Right after he visited the hospital he went directly towards his office. He shifted his body from the side, trying to be comfortable on his seat when the door suddenly opens with a bang. Wufan or Kris jolted from his seat and his feet once again met with the floor with his hand placed on his table as the guy with a very unfortunate height runs towards him.

“How was it?” He asked, panting with chest heaving up and down and a lightly wrinkled suit and a bit messy hairdo.

“Nothing. Nothing happened, he’s still thinking about it.” Kris replied quite frustrated about that. He turned his swivel chair around, facing the small window and the brown ground shelf filled nothing but files of different sizes and colors.

The man behind him sighed and settled himself on the chair before the table. He stretched his legs a bit before placing both of his arms behind the back of his head. He made out a sigh before placing both of his hands on his lap. “You have to force them … you really have to do it or else, they will do that again.” he sadly said before looking at Kris’ chair.

“I know Suho .. You don’t have to remind me about it every time.” He groaned before turning towards him. It was true, what he said was true, everything about it was true. If the tanned guy hesitates more or completely rejects it, everything will surely end by his parents’ hands.

“Anyways … are you going to go back there tomorrow?”

“I have to, if it means that I should go there every single day, I will, just to force them to take the money and stop them from filing any lawsuit.”

“But what if ---“

His sentence died when his phone rang. They both looked at it before Kris took it. He placed the phone on his ear before once again kicking the floor to make the swivel chair turn around.

“Hello?”

A voice of a lady coughed softly. “Wufan, have you already taken care of him?” she asked. The voice was cold, too apathetic, too hollow, too her.

“Not yet … But I will so please ---”

“Hurry up, or else your father and I will take care of him … “and with that warning, the line cut off. Kris felt a load of unnecessary box of hatred and uneasiness lie inside his chest. Every bit of her words felt like knives slowly inching deeper inside his heart. Every word holds a great amount of truthfulness, it’s not only words or bluff, but are warnings, future plans that might happen when things don’t go that well in Kris’ part.

Suho stared at Kris who just started making trains of sighs and grunts. “The witch called you?”

Kris glared at the man in front of him. Suho raised his hand and laughed awkwardly when he just realized what he just said. “Even if she’s like that, she’s still my mother Suho.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that when we were kids we both called your mother ‘witch’, it just slipped out of my mouth.”

“Well  ... yes, that ‘witch’ called and she’s threatening me. I need to persuade that kid faster or else …”

Suho sighed knowing what Kris wanted to say.

“But …” Kris muttered before resting his head on the back of the chair to stare at the ceilings designed by sophisticated and well paid designers. His face fell and a sigh once again escaped his lips.

Suho looked up as he saw confusion in Kris’ face. He knew him too well and when he makes that kind of face, he knows something was wrong. He raised a brow as he wait for the other man to continue what he was saying. “Hey  ... Don’t just cut your sentence like that.” He hissed.

“The guy … the man, I think his name was Moon Jongup. There’s something different about him.” He murmured.

“What about him?”

“ … If you’re going to experience something like that, like you got almost killed by my parents then I visited you in the hospital trying to bribe you to stay quiet. What will you feel?”

“Of course I will get mad at you. I will even curse you to death.” Suho said with a straight face making Kris slightly uncomfortable with the sudden words that came out from his friend.

Kris faked a cough, collecting his own aura again. “Well, he didn’t do that, he was really calm when I talked to him, I think he didn’t even care even one bit about it. His face was really empty of expression. He just looked at me like how strangers look at each other. He didn’t shout at me nor even mutter a single word about it. He has very expressionless eyes, Suho …”

Suho was completely shocked when he heard this. It’s natural for a person to exact revenge against someone who just did that or even got mad at it, but hearing those things from him he suddenly got curious about that Jongup’s life before the accident.

“Have you made a background check about the guy?”

“Yes. His parents died when he was a kid, that’s all.”

“Well … at least we know why he’s so apathetic like how you just described him.”

“But … he was a child when they were killed. He should’ve already moved on from that accident.”

“Well, you can’t expect everyone to be strong like what you think.”

“But still –“

“Well if you’re really that curious about his past or why he’s so weird like that then go and ask him.” Suho stood up from his chair and smiled. “But remember, curiosity killed the cat. Don’t stick your nose in someone else’s past too much. Focus in what you have to do not what you wanted to do.” He said before leaving the confused Wufan alone.

“Moon Jongup …” Kris murmured before he finally shut his eyes off and so as his brain temporarily.

----

Jongup was in his own thoughts as he stared at the plates in front of him. He had finally finished his meal and was contemplating on saying about Wufan’s business, today or he’ll just delay it till tomorrow. He looked at Chanyeol and he saw traces of tiredness and stress all over his face.

He had already weighed the consequences of both choices and now, his scale leans more towards Wu fan’s proposal. What will Chanyeol think about it? How will he react to it? Will he let him do what he wanted to do since it’s his own life? Jongup was filled with questions invading every inch of his mind.

