chapter six ; 
              troublesome

By nine in the morning, Leo woke up.

By nine twenty, Leo was preparing his own breakfast.

By nine twenty-four, he dialed Hakyeon's number.

By nine twenty-nine, he was eating breakfast.

By nine forty, he saw Minhwa's painted portrait he had made himself back then.

By nine forty-three, he punched the wall.

By nine forty-five, his knuckles bled.

By nine fifty, Hakyeon came darting out of the door, screaming.

By seven fifty-two, Hakyeon swatted the blade Leo held on his bleeding left hand.

"What were you thinking?! Have you really lost all your sanity? Can you please calm down and breathe? Calm down and bring yourself back together, Jung Leo!" Hakyeon was shouting with all he's got, his eyes rimmed with tears of worry and fury as he grabbed Leo by the wrist. "Jung Leo, get yourself back to reality! Pain won't do anything to change whatever's bothering you! You just have to man up and face everything bravely–"

"You." Leo barely mumbles as he faces Hakyeon with sad eyes. "You... what do you know about me?"

Hakyeon felt something in him snap before he tightens his grip on Leo's shirt, glaring at him furiously. "Me? I might not know anything or much about you, Leo, but one thing am I sure of! You shouldn't hurt yourself and run around trying to kill yourself because you won't die. Ever!"

Seeing Leo crash into a horrible mess, Hakyeon returned to his sensed and realized what he had just done. "No– wait. I'm sorry, I was just– Leo. No, don't cry, I didn't mean to–"

Hakyeon made no sense, to be frank. He, himself, didn't even know what he was blabbering about anymore. He was panicking too much upon seeing tears roll down Leo's cheeks. Soon enough, Hakyeon noticed the blood dripping down from Leo's bruised knuckles. He looked up and the same blood was staining a small portion of the wall. Hurriedly, he grabbed a clean cloth silently placed on the side of Leo's bed and dipped it in cold water. Carefully, he cleaned Leo's wound and wrapped his wounded hand with a good amount of bandage.  

After a few calming sessions, Leo eventually returns to sanity. He had managed to snap out of his breakdowns and all. "Are you okay now?" he hears Hakyeon ask. Slowly, he nods his head. "Does... it hurt?"

"Not really." Leo answers. "It's gone numb now."

Leo slowly lifts his head once again, only to make contact with those worry-filled eyes of Hakyeon's. Seconds later, he lets his head fall again while he mumbles a nearly inaudilbe "sorry" to the dead-worried Hakyeon. "You really need some help as soon as possible, Leo." Hakyeon pouts before he tries to eye the other's eyes. 

"Like I'd die if I don't get one." Leo chuckles softly.

"Just try and let the thought fly off your mind, okay?" Hakyeon says as he stands up and heads to the kitchen. "I'm staying here with you until I am assured . I'll just go borrow a few clothes."

"Why?" Leo asks, refusing to stand up and follow the other.

"Well, you wouldn't want to see me running around in your house, would you?"

"No."

"Exactly."

"Leo!" Hakyeon calls out from the kitchen, a plate full of his homemade fried rice on his hand. Noticing that no one was coming downstairs, he calls out again, his voice louder this time. Again, no one responds nor comes down. "Jung Leo!" he shouts. "Lunch's ready! Get down here before the food cools down!"

No response.

"I swear, this guy–!"  Hakyeon hisses, placing the plate of rice down on the dining table. Still wearing Leo's black apron, he storms upstairs, towards the other's bedroom. Because of his constant visits since college days, he had rather memorized Leo's residence and he could be a hundred percent sure that he would locate this and that with his eyes blindfolded. Upon reaching the door, he holds back and knocks gently. When no one answers, he didn't hesitate to turn the knob around.

But finding an empty room with no Leo there got him panicking.

And add the open path towards the terrace. 

"Oh, heck no... he didn't just run away before lunch!" Hakyeon growls before he unties the apron and runs out of the house.

All he could hear was the sound of cars going to and fro the road.

