” Hyesung answered, and then added again in much lower voice. “Worrying about his precious Eric… But that aside.” He grinned, facing Eric. “Why didn’t you run away from me now?”

“I won’t run away from you if you stay calm and collected like this. I respect all Shinhwa Changjo.” Eric explained. “So, what can I do to help you? You’re not going to stay inside his body forever, right? You know you can’t do that.”

“I know that.” Hyesung said peevishly. “He’s been telling me that hundred times, so I just made this one simple request before I go back to my body, I ask for a date with you.”

Eric blinked, did he hear it right?

“A date?”

“Yeah. A short date with you, my number one bias of Shinhwa.” Hyesung repeated, grinning again from ear to ear. Then, looking at anxious expression Eric had, he added hastily. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything strange, Hyesung-oppa will kill me if I do.”

“But it’s weird… Really.” Hyesung chuckled when they walked together in the park. “Seeing the broadcasts… You look like someone who really talks a lot and very noisy whenever you’re with other members… But now you almost don’t talk at all… Why is it?”

Eric shrugged.

“Must be because of Shin Hyesung, right?”

Eric kept his poker face when he stared at Hyesung. “What do you mean?”

“Aw… Come on, I’m a RicSyung shipper.” Hyesung snorted. “28 years on bed made me able to read people very very well, and if I may say, Oppa, all those stare and gesture you make whenever you come in contact with him… Even in broadcast…”

Eric felt his face was burning. Geez, he’s been that obvious?

“Surprised much?” Hyesung giggled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Hyesung-oppa, he’s so dense he’d need a thousand year to realize your feeling.”

Eric decided to keep silence.

“But that Shin Hyesung.” Hyesung made tsking noise. “How could he be so blind about your feeling? Who wouldn’t want to have this kind of perfect man as a boyfriend?” he gestured with his hand and even though Eric knew it was Minji, he felt a little bit happy hearing that compliment came out from Hyesung’s mouth. “How long you’ve been in love with him?” asked the slender man again.

Eric blinked. Just how long he had been in love with Hyesung? It felt like forever, Eric decided. He didn’t even remember when was it started, he just realized that suddenly Hyesung was the center of his world and everything revolved around him.

Hyesung shook his head sympathetically. “And all this time he’s the only one who can’t see it. Sad.”

“Why are we talking about nonsense? Aren’t we supposed to go on a date?” Eric said reluctantly, he really didn’t want to talk about his deepest secret with Hyesung—even though he wasn’t himself.

“Yes, the date!” Hyesung’s face turned bright and he quickly entangled his arm with Eric’s, making the latter held his breath. “So what are we gonna do? I want to go to amusement park, but we don’t have enough time for that… But I’ll always be able to go there in the next world, without you but still…”

Eric stared at Hyesung. “What makes you give up on living?”

“I told you, I have nothing left for me here anyway. I have no friends except uncle Kang, my parents don’t care about me, they are out for most of the time. I can do nothing except walking back and forth in my house, I can’t event go outside, they said I’ll catch a cold. The only good thing is I can stay at my room for hours writing or rewatching Shinhwa Broadcast, or being online in the internet.”

“You write?” Erick asked.

“A lot.” Hyesung smiled widely. “I wrote about a lot of things, but mostly fanfictions, about you and Hyesung.”

“Fanfict—those crazy fictional stories?”

“Depends on how you define ‘crazy’.” Hyesung shrugged. “My fellow ShinChangs on AFF found my stories rather good actually, and some of them encouraged me to publish my own book.”

Hyesung looked happy when he said that.

“…why are you staring?”

“You said you have nothing left.” Eric mumbled. “But you need to see your face when you were talking about writing.”

Hyesung frowned. “What’s the point… Writing book and those all… If eventually I’ll be dead, alone.” He said bitterly.

“But aren’t you happy doing all that?” Eric asked.

“I am, but…”

“Then maybe the point is to make you live a happy life even though it’s temporary?” the older man suggested. “If we’re going to die eventually… Isn’t it better to welcome death after living your life happily without regret?”

Hyesung was silent for seconds before muttering. “That goes for you, too.”

“I’m not the one who’s going to die soon.”

Hyesung’s eyes widened. “You didn’t talk a lot but once you did you say really mean things!”

Eric shrugged. “I just said the truth. The reason of your unhappiness was because you chose to be unhappy while you have everything you need.”

“You can’t be happy… alone…” Hyesung said stubbornly, his face was dark. “And… The only one who will be unhappy with my departure is Uncle Kang. This world will lose no one important.”

Eric gritted his teeth. “You’re so…”

He took out his cell from his jeans pocket and made a call. “Jin-ah, the hospital she’s been taken to… Where is it? …Okay.” He hung up the call and grabbed Hyesung’s hand, pulling him.

“What… Where are we going?” Hyesung looked startled.

Eric motioned his hand and a cab stopped before them. He dragged Hyesung in and asked the driver to go the the hospital.

“Wait, Oppa, why are we here… I’m not done yet with our date.” Hyesung protested when they got into the hospital lobby and Eric asked the petrified receptionist about Minji’s room.

