My first week of life at the ward was difficult.

One, nobody told me when I started there that out of the fifteen people that stayed there full time, only three of them were straight. So on top of taking care of all the meals, and group therapy, my days pretty much went like this:

Wake up and feed patients breakfast.

Play with Wookie.

Play with Eunhyuk and Donghae.

Play with Ddangkoma because Yesung insists on bonding time.

Stop Kangin from Eeteuk.

Feed patients lunch.

Make Kibum take his meds.

Find Heebum for Heechul.

Refill Sungmin's IV.

Stop Kangin from Eeteuk.

Feed patients dinner.

Group therapy.

Make everyone go to bed.

Stop Kangin from Eeteuk.

Needless to say, I was exhausted. When I had applied for the job, I had no idea that everyone who lived at the ward was so...so crazy. Not to mention that keeping Kangin off Eeteuk was a full-time job. I sometimes actually had to dump a bucket off cold water on him to get him away, which caused Eeteuk to get wet as well so the poor guy would start crying and then I felt like . They should seriously get another person solely dedicated to that task. If I had known ahead of time how difficult it would be I probably wouldn't have wanted the job.

But Zhou Mi made it all worth it. Every night he let me sleep in his bed, despite my protests, and slept on the floor, smiling that gorgeous smile at me in the faint light coming in from the window. We sometimes stayed up for hours talking, either about ourselves or something funny that happened that day, usually something Eunhyuk and Donghae did. Zhou Mi told me once that he felt sorry for the pair. He said that he felt bad that they had to be in straight jackets all the time so they couldn't enjoy themselves properly.

I looked at him with a quizzical expression. "They why are they in straight jackets?"

He shrugged and stared at the ceiling. "I don't know. I asked Han Geng once but he just said, 'Trust me, they need them.'" He turned to look at me from his make-shift bed on the floor. "What do you think?"

I thought for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe they hurt themselves?" I suggested, at a loss.

We were quiet for a moment before Zhou Mi sat up and ruffled my hair. "You should get out of here Henry." He said softly. "You should live outside the ward so you can socialize with normal people."

I stared at him. "'Normal' people? You guys are normal. The people here are nicer to me than most people I've known in my life. With the exception of Kyuhyun and Shindong of course."

He chuckled. "I suppose, but still." He waggled his eyebrows at me, making me blush. "You need to meet someone new as well. Someone who can make you happy."

I blinked, a little taken aback. I was saddened as I remembered that he had no idea how I felt about him. In all the craziness of settling in here, I had got caught up in the peaceful nightly chats and read a little into it. I yawned, and rolled over, ignoring his question and pretending to fall asleep. But I just spent the next couple hours staring at the wall and feeling sorry for myself.

So, those thoughts were running through my head the next day when I was watching Eunhyuk and Donghae play just after dinner, Eeteuk sitting beside me with a nonchalant smile on his face.

"No." He said suddenly drawing my attention. I turned my head to look at him, only to see a faraway look in his eyes as he talked to himself. "I think we should wait until he talks to us first." I tilted my head, wondering if they were talking about me. He went on after a moment. "I don't want to, it's none of our business! I don't want to push him."

"Um, Eeteuk?" I said, causing him to snap back to reality and look at me, the innocent smile still on his face. "There something you want to ask me?"

He fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt, sheepishly looking at me through his bangs. "Well, we were wondering if there was something you want to talk about. Since you look so sad."

"We?"

"Yeah, the voices and I." He replied.

I sighed. Nothing really surprised me anymore after living here. "Well...there's this guy..."

"You mean Zhou Mi right?"

My head whipped around so fast my neck popped. "What?! How did you know that?!"

"We see everything." He said mysteriously, freaking me out a bit. I watched him with wide eyes. "So talk to us, we are EXCELLENT at keeping secrets." He grinned at me hopefully.

"O-Okay then..." I stuttered, a little thrown off. "I like him, but he doesn't feel the same way. Its nothing special, I'll get over it eventually." Eeteuk watched me for a few moments without saying anything. I was about to write it off as he was just talking to himself again when he spoke up.

"The others want to know how you know he doesn't like you."

"Well, one, he doesn't treat me any differently than he treats anyone else. Two, he told me that I should leave and date someone special, and lastly, I'm pretty sure he's straight." I answered, feeling down since I had finally said it all out loud.

