The errant ringing of the phone jarred him out of sleep and he sighed. The clock on his bedside table glared at him; it was 3am. He reached blindly for the phone, trying to grab it before it woke the sleeping figure beside him. No such luck; the body stirred as he grabbed it. He could feel a pair of eyes on the back of his head, waiting and watching as he answered.

“Hello,” he asked hesitantly, his heartbeat rapidly increasing as he listened to the sound of the rain filtering through the phone.

“I need you.”

He couldn’t begin to explain what affected him more; the words or the voice that spoke them.  He felt like he was being pulled back into his past.  A place he swore he would never go. It was a place where love had held his hand and made him believe in dreams. He sighed in a breath as if trying to halt the memories that threatened to assault him.  Many minutes seemed to pass in that millisecond and he knew there was only one thing he could do.

“Where are you?” he asked even as he moved to get out of bed.  Those eyes were still watching him, but he paid them no mind as he scoured his closet and pulled open drawers in search of clothes.

“The hospital,” the voice sounded so small and weak, it was barely recognizable; but he’d never forget it.  He heard it every night in his dreams…he didn’t want to forget.

“Where are you?” he asked again.  He was dressed in faded jeans and an old college tee.  His feet were bare, his shoes in his hands as the alarm bells sounded in his head.  “Tell me how to get to you.”

“I…I don’t know where I am.”  The voice sounded frantic…desperate and his heart broke just a little.  “Please come.  Please…I need you.”

“Okay…okay, calm down,” he soothed.  “I hear rain…are you outside the hospital?”

“Yes,” came the reply after a brief pause.  “I don’t want to go inside.  They’ll just call him…please you have to help me.”

And he wanted to.  That voice was calling out to him, and his heart was replying with a steady beat.  He grabbed his wallet and his keys, ignoring everything but the voice on the phone.  It was the only important thing at the moment.

“I’m coming,” he soothed.  “I’ll be there as fast as I can…you need to go inside. Trust me, I’ll be there soon.”

He was relieved when he heard the swish of the hospital doors, but it was short-lived.  There was a scream then a thud, and then many sounds and voices.  “Hey,” he yelled.  “Hello? Tell me where you are.  Hello!”

There was a moment of complete silence before he heard breathing in his ear.  He held his own breath, waiting, yet wanting to scream at whoever had the phone to say something at the same time.  “He’s unconscious” an unfamiliar female voice informed him.  “He looks like he lost a lot of blood.”

“What hospital?” he asked frantically.  “Where are you?”

“UCLA Medical Center,” was the brisk response.

“,” he cursed as he pulled his car out of the parking lot.  “Don’t call anyone until I get there, okay?  I’ll be on the next plane out.”

“Who are you?” the nurse asked.

“I’m Sehun. Oh Sehun, I’ll be there soon.”

He hung up the phone and headed for the airport.  He only had a vague idea of where he was going, but his mission was clear.  He had to get there as quickly as he could…for him.

***

 He sat uncomfortably in the seat, his seatbelt securely fastened and a coffee cup sitting on the tray in front of him.  His hands were at his side, his fingers idly tapping the arm of the chair.  He was restless, and he was impatient, his mind running rampant with thoughts and feelings he hadn’t allowed himself to explore in years. 

This was crazy and he knew it, just as he knew it was something he needed to do.  He had made a promise…a lot of them to always be there if and when he was needed.  No matter how much time or distance separated them, that was not something he would or could renege on.  Almost mechanically he reached for his cup of coffee, sipping on the liquid as If it were a glass of water.  He could barely taste it, and was in fact not even thirsty.  The drink was simply there to keep him awake…he needed to stay focused on his task.  He needed to be alert for him.

