Chen's POV

"You've worked hard!" The choreographer said to us as we finished another dance practice session. With EXO's recent comeback, we've been spending a lot of time practicing the dance, making sure that every second and every detail was perfection. It was a lot, with our current album and follow up song, in addition to a couple of solo tracks, but it wasn't so bad.

I walked to the side, grabbing my water bottle and my towel. Walking out of the dance studio, I took a big gulp of water, trying to cool down before heading to the practice rooms for the rest of the day to practice the vocal rifts before recording. EXO-M was finished schedules for the day, so I took my time, walking the long way by choosing the stairs instead of the elevator. Once I reached the right floor, I started slowly walking, almost loitering in the halls.

As I neared the recording studios, I started hearing sounds, gradually getting louder until I could distinguish them as voices. Voices of trainees. Today must be their one of their lessons in the recording studio where they'd learn how everything worked and try out recording songs as well. I still remembered all of those moments like they happened just yesterday.

Pulling me out of my thoughts, I heard some unsteady footsteps coming from behind me, and turned around to see a girl stumble out of the recording studio. I stopped mid-stride, waiting to see if she was okay. When I saw her hold onto the wall for help, my legs automatically carried me in her direction before I even realized it.

Suddenly, my blood froze still. My heart seemed to speed up a thousand times as I slowly recognized her. That small face, long shiny hair, and petite height couldn't have belonged to anyone else. It was her- Rachel. 

I ran towards her as fast as I could as she abruptly collapsed, shivering on the floor. No, this couldn't be happening. 

"Rachel? Rachel, are you alright?" I kneeled down beside her, my anxiety spiking. I brushed the strands of her hair back and pressed a hand to her forehead, burning to the touch. She definitely had a high fever and needed medical attention. 

"I-" She whispered, but then went completely still. 

"Rachel? Rachel, answer me!" I shook her gently, willing her to wake up. "This cannot be happening."

I quickly put an arm under her upper body, and another under her legs, scooping her up. She felt as light as a feather as I began running down the hall towards the elevators to go to the clinic that was a few floors below us.

Please let her be okay. 
 

The colours of the sky streaked in bright yellows, pinks, and everything in between. They spun around, forming a kaleidoscope of various shades around me. Seas, skies, and ground were all mixed together, a misty fog taking over and hazing the view. The heat made me shiver, the silence in the atmosphere deafening. I was dancing, across a red floor dressed in red shoes, shoes that wouldn't stop dancing.

But it was tiring, oh so tiring.

Everything was spinning; my body spinning in its dance, the earth spinning on its axis, tumbling into a disillusion of up and down, sky and ground. Soft dewy grasses turned into moist sandy beaches with low tides rising and falling which then changed into heavy storms in rough seas, the water pulling me down deep below the surface.

It was a strange sort of peace, one all too chaotic yet serene, and it all formed a blur in front of me. I danced through stages upon stages, audience after audience.

"Fever... low blood pressure...malnutrition...over-exhaustion... dehydration...lack of sleep"

I slowly pulled out of my sub consciousness as I woke up. Where was I? 

I opened one eye slightly and saw a giant blur of white. As if my mind still hadn't quite pulled out of my dreams, I felt that sense of serenity. Maybe I shouldn't worry about where I was, because at least here, I get a break from my lessons.

As things started coming into focus, I saw a thin tube sticking out from my arm, and some other wires attached to various places. There was a constant beeping sound in the background.

What happened?

I tried turning my head to widen my field of vision. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit me, and I closed my eyes, groaning.

"She's awake," a voice said quietly. I heard two sets of footsteps coming towards me and I opened my eyes again. 

When my vision cleared, I noticed that I was lying on a hospital bed, and there was an IV drip in my arm. The dim lights cast a faint yellow glow on the pure white walls, and the blinds were closed, making me guess that it was night time. 

