Chapter 26 – Madhyuk? Sadhyuk?

“Minhyuk, are you okay?”, I repeated myself, my lips as he kept staring at the spilled kimchi surrounded by red sauce.

“My h-head”, he groaned between a bunch of erratic breaths. “What are all these images?” My frown deepened as I took a careful step closer, making sure to avoid the shards of glass. “M-mom?” His eyes were wide open but his headache seemed to make him go blind nonetheless and his gaze followed something I couldn't see. It was a horrible sight.

“Minhyuk, what's wrong?”, I managed to ask, wondering if he was simulating to grab my attention, but the look of shock on his face was real, he couldn't fake that. The worst thing about this was that he wasn't smiling. Not even the hint of a smirk could be seen and it was unsettling.

“I-I didn't mean it that way!”, he screamed loudly, causing me to flinch. “I didn't want you to do that!” He had been Sangwon just minutes ago and now he was...he was... This is Minhyuk. I panicked when he raised his head to look at me with glazed eyes. “Why is she doing this?! All this blood!”

“What's happening? What do you see?”

“I can see her right there!” He grit his teeth and jerked his head to the side as if to get rid of a bug. He raised a hand to reach out for me but couldn't focus and dropped it a moment later. “I k-knew this was a bad idea.”

“What was?” I could only repeat my questions, not knowing what to do when his breathing became flat and he closed his eyes, shivers shaking his body.

“S-skipping. It hu-hurts.” He clutched at his head tearing at his hair and I looked around, hoping for some idea to come to me. Skipping what? How should I calm him down? I didn't even know what was going on, how could I- My eyes widened when I thought of something Wonho had said in the morning.

There will be a flower in your bag in case something happens. How did he know? I quickly ran through the store to grab my bag and almost screamed in relief when my fingers wrapped around a flower's slender stem. “What to do, what to do?”, I mumbled to myself, spinning the fragile plant in my hand until I remembered that you could also eat the flower in its raw state. I was saved. Once I reached Minhyuk again, I crouched down next to him and extended my hand but he tried to resist until I got a hold of his ice-cold wrist. “Minhyuk, it's me. Look”, I hissed and his big eyes stared at me as if he was having a hard time recognizing me. He then glanced at the flower in my hand for a split second.

“D-Del...”

“Yes, it is”, I confirmed with a nod and he stopped struggling in my grasp. I carefully let go of him and plucked two or three petals when his breathing sped up again and he began to look around frantically as if he was being chased by something. “Calm down”, I ordered through clenched teeth but he wouldn't listen and I grabbed his chin with my free hand to make him stay in place. “Open your mouth.”

His teeth were clattering but he obeyed and I threw the petals into his mouth in a hurry. “Chew.” A gasp escaped his lips when the bittersweet taste filled his mouth and I watched his shivers subside. “Good boy, keep chewing”, I muttered while his eyes remained fixed on me until he suddenly fell forward like a lifeless doll. He lost consciousness and I quickly reached out to support his body so that he wouldn't fall into the shards of glass.

Silence filled the room, only disrupted by our quiet breaths and I couldn't move for a few moments, unable to think of what to do next. What had just happened? I moved Minhyuk's upper body back and forced his eyelids open for a moment to find his pupils dilated while making sure his breathing remained stable. I had done everything right, he wasn't in a coma or anything, he really was just unconscious and I sighed in relief, glancing at the blue-purplish flower that was slowly being squished in my clenched hand.

“You're such a little thing and yet you have so much power, what are you?”, I whispered as I stuffed it into my pocket and slung my arms around Minhyuk's almost lifeless body to lift him up and bring him to the only chair we had in the storehouse part of the building. Being close to people was fine as long as I knew that they wouldn't move all of a sudden, so I had no bigger problems with carrying him around. Taking care of bodies is part of my job after a- No, Hyungwon, he's not a body. I did notice that he was rather thin though and wondered whether he was eating enough only to shake my head a second later to rid myself of the unnecessary thought.

There was still an hour to go until I had to turn the shop's sign to 'open' and I took my time with cleaning up the kimchi the smell of which caused my eyes to tear up. I had just thrown the last shards of glass away and leaned against a nearby table to watch Minhyuk's sunk down figure in worry when I wondered what might have caused these strange reactions. He didn't catch a cold, it wouldn't have caused him to shout stuff like a mad man.

I hesitantly reached out with my hand to touch his forehead which was burning up while his hands remained as cold as ice. “But a simple fever wouldn't trigger these random hallucinations...”, I mumbled to myself with a frown, letting Minhyuk's facial expressions pass in front of my mind's eye again. Why is she doing this?! What had he seen? All this blood! It had looked as though he was traumatized, as if it was a bad memory or something like that. A memory?

