Hyunseung’s POV

After searching around the house with Dujun’s support, we stopped at one of the spare rooms which was locked and we finally found out Woonie’s hiding place.

I motioned Dujun to place me near the door frame using my hand and thanking him before he left and to give us some alone time.

“Woonie?”

I called out to him as I knocked the door three times.

“...”

No reply from him, but I won’t give up and I’ll try to get him to reply to me.

“Woonie…”

I sat down on floor and rested my head on the door frame.

“You know… I already heard about Gikwangie from Dujun.”

I said in a whisper but apparently he heard it and I finally got a reply.

“You’re mad?”

“Wha-”

“You’re mad at me hyung… For breaking our promise…”

‘So it’s really about Gikwangie…’

My chest felt painful at hearing his sorrowful voice…

My Woonie may not be the happiest person alive, but he’s closer to it now than in the past.

He used to shut himself away with the reason being his ‘shyness’, I guess he hasn’t realized it yet, but he used to be such a closed off person.

But one thing’s for sure, that he’s changed and I’m glad to be able to witness it. I’m happy that I’ve got to play some part in bringing happiness to him.

To teach him how to be happy and free to express himself to others.

And I’m grateful to be the one that accompanied him all those hard times when he had his trauma, and also to be the one who’s been with him to see progression in his PTSD, which is slowly becoming less and less. And he has panic attacks less frequently than in the past.

We’ve been through a lot and for me those experiences, whether it’s the good times or the bad times, were all memorable and no money in this world can buy them.

I’ve always yearned for those things, those type of things that someone like me couldn’t buy.

And a lover is one of them…

My Woonie is one-of-a-kind and I’ll do anything for him to be happy.

“You’re right… I would probably get real mad at you Woonie. But listen to me, I’m not mad at you at all and that’s the honest truth. If there’s someone to be mad at, it should be me. I’m the one who got captured carelessly and I’m the reason that got us in this whole mess-”

“Don’t speak like that hyung!”

“Why? Am I wrong? Isn’t it the truth?”

“No! I… I…”

He stuttered briefly before continuing in a very sad tone.

“If only I didn’t open the door, they wouldn’t have gotten in. If only I didn’t shout for Gikwang-hyung, he wouldn’t have come. So don’t blame yourself hyung, it wasn’t your fault… it’s mine-”

“The hell it’s yours! Don’t blame yourself for everything!! Did Dujun or Junhyung tell you that?!”

“...no.”

“Then stop trying to put the blame on your shoulders Woonie! You’re going to end up hurting yourself.”

“...but, I opened the door-”

“Stop it! Listen to me Woonie… You did that because you were worried about me, right? And you didn’t know what was behind the door, therefore it’s not your fault, okay?”

“But- I… I…”

His voice trembled before sounds of sobbing could be heard and the door was suddenly unlocked.

And behind it stood Woonie, with his cat ears low, his tail slumped down and tears kept falling from both of his puffy brown eyes.

Instantly I was at his side, embracing him in my arms and soothing him with calming words.

“Shh, now, now… It’s okay, we’ll get him back… We’ll definitely get him back... “

Yoseob’s POV

“Hyungnim!”

Jun shouted, so filled with joy at seeing his beloved puppy that he nearly fell as he kept wobbling to where Hyungnim was hiding, which is right at the corner of the room.

I ran after him and motioned him to stay where he was as he was unable to crouch down due to his wounds, so it’s up to me to coax Hyungnim out of his hiding place.

“Hyungnimie?”

I reached out and touched his back, which was a bad move since the puppy suddenly turned and bit me...hard.

“Ouch!”

I took back my hand and found there’s a bite mark with blood trickling out but fortunately it wasn’t deep enough so it’ll heal soon.

“Seob?! Are you okay?”

Jun said, his voice was full of worry and he wanted to check on me but his leg wasn’t letting him.

“I’m okay Jun. It’s just a bite from Hyungnimie, sorry for scaring you.”

“A bite?! Hyungnim bit you?! But he never bit you… How?”

I thought about it for a while and something popped out in my mind.

“Could it be?!”

I took a closer look at the puppy and noticed that something’s strange with its left leg...it’s swollen badly.

I scanned the room for an extra emergency stretcher Doo has, I spotted one, but unfortunately we ran out of the wheeled one, so we got to carry Hyungnim by ourselves.

I grab it from the shelves and pulled out the retractable handles before I ran to the puppy’s side and back to crouching down.

“Jun can you hold this?”

He nodded and grabbed the handles on the other end while I slowly moved Hyungnim onto the stretcher, before heaving the stretcher up.

