Hyukjae laid down on his bed, eyes wide awake while his thumbs twiddled with each other. His mind replaying the kiss he and Donghae shared in the club earlier followed by the horrific reaction he had after that. He closed his eyes tight shut and grimaced at himself for always acting like such an idiot around the other. 

Seriously...why couldn't he just be cool and charming when he's with Donghae? And Why....just...why does everything bad have to happen to him?...

Three hours earlier...

Hyukjae kept his eyes closed after mustering up the courage to close the distance between him and Donghae and finally, finally, doing the one thing he's wanted to do with the other ever since he first laid eyes on him. The loud music of the club faded out in his head as soon as he felt Donghae' s soft lips move against his. Hyukjae's heart skipped a beat when he felt Donghae's hand fall on the side of  his hips; pulling him closer against his body. It was everything and more than he expected it to be and the moment would have lasted longer if it wasn't for the dancing drunken idiot behind Hyukjae taking a faltered step too close his way and harshly bumping into him. Hyukjae was so startled by the sudden push that he ended up biting down onto Donghae's lower lip too hard causing the other to cringe out in pain. The latter groaned at the sudden unexpected pain and abruptly pulled away from Hyukjae to tend on his throbbing lower lip but then bumped into another drunken person behind him on the dance floor. 

"Hey!" The person turned around with a scowl and yelled at Donghae. "Watch where the you're going!"

The man was about two inches taller than Donghae and the stain on his white too-tight-for-his-torso fitted shirt was drenched with the drink that was once in the glass that he was holding. Donghae, although still wincing a little bit from the pain of Hyukjae biting him, stood his ground and didn't back away from the glowering man at all. 

Instead, he adjusted the crease of his half buttoned black polo and stared the man down. The music in the club got louder and the DJ, completely unaware of the fight that was about to break out on his dance floor, pumped up the crowd and started blasting colorful laser lights all around the room. Hyukjae nervously stood behind Donghae and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, eager to just get out of the crowd and Donghae into safety. 

"Donghae," he called as he stepped closer to his ear so the other could hear him over the blasting club music. "Let's just go." 

A request that Donghae was willing to abide with if the drunken man in front of them had not stood in Donghae's way and unnecessarily shoved Donghae's shoulder. The latter pursed his lips together, jaws locking tight and teeth gritting together in his effort to hold himself back. That was until he saw the man nod over at Hyukjae with that predatory look on his face and everything else went dark in his eyes. 

Due to the lack of proper lighting in the club, all Hyukjae could see from where he was standing was the man falling on the ground and the people on that side dispersing in shock. His eyes widened at the sight but before he could even react on what was going on around him, the man's friends had come to his rescue and landed a quick punch against Donghae's face. It wasn't long after that before the vibe in the club changed completely and for the DJ's attention to quickly shift to where the fight was currently happening. The spectators on the third floor were also alarmed and quickly made their way down to try and settle the fight before it got too out of hand. 

"Donghae!" Hyukjae knelt down and tried to assist Donghae back up on his feet when he felt a hand aggressively turn him around and pushed him down to sit on his bottom. The red lighting behind the man that grabbed him made him look more menacing in Hyukjae's eyes that his brain had shutdown and all he could do was stare up at the man with surprised frightened eyes. Donghae on the other hand quickly saw what the man intended to do and  was quick to act on his feet. As soon as he got up from the floor, he shoved the man away from Hyukjae then blocked an incoming punch on his left side before using his right knee to hit the man's stomach then pushing him away to buy himself some time away from the person's friends.

Hyukjae's breath hitched and felt frantic at how quickly the situation was escalating. Thankfully, Yunho's security team came to their aid just in time and separated the men away from each other. People around the club were all too drunk and disoriented to make sense of what was happening and those who weren't had moved away from the chaos. 

Kyuhyun and Yunho arrived at the same time as the club's security team and quickly went to find Donghae and Hyukjae. Yunho guided Donghae and Hyukjae away from the dance floor with the former holding onto Donghae's arm and dragging him towards a hidden random door camouflaged to the side of the club and disappearing in the dark to tend to Donghae's injury while Kyuhyun held onto Hyukjae's arm to keep him from following them. He took that time to hold onto Hyukjae's shoulders with both hands and looked into his eyes to and asked if he was alright. 

Hyukjae couldn't hear a word Kyuhyun was saying to him and blindly nodded his head at whatever question the other was throwing his way. His eyes was still scanning the dark environment of the club looking for any sign of Donghae but there was no sign of him or Yunho anywhere. He couldn't help but be filled with guilt and  worry as he realized that he and Donghae were permanently separated for the night. Kyuhyun saw his expression and sighed. 

"Do you want to stay and wait for Donghae to come out?"

That seemed to catch Hyukjae's attention and looked at Kyuhyun hesitantly. He nervously bit down on his lower lip before closing his eyes and resigning for a simple shake of his head. Kyuhyun didn't push it and just nodded his head before leading the two of them out of the club and back home. 

It was not how any of them thought the night would end. 

Present...

Hyukjae let out another heavy sigh after recalling the events of the night over in his head once again then flipping onto his side. He kept his left arm tucked under the side of his head and stared blankly towards the closed closet door in front him, his mind still preoccupied with thoughts of Donghae and if the latter was doing okay. The guilt of Donghae getting involved in a fight because of him was still eating away inside him and Hyukjae wasn't quite sure if he'd ever get any sleep that night. Another sigh escaped him before he reached out for his phone on the side table next to him to check for the time. 

3:45 AM

Hyukjae's stare lingered longer on his phone screen after seeing the time. 

'No new messages' 

Hyukjae pursed his lips together and unknowingly let out another quiet sigh. After putting his phone back down on the night stand, he turned himself back on his back and stared at the ceiling. He forced his eyes to close as his poor attempt to go to sleep but all he saw in the dark was Donghae's face getting punched. Opening his eyes back up again, Hyukjae drummed his fingers against each other and hummed to himself, trying to fill the silence of his room with something. 

Time passed him by and before he knew it, his phone's alarm had gone off and he still hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Needless to say, his panda eyes and groggy demeanor would be the least of his problems at work today. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Hyukjae fixed the collar of his dress shirt in front of the mirror for the third time that day while frowning at his reflection. The anxiety of going to the office and seeing Donghae was messing with his head and he wasn't quite sure how he would react upon seeing the other. Should he pretend like last night didn't happen? Or can he somehow discreetly find some alone time to ask the other if he was okay...

Hyukjae really wanted to know if Donghae was okay. 

Maybe he'd get lucky and get some alone time with him in the elevator again. Maybe he could ask Leeteuk if he could bring up another random file up to his office and casually segway the topic to Donghae. 

"Hey,