“We’ll have him under 72 Hour Watch,” Dr. Choi explained calmly, glancing at the sleeping Mir. The school had offered to take him to a hospital but both Ryeowook and Dongwoon had firmly stated their opposition to the idea.

When asked why, Dongwoon could only say “He isn’t suicidal.” The words were lacking conviction yet there was something so…stern about them – as if Dongwoon would’ve staked his life on the statement.

Ryeowook stood by Kyuhyun near the edge of Mir’s bed, his side pressing close to the taller boy’s body. They were gazing the sickly face, an oxygen mask pulled over parted lips. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, standing out against the green tinted ashen skin. An I.V. drip fed nutrients into his body, a number of equally frightening machines hooked up to him.

“He doesn’t appear to have eaten anything in the past few days,” the doctor remarked, looking over his notes, “I checked his body for any wounds and he doesn’t appear to have any. Do any of you know what was going on during those three days he was starving himself?” Dr. Choi tried to use as gentle a voice as possible while still maintaining professionalism but it was surprisingly difficult to do such a thing. He needed to be clear and concise yet sensitive – a hard line to follow.

Dongwoon settled into the visitor’s chair, fingers tightly entwined with Mir’s. “He was trying to remember his life,” he explained quietly, body still drenched in sweat and rain, “he was trying to protect his love.” The words had become mutterings, as if he were speaking to himself more than anyone else. Dongwoon lowered his head to the clean white sheets, tilting to eye the sleeping face. “I’m never letting you go Mir,” he whispered, “…never, ever.”

“Ah…,” Dr. Choi nodded in confusion, “Ryeowook and Kyuhyun would you mind leaving? I’d like to clear out this room.” He shot the back of Dongwoon’s head a wary look before dismissing the boy. “He’s not going to leave, I can see…” It was fine though, the doctor decided. The “watch” was rather informal so he could let it slip…just this once.

Ryeowook touched Kyuhyun’s hand, signaling the latter that it was time to leave them alone. “Okay, we’ll be around tomorrow morning. Is that okay?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” the doctor mumbled, completely giving up.

“We’ll see you tomorrow Mir,” Ryeowook said quietly, waving goodbye and tugging Kyuhyun along with him.

They disappeared through the open doorway which was soon shut by Dr. Choi. “I’ll be in my office,” he stated, walking towards a segregated room to the side, “if anything abnormal happens please tell me. I also have monitors though.”

Dongwoon nodded faintly, running his thumb softly across the back of Mir’s hand. The doctor wasted no more time heading off to right a report, closing the door behind him.

It was all quiet in the infirmary now, only the repetitive beeping of the heart monitor could be heard. Dongwoon sighed in relief for possibly the hundredth time that day and buried his face in the sheets.

“You’ll be safe,” he promised, “I’ll hold your hand every step of the way,” as if to emphasize the point, he squeezed Mir’s limp fingers, “We’ll go on fun dates and eat your favorite sweets,” his lips trembled, eyes shutting, “Let’s enter a rapping contest together this summer,” the muscles in his neck twitched, “and then we’ll go from there. So wake up soon and forget about Taemin.”

Dongwoon shifted in his chair, free hand slowly opening the music box in his lap, “He never deserved this Mir. You need to find someone better,” he took a shaky breath, “please find someone better…”

***

“If you weren’t done crying you should’ve said so earlier,” Kyuhyun sighed, holding Ryeowook in his arms as the slender boy cried into his t-shirt. He patted his roommate’s back, leaning against the brick wall of the main building.

Rain continued pouring around them as they stayed protected beneath the concrete porch roof. There was a warm wind whipping around them, at times bringing along a cold vein or two.

Ryeowook kept his arms around Kyuhyun’s lean waist, shoulders moving spastically with each miserable whimper. “I-I didn’t want to l-look weak in f-front of Mir…,” he whined, breaking the fragile sobs.

“It’s okay,” Kyuhyun murmured, stretching his neck up towards the dry ceiling, “everything is fine. Dongwoon saved him because we found him. You protected your friend so be happy about that.” There was something about the day, the time, the scene that made the kindness in his heart come out. Sometimes it just happened, he told himself, that you just get soft for no real reason.

“You found him Kyu,” Ryeowook breathed, “you were the one who said we should check the Bell Tower…if you weren’t around Mir probably would’ve—”

“—if you hadn’t come looking for me then none of this would’ve happened,” Kyuhyun interrupted with a grimace. He didn’t want to be praised for the incident.

After his pitiful performance at trying to stop Mir from jumping he couldn’t forgive himself. So what if he didn’t know the kid that well? What if Kyuhyun had been the last hope and he failed? Ryeowook’s close friend would’ve committed suicide right in front of him. How can anyone heal from that sort of trauma?

