Chapter 63

It has been a while since Sanghyuk was treated for his wounds but it still made Hongbin guilty whenever his eyes would catch the blood soaked bandages around his abdomen. Sanghyuk had comforted him once; he whispered to him through his cracked lips, "It's not your fault... I'm fine now." And Hongbin guessed that if he had not convinced him to sleep and rest, Sanghyuk would keep on reminding him that he was faultless. He also knew that even if he were to hear the same words for another hundred times, the guilt would still remain and only continue to grow. How could he possibly not blame himself? The girls wanted Hongbin and not him – if he had not realised his feelings and got into some on and off 'relationship' with him then perhaps Sanghyuk would not even be at the hospital in the first place. He chewed the inside of his cheek and continued to bounce his legs impatiently. But Hongbin did not regret any of it at all. Though there had been difficult times and some falling out in their friendship, he was glad that he and Sanghyuk were able to talk it out and comfortably move on. Hongbin did not regret confessing his feelings even if he got rejected. He had to. If he did not, he could only imagine the bigger mess that he could have befell him instead.

When he heard the loud clacking on the hospital floor, Hongbin whipped his head to see who had arrived. It certainly was not the doctor or the nurse so the only other person that he was expecting was none other than Sanghyuk's sister. She was in a state of shock the moment her eyes landed on the bed where Sanghyuk lied. She immediately collapsed on the chair that Hongbin had vacated and she clasped both of her hands around one of Sanghyuk's. "Why didn't you tell me, Sanghyuk? We already — I told you to... Why didn't you?" She asked against his knuckles.

Hongbin watched them from the side, noticing how Sanghyuk had stirred from his rest and was slowly blinking his eyes open to see his sister. He did not stand around there for long and looked for the doctor to explain Sanghyuk's condition to his sister, figuring that the doctor would be better in describing all of what Sanghyuk needs for the next couple of days in order to recover.

When Hongbin came back, Sanghyuk's doctor with him, his sister rose from her seat at once and thanked him for finding Sanghyuk and taking him to the hospital. Hongbin swallowed, hearing her words full of gratitude when all that he had been feeling the entire time was guilt and helplessness from being unable to be there for Sanghyuk before the incident even happened. He opened his mouth, prepared to argue against her, and also apologise, but her attention switched to the doctor right away. Hongbin closed his mouth and his gaze met Sanghyuk's. The latter seemed to be telling him something from the way his quivering lips moved, but Hongbin was never the expert for reading lips especially if it was Sanghyuk's – His gaze fell straight to his hand when he could feel Sanghyuk's fingertips brushing against his leg. He did not understand what it was that Sanghyuk wanted to do, but he tried to understand him anyway. Instinctively, thinking that that was what he wanted, Hongbin reached for his hand and only then did Sanghyuk seem to relax, his muscles no longer as stressed as it was just a minute ago.

It took a while before Hongbin realised what Sanghyuk was trying to do or say to him. Still, he did not release the latter's hand and only nodded his way. Sanghyuk did not want him to blame himself and apologise to his sister. From the moment that they met earlier this afternoon, he always reminded Hongbin that he should not take all the blame to himself, but it did little to lessen the thoughts that occupied his mind. Sanghyuk squeezed his hand, drawing Hongbin's attention back to him and there was a small smile on his bruised lips. Hongbin rubbed tiny circles with his thumb on the back of Sanghyuk's hand and he flashed him a brief smile in return. He was going to mouth some comforting words to him when Sanghyuk's sister abruptly turned to him, having just finished her conversation with the doctor,

"Hongbin –" she started, but her words fell short when her eyes landed on Hongbin and Sanghyuk's linked hands. She gawked at them for a little while and Hongbin almost ripped his hand away if it were not for Sanghyuk that held him back. "What... What happened? What is going on?" Sanghyuk's sister managed to ask, "You said that some girls from your school did this to him. Why would they go after him? Why was he being targeted!"

"Not his fault," Sanghyuk croaked almost immediately, his throat dry. "Sorry, noona..."

The entire time that the two siblings exchanged words, Hongbin hanged his head low. He did not know what to say, or rather, he was afraid of admitting that he was incompetent in protecting Sanghyuk that he ended up battered and now stuck on a hospital bed –

"Well?" Sanghyuk's sister's sharp tone of voice cut through his thoughts. But when she did not get an answer like she wanted from either one of them, she hissed, "Tell me their names and I'll have them sent to detention centres. I'm not having any excuses about this –" she pointed at her brother, "– not when you're lying there covered in cuts and bruises! And what's with your stomach!"

Hongbin momentarily released Sanghyuk's hand to draw his phone out from his pocket. Based from the latter's sister's reaction, he could tell that she recognised the phone in an instant. "I've recorded some of them and both Hyuk and I can identify who the perpetrators are. The police were here a while ago and we would have to go to the station at some point to discuss more about this – My top priority was getting Hyuk to the hospital and... and contacting you," Hongbin explained, listing his head.