He placed the mug on the tray as the plane began to move.  Soon he left Seoul’s skyline behind him as the plane lifted into the air, taking him away from the place he had called home for the past five years.  His eyes remained glued to the window until he could no longer see the twinkling lights.  With a sigh he leaned his head back and settled in for the long flight.  As the plane continued his journey into the inky blackness he couldn’t help but think about the last time they had crossed paths.  Had it truly been five years since they last spoke?  Hearing that voice made it seem so much closer…but truthfully a lot had changed in such a small amount of time.  They were different people then they had been back then…weren’t they?  He had a feeling he was about to find out.

 “Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked for what seemed like the fifteenth time.  He always got the same answer, yet he continued to ask, hoping against hope that this time the answer would change.  A sad pair of eyes looked at him, as a box was lifted into a truck.  Those eyes broke his heart, and they spoke volumes.  The eyes told a truth that the owner of that gaze didn’t share.

“I’m positive…I can’t do this if I’m here with you.  And it’s not fair to me, to him or to you.  I have to go for all of us.”

“But why?”

“You know why,” he said handing another box to the movers before he came to stand in front of him.  He placed his hands on his cheeks and rested their foreheads together, something they used to do all the time when they were a couple.  “If I stay here…with you, like this then I can’t resist kissing you, and I need to resist that.”

“But…”

“Promise me something?” he interrupted.

“Anything.”

“Promise that you will try to be happy?  Promise me that you will make it work.  I won’t be able to do this unless I know you are happy.”

“Only if you promise me that you will call if you need me.  No matter where I am, or where you are you call me…I will come.  Promise me that, and I will try to be happy.”

***

It was a promise he hadn’t had to keep for five years, not until today when his body screamed with pain and his head was woozy.  He could barely think straight yet he walked alone.  He knew the number by heart, and his fingers, slick from the rain, dialed it rapidly.  He hoped against hope that he would answer the phone…his lifeline, he had always been his lifeline and he needed him now more than ever. 

His heart soared when he heard the voice, and for a brief moment he wasn’t scared.  For the first time in a long time he had hope.  He listened when he was told to go inside the hospital, and he expected to be yelled at for not knowing where he was.  He was confused, and he needed help.  The bright light hurt his eyes and he tried to walk straight, the phone still pressed to his ear.  And that’s when the world began to shift and he fell, hard to the ground, and everything went black.

***

He was a little disoriented when he opened his eyes, and only momentarily surprised to find himself in a hospital bed.  He blinked and shielded his eyes against the lights.  To this day he would never understand why the lights always had to be so bright. 

“I’m sorry I should have turned those down,” an unfamiliar but pleasant voice intoned.  “There you go; you can open your eyes now.”  He did so hesitantly and found himself staring into the brown eyes of a nurse who was checking his pulse.  She smiled at him and stuck a thermometer into his mouth, and proceeded to take his blood pressure as well.  “You’re very lucky, Mr. Oh,” she said after she noted her findings on his chart.  “You lost a considerable amount of blood last night, and it was a wonder you were able to function well enough to make a phone call.”

He frowned; his eyebrows creased as he listened to her go on about how they had to fix him up.  He breathed a sigh of relief and tried to sit up.  A sharp pain caused him to cry out and he felt hands on him holding him down. 

“Don’t try to move, Mr. Oh.  You have cracked ribs in several places and your arm is in a sling.  You also have a slight concussion from hitting the floor, and I don’t think your friend will be happy with us if you harm yourself further.”

“Friend?” He asked looking around, as if expecting someone else to materialize.  “Who…who’s here?”

“Oh he’s not here yet,” the nurse explained.  “But he said he was on his way.  He said he had to catch a plane and would arrive as soon as he could.”  The nurse repeated the information the night duty nurse had given her when her shift began.

“Thank you,” he whispered, looking at her gratefully.  She smoothed the blankets on his bed and smiled encouragingly.

“I’m going to see if they can get you some breakfast in here.  You were dehydrated too,” she pointed at the IV drip.  “It appears that you are malnourished as well, but we will fix that in a jiffy.  I’ll be right back.”

