When my eyes open, I am groggy from both the numbness having worn off and the pain meds no longer working. I sit up to stretch my arms above my head but quickly retract when it sends a shooting pain up my side.

I breathe out uneasily as I adjust to a comfortable spot and rub at my eyes as a yawn escapes my lips.

“Pants…?” I breathe out as I feel a cold air surrounding my legs.

Not expecting an answer, I’m surprised when a male voice erupts from the doorway.

“Odd… Where could they be?”

My vision focuses as my eyes pop open in surprise and I make out a silver haired being, closing the door behind him. I blush as he walks towards the stretcher and I yank at the blanket to cover my bare legs and waist.

“I don’t know…?” I offer up.

“Uh-huh,” N answers with, a hard smirk forming on his normally joyous face.

He makes his way to the stool near my gurney and as he’s taking a seat I hear him speak under his breath in a cheeky manner.

“Maybe Leo has some idea…”

I cough a bit and hang my mouth open to try and respond.

“W-what?”

He shakes his head with a smirk, “Nothing.”

Please God, could you have some mercy for just one ing day…

“Now,” he begins with a bit of a harsh tone as he faces me, “I have a few things to discuss with you…”

I nod, making myself comfortable as I settle in for the upcoming lecture. Although, when begins speaking, I’m not expecting the topic he brings up.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are a few other members who are now living with us and, to be brief, the reason that they are here was because of a Rat in Mato; Bree dealt with it, but in turn both Yongguk and Zelo needed to make an escape as well.

“There were some injuries for one of them, but everything should heal up nicely as time passes, so long as she keeps up with shots and what not.”

I interject when he mentions this.

“She? Bree? Is she going to be okay?”

I feel a pang of worry as I come to realize the heaviness of the situation. Surely, one of them could have died in this so called escape… The way he worded it, ‘dealt with it’, there was implications in it.

“She’ll be okay, she’s doing quite well as of right now… You can ask Hongbin for the details when he comes to give you your sh-“

He quickly closes his mouth as I give him a shocked look. Did Hongbin tell him?

“How did y-“ I begin to ask but he cuts me off with a loud breath and continues his explanation.

“Anyways, you can ask him when he gets here. But, that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about.”

I brush off the earlier subject, hoping I can bring it up later in our conversation.

“I was talking with the others and we discussed what you could be useful for in the future, other than medical training, because to be honest – there are major strengths I’m starting to notice about you in a physical sense.”

I scoff at his words. He’s joking right? If I’m not falling down every other step, I’m stubbing my toes on god knows what.

“You sure you’re talking to right person, N?” I ask.

He shakes his head as he eyes the ground, baffling me even further as he continues his speech.

“Even if you haven’t noticed them yet, they are there, it’ll just take some fine-tuning… You’re small and you’re quick and you’re able to think on your feet, well, when you can stay on them.”

He laughs as I roll my eyes slightly, giving him a smirk.

“Not only that, but you genuinely care about those around you, and that can be helpful in the long run… But we’ll save that for later, what I’m trying to say now is that we would like you to start both stealth and hand-to-hand training.”

I stare at him a bit amazed. How did he know this what I wanted to bring up to him after my trek with Daehyun these past few days?

“I need to know if you would agree to this, after the stitches have healed of course, but that you’re onboard with it. You can continue medical training, I mean Hongbin needs all the help he can get without Himchan being around.”

I think for a moment… He wouldn’t be asking for my answer right now if he knew I was going to hesitate. Of course I am going to agree. He knows my past is grim and the city I come from I wholeheartedly want to restore and if this can help me get there, he knows I am going to agree. Even if N had a tendency to nag like a mother, he knew what was best for me and had every intention of looking out for me.

“Yes,” I tell him confidently as I wait for him to continue.

“Perfect, now, the second conversation we need to have…” He trails, pausing as he thinks of a way to address the situation.

I wait for him, bring my knees to my chest with my arms wrapping around them. This was the part I was waiting for… The lecture.

“Since you’ve agreed to this training, this has even further more established me as your leader… So I will ask you this once about the subject, would you rather I speak to you as your leader or your older brother?”

I glance at him nervously and muster up an answer I hope he empathizes with.

“Both?”

“I can do that.”

His tone has become rather harsh and I have come to the realization with how angry he is.

“First and foremost, I will speak to you as your leader; what were you thinking? You agreed to leave with him when you well knew that all of us would be upset. On top of that you disregarded my orders after I trusted you to follow them.

