Seungho was running. Past the kids playing, past the joggers with their dogs, past the moms with the baby strollers, past the old people and their fans. His eyes watered again, and all the people became blurs.

He didn’t know when he stopped, but now he was sitting on a bench. The sun beat down on his head and neck. He would have a sunburn soon if he kept sitting outside. Seungho wasn’t as mad that Minji liked Joon, but was hurt at Joon’s…betrayal.

True, Minji wasn’t Seungho’s, but Joon should’ve known not to…well…What he did was at his own discretion, and Seungho had no control over it.

Seungho sat. He watched the kids run past, the joggers shuffle past with their dogs, the moms walk past with their baby strollers, the old people strut past with their fans. His eyes watered again, and all the people became blurs.

Chundoong wiped his eyes on his sleeve as he walked back into the building. Only to see Minji and Joon walk in the back door, hand in hand. He in a deep breath, forced a cheerful expression, and waved enthusiastically to them. I should be happy for her.

They chatted for a bit, when Mir suddenly crashed into them.

“Hyung! Hyung! Have you seen Seungho Hyung?” Mir’s voice was filled with panic.

Chundoong shook his head slowly. “I haven’t seen him since this morning at dance practice…”

“He might be at the park,” Joon said. “Maybe he hasn’t left yet.”

“He hasn’t been answering his phone! Hyung!!” Mir cried. “We have to look for him!”

Joon forced a smile. “He can take care of himself. He’s the leader after all.”

They all pretended to accept that information. And then a big crash of thunder boomed outside, giving Chundoong a big jump.

They exchanged looks of worry and horror.

Minji quickly dialed his phone. G.O. came inside dripping and shaking some water out of his head, “Man. It just started pouring.”

This only worried the gang more. Joon filled G.O. in, and the group ran to the garage. Minji, Joon, and Chundoong piled in Joon’s car, while G.O. and Mir headed for G.O.’s car. They sped off to Pyongmaeng Park, despite the slick roads and pounding winds.

The car hadn’t even come to a complete stop when Minji jumped out, using her hands as a makeshift cover. Chundoong leaped out after her, wielding an umbrella. The top of the umbrella got caught in the wind, however, and Chundoong lagged behind while Minji ran off.

In a matter of minutes, they were all soaked to the bone. They had split up, with promises to call if anyone found Seungho or Minji.

Minji was running. The playing children had gone, the joggers gone, the moms gone, the old people gone. The rain poured and everything around her became blurs.

Minji was on the ground. She wasn’t sure how she got there, but one of the knees on her jeans was ripped and her knee was bleeding…

Then when she looked up, he was there.

“Seungho-ah!” she tried to call, but her voice got stuck in . Minji slowly got up on her hands and knees, then used a tree to support herself to standing. She quickly limped over and tapped his shoulder.

“Seungho-ah,” she said. “It’s raining. Let’s go.”

He looked up at her, grateful that the rain could hide his tears. He blinked once. Twice.

Minji reached down to grab his hand, but the moment she touched it, he pushed her away. Minji bit her lip, and tried again.

“Yah! What do you want?!”

Minji jumped back, surprised. “Seungho-ah,” she said softly. “What did I do wrong?”

“Aish. Just leave me alone.”

Minji nodded quietly and backed away. She picked a spot fifty meters away and sat down on the hard, wet cement sidewalk. She rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her sweatshirt was soaked, heavy, and cold, so Minji pushed her hood off, and let the rain drops splash on her hair.

Chundoong was running. He scanned the area nervously, the hand holding the umbrella shaking. Then he saw her. Rocking back and forth on the concrete. Then he saw him. Lying down on the ground.

He walked up to her and sat down.

“Are you okay? We gotta get out of this rain.”

“He…he doesn’t…” she whimpered.

“Huh?” Chundoong looked at her, curious.

“He doesn’t like me anymore,” she said, then jerked her head his direction.

Chundoong rubbed her back comfortingly, not knowing what to say. Then he patted her head, got up, and walked to his hyung.

He plopped down next to him, cheerfully saying, “Hyung! We gotta get out of this rain! It’s pouring! Waaaaaah. I’m cold, Hyung!”

Seungho glared at him. Chundoong shrunk back a little, then gathered up his ki and moved over, straddling Seungho’s stomach.

“Hyung! If you don’t agree to get up now, I’m just going to sit here!” He drummed on Seungho’s nonexistent abdominal muscles impatiently, then started affectionately bouncing up and down on Seungho’s tummy.

“Oof!” Seungho gasped. Then he threw Chundoong off him. “Get off me!”

Chundoong had never seen his hyung this upset before, so resolved to patting his hyung’s hand, before taking a seat next Minji again, joining in on her rocking.

Mir was running. And panting. Okay…now he’s just walking. Yeah. He really didn’t get out much…Which was why his tummy muscles are always…hiding. Anyways. Mir was pretty burned out. He took some deep breaths, then shuffled along with his hands on top of his head, recharging his stamina. Eventually, he spotted Minji and Chundoong-hyung in the middle of the road, rocking back and forth oddly. Then he saw Seungho-hyung laying on the grass with his hands over his eyes. That lazy bum, Mir thought. And the thinks I should be more active. Psh.

He ran up to them, puffing out, “What are you doing? It’s raining.”

“We’ve noticed, thank you very much, Mr. Smarty-Pants,” Chundoong said. “But Seungho-hyung doesn’t like us anymore.”

