chapter seven: vii. released

Finally. Finally free from that dreaded hospital. Sure, I couldn’t do dance classes, and I still needed crutches, but I was glad to be out of that terrible hospital. I would probably forever smell like it, too, which made everything so much worse. Who cared, though? I was freeeee like a bird-except for the fact that I had piling homework, and that I had missed a bunch of important classes and lessons. Math .

It was okay, though, because Junmyeon had taken notes for me in math, which was basically the only class I needed to do actual homework for. For music, Kyungsoo and I had worked on it at the hospital, and Henry had also allowed us to present it later, as I had a broken leg and a fractured rib, making it extremely hard to play the guitar. Luckily, my head injury had almost completely healed. Chanyeol had helped us with the song, playing the guitar where I would normally do it, and actually suggesting a few things to go with the song that I could play.

For dance class, I was basically just going to have to watch some dance videos and write some essays about the choreography and what I thought was good and what I thought was bad (doctor’s orders, Shindong had wanted to make me stand up with my crutches and at least do the arm motions).

For English, we had gotten an essay we had to write, but I had done most of it in the hospital, and Kris had helped me for some of it. Surprisingly, Sehun had been the one to take notes in class for me about everything, which I didn’t really need because I had already learned them in Canada, but it was a sweet gesture that had me touched.

Everyone was really being a huge help to me, and I was really touched by it. Amber had cleaned up the dorm a little so that it’d be easier for me to move from place to place. She’d even bought a bunch of snacks for me to make me happy. She knew me well, even though we’d just met.

And of course, Kai insisted on carrying me from class to class if I ever saw him, so Minseok and Luhan helped me hide from him. I still visited Jongdae with the others, and it seemed that he was getting better. Well, his ribs were. His legs…

Tao would always get really worried and would be constantly texting me to make sure that I was okay, as if he was scared that I’d get abducted or something. As if. Baekhyun was always trying to make me laugh (teaming up with Chanyeol), and it usually worked. Another thing that made me smile was when I saw Lay smiling like an angel, or Kyungsoo with those wide eyes of his.

They always fought over who carried my books, as I had crutches and couldn’t exactly hold my books at the same time. They usually ended up either getting my blessing or doing rock papers scissors.

I had also finally figured out who dormed with who out of them (they were always in each other’s room for some reason…). Chanyeol and Baekhyun; Junmyeon and Kyungsoo; Tao and Kris; Minseok and Luhan; Sehun and Kai; Lay and Jongdae. It was fun visiting them, but they’d usually insist that I needed rest and that I shouldn’t be up and walking. But then I’d whack them on the shoulder and it’d all be good.

I was scarred for life when I entered Tao and Kris’s dorm.

“Hyung, shower with me!!”

My jaw dropped open. “O-oh I’m sorry I interrupted in such a private moment. Next time, I’ll knock.”

With that, I my heel and bounded to the closest room (or tried to bound-it’s hard to do so with crutches) to sit down on the bed, drop my crutches, and process what I had just heard.

It was Lay and Jongdae’s room, but since Jongdae was in the hospital, it was only Lay.

“Lay oppa, why did I just hear Tao asking Kris oppa to shower with him?!” I burst out.

Lay burst out laughing. I was so confused; was this something everyone knew the answer of except for me?

“Tao’s scared of showering alone. So he asks people to shower with him. Practically every one of us has showered with him, except for a few who always say no. Although he’ll say it’s because it’s to save time and water, it’s actually because he’s sc—”

“I AM NOT SCARED OF SHOWERING ALONE!!” The door banged open and Tao stood, glaring at Lay.

I saw Lay gulping. Was Tao angry really a scary thing? Tao was like a little baby panda that made you want to cuddle with! Not that I’d ever admit that aloud. Lay slid behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and hiding from Tao’s view.

“He knows Wushu! He’s freaking good at it too!” Lay exclaimed.

