“It’s poison.”

Donghae’s eyes went wide when the doctor finally spoke to him, saying those words that he couldn’t bring himself to believe. It was bad enough that they were being targeted and Siwon was waiting for the right time to strike them, and now this happened. He looked at Eunhyuk who was still sleeping soundly on the bed like a living corpse, his face pale and his hands were as cold as ice. “Are you saying he was…poisoned?”

“I can’t be sure about that,” the doctor said, “But the reason that he can’t move his legs is because of poison. I suspect that something he ate was poisoned, but I can be wrong too. It won’t lead to death, but it causes headache, nausea, and it weakens body muscles. He needs to stay here for a week, because he won’t be able to walk for a few days. You’re lucky that you sent him here right away, or else more damages might have occurred.”

There were no words came out from Donghae’s mouth as he sat on a chair beside the bed, completely ignoring the doctor when he left the room and said he’d be back later to check on the blonde. He took the blonde’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently with his eyes glued on Eunhyuk’s pale face. He hated to see this. He wanted to hear Eunhyuk’s sweet voice talking and laughing with him, he wanted to see Eunhyuk’s smile, he wanted to see Eunhyuk’s beautiful, sparkling eyes, and he wanted to hug him so tight and never let him go. Why did this happen? Why now?

He held Eunhyuk’s hand tighter and leaned down to kiss him on his forehead, and stayed there for a moment. He never felt so weak before. But the thought of losing the blonde scared him, he felt like his world was beginning to crumble down and slowly disappearing, being swallowed by the darkness. Without Eunhyuk he could never imagine living in this corrupted world that he hated so much, he would never be able to survive without him. And it made him felt even worse. Just when he thought he could finally live like someone else, being happy with someone he loved by his side, it seemed like God would never grant him his wish.

“Why?” He whispered, not even knowing to whom the question was pointed to. “Is it my fault?”

“Donghae.”

Donghae looked up, and there was Kyuhyun standing at the door, giving him a worried look before slowly walking closer and stopped beside the bed. His hands were inside his pocket, his face calm but Donghae could tell the younger was as uneasy as him.

“Is he…okay?” Kyuhyun asked, and ended up cursing himself in his mind for asking the stupidest question.

“No,” Donghae replied half-heartedly. “He was poisoned. Do you think he’s gonna be okay?”

“You look tired. You should rest for a while,” Kyuhyun said, ignoring his brother’s harsh tone. Seeing Donghae like this reminded him of the day when his brother’s mother died, and he hated it. He had always looked up to Donghae as someone who was strong, independent and would never show his weaknesses to others. He would never want to see this side of him. It was somewhat painful, and sad.

“Where’s Sungmin?”

“He’s paying the bill. We’ll make sure that doctor will keep this a secret.”

“He mentioned Siwon’s name,” Donghae said out of the blue, making Kyuhyun frowned.

“What?”

“He mentioned Siwon’s name before he fainted.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“Does this mean Siwon has something to do with the poison?”

“I don’t know.”

Kyuhyun sighed. “Look, I know this is hard for you, Donghae. It’s hard for all of us. But keep calm, okay? We’ll help you,” when there was no respond from his brother, Kyuhyun continued, “I’ll leave now. I want to investigate about the poison. I’ll inform you if I find anything.”

Donghae just kept quiet and watched the younger walked out of the room, letting out a heavy sigh when Kyuhyun was no longer there. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ease his hectic mind. Too many things happened at the same time and it was really hard for him to deal with all of these; Leeteuk and Kangin were missing, Minho betrayed him, his grandmother was killed and now, Eunhyuk was in the hospital. He felt so helpless. He didn’t even know what to do anymore. Siwon might attack them at any time now, and he knew there was no way he could win against him just by himself. No, he didn’t want that to happen. He couldn’t bear living alone without Eunhyuk by his side.

Donghae was shocked when he suddenly felt a soft hand caressing his cheek, and looked up immediately. He almost jumped onto Eunhyuk when he saw the blonde was already awake, giving him a weak smile as he kept caressing his face.

“Hae…” Eunhyuk spoke, almost whispering.

“How are you feeling?” Donghae asked, his hand holding the latter’s hand tightly.

“Dizzy…” Eunhyuk answered weakly. “Where am I?”

