“Could you PLEASE tell me that this is a huge sick joke?”

The last person who came up to Hyukjae was Heechul and from all of his friends, he feared Heechul's reaction the most.
He reckoned on a heavy outburst due to their Diva and Hyukjae hardly dared to raise his glance, when he saw Heechul's feet in front of him. Surprisingly, against all of Hyukjae's former speculations, Heechul's voice was full of concern and deep worries – no screaming, no hostility, no obvious criticism.

Hyukjae shook his head slightly while his eyes were still focused on Heechul's feet. He pushed his shivering hands into his jeans' pockets and took a deep breath.
“It's not a joke, Heechul”, Hyukjae mumbled silently and risked a brief glance at Heechul's face, without really looking into his friend's eyes. “I like Ji-Eun and we're going to marry...”
Unfortunately, his voice wasn't as convincing as he wanted.

Heechul lifted his hands and put them on Hyukjae's shoulders, squeezing them slightly to make Hyukjae raise his glance again.
"Hyuk, I LIKE a lot of people, but I'm not going to marry all of them", Heechul said silently and tilted his head a little, so that he was able to look into Hyukjae's dark brown eyes. "Have you really... THOUGHT about this decision, Hyuk? Don't you think you might be happier with D-- ... with someone else?"

In a helpless try to explain himself, Hyukjae opened his mouth again, but he wasn't able to find the right words. He raised his hands and shook his head slightly and to Heechul's sad surprise, he saw tears in the corners of Hyukjae's eyes.

"It's enough, Heenim..."
Jungsoo's soft voice interrupted their one-sided conversation and made it unnecessary for Hyukjae to answer. Jungsoo appeared next to Heechul and detached Heechul's hands from Hyukjae's shoulders.

“Come on, Siwon is ready … Let's go.”, he added silently and smiled slightly.

Hyukjae eyed his friends a little surprised.
"Where are you going?", he asked a little disappointed, since he truly didn't want to be alone right now.

Jungsoo smiled a little at Hyukjae's gloomy face and pointed at Sungmin, who was still sitting on the couch and waited patiently for Hyukjae to come over. "You're not alone, Hyuk, Sungmin will stay with you and the rest is in their bedrooms...", he said calmingly and his smile became a little weak.
"We just have to play 'Finding Donghae' now..."


* * * * * * * * * *

“Any plans?”

Siwon turned around when he, Jungsoo and Heechul had left the apartment complex and stood in the pouring rain outside the house. He shrugged his shoulders a little helplessly and pointed to both sides down the street.
"He could be anywhere..."

Heechul wrapped his scarf a little tighter around his neck and looked up in the cloudy sky. He opened his umbrella and held it over his and Jungsoo's head. “He probably went to his family, didn't he?”, Heechul suggested silently and shivered, when a cold gust of wind hit his body.

Jungsoo shook his head slightly and linked his arm with Heechul, so that he stood closer under the umbrella and found a little more shelter from the huge raindrops, that were pattering loudly onto the umbrella's surface.

“I called his mother and told her briefly what happened – at least that Donghae upset and had left the dorm... She promised me to call us as soon as Donghae turns up at their house...”

Heechul nodded slightly. “I guess I don't have to ask if he answered his phone, right?”

“He left it in the dorm...”

“Mh...”
Heechul raised his glance at Siwon again, trying to find any help or perfect plan in his slim face, but the young man only shrugged his shoulders again. “I don't know where he could be...”

“Maybe he went to his father's grave...”

Siwon frowned a little and turned up the collar of his coat. “The graveyard is too far from here”, he mumbled silently and put his hands back into his pockets.

“Maybe he took a taxi.”

Siwon looked at Heechul and shrugged his shoulders – a movement that described their unsure situation quite good right now.
He sighted deeply and nodded down the street. “I'll go home and grab my car keys, then I'll drive to the graveyard. At least, it's worth a try”, he gave in at Heechul's suggestion and threw a brief glance at the rainy sky.

