Jongin’s POV

In the van, on the way to Show Champion filming

Life had gone into a smooth and regular pattern.

Music shows, variety shows, fansigns.

And then a night with the babies.

Followed by sleep in Kyungsoo’s arms.

Occasionally we had a free day here and there. It might be weird for people our age but we were perfectly contented to just simply spend the day at home with our sons. Playing with them, monitoring the variety shows that we were on, or simply just chilling out.

This was the life.

A life that felt so rewarding, so satisfying, so perfect.

 

And the twins were getting so big! Where had the times gone? Gah, they were six months old already. Half a year old!

With their teeth starting to appear, my mom suggested that we start solids with them.

Food - well they still weren’t really a fan of solids, still preferring milk and juices over them. When we gave them mushed-up avocadoes or bananas, they loved gnawing on it instead of actually eating it. Most of the food we gave them either ended up on their clothes or all over their face. We had also started to freeze cubes of food like applesauce or sweet potato for them to chew on to provide cold relief for any teething pains. But for most part, they still drank milk for their main source of nutrients, taking the bottle like champions.

One fine day, I tried to show Dongwoo some new toys that we had bought for the twins from Hong Kong, but he didn't seem to study what I showed him. He just put whatever I handed him in his mouth, like he would try to eat anything.

So I fed him lemon.

Just a tiny harmless slice.

Honest.

Ok.

Maybe two slices.

The way he scrunched up his tiny face was simply too hilarious. It felt me rolling on the floor with laughter as he just stared at the slice of lemon, not quite comprehending what was going on. Once he recovered from the sourness of the lemon, he seemed to have forgotten the sensation that it gave him, only to pick the second slice up from the plate and put it in his mouth again. And without fail, he scrunched up his chubby face again, sending me to the ground crippled with laughter. And that was the exact moment when Kyungie walked in on my little experiment.

Lets’ just say he wasn’t too happy about it.

That little experiment of mine resulted in a half-hour lecture and a playful smack on my . Not that I minded the latter particularly. As I sat in the van, I rested my head on his shoulder. His wine red hair caught my eye and I couldn’t help by sigh at his perfection. The new hairstyle gave him such a new and edgy look that I was worried that his already immerse popularity among the male population might escalate further.

Today marked the end of our promotions for Wolf. While I was slightly sad to conclude promotions for the song that we had worked our asses off for the past year, we were scheduled to start promotions for our follow-up song. We had been practicing rigorously the past month, in preparation so as to avoid disappointing our fans.

While waiting for our turn to perform, I slung my arms over Kyungie’s shoulders and leaned down to his ears.

“Don’t be too y on stage. I’ll get jealous.”

“y? Me? Ha, funny, Jongin. You should take your OWN advice.”

“My type of iness attracts girls, whom you know are no competition against you. But you. You are a different story. You attract guys. Now that’s competition. Especially with your new hair.”

“Guys? You know you will win them holds down.” He wrapped one arm around my waist and placed the other hand on my chest.

Soon it was time to perform.

Something about being on stage to perform was so exhilarating and my adrenaline shot sky-high.

 

 

Perhaps it was my eagerness and excitement to do well on our last stage on Show Champion. Or maybe it was my distracted thoughts on Kyungie’s new red hair and his increasing throngs of male fans. But ultimately, it boiled down to my utter clumsiness. A sharp pain shot through my left calf as I landed wrongly from a jump while performing live. The pain ignited my old back injury and that too started to hurt.

Crap.

I took a deep breath and it up. This was a live performance. Our goodbye stage. No way was I going to be the one who screwed it up. But the pain was simply too much to bear, at one point I had to stop for a while to rest.

Which especially when I was dancing right in the front, right in the center. No matter which camera was showing on the television, I felt like the audience could see me. This wasn’t the image I wanted to portray. This wasn’t the image of EXO. I took another deep breath and tried to ignore the pain. The last few seconds of the song was painstakingly long as I tried to minimise the movement I made, even in my solo parts.

I had to put up a brave face.

I couldn’t let the fans see my pain.

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Kyungsoo’s POV

On Show Champion stage

Something was wrong.

Something was very very wrong.

Jongin was not dancing the way he always did. His moves were somewhat muted, a little off.

