CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: By Your Side

{ She never realized how nice it felt. } * Click for BGM!

Ding Dong. 

A middle-aged woman answered the door. Her lips broke into a warm smile. "Oh, Hyejung! Did you bring gifts for Valentine's Day? For Kai?" she inquired, craning her neck. 

Hyejung shook her head, holding a big bunch of red and pink boxes with various teddy bears. "Oh no, they're from the, uh, fan-girls. The incident just happened last night and news spread like wildfire these days." She rolled her eyes. 

Mrs. Kim chuckled, stepping out of the way of the entrance. "Well, come on in, Hyejung. Kai's been wondering when you were going to visit."

Hyejung pursed her lips, walking inside the humble abode. "Ah, o-okay. Thanks, Mrs. Kim." She offered a small smile before trudging up the stairs to the bedrooms, struggling with all the ton of gifts in her thin grasp. Assuming it was Kai's room, Hyejung stopped at the door at the end of the hall that had the sign 'all pretty ladies welcome'.

Hyejung snorted. "Jerk." She started noisily knocking on the door with her foot, gradually growing anxious. 

Kai jerked his head up from the TV screen, immediately pressing the pause button. His heart lifted in anticipation as he sat up straight in his bed. "Yeah?"

Hyejung fumbled with the door handle before finally opening it. She wobbled inside, carelessly dropping all the teddy bears and various boxes of chocolates on the creamy carpeted floor.

Kai stared at the red and pink gifts with a raised brow. He looked up locked gazes directly with Hyejung, who chewed blatantly on her grape-flavoured bubble gum. 

With slumped her shoulders, Hyejung heaved a bored sigh. "Before you ask, these are all from your faithful, crazy- fangirls. They hoarded me with all this cute romantic crap all day at school," she nonchalantly explained, raising her hand towards the pile of goodies. "You can thank me later."

Kai shook his head in amusement, a smirk gracing upon his full lips. "You're amazing, Hyejung."

"Yeah, whatever. It's nothing," Hyejung mumbled with downcast eyes, finding her heart fluttering at the blissful compliment. 

Kai gazed inquiringly at Hyejung who was a great distance away, standing all the way across the room. "So, how did the competition end yesterday?" He took a deft sip of his hot tea. He wanted to get that off his chest before he started talking about anything else. 

"Well, you were right about underestimating Heejin. She won." Hyejung crossed her arms, the words tasting bitter coming out of . "But at least we're advancing into the next competition of the tournament. We barely made it though." 

Kai coolly shrugged. "Hey, what can you do? Good for her, I guess. That win doesn't determine who gets the trophy and cash prize anyway. There's still a couple more chances."

"Yeah, but it still ," Hyejung retorted, popping a large purple bubble. "We should have won."

"Oh okay. So, is that the only reason you came over? To tell me that?" Kai bluntly asked, hoping that wasn't the case. He didn't want Hyejung to leave so quickly. 

"What? No!" Hyejung abruptly exclaimed, causing Kai tilt his head in confusion. "I mean, well, er, no." Averting Kai's gaze, her eyes looked in every direction. "I want to know what happened to you, um, yesterday," she murmured, taking hesitant baby steps towards Kai's bedside.  

"Well, I fainted." Kai shrugged.

Hyejung snorted, hopping onto the end of the bed. "Wow, you don't say? Every human in the damn school knows that. Get real with me, Kai. Tell me," she pressed, curling her clammy hands into fists. Her eyes flickered a string different of emotions; frustration, wonder, and concern. 

Kai was about to give a snarky comeback, but after seeing Hyejung's anxious shimmer in her orbs, he restricted his tongue.

"Okay. After I, well, y'know what happened, I was whisked away to the hospital," Kai started, brushing his blanketed feet against Hyejung's back. She shivered. "I woke up shortly after, lying on top of an examination table. I felt a bit groggy as the doc carefully checked on me, but luckily he told me I was able to head home straight after. He told me to stay here for a day or two until I'm properly rested." 

Hyejung side-glanced at the lad, slightly hanging her head. "What did the doc find out?" she quietly asked, distractedly poking her dangling feet at the vent in the pastel blue wall. "I mean, why did you fall like you did?" 

Kai sighed, leaning his head against the backboard of his bed languidly. "Well apparently, I swallowed a mild sleeping pill."

"What?" Hyejung whipped her attention, looking straight into Kai's dark, hooded eyes. "A sleeping pill? Why did you take a freakin' sleeping pill right before the competition?!" she exclaimed, completely befuddled.

Kai lightly scoffed. "Do I really look that stupid to you, Hyejung? I accidently swallowed it. You know, without me knowing."

Hyejung shook her head in disbelief. "How? I mean, what did you do that made you swallow it?" she urged, trying hard to find the answer. She bit her lip hard in pondering, faint crescent moons developing on her palms from forcefully curling her fists. "What did you drink from yesterday night?"

Darting his eyes up to the ceiling in thought, Kai recalled, "Well, I forgot to pack my water bottle, so I drank from the water fountain. Oh, and your own water bottle." He snapped his fingers when he just remembered.

Hyejung propped her feet onto the bed, hugging her knees close to her chest. "Well, I doubt you popped a random pill in your mouth and drank from the water fountain, so...you swallowed it from my water bottle?" She knitted her eyebrows in thought, giving Kai a strange look. 

Kai shrugged. "I guess so."

Hyejung felt like gripping her wavy locks out of her head, letting out a husky sigh. "But that's ridiculous! I didn't put a freakin' sleeping pill into my own freakin' water bottle!" She tightly folded her arms over her chest, munching rashly on her gum which no longer possessed any artificial flavour. 

"Hey. I didn't say it was your fault," he calmly said.

"Well, if I didn't do it, who did? Huh?" she challenged, shooting her wide, antsy eyes up at the boy. 

Stunned, Kai blinked at Hyejung. They fell silent for a few long moments, staring at each other endlessly in question. 

Kai sighed, running his deft fingers through his hair. "I don't know, Hyejung. I don't know. Besides, it's not that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal?" Hyejung scoffed in disbelief, gripping at the thin green sheets of the bed. "Oh, so you think randomly collapsing on the floor is not a big deal? You freakin' fainted, Kim Jongin!" she emphasized.

"I'm aware of that, Hyejung, but it could've been worse. I could have fainted because I was having some retarded dysfunctions inside of me or the heck, rather than taking some sleeping pill," Kai said, furrowing