|twelve;brokenness|

"Hongbin," you whispered, lightly shaking his shoulder and carefully watching to see when his eyes will finally open. From the amount of blood pooled around his body, he must have either stayed in that position for a while, or was severely wounded. You called out his name once more, ignoring the glances coming from the few strangers that were passing by with their umbrellas. At least because of the rain, there weren't as many people out on the streets.

The hurt boy laying in front of you fluttered his eyes open, and his pupils wandered around the setting in front of him before they finally rested on your face. You didn't realize how much you were worrying for him until you felt your heart become lighter by tenfolds the moment he came to his senses. You bent down and extended your hand towards him and waited for him to take it, but he didn't move an inch.

"You shouldn't stay here, you'll catch a cold," you explained.

Hongbin's eyes left yours to look at your hand. When he finally started to move, he planted both hands onto the ground and used a great amount of the small energy he had left to lift himself up without your assistance. A small, painful groan passed through his cut lips as he did so.

You closed your extended hand into a fist before you dropped it back down to your side. Your eyes carefully watched Hongbin's first few shaky steps, before you couldn't handle it anymore.

"I'll help you back to your apartment," you said without much hesitation.

Hongbin ignored your offer, making it a completely one-sided conversation as he continued dragging his legs forward, his hand clutched tightly against what seemed to be his most severe injury-- the side of his stomach.

A frustrated sigh, caused by Hongbin's stubbornness, left your lips. You walked near him, matching his slow pace as he kept limping in the cold rain. Every time he took a breath, you were able to see the white cloud of steam for only a second before it disappeared from the rain.

A part of Hongbin's foot got caught in a large crack in the sidewalk, causing his body to jerk forward. On impulse, you grabbed his arm before he was able to fall completely.

"Don't..." Hongbin pulled his arm away from you, composing himself before he started to walk by himself, again. By now, his apartment wasn't very far.

Why was it like this? Last week, before the two of you went your separate ways, you had finally thought that Hongbin opened up at least a little. It wasn't too long ago when he admitted to you that he worried about you; that you actually play some kind of importance in his mysterious life.

You learned of respect and all that-- they taught that stuff in first grade, for God's sake. Respecting someone's decisions and minding your own business wasn't difficult.

But for Hongbin, it was different.

Something inside of you needed to help him. As selfish as it sounded, you didn't care anymore about how he felt, because you knew that if you didn't do anything while he's over here struggling to move, you would be bothered by your own conscious for the next few days-- or even weeks.

After a while of huffing and puffing, your next action surprised even yourself-- you grabbed his arm and put it around your shoulder, your body tight and close to him to support some of his weight. When you felt that he was about to push you away once again, you suddenly said,

"I'm doing this for me, not you. I don't think I could watch you in this state any longer, so just let me do just this one thing or you'll really drive me insane."

Hongbin was silent and finally stopped resi