“Hyukjae-shi look, the weather is so nice isn’t it? It’s warm and bright, just like you,” he mused with a big smile brighter than the afternoon sun.

“Hmm,” he merely replied with a hum, not nearly impressed by the cheesy line.

“It’s rare to see you looking at me and not retorting back to what I said, is today my lucky day?”

“Hmm.”

“But I’d like to hear you answer me rather than a simple half-hearted hums, why not let me hear your beautiful voice Hyukjae-shi?”

“Donghae-shi, are you getting paid for saying all those cheesy lines to me? Or is that you being the writer you are?” he eventually answered impatiently, seeing as the author only getting cheesier when he decided to be quiet.

“No, I just missed you since I can only see you in the weekend,” he answered almost too happy with gleaming eyes.

“Hmm,” he hummed again as an answer.

“Why are you here though, Hyukjae-shi?”

He shrugged, “I want to know too, I was only being dragged by Sungmin saying that I should go outside but somehow he always come to see your progress and somehow, again, you dragged me out while he’s checking your work. And here I am, not knowing why I’m even following you, making sure the incident from two weeks ago didn’t happen again.”

“Are you talking about the incident where I almost break my neck because my feet slipped?” he asked with gaping mouth and wide eyes.

“You were asking for it, standing on the rail like that when you barely able to balanced yourself.”

“But by standing there I could see the city better from high, and the beauty of it tenfold by taking the risk,” he said with deep voice and a pretty smile trying to making point of each of his words.

“Still, it was stupid, idiot even.”

Donghae couldn’t help to giggle, with a warm and teasing voice he said, “at least you care.”

Hyukjae rolled his eyes tiredly at that.

He blinking his eyes slowly since it’s too hard for him to do just that. He heard a voice, familiar voice calling him but it sounds far away, muffled and blurry. But then gradually the voice and his sight getting clearer and he knew who it was.

“Donghae, hey,” the man called with a smile when he saw Donghae opening his eyes, “listen, we’re going to bring you to hospital okay? Your fever hasn’t going down for a three hours now even after the medicine, so we decided to take you to hospital. Right now your dad getting the car ready.”

The feverish man slowly parting his lips, trying to voice out his question, but his body was so weak that all could come out was only silent mumbles.

“What is it? Do you need something?” the man leaned down to hear better of what the other is saying.

“…Hyukjae… Hyukjae… I… want…”

The other then smiled trying to assure the sick man, “your mother called him already, it’s okay, you’ll be fine.”

At that Donghae closed his eyes and letting himself being claimed by darkness again.

--

“No, no, no, you don’t get it!”

“Hyukjae calm down, have you asked what is his illness? Maybe he’s just having a light cold,” Jongwoon said trying to reason with the panic man who’s packing his luggage in a high speed.

“Even a light cold is dangerous for him now! No, I have to go back fast, I have to- , is there a flight at this time? Damn, how many longer should I wait? Maybe there is still a flight, no I should check it first. If there aren’t then I’ll be  going by train,” he keep muttering in panic, walking back and forth trying to pack faster but instead nothing truly done due to his agitated state.

Jongwoon took a deep breath before continuing his effort to calm the man down, “Hyukjae, you’re not helping anyone right now! Calm the down!”

The said man flinched at the raised voice, staring to Jongwoon in mild shock before gulping and realizing his own foolish nervous state.

“Okay, I understand that you’re worried about your husband, I get it. But, you’re here for work, you can’t just leave without saying anything. First, calm yourself because doing anything in panic state won’t resolve anything. Second, you have to go to Siwon, tell him the situation, he’s your boss and maybe he could help you with a plane ticket now. And for all we know your husband could be fine right now, I know you’re worried but the fact that you’re dealing it this badly makes me wonder why,” Jongwoon said in a soft calming tone before motioning Hyukjae to go on.

When Hyukjae able to  more or less calming down, he immediately go to Siwon to explain everything.

“I need to go back, he’s sick and I’m worried sick,” he informed effectively to Siwon and the latter could only nodded after seeing the pale face of Hyukjae.

“You can go, I’ll help you with the ticket. But this work… this work need to be done by you. I know how crucial it is when you said he’s sick considering his condition right now, and I understand very well how much you’re worried about him. But for the meeting tomorrow it need you to be there and I’m sorry for that.”

Hyukjae clenching his jaws painfully hard, understanding the consequences he’s taking right now. Slowly with closed eyes he nodded.

“I’ll try to postpone it to the evening, I can’t move it further to another day, you know that. This is a big project which we –mostly you- have been working on for so long, the one that will be the key for your returning. Think carefully Hyukjae,” Siwon added cautiously and reluctantly as he don’t want to make the man’s burden any heavier.

“I know Siwon, I understand…” he said firmly.

“I’m sorry Hyukjae… I-“

“You’ve done much Siwon, thank you,” he patted the taller man’s shoulder before walking away to prepare himself, leaving Siwon and Jongwoon alone at the former’s room. He need to be quick, after all he only got about 16 hours before he have to be back for the meeting.

“I still don’t understand why he’s so worried like that, I mean, I would get it if Donghae a sickly person. But as much as I know it, he’s a very healthy person so when they said he’s sick, it’s probably just some cold or some sort of it, right?” Jongwoon inquire to Siwon confusedly.

“Well, he have any reason to be worried,” he shrugged as he knew the reason why.

“What do you meant when you said ‘considering his condition’?”

Siwon halted, staring at nothing as he’s trying to think about how to answer the question, “Uh… Well, I mean he’s very lonely right now since Hyukjae is here… So, uh… His state could be… worsen?”