Chest rose and fell in a rapid breath as the idol danced into the rhythm; the fatigue was evident upon his face as his gaze landed right on his reflection through the practice room mirror. Jung Min could feel a wave of nausea washed over him as he danced towards the ending of his song, he shouldn’t be pushing himself, shouldn’t he? His head was throbbing since this morning as he merely slept for three if not four hours the other day. Photo shoots, press conference, practice, small birthday party, concert, flight and more practice.  He would be lying if he said that his body could hold them all in a mere two days but here he was, still pushing himself to his limit especially when another concert will be held in a few hours.

One leg tripped over the other and he swiftly landed atop one of his dancers, there was a pause—the room suddenly broke into an uncomfortable silence upon seeing the incident especially at the sight of his hand clutching on his chest, Jung Min barely could feel his feet on the ground as his eyes were clenched shut; his chest was incredibly tight whilst his other hand holding onto his dancer tightly as if he was holding onto his life.

And now he was lying against the comfortable surface of the sofa, distantly registering the continued pins and needles in his extremities equipped with mask oxygen covering his mouth and nose, whilst numerous different voices shook him from his unconsciousness.

A risen hand made its ways into his locks, massaging his head as an inaudible groan flew pass his full lips. As he sank his head further against the couch, a cloud of thoughts and guilty hung over him. Was he able to finish the dance practice earlier? Will he able to continue holding a concert with his current condition? What about the fans whose enthusiastically had been waiting for his arrival?

“Are you Okay?” Jung Min blinked his eyes, pushing away the dizziness as his manager’s remarks brought him back from his own contemplation. The idol quickly brought a hand up and waved it nonchalantly towards his way which paired with a nod to reassure the latter that he was okay. His lips soon curved into a faint smile beneath the mask before he heaved a sigh. “It’s just—the altitude sickness.” His words came out in a sort of mumble, but audible enough to reach his manager’s ears as it was marked by a smile of relief which cross over the younger’s features. Soon, his staffs and dancers took their turns on checking on him, the look of concern was evident across their face upon seeing the energetic and bubbly man was lying limp against the couch.

Since Jung Min asked them to give him a space to breathe, he was eventually left alone in the room. Gaze was fixated on the ceilings as he slowly steadied his breath with the help of the oxygen mask. He carefully leaned over to take his phone that he had previously placed atop the small table right next to the sofa, swiping his thumb across the screen and soon he headed over to the application section, quickly tapping the twitter thumbnail and scrolled down his notifications to kill his boredom.

Something clicked to him as his gaze landed across the numerous mentions which were cheering for his next concert; he soon took a photo of himself in an oxygen mask, equipped with his signature pout beneath the mask therefore the fans wouldn’t be too worried upon seeing his condition.

“Finished the rehearsal for Bolivia concert and I collapse into the sofa~!! I’ll rise from the dead~~ Even so, since I’m updating like this, it means that I’m still alive right??^0^ I will strive on for the much anticipated last concert today~!! Where should I go next in Latin America~?” Hands fidgeting across the screen as word by word, sentence by sentence began to come to life before his eyes – it may had been quite jumbled due to his fatigue level but he quickly tapped the post button before placing his phone back atop the table; he then let his eyes flutter closed as he sank back into the sofa, maybe a micro-nap would suffice at the moment.

There was a sudden succession of shrill buzzes cutting the silence, buzz after buzz, after buzz; just in time when he was about to drift off to sleep. He hesitantly peered over the device, shifting his weight to the side as he took the device into his grasp. As soon as he unlocked his phone, the-very-familiar-name that was presented in the message previews causing him to arched one of his brows, thumb quickly tapping the chatting app’s logo to read it open.

✉ Yah!!!

✉ Are you okay?

✉Yah.

✉answer me

✉GET ON SKYPE, RIGHT NOW.

✉YAH.

✉Honey--!!

✉I saw the selca that you posted on twitter, because the fans were forwarding the tweet to me!

A smile crawled its way upon his lips (probably one of the genuine smiles that manage to cross his features that day) as his gaze was glued to the screen; a wave of worry that was evident within the latter’s messages were actually unexpected—serving a kind, caring trait, something that Jung Min actually craved. There was a pause—as he was uncertain as to how he explained his condition before his fingers eventually began to dance across the screen to type in his reply.

✉I’m fine!!!^u^ As you can see!^^

✉Skype, why? It’s hard to talk with this thing on top of my mouth anyways-- ^^;

With those being sent, Jung Min reclined back against the comfortable surface of the couch. A sense of longing washed over him even though their last encounter was merely a week ago right before he departed to South America, he imagined being in his arms. The way he perfectly fit as if that pair of arms were meant to be made for him only; the way all of his worries and fears could easily fade to black whenever they were together.

The device suddenly buzzed and buzzed yet again within his grip, signaling the singer that he had received new messages in the past seconds. With bottom lip curling up into a tiny pout in a matter of habit beneath the mask, his fingertips gently sliding across the screen as his lips instantly curled upwards as a faint smile took place and replaced the tiny pout upon reading the messages.

✉No buts.

✉Get on Skype right now!

✉And I just want to see you, I miss you.

As expected from the man who was nicknamed as the ‘stubborn baby’ of the group, Jung Min’s immediate reaction was tapping the said application logo and quickly logged in, in response to Hyung Jun’s nagging—it wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to him, but it was obvious that he didn’t want to see his beloved saw him in his vulnerable state, making him worry, especially when they were currently miles away with the seas separating them.

Jung Min was immediately greeted by Hyung Jun’s video call, his face lit up which was marked by his eyes twinkling into two crescent like shaped at the sight of him resting his head against the pillow. “Oh pabo, look at you right now—are you okay?” Hyung Jun’s voice was hoarse, it was obvious that the younger just woke up from his sleep especially when his half-lidded eyes emphasized Jung Min’s estimation.

The elder male shifted his position to get to a more comfortable position before flipping his bangs, adopting a faux mix of self-confidence and diva-like behavior all in one go. “Mhm,” he hummed, which soon followed by Hyung Jun’s trademark chuckle that sound exactly like a music to his ears.

There was a silence between them, but it wasn’t the kind of uncomfortable silence due to the lack of stuffs being discussed; but it was more from the way Hyung Jun stared at Jung Min, as if his whole world was revolved around him despite them being separated so far away.

“You look so beautiful,” breaking the silence between them, Hyung Jun began as warmth infused itself in his words which caused Jung Min’s expression to fell. As much as he wanted to refuse the praise due to the way his words bring a heat up to his cheeks, and probably just returned the praise with a coy smile; he was, instead, with an incline of his head gave him a knowing smile, sending the latter a wink which was intentionally made as greasy as possible before quickly adding, “I know right.”

Hyung Jun was unable to hold back the laugh that had been threatening to come out as he felt all of his worries vanished upon seeing the way Jung Min could easily joke around despite being in his vulnerable state. Therefore, he leaned in to kiss the screen’s device, which was immediately rewarded by the way Jung Min adopting a look that balanced between a disgruntled look and disgust. “I love you, fighting on your concert, love! I will call you again once you are done.”

As Jung Min waved towards the camera in a gleeful manner, an ‘I love you too’ also managed to escape passed his lips before he hesitantly hung up; he felt contended, and not to mention that he felt a lot better than before. There was nothing that made him felt like home the way Hyung Jun did. As much as he told himself that he shouldn't treat someone like home cause one would always find a way to betray him in a way he would never expect; Hyung Jun was always the exception. It always felt too real when it came to Hyung Jun, too real to the point he trusted him and give him a whole part of his heart and treat him like one. And now, he felt homesick.