“Tao, calm down… of course you’re not scared of showering alone! You’re a manly man! Lay oppa was just kidding.” I soothed, standing up and balancing on one leg, making soothing motions with my hands.

Tao visibly relaxed, but I could still tell that he was fuming that someone could even suggest that he was afraid of showering alone.

“Is everything good between the two of you, now?” I asked, looking from Tao to Lay.

“Ye—” Lay began.

“No! But Jooeun-ah, if you hug me, then it’ll be all good!” Tao said, grinning with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. “Come here, then.” I held out my arms.

He walked over to me happily and hugged me; easily engulfing me with his larger body. Because of our height difference, my face was buried in his chest, and his arms wrapped around my head.

“Watch out for her rib and leg!” Lay called.

I could practically hear Tao glaring at Lay. “You think I don’t know that?”

“Good enough?” I asked, pulling away and trying to change the subject again.

He smiled and nodded merrily.

“Now leave Lay oppa and me alone,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He made an indignant expression, and then just pouted and left.

I sat back down on the bed, and splayed down backwards onto it-my head landing right onto Lay’s lap, as it seemed that he had sat down on the bed during all the hugging commotion. I froze in shock, unsure of what to do, but Lay just smiled.

“Um… sorry?” I said, unsurely.

“It’s okay,” he replied, taking a strand of my hair and beginning to play with it.

The dimple in his cheek was there again, and I tried to resist the urge to squish them.

Notice I say tried. I eventually lifted my arms involuntarily (okay maybe it was a bit voluntary) and squished his cheeks.

His eyes met mine in something like surprise, but he just smiled some more. This made me want to squish his cheeks even more, which I did.

Then I realized that my head was probably heavy. So I began sitting back up, but Lay just… smirked? He smirked, and held my forehead down with his index finger. I blinked a few times, trying to see if he had actually smirked. Lay, smirking. It wasn’t my imagination. It was real.

“Are you… are you smirking?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Yes… I don’t know why everyone writes me off as the angel who is not mischievous or naughty at all… I am! Sure, they call me a unicorn, but unicorns aren’t completely peaceful, unlike what people think! What do you think their horns are for, other than to stab people?” he asked, smiling a little without removing his index finger from my forehead.

“Well… I don’t know you that well yet, seeing as I only met you all like a month ago… but we’ve been through a lot together, and we’re getting to know each other better,” I started. “And I want to get to know you better. Well, I want to get to know the quiet ones better, seeing as the loud ones already blabber a lot and force me to get to know them, while you guys are quiet most of the time, or you’re doing one of those .jpg stares. But you guys are all really special and unique, and I’m learning that now, right? I won’t say that I didn’t write you off as an angel-I kind of did. But now I’ll write you off as the somewhat evil angel, and that title will keep on changing as I get to know you better. Besides, I think someone who thinks of a unicorn as someone who stabs people is kind of evil, so that sticks.”

He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back up at him. He quickly leaned down and pecked me on the forehead. My forehead was literally tingling. It was as if his lips healed my head wound completely. His lips were really soft, and I couldn’t help but knock off the evil from the angel that I had just seconds ago written him off as. He was just too sweet.

“You’re the first out of them to kiss me,” I said, shocked (and trying to resist the smile that kept on pushing its way onto my lips).

“And Jongdae’s the first one you kissed,” Lay pointed out.

“But he’s hurt! Because of me! I felt like I owed him that, at least,” I protested.

Lay smiled. “Does that mean if I get hurt for you, you’ll kiss me? Because in that case—”

“Are you CRAZY?! If you even think about doing something like that, I will personally kill you!” I exclaimed, getting up from my lying position on his lap but not being able to get up all the way because of Lay tugging on my hair to lie back down. “Are you playing with my hair to restrain me from getting up?”

I heard him chuckle. “I can’t really stop you from doing anything, you know.”

I removed his fingers from my hair and sat up properly, before turning to face him. “Well you stopped me from getting up last time with your finger!” I stuck my tongue out at him.

He grinned and stuck his own tongue out at me.