Then I saw a glimpse of it. Him trying to keep the weight of his left leg and the way he hunched ever so slightly. That was when I knew his left leg was hurt and it worsened the condition of his already-in-bad-shape back. I couldn’t bear to see his face. I knew he was in pain and watching him grimace as he tried to dance just brought worry and fear in my heart, and brought up memories of the times when we had just debuted and he had injured myself, the times I had to support him in order for him to work, the times he had to painful go through treatments after treatments. Oh, great, and now I’m thinking of the dark period during our trainee days when he drank his senses away. I was hardly putting in my full efforts in performing, not when I was dying from the worry I had for him.

The first thing I did when I got off stage was to get our manager to call an ambulance. Then I beelined straight for him. We still had to film the closing stage but I could see that he was in no shape to do so. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close so that he could lean on me. His face was lined with sweat from the pain and exertion. I didn’t say anything and neither did he.

What I wouldn’t give to be in his position, to take the pain for him.

He started out by leaning on my shoulders but he was so wobbly I had to signal our manager over. He just scooped him up and carried him out. To the hospital, I presumed.

I wanted to follow them so badly but another manager stopped me and gently guided me back to the stage.

Jongin.

You are going to be ok, right?

Right?!

I wasn’t hardly listening to what the emcees were saying on the closing stage. My mind had gone with the ambulance to the hospital. I just wanted the whole filming to be over and done with so that I could be with the person I needed to be with. All the while, I was planning in my head what I should do or say when I finally get to be by Jongin’s side. Scold him? Nah, I would probably cry. Tears were already welling up just by the thought of him alone in the hospital in pain. But for the sake of the fans that were here today, I had to put on a smile on my face, though it must appear very strained since my heart was not into it.

When was this filming going to conclude?!

Not fast enough, apparently.

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Jongin’s POV

On the hospital bed

I was ordered bed rest and I didn’t object because I feel so lousy. Not just my leg; my whole body ached with exhaustion. My back had hurt as hell; it was like reliving those days when I first sustained my back injury. But the pain had taken a more subtle route after the doctor administered some painkillers. Now that the pain had resided enough for me to be able to ignore it, my thoughts returned to Kyungie.

Ah my Kyungie.

I could only hope that he wasn’t sick with worry.

But that would be hoping for too much, right?

I saw the way his eyebrows furrowed in worry and concern as he rushed to my side after the performance. I saw the reluctance in his eyes as I was carried away to the ambulance.   

Suddenly, the door swung open violently and a teary-eyed Kyungie burst into the room. Both Manager Hyung and I jumped startled at his sudden entrance. The way his beautiful red hair was all messed up, anyone would have guessed he ran all the way here from the Show Champion studio. Immediately, he ran to my bedside and cupped my face in his hands. He was at the brink of tears so I let him doctor me and feed me some dinner in bed and tuck another blanket around me. As he hovered around the bed fussing over me, I couldn’t help but notice that his face took a special look when he concentrated. His usually easy expression was replaced by something more intense and focussed that it seemed like nothing could break that focus. It was almost as if he was trying so very hard to be brave and not cry. And that made me want to cry. 

“Time for you to get some rest, Jongin ah.”

He dimmed the lights, tucked me in (again) and said good night. He turned to head for the couch nearby but I caught his hand and held him there.  After a long pause, he sat on the side of the bed, warming my hand in both of his. I pulled his hand up and leaned my cheek against the back of it.

“Sorry, Kyung ah.”

I rest my head against his shoulder and feel his hand caress my hair.

“For what? Getting hurt is not your fault.”

“For making you worried.”

“That IS your fault. I should punish you.” He said non-committedly, before taking a nagging tone, “You should be more careful, Jongin ah. It breaks my heart every time you hurt yourself. I just can’t bear to see you in pain. Why on earth do you keep getting hurt anyway?”

“Sorry.” I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

He let out a sigh as he pulled me in close and buried his face in my hair. Warmth radiated from the spot his lips just touched my neck, slowly spreading through the rest of me.

“Don’t do it again.” His breath lingered on my skin as he whispered.

 

 

“I’ll try. I promise.”

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A/N: I hate hate hate to see Kai in pain, or any member for that matter... Just safe and healthy boys, SM, please. 

Mini update on babies and also about today's performance at Show Champion.

Hope you guys like it ^^

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