Kyuhyun was speechless when Sungmin said that. How could he...?
"Sungmin, please..."

Wiping his tears, Sungmin said "I better go back to work.  I'm sorry Dr Cho" and he wriggle free of Kyuhyun's hold and left.

Kyuhyun took a deep breath and lean on the uniform rack. He felt like he was such a loser that he couldn't even hold on to something so precious. Was it really his fault for lashing out during surgery? He would scold any assistant if the patient's life was at stake. It's a norm for surgeons to scold during surgery. Why Sungmin couldn't take that as part and parcel of working in operating theatre? 

Kyuhyun admitted that it was his fault for not considering the fact that Sungmin was a last minute replacement and might not be briefed of the surgery. But nevertheless, what had happened, had already happened. He had apologised. Maybe he just need to give Sungmin sometime to cool down.

After a while, Kyuhyun left the changing room with his heads down and hands in his pockets. No point going after Sungmin if he didn't want to see him now. He walked dejectedly away towards the lift lobby to go up to his room.

Sungmin came out from one of the patient's ward and saw Kyuhyun walking slowly away. He felt bad for saying what he said and seeing how sad Kyuhyun was, with his head down and slow walk, made him wanting to run after Kyuhyun and apologise and to clear any unhappiness. They were happy as a couple and now he has ruin it, just because Kyuhyun as a surgeon, lashed out at him. It was just work and nothing personal. But why did it hurt so badly? 

One of the patients pressed the buzzer, so Sungmin turned back towards his station instead of running after Kyuhyun. He would find Kyuhyun later, he thought.

Towards midnight, he got a message from Sungjin that their grandmother was in the hospital in their hometown in Ilsan, and that they just reached home. Sungjin asked whether Sungmin can come up to Ilsan as they are scared that grandma would not last long. Sungmin quickly replied that he would head back to Ilsan as soon as he can.

Sungmin quickly arranged with Ryeowook, Hyukjae, Sunny, Taeyeon and Shindong to cover his duty while he took a few days leave. He informed the head of human resources about his urgent leave and he got the clearance. He managed to get ticket for the first express bus in the morning too.

It was while Sungmin's bus was halfway along the highway that Kyuhyun's message came in.

"Can we talk?" was Kyuhyun's message.

"Sorry Dr Cho, I'm heading back to Ilsan to visit my sick grandmother. Will let you know when I'm back" and Sungmin clicked sent. But after he sent the message, he immediately felt bad for being so unfriendly.

"Oh, ok, hope that your grandma is alright. I will miss you. Take care, Sungmin" was Kyuhyun's reply.

Sungmin teared while reading Kyuhyun's reply. Kyuhyun cared for him in his own way and has been trying to clear their unhappiness. Why did Sungmin himself shutting Kyuhyun out? He took a deep breath and leaned on his seat. He knew that he was in the wrong and should apologised to Kyuhyun.

Two days later in Sapphire Hospital, there was a commotion in the A&E entrance. A group of gangster came in with an injured man, presumably their leader, and demanded a doctor to provide treatment immediately. Sunny called Dr Cho who was on duty at the A&E and after running towards the commotion area, Dr Cho instructed nurses to bring the stretcher and to get an observation room ready. Ryeowook, who happened to past by, ran to get a stretcher. 

"No! I want you to treat him here! Not in any room!" the gangster, who was holding the injured leader shouted at Kyuhyun. 

"Errr, my apologies, we need oxygen, equipments and medical supplies to treat him. I think the gash is very big and he need to be treated in a sterile room. You can come in to accompany him" Kyuhyun tried to reason with him. Secretly, Kyuhyun signalled to one of the nurses to get help and call the police and securities. 

"I said no! Why are you so stubborn?" and he dashed towards Kyuhyun and stabbed him in the chest! 

Some onlookers and nurses scream with alarmed watching the stabbing and some guys even took videos. Sunny and Ryeowook ran to Kyuhyun and scream at another nurse to get other doctors. She and Ryeowook dabbed to stop blood flowing from Kyuhyun's chest and kept calling for help. It was like all hell break loose and security officers pounced on the gangster and the police tied the other gangsters while a doctor instruct the injured leader to be taken into a room and Dr Park to tend to Kyuhyun. 

Kyuhyun felt like he was being cut opened. The pain was excruciating and he felt difficult to breath and he was loosing consciousness. He heard all the shouting for him to stay awake and that he was being lifted on a stretcher and pushed into somewhere. He felt dazed and the only person he was thinking now was Sungmin. He wanted to see Sungmin before he died. Then everything went black. 

Sungmin had just reached home from the hospital after accompanying and taking care of his grandma for the whole afternoon. He was glad that she was recovering and she could even talked to him. Sungjin turned around and started talking "Hyung, see the news! It's your hospital! The news said that there was a stabbing incident!" 

