*This scene takes place during the painful Wonshik-gets-whipped scene*

The weather definitely started getting to him, the cold nipping at his fingers that were very much exposed to the brisk wind of the oncoming winter. Bringing his hands to his mouth, he breathed warm puffs of air onto his frozen digits as he walked up the slope towards his house.

He always wondered why his parents had picked to live somewhere so uphill, the walk back home from school every day made his calves burn in agony. Usually he would have Wonshik as company but the said male had texted him that he was going to stay behind in school for some extra lessons and that seemed pretty normal.

Wonshik was always the kind to work harder than the average person, so Hongbin just texted a short OK and headed on home himself, kind of missing the noisy atmosphere that would always come together when both of them were together.

Though the silence was a nice change for once, letting him have the liberty of his own thoughts. Some peace and quiet and time to think about this thing he was feeling whenever he was near Wonshik. Whenever they became a little bit too close physically, he would feel uncomfortable but in a good way, his face always unnaturally warm like it was slowly becoming now.

He tried to blame it on the cool wind that had just slammed into his face but he knew it had nothing to do with the warmth that filled his cheeks. Feeling like his mind was going in circles and his very much freezing off with the minimal fabric of his school pants to protect it, he decided to go take refuge in the nearby café, the one his sister always visited.

It was tiny in comparison to the typical cafés around the neighbourhood, large enough to fit around ten tables but it definitely felt cosier, more human-friendly than others. When he stepped in, warm air greeted him and he immediately sighed in content as he shut the door to prevent any of the hot air to escape.

The café was barely occupied, only a couple of schoolgirls and a table with a young couple, which made Hongbin feel a wave of relief. The lesser people the better, so he could assess this issue of Kim Wonshik over a nice cup of hot cocoa, coffee never being his forte unlike his sister who would down cup after cup, not sure for the effects to keep her awake or just pure addiction.

He walked up to the counter, his eyes landed on the young male there, arranging coffee cups neatly, most likely out of boredom.

“Hi, Jaehwan. I would like to order.” Hongbin spoke, which made the honey-blond male jump slightly but the moment he laid eyes on the younger male he gave him a bright smile.

“Hey Hongbin. Didn’t hear you come in. What would you like?” Jaehwan replied, his bright and bubbly attitude gave Hongbin the urge to smile back, almost as wide as he did.

“Just a regular hot cocoa. It’s starting to get really chilly out there I needed something to warm up.”

“Coming right up.” Jaehwan perked, his hands moving to prepare Hongbin’s order like he was a well programmed machine, “So it’s been a while since you’ve stop by, Binnie. What have you been up to? Where’s your friend – what’s his name – Wonshik?” Jaehwan asked, his hands still moving even while he was talking.

Hongbin straightened at the nickname, he hadn’t been called that by anyone except for his sister, not even Wonshik and he definitely didn’t want Jaehwan to be calling him that.

“Yeah, school’s been hard. Exams and stuff. Wonshik’s still in school, he’s taking some extra lessons so it’s only me today.” Hongbin casually replied, grabbing a seat near the counter to wait for his drink.

“Oh school. Never liked it.” Jaehwan mused, placing the steaming cup of liquid in front of Hongbin, which the younger immediately wrapped his fingers around, sighing in contempt at the warmth that greeted his frozen digits. “You have to pay for that you know.”

“And here I thought being the younger brother of my sister was enough to get me a free cup of cocoa.” Hongbin sighed again, fishing out his wallet to pay for his drink.

Jaehwan gave a forced laugh, “Ten percent of that cocoa goes to my salary so yeah, you don’t get to rip me off. Not even Hyebin noona gets it for free.”

Hongbin made an exasperated noise before fishing out the notes to pay for the drink when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Setting down a twenty dollar note, he stuffed his hand down his pockets again to fish out his phone.

And when he saw who the caller was his face scrunched up in confusion.

Sanghyuk? Why would he call me?

Sliding his finger across, he brought the phone to his ear, only to be greeted by the younger’s uneven breathing.

“Sanghyuk?” he spoke and when Sanghyuk replied him through the phone, he felt fear rise up in his gut and then it was quickly replaced by cold rage. His grip tightening on his phone.

“I’m going to kill him.” Was all he could hiss out before he ended the call and rushed out of the café, leaving behind his untouched drink and a very flabbergasted Jaehwan.

*****

“Taekwoon?” she spoke through the phone, her fingers shaking as she drove out of the hospital’s parking lot.

Silence greeted her but she continued anyway, knowing that they hadn’t spoken since the fight that night but she didn’t know who else to call and she was shaking like crazy.

“Taekwoon, its Wonshik. Sang- Sanghyuk called and said he’s unconscious and bleeding. We need to help him.” Hyebin spoke again, her voice shaking as she pulled up to the front entrance of the hospital.

“Hongbin’s there too.”

But there was still no response from the male and Hyebin felt frustration and anger rise in her, if he wasn’t going to help then she wasn’t going to waste precious time waiting for him to answer but bef