"H-how long have I been here? What happened?" The peace that I felt mere seconds ago abruptly disappeared, leaving me alone with the anxiety of missing my classes. If it was already night time, then I would've missed my Korean class and vocal class, and my teacher would most definitely kill me. She already hated me. I barely heard the beeping sound in the background speed up. 

"Shh...don't worry," a voice said gently. "I took care of those for you. You have the focus on getting better first."

I took a deep breath then I saw him- Chen. My breath caught just as I heard the monitor in the background speed up even more. It was a good thing that I was already worked up from panicking about my classes so that no one would suspect think that my pulse was speeding up for any other reasons. 

Calm down. Breathe.

Chen's lips were set in a worried frown, the corners not curving up in their usual way. It didn't suit him, not when he's so bright and positive all the time. I hadn't even realized how much I missed seeing that vibrant smile, lighting up the few days I actually saw him.

He leaned towards me and pulled up a chair, sitting beside my hospital bed, brushing strands of hair out of my face. The doctor silently stepped out of the room, giving us some time alone, though I wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing or not. 

"How are you feeling?" He asked, those warm chocolate eyes focused, clear, and so, so deep.

"A bit dizzy. Better though, I guess. But what happened? I don't really remember anything." My gaze flickered away off to the side, breaking the eye contact before he might accidently find something in mine.

Breathe.

"I think your group had a lesson in the recording studio, and then I found you as you collapsed, so I brought you here right away." 

I think I must've lost my jaw, as the heart monitor beeped irregularly a couple of times in the background. He was the one who found me and brought me here? And, he saw me like that? I tried to hide my face as it heated up, and I looked away, anywhere but at him.

Breathe.

"Well, thank you..." I managed to get out.

He sighed softly, resting his chin atop his arms on the bar of my hospital bed. "Training can be really hard. You have all this dance to practice, singing, extreme diets, and even more exercise on top of that. It can be tough." 

"You're lucky you only had to train for a few months." I said weakly, grimacing.

"Don't worry, you'll improve soon. It does get easier, trust me. You have to stay strong." He ruffled my hair as I looked at him warily. "Rachel, I'll always be here for you." He whispered gently.

Our eyes locked, and it was like time froze. There was nothing else but us and the deafening silence that filled the room.

At that moment, I suddenly couldn't tell what it was; maybe the drugs in my system, the world still spinning slightly around me, or maybe...just maybe, it was real?

I could see his gaze filled with such care, the way it radiated with his every gesture, every smile. The meanings once hidden, now so apparent in this one instant, blink and it'd be gone, missed.

But it was so easy to forget... it seemed to be getting easier and easier to forget...

But maybe, just maybe, I wanted to forget, I wanted to pretend. Even if it was for a millisecond, the rise and fall of an action potential, the breaking and forming of chemical bonds, the duration of tiny grace notes hidden by important melodies. Even if it wasn't me. 

Suddenly, his phone rang and that broke the calm atmosphere. He checked the number before giving me an apologetic look and reluctantly left to answer the call.

"Yobseyo?" 

"Were you with her just now?" The person on the other end of the line said in Chinese.

"Yes, she just woke up actually," Chen replied.

"Is she well enough to go to her lessons for tomorrow?" It was probably my manager. I assumed that tomorrow would be Saturday, so my training lessons would start early in the morning.

"Are you kidding me? She's in no state to be going anywhere, unless it's to the actual hospital. She needs to rest." Chen said in a low voice, sounding almost angry. I had never seen him angry before, and this would have to be the closest. "And also, those trainees' diets are much too extreme. Rachel was already super thin and now this intense diet and exercise is only going to wreck her health. Look, she's already here from overworking." He paced quickly around the small room, running his hands through his hair roughly.

There was a silence on the other end. 

"I'll see what I can do. But Chen..." my manager paused, the stillness heavily hanging in the room again. "Why do you care about her so much?" 

This was another one of my 2013 chapters but I edited it from cringeworthy to something that I quite like ~~
(did I kill y'all with feehrls)

Anyway!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BELOVED VOCALIST <3 KEEP SMILING AND SHINING BBY <3