“We can continue the date later after you realized you’ve done wrong to yourself all this time.” Eric said sternly, kept dragging him to the said room, where a small crowd already stood in front of the entrance.

“That… I don’t want to see…” Hyesung protested again, but then a mournful wail stopped him.

“Noo…” the woman cried, losing all her power to stand. “Noooo… Minji-ya… Noooo!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” The driver, Uncle Kang, kneeled down and bumped his head to the floor repeatedly, crying a river. “It’s because of me that she’s been like this, I deserve to die, I deserve to die in her place.”

A man, looked like Minji’s father, tried to stop Uncle Kang while supporting his weak wife. “No, Uncle Kang, it’s not your fault, you were just trying to help her… She might be dead by now if you didn’t… Don’t blame yourself.”

 “She’s going to die, she’s going to die!” Minji’s mom sobbed uncontrollably. “And we were never by her side all this time, Honey, what should we do? She would never know how much we love her…”

“She knows! Of course she knows!” The dad tried to stay strong, albeit his voice wavered. “She will understand that we were trying to keep her alive all this time, of course she will understand that. She’s a good kid…”

“Why are… They… Crying?” Hyesung said weakly. “They’ve been away… They don’t care about me… They aren’t supposed to cry over my almost dead body…”

“Are you just plain stupid or what?” Eric hissed. “Don’t you hear what your dad said? They didn’t want to be away from you but they have to, because they wanted to keep you alive.”

“No… They’re… Not…”

“I think it’s here…”

Eric startled as a small group of girl walked hastily passed him and Hyesung.

“Excuse me… Are… Are you… Minji’s…?”

Minji’s mom nodded weakly and the girls burst into tears.

“Minji-unnie… How’s Minji-unnie doing?”

“I really hoped it’s a lie… When I got the news from Uncle Kang…”

“Unnie has to wake up… She still have to finish that story…”

“What are you talking about now, Babo!”

“Whatever, I want Unnie to wake up!”

Eric looked at Hyesung, whose jaw dropped open in amazement. “Your readers?”

“I never know that… She’s my neighbor… But the other two… I don’t…” he stuttered, then looked back at Eric. “My neighbor is… my reader?”

“And you said you have nothing left.” Eric patted Hyesung’s shoulder.

Tears glistened on Hyesung’s face. “Oppa… Did I… choose to be unhappy as you said…?”

“Got it now?”

Hyesung was now sobbing. “I want to wake up. I want to write more. I want to tell my mom and dad that I understand. I want to live my life to the fullest.”

Right after he finished the sentence, Hyesung’s body jerked and a soul floated before Eric.

“Oppa, I never know you can be so mean, so cruel to your fans.” She smiled. “And yet so true. Thank you.” She approached Eric, trying to peck him but Eric stepped backward out of reflex.

Minji giggled. “Well… Being loyal to Hyesung-oppa? I’m so gonna write about this later when I wake up. ”

She winked and floated inside the room. Eric froze for a while, and then quickly took Hyesung on his arms. “Jung Pilgyo, wake up.”

Hyesung’s eyes fluttered open. “…Eric?”

“Welcome back.”

Hyesung’s cheeks tinted pink as he tried to free himself from Eric’s embrace. “How… How… Is… She?”

“Well…” Eric diverted his stare to the door which flew open, a doctor got out with a smile on his lips.

“She’s okay, we only need to wait until she regains her consciousness.”

Cry of joy echoed in the corridor. Eric helped Hyesung to get up, watching the happy-looking crowd that shared hug with one another.

“At least now she knows how to be grateful for her life.” Eric commented before gesturing to Hyesung to make their way out from the hospital.

“Where have you been this time?” Eric asked Hyesung quietly when they were walking side by side.

For some reason, Hyesung turned red again. “…some places.” He answered shortly.

Eric raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Eric.”

“Yes?”

Eric halted his steps when he realized Hyesung had stopped walking. He turned and looked at the Little Prince who suddenly looked so nervous; he was biting his lower lip.

“If I really can’t go back to normal again… And it’s an ‘if’…”

Eric was reminded to their interrupted conversation earlier that noon. “Yes…?”

Hyesung turned even redder as he continued. “I will… I will have to… count on you… To call my name...”

A warm feeling suddenly gushed inside Eric. He approached the Little Prince, chuckling lightly to the scene of clearly embarrassed Hyesung. Eric knew how much Hyesung hated to look dependent, on him, on top of that. Smiling, he ruffled Hyesung’s hair.

“Of course, you can count on me, anytime.”

=tbc=

A.N : Hello, it's me again. ^^ I hope you didn't forget about me. I lost access to my account long time ago and I've just found out how to solve the problem so I decided that it's a good time to post an update since I've been neglecting this fic for almost a year. I'm so sorry and thank you for your patient. I hope you'll stay with me until the end. Regarding the drama, we already shot the pilot episode, but the production was delayed because of one and other circumstances which made me really sad. T___T I have the copy of the pilot episode with me, but I don't know if it's okay to upload it because... well.. it's unaired. Btw, I recently re-watched ShinBang and feels the urge to update my Shinhwa Broadcast drabbles as well... I'll find time to write it. Kekeke. Again, thank you for your wait, and any comments are welcomed. <3

Aya