Heechul nodded again and looked at Jungsoo. “Come on, anything is better than standing around here”, he mumbled and dragged his friend slightly in the opposite direction, lifting his hand briefly towards Siwon. “Call us, okay?”, he insured himself and made his way down the street.

“Donghae wouldn't do something stupid, right?”, Jungsoo asked as soon as they were alone and his voice filled up with worries and sorrow. They all knew about Donghae's emotional nature and he often did anything without thinking. It wasn't like him to harm himself, but what if --- ?

“Bull.”, Heechul commented a little roughly and fastened his steps, ignoring the huge puddles on the wet street.
Only in his thoughts, he added a tiny, little 'At least I hope so'.

* * * * * * * * * *

Even if the way from the dorm to Siwon's apartment was quite short, Siwon felt like walking a hundreds miles on his way home. Usually, he used to take his car for the short way (not because he was lazy, but because he was able to avoid the fans that were in front of SuJu's dorm sometimes), but just today – today of all days!! - he had decided to go by foot.

“ing rain”, Siwon muttered silently, when he reached the huge high-rise he was living in. He was completely soaked by the heavy rain and not even his thick coat was able to repel the water anymore.

Siwon opened the entry door and took the elevator to the sixth floor. In contrast to his usual calm nature, he nervously tapped his fingers against his thigh while the elevator was moving horribly slowly upwards.

Siwon couldn't deny that he had been quite shocked about Hyukjae's confession today and it was hard for him to understand his motives. Of course, it was actually great if one of his friends had found the 'love of his life', the person he wants to marry and to start a family with, but... Hyukjae? And Ji-Eun?

A light wrinkle appeared on Siwon's forehead when he thought about them as a couple.
There had been some rumors during the last months – especially because of a quite personal photo that Ji-Eun had uploaded on her twitter account –, but Siwon had never supposed that they were having a serious relationship.

He didn't know much about his friends' private evenings in the dorm and due to Heechul, Hyukjae had often been out all night, but...

Siwon shook his head, when the elevator's doors swung open and he stepped into the dark hall.

Even if Hyukjae and Ji-Eun had been dating during the last months, it was definitely a too short period of time for getting married now, especially if you consider the third person that was concerned in this whole thing:

Donghae.

The other members had never known for sure what exactly was going on between Hyuk and Donghae, but they had often discussed about the close relationship they were having. All of them were quite sure that there was more than friendship between those two – Donghae's reaction confirmed their assumptions today...

Siwon went around the corner and searched in his pockets for his latchkey, when he noticed a human shape sitting in front of his apartment. First, he thought it was just another obtrusive fan, waiting for his idol to come home, but then Siwon saw the bright red shirt that Donghae wore on that day.

“Donghae!”, he said relieved and bridged the last meters between them with some quick steps.
Donghae lifted his glance when he heard his name.

“Never do that again, got it?!”, Siwon mumbled, but even if he truly wanted to sound reproachfully, his voice revealed the huge relief he was feeling right now. He pulled Donghae on his feet and directly into his strong arms, pressing him slightly against his chest and hugging him as tight as possible.

“Never to that again, okay?”, Siwon repeated scarcely audible and loosened the grip around his friend a little, before he looked into Donghae's face and eyed his friend full of concern. The sad expression on Donghae's face broke Siwon's heart in a million pieces.

“You're soaking wet”, Siwon said silently and eyed Donghae's all wet shirt that didn't safe him from the heavy rain at all, his stringy hair that was stuck on his forehead and the thick goosebumps on his bare arms. Due to Donghae's reddened eyes, Siwon was quite sure that not only raindrops were covering his pale cheeks right now.

“Come on, you need a shower...”, Siwon added softly and wrapped his arm around Donghae's shivering shoulders, while he opened the door and pulled Donghae into the warm apartment.

