"Exactly how long did you say I've been here?" Eli asked hesitantly when the nurse returned later for one last check-up before calling it a night. She counted her fingers, trying to backtrack the time, and gave him the best estimate she could. The question of why he wanted to know almost slipped her lips until she realized they had never made eye contact--he was too preoccupied staring at the journal. The nurse chuckled lightly at him. 

"You haven't opened it yet?"

Eli shook his head. Of course he wanted to, but it was almost like he was afraid. The notebook documented what? The several months he was here? And it wasn't documentation by doctors or nurses, but by another person. A stranger who had watched over him while he just laid there. It was...not necessarily creepy, but maybe awkward? And yet it was a stranger who had faithfully stayed at his side when there was no one else to do so. When there was no reason to. No incentive. And for that, Eli found himself feeling grateful. Grateful and confused and curious. 

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to look through it myself, but that's not my business to be nosy about." The nurse's lighthearted comment brought his train of thoughts to a halt. "You should open it up, see what you find."

Eli nodded, turning the notebook over in his hands before finally looking up at her. "Yeah.."

She smiled gently. "Good night, Eli. Try to get some rest, alright?" 

He scoffed, causing her to laugh a bit. Without having to say it aloud, she could already hear his condescending comments. Something along the lines of, 'That's all I've been doing' or 'Sure. Since that's all I know how to do.' But she departed anyways, leaving him with only the object in his grasp. 

He fidgeted with the corner of the cover, still hesistating to open it. He didn't know how to feel, what to feel, or what he'd find inside. Only one way to figure out, right...?

Letting out a deep breath, he finally flipped open the cover and immediately was mildly caught off guard. English? It hadn't even conciously crossed his mind that there would be a huge problem if everything had been written in Korean, leaving him able to do nothing but examine the symbols scrawled neatly across the pages. Yet he hadn't expected to find himself face-to-face with English either. And just like that, he could feel himself grow intrigued and excited. 

At this point there was no way to resist reading the journal, but he did manage to force himself to read it slowly, taking in all of its value rather than get through as quickly as possible as if it was some school project. 

"Kevin, huh?" He asked to no one as he read over the first entry. Apparently an introduction. 

"I hope you don't mind that this is written in English...I'm not too sure which language you're more proficient in." 

Eli chuckled to himself. "Good call, Kevin. Good call." And just like that, he found himself smiling as he continued down the lined paper. It didn't last long, however. A few more sentences in and his smile quickly faded out into a taut line. It seemed they were only a few syllables, but there on the paper was exactly what he hadn't realized he didn't want to see--Korean. 
성현...경재? He traced over the letters with his finger. Just by reading the rest of the sentence it was obvious that these were names. Their names apparently. But on their own, the combined letters held no meaning or value to him. Not even an idea of what they must sound like. Continuing down the page, however, gradually brought a slight grin back to his face. "So you're from the D.C. area?" He could remember D.C. "You'll probably think I'm crazy..." Eli smiled a little wider, laughing at the rather bubbled writing. "This entire situation is crazy." 

"...for the past two months..." He raised a brow and took a moment to flip through the rest of the notebook, watching the number that noted each passing day grow and grow. So the nurse wasn't kidding. He really had been there from the beginning... Eli's smile softened; the only way he could say thank you to a person he didn't even feel sure actually existed.

But he did.

It was difficult, and by now it was even harder, but he remembered. He remembered the soft features..the bright smile..the long fingers that tightly held his hand. Conciously thinking the words made him feel stupid and maybe a little bit cheesy, but he couldn't deny himself the fact that it was like looking up at an angel. The all-too-bright fluorescent lights that had flooded down behind him didn't help but make that idea stronger either. 

"No one should have to suffer alone...I hope in the end, you won't think of me negatively for this." Logic and norms told him that he probably should be at least skeptical and maybe even uneasy, but that wasn't the case. He replayed the moment of returning to conciousness in his head and this time erased Kevin from it. Simply waking up...lights blinding his eyes...only the bland hospital room to tell him nothing except that something had gone terribly wrong. For that single brief moment of having a smile to wake up to--even if by now that was all he could remember of him--and having a warm hand to grasp instead of the cold metal of whatever equiptment lay around him...that alone provided more than enough reason to simply be thankful. 

"Awake already?" The nurse asked quizzically as she stepped into the room, surprised to find Eli sitting up in bed just as she had last seen him. 

"Still awake." He chuckled briefly and held up the journal. 

"Oh~ So how do you feel?"

"About what? Me or the book?"

