Youngmin was in the vocal room when it happened. He was practicing his singing with a vocal coach when he suddenly felt something wrong. Shaking it off as simply being tired from lack of sleep, Youngmin continued his lessons,or at least, he tried to. When he raised his right arm to grasp the microphone, a dull, throbbing pain halted his movements. When the disturbing feeling inside of him grew stronger, it was then Youngmin realized that something must have bothered his twin. Excusing himself, he rushed to the dance studio where Kwangmin was practicing with the rest of the members.

 

The sight that greeted his eyes was enough to throw him into a full blown panic mode. Kwangmin was lying on the floor, clutching at his right hand while the other members surrounded him. His moans of pain echoed in the studio.

 

“Kwangmin!” Youngmin yelled, running towards the boy. He dropped to his knees, next to his head and began assessing his injuries.

 

“Ya, what happened?” he asked. Unable to speak due to the pain in his arm, Jeongmin answered instead.

 

“He fell down while practicing the choreography and landed hard on his arm. Donghyun hyung went to get the manager a few minutes ago.”

 

Youngmin’s mouth fell open in shock. He knew his twin was clumsy, but not this clumsy. He eyed the right hand clutched tightly to his chest.

 

“What hurts the most?” he questioned.

 

“My thumb,” Kwangmin moaned out in pain, a few stray tears falling down his cheeks.

 

“Don’t worry,” he assured the boy, “the manager will be here soon and he’ll take you to the hospital.”

 

When Donghyun returned just a few minutes later with the manager rushing behind him, the members all helped Kwangmin to his feet and escorted him to the van. The manager was about to close the door when Kwangmin suddenly yelled out.

 

“Wait! Bring Youngmin along, please.”

Without a protest, the blond boy climbed into the van to comfort his injured brother. They reached the hospital in record time. It was partly due to the manager unable to withstand Kwangmin’s incessant and groaning. The nurses at the emergency room ushered him to get an X-ray while Youngmin sat silently in the waiting room with the manager. The only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the clock.

 

“Hyung, can I borrow your cellphone?” Youngmin asked suddenly after ten minutes had flown by. “I need to call our mom.”

 

He punched in the familiar numbers and waited as the phone rang.

 

“Yobeoseyeo?”

 

“Oh, eomma, Youngmin here.”

 

“Ah, Youngminnie. Why are you calling at such time? I thought you have training sessions?”

 

Youngmin, touched by the gentle voice of their mother, shed tears. “Eomma, I’ve let you down,” he said thickly. “Kwangmin got injured today and he might have broken his hand.”

 

There was a moment of silence from the other end. “Is he okay?  Why are you crying then? Surely it wasn’t your fault?”

 

“But eomma!” he protested, “I promised to take care of him when we left home and look! Now I’m waiting for him at the hospital!”

 

The mom suddenly laughed. “Aigo my son, I have raised you well. Youngmin ah, your brother is not a little baby and you can’t watch over him every minute. Accidents do happen. What is important right now is that you support Kwangmin as he recovers. Okay?”

 

“Okay,” Youngmin pouted. “I’ll go then. I’ll make Kwangmin call you when we get back. Love you.”

 

“Ye, ye,” the mom chuckled. “I love you too, my sweet son.”

 

Just as he hung up, a nurse walked into the room, eyeing for the occupants. “Is there a Jo Youngmin here?” she searched. Youngmin immediately shot to his feet and went to the nurse.

 

“I’m Jo Youngmin,” he stated. “Is there something wrong?”

 

The nurse smiled at him. “Your brother is asking for you right now. He’s a little scared of the needle.”

 

Laughing softly, Youngmin followed the nurse into a treatment room and sat beside his twin’s bed. The doctor looked up at them with a look of amusement before grabbing a needle off the metal tray. Youngmin held on Kwangmin’s good hand while the doctor injected mild anesthesia and began resetting his thumb. The boy had his eyes tightly shut through the whole treatment, even when the cast was put on.

 

One numb hand and half an hour later, the twins emerged together. After settling the paperwork, they were finally on their way home. Youngmin leaned back and rest his head on the window. “Because of you,” he groaned out tiredly, “I don’t have a single peaceful day out of the whole year. Do you know that?”

 

“Mianhe,” Kwangmin said sheepishly.

 

They rode in silence, content to gaze at the passing cars. After a while, Kwangmin spoke up.

 

“Thanks for being here for me,” he said softly. Youngmin smiled before closing his eyes to sleep.

 

“Of course I’d be here. I’m your twin. Where else would I be?”