Eeteuk giggled a little and affectionately punched my shoulder. "Oh he's gay. Don't let him fool you. And he does treat you differently Henry, you just don't see it because you don't know how he used to be."

"How did he used to be?"

"He used to be a patient here because he was socially withdrawn, and he still hasn't gotten close to anybody here like he is with you. The fact that he is letting you stay in his room is amazing."

I looked up at him in surprise. "Zhou Mi? Socially withdrawn?" I snorted in disbelief. "But he's so cheerful and friendly!"

Eeteuk smiled and patted my cheek. "To you." He replied, standing up and making his way over to the TV, sitting down and watching the program with Eunhyuk and Donghae.

All of a sudden, a curious figure appeared from the third hall, clad in all black and squinting furiously at the light. I paled as he glared around the room, ignoring the people watching TV and freezing his gaze on me, his icy eyes making me shiver in fear. When he stalked over to me, his fists so clenched that it looked as if his knuckles would split from the pressure, I prayed for Zhou Mi to pop up out of nowhere like he had a habit of doing to rescue me. But, of course, he didn't. Which led to me cowering before Kyuhyun's threatening stare, actually fearing for my life.

"U-Um, yes K-Kyuhyun?" I stuttered, leaning away from him. "Is there something you, um, you need?"

He furrowed his brow even more, a vein visibly popping out on his neck. "I would like to know why there is incessant screaming coming from next door." He growled. "I'm trying to relax and the ing noise is distracting me, and I would like it to stop."

I gulped. "W-Well, I'll have Geng or Zhou Mi check it out as soon as possible."

"Wrong." He snarled, grabbing my collar and dragging me in the direction of his hallway. "Fix it. Now." I yelped as he pulled me along, tripping over myself as I tried to regain my balance. If he hadn't had an iron grip on my shirt I surely would have fallen. Little tears sprung to my eyes as he yanked me in front of Sungmin's door, my throat bruising from his ministrations. I faintly felt his fingernails dig into the skin around the base of my neck and where my shoulder began, but I was too caught up in the threatening atmosphere. There were sobs and yells coming from the other side of the door, as was expected from a detoxing heroin addict. My hand trembled as I wrapped my fingers around the door knob.

"U-Um, I don't think that I c-can do anything a-about it..." I choked out, my throat closing due to fear. "H-He's detoxing..."

"I don't care." His deep voice rumbled from behind me. "Make him shut up." Silently, I pushed open the door, revealing it's occupant to be bawling, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. He was drenched in sweat, his hair tousled from thrashing, and blood trickled from his clenched fists from his fingernails digging into his palms. I gasped when I saw this, forgetting about the ominous person behind me, and flew over to the side of the bed, gently prying open his fingers to see bloody cuts all over his palms. "Oh my God, Sungmin!" I exclaimed, placing a hand over my mouth as he continued to cry.

I turned around to yell for Zhou Mi when I noticed Kyuhyun, frozen in the doorway, his eyes open wide and his face empty of all the rage that had been there before. It was as if someone had hit him over the head with a bottle full of nice. But when Zhou Mi and Eeteuk came crashing into him, the anger was back.

"Henry!" Eeteuk squeaked, seeing me unharmed. "Oh thank God! We were so worried when Kyuhyun just dragged you off, so we got Zhou Mi to help you!"

Zhou Mi was glaring at Kyuhyun, receiving the same look back, but when he heard his name he snapped to attention. "Henry, right sorry, are you okay?" He said as he came to my side, his hands going to my shoulders as he inspected me. I nodded and then showed him Sungmin's hands, at which he gasped. "I'll go get the first aid kit." On his way out the door he glared at Kyuhyun again, who watched our exchange with a look of disinterest. "Don't move Cho." He snapped.

Kyuhyun huffed and crossed his arms, leaning against the doorjamb. "I just wanted some peace and quiet." He said to Zhou Mi and Eeteuk's retreating figures. He turned his head to look at me, making me jump, and walked over to beside me, staring down at Sungmin's hands. "Who is this?"

I stared up at him in surprise, receiving a look that made me shudder. "His name is Lee Sungmin, he's getting over a heroin addiction."

