Sehun.

 

That was the only thing on my mind, the only reason why I was running as fast as I can to the hospital.

 

I'm sorry, but only two passengers can accompany the injured one.

 

I was a little pissed off since TianMi was the one that went in instead of me, but having Xiumin with them assured me a little. However, worrying about TianMi wasn't the important thing at the moment. Sehun was my priority.

 

He was injured, because of me and that would get me in a ton of trouble with my mother, but I didn't care about that. He was the tiny and fragile Sehun that I would always protect, my best friend. No, he is my unrelated Korean brother. I had to make sure he was safe and sound. So I ran as fast and as far as I could.

 

A car honked loudly at me as I crossed the road. I didn't even bother apologizing and continued running. Sehun had to be safe and I had to check it with my own eyes.

 

By now, I was sure I was at the hospital since I saw a few ambulances parked along the front of the emergency room.

 

"Tao!" I heard someone call.

 

I saw Xiumin at the front and I immediately ran to him.

 

"Where's Sehun?"

 

"Don't worry. He's currently sleeping and the doctors took care of his head." He assured me.

 

"How are you so sure he's sleeping? He could be dead!" I shouted with a shaky voice.

 

"Then why did you slam him so hard on the pillar?" He retorted calmly.

 

I didn't know how to answer him. Because of my rashness, I hurt him. Not a bully, me. Not even TianMi, I did. His unrelated Chinese brother. How can I be the one to protect him when I'm the danger?

 

"What have I done?" I said so quietly that Xiumin didn't hear me. He only saw me grab my hair in frustration.

 

"Look. I may always be sleeping, but you know how I am. I wouldn't lie in these situations." Xiumin said thoughtfully, "This is probably the longest I've stayed awake."

 

He was right; he never lies, he just sleeps more than average. Although he said Sehun was fine, but I still needed to see him for myself.

 

"Sorry for punching you in the face and... you know... giving you a nosebleed..." He patted my shoulder.

 

"It's alright. You made the right decision by punching me. Although you could have hit not as hard and the nosebleed wasn't necessary." I joked. I mentally scolded myself, it wasn't the best time for jokes.

 

"Yeah. That's not going to happen." He laughed, "C'mon, let's go see the kiddo."

 

He started walking, but turned around when he realized I wasn't following him.

 

"You're not coming?" He asked.

 

I shook my head and he seemed confused for a second.

 

"You sure?" He asked again.

 

How could I go see him? He would hate me for hurting him. I shouldn't have let my anger control me. If Xiumin said he was fine, then he must really be fine. What are you saying Tao? I slapped my forehead. Idiot! You're supposed to be responsible of him when your mother isn't there!

 

"I'm coming." I told him.

 

"Weirdo."

 

"Weirdo?" I snorted.

 

"You're acting like a emotional teenage girl, whose boyfriend got a mere injury from a fight."

 

"What the hell Xiu, what kind of comparison is that?" I defended myself as he shrugged. "Whatever." I huffed.

 

He lead me through the hospital halls and I was surprised we were heading towards the private rooms. Was his injury worse than what I thought? Was it that bad that he had to be hospitalized for a few days? I was starting to feel more and more queasy and I didn't like this feeling.

 

When we arrived at the room, Xiumin leisurely slid open the door and entered. However, I just stood awkwardly next to the entrance, so the people inside could not see me. I didn't know what I would say, to Sehun and to TianMi. Not a second later, Xiumin popped his head out and frowned at me.

 

"Would stop being the complicated teenage girl and come in already?" He punched my arm strongly, "You're being so weird right now." He commented as he scanned me from head to toe. I only furrowed my brows and rubbed where he punched me.

 

"Hey, if you wanted me to choose which was more painful, I'd choose getting hit on the head by a brick pillar." He added. That only made that queasy feeling even stronger. "Also, hurry and come in. Sehun refuses to rest until he sees you, so he hasn't even blinked ever since he was hauled into the ambulance." He said with a more soft voice.