I knew this was a bad idea... Skipping. An idea sparked in my head and I took the remains of a smushed flower out of my pocket.

We tried helping Minhyuk, but he buries himself in a hole if he starts to remember. He's not strong enough to bear the story's whole weight.

I stuffed the Delphinium back into my jacket's pocket and ran a hand through my hair. He hadn't had any drugs the day before. Of course, that's what he had skipped. Why else would he remember why he had been lying next to me in the morning? Why else would he behave a little more unpredictable than usual? Why else would his body show these weird symptoms? They were all withdrawal symptoms. “You're an idiot for not getting the hints, Hyungwon.” I had to get him home somehow, but I wouldn't get to leave until three in the afternoon, so this was kind of problematic. What if he woke up in the middle of my shift? What if he was Madhyuk, to use Jooheon's term?

I heard a quiet clicking noise at the door to find my boss standing there in surprise. “Hyungwon, you're already here? Isn't it a little bit too early?”

I scratched my neck with a nod. “I couldn't sleep so I thought I could come and clean up, one of my friends even came along, but he...uhm...”

“That white-haired one?”, the old man asked and I nodded once more, biting my lip as he looked around. “Where is he?”

“That's the thing, he kind of passed out. I guess he's got a fever or something like that.” I didn't think mentioning drugs was a good idea and just pointed at the room Minhyuk was sitting in. My boss slowly walked up to him with worry on his face. “I'm sorry for the additional problems, I just didn't know where to put him until he wakes up and-”

“He needs a bed, this looks like a severe fever”, he interrupted with a sigh after inspecting the other male for a few seconds and turned around with a shrug. “You're always doing good work Hyungwon, go and get that guy home.”

“Wh-what?” My heart skipped a beat at the sudden warmth in his voice. “No way, I caused several inconveniences due to my inconsistent work hours, I can't possibly-”

“Either you take this day off or I'll fire you”, the old man chuckled and nudged my side with his elbow. “Just take him and go, it's fine. Today is a really snowy day and it's very unlikely that there'll be many customers, I'll take them on myself so you can rest assured.”

“I-” I my lips, suppressing a sigh of relief when my eyes fell on Minhyuk again. “Thank you, I'll work even harder tomorrow!”

“No worries, just make sure he'll be fine. He helped out the other day as well, he's a good guy.”

I exchanged a glance with my boss before lowering my gaze to the ground and sighing. But I'm always the bad guy. “I'll g-get going then.” The old man nodded once more before I slung Minhyuk's arms around my neck and lifted him on my back with a groan when his knee hit the bruise on my chest. “Thanks again!”, I shouted while quickly picking up my bag with my foot and leaving for Monsta X' house in a hurry.

It was only half past ten when I reached the house, banging my fist against the door since I still didn't have a key and, thankfully, Kihyun opened the door after a few tension-filled moments of silence. “Good thing you're still here, I was afraid I'd have to stay outside”, I sighed, pushing past him and up the stairs when he froze up for a moment after noticing Minhyuk. He then quickly grabbed his crutches with one hand and hobbled up the stairs behind me.

“Hyungwon, Minhyuk is-”

“-high. I know.”

“I was gonna say unconscious, but at least you know why. How?”

I impatiently waited for him to catch up at the top of the staircase, motioning him to open the door to Minhyuk's room for me to put him down on his bed a moment later. “He didn't have any yesterday, right?” I glanced back at Kihyun who frowned for a moment and I my lips. “We were at the store when suddenly he got some kind of shock. He was talking about how he could see 'her', whoever that is. Said something about his mom?”

“You gave him Delphinium, right?”

I nodded and his whole body relaxed. “Wonho seemed to know something was going to happen, he gave me a flower before he left.”

“Thank God”, the other sighed, massaging his temple with one hand. “He must have suffered. Thanks for bringing him back. You still need to work?” I shook my head, repeating the short exchange I had had with my boss and he nodded again. “We can only wait for him to wake up at the moment. Mind coming to the living room with me?”

I had my eyes glued to Minhyuk's pale face this whole time, uncomfortable with the way he looked. Like a corpse. Now now, don't exaggerate things. His breathing wasn't very deep but at least you could see his chest raise and lower a little. He'll be fine, Hyungwon. You probably look like that when you're sleeping as well. Calm down.

Kihyun cleared his throat and I forced myself to look away from the white-haired male to be able to dollow him. “H-How long will it take