Sanghyuk's sister snatched the phone away from him, ignored all the text messages that were just coming through, and sunk back down on the chair next to Sanghyuk's bed. She pressed the play button immediately and Hongbin could see how horrified she looked as the video progressed. He turned away, not wanting to remember the memory of what his schoolmates had done to Sanghyuk. However, the imagery was already engraved in his mind. It made him feel infuriated whenever he thought about it –

Hongbin snapped his head at Sanghyuk when he felt him pulling at his hand again. The latter was whispering to him, "Go home. Your mother..." And the realisation had hit Hongbin hard that he staggered back slightly. It was a good thing that Sanghyuk was sort of keeping him anchored otherwise he would have fallen back to the next hospital bed.

The thought of his mother had not even crossed his mind. Hongbin then started to dread what would happen as soon as he comes home, his uniform drenched in sweat and smudged with Sanghyuk's blood. His mother would be distressed and she would probably panic. Once she learns that Hongbin was unhurt and that he had stuck by Sanghyuk's side for hours in the hospital, he was certain that his mother would start going berserk and shout at him – He shook his head. It did not matter. Hongbin filled his thoughts with 'It doesn't matter. I needed to be by his side,' and then glanced at Sanghyuk who was now exchanging soft murmurs with his sister. Their hands were still laced together and Hongbin sort of felt embarrassed that his hands were starting to feel clammy. Nonetheless, he had not let go ever since he held Sanghyuk's hand again after passing his phone to his sister.

It was only a little later when both Sanghyuk and his sister turned to Hongbin and asked him to head home. It was already nearing 8 in the evening and he could only guess that Sanghyuk was worried about him and what his mother might think about his tardiness. "Go," Sanghyuk urged Hongbin on, shaking his hand weakly and smiling at him. "I'm fine... Visit me tomorrow. Ravi-hyung's uniform... In my bag. Go change." His sister then picked up his bag next from the bedside table and handed it over to Hongbin.

"Ah, no," Hongbin shook his head, taking a step back. "It's yours now, Hyukkie. You've probably worn that uniform more than Ravi ever had in just a week," he said, trying to liven up the mood even though it was short-lived. "Besides... I think... I think I need to speak to her about things, this, us – me. I know that I don't really owe her an explanation... I just think that I need to get it out, you know? Better to have her know than keep it all to myself, living every day with fear of her finding out about it and suddenly –" He at his lips, "Suddenly get mad at me or something."

Nodding her head, Sanghyuk's sister added, "I don't know what you two are talking about, but I, too, believe that it's best that you head home for now. Do you have a telephone number that we could contact you from shall we need you again?"

"Yes," Hongbin answered, facing her after exchanging looks of understanding with Sanghyuk, "It's in that phone that I returned. Hyuk also knows my number, just in case."

"Very well." Sanghyuk's sister lifted her hand up and presented it in front of Hongbin. The latter shook her hand and just as quickly withdrew when she pulled her hand back. "Again, thank you very much for today. But, even though I trust you enough, I think that after today's incident, we would have to hire a chauffeur for Sanghyuk who would strictly pick him up from school. I can't allow any of this to happen again." She clenched her jaw and glared at Sanghyuk whom she knew was going to protest, "Our parents would have done the same thing or have you be surrounded by a lot more security so don't even try. This is the best that I could offer – and I would have you signed up not only for self-defence classes but as well as Taekwondo or Judo – Still need to decide which one, but this is final. No buts."

Her words were absolute, but Sanghyuk still had the guts to mutter, "I got hit from the back... Even if I learned, I wouldn't have predicted an attack from behind..." But he quickly turned to Hongbin and shook his hand, tugging at it to draw his attention. "Hyung... Please go. I'm okay..."

To some degree, Hongbin did believe him. Sanghyuk was able to talk much better now than he did when he first saw him earlier. But he still wanted to linger for a little while, to watch over him and whisper words to him while he slept, hoping that once Sanghyuk wakes up, he would have the courage to say them out loud. Hongbin wanted to ask him what he meant earlier on or what it was that they were supposed to talk about... There were plenty of things – excuses – that came to his mind – anything just so he could stay. But no matter how good they are or how many Hongbin had come up with, he knew that both Sanghyuk and his sister would just continue to dismiss him.

Hongbin stared at Sanghyuk's face littered with bandages and sighed in defeat, "Okay... Rest well, Hyuk-ah. I'll try my best to come and visit you tomorrow. If my mother doesn't allow me, I'll sneak out – I just – I can't not see you, okay? Especially now that this – this happened..."

Sanghyuk snorted but nodded his head nonetheless. "I'll wait for you... But in case you really can't, I promise to visit you once I'm all healed up. I don't think it'll take long for me anyway! I'm strong~ So don't worry too much if you can't," he bragged on, earning a giggle from his sister and a snicker from Hongbin.

"Yeah," Hongbin said, two dimples appearing on each cheek when he finally smiled.

Wonsik wrote a couple of messages to his brother after he took notice of the time on their wall clock. It had been hours and Hongbin had still not returned. Before Hongbin's mother could even step foot in their room to ask ab