Jackson heard the car the same time Mark did. He briefly turned at the source of the noise, but recognizing it, he whipped his head toward Mark with fear in his eyes. Mark caught his gaze, for a second, afraid but resolute, before shoving the two youngest boys out of the road. Jackson could see Mark trying to run, to also get out of the way, but the rain was heavy and it was dark, and they were around a corner.

The car hit him.

Jackson at this point was running towards Mark, hand outstretched as if he could reach him, as if he could catch him, but it was impossible. He was too far away. Jackson watched as Mark flew up the windshield while the car hit the brakes, and he flew back down the front of the car, landing on the street, no longer moving.

It was as if all the air had been out of the world at that moment, before it all came rushing back in a whoosh. Jackson felt like he had no air in his lungs, but he still managed to scream Mark's name.

Mark didn't move.

Yugyeom and BamBam stared, aghast, from where they lay on the ground. It was as if they were frozen. Jackson was aware of the driver getting out of the car and calling emergency services, but his eyes never left Mark. He ran over to his unmoving form, but halted abruptly when he saw blood pooling on the ground by Mark's head.

No. No. Nononononononono...

Jackson was pretty sure he was falling apart.

Junior and JB, crying and yelling, also ran up to where Jackson had stopped. Junior covered his mouth while JB made an inhuman noise of pain. Youngjae ran up behind them and clung to JB, silent tears down his face.

Jackson went to move towards Mark, needing to hold him and feel his heart beating, but Junior held him back. "Y-you can't move him, Jackson. If...if his spine or neck has been broken..." Junior sobbed, unable to continue, but Jackson understood. He knew that you shouldn't move people if they've been hurt in such a way, or you could make it worse.

The mangled sobs that Jackson was emitting was also making it hard to breathe, and he could barely see through his tears, but he carefully grasped Mark's hand. In that moment, he heard the sirens, and a moment later he felt Mark's pulse underneath his fingertips. Mark is alive! He couldn't stop crying and gasping for air -- he was sure he had snot running down his nose as well -- but he gently brushed the hair out of Mark's face, crying harder when he saw the awful deep scratches on his skin from the crash. His heart broke.

"Mark. Mark, please. Please be okay. Hold on, alright? You have to hold on!" Jackson whispered in a hoarse voice, caressing Mark's head lightly. The ambulance pulled up at that moment, and Jackson felt pressure on his shoulder pulling him back.

"No!"

"C'mon, Jackson. We need to let the emergency workers help."

"Mark..." Jackson whimpered, and only allowed JB to pull him back a few feet. The others were all crowded on the sidewalk watching, grasping tightly to each other. Yugyeom and BamBam had some scratches on them, but they were shallow wounds. BamBam shook all over, as if he had a fever, and Yugyeom gripped him tightly, still as a stone.

The medical team loaded Mark up into the ambulance. At that moment, Junior and JB and Youngjae came forward and grabbed Jackson, just as Jackson tried to move toward Mark. "Let me go!" Jackson screamed, but the others held tight. "Mark! Mark! I'll be there soon! Hold on!"

As soon as the ambulance drove off, the others let go of Jackson, and he immediately ran after the truck. Jackson knew where the local hospital was, and it wasn't far -- at least, not far to Jackson in his current state of mind. He heard the others yelling but he ignored them, not stopping until he reached the hospital doors.

--------------------------------------

It had been about 6 hours and Jackson still hadn't heard anything about Mark.

The horrible thing about hospitals is they don't let you know anything unless you're family. Mark's family, Jackson assumed, had been notified, but Jackson wasn't even sure what country they were currently in. It could take them a whole day or more to get to South Korea. But Jackson wasn't moving -- not until he heard that Mark was going to be okay.

The others had shown up sometime after Jackson. Jackson had lost all sense of time, so they could have been running behind him and arrived only a few minutes later, or they could've arrived hours later -- Jackson wasn't sure. JB mentioned something about BamBam having a breakdown, blaming himself for the accident, and Jackson knew he'd have to fix that later, but for now all his thoughts were filled with Mark. 

Jackson felt as if he was numb. He sat, unmoving, for hours -- only showing signs of life when a doctor walked by, in case they were going to mention something about Mark. He stared a nothing, still a little wet from the rain, and fresh tears spilled out every so often. He was an absolute wreck. JB, Junior, and Youngjae floated in and out of his awareness.

After another hour, a gruff surgeon walked by for a fourth time. He stopped when he saw Jackson, eyes going wide.

"You're still here?!"

Jackson looked at the man with dead eyes, expecting another round of non-information since he wasn't family. But he could see the doctor's demeanor change a little. He could see the pity fill his eyes.