Mir grinned. “Watch and learn, hyung. You gotta use your charm. Oh wait. You don’t have any. Ha!”

He waltzed over to Seungho. “Hyung-g-g-g!” he whined. “I’m hungryyy, can you buy me some food?”

Seungho groaned and rolled onto his stomach.

Mir wasn’t fazed. He jumped down next to Seungho, and wiggled his face into Seungho’s hair.

“Hyung! If you don’t buy me food, I guess I’ll have to eat your hair. Nyam. Nyam. Nyam.”

Seungho tried pushing Mir away again, but Mir managed to drag Seungho up to a sitting position.

Mir gasped in horror. His hyung looked…bad.

Seungho’s skin was a sickly pale, his eyes squeezed shut, his mouth drawn tight. Not to mention his dark circles. His bags had bags. Mir recognized the signs. Their leader-hyung got sick easily, and being in the rain for around thirty minutes was an illness waiting to happen.

He patted Seungho’s cheeks lightly, and took a seat next to him.

G.O. and Joon finally made it to the group.

“Yah!” G.O. roared. “Don’t just sit there! It’s raining!”

Joon tugged on Minji’s hand. She looked up at him blankly, and reluctantly got up. Chundoong followed suit. Mir heard G.O.’s shouting, and replied, “Hyung! Help! Seungho-Hyung is sick!”

G.O. immediately complied, swiftly walking to Seungho’s side, helping him stand up. G.O. supported one of Seungho’s arms, then motioned for Joon to help. Joon gave Minji’s hand a squeeze and made his way over to grab Seungho’s other arm. They started making their way to the car. Chundoong quickly caught up and shielded Seungho’s head with his umbrella.

Minji watched them start to leave, but suddenly felt weak at the knees. She sat back down, burying her face in her hands. Mir bent down, gently pushed her hands away, and pressed his palm on her forehead.

She was burning.

Mir gasped at the heat, then reported, “Noona! You have a fever!”

She smiled weakly, “I’m fine. Let’s go.” But as soon as she tried standing up, pain pierced her head and she dropped back down. Mir got on his knees. “Here, Noona! I’ll carry you back.”

Minji stared, hesitant. Mir nodded at her, so she slowly got on his back.

“One, two, three!” Mir puffed. She was surprisingly light, but heavy enough that Mir was out of breath once again after around three minutes. Mir turned his head back to look at her, only to find that she had fallen asleep, head resting on his shoulder.

Wow. Her face was really close to his. And Mir could count her eyelashes. Mir gulped. Her really long eyelashes. Her cheeks were rosy, and she crinkled her forehead slightly. Her arm brushed his cheek, and Mir bit his lip.

He set off with a new burst of determination. Minji may be asleep, but he’ll show her that he’s a man like his hyungs!

G.O. was helping Seungho into the car when he spotted Mir huffing along the pathway, MInji in tow. He snickered at Mir’s attempts to requite his puppy-love. What was so special about Minji that all the guys liked? G.O. tsked and proceeded to close the car door after Seungho had settled in.

Chundoong supported Minji off Mir’s back, and she stirred awake.

“Oh! Mireu…thank you! Did you carry me all the way here? Wow. I must have fallen sleep…” she drifted off, and winced.

“Minji-ah,” Chundoong said softly. “Does your head hurt?”

She nodded, and Chundoong led her to the other side of the car.

As Minji sat down, she turned to Seungho, about to ask if he was okay, but instead, Seungho shifted away from her and turned to look out the window. Minji saw the frown on his face, so decided to keep to herself.

Joon took the driver’s seat and Mir in the passenger’s. G.O. and Chundoong took the other car.

They quickly took the sickly up to the Mblaq dorm. Joon set Minji carefully on the couch, while Mir ran to grab his blanket and pillow for Minji to use. Seungho silently shut himself in his room.

“Hey,” G.O. gathered the guys. “We’ve got to go. We’re supposed to be at Sukira right now.”

Joon looked up from checking Minji’s temperature. Chundoong stopped making tea. Mir stuck his head out of the bedroom door.

“Crap,” Joon muttered. “Let’s go then.”

The three reluctantly followed G.O. out to the car again.

“They’ll be okay, won’t they?” Mir worriedly said. “I mean, it won’t be too bad for Minji to be in our dorm with Seungho-hyung, right? He’ll take care of her, RIGHT?”

Joon patted the magnae’s hand. “Of course,” he said, trying to convince both Mir and himself.

Seungho heard the guys leave again, and peeked out his bedroom door. Minji was laying neatly on the couch, covered with Mir’s Pororo blanket, head sunk into Mir’s sushi pillow. He his lips nervously.

He crept out of his room and made his way to the couch. He knelt next to her, counting her breaths. He brushed a stray hair out of her eyes, and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.

Then he noticed her knee poking out of the blanket. He was about to cover it when he saw that it was bleeding. the blood was coagulating at the sides of the scrape, so Seungho fought the pounding in his head and went to retrieve a first aid kit. He took out some Neosporin and rubbed it gently on the cut. Minji winced in her sleep from the sting, but didn't wake. Seungho found a band aid to fit the cut, and lightly stuck it on. Satisfied with his work, he quickly checked her for other cuts. Finding none, he replaced the first aid kit.

He sighed, taking one last, longing look before going back into his bedroom again. Seungho crashed on his bed, and fell into an anxious sleep.