Sehun didn't think twice as he heard the news.

He quickly stepped infront of Jongin who was completely paralized with fear and sorrow and gave the nearby cop every data he needed to know.

Then he excused both of them as fast as he could, took Jongin by his shoulder and rushed off to the car infront of the building.

Now Jongin and Sehun are on their way to the hospital, Jongin still being completely apathetic, his face pale as milk.

Even Sehun feels a slight rush of uncomfortable sorrow every now and then, especially eyeing Jongin from the corner of his eyes.

He drives as fast as he can, ignoring speed limits if necessary.

The wish of showing Jongin that everything will be alright and that the injury might just be a mild shock is overpowering every reason he has left in his body.

Why he suddenly feels the intense emotion of affection towards the younger Sehun doesn't know.

For now, he blames it on the compassion he feels for Jongin and his miserable situation, something Sehun had already experienced in the past.

He sees Jongin as a younger version of himself and thus had developed the earnest wish for Jongin to not commit the same mistakes he had made.

„We're almost there“, the deep, soothing voice suddenly catches Jongins attention, making him look at Sehun with so much panic in his eyes that the elder almost wants to stop the car to hug the student tightly.

Seeing him in such a helpless state almost makes Sehun want to cry.

„Everything will be alright Jongin, trust me.“

„ … What if not?“, the faint, almost inaudible voice answers after a good while.

The sound of sobbing and shaky breath are evident in his voice.

„What if this is the last time I see my mom? What happens afterwards? I don't wanna live alone with that bastard.“

The desperation with which Jongin speaks evokes such an immense feeling of pain and sympathy in Sehun that he holds his breath for a while to soothe the forming tears in his eyes.

He breathes in deeply a couple of times, clenching his jaw hard to supress his feelings for now.

With a sharp turn, he enters the street of the hospital, quickly and messily parking his car before getting out and helping Jongin.

The moment Sehun touched his body, he feels the thunderous tremble of the younger, sees the helpless, worried look in his eyes.

That when he couldn't control his feelings anymore.

He takes Jongin into his arms, embracing the fragile figure tightly while resting his cheek on the dark, soft hair.

Jongin doesn't respond as surprised as Sehun had expected.

Instead he weakly leans into Sehuns towering body, loosely wrapping his arms around the strong back.

Sehun feels the sobbing increasing with every moment they remain in the tight embrace.

„I'm scared …“, Jongin sobbs out, digging his nails into Sehuns shirt, „I'm so scared. What if …“

„Shhh …“, Sehun softly soothes the crying boy, his hair in a gentle manner.

„It'll be alright, I promise. I'll be there. I'm not leaving.“

He tightens his embrace a little without overwhelming the younger.

„You're not alone with this.“

Slowly, very slowly he feels the trembling receed.

Jongins breath eventually stabilizes again and after what seems like an eternity, he detaches himself from Sehun.

„Ok“, he whispers weakly, „let's go.“

The elder nods assuringly and both enter the busy hall of the hospital.

Jongin, not quite knowing what to do, questioningly looks around, trying to find someone to talk to.

Sehun notices the insecurity and waves over a doctor.

„Could you please help us, it's incredibly important. His mother had entered the hospital today after the shooting. You might have heard it already. Where can we find her?“

The doctor, previously emitting an aura of busieness and rejection now looks at Jongin with incredible sympathy.

He puts down his stethoscope nd points into a specific direction.

„Yes I've heard it. A terrible incident. Almost every victim of the shooting is one level up at the ICU. Talk to the nurses there, they should be informed.“

„Ok thank you very much.“

He takes a look at Jongin who nods. „Come on Jongin, let's go find your mom.“

Arrived at the ICU, they're met with a jumble of voices, cries and the scent of cheap coffee.

People stumble around, trying to find a doctor to talk to.

It almost discourages Jongin to look for his mom as they obviously aren't the only people trying to know how their relatives and friends are.

Nevertheless, Sehun wraps his arm around Jongin and proceeds to walk down the busy hallway, searching for a nurse as the doctor had told them.

Peeking around the corner they actually spot one adjusting her attire and hair before heading back. On her way back she walks past the two.

Sehun quickly takes the chance and talks to her.

„Excuse me do you have a minute?“

Mesmerized by Sehuns handsome and charismatic appearance she stops and blinks a few times before answering.

„Truly spoken not. But I'll try to help. Are you one of the relatives of the shootings victims?“

Jongin eagerly nods, thankful for the nurse to talk to them.

„I'm looking for my mother. Her name is Kim. Kim Iseul.“

The nurse contemplates for a moment, quitely mumbling Iseul a couple of times before her eyes light up.

„Yeah sure that Mrs. Kim. She is currently recieving surgery. You may wait here if you want.“

Sehun doesn't dare to ask but does nonetheless: „How bad is it?“

The nurse eyes him for a moment, clearly hesitant. „Are you a relative as well?“

Sehun doesn't think twice and nods.

„Yes, I'm his father.“

Jongins head spins around quickly with his eyes wide open.

He looks at Sehun with shock but quickly catches himself and plays along so that the nurse wouldn't get suspicious.

„Uhm ok. Well we can't say anything specific now. She got shot a couple of times but she may be saved by the current surgery. But it could take a few more hours. I'm sorry I can't do anything further to help you.“ She bows apologetically.

„No, it's ok. That's all we wanted to know“, Sehun answers with a kind smile on his face, dazzling the nurse even more, „Thank you very much Miss.“

„O-Oh, no problem. I-If you need anything let me know.“

Sehun nods and turns around, facing Jongin, who looks at him with a mix of shock and surprise.

