Doctor Choi rubbed the bridge of his nose warily. YoungSaeng glanced at the doctor questioningly. It took a few moments for him to noticed but once he did, the Dr. Choi explained, “Ryeowook has been coming to the Infirmary far too frequently. It makes me worried every time I see someone carrying him in after he has collapsed.”

“Oh…it’s not a onetime thing?” YoungSaeng asked, glancing back at the now sleeping boy.

“This time it’s nothing serious,” Dr. Choi said, sounding thankful, “but I am concerned about his condition acting up. Do you happen to know either Lee Sungmin or Cho Kyuhyun? They’re both second years but they’re the ones mainly taking care of Ryeowook in these situations.”

YoungSaeng shook his head. “I just met Ryeowook this year. He’s never really told me much about his friends.”

The doctor nodded understandingly, reaching for his cell phone. “Alright, well you can head back to your dorm. I’ll call one of them and explain the situation. You don’t have to worry,” he smiled and nodded towards the door, “go home and get some rest.”

Slowly getting up, the third year headed towards the door. He wasn’t particularly miffed or anything. Yeah, Ryeowook collapsing had freaked the out of him, but…whose fault was it? YoungSaeng wasn’t about to blame himself. If Ryeowook had told him about his health condition earlier, then the older boy would’ve felt guiltier.

It wasn’t his problem. The kid was supposed to know how to take care of himself. You can’t baby someone their whole lives, especially when he obviously doesn’t want anyone taking care of him, including himself. YoungSaeng had known since the moment they met that Ryeowook was trying to destroy…something, apparently his body.

So let him be that’s what YoungSaeng thought. If he were in Ryeowook’s position, he definitely wouldn’t have wanted anyone butting in and telling him to get it together…at least, before he could accept that there was something wrong.

Dr. Choi dialed Kyuhyun’s number, listening to the connection establish itself. A moment or two passed and then a groggy, deep voice answered, “Hello?”

“Ah, Kyuhyun, sorry for waking you up,” the doctor said in that soothing, professional voice all physicians seem to have, “I realize it’s already a quarter to twelve but Ryeowook collapsed earlier this evening—”

“—How did he collapse?” the boy’s voice was suddenly sharp, alert.

Dr. Choi leaned back in his chair, saying, “I’m not sure myself. It may be from lack of nutrition and sleep but I can’t say for certain. His roommate brought him in, though I’m wondering why you aren’t his roommate anymore. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“…I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He ended the call.

The doctor let out a sigh, running fingers through his hair as he waited for the boy to arrive.

Kyuhyun pulled on clothes, jacket, and shoes. Behind him, Zhoumi was sitting up in bed, confused and tired. He held a bed sheet up to his stark body, having awoken because of the departure of Kyuhyun’s warmth. It was too chilly and lonely without the other boy around to hold him through the nights.

“Kyu…?” Zhoumi mumbled, but the door was slammed shut, effectively cutting him off.

The dark haired second year, half ran down the hall, exiting the dorm building in ten seconds flat. He ignored the cold wind slicing his face and neck, anger fueling his movements. Why was Ryeowook so stupid and irresponsible? This was why Kyuhyun had left him. He always pulled this crap and made Kyuhyun worry…even back when they were just kids...

“I bet you’re too chicken to climb up there!” A group of bullies from the foster home laughed. They were challenging Kyuhyun, daring him to do what all of them were obviously afraid to attempt.

“No I’m not,” Kyuhyun snapped, going up the stairs and towards the high slide. He wanted to see the look on all of their faces, the ones that said they were stupid and embarrassed because they lost a playground challenge. Kyuhyun grabbed one of the colorful railing, crawling over the paint coated metal and securing his feet on top of the rail.

All of the kids stared in disbelief, one of them running off with the words, “I’m gonna tell Mrs. Kim!” And then the others ran off as well to help support their friend’s claim.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, still standing easily on the hand hold. They were all such wimps. If they won then they would tease and laugh at Kyuhyun but if they lost they would go and tell on Kyuhyun for doing something “bad”. It was such a vicious, stupid cycle.

“Kyu!” Ryeowook called from the bottom of the slides. He was staring up at the brave eight year old who stood proudly on the railing of the largest park slide. “Don’t hurt yourself!”

The boy simply smirked, waving for Ryeowook to come up with him. When the latter shook his head, Kyuhyun frowned and made a face. “Why are you so scared, Wookie? Just come up here and we’ll have more fun!”

“B-But…what if I fall?” he answered, eyes large and fearful.

Kyuhyun snorted, placing a hand on the bright blue sphere decorating the top of a support pillar. “I won’t let you fall so come up here. Don’t you trust me?”

