“Ugh, my head hurts like hell…”

Still a little lightheaded, Hakyeon sat up and looked around. Where am I? Was the first thing that popped into his head. Grey walls, soft couch, wide screen glasses by the end of the space…such a nice place. He tried to recall last night’s memories but nothing came up. The harder he tried, the harder it was for him to remember. All he got was a headache. He tried to stand by using the couch to gain some assistance but he didn’t get really far. He found a full length mirror beside a speaker set nearby and that was when he was really shocked to see his reflection. His hair was all over the place, his face had red lines everywhere but the most shocking thing was that he wasn’t even in his own clothes.

“What the…” wondered Hakyeon as he inspected the clothes.

It was a pair of sweats. A neat one too, if he were to be exact. He shrugged it off and looked around for his phone. After fumbling around for a while, he finally found it wedged in between the cushions on the couch. He dialled for Wonshi but he didn’t pick up.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Hakyeon jumped. He turned around and found a familiar person in his sight. Who…ah, Jaehwan. He was fresh out of the bath and he was just drying his hair.

“Sorry…did I surprise you there?” He chuckled at the elder.

“Yeah…I almost cursed. Um, where are we?”

“My apartment.”

“How…”

“Oh, yeah. Here, the kids left a note for us,” said Jaehwan as he gave the note to the other.

Hakyeon groaned. He was forced to take the day off, according to Wonshik thanks to the crazy binge drinking the night before. He looked at his watch and rubbed his neck when he saw that it was already 11am. He sat on the floor. Chuckling to himself, Jaehwan walked over to the elder and crouched by his side.

“I called Hyuk a while ago and he said Wonshik gave you permission to take the day off, so maybe you should just rest…?”

“That idiot. I’m his superior but he dares to give me a day off?” Hakyeon huffed.

“I guess you were just so out of it that they couldn’t wake you up for work.”

“Yeah…I’m always like that when I drink too much. Plus, I can’t remember anything at all. That goofball has it good since he sobers up really quickly.”

“…but you got it good today since you can rest after a great night of drinking. And you get to take a shower too. I bet Wonshik still reeks of soju at work today. Here, go take your bath while I fix a little brunch for us,” said Jaehwan as he handed Hakyeon a towel.

After agreeing with the younger, Hakyeon took a nice, warm bath. He even took his time to think about his on-going work more carefully as he was soaking. He managed to come up with more ways of finding solutions and bits of ideas for new experiments. Thanks to that, he got out of the bath with a clear and calm mind…but then it was messed up again as he realized that he had nothing to wear but the sweats that were on him a while ago. He reluctantly walked into the living space and quietly looked around.

It was a nice apartment. The walls were simple but they were neatly decorated with stick-it notes, all filled with scribbles of reminders and due dates and last-minute work. There was a tall, wide cupboard at the end of the space and Hakyeon was surprised to see that it was filled with books, all from very different varieties and genres. They were stacked neatly against each other, some marked with colorful stickers and some with more stick-it notes; it piqued his interest.

There was the smell of fried goods wafting in the air and it was tempting his stomach.

“Hyung, the food is ready,” Jaehwan called as he peeked at the elder from the dining space.

“Oh, okay…”

“Sorry it’s not much, I haven’t gone to the supermarket yet for this week and it’s a little messy since my cooking skills aren’t that great,” the younger chuckled.

“No, no it’s fine. I’m already thankful as is, for the food, for the clothes, for the bath, and for the stay. I owe you already,” Hakyeon smiled at the other.

“Oh, oh you’re welcome. It’s nothing, really. You don’t owe me anything…since you’re treating Taekwoon so we’re practically even,” he smiled, looking up.

Of course. There’s Taekwoon. He didn’t really want to touch on the topic upon the first real talk he’s having with the younger but this was Hakyeon, the psychiatrist. It was a natural feeling for him so why not.

“…were you that close to him?” He tried slowly.

“Yeah. We weren’t at first but I figured he might be a good kid since he never did anything weird or wrong and was always in the top 10 in class. I didn’t regret being friends with him, that Taekwoon. He was actually fun to be with once you get to know him well,” smiled Jaehwan.

“I figured so too. It was a good thing that we decided to pair him up with another patient too, wasn’t it?” Hakyeon asked earnestly.

Quietly, Jaehwan nodded. His smile was still there but it was faint. He feared that the emotions of the conversation were sinking so he tried to take it into another view. He scooped up the still-hot kimchi fried rice into his plate and started eating as he kept his eyes on the other’s reactions.