“I expect each and every person who lives under my rules to follow them, and just as I told Daehyun, if you are to do this again, I will not hesitate in sending you to another district to further your training. Do you understand me?”

I have tears in my eyes as I hide them with my bangs, not wanting him to notice how weak I still was. I understood N wanted to get straight to the point and I did ask for it.

I nod and tell him my answer.

“Yes.”

“Now, I will speak to you as your brother… What were you thinking?”

His voice is much softer as he changes the tone of our conversation.

I hear him shift in his seat but I don’t dare to look up at him with my reddened eyes. It’s in seconds I feel one of his hands wrap around mine though as he pulls me to face him.

I continue to keep my eyes downward, hoping he wouldn’t notice how easily I could be made upset.

“You worried all of us and had us thinking we might not ever see you again… You know how it feels to lose someone, so you must’ve known how we felt? We saved your life a few times already and it scared me to think we might not have been there to do it again.”

I finally make eye contact with him as he brushes the bangs away from my eyes and he has a frown gracing his features.

I nod at his words as he concludes his statement.

“So, just promise you won’t do that again, okay?”

His hand wipes away a few tears after he brings it to pat the top of my head.

We sit in silence for a moment and I’ve calmed my minimal water works when I remember my earlier thoughts of his underhanded comments.

“N, why did you mention Taekwoon – I mean Leo… earlier? And shots…?”

I feel my embarrassment creep to my face as I blush and N’s eyebrows rise in amusement.

“Well –“ he begins but is swiftly cut off by the door being thrown open and we both look to it and see an utterly pissed off Hongbin.

Oh dear.

He kicks it closed, both hands behind his back as he moves forward to stand beside N. N quickly chuckles as he lets go of my hand to lean back in his stool. Hongbin is glaring down at me and neither of his hands leave his back.

What did I do now? Well… that he knew about.

“Seems like I don’t have to answer that question anymore,” N tells me quietly between chuckles.

“Are you okay…?” I question Hongbin as his eyes peer down at me.

“Well, I seem to have this problem… Every time I tell someone not to leave the medical ward, they seem to just… disappear.”

I feel my heart stop.

How could he have figured it out? I never even saw him last night…

I retort with a somewhat innocent answer.

“That’s unfortunate.”

He breathes out a sigh as he nods, “Particularly when they go out having unsafe … an hour after I make a point of speaking to them about it.”

N is muffling his laughter as I answer, trying to cover up my known get away.

“That’s even more unfortunate.”

He scoffs at my answer as he presses on.

“Do you have anything you would like to apologize for?”

I shake my head vigorously.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I offer up.

“Well, would you instead like to tell me where my shorts are? Maybe even my t-shirt?”

I give him an awkward smile as N stares at me with his hand over his mouth to quiet his giggles.

I point while staring at him, thinking of an answer to give when I remember Taekwoon’s answer from last night.

“… No.”

His eyes widen and I notice N double in laughter from the stool as Hongbin throws both the t-shirt and shorts I had warn to Taekwoon’s room last night onto the bed.

“Oh, look, you found them!” I turn to him with a brightly lit awkward smirk.

“Oh, I didn’t find them, you can thank Hyuk for that.”

I think about the cute boy and make a point to speak to him later if I could actually leave the room now.

I reach forward to grab at the shorts but Hongbin has pulled them off the bed before I have them in my fingertips.

“Oh no, if you can get around without them, you don’t need them back.”

I give him a look which he meets with an annoyed glare as I search for ways to get myself out of this mess.

“No, no, no… I still need those.”

He shakes his head in response as he moves away from the stretcher to one of the medicine cabinets, throwing them onto a shelf as he reaches for a set of needles and filtering through various bottles of medication.

N comes to standing position as he gathers his wits to speak finally.

“Well, now that I’ve had my entertainment for the day, I’ll leave you to your shot.”

He waves at me before exiting the room and I am once again left with a severely annoyed Hongbin.

I swear, he has more mood swings than I do.

He takes a seat on the stool beside me, roughly rolling up my sleeves to just pass my forearm.

“Wait one night, that’s all I asked but you were too to follow my orders…”

“Hongbin, I’m sorry,” I plead with as he searches my inner elbow for a vein.

He sighs, “I know, at least this should prevent things for the next month.”

I smile at him as he wraps a piece of fabric around my upper arm, helping my veins to protrude from my skin. In a couple of minutes he’s easing the needle into my skin and I wince as I watch it.

“Just please be careful,” He says as he stares at my arm.

I nod as he brings the needle from my arm only to glance at the medical cabinet.

