Conceal

26. Please

A series of long-lasting, aggressive car honks roused Jooheon from his sleep. He blinked away the sleepiness as he tried to sit up - and almost collapsed from the pain once again. The sky was still dark, but Jooheon had a feeling that he had passed out for way too long. Looking at his surroundings, he was reminded of the conversation with Flame. Urgency and desperation flooded his brain in an instant, and all the pain he felt turned into numbness.

At this time of the day, and with this appearance, walking was the only option. So Jooheon did exactly that. He had to warn his friends no matter what; it was what he meant to do from the beginning anyway.

With his better hand, he knocked on Wonho's apartment door as loud as he could. Even without bruises, his hand still hurt after banging on the hard wood repeatedly. He was afraid Wonho wouldn't hear him, but he told himself he had to stop panicking if he didn't want to pass out again.

After a few moments, the door finally opened and Jooheon stumbled into his friend's apartment.

Jooheon immediately spotted the worried and shocked look on Wonho, but he looked away. He refused to let guilt overwhelm him before he even started was he came here to do.

Wonho mumbled something like "oh jesus" as he carried Jooheon to a chair.

Once Jooheon drank some water, and had wiped off most of the blood on his body with the wet towel Wonho gave him, Wonho finally spoke up. Up till this point, no one said a word, and the silence grew bigger and heavier with each passing moment, as if it was a barrier that shouldn't be broken. Because once it was, there was no going back.

"You know what, I'm not going to ask." Wonho's voice was quiet, but it wasn't because he woke up in the middle of the night. It sounded as if he had trouble projecting his voice. "I'm bringing you to the hospital."

Wonho stood up. "Please don't." Jooheon croaked. Why was his throat still dry even after a whole cup of water? "I'm fine." Jooheon tried to sound as convincing as possible, but from the look on Wonho's face, he knew he didn't do a good job.

"Are you kidding me?" Wonho's voice got louder this time, but it faded off quickly, as if he couldn't decide whether to be angry or concerned. "This is the farthest away from 'fine' as you can possibly get! You..." Wonho sighed and trailed off as he sat back down. Using his elbows to support his head, he grabbed the roots of his hair. "I shouldn't have let you go..."

Jooheon tried his best to ignore the words, but it was impossible. Fresh hot tears were already making their way into Jooheon's eyes. The pain in his heart was now greater than all of the wounds on his body combined. He had to finish what he came here to do - quickly. "I know this is all shocking and hard to take in, but just listen to me for a while, alright? That's all I ask of you. You don't have to believe me, and you can hate me all you want for making you worry so much. I'm sorry...but will you hear me out?"

Wonho nodded subtly. He didn't look up, but his hands rubbed across his cheeks a few times.

"On Kihyun's birthday, Kihyun-hyung will probably go out with Shownu-hyung on a date." The couple did every single year since they started dating, so this wasn't a surprise for Wonho. "You have to stop them. Don't let them leave their house. You're the only one who can warn Kihyun. Please."

Wonho finally looked up. His eyes were red, but dry. He was staring at Jooheon, waiting for him to elaborate, but no explanation came. "What? Do you expect me to just believe you and do exactly as you say? Look, I know it's hard, but you have to start telling me — telling us — things." Neither of them were looking at each other.

"We're even struggling to look at each other now. We're friends, but I feel disconnected. I don't know what went wrong, but everyone has a hard time once in a while, right? Trust me, I want to fix this and go back to normal, but to do that we have to stop hiding and start talking. I don't even know what's going on, but you seem like you have no time to waste. Please, Jooheon. Tell me what's going on."