“This is really good! Homemade kimchi or store-bought?” He asked.

“My mom’s. it’s good? Oh, thank god. I almost forgot the recipe since I’ve only cooked it twice or so since I came back to Korea. I was worried if it tasted weird,” Jaehwan laughed as he scratched his neck.

“Not at all. I can only make stews since everything I fry turns out black and burned so this is really good on my taste buds.”

“You can cook stews? Wow, that’s impressive for a guy! Ramen is closest to stew that I’ll ever get to make and even so, I’m already proud of it,” he laughed.

“I’m only good at it since my brother loved it so…much,” Hakyeon trailed off.

Ah. His tongue slipped. He felt the air going thick after it being thin for a while so Jaehwan opted to not mention it further. He thought of something to say. What was okay though?

“I almost forgot to tell you, I washed your clothes and put it in the dryer so it should be out in another 15 minutes or so. I hope you have no problems wearing those sweats. Hyuk and Wonshik overdid themselves trying to help us,” he chuckled nervously.

“…oh, no, yes it’s perfectly fine. It’s comfortable, even. I thought you changed me so I was a little awkward at first but seeing that that brat did it…I need to smack him later,” he scrunched his brows.

“He tries hard, I see,” smiled Jaehwan.

“…yeah. If I were to compare him to my other acquaintances, I’d choose him to work with any day. He’s always calm and composed when something happens whereas I would always panic and overreact so he’s a really reliable partner.”

“I can only imagine. He really looks like the type seeing how persuasive and trustworthy he is when he asked for my help a few weeks ago. I’m also thankful towards him since because of him, I got to meet a dear old friend and mend our relationship.”

Uh-oh, Hakyeon started to panic.

“…oh, right, you met at the old folks’ home, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yes. I’ve been volunteering there ever since I got here a few months ago for a college project…that was when I met Hyuk too! Hahaha, I guess all of us meeting like this was fate, huh? It’s amazing,” said Jaehwan with a bright smile across his face.

“Yeah, it is.”

After eating and helping Jaehwan to clean up, Hakyeon walked around the living space again. His attention was automatically drawn back to the tall cupboard. Yet again, he swiped his finger against the books and picked one out to see more closely. ‘The Night Rain,’ said the title. He flipped through the pages. He was surprised to see that it wasn’t a novel as he had expected but a picture book. There were paintings of sceneries with a story written next to it on every other page. Somehow, to Hakyeon, most of the pictures seemed…sad.

“Oh, you like that one, hyung?” Jaehwan suddenly appeared next to him.

“Oh! O-oh, yes. I mean, no, not particularly. I just picked it randomly…”

“This book is really great…it tells the story of nights when the rain would come along and wash away people’s pain and misery. It’s a good book to read to the old folks at their open library. A lot of them liked this story in particular,” said Jaehwan.

“It sounds nice.”

“It really is…um, so you know, I kind of need to go to the supermarket because I’m running low on a lot of things…do you want to come along? I mean if you don’t have anything to do, that is.”

“…yeah, sure, why not? I don’t feel like going home or checking up on Wonshik either,” Hakyeon shrugged.

“Okay, then.”

---

What a slow day, just right for a slow mind, thought Wonshik. He was in the monitor room alone, writing up reports and editing the experiments’ procedure steps as his mind slowly wandered off to another world. He finished the sentence he was writing and left his laptop. He looked at the screens and couldn’t help but smile when he saw both Taekwoon and Hongbin busy doing their own things instead of staring at each other from a distance. Though he did enjoy watching them stealing glances at one another.

He looked at his phone and sighed. It was almost lunchtime but he didn’t feel like eating. The room was too empty to sit in alone, so don’t even mention eating. Should I call up Hyuk and eat at the joint instead? No, he shook his head. He was too embarrassed to face the owner because of the night before’s incident. He wanted to call Hakyeon to get some lunch together since he was already not anywhere near the hospital but he was sure that the latter was pissed at him for making him take the day off.

But he called. No answer. He tried again but to no avail. He is pissed, thought Wonshik. Hyuk, then. He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, um…do you have Jaehwan hyung’s number? I forgot to ask the last time we met,” said Wonshik, spinning around in his chair.

“Yeah, sure. Why, though?”

“I called Hakyeon hyung but he’s not picking up. I wanted to check up on him.”

“Nah, it's fine. Jaehwan hyung texted me earlier and said they were going out for a while. Guess they’re feeling better,” said the younger.

And then silence took over.

“Um, do you have like…free time to come over? Just for lunch. It’s kind of lonely eating in this empty room,” Wonshik tried as he crossed his fingers.

