He was a Punk. He did Ballet. |nomin|

Twenty Three

By 9am, Lucas and the others went to their house with Jaemin. They weren't sure if it was carsickness, but Jaemin was beginning to feel very ill. On the ride there he felt nauseous and dizzy. He was truly out of it, not answering them when asked if he was okay.

So, once inside, Lucas sat him down on the living room couch. He wrapped a blanket around him and patted Jaemin's head, telling him sweet words of reassurance. "Don't worry, you're safe with us now. Jihyo said she'll make you some soup... in the meantime, let's get some rest, yeah?"

But Jaemin was not on planet earth. He was still stuck on what he had witnessed in the hospital. He was stuck on the fact that Jeno, his boyfriend who finally got with him, went to jail. He was taken from Jaemin. His head throbbed in pain, and the chills were never ending. He looked past Lucas as if he was a ghost, too distraught to move, to even breathe. All he could do was stare off at the floor with puffy, tired eyes... all he could think of was Jeno.

"Hey." Lucas gently held the younger's chin after going down on his knees. He furrowed his brows, disturbed by Jaemin's blank face. "Remember... we're going to get through this. Don't you worry about a thing."

But there was still no response.

With a sad sigh, Lucas got back up and turned to Johnny, who was standing in front of the television. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked sternly.

Johnny watched intently at the screen, with the remote in his hand. The news channel was on, at a low volume. And the story was none other than last nights incident at the club... including Jeno's arrest captured on video from someone who somehow gave the reporters evidence.

Johnny threw the remote on the floor. "Fuck!" he yelled. "They're making us look like horrible people..."

"Turn that off," Lucas scolded him. "Why would you put that on right now?!"

"I just..." Johnny turned the television off with the power button on the side of it. "I just don't get it..." Johnny paused. He was getting choked up. He sat on the other end of the couch and rested his face into his hands.

"Me neither." Lucas said. He decided to leave them and went into the kitchen. "Jihyo? Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah," the young woman was busy pouring hot cream soup into a small bowl. "It's ready."

"Thank you... you really didn't have to do that."

"It's no problem. I want to help." Jihyo admitted. She picked up the hot bowl with an oven padding beneath it, to avoid getting burned. She brought it to the dinner table, and then went back to the living room with Lucas.

She approached Jaemin and went down to his level. "Hey... the soup is ready. Let's go to the table, okay?"

Jaemin didn't answer her... but his stomach was growling and hurting so badly. He hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon, so he couldn't deny it now. Jihyo offered her hand and together they walked to the table. Jaemin sat down, with the blanket still wrapped around him, and Jihyo pushed him in. She sat in the seat beside him.

Jaemin glanced down at the soup. It had chunks of vegetables and chicken in the creamy liquid. It smelled delicious but the look of it made his nausea worsen. But because he was so hungry, he picked up the spoon anyways with his bandaged hand.

The chills intensified, even though the house was warm. His hand trembled as he raised the spoon to his mouth. He opened his mouth, ready to let the soup warm him up again. He blew on it first, then put a spoonful in his mouth.

His fingers slip and the spoon drops to the table and then clacks to the floor. After swallowing, his stomach gets queasy and Jaemin covers his mouth. "I'm going to throw up," he cries.