He took the card from behind the pillow before he slowly showed it to Chanyeol.

“Hyung …” Jongup whispered making the one who’s being called stop from taking the plates away. He looked at Jongup first before placing the plates down to the table once again and smiled. “Yes Uppie?”

“The guy … the guy you were talking about earlier, he’s not my friend.” He said.

“I know, I know. That’s what you said earlier right?” He chuckled before ruffling his hair a bit. Then he noticed the small card rose in midair. He took it slowly and eyed it.

“He’s the son of one who hit me …” He continued.

Chanyeol stopped from what he was doing earlier. He looked down and saw Jongup looking back at him. Anger had started pooling inside his chest. He let his hand fall to his sides once again before looking away. His face changed, from the once cheery expression turned into a sour and angry one. “What did he said?”

“He will pay all the bills we had, in exchange of us not filing any kind of law suit against them.”

Chanyeol’s hand clenched on his lap, that act just infuriated and lit up the anger inside his body. “What did you say to him?”

“I didn’t say anything. I want to talk to you about this first, hyung.” Jongup said before handing him the card that was given to him by the male.

The older man sighed in relief. He was relieved to know that Jongup still wants his words about this one and he knows what he should say. “That’s good. Thank you for asking me first and I’m sure Jongup we will agree in this one. Say no to him okay?” He took the card and spared a single glance to it before pushing it inside his pockets. He smiled then gave a comforting tap on his head. He ruffled his hair before taking the plates to his hand to place it on the surface beside him.

“Actually … I’m thinking of accepting his offer.” The younger whispered.

Chanyeol raised a brow. He slowly turned around and saw Jongup with his head hung low. “Why ..?” was the only word he could mutter around that time.

His heart clenches whenever he heard Jongup’s painful shouts in the night, it was too painful for him to hear his friend, almost his brother, undergo such painful thing like that. And yet the boy who experienced this will just let him amend everything with rolls of dirty paper?

“No … no … no you can’t!” Chanyeol unconsciously shouted making the younger shudder a bit.

It was not his first time seeing the man in front of him explode like that. Ears fuming with a tint of red covering it, eyes filled with anger, fingers curling from the anger he felt because of it.

Everything was still silent with only their soft breathes dancing within the space between them. No one said anything after that outburst, they were trying to figure each others’ feelings after the confession and unfortunately, Chanyeol couldn’t see the reason why Jongup wanted to go with what that guy said.

Finally calming down, Chanyeol sat again while Jongup looked away. “Why?” was the only thing Chanyeol said with a tone in between asking and demanding at the same time.

The younger was at loss of right words. He was thinking if he should just say what his reasons are, which are basically because of him, or he should try to lead his own answer away from the original one thinking that it could cause less damage to the both of them. But what does lying can lead them to? So he decided to say the truth which only made things worse. “I … just don’t want to burden you anymore. With this money, with his money everything can go back to normal. You don’t have to overburden yourself anymore!”

“This is ridiculous! Jongup! You don’t have to care about me! This is your life! You should care more for yourself! Just because you don’t want to burden me it doesn’t mean that you should just take that money from that filthy guy that wants to shut you up!”

“How can I not care about you hyung? All of my life, after my parents’ death, you took care of me! You fed me whenever I’m hungry. You gave me a place to stay, a place to live with blankets to keep me warm. You comfort me whenever I cry when the times I remember my parents’ death bugged me. You protected me from the guys who wanted to hurt me when we were kids. You’ve become my tower who supported me! You asked me to lean on you back then and so I did, you are the reason why I’m still living right now, why I still haven’t given up hope in my life!” For the first time, Jongup blurted out all his unsaid words.

His eyes welled in tears that he failed to shed before, he became weak once again in front of him but he regrets nothing. He wanted to show him how thankful he was for being one of his tower that continues to support him, one that makes him feel like living another day is worth it, that life has another meaning that he needs to see.

“I did those things because I wanted to! I wanted to show you that you can still live, that your parents’ will be surely sad where ever they are if they saw you like that! I did those things in my own! But this … this thing that you wanted to do is not the thing you wanted to do.” He tried to reason out.

“No, I wanted to do this because I want to show you how grateful I am these past few years … Please hyung let’s just accept this … please” Jongup pleaded once again, head hung low with tears dripping gently on the white crinkled sheets.

Chanyeol placed the business card inside his pockets before looking at him again. “No ----“

“JONGUP!” The door swung open making both of the bous turn towards it.

Jongin ran inside with Kyungsoo being dragged along with him.

When they passed Chanyeol who was just looking away with red ears, they bowed before proceeding to their friend. “Did … we interrupt something?” Jongin asked, clueless about what had just happened before they barged in.

The air was thick but Jongin seems to be quite oblivious to it as Kyungsoo kept on fidgeting on his position.

