The hospital waiting room was filled with a heavy blanket of silence after the members who had to return to the dorm left. They all wanted to stay, of course, but the management would not let them. "Your dance instructor is available tomorrow morning, and the members who haven't got this dance down will have to practice tomorrow. Go to sleep, you'll see him tomorrow after your schedule."

Even though they knew their schedule wouldn't end till far past the visiting hours in the hospital, they had no choice but to leave, waving goodbye to the lucky 4 dancers who were allowed to stay. 

They waited. Minseok paced back and forth, and the rest sat in the hard, plastic chairs. 

When the silence grew unbearable, Lay stood up. "What do you guys want to drink, I'll go to the coffee shop downstairs." His voice shattered the silence. 

One by one they looked up, and gave him their drink orders. All wanted coffee, except Sehun, who requested lukewarm chocolate, since they didn't think the coffee shop would have bubble tea. 

When Lay left, the atmosphere grew even darker. When he came back, balancing a drink tray and his wallet, the room brightened again, like a switch had been flipped. As Lay handed out the drinks (turns out the shop did carry bubble tea) with a warm smile or a caring words, the members felt a little better, a little more hopeful. 

It was just that small glint of hope that sparked Baekhyun into some semblance of his former self. 

"Ah, you guys. Quit being so whiny. We have to cheer up. Someone play a game with me."

"What game?" asked Sehun disinterestedly. 

"Kawi bawi bo!" Minseok's head flew up, suddenly interested and less mopey, as he exclaimed the name of EXO's favorite game.

"No, hyung, we play that all the time," Sehun complained. 

"How about 007 Bang?" Baekhyun suggested.

"Ani," Lay joined the discussion. "That's way more fun with more people."

Baekhyun deflated. "Then what do you want to play?"

Minseok was about to speak when the door into the patient wards opened. 

"Are you here for Kim Jongin?"

Lay was the first one to come to his senses. "Yes, we all are. Is he alright? Can we see him"

"Soon you can see him, but first may I ask you some questions?"

A chorus of "Nae".

"Do you see him daily. On a regular basis?"

"Yes, he lives with us."

"Ah, so you know that he's been under a lot of mental stress lately then?"

Sehun felt a sinking feeling in his chest, as Lay replied: "Yes, he has been."

"We discovered he hasn't been eating or drinking sufficiently, especially for the amount of exercise he does. We also noticed his sleep patterns are irregular, and we had to sedate him in order to calm him down tonight. He seems to be losing a lot of sleep lately, probably due to the stress he's under. You seem like very good friends to him though, so I'm sure you're helping him through whatever is happening."

All didn't reply except Lay, who nodded vigorously. Even if he hadn't gotten his sheet music back, he still took care of all the members, especially the younger ones, and he certainly didn't approve of almost all of the members ignoring the dancer. 

"You may see him now, although he is still sedated. I will speak to you about taking care of him and when he will be brought home before you leave." The doctor pushed open the door to the patient's ward and lead them into a room. 

"I'll leave you here, I must attend to another patient, but I will be back. Press the call button on the wall if you need anything."

The four members looked at Jongin. His body seemed so small and weak, hooked up to a multitude of strange pipes and wires, against the stark white hospital bed. His face was hollow, with dark circles not normally seen, and his frame seemed smaller than before. 

It was a startling difference to see from the powerful dance moves and hyper laughs they were used to seeing from Jongin, which broke their hearts. They could see the difference in him and the toll being ignored by almost all of the other group members had taken on him. 

"I will not ignore him anymore," vowed Minseok silently in his head, ashamed that he had let a beloved little brother suffer under his care.

Lay spoke aloud. "I won't let you ignore him anymore. Instead of ignoring him, you should make a safe environment, so he will feel comfortable with us. I will speak to the others. I can't let this go on. I should've spoke up sooner."

"Ah, hyung, it's not your fault. We were too harsh on this kid," Baekhyun one-arm hugged Lay.

Although Sehun didn't speak, he nodded. He too would forgive his closest-aged hyung. 

Soon after, the doctor returned with a few instructions. 

"He does not have sufficient nutrients, so you must make him eat. And he was dehydrated as well, so he must drink. Water is best, not all those vitamin waters kids these days like. And most importantly, make sure he doesn't sleepwalk."

"Sleepwalk?" Lay asked.

"Nae. He has a history of sleepwalking, especially under stress. It's amazing that he hasn't already, although maybe he has and you're just not aware."

"What do people usually do when they- when they thleepwalk?"

The rest, Baekhyun, Lay and Minseok, waited anxiously for the reply.

"Oh, nothing harmful. Usually they just wander around a bit, and maybe move some items around, before going back to bed. Then they don't remember anything afterwards, so it can be hard to find the stuff, but this usually doesn't harm people."

When the four were back in the waiting room, they looked at each other in realization. 

Could Jongin really have been sleepwalking the entire time? And what had they done?

*****

Suho was called and informed of the situation at once, and D.O combed every surveillance camera recording for proof. Could Jongin really have been sleepwalking the whole time?

After many hours, nothing was found. Though they watched the videos over and over again, the dancer's eyes were always covered or shadowed, as all of the thefts had taken place at night. 

And then finally, after Jongdae had taken over the computer when Kyungsoo went to make dinner, they found a flash, just a flash but it was there, of Jongin's face. And, though it wasn't much to go on, they could see Jongin's closed eyes. 

They knew it wasn't much to go on, they knew he could've just been blinking, but it gave them hope that Jongin hadn't been stealing their stuff, at least not with malicious intent, and he hadn't been blatantly lying to them after all. 

*****

When Jongin stumbled back home from the hospital, the dorm was empty. All the other members, except for Lay who had stayed the entire night with him, were out on schedule. 

He leaned on Lay heavily. He could walk, but not steadily, and had refused the wheelchair the hospital had recommended. As a result, he had to rely on his hyung for support. 

When they reached the room Jongin shared with Kyungsoo, Jongin looked around for the cat, but the room was empty. That was normal, as the cat often hid when people other than Jongin and Kyungsoo (who it seemed to regard as a fellow cat, perhaps from the time when they trapped themselves in Jongin's closet for three hours) came in the room. Still, it made Jongin feel a bit uneasy, especially when the cat didn't come out when Lay hyung left to get them both a drink of water. 

Thinking the cat might be still asleep (rare but possible) Jongin asked his hyung to check around the room, and when that yielded no results, around the dorm. When the entire dorm had been searched with no sign of the cat, Lay called Kyungsoo to ask about the cat, putting his phone on speaker so Jongin could hear the conversation.

"Kyungsoo-ah. Do you know where Jongin's cat is?"

There was a muffled....sound (Jongin had no idea how to describe what he heard, it was almost the sound a laughing elephant would make), and then a frantic rustling. Over the rustling, the dancers could clearly hear Kyungsoo's panicked voice. 

"They're asking about the cat! What do I do? What should I say?"

"Tell them the line is breaking up," Chanyeol's unmistakable deep voice advised.

"Isn't that lying though?"

"It's okay," Baekhyun insisted. "We'll deal with it later."

"Um," Kyungsoo's voice returned, louder and clearer now. "I- I think the line, or, uh, connection is breaking, the-it, yeah!"

"Hyung," Jongin sighed. Kyungsoo had never been the best at lying. "I know it isn't-"

"Bye!"

The phone clicked, and then went silent.

The two dancers looked at eachother, and then at the phone blankly.

"What happened to my cat?" Jongin asked shakily.