Ambulance sirens ring incessantly in Jongin's ears, entering his blank dreams while he drifts in and out of consciousness. A few bumps and some one's shouts of instructions later, Jongin feels himself being lifted and then laid down upon a soft surface.

A sharp prick announces the entrance of a cold needle point, before Jongin suddenly feels so light he could hardly locate his own limbs anymore. The pain in his back fades into a dull numbing sensation, while his mind finds it harder and harder to keep track of what's going on around him...

When he came to, it was an electric spot of the street lamp outside peeking through the half drawn curtains which welcomed his return to the realm of consciousness.

...Hospital? was the one word which came to mind, as his eyes squint at the world of pristine white walls and the strong smell of disinfectant he is now surrounded in. He didn't have the energy to think anything else - just lay there trying to fight the sluggish way his eyelids opened and closed lazily.

After some time passed, a blurred figure enters his room and walks up to his bed side, touching his arms and forehead gently.

"Yun? Is that you?" his words are slurred and almost inaudible.

"Oh! That's great! I'm glad you've finally woken up, sir," the coloured shadow chirps cheerfully, "let me go alert the doctor."

Straight after the performances finished, Yun rushed back stage to greet and congratulate EXO on their charismatic debut. The boys all gasped and smiled and clapped their hands when they saw the drastic transformation Yun's body underwent. The happy moment cancelled all thoughts of a missing person as everyone congratulated each other on their respective successes.

As soon as the group disbanded and went to contact their family and friends, however, the first question Yun asks is: "Baekhyun, do you know where Jongin is?"

For some reason, her attention to the missing boy made Baekhyun extremely uncomfortable, and although he felt wrong for feeling this way, he just didn't want to tell Yun the truth about his bandmate. He didn't want to see her worried expression wrinkling her eyebrows for Kim Jongin.

"Ah...Jongin's...in the bathroom," Baekhyun quickly makes up a lie, shooting a warning look at Sehun who overhears the pair's conversation just as he is walking past.

'Hospital?'  Sehun mouths, curious as to why Baekhyun doesn't want to tell Yun the truth.

The girl sighs regretfully, "I've been waiting to congratulate him all night, but I guess he's got a bad tummy bug or something...do you think we should go check on him?"

"Ha...ha..." Baekhyun laughs dryly, mind spinning with desperation to make up an excuse, "if I were Jongin...I wouldn't want to have a pretty lady such as yourself talking to me when I'm trying to control my diarrhea."

Yun gives the boy a disapproving look, "But what if his condition's really bad? Wouldn't it be better to at least ask if he's okay?"

"...I'll...I'll go then," Baekhyun decides as a last resort, "it's the men's washroom afterall. Wait here for me, I'll be right back."

Maybe I should've told Yun about Jongin's injury. Baekhyun thinks to himself as he makes his way to the staff bathroom backstage, Maybe it would've been the right thing to do to tell her to go visit him at the hospital. Isn't it terribly selfish of me to want to keep her all to myself?

Yet at the same time, Baekhyun admits he really doesn't want to see Yun smiling or worrying or crying for Jongin the way she smiles and worries and cries for Baekhyun.

Yun is Baekhyun's best friend. She should be satisfied with having Baekhyun by her side - only Baekhyun. Kim Jongin was nothing but a trainer for her earlier stages in dieting - he shouldn't get to enjoy the same treatment from Yun as Baekhyun does. That's just not fair.

But the feeling of guilt makes Baekhyun increasingly nauseous as he enters the bathroom, pretends to do a check by circling the tiled premises half heartedly, and then exiting again.

As soon as he opens the door, however, a skeptic Yun with raised eyebrows stares up at him with her arms folded. "Byun Baekhyun, do you want to explain yourself while I'm giving you a chance?"

Standing -or rather, hiding- awkwardly behind her was a sheepish Sehun. Baekhyun shoots an accusing glare at the youngest, causing him to cower further into Yun's back in fear. "I didn't say anything...I just think she has a right to know," his nervous lisp mumbles almost inaudibly.

"Alright Yun...I guess there's no point keeping the truth from you now..."

"Indeed," was her cold response.

"Jongin...He's injured. Badly," Baekhyun buries his face into his hands, "I'm sorry I lied to you earlier. Actually, I'm not sure why I did that. He's always had a problem with his back; too much physical activity causes inflammation, and his spinal disc has been slightly dislocated before."