“Angelicorn,” I stated. I got up, picked up my crutches, and smirked at him. “That’s my new nickname for you. Angelicorn.” I burst into laughter and he pouted in this adorable way that made me want to chub him some more.

“Okay, I’m leaving, Angelicorn, bye!” I called as I opened the door and gave him a little wave.

He waved back, dimple never leaving his cheek. D*mn it, it should be illegal to be that cute.

I hobbled off to Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s room. It’s not like I had anything better to do and it was fun being with them, anyway.

“Jooeun-ah!” Baekhyun’s face brightened up instantly.

“Where’s Chanyeol oppa?” I asked, searching the room for him.

“He’s mad at me so he went to bother Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun stated.

“Why’s he mad at you? And why’d he go bother Kyungsoo oppa, Kyungsoo oppa’s innocent!” I exclaimed.

“Chanyeol likes to annoy Kyungsoo because Kyungsoo has a tendency to ignore Chanyeol at all times,” Baekhyun snickered.

“Well I can totally understand, Chanyeol oppa can get annoying as sh*t,” I whispered to him, both of us bursting into laughter.

I walked over to Chanyeol’s bed and jumped onto it.

“YOU HAVE A FRACTURED RIB AND A BROKEN LEG!” Baekhyun exclaimed.

I winced. I had somehow partially forgotten. And I had been holding my crutches. Not anymore, anyway, they had rolled off the bed and were lying abandoned on the ground. “Yeah… ow…”

Baekhyun got up and darted over. “Are you okay?” he asked, putting an arm around me and helping me roll onto my back and into a sitting position.

The door slammed open, and Chanyeol entered, glaring and fuming at Baekhyun, mouth open and ready to shout something at him. His face expression immediately turned into one of shock and worry as he saw me crouched over with an expression of pain on my face.

“Are you okay?” he dashed over to my other side. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“I think I’m fine… I just kind of forgot that I had a fractured rib and a broken leg and jumped onto the bed…” I chuckled slowly, before wincing because of my fractured rib.

“You babo! Why would you do something like that?” Chanyeol scolded. “That’s even stupider than something Baekhyun would do!”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun asked, ignoring Chanyeol’s insult.

“I’ll be eventually…” I wheezed. “Anyway I doubt I punctured anything… But I might have a hard time moving for a few minutes...”

Baekhyun flicked me on my forehead.

“Ow!”

“Don’t hurt Jooeun-ee more!” Chanyeol glared at Baekhyun.

“Don’t do stupid things like that! And you wonder why Tao won’t let you out of his sight…” Baekhyun grumbled, looking away.

My face softened. “I’m sorry, Baekhyun oppa. I’ll try to remember my broken leg and fractured rib next time I want to jump onto a comfy looking bed.”

“How can you even forget about something like that?” Chanyeol chided.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol helped me into a more comfortable lying position, fluffing the pillow for me.

“Thanks.” I smiled up at both of them. It was strange seeing both of them so serious compared to their normal silly immature selves.

Baekhyun ruffled my hair, smiling at me, and went off to find Junmyeon and tell him what had happened.

After Baekhyun left, Chanyeol, with his eyes full of mischievousness like usual, lay down on the right side of me, putting his arms around me.

“Chanyeol oppa!” I scolded, smiling a little. The little Skinship Monster.

“You’re comfy!” he said, nuzzling his head into my shoulder.

I wondered how odd this might look, his long legs probably extending way longer than my short ones.

The door burst open, but Chanyeol made no move to move away from me.

“Chanyeol, she might have injured herself even more!” Junmyeon chided.

“So I’m using my healing powers and healing her!” Chanyeol mumbled, snuggling even closer to me. I rolled my eyes.

“It’s Lay who has the healing powers. You, have the fire power. You’re going to burn her,” Kyungsoo said, walking over to the bed and crouching eye-level to me. “Jooeun-ah, are you okay?”

I smiled at him and nodded. “It hurt kind of a lot when I landed, but I’m sure I can move now.”