"You really care about your friend, don't you?"

Jackson meant to nod, but new tears wet his cheeks instead. The surgeon let out a deep sigh, as if making a decision he didn't like, before pulled Jackson into a small, empty room.

"Mark is his name, right? I oversaw the surgery. I can't tell you details, but your friend was hurt very badly."

Jackson felt the air go out of him again, much like it did when Mark was hit.

"We had to put him in a coma to help him heal. He will have a long healing process ahead of him. But he will live. He will struggle for a while, but he will live."

Jackson sagged at the news. Mark was going to be okay. 

"You need to go home now, son, and rest. Visiting hours for non-family members are tomorrow from 2-4. Come back then. We'll take good care of him until then."

Jackson began sobbing and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank  you!" He whispered over and over. After the doctor left, Jackson ran into JB, forgetting he was even there. He told JB the news and JB hugged Jackson hard, crying again like Jackson had. Junior also eventually found them, having left to get something to eat, and joined in their hug.

They went back to the dorms to tell the others and to inform the school. All of the boys gathered in Jackson, JB, and Junior's dorm suite to sleep for the night, overwhelmed and worried. They all slept together in the living room, spreading out blankets and pillows, but Jackson went immediately into Mark's bed. He inhaled Mark's scent and cried himself into an uneasy sleep.

---------------------------

The next morning, everyone was still red-eyed and puffy faced, but Junior forced them all to take long showers and eat extra helpings of the meal he made. Jackson took his required shower, but only picked at his food. He kept eyeing the clock, waiting for it to be 1:00 so that he could go to the hospital in time for it to be visiting hours.

Finally, it was time, and Jackson and the others began putting on their shoes to leave. BamBam held back, however, and Jackson noticed. He motioned for JB to lead the others out until only Jackson and BamBam were left.

"Why aren't you getting ready to leave, BamBam? Don't you want to see Mark?" Jackson asked gently.

"Of course I do," BamBam replied, getting teary-eyed. "But it was my fault. It's all my fault." BamBam broke down at that. Jackson slipped out of his shoes and hugged the younger boy.

"Of course it's not your fault, BamBam. It's not anyone's fault."

"If I hadn't been so stupid..."

"Stop it, Bam. I know Mark wouldn't like you talking like this."

"He saved me. He saved Yugyeom and I."

"Yeah. He did." Jackson knew his tears were getting ready to fall, too. "Come on, BamBam. Mark would want to see you."

Finally convinced, BamBam followed Jackson into the waiting car. When they arrived at the hospital, Jackson couldn't wait to see Mark and practically ran through the hallways.

Upon locating Mark's room, Jackson quietly pushed open the door to find a sight that ripped his heart into pieces. Mark lay on the white hospital bed with tubes upon tubes coming out of his face and arms. One leg and an opposite arm was in a full cast, and he had several stitches and patches on the parts of his arms, neck, and face that were visible. Jackson knew there was probably more underneath Mark's covers and hospital gown. Bruises covered so many areas that there was barely a normal spot of flesh on Mark's body. Mark's face -- his beautiful face -- was scabbing over in places and large stitches went across his forehead near his hairline. His head was wrapped in gauze.

Jackson felt like throwing up, but steeled himself. The others came in behind him, and he heard varying gasps and sobs, but he ignored them and quickly went to Mark's side. He was on the side without the broken arm, so he carefully linked his fingers together with Mark's. The others filed around the bed, quiet, a heavy sadness filling the room.

A nurse happened to come in just then, suprised when she saw the 6 boys. "You must be his friends," she said kindly. "He is still in a medically induced coma. He'll stay that way for a couple more days, until we are sure things are more stable."

"What exactly is wrong that he needs to be in a coma?" Junior asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Only his family can be told."

"Are they coming? Did you reach them?" Jackson suddenly asked, rushing his words.

"Yes, they are coming, but they were in America, so they will probably be here tomorrow, if they took the first flight over."

The nurse checked on a couple things on Mark's monitor, smiled at the boys, and then left. Jackson was relieved Mark's family would be here soon. He knew, despite how Mark hated all the moving his family put him through, that Mark loved his family dearly.

"Did you hear that, Mark? Your parents will be here soon." Jackson spoke almost in a whisper.

They all took turns talking to each other and even to Mark. It was all they could do, really. Jackson kept his hand firmly in Mark's all the while. Eventually, however, they did have to part ways as visiting hours were over. The next day they all returned as soon as they could, however.

It was the day after that when Jackson started wondering about Mark's parents. They were supposed to have arrived the day before, but they didn't arrive when Jackson was there visiting. He hoped they would be at the hospital today.