"...Sehun, is he telling me the whole truth?" Yun finds it hard to trust her lying friend after his previous dishonesty, "Which hospital is he staying at?"

"It's S.K.Y. Since it's close to the SM building so the manager always takes him there if he gets hurt."

"Baekhyun," Yun finally softens and lays a hand on his shoulder in an offer of reconciliation, "I can see you feel guilty so I won't hold a grudge, because right now the most important thing is to make sure Jongin is healthy and well."

Baekhyun hated the way his name fell from her lips so dearly. "So...you want to go see him?" he grumbles in dissatisfaction.

Yun nods, "And I want you to come with me."

"No."

"Don't be immature," she sighs at his clipped tone, "you need to apologise."

His expression contorts in reluctance, "...But..." he gives in and swallows his pride, "fine. But you have to protect me if he starts getting hostile, alright?"

Yun smiles as he huffs in annoyance and stalks grumpily outside to ignite the engine of his vehicle. Yun grabs her bag and handphone hurriedly, before hugging Sehun goodbye and running out to the parking lot.

»«

A short but silent drive later, Baekhyun clears his throat nervously while attempting to smooth down non-existent wrinkles on his clothes.

Yun raises an eyebrow at his odd behavior, "You alright?" she asks him, "you're sweating."

"Yun," he takes a deep breath to calm himself as they reach the room they had been looking for, "please stay here and let me go in first. I want to speak to him privately."

"Okay," Yun smiles in encouragement, giving his clammy hands a reassuring squeeze.

He shifts his feet restlessly, but then resolutely lifts his hands to rap his knuckles three times on the door - eyes shut in anticipation.

"Come in," Jongin's groggy voice replies calmly from the other side of the door.

Baekhyun quickly slips into the room, and shuts the door behind him to prevent Yun from overhearing anything.

"That insecure little boy," Yun shakes her head with amusement, but smiles at the sounds of voices holding a civilized conversation inside the room, "he didn't need to shut the door in my face that quickly."

"Oh hey," Jongin looks up tiredly from the bed in mild surprise, "thought you'd never show up. Did the others come with you?"

"No it's just me," Baekhyun smiles nervously, hand clutching and un-clutching themselves behind his back, "How...how are you feeling?"

"As good as I look - which is pretty hot, if I may say so myself."

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, "Do you want me to open the windows then, since you're so 'hot'?"

The younger boy laughs happily, before coughing from the scratchiness in his throat. "All jokes aside, can you pour me some water to drink?"

"At your service, Your Highness," Baekhyun replies with attitude, but does as he is asked to anyway.

"So, you seen Yun recently?" Jongin suddenly asks, "I haven't been able to go visit her...do you know how her diet's coming along?"

"It's going pretty well," Baekhyun's expression suddenly changes into seriousness as he comes back to Jongin's bedside with a cup of water in hand. "But you see...I would very much prefer if you didn't concern yourself with my woman like this."

"Huh?" Jongin's drug-induced drowsiness makes him doubt whether he heard the older boy's words right. "Did you just say Yun is your woman?"

"Yes," he confirms, "so I would very much appreciate it if you could stay away from her, and stop concerning yourself with what she's doing with her life."

"Does she know you feel this way, or are you just scripting this ty soliloquy all by yourself?"

"Actually...she's waiting for me outside your room right now. I just wanted to make it clear to you where you stand before she came in."

On the outside, Baekhyun feigns confidence in order to get his point across to Jongin. But on the inside, the boy was scared senseless and was hardly aware of what he was saying anymore. Since when has Yun been his? Didn't he reject the girl a little less than 2 years ago when she confessed to him? Who was he to be demanding Jongin to stay away from her, when he was the one that didn't match her feelings when she felt for him?

This is not a matter of love, Baekhyun admits to himself, this is a matter of territory - Lee Yun is my territory, and Kim Jongin cannot take her away from me.

A/N: I finally came back!!! Hai people :D :D sorry there were quite a few assignments due so I had to take a break from writing. Unfortunately, I only managed an A- so nothing to celebrate and cheer over...but it's satisfactory :P so yeah going to reward myself and all you readers with some evil Baek kekeke~