“…yeah, sure. I’ll come by in 10.”

10 minutes of turning in his chair and occasionally staring at the wall, Wonshik greeted Hyuk with a warm hug once he walked through the door with a big plastic bag in his hand. Slightly taken aback, Hyuk chuckled as he returned the hug.

“I feel kind of guilty buying food from another joint. Thank god it’s not the same dish,” he laughed.

“Sorry, I just really wanted Jjajangmyeon.”

“It’s fine. I haven’t eaten it in a while too.”

After the short while of eating and chatting, Hyuk sat back and looked around the room.

“I’ve been here once but now that I’m seeing it more closely, I can’t believe how sullen this room is. Do you guys mourn in here or something?” He said, standing up.

“Yeah… we never thought of doing anything special to it even if it’s strictly just for the two of us. We don’t really like this room since this is where we watch over our patients as they go through their rehab…which is a painful thing to watch…” Wonshik’s voice trailed.

“…well yeah, but don’t you think decorating it would be a little more satisfying? Things would get hard if you focus too much on the screens but that gives you all the more reason to liven it up in here so that it gives you good vibes and motivates you to work harder, for the patients.”

Wonshik blinked. There was truth in his words.

“But what does one put to liven a room up?” Wonshik looked around.

“I have no idea…but grandma used to say that plants help us to heal most. She put some in her room at the folk’s home, later insisting that we do the same to all the other rooms. She forgets that not everyone likes being that close to nature,” Hyuk laughed.

“Well, grandma’s a bright one so she must be thinking about the good of everyone.”

“…yeah,” said Hyuk as he eyed the room a little more.

The monitoring screens caught his eyes. Two different rooms on two different monitors; one was occupied by a brunette and the other by a black beauty. They were looking at each other. They waved. The brunette was smiling.

“That’s Hongbin. The opposite one is Taekwoon,” said Wonshik, a sigh followed not far behind.

“Oops, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t pry. They just caught my eyes,” he laughed awkwardly.

“…they do, don’t they?”

Hyuk looked at the other. He was staring at the screens, his eyes not once wavering. Why does he look so sad? Thought Hyuk alone.

“Their cases are just like some others but somehow…they’re different. They’re unique and as bad as this might sound, I like it.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I mean…I like handling their case. They’re improving really well and they cause so little trouble; not that I mind handling such things but they just seem…wonderful. The way each day, they try to smile more, talk more and open up to others more. I feel like a proud parent,” he laughed, rubbing his neck.

He was smiling…but Hyuk could’ve sworn that his words; his positive words were leaking of sadness. He was somehow accustomed to that kind of sadness, however, there was a pang in his chest. Why? ‘This wasn’t his sadness, it was another’s’, the universe seemed to answer him. Ah, so that’s why. He let out a sigh.

“Having a proud parent is nice once in a while,” Hyuk smiled, looking at the floor.

Well , Wonshik realized. He chose the wrong words. Fearing that his next words could hurt the boy again, he quietly rolled his chair next to Hyuk and ruffled the boy’s hair. He was met with a slightly shocked expression but he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I can be a proud parent for you too if you’d like,” he said gently.

Believe it or not, Hyuk groaned at the sudden pain he felt across his chest. It felt like someone was just banging on it from the inside. He looked away and smiled a little.

“You’re good,” he said.

“…what do you mean?”

“You’re good at what you’re doing. I suddenly feel like I won a medal,” he laughed a little.

“Well, I am a psychiatrist. If I’m not good, I might as well just quit.”

After a good 20 minutes of eating and making small talk, Hyuk got up to leave. He took one last look at the monitors and smiled. Wonshik was right. There was something unique about them, though he didn’t know what or why he felt that way. He just did.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Are they doing alright? Are they really getting better?”

“Yeah, they are. They just need one last push.”

“…and then they’re all better?”

“Well, I’m hoping for it. Why?” He looked up.

“Introduce them to me sometime later, okay?” Hyuk looked at the other and smiled.

“…sure,” said Wonshik, his mind wondering about.

‘Why’. That was the only thing his mind was buzzing about but before he could ask, Hyuk left.

A/n: After such a long time of not updating, I feel so guilty for uploading such a lame chapter. So because of that, right after I uploaded this, I swore on every cell in my body that compels me to write that I WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH BETTER CHAPTERS SOON ENOUGH OR SO GOD HELP ME I WILL PUNCH MYSELF IN THE GUTS. For now, I hope this will suffice *bows formally.