Fay turned another page of her book. She leaned comfortably into the thick pillows her friends had managed to get from the nurses. She was eternally grateful to them. Those strict nurses weren’t easy to persuade. Fay had barely gotten permission to sit up straight. She was only allowed after the doctor had checked her over. Even now the door was always open and they checked in on her regularly. That knock on her head hadn’t been a light one. Fay didn’t mind, she quite liked hearing other people around her. She readjusted her arm a little to ease her aching side with the nasty bruises and sighed in relief. Better, much better. She’d already healed a lot. It was still difficult to concentrate for a long time and she was quickly tired out, but her headaches were far less than before. So every now and then she risked a chapter or two in her book.

She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn’t notice how the usual hustle and bustle outside her room suddenly turned in commotion. It wasn’t until she heard someone knock on her open door that she looked up. Her jaw dropped. One by one they filed into her room: SuJu... If Fay had been hooked to a heart monitor, the machine would have gone berserk by now. She rubbed her neck absentmindedly, wondering if this was a hallucination and worried that her injury was acting up in new ways.

The first one into the room was Siwon. His smile was nearly blinding her. Boy, did this hallucination look real. Next was Heechul who was gently prodded by Ryeowook to go further into the room. The eldest looked a little sullen, but greeted Fay with a soft nod. Fay almost greeted back, but quickly stopped herself when she felt a sharp throb at the back of her head. Eunhyuk and Donghae slipped into the room and immediately plunked down by the side of her bed. Yesung shuffled inside behind Leeteuk who warmly smiled at her.

“Sorry to barge in like this. We decided to stop by before we head out to the airport.”

She nodded in a daze. Even though she already met them once before, this was still overwhelming. Kangin lifted his hand shyly in greeting and moved over to the other side of the room to make space for the others. He noticed Heechuls somber look and huffed.

“Hyung, will you please stop looking as if someone is about to die?”

“In this place someone always does.”

Kangin nudged him in his side, but Heechul only glared at him.

“Sorry,” Leeteuk apologized again, “Heechul doesn’t really like hospitals.”

“Who does?” Fay smiled.

She congratulated herself in her mind for being able to answer without fumbling her words. The last three filed into the room and Fay heard the soft click of the door closing. Sungmin waved cheerfully. Shindong and Kyuhyun smiled at her before looking for a place to sit in the now very cramped room.

“How are you feeling?” Ryeowook asked.

“Better.”

She was completely touched they had come to visit her, asking her how she was.

“Just a few headaches every now and then.”

“You still don’t remember anything?”

She looked a little puzzled at Eunhyuk. How did he know that? He smiled his gummy smile at her. It almost took her breath away. They were trying to kill her, weren’t they?

“Your friends told us.”

Ah, that certainly explained things. She nodded slowly.

“Yeah, still blank.”

“So what‘s the last thing you do remember? Did you lose the entire day or just flashes of things?” Kangin asked fascinated.

“I still remember the concert. The meet and greet.”

She spoke slowly while she tried to force her brain to think back.

“I remember the girls trying to convince me to go out for a drink. And getting lost in the city. But that’s where it kind of ends.”

“You don’t remember coming back to the Dome?” Sungmin asked.

They were all intrigued now and listened to her intently. Even Heechul leaned forward.

“No, it’s just blank after that.”

“Like, nothing? Not even…”

Kyuhyun stopped in the middle of his question, suddenly turning pale when the memories came back.

“Maybe it’s better not to remember,” Yesung muttered, while he squeezed Kyuhyuns arm lightly.

“I don’t know if it’s better,” Fay answered. “It’s just really confusing.”

“I can imagine it is,” Siwon nodded.

“Yeah, there’s a hole in my head and I can’t remember how I got it.”

She frowned a little.

“And the police told me what happened, that I fought them and I do have the bruises and all to prove it… I just don’t remember. I got lost and then I woke up in the hospital.”

“That must feel so weird,” Leeteuk mumbled.

“You tried to help,” Shindong suddenly said. “You fought when we couldn’t even move. You even managed to get away. You would have been safe if you hadn’t stopped running.”

Everyone was deadly quiet. They’d heard the general explanation. But the four members never explained anything more. And the others never pushed for more. They were too afraid to open their wounds.

“They were going to kill us, so you stopped running. You tried to save our life.”

“I did?”

“You did,” answered Eunhyuk softly.

Donghae grabbed him in a close hug. Holding him like he was never going to let go anymore. Eunhyuk leaned into the warm embrace and fought the oncoming tears.

“If your friends hadn’t called you… If you hadn’t told them…” Kyuhyun choked out. “We really would have…”

Leeteuk shot up from his chair and quickly pulled the maknae to him. Everything turned into a mess. Kangin kept rubbing his eyes angrily. Ryeowook was already crying, burying his face in Siwons chest. Sungmin was frantically searching his pockets for tissues, while squeezing Yesungs shoulder to comfort him and stop his tears. Heechul looked completely lost, feeling everyone’s pain and not knowing what to do about it. Fay didn’t really know why, but she leaned to Shindong and gently grabbed his hand. Out of all the members he seemed to be the calmest. But as soon as she held his hand, he started to shake all over his body.

