You Make Me | Lee Eunhyuk

04, you idiot

As the people in the lobby became calmer, they began to talk amongst themselves. Eun approached Jiwon and Eunhyuk, who checked on her to make sure she was okay.

"Are you okay?" they asked her simultaneously.

"Me?" she replied sarcastically, "What about you two? You both look like a mess."

"Wow, thanks," Jiwon remarked.

Eunhyuk lightly ruffled his younger sister's hair before turning to his best friend. "There's a first aid kit in the manager's office that I can use," he explained. "Let's go."

"All right," Jiwon agreed. But before they could begin walking, she turned to face a rough-looking middle-aged man standing nearby. He appeared mobster-like but also strong, capable of handling the task she had in mind.

"Sir," she said, her gaze fixed on him. "Could you and the others start barricading all of the building's entrances?"

The man nodded at Jiwon, and Eunhyuk added, "It's clear we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

The tenants' discussion grew louder as the two began to walk away. They hoped the tenants wouldn't do anything stupid before they returned. Jiwon noticed her duffel bag on the floor and reached down to grab it, temporarily forgetting about her wound, causing her to straighten up roughly in pain.

"Jiwon, why are you like this" Eunhyuk sighed, before letting her go briefly and grabbing her bag.

When they arrived at the manager's office, Eunhyuk assisted her into a chair, placed her bag on the floor, and searched for the first aid kit. He eventually found it and began rummaging through it, clearly a bit frustrated. He left the room for a few moments.

It was only then that Jiwon was able to reflect on what had just happened. She had nearly died. She had no idea what was going on anymore. The streets were crawling with monsters. She wondered if her brother was all right since, to her knowledge, there were no monsters in the building. She concluded that she needed to find her brother as soon as possible.

Eunhyuk returned, drying his hands before grabbing the first aid kit and walking over to her. He laid the kit on the ground and crouched in front of her. Using scissors, he cut a hole in her jeans around the slash to get a better view of the injury. He then prodded her wound, causing Jiwon to grimace.

"I'm sorry," he said gently.

He quickly followed up with an explanation, "It's not too bad; the muscle kept the cut from getting too deep. You will, however, need stitches."

"Okay," she said questionably. 

"There's no local anesthetic, so I will have to use only the numbing cream," he explained, noting her perplexed look.

"The numbing cream will only make it feel less painful; it will still hurt a lot," he elaborated.

"Oh," she thought, before responding, "Well, how much worse can it get? Just do the stitches."

He nodded and applied the numbing cream on and around her wound. While waiting for the cream to take effect, he prepared the needle for the stitches and handed her a thick cloth.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she questioned.

"This will hurt, so bite on the cloth, okay?" He said, looking slightly guilty.

"Okay," Jiwon said nervously. As Eunhyuk prepared to stitch her up, she put the cloth in her mouth.

He was right; the stitches were extremely painful. She could feel the needle going into her skin, which didn't hurt right away, so she assumed she'd be fine. But as he went close to the center of the injury site, the searing pain began. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on the cloth, trying not to move.

Eunhyuk began covering up her wound just as she thought the pain would never end.

"Okay, you're finished. Try not to move around too much," he instructed.

"Do you have any other clothes you can change into?" he added.

"Yeah, I have some in my bag," she said, reaching for her duffel bag.

"All right, I'll stand outside to make sure no one comes in," he said, turning to walk out of the office.

She gently grabbed his wrist as he turned away from her. He returned his gaze to her.

"Thank you, Hyuk," she said, smiling slightly despite her pain. Realizing that simply saying thank you might not be enough, she stood up and drew him into a hug.

She would have died if he hadn't held the shutters for her.

Because they were close in height, his head rested on her shoulder. He didn't move for a few moments, but eventually, he frowned and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. As the silence continued, he let out a deep sigh.

"Never do that again. You idiot," he muttered.

Jiwon recognized his concern, but when he called her an idiot, she burst out laughing, pushing him away slightly so she could see his face. Seeing his frown made her laugh even harder, and she quickly drew him back into a hug.

"Okay, I won't," she stated.

For a few moments, they stood there, hugging peacefully before hearing arguing from the lobby. Concerned, they let go of each other and turned towards the door.

"Duty calls, I guess?" Jiwon said, looking back at Eunhyuk. "Stand outside, I'll change quick, and then we can go."

Eunhyuk nodded and left the office to stand in front of the frosted glass doors.