What If I’m Wrong?

            A week later, when we showed up to the studio to start recording our new single, I could tell that Kyuhyun’s patience was reaching an all-time low.  I hadn’t seen the maknaes in several days, but I’d been hearing plenty of stories from the other members, and they’d done everything from hiding phones to faking emergencies to keep the pair apart, but it had worked.  On the morning of the recording, Kyuhyun had again driven them to the appointment and there were dark circles under his eyes.  He looked rough.  Ryeowook seemed anxious and barely took two steps away from Kyuhyun except to give me a hug in greeting.  Even this seemed to be too much for Kyuhyun, for he gave me a hard stare.  I chose to ignore him and hugged him as well.  He pat my back and took a deep breath.

            “Good morning!” I happily greeted them.  “Kyu-ah, you look sick.”

            “I haven’t been sleeping well,” he told me.

            Ryeowook turned to face Kyuhyun and placed his hand on his forehead.  “You’ve got a bit of a fever, Kyu.”

            “Do I?” he asked, lightly grasping Ryeowook’s waist. 

            “You need to rest once we finish,” he ordered Kyuhyun.

            Kyuhyun looked straight into his eyes and frowned.  “I can’t,” he insisted.  “I haven’t been able to sleep all week.”

            “I know.  I’m sorry,” Ryeowook said, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. 

            Wait.  What?  Am I missing something? 

            Ryeowook grasped Kyuhyun by the shoulders and pulled him into his arms.  And Kyuhyun wrapped his arms around Ryeowook tight and buried his head in Ryeowook’s neck.  I should have interrupted.  That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.  But I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell I was watching.  Was this their normal behavior?  The others told me that they acted closer, but this seemed to go beyond that, even to me.  This border-lined on suspicious behavior.  They almost acted as if they were dating already.

            “Ryeonggu,” he said.  “Come home with me afterwards.”

            At this, I had to say something.  I had to attempt to stop them from spending time alone together, even if I knew I would probably fail.  “I was hoping we could all go out afterwards and have dinner.”

            Ryeowook ran his hand up and down Kyuhyun’s back.  “Kyu can’t go out, Sungie-ah.  He’s getting sick.  He needs to go home and rest.  I’m going to bring him back myself and make sure he takes some medicine.”

            I merely nodded.  There was no arguing with Nurse Wook.  Whenever he was in his mothering mode, there was no changing his mind on anything, because he was always speaking with the invalid in mind.  Of course, whenever he had nursed me, I had no objection.  It’s nice to have someone willing to take care of your sorry when you’re at your worst.  Of course, Ryeowook secretly cared about Kyuhyun’s health more than anyone else’s on the planet.  So he wasn’t going to be talked out of taking care of him. 

            In fact, the rest of the day, Ryeowook was super attentive to Kyuhyun’s needs.  Did he have enough water?  Was he sitting down enough?  Was he too hot?  Too cold?  Did he feel dizzy?  Was his voice getting hoarse?  I tried my best to steal away Ryeowook’s attention, but it was as if I wasn’t even there.  And when the recording ended, Kyuhyun looked miserable, and Ryeowook was in a rush to get him home.  I tried to call Eunhyuk to get him to meddle with the duo as much as possible, but he was stuck at his parent’s house.  Donghae wasn’t even in town, I discovered.  Henry was working with NoizeBank.  Heechul wasn’t even answering his phone, which probably meant he was out with Gunhee.  All the people with an excuse to just barge into the dorm were busy. 

            And something didn’t quite feel right about the maknae’s relationship.  It didn’t seem completely the same as it had been before.  But it wasn’t Ryeowook’s actions that seemed different.  It was Kyuhyun’s.  Ryeowook was always a touchy person—with everybody—but Kyuhyun was not.  In the past, I even remembered him being a bit more reserved with Ryeowook, but now he seemed more affectionate and bold.  Why?

            I drove Kyuhyun’s car back home.  I didn’t trust him to drive with a fever and so little sleep and he ended up passing out within minutes, snoring loudly.  I had to turn the radio on, but it hardly drowned out the noise.  He’s pretty loud. 

            When we reached the dorms, I lightly shook him awake and called out his name.  “We’re home,” I said, when his eyes slit open.

            Kyuhyun sat up and rubbed his eyes.  “Will you come up with me, Ryeong?” he asked. 

            I nodded.  “Yes.  I want to make sure you take the right medicines and you ought to drink some tea to help your throat.”

            “Thank you,” he said, his voice raspy.

            “I think you should quit talking.  You’re going to hurt your throat,” I said, taking the keys out of the ignition and pocketing them.  They were my set.  We kept copies of each other’s keys in case we locked ourselv