Taekook and the ECLIPSE

44 | In His Black Eyes

"Yeah, I sort of thought it might be like that." He sighed. "Today has definitely taken a turn for the worse. First I pick the wrong place, miss the best fight, and Yeonjun gets all the glory. Then Danielle has to be an idiot trying to prove she's as tough as the rest of us and I have to be the idiot who saves her. And now this." He waved his left hand toward me where I hesitated by the door.

"How are you feeling?" I mumbled. What a stupid question.

"A little stoned. Dr. Fang isn't sure how much pain medication I need, so he's going with trial and error. Think he overdid it."

"But you're not in pain."

"No. At least, I can't feel my injuries," he said, smiling mockingly again.

I bit my lip. I was never going to get through this. Why didn't anyone ever try to kill me when I wanted to die?

The wry humor left his face, and his eyes warmed up. His forehead creased, like he was worried. "How about you?" he asked, sounding really concerned.
"Are you okay?"

"Me?" I stared at him. Maybe he had taken too many drugs."Why?"

"Well, I mean, I was pretty sure that he wouldn't actually hurt you, but I wasn't sure how bad it was going to be. I've been going a little crazy with worrying about you ever since I woke up. I didn't know if you were going to be allowed to visit or anything. The suspense was terrible. How did it go? Was he mean to you? I'm sorry if it was bad. I didn't mean for you to have to go through that alone. I was thinking I'd be there. . . ."

It took me a minute to even understand. He babbled on, looking more and more awkward, until I got
what he was saying. Then I hurried to reassure him.

"No, no, Minghyu! I'm fine. Too fine, really. Of course he wasn't mean. I wish!"

His eyes widened in what looked like horror."What?"

"He wasn't even mad at me — he wasn't even mad at you! He's so unselfish it makes me feel even worse. I wish he would have yelled at me or something. It's not like I don't deserve . . . well, much worse than getting yelled at. But he doesn't care. He just wants me to be happy. "

"He wasn't mad?" Minghyu asked, incredulous.

"No. He was . . . much too kind."

Minghyu stared for another minute, and then he suddenly frowned. "Well,damn !" he growled.

"What's wrong, Minghyu? Does it hurt?" My hands fluttered uselessly as I looked around for his medication.

"No," he grumbled in a disgusted tone. "I can't believe this! He didn't give you an ultimatum or anything?"

"Not even close — what's wrong with you?"

He scowled and shook his head. "I was sort of counting on his reaction. Damn it all. He's better than I thought."

The way he said it, though angrier, reminded me of Taehyung's tribute to Minghyu's lack of ethics in the tent
this morning. Which meant that Minghyu was still hoping, still fighting. I winced as that stabbed deep.

"He's not playing any game, Minghyu," I said quietly.

"You bet he is. He's playing every bit as hard as I am, only he knows what he's doing and I don't. Don't blame me because he's a better manipulator than I am — I haven't been around long enough to learn all his tricks."