Chapter 7

After so long, an update!

“Oh my gosh that feels good…. Lower…. Harder…. Don’t be afraid… I’m sorry, are you tired? You can stop.”

‘Huh? What the…. Oh my word. Do I want to open my eyes? Ah my back. Why’s it so hard?’ Kibum slowly opened his eyes to see why his back hurt so severely. And then he realized his eyes were open to see what disgusting sight awaits him.

“Oh my gosh thank God,” Kibum said as his head fell back onto the pillow.

“Oh! You’re awake!” Leeteuk said to Kibum as he got up and stretched his arms. Hyojin silently walk silently past behind Leeteuk and left the ward. “How’re you feeling? Like me probably?” Leeteuk laughed at his comment.

“Yeah,” Leeteuk smiled sympathetically at Kibum’s answer. “I feel like an old man.” Leeteuk’s smile dropped, “Yah.”

“Hahaha ah appa,” Kibum winced at the pain.

“Don’t move too much. You fractured one of your backbone thingies slightly,” the leader said as he placed his hand on the magnae’s shoulder. “Get plenty of rest and try not to move about.”

“Arratda,” Kibum said as he looked to the ceiling. The pain had gotten a little unbearable, so a tear fell from his eye. “Now I know how Kyuhyun felt when he had his accident.”

“That’s in the past,” the leader said firmly. Softening, he asked, “So how have you been?”

After an hour of catching up, there was a knock on the door. Donghae entered with a basket of fruits. “Kibum-ah, how are you?” Knowing the fish well, the two members were not surprised by the tears that fell from his eyes.

“Nan koenchana. Stop crying, hyung,” Kibum said to the crying fish. “I’ll get well soon.”

Donghae nodded and wiped his tears away. “Arasso. You’d better get well soon. By the way, why is there a woman sitting outside your room?”

“Ah matda! Kibum-ah, your assistant’s been here since before I arrived. I’m guessing that she has been here for the past 2 days too,” Leeteuk said to Kibum.

“THAT’S YOUR ASSISTANT? She’s so…. YOUNG,” the fish exclaimed.

Ignoring the fish, Leeteuk went on, “Kibum-ah, you need to talk to her. I can tell she’s shaken up. Other than calling the nurse, she doesn’t dare touch you at all. It’s not like she should be, but she doesn’t even dare to look at you. For the past two days, when the nurse came to change your drip, she just stood with me fidgeting. She was just fidgeting! It’s not like she was afraid of the drip or the needle. She would fiddle with her fingers and I swear there were tears in her eyes. She even excused herself and came back all freshened up. I talked to her today. I think she’s seriously and overly remorseful, Kibum-ah. She explained the whole story, but she’s blaming herself entirely. She said that she doesn’t dare to face you when you wake up. She told me that she was actually leaving this job as your assistant, but I offered her a place as Super Junior’s assistant.”

“Whoa she’ll make a great assistant,” the fish butted in.

“That’s the thing. She doesn’t WANT to be an assistant anymore. She’s seriously traumatized. So I convinced her that this one incident doesn’t make her a bad assistant. I got her to give me a back massage since she was good at it, just to prove that she’s useful and beneficial. Dude, she’s good,” Leeteuk said to Kibum with a laugh. Kibum returned the laugh, knowing exactly how Leeteuk felt about Hyojin’s massage.

Leeteuk slipped his hand into Kibum’s and asked, “Kibum-ah, talk to her. You need to tell her that it’s not her fault. I know it is, but you need to convince her that it isn’t. Just lie this once for me, please? I’ll owe you one.”

Donghae just watched silently as Leeteuk asked Kibum for this one favor. “Yah Neo wae?” Leeteuk said with a little frustration. “Hyung, why are you crying again?” “Shuddup,” Donghae replied.

“This guy… Kibum-ah-“

“Arasso. Call her in,” Kibum said, looking at the ceiling.

“Komawo. Donghae-ah, woori kaja,” Leeteuk signaled to Donghae. Minutes later, the sound of high heels filled the silent ward. Hyojin awkwardly walked toward the bed.

“Anja,” Kibum said. He opened his hand, signaling Hyojin to hold it. Hyojin could only stare at the hand, paralyzed with fear. “Koenchana. It’s just my hand.” Still, she wouldn’t take a hold of it. “If you don’t take it, I’m going to move to take yours and I’ll spoil my back,” Kibum threatened.

Hesitantly, she touched it and held on to it. “I heard you’re quitting because of this.” Silence. Kibum tightened his grip on her hand, although his ailing back affected his grip. “You know it’s not all your fault right?”

“Don’t lie,” she said softly. “Your leader already tried to talk me out of it.”

