"He left as soon as I told him your conditions were stable"

Ryeowook nervously rolled in his tiny hospital bed, pulling the nauseating clean sheets everywhere so he could hide better in his silent nook.

"He didn't ask about anything else: why you fainted, which kind of therapy you need to follow, not even your name"

Who had ever dared to manifest a little bit of interest in him, anyway? It was too disgustingly normal for people to behave like that and leave him. Everyone eventually left, and he had to figure out a way to push away such classic disappointment, trying to be the least affected by it. Life went on, anyhow.

But that night, he really couldn't find his path to sleep and stopped to overthink about that stranger, the one that had done a good deed towards him by taking him to the hospital, but that had refused any responsibility that came with the action. Heck, the man didn't even ask his name!

His doctor occasionally glimpsed inside the dimly lit room and, just because he saw a small lump covered in bed, he walked away with the confirmation of having his patient finally resting well. 

He couldn't imagine that the lump under covers was perfectly awake and was far from resting, unlike firmly advised. Ryeowook shifted once again position and rolled on his back; gripping the light sheets in his fingers and threatening to tear them out of a rage attack, he laid still and scrutinized the ceiling, often blinking fast in a sort of dumb way just to keep from shedding tears. 

He didn't need to cry, he almost never did, but that night he felt powerless and near to the point of give into his fears. Boredom didn't help, as he didn't have anything else to do and the hospital was quiet in its every corner, letting every patient find a way to get a refreshing rest.

Finally Ryeowook rubbed his eyes and tiredly pushed himself to sit against the headboard. With a little sway of hips, he leaned on a side and stretched a hand to grab his schoolbag from the nearby chair. Messing with the content, he found the right envelop of pictures from the party and began to go throught them all, not really interested in either checking their perfection, or looking at the familiar faces of his three friends.

They were nothing near perfection in truth, at least not any closer to the technique portrayed in the pictures of that simple, beautiful, natural scenery that belonged to the other man, the former waiter. Each one of that flower was caught with its distinct brilliance of colors, borders were bright and well-defined, and the only blur present was purposefully created to enhance the angle depth.

His pictures instead were everything opposite and way too blurry, perhaps extremely blurry. They were trash, if not for the familiar faces that had somehow accompanied him during the last two years, of course except for Hyungsik, newly acquired.

Ryeowook thought long about give either one of them a call and say that he was fine, despite all, but his fingers abruptly stopped on the keys right when he was about to access to his contact list. The little number on the upper sidebar of the screen caught his eyes and that was probably the best reason now to shed unwilling tears. It had already reached -142, and it would have eventually turned to the following decreasing number at 6am, like it usually happened.

A little grin appeared on his lips, aware that he had to hurry in order to get rid of that heavy feeling of boredom and unaccomplishment, before his countdown could tell him it was too late to fix things. 

The boy was so lost in his own plans and thoughts, that he almost failed to notice the incessant vibrations issued by the device in his hand. Snapped out to reality, he tried to read the unknown number, but had no idea about whose it was. The only way to discover it was through replying, of course. And he did.

"Hello?" he shyly said through the speakers, in a whisper.

There was no immediate reply and that made Ryeowook frown in disquiet. Who that could be?

"H-hello?" the boy tried again, peresevering in his attempt to find out the caller's identity.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I called you back" the deep voice of a man replied after a long sigh, startling Ryeowook.

"How did you get my number?" the boy froze in his seat, clutching the surrounding sheets out of automatism and silently waiting for another answer.

"I just went through the calls I received today and found yours. Don't you remember of having called me to arrange the meeting at the flower shop?"

Ryeowook lowered his tense shoulders in relief and smiled while pressing the phone at his ear. That was his mysterious waiter, the man who was able to capture nature's perfection in one simple snapshot, and he had somehow recognized him through his first sentence, because no one could be able to forget such a deep and suavely melodious voice "Oh, right" he half giggled at the recall.

"How... how are you? Are you still in?"

"I am" Ryeowook nodded.

"You need to forgive me, I don't really know what's wrong with me, but... can you come down for a while? I'm in front of the hospital..."

Ryeowook hummed and accepted, without even granting him the time to finish speaking. He had cut off the call and was savagely setting himself free as he pulled wires and tubes of the dripping IV, too unexplicably eager to meet the man again, that he forgot to wear his slippers as well.

Bare-footed, he hurried in a haze down the deserted corridors and up to the main entrance hall, pushed onto the brink of unknown, mixed feelings at the thought of meeting his bad-mannered savior for the day. He brusquely halted and his feet ceased to produce that annoying tapping sound of flesh sticking onto the spotless, marble floor, because Ryeowook was now standing a few meters away from the tall man and didn't need to hurry anymore.

The other man noticed him and uncertainly stepped forwards, giving the boy a signal for moving in the same direction. Ryeowook approached him, slowly, not realizing how or why his heart was furiously beating against his ribcage, he just knew that each step closer to that man was making it throb more and more in what he felt being an excitedly beautiful pain.

"Let's sit" the other man pointed at some chairs of a waiting area and sat next to Ryeowook.

"Why are