"LEE HYUKJAE, I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!"

Leeteuk and Heechul both gasped and swiftly turned their heads to where they thought they heard Donghae's voice had come from. The surprised look on their faces was mirrored by every single person within the vicinity which, as it turns out, was every personnel that had gone to the retreat.

After Hyukjae's accident, Heechul told Hyori to give everyone a momentary break while they escorted Hyukjae to the first aid tent. A move that turned out to be a really good idea specially since Hyukjae had requested to be left alone with only Kyuhyun to assist him. Donghe had thrown a tantrum and demanded repeatedly that he was an exception to Hyukjae's rule but Leeteuk and Heechul had to make sure to put their foot down and keep him from further gathering looks from their staff members.

Leeteuk had placed Heechul in charge of Donghae while he spoke with Kwanghee to fill out some paperwork to document the incident. A task that turned out to be much harder to handle now that the other had slipped right past Heechul and was now declaring his love for practically everyone to hear. 

Leeteuk wasn't so sure either that Heechul had not given Donghae the idea to go rogue.

Kyuhyun, on the other hand; the only one lucky enough to actually be witness to the whole thing, had  a wide grin on his face as he looked back and forth between Donghae and Hyukjae, both of whom sported a wide-eyed expression on their faces for reasons completely opposite of the other. 

"W-What...I- uhh...What're you- uhm..." Hyukjae looked at Kyuhyun for some help but his best friend chose to keep quiet for once and let things unfold between them naturally. 

Unfortunately, "naturally" would take a while as Donghae stood on his spot anxiously waiting for Hyukjae's answer to his more than obvious question to be serious. After today's events, the jealous monster inside him has had enough walking around egg shells. Screw waiting for the gala. He's not going to risk losing Hyukjae for another second. 

A fake yawn and one exagerrated fake cough broke through the developing thick silence between Donghae and Hyukjae as the latter continued to remain tongue tied trying to process what Donghae had just asked/screamed at him. 

"Hey, uhm, sorry to interrupt...whatever this is," Kyuhyun awkwardly said while waving his hand up in the air. Hyukjae scrunched his face at him for acting stupid at such an important time of his life. "I just thought it's important to point out and, um, Hyukjae," Kyuhyun looked at his friend and ignored the intense look of daggers the other had directed his way. "Not to put pressure on you or anything but Donghae's not the only one waiting for your answer." His eyes glanced towards the outside of the tent and that's when Hyukjae finally realized what he was talking about. 

Holding in the gasp that threatened to come out of him, Hyukjae abruptly pressed both feet on the ground, completely forgetting about his injured ankle, and was caught off guard by the sudden pain that shot through him. All it took was one quick yelp and Donghae was immediately by his side checking up on him. Kyuhyun laughed to himself and decided to take that as his cue to exit. 

Donghae was too busy worrying about Hyukjae while the latter was in too much pain to notice. 

"Hyukjae! Are you okay?" Donghae's left arm went around Hyukjae's lower back as he assisted his injured ankle to be lifted up on the now vacant chair across them. Hyukjae hissed and didn't even notice that he was grabbing onto Donghae's arm quite tightly. Not until he had to let him go. 

The awkwardness was back in the air as Hyukjae kept his eyes on his injured ankle and idly massaged his leg in order to distract him from having to look at Donghae. Although, it didn't help that he could feel him just staring at him.

Incessantly.

Without saying a word.

It was, for the lack of a better word, starting to get weird. 

"Does it still hurt?" 

Hyukjae blinked and had to take a second to recompose himself before answering. "Um, n-no." He didn't realize it before but maybe he should have had some of that water he risked his life for. Okay; so not his life but it was pretty close. He's pretty sure he saw his life flash before his eyes when he was falling off Kwanghee's back. 

"Are you sure? Maybe we should take you to the hospital and have a doctor take a look at it." 

Hearing Donghae's suggestion, and the sincerity behind it, Hyukjae couldn't help but laugh a little. 

"No, I'm fine. Really." Then, he finally turned to give Donghae a proper look and showed him a small smile. "Thank you for the bandage. Kyu told me you were the one who got it."

"Well, I guess technically I did." Donghae rubbed his nape and Hyukjae was able to see for the first time how nervous he really was. "I actually had to have Mr. Kim rush it over since Hyori Noona only packed ice packs and band aids."

"Oh. I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trouble you."

Donghae heard that tone Hyukjae notices and immediately realized his mistake. He didn't want Hyukjae retreating back away from him and out of pure instinct grabbed his hand to hold against his. "No! That's-That's not what I meant. It's fine. No trouble! I was...I just got worried, that's all." 

"Still. I should've been more careful. I'm sure Kwanghee's outside blaming himself for my clumsiness." 

At the mention of his rival-slash-not-rival, Donghae's jealousy was starting to spark again. "Is-...Is it okay if I ask you something?"

"S-Sure, I guess. What is it?"

"Are you and Kwanghee dating?" Donghae asked straight to the point, eyes directly looking into Hyukjae's eyes, as though telepathically begging him to tell him no. To say that Hyukjae was surprised would be an understatement. 

"Wh-What? Why would you even ask me that?" Hyukjae twisted his body a little in mild outrage, careful not to accidentally drop his leg lest he wants to experience that surge of pain over again. "Where did that even come from?" 

"Just answer me." Donghae insisted although it took a lot in him to not lash out like he used to. 

"No, Donghae. Kwanghee and I are not dating." Hyukjae deadpanned sensing that Hyukjae wouldn't very easily drop the subject. "Why are you suddenly asking me that?"

"Then why was he hugging you?" Donghae asked accusingly. 

"He wasn't hugging me," Hyukjae retorted, barely managing to drop the word "idiot" from his reply. "He was holding onto me. The poor boy couldn't breath during the race and was begging me to stop dragging him." 

Donghae's eyes narrowed as he proceeded to ask his next question. "Then why did he te