C h a p t e r  1 8

Eunhyuk paced up and down the hallway but was always careful to not get too far away from the door of Donghae's room. He was alone because Mrs. Lee had been allowed to visit her son some time ago; the doctors had said that they had Donghae to get used to the people around him slowly because they didn’t want to stress him. Mrs. Lee had been a crying mess and so it had been totally okay with him to let her go first even though there was nothing he wanted more than seeing the other.

But he was also afraid. Nobody knew how Donghae would react to him and that simply scared him. He hoped that now everything would get better, that they had the chance to make a fresh start. Eunhyuk had had enough time to let hundreds of scenarios play in his head and in that moment he just hoped that only the best of them would come true – and all of them included the younger to be healthy after waking up.

He stopped dead as the door of Donghae's room opened once more and the same young doctor appeared who had allowed Mrs. Lee in about an hour ago. Eunhyuk immediately rushed to him, his eyes big and pleading and it took a load off his mind to see the soft smile and nodding of the other. The doctor shut the door behind him but still had one hand on the handle as he faced the raven head.

"Is he alright?" Eunhyuk blurted out; he wanted to hear it with his own ears to finally make the worries stop that had haunted him this whole time. The doctor nodded again but there was still this serious expression shown on his face.

"You can see him now but I have to warn you first", he said and paused for a moment like he had to collect his thoughts. "Lee-ssi is still in the process of waking up so please do not expect him to be all here when you see him. It's possible that he won't recognize you at first but that doesn’t mean that his brain is damaged; we still have to do a few tests to be sure about that later. Also please notice that he won't be able to talk for the next days because of the tubes that have been in his throat and the injuries they have left. But he's able to react, we've checked that already."

Eunhyuk nodded quickly. "Yes, I understand."

The doctor pressed down the handle but didn’t open the door yet. "Keep your voice low and please remember one last thing: don’t stress him. He needs to stay calm."

He nodded once more and the doctor finally pushed the door open. Eunhyuk slowly entered the room with goose bumps covering his skin and took a few steps until he could see Donghae and his mother; he immediately stopped as he did so.    
At a first glance Donghae didn’t look much different to what Eunhyuk was used to by now but to him it was completely different. The brunet still seemed to be sleeping but there weren’t as much machines standing around his bed anymore and there was only a small tube under his nose left to provide him with oxygen. A lot of the sounds were gone too but the beeping was still there; it managed to calm him down this time as well.

Mrs. Lee looked up from her sons face and smiled at him, gesturing him to come closer while clutching Donghae's hand with both of her own. Eunhyuk listened and hesitantly approached the bed to sit down on the chair standing across from her; he slowly reached out for the younger's hand that finally felt a bit warmer. Very carefully he took it in his like it was made of porcelain and could break when he wouldn't watch out. His eyes travelled to Donghae's face; the brunet had his eyes closed and his head was tilted a bit to his mother's side. Seeing him this close, it didn’t look like he was sleeping anymore; the soft frown on his face was something Eunhyuk first had to get used to.

"Donghae", Mrs. Lee called out softly, the smile still on her lips. "Look who's here. Look who's sitting on the other side."

The frown on Donghae's face deepened and Eunhyuk's heart started racing. He could feel soft pressure on his hand and squeezed the other's back slightly while a soft smile tugged on his lips. Donghae turned his head to his side very slowly but kept his eyes closed; Eunhyuk felt his own eyes welling up with tears of joy.

"Hey Donghae", he said just above a whisper and the soft smile on his lips extended to bright grin as he heard the beeping sped up, indicating that the younger recognized his voice. Donghae squeezed his hand once more and even held on to it slightly as the frown on his face deepened more. A soft moan left his lips and Eunhyuk let his thumbs brush tenderly over the youngers skin, feeling his hand jerking slightly again.

And then Donghae opened his eyes.

It was only a tiny crack at first and he had to blink a couple of times but as Donghae's eyes were eventually open, Eunhyuk felt the first tear running down his cheek. Those beautiful brown eyes – he had wished so many times to see them again.

"Hey", he whispered with the smile still on his lips and held the other's hand tighter. "How are you feeling?"

Donghae blinked and this was the only reaction he gave him. He kept staring at Eunhyuk and let his eyes travel over every single one of his features but Eunhyuk didn’t mind – he was doing the same thing after all.

"You're feeling better, right Donghae?" Mrs. Lee said without getting the brunet's attention. "I think he's still tired even though he has slept for six days. But that's my son; he would miss his whole life by oversleeping if you would let him."

She laughed and Eunhyuk nodded quickly as he darted a glance at her before looking back at Donghae. The younger opened his mouth and started whispering something but it was way too low to let anyone understand his words.

"Sssh… you don’t have to say anything", Eunhyuk murmured. "It's alright."

He saw how Donghae swallowed and how he shook his head slightly; the grip on his hand tightened. The brunet opened his mouth again and started whispering once more but even though Eunhyuk leaned in in the try to hear him better he couldn’t understand him. Even his lip-reading attempts weren’t successful.

"Just wait a bit until your throat gets better, okay?" Eunhyuk whispered with an encouraging smile. "You can tell me everything later, just try to relax a bit now."

The younger kept staring at him for a moment before he blinked and his eyes fluttered shut again. Both of his visitors watched every single of his movements and so they noticed how the frown returned to his face; Eunhyuk felt him squeezing his hand tightly this time but the smile on his face disappeared as soon as he saw the single tear escaping Donghae's closed eyes.

"Omo, please don’t cry!" Mrs. Lee said alarmed and reached her hand out to caress Donghae's face; he turned his head more towards her again as he felt her touches. "Everything's fine, you don’t have to worry. There was a press conference some days ago and Hyukjae explained everything; they know the truth now and-"

"Umma!" Eunhyuk cried out in shock and Mrs. Lee immediately covered with a gasp.

"I'm sorry!"

Donghae opened his eyes and turned his head to look back at Eunhyuk; there was this look in them that shattered the latter's heart into a million pieces. It was full of different expressions but the ones outstanding were also the ones that hurt him the most: disbelief, shock – and panic. He heard the shaky breath the younger let out and a loud single beep from somewhere; the raven head's eyes darted towards the monitor showing Donghae's heart rate. He knew its normal pace, how the lines had looked like until just a moment ago and it only took him a second to notice that what he saw now wasn’t good at all.

"Don’t think about that, Donghae", Eunhyuk quickly said, in an attempt to calm him down. "Everything's fine, okay? Everything's fine."

Too late.

The younger's heavy breathing sped up in unison with his heartbeat and within seconds both of it was fast enough to make the machines around him go crazy; the loud and angry beeping filled the room and even though his mother begged him to calm down there was no chance. More tears ran down Donghae's face and he let go of Eunhyuk's hand, turned away from him and would've ripped the oxygen tube off if his mother wouldn’t have grabbed his hand in time.

"Please, Donghae!" his mother begged. "You have to calm down, that's not good for you!"

A loud sob left the brunet's mouth, closely followed by a whimper. He couldn’t really move that much but he tried all he could to get away from Eunhyuk, turned his body slightly towards his moth