“Hospital. You’re sick, Hyukkie. You’ll stay here for a few days, okay?”

“I want to go home…” Eunhyuk said, pouting.

Donghae chuckled lightly. “No, you can’t. Not now. I’ll stay with you here, alright?”

“Alright.”

Donghae frowned slightly when he looked at the blonde’s face, wondering if he really had started to gain back his memories. Nothing seemed to be different with Eunhyuk despite the fact that he mentioned about Siwon before he fainted, and how he was being so emotional, but he could only see the same Eunhyuk now. “Hyuk?” Donghae called, slightly hesitating but he had to ask this, “Do you….remember anything?”

“Umm?” Eunhyuk blinked his eyes, clearly looked confused, “Remember what, Hae?”

“About yesterday.”

“Oh! Minnie-hyung played with me yesterday! He even taught me how to make cookies! And then he gave me a teddy bear,” Eunhyuk grinned widely as he told the latter, while Donghae just scratched his head, not knowing what to say anymore.

It seemed like he didn’t remember anything, and Donghae had no clue why he was saying those things about Siwon last night.

“H-hae?”

“Hmm?”

“W-what happened to my legs?” Eunhyuk asked, his face went white when he just remembered that he couldn’t move his legs, it was as if he was paralyzed.

“It’s alright, Hyuk. You’re going to be okay. The doctor will treat you, and I’ll be here, okay?”

“D-don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

It was quiet for a moment, they were just sitting still while looking into each other’s eyes. Donghae held the blonde’s hand tighter, and was about to lean down to kiss him when Eunhyuk suddenly called his name.

“Hae?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sleepy.”

“Alright, just sleep. I’m not going anywhere.”

Eunhyuk pouted. “I want to sleep with you…”

Chuckling, Donghae stood up and climbed onto the bed, and Eunhyuk quickly moved aside to make a space for the latter. He quickly snuggled into Donghae’s broad chest when the latter wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly. He always felt safe and protected in Donghae’s arms. He wanted to stay like this for his whole life, feeling Donghae’s warmth enveloping his body, and his strong hands holding him, protecting him. He wanted to stay by Donghae’s side forever. But whenever he saw Donghae’s sad face, he felt uneasy, as if the latter was hiding something from him. What exactly was happening? Why wouldn’t Donghae tell him anything? He really wanted to ask those questions, but he just couldn’t.

“I’m sorry…” Donghae said all of a sudden, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you.”

“Hae…”

“What should I do? I don’t want to lose you… I don’t want to lose you, ever.”

Eunhyuk tried to look at Donghae’s face, but the latter held him so tight that he couldn’t even move. But just by listening to his cracked voice, he knew Donghae was sad. He could never understand what he was talking about, but to see Donghae’s sad face was the only thing that he didn’t want to happen. “Hae…I love you. So much. So so so so so so much.”

Donghae chuckled as he pinched the blonde’s nose playfully. “I love you too Hyukkie, more than you can think. Not even the universe can be compared to my love for you.”

“What is universe, Hae?”

“Umm…you don’t have to know…”

“Hae?”

“Hmm.”

“I want to go home, I want to play with you. I don’t want to stay here.”

“Hyuk…you can’t.“

“But this room smells weird and it’s all white, just like in a ghost movie, Hae. I don’t like it.”

“Alright,” Donghae sighed, “I’ll try to ask the doctor. But you can’t go out, okay? Stay at home and be a good boy.”

Donghae couldn’t help but to laugh seeing the blonde’s pout, but he was not going to give in. But wait, he just gave in and agreed to bring Eunhyuk home without him realizing. Sighing once again, he scooted closer to the blonde and rested his chin on his head, slowly closing his eyes. He could smell Eunhyuk’s sweet strawberry smell, which made him wonder why exactly he had that smell. He liked it though, it calmed him whenever he smelled it; Eunhyuk’s scent. As sleepiness slowly took over him, he could hear Eunhyuk’s faint voice saying, ‘I love you to him’ once again, making him smiled widely.

As soon as he stepped into the usual ‘private’ place he often used as his ‘business’ workplace, Minho raised an eyebrow seeing the wrecked place, furniture were broken, and almost everything was destroyed. His comrades