He watched her leave and closed his eyes as he tried to make himself comfortable in the bed.  There weren’t many directions he could move without causing more pain so he gave up and kept still.  Despite his injuries he couldn’t help but smile.  The nurse said that his friend was on his way…his friend…that word didn’t even fit, he was so much more than that and he was coming just like he promised he would.

***

“I don’t think I could ever love him the way I love you,” he said as he his lover’s cheek.

“You shouldn’t say things like that.”

“But it’s the truth,” He insisted as he shifted so they were facing each other.  When he moved in for a kiss he was startled when his lover pulled away and shook his head.  He got up and started looking for his clothes.  “What are you doing?” He asked sitting up to watch the man pull on his boxers and his jeans.

“I’ve gotta go…before he gets back.  I shouldn’t be here.”

“But I want you here,” he insisted.  He moved out of bed and tried to wrap his arms around the other man but he was thwarted yet again.  “Why won’t you let me touch you?”

“This was wrong.  I shouldn’t have let you talk me into this.  We’re not together anymore, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

“But we love each other,” he insisted.  “What we’re doing is not wrong.”

“Wait…please,” his voice followed him to the door, “Don’t go.  Don’t leave me again.”

Those eyes looked so sad, and he wished the answer could be different…but he knew better.  “This can’t happen again…we can’t happen again.”

***

He replayed that memory again and again as he walked through the corridors of UCLA medical center.  He could remember quite clearly the sad eyes that wanted to stay.  He could read the look on his face before he turned and walked away from him.  And the sound of the door was so loud in his ears…he felt like he had been shot straight in the heart.  He had cried that night…but his tears weren’t just for his loss.  He cried for love and for the man he no longer could save…the one who was asking for his help yet again.

He quickened his pace, needing to see for himself that he was okay.  He had been told that they had stopped the bleeding, and that the injuries were stabilized but he needed to see that for himself.  He wouldn’t be able to relax until he laid eyes on him.  It seemed like an eternity before he reached Room 106, and when he got there he stood in the doorway for a minute, allowing his eyes to take it all in, trying to prepare himself for the inevitable moment when their eyes met.

He wondered if fate had a role in them ending up in room 106.  The reverse of the date they met, and more importantly the hotel room they used for secret rendezvous.  It would be just like karma to play a cruel trick…or was it serendipity?

“You…you came,” a groggy voice met his ears and he realized he had been caught.  He turned slightly, moving into the room, his eyes meeting those of the man who lay in the bed. 

“As fast as I could,” he responded softly as he moved forward.  He couldn’t take his eyes off of him…he still looked good.  Even with the injuries, the bruises the breaks, he was still as beautiful as he remembered…his heart would never forget.  “I told you I would always come.  I’m here.”

Their fingers met first, a gentle caress; soft, intimate welcoming and warm,   The fingers laced together effortlessly as if they alone knew this was how it should be.  “I missed you.”

“Same here” he said running his fingers through matted hair, his hair.  It was longer then he remembered but the consistency…the softness it was all the same, and he loved it…it was dangerous just how much he enjoyed running his fingers through it.  With a deep breath he forced himself to stop his ministrations.  It shouldn’t have surprised him when his hand was held captive and he was pulled closer to the bed, closer to him.

“You’re in pain,” he objected even as he settled down on the bed.  He could see the pain clearly on the other man’s face, but he knew all too well how stubborn he could be. 

“I want you to stay with me, please…be here when I wake up?”

Those eyes pleaded with him, and he knew he couldn’t say no.  “I’ll be here for as long as you need me to be,” he whispered.  “I promise.”

“Okay.”

He watched those eyes flutter closed, and waited with baited breath for the rise and fall of his chest.  Once he was satisfied that he was indeed sleeping, he bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead.  He dared not move from his spot, he liked it there…sitting close but not to close.  He liked feeling the warmth, and he had made a promise…he intended to keep it. 

______________

A/N

Hi again, this is the first chapter I know that it's a little borring and stuff like that. But I promise thatit will get better and more exciting.