„Jongin are you ok? Those were quite heavy news to digest.“

The younger doesn't answer immediately, just looks around frowning deeply.

Sehun assumes he might be driven by a mild shock with the aftermath kicking in as soon as his brain had processed the events.

„Come on, let's find a place to sit down“, Sehun suggests, already spotting a bench on the sunny side of the hospital.

He carefully helps Jongin seating himself before he positions himself close to the younger.

For a long moment, both enjoy a tense silence until Jongin speaks up quietly: „She … got shot. She got shot.“ He repeats this sentence on and on as if to assure himself that this is really happening.

With every repitition, his voice grows more shocked and trembling.

Sehun could see the puddle of tears forming in his eyes as he keeps on repeating the same sentence over and over.

The talking eventually developes into a full fit of crying and suddenly, Jongin bursts out into tears, bawling his eyes out infront of Sehun.

The elder immediately reacts, taking Jongin into his arms, whispering silent comfort as Jongin heavily sobbs and cries.

The immese pain Jongin must be feeling right now causes Sehuns chest to constrict so tight that he feels like being breathless for a while.

His grip around Jongin tightens slightly.

In a gentle manner, he puts his hand on Jongins hair, it softly and comforting while the younger keeps on crying.

Sehun knows that he couldn't do anything right now despite being there to comfort and support him. Those news, especially for someone as young as Jongin must be terrifying, devastating.

Thinking of his mom and the possibility of her getting injured in such a horrific incident already causes Sehun to be filled with panic and grief.

Thinking how Jongin might feel at this moment is something he'd probably never be capable of fully understanding.

So he continues to his hair while whispering assuring words into his ear.

For a good thirty minutes, Jongin cries his eyes out before he eventually calms down.

His whole face and body look tremendously tired and drained.

Deep, dark shades had formed under his eyes and his cheeks seem sunken in and kind of greyish looking.

His whole appearance is slacking and crouching, his breath dragging heavily.

„I'm so damn tired“, Jongin whispers with a raspy, exhausted voice while he slacks his body forward to rest on his knees.

„You want a coffee?“, Sehun softly asks, earning a barely noticable nod.

„Promise me you won't do anything dumb will you?“

„Sure“, Jongin mumbles, already sleepy while Sehun heads off to get coffee.

He returns a few minutes later with two steaming mugs.

„I don't like the coffee from those cheap machines, so I got you some from the cafeteria“, he explains while handing Jongin the mug.

He takes it gratefully and carefully sips a few times.

„Thank you“, Jongin whispers while he drinks his coffee rather greedily.

„No problem, if you need anything just gimme the word.“

„No“, the younger whispers, a slight blush tinting his cheeks.

He contemplates a few seconds as if to think of the right words to express his feelings.

„I … I mean thank you for being there. You should know I don't take this for granted, really.“

Sehun looks up from his mug, eyebrows arched in surprise.

Normally, he would've thrown a witty, feisty comment on the younger but now he really seems to be dead-serious.

A warm, fuzzy feeling takes hold of his insides as he finally processes Jongins words.

„I'd do it anytime again“, Sehun responds, slightly Jongins shoulder while smiling at him genuinely.

Jongin forces a faint smile back before he leans against Sehuns shoulder, his eyes closed.

„You can't imagine how tired I am … Not only physically but so damn tired of all this .“ He pauses for a moment before continuing: „Tired of this spineless bastard, tired of him beating my up, tired of my mom not being able to do anything but staying stuck with him. I'm so tired of all this .“

Sehun listens carefully as Jongin rambles on about his situation at home, the conflict between him leaving home and his mom at a time like this or him working to afford a proper place for both to live at the cost of not attending college.

He absorbs Jongins narrations about the excessive alcohol consumption at home, the shady stuff his stepdad always did and how he threatens his mom on almost a daily basis.

Jongin just pours his heart out. Tired of being quiet for so long, tired of being agonized by everything that was happening, tired of carrying such a heavy weight on his own.

At this very moment, he just wanted nothing more than a trustworthy person to listen to everything he has to say.

Ignoring the fact that he initially hated Sehun and despised nothing more than to talk to him in personal, now he couldn't think of anyone better to speak to about his situation.

At this weird, intimate moment, the picture he wasn't able to continue pops back up in his head.

„Regret“

Jongin now realizes what he regrets most.

Not opening his mouth earlier. Not talking about all this earlier because of injured pride and ego.

Not allowing to recieve help earlier.

Never had he thought that emotional support would feel so good and genuine like now.

Sehun had successfully managed to calm him down in a matter of an hour even though he had cried his eyes out before.

Now everything that's left is the overwhelming feeling of fatigue all over his body.

As he closes his eyes, he feels the heavy fatigue kicking in with full force, the hours of work earlier and the immense amount of energy being spent in panic and sorrow.

The elder feels Jongins body relaxing against his own, his breath becoming deeper and slower. Now he realizes Jongin is asleep, he carefully takes his jacket, wrapping it around the fragile body to keep him warm.

„Sleep well Jongin, you deserve it“, he whispers before closing his hurting eyes as well.

Hello my beautiful sunshines (I really need you right now because over here it's raining cats and dogs .__.)

I hope you're doing well and had a great week so far ^__^

Just felt like throwing another chappie in even if it's a rather short one, hope you like it nonetheless ;)

I feel like now the story is progressing more and more I'm really in the mood to write more often (that's a good thing though ;)  )

As always, stay bright and beautiful my lil cuppiecakes (leave a comment if you like, upvote or subscribe ^__^)

Love you <3