But when Jackson and the others arrived, he was shocked to find Mark's room empty, with no name on the door.

"Excuse me," Jackson asked a passing nurse, pushing down his panic. "What happened to the boy who was in this room, Mark Tuan? We came to see him and he's not here."

"Ah, yes. His family had him taken to a different hospital."

"What?" The boys yelled, shocked.

"Why?" Jackson asked.

"Are you family?" The nurse asked, suspicious now.

"No, we're his friends."

"Then I can't tell you that." Jackson wanted to kill whoever came up with these ridiculous privacy laws. He just wanted to know Mark was okay!

"Please, can you just tell me if he's alright?" Jackson's sad eyes softened the nurse's resolve.

"They brought him out of his coma just fine. He still has a long way to heal, but he will be okay, in the end."

Jackson could feel tears coming to his eyes again, but this time tears of relief. JB and Junior led Jackson away and back into the car, and everyone was silent on the way home until BamBam said, "Is there really no way for us to find out where they placed him? Or why?" Yugyeom shushed him and BamBam fell silent, but everyone was wondering the same thing.

When they got back to their dorm, JB, Junior, and Jackson were shocked to find a couple of strange men in their suite. They were taking all of the things out of Mark's room and placing them in boxes.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" Jackson yelled, angry. Those were Mark's things! How dare they take them?

Junior held him back, though, while JB asked, "What is going on?"

The two men turned to the boys, and one shrugged. "We were told to pack up this boy's stuff. He's leaving."

"Leaving?" JB aked, probing for more information, but Jackson had bolted out the door, running towards the main office. He found a secretary inside and asked her about Mark.

"Oh yes, very unfortunate. Wait here, and I'll have the headmaster come and speak with you."

Shortly after, the headmaster of the school appeared, a smile on his face. "Jackson Wang! Our star fencer! Congratulations!" He moved to give Jackson a handshake, but Jackson kept his hands at his sides, balled into fists.

"Why is Mark leaving?"

"Mark? Ah, Mark Tuan, your roommate?" The headmaster became less jovial and frowned. "It's very sad, the accident he was in, but the hospital reported finding alcohol in his system. He's underage. We have a no tolerance policy, so I had no choice but to refuse to allow him to return."

Jackson was dumbfounded. "You kicked him out?" He asked weakly. The headmaster nodded, adding, "He seemed like a nice kid, but it can't be helped."

The fury in Jackson was building until he could no longer hold it in. He never was good at holding his tongue or hiding his feelings. "How could you? It wasn't even his fault!" Jackson yelled. By that time, JB had appeared, and he quickly pulled Jackson out of the headmaster's office. Jackson wasn't going without a fight though, and continued to yell and scream at the unfairness of it all. How could they do this to Mark? How was Jackson supposed to continue without seeing Mark every day, without making him laugh, without kissing him?

Eventually, Jackson ran out of energy, and JB let him fall to the grass miserably. Jackson started to cry, saying, "It's all my fault, JB. It's all my fault." Except JB couldn't understand him, because Jackson was sobbing too hard to make sense of his words. He just let the fencer cry and rubbed his back, letting Jackson know he was there for him.

Once Jackson had calmed down, completely exhausted, JB led him back to the dorm. Along the way, JB said, "Don't give up, Jackson. Maybe we can appeal this on Mark's behalf."

Jackson knew that wasn't true. It was a no tolerance policy, and anything they said would also incriminate themselves for being intoxicated. It wouldn't help anyone for them all to get in trouble and kicked out, although Jackson seriously thought about giving just himself up. Then he could be free to go to wherever Mark was.

Would Mark even want him after all this?

The thought made Jackson sick, and his exhaustion let him fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

--------------------------

It was two days later, when Jackson had spent all of his time thinking of ways to make things right and what went wrong (and missing Mark), that he got a text.

To: Mandu

Are you okay? Are the others okay?

Jackson's heart stuttered. Mark was awake. Mark was okay. He knew the nurse had told him the same thing, but it was different, getting this confirmation.

To: Mandu

Don't you dare go to the headmaster and tell him you were drinking, too! I know you're thinking about it, with some weird sense of honor, but if you do it, you're so dead!!!

Mark really knew him well. Jackson clutched his phone like a lifeline, but he didn't respond. He was so scared and ashamed about what had happened. He felt like a bad influence, and a failure. He was so at war with himself, wanting to reply but feeling like he didn't deserve to be able to, and eventually he made a decision.

To: Dimsum

I'm sorry. It's better that you are away from me. I hope you heal quickly. I'm sorry. I'm glad you're okay.

I'm sorry. Good bye.

Jackson whispered it as he hit send, before he threw his phone under his bed and refused to look at it again.