"Huh, really??" alarmed, Sungmin paid his attention to the TV and sat next to Sungjin. To his horror, it was really at Sapphire Hospital in Daejeon, and the news said the video was taken by one of the hospital visitor. And at one time, the video zoomed in on the doctor that got stabbed. 

Sungmin closed his mouth with his hands. He felt like crying because he recognised that it was Kyuhyun! He took out his phone and saw 5 missed calls. 3 from Ryeowook, 1 from Sunny and 1 from Shindong. Earlier, he left his phone next to his grandma's bed while he helped his grandma lie down and then check her vital statistics before bidding her goodbye. 

He quickly called Ryeowook. At the other end, Ryeowook answered on the 2nd ring "Boss!!! I was trying to get you!!!! Dr Cho... Dr Cho got stabbed in his chest!!! It was so chaotic. He lost so much blood and I really don't know whether he can survive. We are all praying hard here coz he's still in the surgery room". 

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, how could this happened??" Sungmin started sobbing. "Wook.. can.. can.. you call me once Kyu, I mean Dr Cho is out from the surgery? I will try to get the earliest coach" Sungmin, sniffing, because his heart just plunged to the ground. 

"Yes, I will. Boss, I wish you are here. He kept mumbling your name in his semi unconscious state. I was helping to wipe his blood before the surgery and he was conscious again for a while, and I could hear him saying your name. Don't worry, no other nurses hear it because after that, he totally lost consciousness" Ryeowook told him, making Sungmin wept. 

"I will try to get a bus ticket now. See you later Wook. Keep me posted ok" Sungmin off his phone and lookup for the coach hot line number. 

"Hyung, you ok? Do you know that doctor who got stabbed?" Sungjin asked him with concerned. 

"Yes, I work with him a lot and we are quite close" Sungmin wipe his tears. 

"Go and pack up, hyung, I call the coach hotline for you. Don't worry about mom and dad, I will explain to them when they are home" Sungjin volunteered, knowing how passionate his brother was on anything related to his work. Though they live mostly away from each other, his brother often called him and sent some money to him so that he could complete his college education without burdening their parents. 

Sungmin received a message from Ryeowook while his coach was cruising along the highway. He was thankful to Sungjin for arranging everything for him, from the coach ticket, to calling a cab and packing food for his dinner. 

Sungmin hand shook while opening up his phone cover to read Ryeowook's message. He was scared Ryeowook would inform him some bad news. "Boss, Dr Park said Dr Cho was lucky that the knife didn't reached his heart. But it injured his right lung badly. They have to saw two of his ribs just to out blood from his lungs and to sew back the injured portion of his lung. They also has to sew back his ribs and now they just completed the surgery. Maybe by the time you reach here, he'll be push into the ICU. Will message you the ward number later". 

Sungmin took a deep breath and leaned back. It was a relief that Kyuhyun survived but he couldn't stopped tearing. Kyuhyun had called out his name before he lost consciousness. That means, Kyuhyun really cared and like him a lot, and yet Sungmin didn't treasure Kyuhyun's feelings. 

It wasn't that he didn't treasures Kyuhyun's feelings. The truth was, he was scared. Scared to accept the reality that he loves Kyuhyun. It hurts badly when Kyuhyun lashed out at him during surgery because he wasn't used to a boyfriend scolding him. He must learn to draw a line between professional work and personal life. 

Somehow, he felt slightly better now that he admitted that he loves Kyuhyun. And he plan to arrange shift rotation with the other nurses so that he could take care of Kyuhyun until he recovered. 

Sungmin practically ran to the hospital entrance once his cab reached Sapphire Hospital. He was lucky to get a cab as soon as he alighted from the coach at the terminal. Ryeowook had messaged him the ICU ward number and ICU rooms are at the 3rd floor, he walked briskly to the nurse station. 

"Sungmin hyung! Wook told me that you'll be here. You can put your bag here and go on in" Hyukjae told Sungmin, and while Sungmin put his bag down, Hyukjae added "You are lucky to come at this time, just now the police, reporter and CEO were all here getting updates and asked questions. Now it's more quieter". 

"Oh really? So it's a police case?" Sungmin asked Hyukjae with surprise. 

"Of course, the gangster will be charge in court, and the leader now treated in Ward 2 got police security guarding the ward in case s came and cause more disturbance. Anyway, Dr Cho is in stable condition, but has not regain consciousness". 

Sungmin nodded and walked towards ICU room 3. His heart was beating erratically seeing all the wires hooked up onto Kyuhyun and his face looked pale and tired. How he missed that face. He walked closer to his bed and bent down to kiss his cheek. 

