When I came to, the familiar scent of rubbing alcohol stung my nose. Even with my eyes closed, I could assume I was at a hospital... but why?

Oh right. I was attacked by those bunch of wannabe thugs.

I opened my eyes only to quickly shut them close with a cringe due to the bright light. Again, with more precaution, I creaked open my left eyes just a pinch to survey my surroundings. It was clearly the hospital. Was I really beaten that badly?

Judging by how everything--and I meant everything--hurt when I moved, yep. This was bad. What should I do about school? I could get Jongin to take notes for me, but I really did not want to let him know about my condition.

I could predict his reaction already. He would get jittery and not take a taxi, unable to sit still for the duration of the ride. Instead, he would probably run to the hospital like an idiot and barge in, sweating like a leaky faucet and shouting--

"What the hell happened?" Jongin came bursting through the white compartment door and ran straight in my direction. His gray t-shirt had dark sweat marks of desperation.

Oh, I should go into the fortunetelling business.

"Do you know," he takes a deep breath for oxygen, "who did this to you?"

I looked down at him with only my eyes, finding it difficult to lift my head. "I don't even know who brought me here." Struggling against the pain from my ribs, I spoke. I really hurt, but I was curious as to who my savior was.

Jongin shifted his gaze away from me for a moment. "It wasn't me." Strangely, he sounded really bitter to admit it, but I didn't mind. On the other hand, I was glad, and maybe a bit sorry, that he was worrying about me.

I had been actually wondering if Jongin still considered me as a friend since he started acting distant once we entered high school--no longer eating lunch together and rather going outside to sleep, not listening to the latest news about my day or class, excusing himself from walking home together. With the Baekhyun incident as well, it appeared as though he did not care what happened to me.

I had to admit... even though some of my bones were broken and I was bruised and ugly as hell, I felt refreshed.

"Can you stop boring holes into me and try to remember who did this to you?" Jongin lowered his head, his bangs casting a shadow over his eyes. So lost in my thoughts, I didn't even realize that I had been staring at him for so long. "If that damn Chanyeol didn't leave early, this wouldn't have happened."

I giggled a little at his bantering. "Ow..." That hurt.

Jongin grimaced as if he was the one hurt. "What did the doctor say?" Pushing aside the question of my attackers, he brushed back his messy hair and took a seat in the empty chair next to the hospital bedside.

"They said I'll die." I playfully pouted. Even that hurt. Ow. I didn't know why, but I wanted to mess with him. It had been a long time since we talked like this.

Jongin shook his head disapprovingly. "That's not funny." He claimed, but the hint of smirk on his lips said otherwise.

"Ah..." I mumbled, noticing the toes of someone's black sneakers peeking out from the open door. "Is someone there?" Too weak to lift my head up and check, I could only roll my eyes in the direction of the entrance. No doubt I looked like a freak, exposing most of the whites of my eyes to Jongin.

The sneakers disappeared as Jongin got up to check who it was that came to visit. "Oh, it's you." He said blandly to someone who was hidden behind the wall corner. "What are you doing? Just come in."

Chanyeol? The sixth sense I never knew I had told me that it was that tall idiot.

"She's too beat up to do anything to you. Come see her if you're here." The Jongin's monotoneous voice hinted that they were just empty words and he would rather not have me see him. I knew Jongin well and long enough to figure that much.

"Who is it?" I asked, even though I knew it was Chanyeol already.

Jongin stepped back to let the newcomer in, and my eyes widened in surprise when Baekhyun's head--not Chanyeol's--hesitantly poked out from behind the corner. The muscles in my body tensed in reflex at the sight of the boy who had been bothering me for days now. "Ow, ow, ow..." I whimpered.

Unknowingly, Baekhyun flinched at my voice. "D-Does it... hurt... a lot...?"

I was already shocked enough that he came to visit when, to my surprise, he asked and looked genuinely concerned almost to the point of misinterpreting him as looking sorry that this happened to me. But what reason did he have to be sorry?

"S-Sorta.." I stammer back.

The rest of his body followed his head into view, and I noticed him fumbling with a small red package behind him. "C-Chocolate." He explained.

"O-Oh... thanks."

What kind of situation was this? He stuttered. I stuttered. He stuttered again. I stuttered back. Jongin was just watching this stutter rally with a unpleasant scowl plastered on his face.

Talk about awkard.

"Why don't you two sit?" I offered. Baekhyun or Chanyeol, either way, he was a guest who took time to visit, so I should play nice.

--

"I'm thirsty. Is there anything to drink?" We were waiting for the doctor to finish check up in another room so he could inform us of my status.

Baekhyun suddenly shot up from his seat. "Do you want orange juice, coffee, tea, milk or what?" Listing a string of options, he dug thoroughly through his pockets for coins.

"Uh..." Was this a new way of torturing me? Making me feel uncomfortable and stressing me out? "Anything is fine..."

Right away, he exited the room, and before I had a chance to ask Jongin what was up with the shorter boy who used to be so excited to bother me, he came back with a white carton bubbling with calcium. "Milk, so your broken bones will heal faster." He handed it to me. "Oh," and then he took it back to open the carton for me.

Jongin took it instead and chugged it down, wiping his mouth afterwards. "She doesn't drink milk." Baekhyun looked befuddled and blinked at me.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that anything but milk was fine. I apologized with an awkward laugh. 'Oh no, he's not going to hit an injured person, right?' Glancing at the two, I decided to apologize before he decided to beat me. "Sorr--"

"Sorry." Baekhyun cut me off. "I didn't know. I'll get something else instead." With that, he ran back out the room. Jongin and I exchanged looks of confusion and suspicion.

Once again, Baekhyun returned before we could discuss what could possibly be going on inside the mind of Byun Baekhyun. "Is apple juice okay?" He twisted the cap open for me. "Oh, you're going to need help drinking it."

It was awkward earlier, but now this was just plain weird.

"I'll do it." Jongin saw the face I was making and snatched the juice from his grip. Reaching behind my neck and supporting my head up, the tan boy tipped the juice bottle over so I could drink it easily. It was sloppy but it worked. I could only drink about two mouthfuls though.

After I was done being served like a sick princess, there was a unfamiliar silence in the air. I really wanted to ask about why the hell that monster Byun Baekhyun was being so... nice, but I couldn't so bluntly in front of his face. If only you could get him out of here for a moment...

An idea popped into my head. "Hm... I'm a little hungry." I declared, wondering if your plan would work.

"What do you want to eat?" Baekhyun took the bait.

I rolled my eyes left and right, trying to think of something decent. "Surprise me." I don't know where I got the audacity to say such a thing to Baekhyun, but he did not seem to mind the attachment of careless arrogance in my words.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Baekhyun thought for a minute before heading out the room to buy me something to eat. As flattered I was to know that the untameable Byun Baekhyun was obeying my every demand, it scared me a little.

"Did you do something to him?" Finally having the opportunity to talk about Baekhyun's strange behaviors, I gave a little sigh.

Jongin chuckled. "No, but after school ended, he was the one who told me..." He trailed off before he paused midsentence. Then he shook his head and grumbled a 'nevermind.' Like I said, I knew Jongin well and long enough to know that he was about to say something important, but all of a sudden it appeared as though he did not want to say it.

I didn't want to pry into anything I shouldn't, so I accepted his silence. Instead, I changed back to the original topic. "So if you didn't do anything, why is he being so... scary?"

My tan friend thought, staring up at the ceiling, before joking with his trademark smirk. "Maybe he likes you?"

I stuck my tongue out in disgust. "Impossible." Ouch, that hurt a bit.

Awh, Baekhyun feels guilty?

Comments would be much appreciated. :]