Those soft chirps of birds were seemingly overlapped by people chatting about random topics. Sometimes, he'd get clouded by the continuous taps of feet of random strangers. 

How on earth could Leo even find that "rest" and "peace" if everything around him is like a commotion over some small things? No matter how much he tried to close his eyes, his ears would get attacked by loud noises. 

Where on earth could he find some peace? 

"Stupid, stupid world." he mentally cursed as he began to grit his teeth in annoyance. For centuries, he watched how everything got corrupted. The environment was abused, trees vanished and lands were made to be the foundation of towering buildings. Garbages were carelessly thrown here and there, litter mostly everywhere. People began to act more and more disrespectful. They became corrupted. Like their surrounding, they became "polluted" both by mind and body, and some, even soul. 

And he had to see that without a choice. Well, he lived in the same place.

And thankfully, he didn't get "polluted". Some people he had met like Hakyeon, Ravi, Hongbin and Hyuk could be considered as one of those few that managed to remain clean and well by some or all aspects. And yes, the kind of people they belonged in were the ones who were given a harder time in fighting for survival and beating life's offers. 

Leo was drowning in his own sea of thoughts once again.

"Leo!" he hears a familiar voice call out. He slowly raises his head and sees Jinae, rather pale and yet still smiling Curiosity hits him and in less than a second, he locks his gaze at the fair woman making her way towards him. 

"What's wrong?" he asks, standing up to observe more about the young lady. 

"What might you mean?" Jinae asks back, blinking in a confused matter. "I'm fine, what do you mean by 'what's wrong'? Is it wrong now adays to suddenly greet a friend–"

"You're pale." he cuts off, brushing a few strands of hair covering Jinae's colorless face. "And you're cold. Are you perhaps sick?"

"I feel fine." Jinae pouts. "–Wait, I'm pale? Ah, might've been the fact that I placed too much concealer this time–"

"You're cold too." he sighs, feeling her forehead and touching her soft hands slightly. His eyes never left Jinae, a hint of worry soon growing bigger and bigger in those black orbs of his. As he eyes the young female, he was definite of seeing the similarity of Minhwa's charcoal orbs. Those softly created eyes of hers were like his deceased beloved's. The smile patched on that colorless face was similar to that when Minhwa was suffering a severe sickness.

Sickness. 

Soon enough, Leo jumps back in surprise as he saw Jinae's nose ooze blood. Hurriedly grabbing his handkerchief, he wipes of the crimson liquid coming out of her nose. "You're bleeding." he remarked in a soft yet worried tone. "We should get you to the nearest hospital or so to have yourself checked up."

When Jinae begins to sway back and forth uncontrollably, Leo grew a lot more worried. "Jinae, are you sure that you're fine?" he asks, only to be answered by a slight nod. Worry still refused to leave him.

And when Jinae finally lost consciousness, Leo was sure that something was definitely not right. 

After panic slowly eased down, Leo managed to take a grip back to his own senses and began to carry the young female in his well built arms. A lot of people got caught by the sudden scene but he managed to ignore them, only wanting to get to the nearest hospital. Even if it were to be by means of running alone. With an unconscious lady in his arms bleeding terribly from her nose, Leo just had to take control of things.

It was two fifty when Leo reached the hospital.

Hongbin came at around three twenty-six, as pale as Jinae was due to extreme worry. Upon seeing Jinae unconscious in the hospital bed, he quickly darts towards her, his eyes flashing panic and worry. After being calmed by Leo for quite some time, Hongbin eventually comes back to his senses and began to ask Leo of what had happened earlier. Of course, the broad-shouldered male began to explain everything that occured earlier– on how Jinae was pale and cold, on how she suddenly got a nosebleed and on how she finally lost consciousness within seconds. "The doctors came to a thought that it might be stress alone." Leo reported, his voice monotonuous. "She'll be fine, according to them, once she gets sufficient rest."

