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“Jae, wake up!” Jongup nudged Youngjae.

Youngjae replied with a groan as he continued to ignore Jongup while the professor gave a lecture about the importance of vaccination and the different kinds of vaccinations. He’s been spending too much time at the hospital lately. Between medical school and volunteering at the hospital, Jongup is surprised he’s still on his feet.

“Yoo Youngjae!” yelled Professor Kim, “this is your last year in college! Can’t you at least pretend to pay attention?”

“I am, sir,” Youngjae replied lazily. “I was taking notes.” He raised his notepad, which was filled with doodles that his professor couldn’t see because they sat at the back, and the professor nodded awkwardly and went back to explaining. Jongup looked at him from the corner of his eyes.

“What?” Youngjae mouthed.

Jongup has been Youngjae’s friend since the very first day he walked in medical school almost 5 years ago. He’s been a good friend to Youngjae; always helping him, making sure he had his meals, picked him up from home, and even took him out at least once a month so that, Jongup once said, “You don’t get addicted to working”.

“You know that alibi is not going to work forever, you need to cut your hours at the hospital.” Jongup sighed.

Youngjae had his full attention on Jongup now, “You know I can’t do that, Jonguppie.”

“Why not?” asked the former, trying to hide his blush, “and don’t go all ‘because it makes me happy’ on me.”

Youngjae didn’t respond and faced the board dully. It makes me feel alive.

ϟ

“See you tomorrow?”

“Of course! You sure you don’t want me to drop you?” Jongup asked worriedly.

“It’s alright, I should walk more.” Youngjae chuckled as he started walking back to his apartment.

It was nothing special; it had one bedroom, a toilet, a small living room, and a kitchen. It was exactly what Youngjae needed.  He dropped his bag, grabbed a coat, and walked out again; going straight for the hospital. Youngjae was a volunteer at the hospital, he has been volunteering ever since he was 16 years old. He was 22 now.

He had a repetitive life. Waking up, making breakfast, going to college, going home, going to the hospital, and then going back home to sleep. If it wasn’t for his eidetic memory, Youngjae wouldn’t have been able to volunteer at the hospital. Most people would say Youngjae had a boring life, but he didn’t agree with them. Youngjae thought his life was pretty good, without considering his past.

“Youngjae!” a pretty brunette waved at Youngjae from a distance.

“Sunhwa noona,” Youngjae looked at her bewilderedly, “I thought you were in America!”

“I came back last night; I wasn’t comfortable there.” She smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, it’s good to have you back noona!” Youngjae smiled happily and hugged Sunhwa.

“Go get changed, today’s really busy!” She blushed slightly and pushed Youngjae towards the changing room.

Youngjae nodded solemnly and went to put on his scrubs.

ϟ

Exhausted was not even close to what Youngjae was feeling right now. He was physically drained and wanted to go back home and rest. They spent 6 hours straight, with only a 10 minute break, working in the Emergency Room today. There was always something new to learn when working at the hospital; that was one of the reasons Youngjae loved helping at the hospital.

Youngjae waved at the doctors, nurses, and volunteers; he knew everyone and everyone knew him, he’s been volunteering for 6 years! He barely took 10 steps out of the hospital when he saw two large men dragging a smaller man.

Gangsters.

Youngjae hated gangsters. Not hated, he despised them. He had a hyung. Yes, had. His brother died a few months before he started volunteering at the hospital. His brother was 5 years older than him. He took care of Youngjae ever since their parents died when he was 12. He dropped out of school and took part-time jobs to support Youngjae and himself.

His brother got in trouble with some gangsters when he was on his way to get Youngjae from school; he decided to walk that day. It was a terrible decision. His brother got stabbed 17 times in the stomach and chest. He died immediately. Youngjae, on the other hand, had no idea. He stood next to the school gates until the campus was almost empty. He finally decided to walk back home, and that was when he saw his brother. He was surrounded by cops. The good thing was that most of the bastards that did that were sent to prison. Youngjae was never the same after what happened. He grew immensely; mentally and emotionally.

After his brothers’ funeral, Youngjae had nowhere to go. He collected all the money from his brothers’ savings, his savings, and the money after selling the house. It was enough to support him for around 5 years. He left the orphanage when he was 16 years old and moved to Seoul. He got himself a part-time job, a small apartment, went to a good school, and started volunteering at the hospital. Nothing much changed since then; the only change was that he didn’t work anymore.

Youngjae shook his head slightly and took a deep breath. He raised his head and saw that the guys that were dragging the smaller guy were gone, and only the latter was left. Youngjae didn’t know what to do at first, but then quickly decided that it was best not to interfere. He turned around to start walking to the hospital to get help when he heard soft sobs coming from behind him. His brothers’ image quickly flashed before his eyes, and he ran to the man lying on the dirt. He turned the man around slowly and saw how bad he got beaten. Bruises were covering his body, his clothes were torn. He could easily tell that he had at least 3 broken bones. Youngjae saw someone walking out of the hospital and yelled at them to get help. Youngjae hurriedly checked his pulse. It wasn’t strong, but he could feel it.

Thank goodness.

“Hey man, are you okay?”

That was stupid.

“Can you hear me?”                   

Much better, Youngjae.

The man didn’t answer and tried opening his eyes slightly.

“It’s okay, you’ll be alright.” Youngjae told him.

“I…” He whispered. “I’m sorry.”

The man kept repeating the words while tears streamed down his face. Youngjae was getting nervous.

“Don’t be sorry, now I need you to hang on alright? Help is on its way.”

“Don’t leave me” He breathed. Youngjae smiled and held his hand.

“I’m here.” Youngjae reassured.

That was the last thing the man heard before he was rushed to the operation room. The state he was in was no joke. Youngjae couldn’t help but respect how strong the man was.

ϟ

Youngjae forgot how exhausted he was, seeing as he was sitting on one of the seats near the operations room door. Youngjae doesn’t know how long he’s been waiting. The doctors suddenly walked out of the operations room, confusion and exhaustion was plastered on their faces. Youngjae quickly bowed as soon as he saw them.

“Is he alright, Doctor?” Youngjae asked hopefully, but his expression changed as soon as he saw theirs, “Is he…”

“Ah, don’t worry Youngjae.” The doctor smiled, “He’s alive, but…”

“But what?” Youngjae was growing impatient now.

“If he walked in minutes later he would’ve died,” The older smiled proudly, “you saved his life, Youngjae, I’m proud of you.”

The doctors left after patting Youngjae on the shoulder. The man went out of the operation room a couple of minutes later. An oxygen pump was connected to him, and the nurses were moving him to one of the rooms. Youngjae followed silently after bowing to the nurses.

The man was moved to a room, Youngjae walked in a little while later. The nurses changed his torn, blood-stained clothes into fresh hospital clothes. They also added a few wires.

It must be uncomfortable.

Youngjae grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed. He examined the man slowly. He looked almost Youngjae’s age, and was quite good-looking, despite the bruises and scratches.

Youngjae smiled slightly but it vanished as soon as he looked at the clock in the room. It read 6:30 am. Youngjae had an hour to go back home, take a shower, get dressed, and go to college. Youngjae left the room as quietly as possible, and ran as fast as he could home. His stomach was rumbling loudly, he hadn’t eaten anything in almost 10 hours.

.

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A/N: Thank you for subscribing to the story, hopefully this chapter won't disappoint you!

Here's a pretty picture of Youngjae and Sunhwa............. and Daehyun.