“I’ve never been so afraid in my whole life,” he tried to explain, with a look of complete panic in his eyes.

Fay nodded. She ignored the dull throbbing in her head from the movement and focused all her attention on the hurting members.

“You must have gone through hell. I’m sorry I can’t remember anything. I wish I could help you more.”

She let them cry and they all listened when parts of the story were finally coming out. It took a great while before they all calmed down. They looked completely drained, but a little relieved as well. Afterwards there was a comfortable silence no one wanted to break. So they stayed like that until the nurse came in on her evening shift. Fay gladly took her medication. She’d tried to ignore her splitting headache for as long as she could, but she’d passed her limit a good hour ago.

“We need to get going soon,” Leeteuk spoke quietly.

“You were on your way to the airport right? Thank you for taking the time to visit me,” Fay said.

“Why wouldn’t we come? We almost lost an important fan. We were worried.”

“Especially one of Kyuhyuns. He can’t afford to lose any.”

Siwon quickly winked at her to show he didn’t really mean it and turned an evil smile on Kyuhyun. The maknae was seething.

“You…!”

Siwon continued to and Fay bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh. They were certainly coming back to life. She looked on in wonder. If this was Siwons true nature, he sure knew how to hide it from the world.

“He’s not always like that,” said Sungmin, as if he’d been reading her mind. “Just to Kyuhyun.”

“He makes it too easy.”

Siwon chuckled as he pulled away Kyuhyuns arm, who was currently trying out a chokehold on him.

“Behave,” Ryeowook chided gently. “We’re in a hospital.”

Kyuhyun plunked down on his seat again and refused to look at Siwon. Fay felt a little tug on her heart looking at him pout. So dangerous. She could seriously fall for this guy.

“Did your friends tell you about our thank you-gift yet?” Yesung asked.

“Thank you-gift?”

He nodded.

“We got you guy’s lifelong vip-passes for our concerts.”

Fay felt her jaw drop.

“You what? But… That’s…”

She shut to stop her stuttering, took a breath and tried to continue calmly. Very hard to do since her inner fangirl was squealing at the thought of being able to see all their concerts: in VIP no less!

“You really don’t have to do that,” she uttered weakly.

If her friends could hear her now, they would kick her .

“Off course we do. You saved us.”

“I really don’t think I did that much.”

“How would you know? You can’t remember anything, can you?” Kyuhyun smirked.

She sent him a silent glare, but soon softened.

“I… Thank you.”

“We know it’s not much,” Eunhyuk said quietly.

Fay stared at him in disbelief.

“You do realize,” she asked, “that the only reason I’m not tearing through this hospital, screaming and jumping, scaring the out of all the other patients, is because of the medication?”

She looked at them all, smiling.

“Thank you. I really love it.”

“Good. Because your friends certainly seemed to like it and they’re already harassing our manager for our next concert dates.”

Fay bit her lip, trying hard not to laugh as she could just picture the girls cornering SuJu’s manager. Poor guy. Leeteuk checked his watch and decided it was enough.

“Time, guys. We have a plane to catch.”

In moments the entire room was in chaos again. Cheerful goodbye’s were giving while they all made their way out. Kyuhyun hesitated a moment at the door. Donghae noticed and tried to hide his grin. He nodded at him and Kyuhyun leaned around the corner. Fay looked up curiously.

“I’ll see you at the next concert then?”

“Me and my camera,” she nodded happily.

He smiled a dazzling smile and Fay’s mind drew completely blank. Unfortunately it showed. With some newfound courage, he came closer and leaned against the bed.

“Do you have your cellphone here?”

She blinked surprised and gestured at the closet.

“I’ll put in my number, so call when you come to see us.”

Fay stared at him. Now she was sure this was all just a hallucination. No way was this happening for real. Her idol was typing in his number in her cellphone and checking to see if it worked.

“You’ll call then?” he asked.

Fay had trouble processing everything, but managed to nod. He chuckled at her stunned face and turned around to leave the room. His smile died out quickly when a burst of laughter came from the hallway.

“Omo, our little maknae did well!” Heechul cried out.

“You people! Quit spying on me!”

“But it’s fun.”

“Ryeowook, not you too,” Kyuhyun groaned.

He glanced at Fay, completely embarrassed by his fellow members and felt a little tug in his chest when he noticed her adorable blush. He smiled in apology. She lifted her hand to show it was okay. Even though the blush didn’t disappear.

“Come on, Kyu. Time to go,” Leeteuk called.

“Stop flirting already,” Siwon added.

Another burst of laughter and Kyuhyun glared at the open door. He was just about to leave when Fay called out to him.

“Kyuhyun?”

“Yes?”

“Tell Siwon if he keeps teasing like that, I’m erasing all of his pictures.”

The look on Siwons face was worth it all. Kyuhyun was laughing all the way to the airport.