It had been rainy the past few days. The usual bustling of people outside his window was replaced with the arrhythmic drumming of precipitation. The warmth of the sunlight that normally streamed through the pane of glass was absent, leaving Minhyuk cold.

“Minhyuk, you have a visitor.”

Minhyuk turned his head to the nurse calling from the door. He held up a hand to call her over.

“Is it who I think it is?” he asked jokingly.

The nurse laughed. “I wish I could read your mind. But you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“Ah, now I know.”

On cue, she walked in, bouncing lightly in excitedly. Minhyuk knew her footsteps despite the fact that they hadn’t even known each other for nine months yet. Two small, childlike hands covered his eyes playfully and a girly voice rang out into the air.

“Guess who!”

Minhyuk hummed thoughtfully. “Hmmm, is it Rowoon?” he asked, giving out the alias he had for when he talked about his sister to others.

“Nope! Try again.”

“Again?” he asked with fake incredulity. “With all the effort you’re putting me through, if you’re not Kim Taehee, I’m going to have the people here whack you with their canes.”

She laughed, removing her hands and gently turning Minhyuk’s wheelchair to face away from the window to where previously stood behind him. “Close enough. We share the same last name though.”

Minhyuk smiled and held out a hand, which Yeri grabbed and shook enthusiastically.

“How have you been, Yeri?”

“It’s midterm season, but I’m surviving.”

“Hang in there, buddy. At least it’s not your first experience with hell this time around.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Anytime, Yeri.”

He sensed that she wanted to say something after the nurse left, telling them to holler if they needed anything.

“So who’s the other person?”

Minhyuk wasn’t able to see Yeri’s dyed red eyebrows shoot up as she glanced at the person waiting quietly beside her. She beckoned him to stand closer.

“Minhyuk, this is my best friend Jinyoung. He took a gap year after high school to travel, and he studied abroad in the UK for most of middle and high school, so he’s visiting us before he has to enroll.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Jinyoung said, reaching for Minhyuk’s outstretched hand. He gasped loudly when Minhyuk pulled him in for a hug.

“Please, just call me hyung or Minhyuk. Sir makes me feel old, haha.” Minhyuk let him go.

“Okay...hyung.”

“So, are you also here as a volunteer or just tagging along with Yeri?”

Yeri had met Minhyuk through a volunteering program provided through a partnership with her university’s student council. Most students just got their hours and left, but Yeri was committed to helping others and met Minhyuk in the process.

---

“Hello! I’m here to clean the room!”

Yeri’s voice was loud and rang out in the space that Minhyuk occupied. He tilted his head backwards over the edge of the backing of his wheelchair, meeting Yeri’s eyes unexpectedly and making her yelp in surprise.

“Ah, I’ve been told some of you would come.” He waved at her to come closer. “Could you unlock the little device on that wheel and turn me around to face you, please?”

Yeri fumbled but did as he requested, struggling a little to pivot his chair.

“So, how many hours do you need?”

“Huh?” Yeri’s hair flicked him in the face as she jerked her head up.

Minhyuk shrugged and leaned back, putting distance from where he felt her breath on his chin. “Most of the college kids come to get their community service hours and don’t really stick around.”

“Well then good thing I’m not most college kids.”

Minhyuk frowned. “That’s disgustingly cliche but also I’m sure that’s not quite the saying they normally use.”

Yeri pulled up a chair, the legs scraping against the floor. She sat down on it with a sigh and clucked her tongue.

“I’ve always enjoyed community service. There’s an unnie I really admire who’s been volunteering since she went to college, so I kind of took it up too. I like meeting and talking to people, so it works out to me.”

Minhyuk nodded, expression relaxing noticeably. Yeri glanced at his grey irises and smiled.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up here? Do you not have any family to look after you?”

Minhyuk hesitated, wondering how much of his personal life he was comfortable sharing, especially given how much his sister was suffering from the aftermath of the accid