His arms tightened around Ryeowook at the thought. Kyuhyun lowered his head on top of the smaller boy’s. “Do you get it?” he whispered, absently brushing a kiss against those soft locks of hair.

“Mmhmm…,” Ryeowook mumbled, leaning into the tender touch, “but still, thank you. Thank you Kyuhyun.”

A warm rippling shudder drove up his spine. He wanted to reach back and find out what was wrong with him but that wasn’t possible in his current situation. Instead, Kyuhyun settled for snuggling closer to Ryeowook, letting his fingers run through the short one’s damp tresses.

“K-Kyuhyun…?” the latter questioned hoarsely, tilting his head back to meet the other boy’s eyes.

“Ryeowook…,” he responded, eyelids lowering slightly as he leaned forward, “I–I don’t know what’s wrong with me…I just want to—”

“KYUHYUN!”

The shout jolted them apart, Ryeowook practically flying to the opposite side of the platform. Kyuhyun’s head shot up and he saw a figure running through the rain, a limp body draped across his back.

Once under the dry cover, the person caught his breath, wincing and looking at a wide-eyed Kyuhyun pleadingly. “Is the main building open? Please tell me it is!”

“What’s going on?” he demanded, helping his friend set the injured boy down.

“Hey Kyu…,” Donghae grunted, now identified as the hurt kid. His leg was bent slightly, pain contorting his soaked features, “I think I did something…”

“What happened?” Kyuhyun snapped, kneeling down before him and examining the dirty, bruised knee.

The friend finally stopped panting, and said, “We were practicing and we told him that we should stop because it’s raining but he kept saying he wanted to keep going. Long story short, the lightning tripped him up and he couldn’t land a jump kick. His knee gave out.”

“You idiot!” he shouted, standing up and running towards the door, “I’ll be right back. Don’t move!” Kyuhyun threw one more look at Donghae and then hurried towards Dr. Choi.

Ryeowook scooted over to the injured boy, gently touching the wound. “Tell me when it hurts,” he stated calmly, stretching Donghae’s leg.

“Stop, stop,” he winced, gripping his thigh and gritting his teeth, “I think it’s my ACL.”

“Okay,” Ryeowook nodded, prodding at the knee. After so many years with a heart condition, he had come to learn more about anatomy than he wanted to know. “Dr. Choi should be here soon so don’t move it anymore.”

Donghae swallowed hard, “Uh-huh…”

“Hey prez,” the friend began, placing a hand on Ryeowook’s shoulder, “why are all of the buildings locked? We tried to go to the Music Building, Science Building and Recreational Center but all of the doors were chained shut.”

Ryeowook thought for a moment, trying to remember what the school director had told him. “Ah…,” he abruptly clapped his hands and said, “It’s construction. All of the buildings are undergoing interior construction until the end of Spring Break. If it hadn’t rained the buildings would’ve been opened by late this evening.”

The stranger nodded his understanding, saying, “I guess the Music Building really needed to get fixed up. When I was passing by the side of it I saw the basement window broken. Water was flooding it.”

“Hmm…that’s weird,” he muttered just as Dr. Choi and Kyuhyun burst through the door.

The professional immediately began tending to Donghae’s injury, doing similar stretching tests that Ryeowook had done. “We’re going to transfer you to a hospital as soon as possible okay Donghae?” Dr. Choi assured, prodding and massaging the athlete’s knee.

“Okay,” he mumbled, flinching away from the touch.

“Kids are so careless during breaks,” the doctor sighed, “can you tell me what happened?” The friend launched into the long version of the story as Kyuhyun went back to where Ryeowook was leaning against a support pillar.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Kyuhyun asked, keeping one ear open for anything important Dr. Choi might say. He had subconsciously moved closer to Ryeowook, leg brushing against leg.

The smaller of the two bit his lip, saying nothing.

Kyuhyun glanced down, suddenly gripping Ryeowook’s wrist. “He’s going to be okay, right?” There was silent desperation in his eyes, as if the boy’s assurance would mean Donghae’s absolute safety.

“I-I don’t…I’m not…,” Ryeowook settled for shaking his head, unsure what else he could do. When the ACL is damaged there are only two possibilities. It would either be a sprain that can recover or, in most soccer player cases, it would mean surgery.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Currently, my own ACL is damaged and my doctor says it's just a sprain so I'm thankful for that. I just wanted to explain where the idea for his injury was coming from.

I had been mulling over what could possibly endanger Donghae's try-outs for the National Team and then bam! my knee is sprained during martial arts practice.

Surprisingly useful? Sadly painful? Yes and yes.