“Hey Mark.” Jinyoung called out, his back facing me when I looked up from the book I was reading. In all honesty, I had not been processing the words at all. The past hour or so, the paragraphs of ink had just weaved in and out of my mind, and even as my eyes scanned them, I had no idea what the book was about. I could have been reading a cooking book for all I had known, but my concentration had been focused on listening to Jinyoung’s movements without being too obvious. He wasn’t the type to easily ask for help, especially if I was constantly monitoring his every action blatantly.

“Yeah?” I walked over slowly, so he could pick up the sound of my footsteps.

“Can you… help me with this?” He finally made eye contact with me, and the shaky and child-like expression almost broke my heart on the spot. His eyes were lined with tears and shaking, and even though he had gritted his teeth in frustration, his smile was still on his lips, although his eyes were crying.

“S-sure.” I forced myself to smile back at him, pretending that all was fine when it obviously was not. I picked up the flask of water on the counter as he stepped back almost timidly, and squeezed extra tightly around the handle as I poured a glass for him because I was afraid that he would see the trembling that I failed to control.

The water spilled over the rim of the glass, but I covered it with a towel and passed the glass of water to Jinyoung, trying to maintain my expression. He took a small sip, and placed it gently back on the counter.

“Thanks. It not being able to do the simplest of things anymore.” He said aloud, dramatically falling back onto the sheets, before shifting into an upright position. He was watching me curiously, his head tilted to an angle as he slowly nodded along to my silence. Not being able to tolerate it anymore, I lightly flicked his forehead.

“What are you doing, you idiot?”

“Testing you.” He rubbed his forehead, shooting me a quick glare. “You didn’t respond.”

I shrugged my shoulders and admitted honestly, “I didn’t