When Donghae woke up he had slept almost the whole day, and felt a mixture of sadness and relief for having missed everybody's happiness and the 'christmas cheer' people always went on about. His stomach grumbled in protest, reminding him it had been 24 hours since he'd eaten anything, and - wondering if he was too late for christmas dinner - he began to make his way downstairs. He was still busy rubbing sleep from his eyes and straightening out his outfit, so didn't notice someone in front of him until their heads collided with a smack.

"God ing damn it!" An angry voice groaned, and Donghae looked up from where he had stumbled and sprawled on the floor to see Hyukjae clutching his head, his face screwed up in pain. Scowling down at him, he uttered an irritated sigh, "Can you watch where you're going?"

"I could say the same to you." Donghae replied haughtily, leaning up on his elbows and trying to ignore the throbbing in his forehead. Hyukjae looked down at the phone he must have been texting on with a trace of guilt, then slipped it into his pocket.

"Ok, whatever." He bit his lip for a second then offered Donghae a hand and pulled him to his feet, "Anyway...are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine. It wasn't that hard, I was taken by surprise and that's why I fell-"

"I didn't mean that." He interrupted, "I meant today. You've been locked in your room the whole time. Kyuhyun was going to check on you, but I figured you wanted to be left alone."

"Oh." Donghae wasn't sure why, but he didn't know how to respond to this. Hyukjae had never said a kind word to him, and he felt himself becoming flustered under the other man's gaze, "Thanks, you were right."

"Yeah well," He coughed awkwardly before he stuck his hands into his pockets, "It's christmas, time of goodwill and all that . So I thought I'd try helping you out just this once."

The atmosphere was thick with unanswered questions that neither of them were willing to talk about, and Donghae felt the overwhelming desire to leave quickly before he had to say another word.

"Ok well, I'll see you some other time," he said hurriedly, walking towards the stairs in a rush, "Thanks again for helping!"

But as he rushed past Hyukjae a hand grabbed his forearm, jerking Donghae to a halt and bringing him close to a pair of brown eyes fringed with surprisingly girly long lashes, searching his face for some kind of negative emotion or thought.

"Just look after yourself, ok? Locking yourself up over christmas isn't a good sign."

"Since when were you worried about me, Hyukjae?" Donghae suddenly snapped back, irritated that he was being given a lecture by the very same person who'd been bothering him ever since he'd arrived. What right did he have to tell him what to do, when they knew nothing about each other? The eyes in front of him hardened, narrowing at his words.

"Forget it." He snarled, throwing Donghae's arm away and stalking away down the corridor with his once again stuffed angrily into his pockets and his shoulders hunched.

--------------------------

Donghae discovered there was in fact plenty of food left over, and was happily gorging  himself when somebody sat opposite him. Looking up with his cheeks bulging unattractively and a scowl on his face, he almost choked on his food when he saw Kyuhyun smiling patiently at him. Donghae swallowed hurridly, bowing his head.

"Kyuhyun...I'm sorry for leaving today."

But the doctor brushed away his words, smiling and shaking his head as if to say 'it's ok'. There was a silence, and Donghae was about to take the opportunity to eat another bite of turkey when Kyuhyun finally spoke up.

"I didn't come to see you about that, I'm sorry you couldn't be here today but I recognise you may not want to discuss the reason for your actions with me." His finger was tracing the pattern of the Christmas tablecloth that had been laid out, over and over again, and Donghae's eyes dutifully followed it’s movement. He wasn’t sure how to reply to what Kyuhyun had said, but luckily the other man didn’t expect any explanation; he simply continued.

“However…you may have noticed somebody who visits once a week. Tall guy, always smiling. He’s our councillor here, and he’s incredible. He comes tomorrow, if it’s ok with you…I think it would help you if you started talking to him. It’s only a suggestion of course, but I recommend it.”

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.” Donghae said, mustering a small smile for the man sitting opposite him. Suddenly Kyuhyun reached forward and held Donghae’s hand in both of his own, a movement so unexpected that he found his cheeks becoming hot.

“If you have problems, things you want to talk about, please come to me. I want to help you, Hae.” The use of his shortened name was another thing that seemed to take even Kyuhyun himself by surprise, because he swiftly stood up and coughed. “Enjoy your meal, I’m sure Eunmi will happily give you more if you’re still hungry. Merry Christmas.”

He turned to leave and Donghae watched him, which is when they both saw Hyukjae leaning against the door of the room with a strange smirk on his face. Shaking his head, he spoke in a cold voice, addressing Kyuhyun.

“Isn’t showing favouritism a little…unprofessional, Dr Cho?”