"I don't know how to thank you, Taekwoon." Hongbin smiles faintly, eyes fixed on Jinae. An hour and a half later on, the door bursts open again, this time, a familiar tanned male standing on the doorway, panting and chest heaving as he took deep breaths. With a roaring voice, he cries out Leo's name before he grabs him by the hem of his shirt, fury consuming the latter slowly.

"You little–! How could you just run off from home just like that?!" an angry Hakyeon growled. "Do you know how I was worried sick when I found your room empty and all?! I thought you were in some deadly situation that you made me leave home and run around Seoul like someone being chased by a darn murderer–!"

"Keep it down, Jinae's resting." Leo cuts off, his eyes not even shaking as he meets Hakyeon's burning stare. Taken aback, he lets Leo go and turns his attention at the unsconscious female gently laying down on the white hospital bed. Curiosity hits him and like Hongbin, he began to ask what had just happened. This time, Hongbin took care of the explaining and once the tanned other finds everything clear, he just nods in response.

"Will she be okay though?" Hakyeon asks, worried.

"The doctors stated earlier that with enough rest, she'll be good as new." Leo replies, his eyes soon averted to Jinae. "This girl, is she always bringing herself into trouble?"

"Apparently, trouble is like her everyday playmate since who-knows-when." Hongbin softly chuckles, his hand fixing a few strands of Jinae's silky black hair. "Trouble seems to have a taste of Jinae."

Leo smiles softly as he recalled Minhwa.

Those times before whenever the young lady would climb up on trees, claiming that the view up there was a lot better. Of course, as her personal guardian, Leo would often get worried sick due to the point that Minhwa was blessed with a rather fragile body. One simply cut could lead to worse things, what else if she breaks a bone or so? He just couldn't take his eyes off the brave and reckless Minhwa who sits on top of the tree.

And of course, the lady in the colorful hanbok slips and falls. Thankfully, her guardian Leo catches her at the right time.

Sometimes, Minhwa would go and enter riskier situations like going in the woods alone. Even at that time, lots were already considered "corrupted" and so to the point that horrible things might happen if a young lady wanders in the dark woods all by herself. Leo would trail her from behind, watching where she'd go and all. 

Everything goes according to plan when he saves Minhwa once again from a wild animal that came out of no where.

In the modern era he is in now? He's watching the troublesome replica-like of Minhwa, Seo Jinae. "Sometimes," he hears Hongbin begin, sitting on a nearby chair as he watches his unconscious beloved. "I don't think I can chase Jinae in her toublesome path. Because I am rather sure that right before she falls, I've already fallen."

Leo looks up and smiles. "I'll do the protecting at that point then." he says, catching Hongbin's attention. "I suppose I can track her down in the 'troublesome path' she's taking as of now. Leave the rest to me."

"For real?" Hongbin grins, a spark of joy lighting up in him.

"Sure." he nods. "She's a friend, anyway."

"I really am super thankful! Thanks, Leo!" he snickers, a dimpled smile soon left on his fair face.

"Be sure you do your part this time." Hakyeon says out of the blue, his eyes locked on a painting of Minhwa hanging on the wall. Leo looks up from the book he was currently reading and manages to crack a smile, his eyes soon focusing on his bandaged hand.

"You don't have to remind me of that, Hakyeon." Leo softly replies. "I was one of the best soldiers back then, just so you know."

Leo soon had his smile removed.

Unknown to Hakyeon, he had just discovered one new fact about Seo Jinae.

Earlier that day.

At exactly five fourty-seven in the afternoon, Jinae had regained consciousness. She was rather assured that she had Hongbin beside her and soon enough, thanked Leo for helping and bringing her to the hospital.

And at exactly five fity, Hongbin calls him.

"Hey, can you keep a secret?" Hongbin whispers to him, confusing Leo. "I mean, you did say that Jinae's a friend of yours now."

"Are you saying that you're jealous that I'm beginning to get closer to her?" Leo guesses.

"Silly, no." Hongbin softly chuckles.

"Then what?" he blinks.

With sad eyes slowly with tears, Hongbin looks at him.

"Jinae has cancer."