"Mwo?!" Sehun sounded like he was choking on the other end of the line when I told him about Baekhyun's surprise visit the other week. He was coughing violently as he croaks curses repeatedly in between.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked worriedly when he just kept on coughing and not talking.

A few more coughs were heard before he cleared his throat and finally spoke with a croak, "Yeah I'm fine. I just choked on my cola because of what you told me. But damn! How come he didn't even tell me anything?!"

I chortled upon hearing him childishly curse at Baekhyun—saying spiteful things about how the latter pretended not to know anything when he was in fact dying to tell someone about whatever he was hiding. "Just when I needed someone to talk with, there he was laughing his off during the past days, talking with Chanyeol & Tao innocently while I was suffering alone! Ah! I hate him!" He complained exasperatedly, while all I did was laugh at him on how whiny he was of how unfair was the other boy to him.

"Com'on just think of it as him teaching you a lesson for being such an unfaithful brother." I tried to convince him but he only scoffed at me bitterly.

"Say that again when I finally got over my bitterness with him." He grumpily retorted with a bitter tone.

I stifled a laugh at how stubborn he was on dwelling over such a prank Baekhyun pulled off on him. It was so childish of them. But knowing them, it would be something normal to that idiotic bunch since their egos are more important for them almost all the time.

"Hey—"

Sehun was about to say something when I suddenly heard the sliding door rattle open and my attention shifted to the person who got out from Luhan's hospital suite. Yixing. He closed the door as soon as he had gotten out quietly from the room and sighed deeply to himself as he leaned his back on the door when he haven't noticed me yet sitting on the chairs in the hallway. He looked like he was so deep in thoughts that he didn’t even realize that he has a pair of eyes watching him—mine, particularly. My gaze never left him, I was just curious why the gentle and problem-free Zhang Yixing that I know was seriously pondering over some unknown issue in his head. Was he really all smiles? Or perhaps this is the true him? That just like anybody else, he has his times when he thinks a lot about things that bothers him? I was so absorbed into the thoughts of Yixing that even if the boy speaking on my receiver kept blabbering about something, I had unknowingly tuned out all that Sehun was saying because I was curious as to what was troubling him.

"Hey, are you even listening Kim Nana?!" I was pulled out from my own trance when Sehun hollered over the other end, almost turning me deaf. My phone almost slipped from my hand but I gladly caught it with both my hands when it fell out from my grip. I sighed loudly and mentally cursed Sehun for being such a sass, but it only lasted until Yixing suddenly took the seat next to me and beamed me his forever charming dimpled smile.

"Who—?" Yixing asked with a soft voice as he pointed at the phone I was holding.

Seeing my device again, I immediately pressed my phone against my ear, ignoring what Yixing had just asked as I apologized to Sehun for almost forgetting about him when I was deep in thoughts before. He of course complained like a brat but let me off in the end when he was finally done rattling out his point to me. Annoying as always.

"Hunnie, I'll talk to you later, alright?" I uttered out as I refused to hear whatever he was going to say next and hanged up.

I lowered my phone down on my lap and sighed as I felt suddenly too restless after dealing with so many things over the past days and these past hours. It felt too tiring even if all I did was accomplishing the same school routine and then accompanying Luhan in the hospital every day since the past Sunday we had.

"Was it your friend Sehun?" I tiredly turned my head towards Yixing's direction when he spoke out again, this time with his normal speaking voice. I nodded in response to him and offered a smile that I managed to make. I looked away from him and turned my attention to the white wall that was across from me when I felt like I couldn’t say anything that will interest him.

There was this minute of silence between us that was almost pin drop. It felt so solemn that I started thinking deeply about trivial things again. But it was only until Yixing finally spoke what’s in his mind. "You look tired."

I looked back at him and saw how he was looking at me, his head resting back on the wall behind him, his eyes boring on mine as he turned his head in my direction, and his lips formed into a deep pout that I only saw for the first time. Is it even the first time? Or I just noticed it now that he can act cute like that?

I nodded to his statement, for as far as I want to deny, the exhaustion was written on my face. “Is it that obvious?” I asked him and chuckled slightly.

He let his lips press into a thin line and bobbed his head nonetheless in response to my short query. "It's probably because you've been working hard in juggling your studies and taking care of Luhan." He pointed out as he furrowed his eyebrows at me and sighed.

It must probably be the reason, but to me getting tired was nothing. It’s just part of me wanting to be responsible for something and for someone dear to me. Seeing the worry in his eyes touched my heart but it gave no justice to my intentions. I wanted to help, not to be seen as someone incompetent for the task. And although I know his thoughts for me were genuine, I don’t want to add to his burdens. So, I shook my head in front of him and smiled again as I tucked loose strands of my hair behind my ear and tried to make my eyes look brighter.

"I'm still doing good, so don't worry." I assured him.

But Yixing was far from believing me, as he still questioned me as if we're in an interrogation, "Are you sure? Why don't you just go home for today so you can rest? I'll even send you back if you like—"

"Yixing," I called his name as if I was asking him to stop from saying further, "I'm fine."

He sighed in resignation as he recognized the finality in my voice. When I say I’m fine it doesn’t mean that I am. But it just means that ‘I will be fine’. I just worded it that way to stop him from persistently convincing me since I’m tired and arguments aren't well accepted by mind right now. It would only provoke me into early detonation if anything.

