The room was quiet except for the constant ticks of the clock. The hour hand just reached seven some minutes ago when a nurse left after she finished checking Dana’s condition. Dana had come to consciousness an hour ago but she could only open her eyes for minutes before she went back to slumber and had not awaken since then. She was placed in a VIP room because it was the only room available after all other rooms were filled by injured victims from the bus accident that happened this morning. Teacher Jung was still here because she still couldn’t get in touch with Dana’s family. She had called her father repeatedly but the call always left unanswered. Lay and Jieun came after dinner because Jieun insisted that she needed to see Dana otherwise she wouldn’t stop worried about her and now both of them were sitting closely on the white crouch inside the room.

“Teach, are you still cannot reach her family?” Lay asked.

Teacher Jung sat beside him and nodded her head weakly. She had some tasks to be prepared for tomorrow classes and she needed to go home because she left her laptop there, but she couldn’t leave Dana alone without someone to watch her.

“I called her dad continuously, it was connected but he didn’t answer it. Maybe he was busy or the phone was left at home.”

“What about her other family?”

“I only have her dad’s number from the student database.”

“What about her address?”

“I have it, but it’s not like I can go to her house.”

“Why?”

“I can’t leave her alone.”

“But Jieun and I are here? You can go to her house while we watch over her. I can call my driver to drive you.”

Teacher Jung contemplated the idea. It was good actually, because even if there’ll be nobody at Dana’s home, she could go to her own home to take her laptop so that she could do her tasks in hospital.

“But is it okay for you to be here? You two still have school tomorrow.” Teacher Jung reminded them.

“It’s alright. We’ll go home after you come back.” Lay said.

After made sure that it was okay, finally Teacher Jung agreed to be accompanied by Changmin to go to Dana’s house and now the room was silent again. Jieun had not spoken much since the incident and Lay knew that mere words wouldn’t help. He knew that Jieun tend to find comfort in silence, and so he let her be. He just kept making sure that Jieun knew he was here.

“I’m sorry.” Jieun broke the silence.

Lay’s heart broke a little at her sudden apology. He wished Jieun would stop blaming herself for everything.

“You did nothing wrong, Jieun-ah.” He said softly, his hand reached out to hold Jieun’s.

“No, I’m sorry...for what I did back then.” She paused to look at him, “I’m sorry.”

Lay wanted nothing but to hug Jieun and never let her go. He wanted to protect her from all the things that could hurt his best friend. She had been through so much pain and it made him mad, the way life seems to not let her be happy for long enough, the way it always pull her back to the past after she fought so hard to forget them. It was unfair, but what is fair?

Lay said nothing and just tightened his hold of her hand. And when Jieun didn’t look away, finally he brought her into his embrace. He just didn’t have the heart to see the guilt and fear in her eyes. It’s too painful to see that despite knowing that she believes him, there’s still that little voice which haunting her with stupid assumtion that one day she would be left alone and there’d be nothing but herself to blame.

***

Kai knew very well how it feels to be left by people that he cared about. He was left not once, not by just one or two person. He had had enough of all those pain; he had had enough of his stupidity. And he had sworn not to care anymore. HHHe had built a tall wall to protect himself, putting Jongin behind it and let Kai keeps his distance from everyone with his cold mask. It worked, until he met Sehun and then Luhan who brought Tao along with him. They are idiots, they are stupid and annoying most of time and sometimes Kai wonders why they are friends, why he let them in to his life, why he let himself to care for them. But somehow they just did, they cracked his wall and made their way to his heart, and when Kai thought it would be just for a while, that they’d left after a while, in the end they stay and now Kai had given up denying that he wants them to stay, that although he couldn’t help but acting like an to them, he wished they’d not go away. It was dangerous, he knew it would break him into pieces if they leave, but now it was too late and he can’t imagine a life without them. But they are them; three people that he dared to call his best friends. The only three people that he allowed to know him more than the facade that is Kai. They are enough, there was no reason for Kai to care for any other people, no reason for him to let his wall down, yet right now he couldn’t wipe away a face of a certain someone from his mind.

He knew though, that it was not because he cared. It was because he had been in her shoes although not completely the same. He had been in that situation and he knew he had it worse, because at least Jieun was not even friend with Dana and Kai knew for sure that Jieun was not alone. Lay would stick by her side like an obedient puppy. Kai snickered in disgust at the imaginary picture.

“I need to sleep.” He muttered and closed his eyes.

***

The next day began with temptation to keep sleeping all day. Drizzle was falling from the grey morning sky, the calm sound and the familiar smell of wet soil lulling everyone to stay covered inside their warm blanket. The alarm got off and Kai groaned in distaste. Why couldn’t life spare him a free day? Going to school every day—trying his best to ignore the not-so-subtle stares that he gets from the girls in school was already a challenge itself, and now with the pouring water from the sky, he had added another reason why it’d be lovely to stay at his humble apartment, sleeping. But he was a scholarship student and he knew better than to do something that could put his status in danger.

After five minutes of unnecessary battle that he had known the result from the start, finally Kai got himself up and dragged his tired body to the bathroom. He wished hot water would help massaging his sore muscle. The cafe was so busy yesterday and just now he realized how torn out his body was. Another reason to go back to dream land but...

reality.

He swore inside his mind.

The shower did help to relax his muscle and now he was a little bit more refreshed. Kai had a quick breakfast and noted that his cereal box was almost empty, maybe he could stop by the minimarket near the bus stop after school ended.  

  Ringing bell suddenly echoed and he frowned. He could not think of someone or a reason behind a sudden visit at 7 in the morning and when he finally opened the door, he thought that he should have known better. In front of him, Luhan was waving his hand with big smile on his face, a sleepy looking Sehun beside him.

“Why are you here?” Kai asked.

“To pick you up of course.” Luhan chipped.

“Why?”

“Because I can.” He said as a matter of fact. “Hurry! We need to pick Zitao afterward!” Luhan urged him and when Kai didn’t move, he pushed the tanned boy and went in to get his bag before dragged him to the parking place in front of his apartment building. He saw Luhan’s mother behind the wheel of a black car and greeted her.

Tao was already waiting in front of his apartment building when they arrived to fetch him and immediately they continued the drive.

“So, why with the sudden carpool?” Kai asked because it seemed he was the only oblivious person in the car.

“My angel mom decided to drive her manly son and the peasants to school.” Luhan said, but when seconds passed and Kai kept looking not amused, he finally let out a sigh.

“Something happened last night. And I have some questions for you.” Luhan said solemnly and from his expression, Kai knew that it was a serious matter.

***

Last night

A black car stopped in front of a house and after checking the number with the address typed on her phone, Teacher Jung walked out, accompanied by Changmin. They walked to the gate and found out that it was not locked and after a shared gaze, they continued walking until they arrived in front of the main door.

Teacher Jung pressed the bell, once, twice, trice, but they got no response.

“Hello, is anybody home?” She tried to ask loudly.

The house looked quiet but maybe someone was asleep inside, she thought. Yet after some other tries and still no response, fina