A Bittersweet Smile

My 426

I hate hospitals. The smell of alcohol and medicines scares me. The sounds of clanking nurse shoes and rolling wheelchairs makes me feel sick.

"What's taking the doctor so long?"

"He's still attending to Min Seok hyung, Se Hun. He needs him more than we do."

Se Hun remained silent after D.O.'s answer.

"Mr. Lu?"

I stood up and saw the doctor standing outside Xiu Min's room.

"Yes, doc?"

"What is your relationship with Mr. Kim?"

"U-uhh.."

My relationship with Xiu Min? Ex-boyfriend? Friend? I don't know.

"He's just a friend doc. I'm Min Seok's boyfriend."

Lay stood up and looked at me with a sit-down-you're-not-the-boyfriend look. The doctor ushered Lay inside Xiu Min's room. And the others just went silent.

"Lay hyung seems a little bit... frustrated?"

Breaking the silence, Tao spoke to Kris in a supposed-to-be whisper voice. All of our attention turned to him. Lay? Frustrated? Why?

"I think it's about Min Seok hyung."

How?

"When you called about Xiu Min hyung's sudden attack, he kept on muttering to himself how it was all a bad idea and how he shouldn't have agreed to it. On our way here, he was clutching the steering wheel so hard until his knuckles turned white."

What's a bad idea?

"I don't know hyung."

Wait, is this kid reading my mind? WTF?

"No, hyung. You're just saying your thoughts out loud."

Se Hun was the one who answered this time. Feeling embarrassed, I turned to face Xiu Min's hospital door and saw Lay and the doctor already out.

They were speaking in hush voices that I strained my senses to hear them. The boys didn't notice their presence yet.

"Doc, all he needs is more time. Just a little more."

"I'm sorry. There's not much left for him. I can guarantee the next 4 months, but past that, I can't do anything anymore."

What do they mean?

"Boys?"

The others noticed the doctor and silence wrapped the corridor once again.

"Your hyung is fine. He's just a little tired. Take care of him, all right?"

Everyone was confused because of the sudden concern that laced around the doctor's voice, but nevertheless, they all nodded.

"He'll be alright. He'll be alright."

The doctor was saying it more to himself than to us as he walked away.

"I'll be the one to sleep here for a while. Don't worry."

We turned to Lay who looked frustrated, angry, and.. sad.

"Chen, help me pack hyung's clothes. He'll be discharged the day after tomorrow, so there's no need to pack a lot like before."

"Hyung, are you.. alright?"

His expression changed and for a millisecond, you can see the shift of the real Lay to the masked Lay. He smiled as if everything is fine and he's doing quite alright.

"Yeah, I am. Why wouldn't I be? Umin is fine inside that room. "

Only a few can differentiate the real Lay from this fake one. And the Chinese members are one of those few.

"Yi Xi-"

"I'm fine, duizhang. I'm fine."

After a little meeting on Xiu Min's case, everyone except Lay left the hospital. After I finished taking a bath, I went to my room and plopped down on my bed.

What do they mean by needing time and lasting for 4 months? I never really got to ask the doctor nor Lay about what I heard.

I opened my phone and searched Xiu Min's number, which to my surprise was still named 'Baozi ♥'. I dialed the number and only a female voice greeted me. I guess he already changed it.

Due to boredom, I tried to find things which may interest me and I found my old laptop. I must have left it here when I decided to leave for a while. I typed every password that came to my mind but none of them opened the laptop.

"Ah! What the heck was my password?"

I left the laptop back to where it came from, figuring that I should just have it fixed. I searched my drawers, the one that I haven't used ever since I came back, and saw my old toys.

My rubix cube was still there. 'Our' old helicopter was still there. My walkie-talkie was still alive. Almost everything is still there.

When I opened the last drawer, it was still full of letters. Letters that were secretly passed to each other during the trainee days. Cards that was sent during holidays, birthdays, or just on random days where we'd miss each other. Pictures that was stolen from each others wallet.

And inside, further into the depths of the painful memories, I saw a silver box and a blue one. I remembered the blue box, in it contains the couple ring that I bought for our 1000th day anniversary. But I didn't know that I had a silver box. I took it out and saw that it was not a normal box.

The exterior was covered in silver. A line was formed at it's head, and then I realized that it was a mini safe. It needs a password.

Why does everything needs to have a password?