With great effort, we finally we succeeded in arriving at the operating room and placed Hyungnim on the bed.

But that’s not the end of it, I dashed to the kitchen to find a handkerchief I could use and placed a liberal amount of ice cubes in it before I went back to the room and motioned Jun to compressed the puppy’s swollen leg with it while I searched for Doo.

Thankfully I found him right away as I saw him going down the stairs and immediately I grabbed his hand and bring him into the operating room.

“Wha- Hyungnim?! How-”

“He has a dislocated leg Doo and it’s swelling so bad, hurry!”

He nodded before motioning Jun to go wait outside as he starts to work on checking the puppy’s swollen leg.

But Jun looked pretty spaced out, so I helped the poor guy out and accompanied him outside.

‘I’m sure Doo could do well by himself, but I’m not so sure about Jun.’

We both went to sit on the sofa beside a sleeping Jihoon-hyung and saw both Hyunseung and Dongwoon walking down the stairs giggling to themselves.

And when both of them saw Jun’s state, they ceased their giggles and went to check on him.

Jun won’t speak a word and looked at the floor while Hyunseung and Dongwoon bombarded me with questions.

“Yah! One at a time!”

I shouted and pushed both of them away before dragging them away to another room to give them the explanations they wanted.

Junhyung’s POV

‘I hope Hyungnim’s alright. I hope hyung’ll wake up soon. And I… I hope Kwangie’s here...with me.’

My thoughts kept repeating over and over again, like a mantra in my head then out of nowhere someone shook my shoulders while yelling my name, telling me to get a grip of myself.

To my surprise, it’s no other than Jihoon-hyung.

“H-Hyung?”

“So now you finally realized my existence eh? What’s the long face for Jun?”

He said as he ruffled my hair, but he suddenly stopped and held his head with his hand.

“Hyung?! Are you okay?!”

He took a deep breath and exhaled it before nodding, indicating he’s fine.

“Wait a minute hyung, I’ll get you some aspirin.”

I slowly got up but was dragged down to my seat by Jihoon-hyung.

“Why-”

“What happened to your leg?!”

“Oh, this? I got shot-”

“What?! By who- It’s Joon, isn’t it?”

I nodded grimly before looking over to him and saw a mix of anger and sadness in Jihoon-hyung’s expression, then it turns to sadness completely.

“Hyung?”

“Sorry Jun. It’s my fault, all of this mess...it’s because of me.”

“Wha- That’s ridiculous hyung! Don’t joke around-

I stopped at seeing the seriousness on his face.

“I’m not joking Jun.”

“Then how?”

“I’ll tell you all of it. The truth. All you want to know, all of it. But, are you sure you could handle it?”

“Why are you talking like-”

“Don’t change the topic!”

“Sorry hyung… It’s just, we don’t have the time to be doing this conversation right now. I… I’m sorry hyung.”

“Is it about Gikwang? Did Joon take him?”

“H-How did you know hyung?”

“I’ve expected this to happen sooner or later. We’ll continue this later. First of all did you know where Joon’s car heading to?”

“No…”

I said dejectedly, but instead of frustration or anger, my hyung just ruffled my hair and smiled reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this. Gather the guys, will you Jun?”

I nodded in affirmation as I stand up and waddled away to find my comrades.

“Hyung!”

The maknae called before he went to grab my shoulder, helping me walk into the operating room, where all the guys are in.

“How’s Hyungnim?”

“Thankfully it’s a minor subluxation and I’ve wrapped him with cold bandages to reduce the swelling. He’ll be okay. I’ve called Eunkwang to come and check on him, just to be sure that is, not that my skill isn’t enough but it’s best to check with his veterinarian right?”

“Thanks, I owe you Yoon Du.”

“Don’t mention it buddy. Anyway why did you look like you’ve run a marathon?”

“I’ve been searching you guys up and down the house! Thank god I’ve found the maknae when he’s walking out of the room!”

“Hehe, you’re glad I’m hungry huh hyung?”

“Yeah, as if!”

“Don’t bicker, what’s the matter Jun?”

Yoseob asked, with seriousness all over his face.

“Talk later, my first priority is to bring you guys to meet Jihoon-hyung.”

“He’s awake?!”

“Uh-huh. It’s a relief. We just need to get Gikwang back now… so follow me!”

I said, motioning the maknae to let me go as I tried to fend for my own.

I’ve got to at least be able to use my leg to get Gikwang back.

‘I will get you back Kwangie. Wait for me. I’ll bring you home and... I won’t ever let your hand go again.’