“The wheelchair . I’m glad I didn’t have to use it before. It’s such a burden.” Jinyoung complained, as Youngjae and Bambam helped to lift the bulky device over our doorstep. They waved his worries aside dismissively, although I secretly knew that Jinyoung probably just detested the fact that he had lost the ability to walk by himself. Our eyes met for an instant, but he looked away before I could mouth some words of encouragement to him. I wondered how it felt, to slowly wane until you became a mere shell of yourself, hollow and void from all the things you used to be able to do. Shaking the thoughts aside, I walked straight to the kitchen to make some tea for the rest, while Youngjae began to push him across the floor, finding more ease in the rubber wheels than his own arms. Jinyoung asked if everyone could stay in his room, because it felt too empty in the living room, and of course we all agreed.

I stood idly by myself, looking at the refrigerator blankly while waiting for the water to boil. The kettle had just been placed on the fire, and it would take a few minutes before the shrill whistle would sound from the pot.

“Mark hyung, what are you doing?” Bambam greeted me while he strolled into the kitchen, his sleeves rolled up to the elbow as he opened the cupboards above him.

“Eh? Boiling some tea.”

“Oh. Jinyoung said that he was hungry. Do you think we have any biscuits left?” Bambam peered at the many cereal boxes we had, and shook them to check if they were empty.

“He likes the lemon ones. They’re in the corner, behind the box of candies.” I pointed out, after it seemed like the younger boy would never find it, even if it was right before his eyes. Easily grasping the half-opened box