Wiping the sweat from his forehead for what seemed like the hundredth time, Dongwoon let himself slide down the practice room walls, still breathing heavily from seemingly endless practice.  He dropped his head between his knees, closing his eyes.  Practice was never this strenuous when there were six of us. Lately everything is just seeming a little more impossible.  

Interrupting his thoughts, all of a sudden Dongwoon feels someone else slide down against the cool mirrored wall beside him.  Looking up, he sees an equally exhausted Yoseob, huffing out a tired breath before dropping his head down, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's more difficult than I thought it'd be." is all he says.

His simple statement is made obvious as Dongwoon looks at Doojoon, Junhyun, and Kikwang practically passed out on the other side of the room.  In a way, if he weren't so tired and so completely spent it would have almost seemed comedic, the way the members looked as if they were melting, like something out of a surrealist painting.  

"Yeah, it's like learning the choreography for the first time all over again." This was a lie, however, as it was infinitely more difficult. It was like having to unlearn and relearn all of the choreography they had ever done, adjusting to a formation of five rather than six. "But the show must go on, I suppose. Just imagine how disappointed Hyunseung-hyung would feel if he heard we wimped out of doing the tour just because we got tired."

The only response Dongwoon gets is some sort of noncommittal grunt he assumed was meant as a way of saying Of course you're right Dongwoon and after that the practice room falls silent.

After nearly five minuted of near silence, the only sound being the labored breathing of the members still catching their breath, Kikwang suddenlt looks up.  "Well, if we're too tired to keep practising, why don't we go visit Hyunseung-hyung?  It's been ages since I've gone to see him, and I know we've all been too busy to really keep in touch like we should.  Then after we can come back to finish pracitising."

The atmosphere in the room goes from merely quiet to heavy and uncomfortable, and leave it to Kikwang to so unwittingly point out the fact that all of Hyunseung's so called 'friends' had neglected to so much as call him for the past month in their desperate scramble to salvage this mess of a tour.  An all-too-familiar wave of guilt crashes over Dongwoon as he can't actually even recall the last time he'd tried to get in touch with Hyunseung in any way at all, let alone actually visiting him.  

When a painful minute of silence goes by, he eventually sighs before reluctantly agreeing.

"That sounds good to me, hyung."

And just like that, the rest of the members come back to life, if only slightly.

"We can all go back to the dorms to shower and get lunch and then head up together after that" said Junhyun.

Yoseob was next to speak up. "Why don't we get changed and then after that we can eat lunch with Hyunseung? I bet it's been ages since Hyunseung had any real food."

A that suggestion, everyone started vaguely nodding and agreeing, finally rousing themselves enough to get up and moving in the general direction of the car.  Dongwoon trailed behind with an unmistakeable lump in his throat at the sickeningly depserate way the members faked enthusiasm at visiting their friend.

Halfway back to the dorms, the silence was again broken, this time by Doojoon, who until this point had been endlessly staring at his phone, seemingly typing one long text message before erasing it completely and starting over again.  In the end he erased the message and shut off the phone, looking up at the rest of s.

"If we're taking a break from practising for a while, I might actually have to go and talk to Manager about a couple of details about the tour.  Make sure you tall Hyunseung I said, you know, hi and all that." he paused. "And let him know I'll be stopping by soon to visit him, alright?"

No one said anything at this, except Kikwang, who frowned a bit before nodding and turning his head to look out the window as the car neared the dorms.

Eventually, after much bickering about who showers first, the members, sans Doojoon, leave en route to Hyunseung.  

Remembering the original plan of eating lunch with Hyunseung, Dongwoon says "We forgot to bring food with us, should we stop somewhere on the way?"

Junhyung is quick to reply, "We can just stop by Hyunseung first since we're almost there and that way we can ask him what he wants anyway."  

"Look at you, always with a plan." Yoseob says. "I guess that'll have to do anyway since we're here now."

They pull up to the hospital.

Walking through the doors into the blindingly white waiting area, the four friends quickly walk up to the desk and sign in. The first time they ever came here, Dongwoon remembered the way so many of the nurses would stand there gawking at the members as they navigated the maze-like wings of the hospital. By now, though, the members were all but ignored as the staff remained occupied with working, no longer sparing them a second glance, having gotten used to the members that had at one time come to this hospital every single day.  

Eventually Dongwoon is standing outside of Hyunseung's door with Junhyun, Yoseob, and Kikwang directly behind him, and, after having not seen him in weeks, he takes a deep breath and knocks on the door before opening it and walking in slowly, with his head bowed and the rest of the members trailing closely behind.