Tao woke up feeling a bit cold. He looked to his side, remembering that Kyungsoo was next to him before he fell asleep, but now he was alone.

"Kyungsoo hyung?" Tao called out. He slowly got out of bed and went inside the bathroom. There wasn't anyone inside. "Maybe he went out." Tao thought out loud. 

Before he left, the reflection in the mirror caught his eyes. The dark circles under his eyes was even more noticable, his hair and face were oily due to his long slumber. His eyes were puffy and his nose was blocked, anyone could tell that he cried. He also lost some weight, but the thing that scared Tao the most were the bandages around his body. No wonder Kyungsoo became an emotional wreck when he came in. He looked terrible.

Tao decided that he should at least clean up. The others would not want to see him like this.

After sitting on the bed and just staring at the room for a long time, Tao became nauseous. He snuck out of his room and cautiously walked around the hospital. Tao felt a little better, but he preferred the fresh air from outside.

"Xiumin and Lay~ Can you guys slow down?" Chen and Luhan was falling even more behind.

"Are those two on a marathon?" Luhan exhaustedly asked. Then they continued to run after the two

Tao's ears perked up upon hearing his friends' names. He decided to follow the strangers and find out where their headed. If it was his room, well, they already passed it.   

"Tao!" Xiumin yelled. The loud voice made Tao jump back. He looked around to see if Xiumin really called him, but he was facing away from Tao, arguing with Lay.

The two unknown guys to Tao that was following them, stopped at the same room Xiumin and Lay was in.

Tao heard it. It was barely audible, but Tao heard it. It was unmistakingly Kris's deep voice. 

He immediately ran to where it came from and stopped in front of the opened door. There were a lot of people inside. Xiumin, Lay, and the two guys that followed them were there. There were five other guys that Tao recognised as people from his school and surprisingly, Kyungsoo was also there. Though, Tao's eyes stayed on the patient on the bed.

Kris felt another presence in the room. He was about to scold the person, but his words left him when he saw who it was.

"Tao!"

"You're awake!"

"You shouldn't be walking around."

"Hey.... what's up?"

Everyone beat Kris to the questions and hugs.

"Hey, Kris? Don't you have something to say to Tao?" Suho asked after seeing Kris excluded from the group.

"Uh... Well... How are you?" Kris said while scratching his neck, eventhough it's not itchy. 

"I'm fine, but how are you? Why are you in the hospital?" Tao asked, deeply concerned for the other.

Kris froze at Tao's question. 'How do I answer him? If I tell him that I collapsed, he would ask me why. And I'll have to say that I was stressed and he would ask why. Then I have to say that I felt guilty that I couldn't protect him and comfort him and he would ask why. Then, I'll have to say because I love him and- '

"He collapsed during gym class." Kris's thoughts were suddenly interruoted by Sehun, who was eyeing the basket that Luhan was holding.

"Oh my gosh gege. What's wrong?" Concern was written all over Tao's face.

"The doctor said he was stressed and he hasn't been taking care of himself." Kai answered while grabbing the candy from Sehun's hands that Luhan had given him.

"What's he stressed about?" Tao was afraid of the answer he would recieve, but he still wanted to hear it.

"He felt quilty that he couldn't protect you and comfort you. And that he wasn't there to stop you from doing what you did," Baekhyun answered for Kris and patted Tao's head. Chanyeol was watching with jeaolous eyes.

"What? It wasn't your fault Kris, I did it because I was scared." Tao timidly said and Kyungsoo and Lay came over to give him a hug. "But why do you care about me so much? You should be mad at me."

"No! I would never get mad at you. I care a lot about you. Did you know that? Because I lo-"

"YA! Kim Jongin! Give Luhan hyung's candy back, their mine!" Sehun interrupted again.

"Well, come and get it." Kai said as he teased Sehun.

"I get it. You're doing it because you want another kiss from Kyungsoo right? It's okay, here," Sehun grabbed Kyungsoo and pushed him to Kai. "I know you like Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo was harshly pushed so he lost balance, but Kai caught him before he fell, making them both blush. 

"WHAT!?" Tao's shout made everyone freeze. His eyes were wide, watching Kai and Kyungsoo intently. To Tao, it looked like the two were hugging, and he must admit, they looked good together. He was about to say something when a nurse knocked on the door.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but is Huang Zitao here?" The nurse hopefully asked. Everyone's head turned to Tao and he sighed sadly.

"Please come with me." The nurse motioned for Tao to follow her. "You shouldn't leave your room next time." The nurse said to Tao as they walked out of the room.

Tao took a last look at Kris and everyone else before waving goodbye. 'What was Kris going to say before Sehun interrupted him?' Tao asked in his head.

Before Tao and the nurse disappeared, Xiumin saw Chen checking out the nurse. He shook his head disapprovingly and quickly ran to catch up with Kyungsoo and Lay, who followed Tao back to his room.

What Xiumin didn't know was that Chen was watching him leave and said, "Xiumin's buns are way better," then he laughed to himself.

"Tao finally decided to come back to school today." Kai informed Kyungsoo as he sat on the chair across from Kyungsoo's desk.

Tao had not contacted them since he got out of the hospital and everyone was worried sick about him. This was the first time, in about three weeks, that they've heard news about Tao.

"WHAT? Are you sure?" Kyungsoo asked as he suddenly stood up from his seat, ready to head to the boy's class. 

"Yeah, Kris told me, he lives next door to Tao. You should look for him later on, class is about to start." Kai quickly said and grabbed Kyungsoo's wrist before the boy took off.  

The wide-eyed boy looked at his wrist and back at Kai.

"Oh, sorry," Kai let go of Kyungsoo's wrist and his face turned red, just like the other.

"Awww! Channie, look at Kai, he's blushing!" Baekhyun spazzed and continuously slapped Chanyeol's arm.

"Stop," Chanyeol's voice was cold, frightening Baekhyun. 

"Channie what's wrong?" Baekhyun tilted his head to the side. "You've been like this for a while. Did I do something wrong?" Baekhyun had known Chanyeol for a long time and he only acts this way when he's upset about something.

"No, it's nothing Baek, dont worry." Chanyeol gave a smile, which Baekhyun didn't buy at all.

"Chanyeol, if you don't want to tell me, then fine, but stop being cold to me and stop giving me fake smiles." Baekhyun glared at Chanyeol and waited for his answer.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm acting this way lately." Chanyeol, who shrunk at Baek's glare, gave the smaller one a hug.

"Class, take your seats." Their teacher suddenly came into the room. Everyone halted their activities and hurried to their seats, including Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who separated their hug.

"Suho hyung, I think Chanyeol hyung is acting weird. Don't you think?" Sehun whispered to Suho.

"Yeah, something's wrong with him." Suho turned his head to Sehun, who was smiling at a text message. "Hey, stop texting Luhan in class."

"Well, you should stop flirting with Lay hyung before going to class," and Sehun showed Suho a picture of him and Lay laughing together, walking to their class.

"W-we weren't flirting with each other!" Suho half-yelled and half-whispered to Sehun.

"Be quiet, you two!" The teacher loudly yelled at Suho and Sehun. The two dropped their head down in shame.

author's note:

Fell free to tell me what you guys think :D and as usual, Thank You for reading~