He didn't say anything, just looked up to the tear-stained face. Then, surprisingly, he knelt down next to me and took Sungmin's hand from mine, examining the cuts. I watched his face carefully, afraid he might hurt him, and saw that his eyes were gentle and his face relaxed. "I like him." He murmured so softly that I almost didn't hear. Almost. He seemed to realize this a second later, because he whipped his head around to stare me down. "If you ever tell anyone what I just said then I will kill you with my bare hands and stuff your body in my closet."

I refrained from pointing out that he didn't have a closet and instead nodded quickly, acting as natural as possible when Zhou Mi returned alone with the first aid kit. Kyuhyun immediately stood up and left, the door to his room slamming shut with enough force to rattle the walls. "What was that about?" Zhou Mi asked, kneeling where Kyuhyun just was and handing me the first aid kit.

I shrugged innocently and pulled out the antiseptic wipes. I looked up at Sungmin's face and smiled gently. "This is going to sting, bear with it for a moment." I said softly before dabbing the cuts with the wipe, trying to ignore the cries of anguish that resulted. After a few moments his wails turned to small, quiet whimpers, making it a fast process since he stopped trying to yank his hands away.

Zhou Mi wiped the sweat off his forehead with a cloth on the bedside table. "You know, you're great with the patients...most of them that is." He added, referring to Kyuhyun.

I chuckled as I wrapped the bandages around Sungmin's palms. "Don't worry about it, he's just cranky."

"You could say that." He mused, cleaning and wrapping his other hand for me. We stood up to leave and made our way carefully to the hall, closing the door behind us, and I winced as a small pain shot up my neck. Zhou Mi stopped me instantly. "He hurt you didn't he?" He asked worriedly, his fingers dancing over the skin on my neck and making me blush. I swallowed thickly as I looked into his deep eyes and shook my head, trying to pull away from his hold.

"N-No, I'm fine." I mumbled. But then I winced again as I attempted to turn my head, and Zhou Mi frowned and started pulling me by the wrist off to our room.

"He did, I knew it." He said quietly as he sat me down on the bed in our room and tilted my chin up gently. "Don't lie to me anymore okay?" He murmured, sitting beside me and leaning close to me to inspect the marks where Kyuhyun's nails had scratched me. I bunched the fabric of my jeans in my fists, inhaling the scent wafting up from his hair and tried not to let my thoughts get away from me. He was so close, close enough to feel his breath on the skin of my throat. His fingers gently pulled the collar of my shirt down to show the marks on the back of my neck and it took ever ounce of my willpower to hold back the shiver caused by the light tickling sensations. Zhou Mi lifted his head and looked at me, our faces mere inches apart. We stared at each other for a moment, my cheeks red and eyes wide, unmoving. I was positive he was going to kiss me. I mean, that look he was giving me-

"Turn around so I can put some band aids on these." He said, leaning back to pull a small stack of them out of the first aid kit. My face fell and I shifted on the bed so my back was to him, hanging my head. A moment later I felt him pulling my collar down again to put little band aids on the scratches, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the feeling of his fingers on my skin again. Once he was done he smiled and patted my shoulders softly. "I'm going to get you some ice for your neck, I'll be right back."

I stared down at my hands after he left, trying to will away my feelings. He didn't like me, I was sure of it. And sure, I may have been sad about it, but that's not what was bothering me at that particular moment. What was bothering me was that he was almost stupid for not seeing that I liked HIM. How obvious could I be? I blushed every time he looked at me, he caught me staring at him all the time, and I stuttered when I talked to him sometimes. If someone acted like that with me then I would know right away. So how did he NOT notice?

When he returned he closed the door behind him and handed me a cold compress. "Here, you can sleep with this behind your neck. It should feel better by the morning." He smiled at me and sat down on the floor, pulling his blanket over his knees. I smiled weakly at him and laid down with the compress under my neck, covering myself up as well.

"Thanks Zhou Mi." I said, closing my eyes and willing sleep to come quickly.

"Oh, no need to thank me." He chuckled, laying back on his pillow. "You're like the cute little brother I never had, it feels nice to be needed."

My eyes flew open at his words. Brother. An unidentifiable emotion washed over me. One that filled me up with confusing things and left me wide awake, unable to keep my eyes closed for longer than it took to blink. It was too cruel, but I couldn't even cry about it.

At least he thought I was cute.

This was a day late, sorry! My grandparents don't have internet and I've been at their house for the holiday so...yeah. Enjoy! Keep the comments coming, I love hearing what my readers think about the chapters!!