"Before I leave, I need to make sure you take some pain meds... Ravi should be down soon engouh with water and food so just wait to take them till then."

I smile at him, knowing that he holds the best intentions for me. I let a sigh as I realize just how much I make not only him, but these boys worry about me.

"You know I really am sorry?" I breathe out, my teeth clenching softly.

"Then why did you do it?" He asks as he slams the cuboard closed. He struts to my gurney and places the paind medication in my outstretched 

I look away from his intrusive eyes and I try to formulate an answer in my head, but no such thing arises. 

How was I supposed to answer that? 'Cause it felt good? I don't know... 

When I look up at him I take not of the worry that has taken over his expression but before he has a chance to say anyhting, the opening of the door interupts him.

We both look over and notice Ravi walking in with a tray of food in hand. He smirks at both of us before we go back to staring at each other.

Hongbin shrugs, shaking his haed at me before leaving the room, either understanding that Ravi was here to figuratively kill me or scream at me, at that he would have a chance to do the same later.

What was I going to say to Hongbin to make him understand it anyways? Should I be honest with him?

My thoughts side track and I wince when Ravi places the tray in front of my feet, my legs still hugged against my chest.

“I’m not going to yell at you,” he tells me and I look up at him in disbelief, “N probably did that anyways.”

He chuckles a bit as he takes a seat on the stool to stare at me. I throw the pills into my mouth and take a sip of the water from the tray, gulping the meds down to help ease the arising pain in my ribs.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him anyways, some tears welling up in my eyes as I do so. It’s too much for me to actually see Ravi angry or disappointed with me. As much as he just wanted to ignore the situation, I did need to apologize to him. I felt bad about the whole thing considering he worries for me on a daily basis.

He nods, “I know.”

He smiles at me and I return it as I eat the few pieces of food on my plate. We enjoy each other’s conversation for a while and he begins to bring up the idea of training.

“So, stealth training, huh?” He asks me as he leans forward to steal a piece of sweet bread from my plate.

I nod and breathe a heavy sigh.

“I’m nervous… But excited.”

He laughs a bit.

“You’ll get used to it, just make sure not to hurt yourself too much. I told N I would be monitoring for the first while anyways.”

“I’m surprised you even agreed in the first place, or even Taekwoon.”

Ravi smirks with risen eyebrows at the mention of Taekwoon…

I guess it would be obvious if I didn’t call him Leo in front of everyone else.

“Taekwoon, huh?” He asks with an amused smirk.

I cough as I my lips, putting down my glass of water. I feel my face flush with embarrassment as he waits for me to further explain myself but it’s very likely he knows the answer.

“Yeah… About that…”

“About what?” He further questions, making a point to further stretch out my embarrassment.

“I… um…”

He chuckles when he takes a moment to confirm my thoughts.

“I can get you some extra pants if you like… Just come to my room afterwards. ”

My breath hitches in embarrassment and I watch him as he laughs at my response.

“You know, older brothers are supposed to be angry about these things,” I tell him with a blush.

He waves at me carelessly with laughter.

“I will be, but only with him.”

I roll my eyes a bit as I try to let the mood slide but he presses further, knowing exactly what buttons to push.

“Do I need to give my little sis’ the talk?”

I glare at him beneath my bangs as I swing my legs over the stretcher and they barely brush against the stone floor.

“No, if you haven’t noticed I am trained in medicine.”

He ignores me and continues with chastising comments.

“Well, you see, when a man loves a women and vice versa –“

“Ravi, shut up, please.”

I get on my feet and pull the grey button up downwards.

“Now, to your room where I can get some pants.”

I hope this can change the subject as I walk forward but Ravi’s comments don’t seem to change.

“But you need to know that a baby doesn’t come from a stork at the window.”

I roll my eyes and glance at him over my shoulder as he follows me to the door.

“Ravi, please, just drop it.”

He begins to howl with laughter when I open the door and his footsteps are on my tail as we move swiftly through the hallway.

“But – babies!” he tells me as he rests both hands on my shoulders as he pushes me up the stairs towards his room.

I notice a body pass by us quietly as Ravi yelps out his random words and when I give it a once over I notice Daehyun glancing back at me, giving me a strange look. I give him a quick wave and he nods in return, his eyes travelling along my bare legs.

I smile weakly before turning my face away from him and I sigh in frustration and give Ravi a one word answer, “Yes.”

He laughs as he wraps one of his arms around my shoulders and we keep moving forward.

“Just get me some pants, please.”

When we finally enter Ravi’s room, I am left thinking once more – today will surely be interesting.