“Alright, then I’ll be honest; it’s your fault,” Kibum said coldly. “But it was also my fault. If I hadn’t stolen your food, you wouldn’t have chased me. I should have resisted but I didn’t, and now I’m paying for it.”

“Aniya. If I hadn’t jump, you wouldn’t be in this bed,” Hyojin refuted with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was snuffling up as she felt the guilt rush back into her.

“It was both our fault, and just really bad timing, Hyojin-ah. You have to forgive yourself and move on, you hear me? If you let this one thing get to you then you’ll never be a good assistant anywhere, you hear me? People learn from their mistakes, and we’re people. So you'd better drop this self-condemnation and rise back up,” Kibum said firmly.

“Stay with me,” Kibum softened. Hyojin looked up from his hand and at his face. Kibum looked into her eyes. “We got into this problem, and we’ll get out of it together, huh? We’re a team remember? I thought that was established when I put all my reliance on you. You’re my dongsaeng. You’ve always got my back, figuratively and now literally. How am I going to be healthy without my health freak?”

Hyojin was still reluctant about the idea. “You know what? If you don’t help me through my rehab, I’m going to have the company sue your . And I’ll make sure that you’ll never work as a PA ever again.”

“Yah Kim Kibum that’s not the-“ Surprised, Hyojin turned around to see Donghae pull Leeteuk back. They realized they’ve been spotted, so they come out from behind the wall. “Hyojin-ah. You need to let this go, huh? Kibum already said that it’s his fault too and I’m sure he forgives you, right Kibum?” Kibum nodded with a smile. “So don’t blame it on yourself. You’ve been an awesome assistant to him and this is just an unfortunate incident. Huh? What do you say? Don’t give up on yourself.”

Hyojin stared at the hyungs for a while before looking out of the window. She nodded her head slowly and hesitantly. Leeteuk and Donghae high-fived each other and Kibum smiled at Hyojin. “Come here and give me a hug.” Hyojin moved slowly toward Kibum and placed her hands gently around Kibum’s neck. Kibum’s hand moved to hug her too. “Mianhae,” she choked out. Donghae’s arm reached out to pat Hyojin’s back, as she cried into Kibum’s shoulder. “Koenchana,” Kibum said with a smile, her head.

“Yah, it’s settled. She’s not quitting,” Leeteuk said into his phone, as he looked at his two dongsaengs calming the new addition down.

“Jinjjayo? Komawo, Hyojin-ssi!” Donghae said to her. He turned around as the embarrassed assistant looked to her surroundings. They were sitting outside Kibum’s ward as they waited for Leeteuk to finish his private conversation with Kibum. She hesitantly placed her hands on his shoulders to massage them, aware of the nurses who were obviously jealous and obviously unhappy. “Uwah. Jalhaeneunde!” Donghae exclaimed as he felt his tensed muscles being pressed.

“Kibum-ah,” Leeteuk said to his magnae. “Please just remember one thing: don’t fall in love with you assistant. She’s nice and all, but remember to maintain a simple star-assistant relationship. The fans were hard on her about this incident already, so don’t add more knives to the mob.”

Leeteuk’s subject for the private conversation surprised Kibum. “Arasseoyo, hyung,” he said, still shocked by such a mention from his hyung. Never did it occur to Kibum that he would fall in love with his assistant. “Geundae hyung, am I in love with her? Did you notice something? I didn’t really feel anything.”

“I didn’t. But I don’t want to. Remember, you’re Super Junior and there are many ELFs. I don't want a problem for both you and Hyojin, you hear me? She doesn’t need to face such persecution,” Leeteuk said with plenty of seriousness in his voice. He sighed before turning to head out. “At least, don’t get caught. But the best solution to this problem would be to resist emotionally, you hear me?”

“I’ll try my best. You never know, hyung. Me neither,” Kibum replied. He meant it. He couldn’t tell if he would fall in love with Hyojin. He doesn’t and wouldn’t know, either.

Sorry for the really long absence. I've just finished one exam, so I decided to update! Sadly, I have 3 more to go before the end/my next update. Aother reason for my update is my loss of subscribers. :( I already have so little. Dear silent readers, please subscribe to get my next update! If you don't have an account, just get one for free. That way, you can stay updated about all your favourite fanfics without the hassle of checking every fic. Please subscribe! If I'm not seeing any new subscribers, I'm planning on giving up on it. What do you think? I mean, Kibum is quite unknown to new K-Pop fans so the appeal for this fanfic is not really high.

Comments highly appreciated!

PS. Did you read the news of Kibum's new drama? Timely, huh? Maybe (if I continue with this story) I will base it off this one too! ^^ What do you think? Realistic storyline, or make believe all the way?