Packing his notes and homework into his favourite backpack, Luhan left for the hospital with a heavy heart. There was another assessment coming up really soon and he was far from prepared. To add on to his worries, he had received a call earlier in the morning from Jieun's doctor that after more tests done before they went overseas, none of her parents were suitable to be bone marrow donors, especially since a tumour had been detected in her father's stomach. 

The news had left Luhan shaken, and he wasn't planning to break the news to Jieun. The doctor had agreed,  and would only tell Jieun's father herself when both of them returned from their business trip so that he could go for a thorough check-up to see if the tumour was anything worse or just something that could be removed through simple surgery.

Luhan stood at the traffic light, watching as cars zoom by and people across the street carry on with their busy lives. It reminded him fondly of Beijing, where traffic jams were a common sight and people often pushed past each other in a bid to quickly reach their destinations. He realized that he did miss home quite a bit even though he had grown to love Korea just about as much, and wondered if he would have the time to go back home in the upcoming holidays to visit his family and friends back there.

"Take it."

He whipped around to face a guy who was around his age, and had a flyer chucked into his hands.

"Thanks, you've helped me clear the last flyer for this morning so I can go on to my next job." The guy beamed at Luhan and ran off while waving gratefully at him before he disappeared into the crowd. Luhan was about to crush the flyer and throw it into the dustbin nearby before he took a quick look at the words in bold, and his eyes lit up with excitement. 

"5-Day Couple Holiday in Korea and China?"

As the cars braked to a stop and people around him started briskly making their way, Luhan folded the flyer nicely before tucking it into his backpack, and caught up with the pace of the pedestrians as they all crossed the road.

"Your pillow is wet. You've been crying."

Mir blurted out as he sat on Luhan's usual seat by Jieun's bed, and she shook her head.

"I spilt water on it last night-"

"Did Luhan make you cry?"

"Of course not." Jieun tried her best to put on her strong front as she handed Mir an apple from her breakfast. "Here, eat an apple."

"You obviously forget that I grow apples back in my hometown. This apple can't be compared to the ones I harvest." Mir tried to pull a joke, and Jieun nodded before eating the apple herself. 

"Now tell me the truth. I know you too well."

Jieun sunk her teeth into the apple and paused, contemplating what to tell Mir. She obviously couldn't tell him all of those depressing thoughts that she had somehow managed to push to the back of her mind as she enjoyed the time she had with one of her closest friends, but Mir could always tell when she was lying, especially since she wasn't good at lying.

"You know you can share everything with me."

"It's personal, Mir." Jieun observed the lint on Mir's jeans, and dusted it off for him. "Some personal stuff can't be shared. That's why it's called personal."

"Fine, but you have to promise me that you won't cry alone like that again, okay? It's so obvious that you cried yourself to sleep last night. I'll come more often if that Luhan doesn't come. If he dares to hurt you in any way, call me and I'll beat him up."

"Says the guy with a big belly," Jieun joked as she poked Mir in the stomach, "you've been gaining weight recently here, haven't you? Seoul's food really is that good huh?"

"Aish you!" 

Jieun felt a lot better knowing that even if Luhan would eventually leave her, she still had a great friend like Mir who would stay by her side and entertain her in his own strange ways.

Luhan fiddled with the straps on his backpack as he entered Jieun's ward. He was prepared to break to her his brilliant plan, and the thought of it was already exciting enough for him. As he approached the ward and greeted the little kids along the corridor, he heard distinct laughter coming from Jieun's ward and decided to stand outside and wait for whoever was in there to finish his or her conversation with Jieun.

"Admit it, I look like Lee Hongki from F.T Island!"

"You're so delusional!" Jieun's voice was slightly raspy, and Luhan grew worried. Did she have a sore throat, or a cold? Should he call the doctor?

"I hate you, Bang Cheol Yong!"

Mir?

Luhan's eyebrows knitted together in worry as he continued to listen in on their conversation, despite the strange stares that the nurses were giving him. 

"And I love you, Nam Jieun~"

Stunned, Luhan realized that he had been holding his breath and clenching his fists tightly, willing himself not to barge in and punch Mir for even attempting to speak of something like that. He had never let anger take control of him in such a violent way before, and it scared him to see how overprotective of Jieun he had gotten.

"Crazy." Jieun cursed.

"I'm not kidding! I really do! Just promise me that you won't cry anymore, okay?"

"Jieun, you've been crying?"

Luhan didn't know what had possessed him as he barged into the ward abruptly, his angry gaze almost boring a hole through Mir, who was holding Jieun's hand.

"Oh, Luhan."

Jieun didn't look flustered, and Luhan wondered if she could be so calm because she clearly didn't habour any romantic feelings for Mir, or because....because she had no more feelings for him. But how could that happen overnight? How could one whisper 'I love you' and 'Let's break up' within 24 hours?

"Yeah, she did. So take better care of her, or I'll personally come and snatch her away from you, understand?" Mir hissed in Luhan's ear as he got up to leave, and waved goodbye to Jieun before he left the ward. Luhan looked at Jieun, begging for an explanation, and all she did was sigh and say, "You should know, Luhan. Mir and I are just good friends."

"I know." Luhan placed his backpack down on the floor, before noticing the empty space in the bed next to Jieun's. "Where's Jong...Jonghwan?"

It had been a casual question on his behalf, and it shocked him when Jieun started to cry and sob into his shoulders as he held her tight. 

"Jieun, what's going on? Why are you crying again? What happened to Jonghwan?"

"He nearly died," Jieun looked at Luhan with blood-shot eyes b with tears, her voice choking up with sobs, "because of me."

Luhan hated seeing her cry just when things were about to get better. He didn't understand why fate had to play with Jieun's feelings like that: when things were turning for the better, something unfortunate must happen to let her dwell in sadness again. There was only so much he could do for her, for he himself too was a mere mortal, subjected to the cards that fate had dealt him.

But he would try: try to stop her tears, stop her pain, and stop fate from taking her away from him.

"You'll always have me. Even if your world collapses, I'll still be the last pillar standing to make sure that you're okay. So don't cry, baby don't cry."

"You fight to defend a lover, not to win one. If you do, it isn't love." - Jerry Springer