Chapter 24~Kim Hyuna (1/2)

You were by Guk’s side the rest of the night. The other guys took showers and made a meal out of gas station snacks as you attended to BYG. It upset you a little that the others didn’t seem to be worried about him. You were just finishing wiping down his arms when you couldn’t hold back your glare anymore.YoungJae caught your stare. “What?!” he asked and the others turned to you.“Don’t you care at all about him?” you ask.The others cast glances at each other.“You don’t think we care about Yong Guk?” HimChan asks.“Not necessarily that you don’t care about him, but don’t seem to be worried right now.” You say as innocently as possible.“He’s not dying.” YoungJae states. “He has no broken bones. He’s hit up pretty bad but I mean… he’s been worse. You don’t know him like we do. We’ve been through a lot with him.”“Yeah, Hyuna,” Zelo adds, “I grew up with him. He got into fights like every day at school.”You just look around at them. How can fighting be such a common thing? He looks terrible.“Leave her alone.” A deep voice comes from below you and you look down at Guk in your lap.His eyes are open but his lids seem heavy. He stares down at the others. He takes your hand and squeezes it.“At least someone cares about me around here.” He says.A moment passes before the room gets loud.“Hey, look who’s up!”

“There he is!”

“I have to say I haven’t been missing your voice too much!”

“HimChan’s been calling all the shots! Thank god you’re back!”They all gather around as he grunts to pull himself up. You help him up and he sits back into you. He leans against your front and lays his head back against your shoulder. You smile that he’s finally awake now and hold his head close to you. Your fingers run through his hair.“Ya, ya, ya.” He moans and closes his eyes. “I know you all missed me.” He smiles.They laugh and go back to what they were doing.“What smells?” Guk gasps.Suddenly you hope it isn’t you.“That would be you, man.” HimChan laughs. “You smell like sweat. Go shower.”His body shifts and he looks up at you and you look back down at him. You are so happy that he’s back!“Help me?” he asks with puppy eyes.You throw your head back to let out the uncontrollable laughter. You bring your hand to your mouth to block your crazy smiling.“Help you?!” you laugh as you try to look back at him.“I can’t do it alone…” he whines, giving you his best pouting look.“No!” you laugh again.“Please!!” he whines like a child. “I need someone to help me! Come shower with me, baby…” he’s smiling at his own humor now.“Awe how sweet! And really tempting… but I’m going to have to say no.” you smirk.“I’ll do it!” YoungJae raises his hand with a wide smile.The room erupts in laughter. Guk’s mouth drops open. He looks back up at you.“Please, God, no.” he says quietly. “You have to save me now…”“Sorry, this is beyond my abilities.” You give him a weak smile.“Oh come on, hyung!” YoungJae laughs. “I need to shower anyways. I’ll help.”

YoungJae jumps off the counter and comes to your side. You help to lift Guk up and YoungJae takes his arm and leads him towards the bathroom.BYG looks back at you over his shoulder with a disappointed look.“You owe me.” He says.You smile and nod but deep down you think, I owe you more than that. You sit against the wall in the hall and wait for Guk to be done. You don’t feel comfortable being too far away from him.

Guk’s cries of pain echo out from the bathroom. He grunts and yells profanities at YoungJae. Eventually, YoungJae starts to yell back out of annoyance. You feel terrible. He had so many cuts and bruises on him. The water must hurt like hell. He grunts and you can imagine him grinding his teeth together.Your heart feels like it’s breaking all over again. You sigh.Zelo comes next to you and sits by your side.

“He’ll be okay. Really. He’s strong.”You smile at him.

“Yeah, I know.” You say.You notice that the yelling has stopped. You listen and find that you can’t hear the water anymore. You turn as the door opens and YoungJae has his arm under Guk’s to support his weight. He walks slowly out. He’s in sweat pants and a hoodie. He moves carefully and slowly. His hair is messy and wet still. He raises an eyebrow at you and Zelo sitting in the hall.You jump up and go to his other side. He wraps his arm around you and tucks you close to him.“Smell good don’t I?” he asks with a weak smile.You laugh. “You do, actually.”He laughs and you help him onto the couch in the meeting room. You stand up and smile at YoungJae. He smiles back and rolls his eyes before walking out.Guk grabs your hand and you look down at him. His face is stoic as he tugs you down to sit next to him. He wraps his arm around you and you fold into his side. You reach over and take his other hand. You observe the cuts on his knuckles. He looks a lot better, not quite as bad as he did earlier. He just seems tired now. You trace lines on the back of his hand.“What are you thinking about?” he asks softly.You don’t look up as you answer. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”“I told you that you didn’t need to worry.”“But I did. I was worried they’d take you from me.” You say quietly.“How can they take me away? Nothing can keep me from you.”You nod quietly. “Where’s my sister?” you ask after awhile.“Hm, she’s at CL’s house. I was asking YoungJae about that stuff.”“What did the guys say?”“Well, HimChan went there and just rang the doorbell. Apparently, she was more than willing to go with him.” You both smile. “Anyways, he told her that you and I were out trying to make up or something but that you didn’t want her to be home alone. So we told her to stay with CL until you went back.”

“And my parents?”“They weren’t there.”You nod. That isn’t surprising. You don’t know what you’re going to do about your father. You don’t want to think about it.“Hey, guys, we’re heading to bed.” HimChan says as he walks out to the meeting room from the hall.He raises his eyebrows at us.Guk leans his head back and whines. “Uh, fine.”HimChan smiles and goes back to the room. The other boys are already there.Guk starts to move and you get off the couch first. You offer your hand and he takes it. You help pull him to his feet but he overcompensates and stumbles forward, taking you in his arms in a hug. At first you think he must be really weak, but when you hear him chuckle in your ear, you realize it was all a ploy.“Yah, behave yourself.” You smile as you push him away and playfully slap at his chest.“Hey, I’m in recovery. You can’t hit me.” He scolds as his hand goes up to where you hit him.

“Ya, ya, ya, go to bed.” You laugh.You turn to go down the spare room DaeHyun told you about when you hear weird footsteps. You turn around to see Guk focused on his walking, following you. He looks up when you stop.“What?” he asks.“Where are YOU going?” you ask.“With you!”“Ha, I can see that. Why?”“I want to make sure your room is okay.” He shrugs and hobbles past you.“Hey, stay away from there!” you say as you lightly kick his shin as he goes past.“Ah, ah, ah! What are you doing?” he complains as he pretends to hold his leg. “I’m a cripple! Why do you kick me?”“Yah, you’re no cripple! You can walk.”He turns and begins to limp down to your room. You laugh and follow. He opens the door and walks in and you after him. A simple room. Nothing but a window and a bed.

“See. Safe.” You nod.Guk walks around the room, his limp suddenly gone. He pretends to inspect the walls and window. He goes to the bed and puts his hands on it and presses down.“Bed’s not bad.” He mumbles.He looks at you over his shoulder and gives a smirk before rolling onto it and making himself comfortable. He stretches out and then folds his arms behind his head. He smiles.“Hey, get out.” You pretend to whine.