The nurse just smiled and shrugged. "General question. Take it however you want to." 

Eli nodded, his eyes drifting back down to the page in front of him..the pages he had gone through..the pages he still had left. How did he feel? Thankful, no doubt. He had no idea there was so much upkeep for an unconcious person. And even then Kevin had gone an extra ten percent. Confused? This total stranger had basically given up their daily life to dedicate it to him. Many of the entries were a bit vague in some details and he could feel the hesistance in all of it. Despite things that were mentioned, there were things left out. Eli could piece together that majority of Kevin's time had been in the room. Maybe all of his time. Did he leave the hospital even once? Did he bother to take care of even himself? And what reason could he have possibly had to remain so loyal? If that was even the right word. Simply not knowing why Kevin had done everything he had was probably the one thing that made Eli feel uneasy about it all. Uncomfortable almost. But he could sense the innocent, friendly demeanor to it all. After moving to a new country and having no contacts after doing so...it almost felt like he had a friend. 

"...Eli?"

"Huh?"

The nurse laughed at him and shook her head. "Don't stress yourself out over it. We don't want you going unconcious again you know~" 

"Y-yeah." Eli tried to laugh too. , how long had he been trying to sort everything out? "Yeah, I'm good. I'm good." He tried to take the easy way out and simply answer how he was doing.

But he should have known that wasn't the original intention of the question, and so he saw her eyes move down to the journal and then back up at him. "And the book?"

"It's uh.. It's interesting." He smiled and nodded, hoping she would let him leave it at that. "It's interesting." 

To his satisfaction she simply nodded in acknowledgement, finished up what Eli felt was the thousandth vitals' check up, and departed with the usual comment of "Remember, if you need anything don't hesitate to call me or another nurse." 

"I'd prefer to call you," Eli joked, reminding her that he didn't exactly have the proper communication skills to talk with the other nurses. "but thanks. I will." 

* * *

"I have to admit, I'm really happy to have you back home.......but I'm also worried." 

Kiseop followed Kevin through the apartment as he cleaned, sorted, and organized--again. Eventually they made their way into the kitchen so that he could begin cooking. 

"And I don't doubt that everyone is happy to always have home-cooked meals, but I'm pretty sure Soohyun is worried too. I'm pretty sure we all are. ....K-Kev?"

"Huh?" Kevin's head finally snapped towards the other male and he smiled, letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Oh, sorry! Guess I got carried away again." 

"Again? Kev, I hate to break it to you but...you're always carried away." Kiseop tilted his head, watching the other's now practiced motions. How many times had he gone through this routine since he had returned? "I understand you're trying to keep yourself busy, but this is a good thing, right?" Kevin offered no reply. He simply kept on with his 'chores', the slightest of smiles practically frozen on the corners of his lips. Maybe clarification was needed... "Eli waking up, I mean." 

That definitely caught his attention. That single, brief word. A name. 

Kevin's body immediately tensed and Kiseop could have sworn he heard the nervous gulp. 

"I know it's nerve-wrecking but you finally get to meet him, right? Like actually meet him." Kiseop watched closely as Kevin's eyes slowly fell to the floor, his teeth pinching his bottom lip. Maybe just a little more convincing... "You knew how much support he'd need while he was out. You said it yourself, he had no one. But now that he's awake, it doesn't mean he suddenly has people. He probably still needs someone there for him--"

"But how am I supposed to be that person?" The words quickly flew from Kevin's mouth. Kiseop was almost afraid he had caused the younger male to snap at him until he realized the boy was just frantic and nervous. And without a doubt, he was still worried. "Everyone's said it before in one way or another: I don't even know him. How am I supposed to even approach him now? How the hell am I supposed to introduce myself? 'Hey, I'm Kevin. You don't know me but I watched over you like a hawk and hardly left the room during the months of your comatose sleep.' Yeah. Smooth." He scoffed and rolled his eyes, the strong scent of burning food suddenly catching his nose. "."

Kiseop laughed and wrapped his arms around the other from behind, resting his chin on Kevin's shoulder as he hurried to make an ill-fated attempt at salvaging the food. "I told you to go visit him, not go pick him up and try to take him out on a date." He could feel Kevin's body grow hot with embarrassment, which only made him laugh harder. "Go check up on him. I'd have to be stupid to not know that's what's been on your mind."

"....Maybe...." 

"Maybe yes. Either go check up on him or remake me food." Kiseop pouted, beginning to speak like a small child towards his mother a little too well. "I'm hungry~"