Junhyung couldn’t muster the strength of will to make himself move, to try and prevent what was bound to crush what was left of his heart.

“YAH! BABO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” A shout rang through the air.  

Dongwoon paid no heed, oblivious to all but the view of the street below.

Even as Junhyung’s frozen gaze began to blur with tears, he saw a streak across his vision.

Doojoon sprinted across the rooftop, meaning to seize Dongwoon and pull him back, but he miscalculated the distance. In the moment the hyung wrapped his arms around his dongseng, both unbalanced and toppled over the edge, the former yelling his lungs out.

As the yell cut off, a hoarse cry ripped from Yoseob’s throat and he tore into a run to the edge, followed closely by Gikwang. “HYUNG!” He screamed, shock thick in his voice.

***

It was the third time Da Eun had woken up to see the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital, and turned her head, expecting to see Hyunseung sleeping by her bedside. It was only when she saw the empty chair and the clothes draped over its back that she remembered the events that had happened. A dry sob worked it way up to and she choked it out, having already run out of tears.

“Da Eun?” A cool, professional, yet caring voice called her name. “Annyeong. Remember me?” Dr. Kibum entered the room and sat down comfortably in the chair.

“Dr. Kibum,” she greeted him listlessly.

A little taken aback, the doctor frowned. “Why so melancholy? You’re just like the others out there, but you don’t have an excuse that I know of. “

Da Eun couldn’t help herself. “The- the others?” She asked.

“You know, the boys. When they heard Hyunseung was dead-“

“Hyunseung- WHAT?” She gasped-screamed. Her face drained of color and she tried to get up. “Why? What happened? When?”

“He’s not dead, he’s not! Maybe I should have worded it differently… Calm down!” Dr. Kibum stood and reassured her. “He’s fine, he wasn’t hit by the cars; it was a misunderstanding with one of my junior doctors-“

“CARS? What cars? Are you sure he’s fine? Are you sure? Let me see him!” Da Eun panicked, still trying frantically to get up.

“Araso! Da Eun, araso! I’ll bring him in! Just calm down!” The doctor tried futilely to sooth her, before leaving the room.

***

Junhyung stared at the pair of figures by the edge of the roof. Two. Two more gone in one go. There were only the three of them left, and the reason he’d stayed behind had just fallen to his death.

Silence roared in his ears. All he could hear was the wind whistling past his head as he suddenly stood, gazing down again at the street below. He was really going to do it this time; he was really going to jump.

***

Nothing happened,Da Eun told herself firmly. Nothing happened to him. She looked at her hands and wished fervently that she hadn’t grown quite so attached to him and his beautiful eyes. After all, even if he was okay, she couldn’t stay with them any longer, now that she knew it was all for pity, and not any real desire for friendship.

“Da Eun-ssi?” Hyunseung stood awkwardly in the doorway of the small room, fatigue weighing his voice down.

The formality in his voice made Da Eun’s eyes sting, and she busied herself scanning him for wounds. When she was satisfied that he was unhurt, she smiled faintly at him. “Annyeonghaseyo, Jang Hyunseung,” she greeted him, matching formality for formality.

His lips curved in a bitter smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re not calling me Bambi anymore?”

Da Eun felt the tears that she thought had run out begin to form. “Do you want me to?” She asked, a rhetorical question whose answer was meant to be no.

“I do,” Hyunseung surprised her by saying. “We all meant what we said about being your friends, Da Eun-ah,” he gave up on the formalities and slipped easily back.

“Don’t try and lie to the both of us, Hyunseung.” Da Eun’s face felt like it would be forever frozen into its bitter mask.

Hyunseung’s face twisted. “You saw the diary, but you don’t know that none of us read it except for Yoseob,” he said quietly and helplessly. “Is it really that hard to believe that we would want to be your friends? Why would we lie about something like that?”

Before Da Eun could answer, tears finally spilling down her face, a muffled scream was heard from above.

Astonished, the two could only stare at each other as an ominous note thudded in their hearts. Something was wrong.

“Doctor!” Hyunseung stopped a passing coat. “What’s the next floor up?”

“The next floor? We’re the top floor, which means the next floor is the roof.”

Hyunseung’s eyes widened and he thanked her politely, paying no attention to the woman’s sigh as he turned back to Da Eun.

She was already up and steadying herself. Having caught her balance as best as she could, she grabbed Hyunseung’s arm and they ran out of the room.

***

“WHAT?” A breathless roar came from below.

Yoseob paused in the middle of his sobbing and Gikwang startled. “H-hyung?” They peered over the edge. “HYUNG!”

Doojoon hung a little less than a meter down, gripping a window ledge with his right hand. Dongwoon was a dead weight in his left arm, a rag doll made of bricks. He shot a little grin at the two dongsengs looking down at him. Voice strained, he nevertheless managed to install irony into his query. “Need a little help here, as you can see,” he gritted out, teeth clenched as he tried to pull himself up. “Woonie’s not helping any.”

Footsteps rang on metal and the pair by the edge looked around to see Hyunseung and Da Eun, the latter’s hospital gown flapping in the breeze. Visibly shivering, she let out a cry upon seeing the situation. But instead of running towards Yoseob and Gikwang, like Hyunseung did, she ran towards the lone figure standing unnoticed on opposite ledge. Upon reaching him, she wrapped her arms around him and tugged him away as strong as she could.

Junhyung was a breath away from lifting a foot and plunging down when he felt a pair of slender arms come around him and pull. It was more the surprise than the almost nonexistent strength that made him lose his balance and fall backwards.

Da Eun let out her breath all at once as she fell on the roof, a jab of pain shooting through her, pinned down by Junhyung’s comparably much larger and heavier body. Wheezing, she struggled to push him off before just settling for pummeling him with all her might. “Babo, babo, babo!” She landed a few punches on his side, making him grunt, then burst into tears.

It took Junhyung a while to process that yes, it was Da Eun punching him, and no, he wasn’t dreaming, because he could clearly feel every punch and kick she landed. When he finally registered that she was crying, he rolled off and hugged her tight, partially for comfort and partially to just make she was there.

“Babo,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “What were you doing? Why would you do that?”

“I thought… I thought you were dead,” he mumbled. “Dongwoon said…” He remembered. “Dongwoon…” he whispered. “Doojoon…” It was his turn to sob.

“Dongwoon?” Da Eun’s heart stopped. “What happened?” She cried.

“Doojoon… Doojoon hyung tried to stop Woonie, tried to stop the babo from jumping, but both of them went over,” he cried, burying his face in the comfort of her hair, reminiscent of the afternoon they’d spent together. “And now there’s three gone, three gone already.”

Shock kept Da Eun sane and coherent. “Three?”

“Seungie’s gone, they told us Seungie’s gone!” He rocked back and forth, sobs racking his chest.

“But… Junhyung, listen to me! Hyunseung… Nothing happened to Hyunseung! He’s completely fine, and he’s over there!” She attempted to make Junhyung look in Hyunseung’s direction, but had to resort to dragging him. “Yah!” She snapped, shaking him.

By a tremendous effort, Da Eun finally got Junhyung to lift his head. Gaze landing on the three, not two, figures by the edge of the roof, he gaped and staggered to his feet, leaving Da Eun on the floor.

Trying to get up, she was rendered senseless from pain. Her chest felt like it was splitting apart from the seams, and she lay back down, gasping for breath. Looking over, she saw Junhyung almost running towards the others, and a thought hit her as she watched Gikwang and Yoseob reach over the edge. Could it be…