“SEE? My healing powers worked!” Chanyeol exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at Kyungsoo.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the natural human’s power to heal by itself, not your power,” Junmyeon stated simply.

“Bother someone else, grandpa!” Chanyeol grumbled, holding me even tighter to him.

“Don’t call me grandpa! I’m one year older than you! Less than one year!” Junmyeon scowled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Baekhyun asked concerned. “Is Chanyeol making it worse?”

“I told you already, I’m the skinship healer!” Chanyeol complained.

“Anyway, what’s all this with the powers? Lay has healing powers and Chanyeol has fire powers?” I asked, confused.

“Oh… that was something really stupid. When we were little, we used to play games and we all had our own individual power. Chanyeol was very feisty, and decided that the fire power was the coolest. And when people got ‘hurt,’ we needed a way for them to get better again, so we forced the job of healing to Lay hyung, because we didn’t want to have that power. He was too nice to object. And thus, he became the unicorn.” Baekhyun grinned.

Lay burst into the room. “Jooeun-ah, are you okay?”

“I would be, but this skinship monster’s killing me,” I said, pointing at Chanyeol.

“Don’t call me a skinship monster! I’m the Happy Virus!” Chanyeol pouted.

“Who gave you that name? You wreak terror and chaos into our lives!” I teased. “Now Angelicorn, can you come save me?”

Chanyeol pouted even more, sending me a glare, releasing me from his hold. “I don’t like you anymore. You even gave Lay hyung a nickname but didn’t give me one.”

“How did you know that nickname was for me?” Lay questioned.

“Who else is an angel and a unicorn?” Baekhyun asked amusedly.

“And I did give you a nickname! You’re my Skinship Monster!” I smiled gently at him, poking him on the cheek. “So don’t be angry!”

“So I’m yours?” Chanyeol smirked. “You called me your Skinship Monster!”

“I want a nickname too!” Baekhyun complained.

“You’re… Baek oppa! Because you’re old; one hundred years old,” I teased.

(a/n: In Korean, ‘baek’ means one hundred.)

“I’m not old!” Baekhyun burst out.

“Yeah, you should see him with eyeliner on,” Junmyeon said amusedly.

“YOU WEAR GUYLINER?” I exclaimed, sitting up and wincing from the sudden movement.

Chanyeol immediately sat up beside me and put his arm around me, supporting me. “Babo! Did you forget your injury again?”

“Maybe…” I smiled weakly. “I think I should go back to my room to prevent further injuries.”

“Wait, you still don’t have a nickname for Junmyeon hyung or me!” Kyungsoo said.

I smiled. “Soo oppa and… I think I need to think about Junmyeon oppa’s,” I said. “Now can someone help me get to my room?”

I slowly stood up, wincing as I bent down to get my crutches. Kyungsoo was there in an instant, picking it up for me as he looked at me with those intense doe eyes.

“Lay hyung, you’re the strongest out of us, right? Can you carry her to her room for us?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Of c—”

“I can carry her!” Minseok said, popping his head into the room. “Did she get hurt again?”

I nodded sheepishly. He chuckled. “You’re so cute, you know that?”

He walked over and lifted me with those strong arms of his. I had quickly learned that he had the strongest arms out of the group. But he let me beat him in arm wrestling. In terms of strength with legs, it was complicated. Kai was clearly the best dancer, although Lay was almost just as good, but Luhan played soccer. Kyungsoo acted tough, but in fact, he wasn’t very strong.

“Can someone carry her crutches?” he asked.

“Already on it,” Kyungsoo said, carrying my crutches and following Minseok out the door.

“Don’t get hurt even more!” Baekhyun called after us.

“Start your homework!” Junmyeon hollered.

How did he know that I hadn’t started my homework yet? I smiled. These boys knew me too well already, even though we’d only known each other for a while. At first, I’d hated them, but I’d gotten really close with them over the few days at the hospital.

A/N: So there's my chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed. :) Don't forget to comment.

~Jinny out