“Min Seok,” Chen sighed exasperatedly.

Xiumin’s eyes widened as he recognized the familiar scene before him.

          “What did I do?” Xiumin asked, cutting Chen off because he knew exactly what was coming.

          “I thought you cared about me? But then, even when you knew we were together, you let things get this far?” Chen said angrily.

          “What do you mean? Chen, I don’t know what you’re talking about! Please explain it to me,” Xiumin pleaded.

“That’s the problem,” Chen scoffed, “You don’t even know that what you’ve done is wrong.”

Xiumin tried to take a step closer to Chen, but he flinched away as Xiumin moved.

          “After all we’ve been through… You still did this,” Chen said.

Xiumin’s head began to ache as he tried to figure this out, to remember what he could have possibly done to create this situation.

          “That’s it. I’m done. We’re done,” Chen said the words that created a pain in Xiumin’s chest much worse than the throbbing of his head.

Xiumin could see the figure of a man over Chen’s shoulder as the other turned away. It was the ahjussi he saw while he was in the hospital. Xiumin’s eyes widened as he recognized the sad smile on the man’s face. He saw the man’s lips moving, but couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of his heart. Chen walked further and further away as Xiumin tried to make out what the man was saying.

          “Fix this.”

-----

Xiumin’s eyes fluttered open to the sensation of being shaken. He blinked a few times as the movement came to an end.

          “Hyung! Hyung, wake up!”

Xiumin squeezed his eyes shut as he willed the person to go away. He needed to go back to sleep and figure out what was going on in his dream. The pounding in his head was only another factor that made him want to return to unconsciousness.

          “Hyung, are you okay?”

Xiumin realized that the person was not going away and reluctantly opened his eyes. He saw a person sitting on the edge of his bed, and it took him a moment to register that it was Hyun Jae.

          “Hyun Jae, what are you doing here?” Xiumin asked groggily.

          “Suho-hyung asked me to come and check on you and make sure you took your medicine again since I had nothing to do at the company.”

          “What do you mean? And what time is it?” Xiumin mumbled, remembering the conversation he’d had with Chen’s family that morning.

          “It’s a little past four. And as for your other question, with you being here, I don’t exactly have a partner for the showcase, so I’ve just been practicing on my own on other things,” Hyun Jae explained.

Xiumin groaned in realization.

          “The showcase! I completely forgot about it… I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t gotten hurt, we could’ve performed together,” he apologized.

          “Don’t worry about it! Really, you need to focus on getting better. Besides, I can come help you while the other hyungs are practicing for the showcase since I’m not participating anymore,” Hyun Jae said.

          “Ani, you still need to practice. I can manage just fine on my own here. The showcase is still a good experience for you to have,” Xiumin argued.

          “But the point is for us to be mentored by you and then to showcase all that we’ve learned,” the younger pointed out.

          “I suppose you’re right… I can still help you though! We can always work here, since I’m not really in any condition to be traveling any further from bed than the living room.”

Hyun Jae’s eyes brightened at this, and a smile grew on his face.

          “That works great! But are you sure you’re alright to help? I don’t want you to overexert yourself,” Hyun Jae said.

          “I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go move the coffee table to the side of the living room while I make my way over there?”

          “Hold on; let me help you,” Hyun Jae offered.

Xiumin shook his head as he sat up and reached for his crutches.

          “I can manage just fine,” he replied futilely as Hyun Jae helped him sit up and handed him the crutches.

          “It’ll be much quicker if you just let me help you,” Hyun Jae said.

Xiumin sighed in defeat as he let the younger help him stand. He reached for his crutches and propped himself up with them. Xiumin rolled his shoulders a couple of times preparing for the painful journey to the sofa in the living room.

          “Are you okay?” Hyun Jae asked warily as he watched Xiumin.

          “I’m good—just a bit sore from using these. It’s kind of sad that I’m already uncomfortable when I’ve haven’t even been using them for a week,” Xiumin laughed softly.

          “Let me help you get there then. I don’t want you to be in pain because you want to help me.”

          “It’s fine. I really just need to take some more painkillers and I’ll be fine,” Xiumin said.

          “Okay then. Just be careful. I’ll go move the table,” Hyun Jae said, walking out of the room quickly, despite the fact that it was going to take Xiumin a long time to get out to the living room.

Xiumin sighed and braced himself for the long, painful trek out into the dorm.

          They worked for a couple hours before Xiumin began to doze off. After about an hour of helping Hyun Jae, Xiumin felt the need to take more painkillers as his head began to throb. He sat on the sofa with the glass of water he used to swallow the pills in hand, observing the younger’s work as he danced and worked out a routine to the song. “Breakdown” was on repeat in Xiumin’s head from listening to the song so much. Even when it wasn’t playing over the speakers, Xiumin could still hear the beat and lyrics rolling around in his mind. Without realizing it, Xiumin began to fall asleep, his head dipping as he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. He gave up trying to stay awake and succumbed to the pull of sleep. Immediately, he found himself in the familiar surroundings of the van the band used to transport their large group. Xiumin looked beside him and saw Chen’s smiling face. And the next thing he knew, he was flying forward again, feeling the glass shatter around his head as he went through the windshield. Breathing heavily, he jolted awake as he felt himself being caught.

          “Hey… It’s okay… Shh, you’re safe,” Hyun Jae whispered softly.

He had caught the elder as he fell forward in his slumber, with one hand on his shoulder and the other on the glass of water in his hand. Hyun Jae took the water and set it on the table beside the sofa, pulling Xiumin into a hug as he calmed him down.

