"How are you?" He laughed bitterly at the rhetorical question. He hummed in response and gestured for her to come to him. He made space for her to sit on the hospital bed. She sat on the vacant spot he made on the bed. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes because she knew. She knew. The gentle whirring of the ceiling would have seemed non existent to other people, but to her, it was deafening and it started to consume her piece by piece. She felt choked up, as if asphyxia had consumed her entire being. She bit her lip and fixed her sight on the off-white wall in front of her, refusing to make eye contact as she could feel his eyes on her as her back faced him. After what seemed like an eternity, he gently took her hand which pulled her out of her reverie, if you could even call it that. He started tracing the veins on the back of her hand with his calloused fingers. Though rough in appearance, they were soft to touch. He lazily drew circles on the back of her hand, giving his focus and undivided attention to the structure of her hand. She looked down to see her hand enveloped in his. She her lips and sighed.

Moment of truth.

"Minho." she croakily said, 

"I can't do this anymore, Minho. It isn't right, it's hurting you and it's hurting me too." he abruptly stopped his actions but he still had her hand in his and continued to fix his sight on her hands. He couldn't bear to look into her eyes because he knew. He knew. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she finally looked at him when he stopped. She could see the the pain and the sorrow he tried to hide. She could she right through him and she hated herself for it. He was aware of it and he knew for he hated himself for it too.

"Minho, I-"

"What are we? What do we have?" he uttered. Upon hearing his voice, she didn't know what to feel. Was she relieved that he gave her a worded response? Or was she worried about what he had to say? 

"Minho, listen to me. I care for you. Believe me, I really do but-"

"But what? What else do you have to say? You know what? Forget it, don't answer that. I think you've made your point clear enough. I understand so you can leave now if you want." he smiled bitterly before releasing her hand and she frowned at the loss of touch and warmth that previously engulfed her hand.

"Min-"

"Leave, please." he said almost pleadingly. He had no energy for any of this. He turned his back to her and shut his eyes, ignoring her presence as much as he could along with signifying the end of their conversation. 

She knew.

She sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. She kissed him on the temple of his forehead before making her way out of the room. She halted her steps as her hand made contact with the metal doorknob. 

"I'm sorry." with that, she left the room. Minho released the breath he was subconciously holding and a lone tear travelled down his cheek when he heard the sound of the door being closed. He turned and laid on his back before clenching his fists in sadness, anger, frustration and confusion.

"So am I."