but he couldn't sleep. it was 3 am in the morning, and sunggyu laid in bed, contemplating what's worse; the pain in his leg or how bored he really was.

 

sunggyu sat up from his bed, and a sharp pain went up his spine, having him double over, clutching his back. he took in a deep and slowly moved his legs to hang off his bed. he quickly took a hold of his crutches, and proceeded to stand up. 

 

he realized he was really hungry, having refused to eat the hospital food given to him. so he took his wallet, and hobbled down the hallways of the hospital, trying to find a vending machine with some decent food that was atleast edibile.

 

--

 

in search of a vending machine, he found a boy around his age, sitting legs crossed on the floor in front of the vending machine. he was very much concentrated on his food to bother to notice sunggyu patiently standing there.

 

sunggyu cleared his throat, and the boy, startled, looked up immediately, eyes widen with a sudden shock behind a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, mixed with slight fear. he relaxed as he noticed it was just some crippled boy, and moved himself out of the way. 

 

sunggyu glared down at the boy, wondering what he could possibly be doing up at 3 am. then again, he can't be one to judge.

 

sunggyu decided to get some cookies, having a sudden sugar craving. he was just about to leave when a voice stopped him.

 

"w-would you like to accompany me? the nights get lonely ." said the boy, a slight tremble in his voice. sunggyu didn't turn around, and thought to himself. should he go reside in a hospital room and continue to stare up at nothing, or talk to a complete stranger?

 

so sunggyu tried his best to take a seat next to the stranger, only having to trip and fall slightly on his , groaning in pain.

 

"ah, i'm sorry. i should've helped you." said the boy sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

 

sunggyu shook his head, and made himself comfortable on the cold, hard floor. "no worries, no worries. so, uh, what brings you to the vending machine at 3 o'clock in the morning?" 

 

"you know, the food." chuckled the boy, as he took another bite into his granola bar. 

 

"ah, yeah. the food in this hospital is ridiculous, i had to resort to sugar." laughed sunggyu, opening his bag of cookies. 

 

"hm, what's your name?" asked the boy, looking up to sunggyu, hands picking at the granola bar.

 

"kim sunggyu, you?"

 

"jang dongwoo. nice to meet- uh, how old are you?"

 

"21"

 

"nice to meet you, hyung! i'm 20!" smiled dongwoo, a smile that made sunggyu mesmerized from how happy and joyful the younger looked. however, the youngers eyes was hooded with pain and fear, something that made sunggyu want to know more about this stranger.

 

the two spent the rest of the night talking until dawn broke, and that was when they parted ways. as sunggyu hobbled his way back to his room, he wondered if he'll ever get a chance to meet this dongwoo person. he didn't ask dongwoo why he was in this hospital. he had the hospital gown on and everything, but he didn't seem to be hurt or injured. so why WAS he in the hospital?

 

--

 

the only thing sunggyu thought about before falling into a deep sleep was dongwoo, and the way his eyes were fogged with darkness, yet his smile shone brighter than the sun.