 

I took a few hesitant steps and Xiumin commented, "Goodness. You even walk like a girl." His comment hit my nerves and I proceeded to lunge at him to get him a headlock. However, he escaped with his usual gorilla running and I ended up chasing him in.

 

I froze when I was in. Of course TianMi was by Sehun bedside, trying to convince him to sleep a little, but it was the sight of my mom next to her that shocked me the most. All heads were turned at me since I caused a ruckus by chasing Xiumin in. My mom had had her eyes wide open and TianMi was, undoubtedly, glaring at me.

 

"Tao." My mom called me. I opened my mouth to explain, but no words came out. I wasn't surprised I couldn't say anything. I didn't even have an explanation.

 

"Why?" My mom asked.

 

I looked at the floor, racking my brain for some sort of reason, but there wasn't any. I was just angry and frustrated that Sehun wasn't listening to me and, on top of that, kissed her cheek. I sort of tolerated him interacting with the girl, but kissing her cheek triggered my violent side.

 

"I don't know, but I regret immensely." I ended up saying.

 

I gnawed at my lower lip when I saw my mother sigh and shake her head with her hand resting on her forehead. In my peripheral vision, I could see Xiumin sitting on the couch on the side, intently watching the scene with much interest. I looked down in shame as the queasy feeling became even stronger. I couldn't even look at Sehun, not less at anyone in the room. The silence felt like forever until I felt her arms wrap around me.

 

"Sweetie, you shouldn't hurt anyone, not even ants." My mom started, "I know you're a good boy and wanted to protect Sehun, but using violence and letting your emotions take over you isn't the correct way to protect someone, whether that someone is a loved one or a mere stranger."

 

"You're the best person in the world." I muttered on her shoulder, my head still lowered, and wrapped my arms around her smaller and motherly body.

 

"That's what mothers are for you dimwit." She chuckled as she patted my back.

 

I suddenly had the courage to look up and the first gaze I caught was TianMi's. She had a bitter smile and seemed like as if she suddenly felt out of place sitting next to Sehun's bed. She stood up from the chair and quietly walked towards the door. I tore myself away from my mother and gripped her arm. I didn't know why, but I did. She seemed rather shocked and stared at me with wide eyes, I would have done the same if I was her.

 

"We need to talk." I said. About what? I didn't know. I wasn't even planning on stopping her, but I let my instinct do what it wanted for now. She tried prying my hand off, but I held her firmly. "We’ll talk outside." I sighed,  but just as I was about to leave the room with TianMi, Sehun called me.

 

"Tao."

 

It was quiet and weak. I had forgotten about him for a moment, when I grabbed TianMi. Too many things were running through my head. However, Sehun was my priority, so I let go of TianMi and headed towards the Korean boy. I could deal with her later, although I don't even know what for.

 

"What took you so long? I'm so tired." He said with a hoarse voice.

 

"Then why didn't you sleep? You could wake up when I got here." I scolded him lightly.

 

"I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to wake up when you came. I wanted to see you at least once before sleeping." He said.

 

"You idiot. You're not going to die. Why are you being so dramatic?" I said.

 

"Pfft. And you weren't?" I heard Xiumin mutter.

 

"But what if? We never know what will happen." Sehun said, oblivious of Xiumin's comment.

 

I sighed as I rested my hand on his shoulder. Sehun took that as a cue to move over a little and drag me down to sit next to him.

 

"Sorry for not listening to you this whole time... I should have thought of how you felt even if I'm still completely lost at everything. I still feel a little left out when you speak Chinese with everyone." He apologized. He looked like the 8 year old Sehun that I saved years back again.

 

"I'm sorry too. Just rest for now. We'll leave the talking for later. You sound like that frog I found in the backyard before." I chuckled and mimicked the animal.

 

We both laughed wholehearted on the bed. It has been ages since we both laughed together. It really has been a very long time.

 

---

 

I was trying to make Sehun sleep and I would have used that weird science-ish sleeping gas if I could. Even if he sounded tired, he just kept on talking and talking about this, that and everything. I sighed in relief when he finally passed out along with Xiumin after an hour.