The child paused, thinking about it for a split second. His eyes were moving back and forth uncertainly. Kyuhyun made an impatient noise, causing Ryeowook to jump a bit. Apparently making up his mind, Ryeowook walked over to the stairs, climbing them carefully. He made it to the top, grinning tentatively up at Kyuhyun. “I-I did it…”

“Good, now just get up here,” the dark haired boy stated, offering his hand to the surprisingly panting Ryeowook.

“U-Uh, this is high enough, Kyu…,” Ryeowook mumbled, looking around uneasily. It was really high after all.

“C’mon, you can do it Wookie,” Kyuhyun urged, reaching down to take his friend’s hand.

Ryeowook hesitantly reached out, taking his friend’s hand. At the last second though, he pulled back, eyes watering a bit from fear. He shook his head, hands shaking. “I-I’m sorry Kyu…I’m really scared right now. I don’t think I can do anything else…”

“…Fine,” Kyuhyun sighed, “just go back down and play with someone else.”

“B-But I still want to play with you!” Ryeowook argued sadly.

Kyuhyun returned the look but didn’t climb down. He had his pride as a brave kid. How could he just climb down now so he could play on the ground level with Ryeowook? Everyone at the house would call him a weakling and , along with Mrs. Kim who would reprimand him for doing such a dangerous stunt. “I can’t go down,” Kyuhyun said firmly.

“…,” the smaller boy frowned, suddenly looking queasy. “Mm…I don’t feel well Kyu…”

He thought it was just a plot to get him down so he ignored it. This lasted only a second because suddenly Ryeowook was falling over, landing with a loud thud on his side. Kyuhyun jumped down, eyes wide and shocked. He shook Ryeowook’s shoulder, willing him to get up. “Hey Wookie, stop playing around,” Kyuhyun called, worry forcing tears to his eyes, “what happened? This isn’t funny, Wookie…”

Suddenly Ryeowook was holding his small chest, gasping unevenly and whimpering. Kyuhyun started crying, pulling Ryeowook up and hugging him desperately. Mrs. Kim appeared before the situation could worsen. She took Ryeowook in her arms, feeding him two small white pills. The gasping boy swallowed hard, clutching onto the caring woman’s shirt.

Kyuhyun tugged on Mrs. Kim’s skirt, tears rolling down his small face. “What’s wrong with Wookie…?” he hiccupped, wiping at the salty liquid and snot.

“He has a weak heart,” Mrs. Kim explained softly while trying to soothe the writhing Ryeowook, “So when he stresses his body or doesn’t eat enough, he gets really sick.”

“How come no one told me?” Kyuhyun whined.

“Well…,” she never finished the thought though as the other kids came out to crowd around in an attempt to find out what was going on.

Kyuhyun opened the door to the infirmary, spotting the doctor immediately. “What happened?” he breathed, chest heaving slightly from the brisk pace at which he ventured there.

Dr. Choi picked up his notebook, reading over the report before saying, “Ryeowook just…collapsed. He had been outside without his jacket zipped up and before that he was attending the Dorm 3 party, most likely drinking. I didn’t take a blood test, but you can smell the alcohol.”

“That’s impossible…,” Kyuhyun muttered, walking over to Ryeowook and gazing down at the sleeping boy. His heart jumped a bit at seeing how much weight the other had lost. The boy had always been thin…but he was too thin. What was happening?

“So…is there any particular reason you two aren’t roommates anymore?” the doctor inquired softly.

Kyuhyun brushed the back of his hand over Ryeowook’s cheek, his eyes lowered not unkindly over the boy. “…Seems sort of pointless since I came here tonight…”

“Pardon?”

“Where’s Lee Sungmin? That’s Ryeowook’s roommate right?” Kyuhyun looked away from the sleeping boy, slipping his hand down to rest over Ryeowook’s.

Dr. Choi shook his head slowly, confusion etching his features. “His roommate is a third year named YoungSaeng. He said he didn’t know bout but I figured you would’ve met him at some point.”

“No,” Kyuhyun murmured, “I’ll stay with him tonight. You can go home doctor.” The boy sat down in the chair beside Ryeowook’s bed, entwining their fingers gently. “I know how to take care of him. It’s alright.”

Dr. Choi put away the reports and a few other things before standing up and heading towards the door. “…Then I’ll go. If you need anything you know where it is. I’ll be down the hall in the Staff Dorm.”

There was no reply though, just a slight nodding of Kyuhyun’s head. His eyes were trained on Ryeowook, intently examining the boy. Dr. Choi studied them for less than a second, and then he was heading out, quietly closing the door to the Infirmary.