"Understood, Doc."

He excused himself and walked down the long alley to go back to his station. Passing a big window that reflected his form, he stopped on his track to check on his appearance, tidying his uniform and taking off his mask. Pronto, he got going again. He was rushed—call him that—because even though he still got about ten minutes left until his shift ended, getting off from work was always thrilling, knowing that someone was waiting for him at home.

"You're early today."

He was surprised to see his coworker already in the station, taking off his padding.

"Yeah, I know you want to leave fast, Hyung."

The latter smirked as he put on the name tag and mask. However, it was suddenly quiet, only rustles from the other one who was already gathering his belongings. He did not want to bring up the topic but seeing his friend looked so worn out like this, he couldn't help but worry about him.

"Hyung."

"Hmm?"

"How is he?"

And as expected, he knew the answer took a longer time to come out. He glimpsed at him from his peripheral and noticed he was ready to leave.

"He's doing amazing, Hae. Thank you for asking."

Lie. It was all written on the latter's face that the fact was not as beautiful as what he said. That his friend took an extra shift was the evidence that nothing was getting better. But strange. Not once had he ever heard his friend complain about it.

"Good to hear."

"Yeah... I'm going, Hae. Bye!"

It was a few seconds before the other left the room when Donghae eventually called again.

"Heechul-hyung?"

Heechul gulped and turned to his friend.

"Yes?"

"Pass my greetings for him."

-x-x-x-

The loud sound of engine revving from the motorcycle he was driving tapered off into a faint snarl since he slowly stopped right before he neared his house. He took off the keys and got off the bike to push his vehicle into the tiny garage in the small yard. Having parked inside and closed the door of the garage, he swung his bag over his shoulder as his fingers tightened around the grip on the takeaways in his hand.

The front lamp was not lit up—as usual. He smiled a little, swallowing his sigh, and strolled to the main door of the small building he'd been calling home for years back and years ahead. The door creaked when he pushed it open and entered the house.

Again, darkness.

He did not mind, though, all he needed was to see his smile and everything would be so bright that he had to shield away.

"Teuk?"

He put down the food on the old coffee table in the living room and took off his coat, eyes traveling to find the one he was looking for.

"Teukie?"

No answer. He flicked the lamp on and went farther in the house, to the bedroom to be exact. The door was shut and again, no light coming from inside; his trained eyes could tell from the dimmed crack bellow the door.

"Teuk, I'm home. May I come in?"

Heechul ignored the clench in his chest and pushed the door a little. He slipped inside and finally saw him, sitting beside the window, staring at the outside. Heechul beamed and carefully approached Leeteuk. He followed the direction of where the man was looking and to the road, it landed—as usual. He sighed and tapped Leeteuk's shoulder lightly.

"Hey."

And it did not surprise him to see that Leeteuk flinched and immediately curled himself, almost falling off the chair if not for him who was always ready to catch him.

"It's me. Heechul."

Heechul enveloped Leeteuk into a hug and tried what he always did to calm him down. Rubbing his back, whispering comforting words, or even bearing the strong clutch on his shoulders—everything, until Leeteuk could be eased. It usually took five minutes and today was the usual. After some time, Heechul eventually released the hug and kneeled in front of the latter. It was the only way to accommodate their talking.

"Teukie, I'm bringing your favorite tomato soup."

Heechul gingerly held both of the cold hands, hoping to warm them. Leeteuk stared at him absent-mindedly for the longest time before he weakly shook his head. It always hurt him that he had no idea how Leeteuk would welcome him every other day—it was a blind guess—but he slowly became used to the pain.

"Let's wash up. I'll prepare warm water for you."

Heechul immediately got up and left the room before he got another rejection—because he couldn't bear another rejection. He strained his neck up and twisted it around to ease the tensed muscles for he had worked all day long. It was so exhausting but that was the least he could do—to live the life he had right now with all the perks it offered.

Swinging the bathroom door opened, his breath hitched when his eyes finally took everything in. It was not the first time but it managed to shock him like it was always the first time. The water tap was running, overflowing the clogged sink to the bathroom floor. The towels were shattered on the floor and he could tell that Leeteuk probably had an accident judging from the dirty pants at the corner of the room with stain all over them. Heechul chewed his lower lip and snapped his head up to keep his tears in place, afraid they would fall if he looked ahead. Wrong, they fell anyway. He sighed loudly and had to grip the door frame to keep him from tumbling down. 

He was tired. 

Excruciatingly tired.

"S-sorry."

Heechul quickly wiped his tears away and took a lungful air. He looked back and smiled upon seeing Leeteuk peeking from the bedroom, obviously afraid he would get mad at him. He could never.

"It's okay. I'm sorry I couldn't help you earlier."

Noticing that Leeteuk fixed his stare at him, Heechul turned around again and uttered.

"I'll clean the bathroom first then I'll help you take a bath. Okay?"

He did not wait for an answer because he knew too well he hardly got one. Ente