Hyukjae grumpily sat on the couch, his eyes shooting lasers at Jongwoon, his private doctor sitting across him. After spending three days suffering in the hospital, he was finally back at home, but the sight of Jongwoon sitting leisurely in his house wasn’t something he wanted to see.

“I can see very clearly that I’m not welcomed here,” Jongwoon said, an amused smile started to form on his lips. “But let’s just get this over with, okay Hyukjae?”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Of course we do, starting from the part where you refused to meet me and ended up in the hospital.”

“Donghae!” Hyukjae yelled at the said man leaning against the wall behind them, desperately asking for his help. “Get this man out of here!”

“I have no power to do so,” Donghae simply answered.

He was doing it on purpose obviously, and Hyukjae swore he would’ve strangled the man to death if he had no conscience at the moment. He didn’t hate Jongwoon. In fact, the young psychiatrist was one of the few persons he could get along with, but to undergo a therapy session was a pure torture for him. He despised it like hell.

“Alright, how about this,” Jongwoon clasped his hands together, using the best of his skills to soften the hardheaded young man. “Why don’t you take a nap, I’ll wait here, and when you’re ready, we’ll have a short talk. Just between the two of us. Sounds good?”

“Not at all,” Hyukjae snorted and got up on his feet, sending Donghae another deadly glare before climbing up the stairs while stomping his feet as loud as he could.

When Jongwoon looked in front, Donghae had already sat down in front of him, his flat gaze seemed to be reading through his mind.

“You might not believe me,” Jongwoon said, “But Hyukjae seems pretty attached to you. It’s kind of surprising.”

“He still doesn’t trust me,” Donghae said. “Don’t you think it might be better to tell me everything from the start? He told me he’s been seeing a shadow of a man in the house. What the hell does that mean?”

Jongwoon sighed. “It’s happening again.”

“What’s happening?”

“His trauma.”

“I know he was involved in an accident three years ago, but Jungsu didn’t clearly tell me what it was.”

Jongwoon didn’t answer right away and glanced upstairs, trying to make sure that their conversation wouldn’t be heard. “Hyukjae and his mother, they were kidnapped. Three years ago.”

Jongwoon stopped and studied Donghae’s expression, but as usual, there was no emotion portrayed on his face, making it hard for him to read what was going on in his mind. Whether he was surprised or not, he couldn’t even make a guess. If he was an enemy, Donghae was indeed a formidable opponent. Now he could somehow see why Jungsu hired the man in the first place as Hyukjae’s bodyguard.

“They weren’t exactly the targets,” Jongwoon continued, “They just got caught up in a political conflict, at the wrong time.”

“Caught up?” Donghae raised an eyebrow. “Probably not. The kidnappers must’ve learned soon after who they really were.”

Jongwoon nodded. “I suppose you’re right. But you know, everything was supposed to be fine. The kidnappers were promised a good amount of money, and the cops were already on stand-by. But something went wrong.”

“What happened?”

“It was just a guess,” Jongwoon lowered his voice, “But I had a feeling that the one who planned the whole thing was someone they knew.”

“And how was Hyukjae?”

There was a pause for quite a few minutes, before Jongwoon finally answered. “The shadow he’s been seeing isn’t actually here. It’s only in his mind.”

 “I know that.”

“His mother died protecting him, Donghae,” Yesung said, and this time, he could actually see a somewhat very small change in the latter’s eyes. He was actually reacting to what he said, for the first time. “She was shot to death in order to protect her own son. And she was killed right in front of Hyukjae.”

“Was that when he started to develop panic disorder?”

“Yeah, it happened not long after the incident. Hyukjae was no different than a living corpse back then. When I first met him, I had no idea what to do. It was just like he had died inside.”

“What the hell?!”

They both looked up in surprise when Hyukjae’s voice echoed in the spacious living room, and there was him walking down the stairs in his usual angry mode, his arms were crossed over his chest.

“I thought I’ve made it clear that I’m ing starving, so where the is my lunch?!”

“Here we go again,” Jongwoon shook his head as he watched the redhead stomping into the dining hall, followed by the flustered maids who probably had to listen to his cursing the whole day. “Well, at least he’s a lot better now.”

“You think so?”

“Compared to how he was before, yeah. But his friend’s death must’ve left a huge impact on him.”

“You’re not talking behind my back, are you?”

Their conversation was interrupted once again when Hyukjae appeared, holding two plates full of sandwiches and pancakes. He then sat down beside Donghae so casually, earning an unreadable look from Jongwoon.

“Well,” Jongwoon exchanged a glance with Donghae, as his lips slowly curved into a smile. “I guess there’s no need for me to talk anymore.”

____________________________

It was past midnight, but Hyukjae was still wide awake, staring blankly at the white ceiling above him. He kept thinking about Yunho and the fight they had a few weeks before he died, and it made him even more restless. He should’ve just listened to him first. He shouldn’t have walked away without looking back. Now he'd lost one of the few people who actually cared about him, and deep inside, he wanted to kill himself for it.

“ this ,” he muttered as he sat up, leaning back against the headboard.

And that was when he saw it again, the mysterious shadow of a man at the corner of his room, slowly moving closer towards him.

“The hell?!” Hyukjae yelled in pan