“Ah … no I’m just about to leave. Jongup … let’s talk about this tomorrow okay?” He weakly smiled before leaving the three inside the room.

Jongin and Kyungsoo looked at Jongup with concern but the latter just gave a small smile before turning away. “So … what are you guys doing here?” He asked still eyes staring at the window and the scenes outside the room.

“Well … we heard what happened to you from Chanyeol hyung … are you okay?” Jongin asked while poking his arms, slightly irritating the man on the bed.

Kyungsoo reprimanded the kid beside him by taking both of his hands away from Jongup and placed it on his own lap. “I’m sorry that we just went here without telling you first.” He murmured.

“It’s okay and I’m just fine … I think ..” Jongup muttered before turning towards his friends to look at them better. “How are you Kyungsoo? You seems to be stressed because of Jongin’s stupidity.”

Kyungsoo looked at the man beside him before heaving a sigh with his hands surrendered in midair. “Yeah … but it’s bearable so I guess I’m okay.” He answered.

“Yah! You’re my boyfriend, you should side with me not with him!” Jongin suddenly retorted making Jongup let out a laugh while Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes.

Jongup looked at them as they both continued to bicker about their ‘relationship’ and school. Jongin told him everything that had happened earlier in school, about how everyone was a bit worried about him and so as the teacher. How he and Kyungsoo cut classes just to have a decent date in the food shop a few blocks away from the school and how he almost steal a kiss from Kyungsoo but was disturbed by the ajumma that eyed them weirdly. He also told him how Kyungsoo was so squishy making the man they were talking about blush madly and hit Jongin in the head tons of times that Jongup was worried that Jongin might needed to be tested from possible head injuries.

They were as bright as what Jongup thought that he almost saw shiny rays of sunlight being emitted directly at them with pairs of stars and other sparklers. The two of them laughed but Jongup just smiled though that smile quickly disappeared when Jongin asked about the dance competition that they were about to join.

Before Jongup could even answer back, Kyungsoo once again landed a heavy blow on his boyfriend’s head making Jongin both let out a whine and a sob. “You’re so insensitive!” Kyungsoo mouthed before apologizing to Jongup once again.

He shook his head and smiled. “About that, well as you can see I can’t walk right now so dancing will be impossible for me … “ He looked away but was chocked by Jongin’s arms.

“Y-yah! Watch the leg! Don’t bump it!” Jongup said between coughs as Kyungsoo tried to pull Jongin away from Jongup. The three of them continued to play tug of war since Jongin continued choking Jongup to the extent that he almost turns blue.

As the three finally calmed down, Jongup once again was left inside his own thoughts. He kept on wondering where Chanyeol went or how will they fix this thing between them. Jongin and Kyungsoo watched him without doing anything. They are waiting for him to be the first one to tell them what had happened but they guessed that things will remain unknown since it’s obvious that Jongup doesn’t want to talk about it.

Jongin and Kyungsoo had always felt that they are useless to be called Jongup’s friend. They know little about his past, about his present state then maybe about his future too. Jongin knows that Jongup loves dancing, that he’s a quiet kid and likes to keep everything to himself, Kyungsoo knows the same but he knows more little than Jongin.

As Jongin’s hand slowly retracted from his side aiming for Jongup’s shoulder, Kyungsoo stopped him. He looked to his boyfriend’s side then pursed his lips when he saw Kyungsoo shook his head. He mouthed something like ‘He needs time’. He nodded before slowly standing up from the seat.

“Hey … I guess you need to rest now. We … if you wanted to talk about what’s happening to you … uhh we’re here okay? Don’t carry your problems by yourself, we are called friends for a reason you know.” Jongin mumbled sulking over the fact that he felt that Jongup doesn’t trust them that much.

Jongup gave them a weak smile before shooing them away. “Go now, I’m sure you guys are going on a date after this.”

Jongin smiled widely before Kyungsoo elbowed him on his side. They all bid their goodbyes before they left. Jongup stared at the door finally feeling the emptiness of his friends’ departure. He looked at his feet and felt pity for himself, when he can still walk he already felt useless for everyone around him and now that his legs became like this, he doesn’t only feel useless but he also feel the feeling of burdening everyone around him.

---

Chanyeol stood in front of a high building. He stared at the windows glimmering as the sun hits it. He can feel strong gazes from the male and female clad in suits and work clothes around him. The hustle and bustle of the city, the heat from the sun, the noise of the cars’ horns and people’s chatters died down as his mind finally set on a single objective right now.

“Wu .. Fan.” He murmured as he crushed the business card inside his palm.

* i died making this update ... it took me almost two weeks or a week just to post this. ;A;

i don't think i have a writers block right now since ideas for new fanfics keep on popping inside my head ... too much that it hurts ;A;

anyways hope you guys .. err like this?

And thanks for the continuous support !!!!!