‘Huh? What? You don’t know me? Dong Woon, is this one of your pranks again? Don’t think that you can play with us just because of your condition, kay. We will not let you off that easily.’ Ki Kwang tried to lighten the atmosphere, but the confused stare was still on the maknae’s face.

‘Dong Woon? You remember me? I’m Ki Kwang, remember? Your hyung?’ For a moment Dong Woon looked like he would say no, but recognition had slowly entered the youngest’s eyes. This time Ki Kwang’s sigh of relief was audible.

‘Kwangie? When did you come back? And where am I? This is isn’t our dorm!’ Dong Woon was getting freaked out when Ki Kwang laid a hand on the younger’s shoulder.

‘Calm down, Woonie. You are in the hospital, Jun Hyung hyung and Hyun Seung hyung brought you here when you collapsed at home. They are back at the dorm sleeping, but they will be here in in a while.’ Ki Kwang gave Dong Woon a smile to reassure him, and this time he got an answering smile in return. Ki Kwang thanked heavens that Dong Woon seem to be mostly fine, but he was still a little worried about the momentary lapse of recognition in Dong Woon’s face.

Just then, the sleeping Yo Seob finally woke up. He stretched out, but froze when he saw Dong Woon staring at him.

‘Yah, Woonie! You’re up! Thank goodness!’ Yo Seob was glad to see the youngest up and awake. He thought he saw confusion passing through Dong Woon’s face but when the maknae smiled at him, he relaxed. Only a little though, since the smile was more like a grimace of pain than anything else.

‘Ki Kwang-ah, should we get the doctor? I think the Doc and the hyungs at home want to know about Dong Woon.’ Yo Seob rationalized.

‘Oh yeah, I’ll get the doctor and you call the hyungs then.’ Ki Kwang walked out in search of the hospital staff.

‘Seobie hung, can you please get me a glass of water, my throat feels really dry. Thanks hyung.’ Dong Woon drained the glass Yo Seob gave him quickly.

‘Junnie, Dong Woon’s awake now. Ki Kwang is looking for the doctor now. Ah, hang on, here Woonie, I’ll help you.’ Dong Woon was trying to sit up but because of his many bruises, he hurt all over and had a hard time just moving. ‘Hyung? Oh, hi Seungie. Yeah. Ok. So you’ll reach in half an hour? Sure no problems, we’ll be fine, don’t worry.’ Yo Seob ended the call. When he turned he saw Ki Kwang and the doctor approaching.

 In the dorm

Jun Hyung was sleeping beside Hyun Seung in their room when he received the call from Yo Seob. He answered the call as quietly as possible so that he will not wake Hyun Seung.

‘Yes, Seob?’ Jun Hyung said softly. ‘He’s awake. That’s good. What? Ok.’ he heard Yo Seob helping the aching maknae up.

‘Junnie? Is that Yo Seobie? Gimme the phone.’ Jun Hyung can’t say no to the protective eomma when he got like that. He handed the phone over.

‘Seob? He’s awake? We’ll go over immediately. We’ll be there in half an hour or so. Bye.’ Hyun Seung handed back the phone and got up to dress but Jun Hyung’s hands stopped him.

‘Seung, what happened yesterday? All I know was I woke up to get a coke, and then I saw Woonie on the floor. That shocked me so much I pretty much just reacted. Did he get into a fight? I know Woon is not the type to fight but I don’t know what to think right now.’ Jun Hyung hated to be left in the dark, especially when one of the members was hurt and he doesn’t know why.

‘… drunk and grieving… took his emotions out on Dong Woon… that jerk.’ Jun Hyung only caught some of the words as Hyun Seung mumbled.

‘Huh?’

‘He was drunk when he came back and he was grieving for his late girlfriend. Woonie tried to help him into bed but he got cornered and got a beating from that ungrateful jerk.’

‘Who, Seungie? Who?!’ Jun Hyung was even more confused than before. Hyun Seung was making no sense at all!

‘Doo Jun! Anyone else we know that will behave like that when drunk?! He must be the worst drunk ever! He starts whacking people around when he gets drunk, remember? And this time Woon was the only one home to deal with him. He got overpowered by Doo Jun and got the brunt of the beatings. Dammit! Why were we out so late? We should have had thought of Doo Jun’s reaction to the funeral. We should have been there to protect the maknae, dammit! And judging from experience, that idiot had probably forgotten about the whole thing when he wakes up.’ Hyun Seung looked so ashamed.

‘Aish, it’s not only your fault Seungie-ah. We were there too and none of us even thought about it. No one is to blame for this except bad timing on everyone’s part. All we can do now is to help Dong Woon recover as quickly as possible. And don’t frown so much. The comeback is only 2 weeks away. You’re gonna have pimples and wrinkles if you keep going on like that.’ Jun Hyung, the normally grumpy one, was trying to cheer Hyun Seung up. Hyun Seung made a face, so Jun Hyung actually succeeded in taking the worried Hyun Seung’s mind off his worries.

‘Dong Woon is gonna be so guilty if the comeback is delayed.’ Hyun Seung started.

‘We’ll handle it if it comes to that. Come on, we gotta go.’

They went out of the room together and started preparing. Jun Hyung went to Doo Jun’s room to inform the leader that Dong Woon is awake and that to get ready to leave. He still can’t believe that Dong Woon actually had to bear the leader’s temper this time. Alone. Oh, they had all seen and experienced the leader’s bad temper whenever he gets drunk, but always there were more than 2 of them to take care of Doo Jun, and even then they had to struggle to hold him. But none of the members were actually hurt seriously when Doo Jun has one of his episodes. Until today. Despite what he said to Hyun Seung, Jun Hyung also felt guilty for not being there when the maknae needed him. He shrugged off the feeling when he opened the door to Doo Jun’s room. What he saw when he walked into the room was not what Jun Hyung expected.