Without speaking a single word, Siwon led his friend into the huge bathroom, where he grabbed his bathrobe from the hook behind the door and pulled a fresh towel out of the small cupboard. He hung both fabrics over the tub's frame and turned around to Donghae again.

“Shower gel and shampoo are in the shower. Take your time, okay?”, Siwon said silently and gave Donghae a soft smile, placing a light kiss on Donghae's forehead.
"Just call me if you need anything", he added and over Donghae's wet hair, before he silently left the bathroom and shut the door behind his back.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Have you found him??”

Heechul's voice was still enormously worried, when he answered his call right after the second ring, and Siwon heard the pouring rain in the background.
Siwon went into his kitchen and grabbed the kettle from the highest shelf, filling it with water to cook some tea.

“He's alright, Heechul. “, Siwon mumbled soothingly and put the kettle on the stove. “He sat in front of my apartment when I arrived.”
He heard how Heechul passed the news on to Jungsoo, who sighted deeply and mumbled “Thank God...” in the background.
Siwon smiled a little.

“Shall we pick him up?”, Heechul asked after the brief exchange with Jungsoo, but Siwon shook his head.
“Maybe it's better if he sleeps on my couch today”, Siwon said silently and grabbed the kettle, when it started to pipe and thin steam was escaping through it's nozzle. “He is currently taking a shower... I'll ask him when he's ready and if he wants to go home, I'll bring him around.”

Siwon poured the boiled water into a teapot.
"Alright", Heechul said and the silent clangor of keys told Siwon, that his friends had arrived at the dorm again. "I'll call you tomorrow."

“Good night, Princess”, Siwon added before Heechul was able to hang up and he heard an annoyed sight due from his friend.
“Crackpot.”, Heechul muttered silently and ended the call, but Siwon had clearly heard the little smile in Heechul's words.

While the tea was steeping and Donghae was still in the bathroom, Siwon tried to find some comfortable clothes that might fit the smaller man. He grabbed a T-Shirt and some jogging pants that he had found in the very back corner of his wardrobe and placed them tidily with some briefs and socks on his bed.

“Donghae?”, Siwon asked silently through the closed bathroom door and knocked silently against the dark wood. “I've put some clothes on my bed, okay? Just take them on when you're done.”, he said and waited some seconds for an answer, but Donghae kept silent, while the water was still rushing out of the shower head.

It took Donghae another thirty minutes, until Siwon heard some silent barefoot steps in his hall, that were slowly coming up to the living room. Siwon averted his eyes from the random TV-show he was currently watching and smiled softly, when Donghae appeared in the door frame.

To Siwon's relief, Donghae looked a little better than before.
Donghae's hair was still wet and Siwon's clothes were a little too big, but his cheeks weren't that pale anymore and the soft smell of shower gel and shampoo surrounded him.

The only thing that disturbed this picture were the red circles around his eyes.

“Come here, Donghae”, Siwon mumbled silently and spread out his arm towards his friend, so that Donghae went up to the couch and sat down on the soft pillows right next to Siwon.
In a kind of childish way, Donghae grabbed the blanket from the couch's backrest and nestled himself up against Siwon, covering his body with the warm fabric.

Siwon smiled softly and wrapped his arm around Donghae's shoulders – of course without any romantic or nasty intention –, just to comfort his friend and tell him that he wasn't alone right now.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Siwon asked silently, but Donghae shook his head and buried his face in the soft blanket. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Siwon's broad chest, slowly relaxing in his friend's arms.

“Do you want to stay or shall I bring you home?”, Siwon mumbled, but it wasn't that helpful, that Donghae only shook his head again on this two-sided question.

“Dorm?”, Siwon queried silently, gaining another headshake.
“Stay here?”
A nodding.

Siwon smiled slightly and placed a soft kiss on Donghae's head.
"Chin up, Hae", he mumbled silently, before he turned his head towards the TV again.

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

Friendship is important, right? And it's the best way to glue a broken heart! (Poor Hae...)