 

"Tao, go bring back that sweet girl. I think she left about a quarter of an hour ago. I want to thank her for staying by Sehun's side." My mom told me.

 

"TianMi? She left?" I had forgot about her thanks to a big distraction in a form of a Korean boy with blonde hair. I quietly left the room, hoping she was just waiting outside, but she was out of sight.

 

Where could she have gone? I thought.

 

Remembering that I had her number thanks to a certain someone, I fished out my phone and called her. I wasn't expecting it, but she answered just after one ring.

 

"What do you want?" She said coldly.

 

"Where did you go?" I asked, ignoring her question.

 

"I'm home." She answered. I could hear a loud honk from the other side of the line.

 

"And explain that loud honk." I said while raising a brow even if I knew she couldn't see.

 

"Ugh. Fine. I'm not home. Yet." She said.

 

"Tell me where you are and I'll go and meet you."

 

"Why should I? I'm busy." She said and I could hear a little jingle of bells in the background.

 

"You're in a cafe right? And I told you earlier. We need to talk." I guessed from the bells. I could almost smell the coffee.

 

"About what? We could just talk through the phone like we're currently doing." She retorted.

 

"True, but what I want to talk about must be spoken face to face. It would be rude and you'll misunderstand."

 

---

 

After trying to convince her to agree, she finally told me where she was. It turned out it was a bookstore cafe near the school. I swear people are just so stubborn theses days. I had to pledge to her that I would never reveal where it was with my hand over my heart, even if she couldn't see me. Well, she wanted to through video call, but I was too annoyed to switch to that.

 

When I arrived, the first word that described the place was 'library'. The only exception was that there was a counter to order drinks and couple of cafe styled tables along with many bookshelves surrounding the place. I let my eyes roam around the place and spotted a girl reading a book near the corner of the bookstore. Or cafe. Whatever.

 

I slid into the seat in front of her and leaned back in my chair, waiting for her to put down the book. I was sure she was just using the book to hide her face since her hands were slightly shaking. I could hear her take a deep breath and she put down the book.

 

"What do you want to talk about?" She crossed her arms since it was evident that her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

 

"This is a nice place." I commented, leaning on the table with an arm propping my head up.

 

"Look. I didn't tell you about this place for you to lazily hangout here, so speak up." She leaned towards my face.

 

I felt challenged and flustered at the same time. I wanted to continue staring at her eyes fiercely, but I also wanted to back away because of the distance between our faces. She was so close that others could mistaken us kissing. I mentally smacked my cheek to snap out of it. I cleared my throat and lightly pushed her away.

 

"You said you loved him." I said and turned away. I was curious about that famous topic. The thing that the whole school knew about and talked bad about her. Well, that's what they think.

 

"I did." She said with a soft voice.

 

"T-tell me about it." I stuttered. *What the hell Tao? Why the hell are you stuttering?* I mentally scolded myself.

 

"It's a very long story and I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear everything, but to make this long story short, the jerk had made a bet with his equally jerk friends that he would be able to make me fall in love with him and to get me to sleep with him in a month's time, which he succeeded." Her voice cracked, "My friends were sick of me getting all the attention, so they supported that jerk when everything was revealed to the school. Apparently, everyone else supported him too and I was kicked out of the friend circle I had. Nobody helped me. Not even my best friend at that time." She said with her head hung low. She sniffed and I knew she was crying. I was just staring at her trying to understand.

 

"Tell me one good reason why I should believe you and help you." I demanded.

 

She immediately looked up at me with big and teary eyes. I could see hope in them. She sniffed once more and whipped her tears with her sleeve. She cleared and determination was written on her face.

"Aside from what happened recently, you're the only one that would stand up for someone like me if I asked."

---

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[A/N]

I am pretty busy this week but both of us have spring break the 3rd so hopefully we will be able to get a few updates up then. 

Really really busy!