“Hyukjae, whatever you saw I was merely taking care-“

Hyukjae snorted, his face twisting in anger, and he advanced towards them. Standing in front of Kyuhyun he looked him up and down as if disgusted.

“Is that what you call it now? Taking care?” He hissed quietly, “I’m pretty sure your little crush on him might have something to do with it, and judging by the cosy scene I just saw you’re letting it affect your work now.” When their eyes met Donghae saw a fierceness that made him so uncomfortable he squeezed his eyes shut, looking down at the floor, and saw two feet walk away and start to pace agitatedly.

“Hyukjae please-“

“WHAT IS IT YOU TOLD ME?!” He shouted, “SOME BULL ABOUT WORK RELATIONSHIPS? I’M ING DONE WITH WATCHING YOU TWO SNUGGLE UP TO EACH OTHER.” He took a shaky breath, running his hand through his hair, “You knew…admit that you knew how strong my feelings were for you, Kyu. You can’t pretend to be oblivious forever.”

“I’m sorry.” Kyuhyun said simply, but the genuine tone of his voice seemed to catch Hyukjae off guard. The anger slowly drained from his face and he bit his lip sheepishly, while Kyuhyun gulped and continued, “I’m sorry to both of you if I’ve…misled you. The truth is my profession only allows me to view either of you as patients, perhaps friends, but nothing more.”

Donghae nodded, but inside his head was in turmoil. Of course he’d suspected what Kyuhyun was saying but to hear it was another thing, and he struggled to accept the truth…because when those words had come out of Kyuhyun’s mouth, Donghae knew any chance he had had with him was gone completely. With this thought circling his head, he found that he suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore.

--------------------------------------------

“Lee Donghae, that’s you isn’t it?” The man in front of Donghae had the happiest smile he’d ever seen. “It’s nice to finally see you!” When he stood up to shake his hand Donghae widened his eyes at his height, but he quickly sat down again as if self-conscious about his extremely long legs.

“Yeah that’s me.” Donghae grunted. He’d woken up with a headache and had planned on spending the day sleeping or writing music in his room, before remembering the councillor Kyuhyun had recommended he see. Needless to say, he wasn’t in the mood for talking. The man nodded, slipping on a pair of glasses which instantly made him look more intelligent and taking a clipboard from his bag. Of course.

“First off maybe I should introduce myself.  My name is Zhou mi, but feel free to call me whatever you’d like, and I come here once or twice a week for a chat with a few people, so feel free to pop in.” He flicked his fringe out of his eyes with a long finger then leaned forward attentively, a soft smile on his face. “So, Donghae…how has your time been here so far?”

Donghae shrugged, indicating it had been ok, and even this seemed to provide enough information for Zhou Mi to scribble something. It irritated him that this man he’d just met was already judging him on the smallest actions.

“Have you had any problems? Anything you want to know that you haven’t felt comfortable asking the doctors? Maybe I can help you, that’s why I’m here.”

Just as he was about to laugh and get up to leave, because what possible question would he have for this stranger that he couldn’t ask Kyuhyun or one of the others, a thought popped into his head. Hyukjae.

“There is…something.” He said hesitantly. Zhou mi – who had been focused on his clipboard again- looked up expectantly. “Why is Lee Hyukjae here at Sunny Haven?”

Zhou mi widened his eyes in surprise.

“Why do you want to know that?”

In response Donghae only shrugged, and after staring at him for a moment Zhou mi sighed, removing his glasses to wipe to lenses on the bottom of his shirt and keeping his eyes fixed on this task while he spoke.

“Well, although there’s not any rules restricting me from telling you that- you understand I have a strict confidentiality policy when people speak to me, but this isn’t something I found out through our sessions.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead, “I’m not sure I feel comfortable telling you about another of my clients, wouldn’t it be better to ask him yourself?”

“My friend Sungmin told me that isn’t the best thing to do here, and anyway…I’m not sure he’d give me an answer.” Zhou mi smiled softly.

“Ah, Sungmin…that boy’s heart is always in the right place, you found a good friend there.” the councillor thought for a second more, before nodding slowly. “Alright. Alright, I’ll tell you, if that’s really what you want to know.”

Donghae thanked him, and Zhou mi cleared his throat to begin. It was time to find out who Lee Hyukjae really was.

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So.....yayayay! Sorry....cliffhangers oops, it will take a while to update as always too ;; stupid college. Thanks for commenting and reading, it makes me happy writing for other people. I hope angry Hyuk didn't scare anyone hehe, maybe he'll get a little softer soon, who knows??....okay~ thanks again guys, i'll update asap! 

J ♡