"Alright. I get it." He uttered out with a sullen voice, making me realize how still worried and unconvinced he was of my answers. Such a worry wart you are!

"But perhaps you won't refuse my offer to buy you drinks or lunch, right?" He beamed as a smile crept on his lips all of a sudden.

I was thinking of refusing his offer but realizing how I already rejected his previous offer to send me back to the dorms, I just bobbed my head in response. "Well, let's grab lunch while the others are still there entertaining our patient." I mused out, making him chortle.

We stood up from our seats almost immediately and trudged through the hallways going to the stairs as we have chosen not to ride the elevator to reach the ground floor of the hospital. Yixing was telling something about our upcoming camping trip when I briefly let my eyes wander to the adjacent hallway that was visible from where we are and saw something—or rather, someone who made my heart hammer inside my chest erratically, and made the butterflies tickle my stomach once again. Every second that I had my eyes on him felt like an eternity to me—and as if nothing mattered more, all I could see at the moment was him.

"Nana?" Yixing called, but I refused to recognize his voice as we have come to a halt.

I just watched as the boy I saw came out from a room at the end of the adjacent hallway. He was clad in a crisp, black suit that made him look older and professional at the same time. His blonde hair, that made him even noticeable, was brushed up, giving me a good view of his forehead and his piercing eyes that were always deep and intimidating. Considering how he dressed, he must have just gotten out from a meeting from the important room which soon started to empty out with faces that screamed ‘we-meant-serious-business’. His face transformed into a scowl as he trudged away from the hellish-looking place packed with people he probably only saw for the first time, and might not see ever again. He loosened his tie as I saw him mouth something under his breath. It was almost glorifying to finally see him again, closer than before, that I felt my breathing hitch up in my lungs at the sight of him. But then came the real catch after him—a girl I only saw today for the first time caught up to him and hooked her arms around his. He flinched and stopped at the contact initiated by the girl, and as if it wasn’t enough he looked pissed than he already was when he faced her, he mouthed something spitefully, and harshly peeled off her arms that were trapping his.

"Stop following me around!" I could almost clearly hear what they were talking about as they neared us, and the more they got closer, the more I felt my heart clenching in pain.

Was it because I finally saw him with the girl Soojung and Baekhyun referred to as? Was it the fact that I’m so close to him and yet it still feels like I’m still so far away from him? Or is it because I finally have the chance to jump in front of him and invite him to a talk we really need to have and yet I am not taking the chance?

"But Kai! Just eat lunch with me! It will be my treat so just come with me and I swear I'll buy you anything you want!" I heard the girl whine as they were near to passing our hallway.

"Stop flaunting your money to me because I can buy anything with my own!"

"Kai~ahhhhh!"

The longer I hear their voices, the harder it was for me to move. It felt too suffocating and numbing that I wasn't even able to react hastily when I felt someone haul me around and pull me in for a hug. A hand grasped on my back, while another hand on my nape pushed my head to the comfort of his shirt. His manly scent wafted to my nose and it was only when I felt safe, inside a masculine figure’s embrace who chose to save me.

Footsteps resounded on the marbled floor, loud and louder…until it stopped. For a moment I heard nothing but the beating of my heart, until the girl spoke again, whining about something that I couldn't care anymore about. My back was faced towards them, so I couldn't really tell how near they were to us. I was just glad that they wouldn’t ever know who I was, as I was already feeling over the edge just by being that near to them.

"Okay, I'm sorry I keep on disturbing you, but please just eat lunch with me!"

I closed my eyes as I just wanted to block everything from view, and tried to tune out every sound I could hear—her voice, my heart beat. Just stop for once. Just spare me some time to stop from hurting.

"Kai? Why are you not saying anything?" I heard the girl ask stubbornly.

"And why did you suddenly stop?! Didn't you say you're in a hurry?!"

"Kai!"

"Stop following me!" I heard him say with a harsh tone, "I'm not in the mood to babysit you now so stop bothering me for once."

Their footsteps resumed into a walking pace as they descended through the stairs, leaving me and the person I couldn't be any more grateful with. I was still in his arms when I realized how two tears unknowingly escaped my eyes, and I had pulled away from him to wipe them away. Not one of us dared to speak as I turned away from him so he wouldn't have to witness more of the tears that brimmed down on my face at that moment. And wanting not to look too vulnerable in front of him, as he had never seen me this weak, I spun around to face him with a smile I had forced on my lips.

"I'm really sorry for troubling you." I bowed to him repeatedly as I apologized for how I acted before.

"I was too stunned that I was stuck up like an idiot." I tried to joke, but I sounded too broken for him to even believe that I didn’t feel anything when I saw all that had taken place.

He said nothing at first, and I couldn't even look at his eyes, that I couldn't discern how he was reacting to whatever I just said. All I could do was listen to the silence and watch how he had taken steps towards me and stopped just a feet in front of me.

"It's alright." I felt him give my head pats as his gentle voice entered my ear.

"You had done a good job being brave." I was surprised to rather hear those words from him because I don't know exactly how staying put was being brave.

"I know how he manages to stir your emotions so easily because of all the things that had happened between the two of you," He uttered again, "but next time, be braver."

The only time I looked again at Y