C h a p t e r  2 2

There happened a lot of good things during the time after Donghae's birthday.

The brunet was feeling better, yet he had to learn how to laugh again, but everybody knew that he had the best teachers imaginable to do that. It still took some time, though. Seeing him smile or hearing his laughter was still something rather rare, even though they all gave their best.

Eunhyuk had moved back to the dorm and just like Kyuhyun had predicted it, there was no staff from SM visiting them yet. He wasn’t sure if they just let them be or if they ignored them, but he always tried to not think too much about it. The only thing positive he had heard about his company was that they apparently hadn't fired Junghoon; he was still their manager and he was the only one present in the dorm from time to time, but doing this as a private person.

Zhou Mi and Henry had also moved to the dorm until they knew what was going to happen next; the elder living in Sungmin's currently free room and Henry occupying Eunhyuk's room because the raven head and Donghae would share the latter's after his discharge from the hospital.

Not knowing about their future was something that always made the mood drop when they all were home in the evenings after the visiting hours had ended. There was no one that would actually admit it, but being positive all day and laughing like there was nothing that worried them was pretty exhausting. And even though they had no schedules during all that time, they were tired like they had been working hard the whole day and sometimes fell asleep on the couch before reaching their bedrooms. They put all their energy in preparing Donghae to leave the hospital without being too scared and their work wasn’t for nothing. But yet it didn’t make the brunet's worries turn to dust.

As the day of his discharge came closer, Donghae became more and more nervous. His therapy still went well but he couldn’t hide the tense trembling of his legs and how he unconsciously started playing with his fingers, scratching his skin sometimes until someone made him stop. He would laugh it off when they asked him but it was obvious that they couldn’t convince him that he didn’t have to worry. And the longer he waited, the more nervous he became.

So as the day of the discharge was finally there, Donghae was prepared but far away from being relaxed about it. He sat on his bed, biting his lips and looking like a picture of misery even though he tried the best he could to hide it.

"Are you ready?"

Donghae raised his gaze to look at Eunhyuk who was standing in front of him, wearing a soft smile on his lips. The brunet returned it hesitantly and nodded his head before standing up; Eunhyuk grabbed the other's bag standing on the bed and put it over his shoulder. They left the room and thanked the nurses outside for their hard work, bowed to Dr. Yoon and Mrs. Jung who wished them all the best even though they would keep seeing each other every day.              
Outside the ward they were welcomed by Junghoon who had a crooked smile on his lips as he patted their backs.

"Brace yourselves", he said as they entered the lift together. "I don’t know how, but the media got scent of your discharge, Donghae. There are some paparazzi outside, so don’t be surprised."

Eunhyuk hummed while Donghae only shortly nodded his head. The younger seemed to become more nervous with each passing second, but that was no wonder. The elder fixed the hat on the other's head with a smile and pulled it down a bit more so his face was hidden better. He saw the corners of Donghae's mouth twitch for a second as he did the same with his own hat; they both didn’t want their faces to be exposed on the cover of some third-class magazine the next day.

Leaving the lift and turning around the corner, Eunhyuk came to an abrupt stand as he saw the people waiting outside through the glass doors of the hospital; he was again reminded of how Junghoon liked to understate things. 'Some paparazzi' turned out to be a huge crowd of fans and most likely even more journalists that made it impossible to see anything else except for faces and cameras. He didn’t even want to think about how they were all waiting for them, looking like starved hyenas waiting for their prey.

"Oh", Junghoon just said, mildly impressed. "Seems like there are a few more now."

"Few, huh?" Eunhyuk mumbled dumbfounded while trying his best to keep a straight face. Junghoon shrugged.

"No worries. I'll be going first, just follow me and don’t stop walking. The car isn’t far away."

The raven head hummed and took a step before he stopped and turned around, looking at his boyfriend. Donghae stood a few meters away; his body seemed tiny suddenly and his eyes were filled with nothing but fear. The younger's body was trembling badly, Eunhyuk could even see it from afar and he knew that there was nothing Donghae would rather do than turning around and hide from what was waiting for them forever.

A soft smile tugged on Eunhyuk's lips despite him also being so nervous and he couldn’t tell where it came from. But as he reached his hand out for the other, he had in mind that this was the moment where their new life would start – and he wanted to show him that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Donghae", he called out softly and almost wanted to call for him again because it took so long until the brunet was able to tear his eyes away from the crowd. Eunhyuk lifted his hand a bit more, still smiling as he saw the insecure look in the other's eyes. They darted to look at the crowd again before they stared at Eunhyuk's hand for a good couple of seconds.

"Let's go", the elder said quietly and Donghae bit his lip while lowering his head. The smile on Eunhyuk's lips faded as he saw the other bringing up his hand to wipe off what he expected to be tears and as the younger's shoulders started shaking with a silent sob, he was quick to walk over to him. He carefully grabbed Donghae's hand and pulled it away from his face, interlacing their fingers.

"Hey", he said softly, his thumb brushing away the silent tears Donghae was crying. "It's okay. We've done this thousands of times, they'll just take some pictures on our way to the car. They'll most likely yell something too, but that's what they always do; please try to ignore it."

Donghae nodded but another sob broke out of him, indicating that Eunhyuk's words weren’t convincing enough. So he pulled the younger closer, wrapped one arm around him and felt the other's hand gripping the fabric of his jacket tightly. "It's okay to be afraid", Eunhyuk whispered. "And it's also okay to cry. This doesn’t make you weak. If you want to, we can wait here for a bit."

The brunet shook his head a bit hesitantly and his voice was quavering as he spoke. "No, I… I want to go home."

Eunhyuk smiled. "Alright. Then let me take you there", he whispered and quickly pecked his temple. With his hand still holding the other's tightly, Eunhyuk turned around, gave the worried looking Junghoon a short nod and pulled Donghae along as he followed the elder. His thumb kept caressing the back of the brunet's hand as Donghae's fingers dug into his skin, clinging to him like he was the only thing that could give him support right now. The brunet's other hand found Junghoon's back and fisted his coat while staying as close to him as possible.

The doors opened and they were welcomed by loud yells, shouts and the never ending clicking of countless cameras. Microphones were shoved in their direction as they kept their heads low and looked at the ground, always careful to follow Junghoon who made his way throw the crowd as fast as he could. Bright flashlights were blending them and they were showered with questions from every direction, got called by their names every few seconds and Eunhyuk even had to shove some cameras out of his face as they came too close.  
That the biggest part of the media kind of supported them didn’t mean that they would stop what they had always done, that was something Eunhyuk just realized. It was still like it had been before: a good picture was worth a lot of money at the moment – and everybody wanted to be the first to take it.

Junghoon had been right, the van wasn’t parked far away – but it took them forever to get there. The yells only became louder and with each step Donghae's grip around Eunhyuk's hand became more painful.           
As they finally reached the van, Junghoon was quick to open the doors; with one hand on Donghae's back he gently pushed the brunet inside and Eunhyuk was pulled along. The door fell shut and the voices were muffled for a moment as