          “Breathe, hyung. You’re okay. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you,” Hyun Jae murmured.

Xiumin took in his surroundings and felt himself relaxing. He pulled away and ran a hand through his hair.

          “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to fall asleep, and I just… dreamt about the accident,” Xiumin said, wiping away the tears he didn’t realize had begun to fall.

          “You don’t need to apologize, hyung. It’s okay,” Hyun Jae assured, “Why don’t we get you to bed? You seem pretty exhausted from all of this work.”

Xiumin nodded, dabbing at the last of his tears. Hyun Jae handed him his crutches and walked with him toward the elder’s room. Xiumin stumbled a bit on the crutches, still not used to using them, but quite sore from the combination of hobbling around and his injuries. Xiumin was doing just fine, until the interference from a pile of dirty clothes next to the hallway brought him down. His left crutch slipped on the clothes lying on the tile floor. Xiumin gasped as he felt himself swing off balance. However, Hyun Jae was faster than the pull of gravity and caught Xiumin before his face met the floor.

          “Are you okay?” Hyun Jae asked for what felt like the millionth time that day.

Xiumin nodded and swallowed nervously, relieved that he’d been caught rather than face-planting into the floor.

          “Thanks,” he said softly.

Hyun Jae pulled him up slowly, helping the elder regain his balance. He slowly released his hold on Xiumin, making sure that he was completely stable. Xiumin smiled gratefully and attempted to move toward the room again, only to wince as he felt an uncomfortable tugging on his left side.

          “Shoot,” he said under his breath.

          “What is it?” Hyun Jae asked, concerned.

          “I think I opened up a cut or two on my side when I slipped.”

          “Do you have more bandages? I can help you fix it back up,” Hyun Jae offered.

Xiumin nodded and gestured toward the bathroom with his head to the best of his ability with the neck brace on.

          “They’re in there,” Xiumin directed.

Hyun Jae nodded and went in to retrieve the first aid kit. Xiumin tried to move to his room again, but even with the painkillers, he could feel the stinging on his left side. Along with the ache under his arms from using the crutches, Xiumin really couldn’t take it anymore.

          “Just a second, I’ll help you. Stay here,” Hyun Jae said.

He placed the first aid kit in the room and returned to help Xiumin get into the room. Hyun Jae reached under the elder’s arms and legs and scooped him up bridal style, crutches falling to the ground.

          “Hyun Jae!” Xiumin cried out in surprise, “What are you doing?!”

          “Bringing you to your room. Relax; I can carry you just fine. You’re really light actually.”

Xiumin pouted as he let himself be carried into the room. The younger set him down on his bed and went back to grab the crutches.

          “Okay, let’s get you fixed up!” Hyun Jae said as he returned, laying down the crutches on the floor by the bed.

The younger knelt on the ground as Xiumin sat on the edge of the bed.

          “I can do it myself,” Xiumin said, not really wanting to strip in front of the younger.

          “If you do it yourself, you’ll most likely just end up opening the cuts on the other side trying to reach around yourself. Let me help,” Hyun Jae insisted.

Out of excuses, Xiumin reached for the hem of his shirt, reluctantly pulling it over his head. He let it fall to the ground, avoiding Hyun Jae’s gaze in favor of watching the fabric ripple as it fell.

          “Move your arm,” Hyun Jae said.

Xiumin lifted his arm, peering down to see the damage his clumsiness had caused. Two of the soft cotton bandages were soaked red from the reopening of the cuts beneath them. Hyun Jae slowly peeled the medical tape away and lifted the first of the bandages that Chen had replaced only just the night before. Xiumin cringed as the remainder of the scab lifted away, exposing the wound fully. Hyun Jae tended to both cuts and covered them back up in new bandages.

          “And we’re all set! Good as new… Or at least, as good as before your little slipup,” Hyun Jae laughed.

          “Thanks,” Xiumin said smiling.

          “Of course,” Hyun Jae said returning the grin.

Somewhere near the entrance of the dorm, Xiumin could hear the opening of the door and sighs from his friends as they returned home. The door was flung open only moments later by Luhan, cheerily singing the Gwiyomi song into Sehun’s ear as he followed him into the room. Sehun came to a halt when he realized that Xiumin wasn’t alone in the room, making Luhan crash into him and stopping his singing.

          “Minnie! And Hyun Jae? What are you doing here?” Luhan asked suspiciously.

Hyun Jae stood from where he had been kneeling and turned toward the couple in the doorway.

          “I just came to check up on Xiumin-hyung after Suho gave me his key.”

          “And why is Xiumin shirtless?” Luhan questioned.

As if on cue, Chen showed up in the door.

          “Xiumin’s shirtless?”

Chen looked in and saw Hyun Jae. His gaze flicked between the younger and Xiumin in confusion.

          “Xiumin?” Chen said, asking for an explanation.

Xiumin’s eyes widened, and he found his voice caught in his throat as a familiar look of hurt and betrayal flickered in Chen’s eyes.

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been so busy with scholarships and preparing for my last year in high school :p I don't have much else to say in terms of this fic... On a completely different note, has anyone noticed the huge amount of hunhan feels going around? They hit me super hard the past couple weeks. In between applying for jobs and scholarships, I've manage to squeeze in reading some pretty good hunhan fics, but I've been having trouble finding ones that I haven't read T-T Despite all these feels, it seems like not many people are writing for them :( Most of the ones I find are similar to others :p If any of you have any recommendations on good ones, I would greatly appreciate it! <3 Keep a look out for the next chapter! I'll update the next time I have the chance! <3 In the meantime, please comment and let me know what you think!