"Kyuhyun, I'm here. Please wake up, I'm so sorry to say those hurting words and I will take back my words" Sungmin started tearing again, and started sobbing. "I missed you a lot and I.... I..." 

Kyuhyun was in a field with lots and lots of beautiful flowers. He felt peaceful yet uneasy. He kept thinking about Sungmin. Suddenly he heard Sungmin's voice and seemed like he was crying. 

"Sungmin?? You are here? Where are you? Please come here and hold my hand. I need you to hold my hand...." Kyuhyun said in his dream.

"Kyuhyun, I love you. Please forgive me" Sungmin reached for Kyuhyun's hand, hold it and carefully lifted it to kiss his hand. Crying, he slowly put it down but still held to it. 

"Sungmin!! You are really here!!! Please, keep holding my hand, I will try to grab you..." Kyuhyun said, and now he felt like he was in the water trying to reach the surface. He tried all his might and tried hard to hold onto Sungmin's hand. 

Sungmin felt Kyuhyun's hand moved. Surprised, he looked at the hand that he was holding, but it didn't move. Thinking that he might be thinking nonsense, he continued holding it and sobbing. 

And there he felt it again, Kyuhyun fingers enclosing around his fingers! Kyuhyun was grabbing his fingers!! He wipe his tears with his other hand and stood up to look at Kyuhyun's face. 

"Kyuhyun? Kyuhyun, I'm here. I'm really here. I love you! I love you very very much!!" 

Kyuhyun heard Sungmin and was reaching to the surface. He slowly opened his eyes, and tried to focus. Ohmygod, it was true and he was right! Sungmin was there! He looked at Sungmin with tears in his eyes, and unconsciously, his tears fell to the side of his eyes. 

"Kyuhyun!! Ohmygod Kyuhyun, you are awake!!" Sungmin cried and kissed his cheek and his hand, and wipe his tears. And he wipe his own tears. Smiling at Kyuhyun, he said "I love you Kyuhyun, and I am so sorry to say those words. I didn't mean it, maybe I was too scared to admit that I love you".

Kyuhyun smile in his oxygen mask. His eyes blinked indicating that he understood. He didn't know why he couldn't speak. Maybe of this stupid mask. He moved his head but he felt dizzy. 

"Don't move too much, and yes, you need the oxygen mask. Your right lung wounded badly, so you need the oxygen to help you to breath" Sungmin told him. He felt Kyuhyun squeeze his hand, and he smile at Kyuhyun. He held Kyuhyun's hand close to his heart and kiss the hand again. 

Sungmin sensed that Kyuhyun wanted to say something. He slowly lifted the oxygen mask and move closer to Kyuhyun. 

"I..." 

"Kyuhyun, it's ok, don't talk. You just regain consciousness. Just concentrate on recovering" Sungmin used his hand to hold Kyuhyun's cheek. 

"I... love you..." Kyuhyun voice was corse and soft, yet Sungmin heard it all. 

Sungmin teared happily and kissed Kyuhyun's mouth briefly and put back the mask before the machine started beeping. He smile and nodded at Kyuhyun and lovingly swiped his hair to the side. He kissed Kyuhyun's forehead and smile happily at him again. He could see the happiness in Kyuhyun's eyes and Sungmin kissed Kyuhyun's cheek again. 

"Rest now, I call Dr Park to check on you ok?" 

Kyuhyun shook his head, indicating that he didn't want Sungmin to go. 

"I'll be back shortly, I just go to the nurse station for a while to call Dr Park"

After staring at Sungmin for a while, Kyuhyun nodded slowly. Sungmin knew that he is the source of Kyuhyun's strength and that Kyuhyun needed him. He smile and nodded at Kyuhyun and left the room. 

Dr Park came down was happy to know that his friend has regained consciousness. Sungmin and him talked for a while about the surgery, then entered Kyuhyun's ICU room. 

Kyuhyun eyes were closed and Dr Park came closer "Heyy Kyu!! You are a fighter!! I'm so proud of you!!" Dr Park patted Kyuhyun's shoulder. But Kyuhyun didn't opened his eyes nor responded anything. 

Sungmin shook Kyuhyun's arm gently. "Dr Cho, Dr Park is here to check on you".

But Kyuhyun still didn't responded. "Sungmin, are you sure Kyuhyun has regain consciousness? He seemed to be still in unconscious state to me. Let me check the monitor" Dr Park said. 

"Yes, doctor, he was. He held my hand and he even teared when he could focus and saw me". 

Dr Park check the heart rate monitor, and Kyuhyun's heart beat. It showed normal and no change in heart beat for the past two hours. 
In other words, Kyuhyun never regain consciousness. 

Was Kyuhyun really woke up to talk to Sungmin, and now back to unconsciousness? Or it was all in Sungmin's dream??