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CHAPTER 3

Zhou Mi slept peacefully on the floor beside the bed, his hair messy and his face peaceful. I stared at him from the bed, burrowed deep in the covers and crying silently. Every time I felt a sob coming on I would simply press my face into the pillow to muffle it and then go right back to staring, determined to let him sleep. I marveled at how the sunlight streaming in from the window shone upon his skin, giving him a warm glow, and I sniffled, wishing that I hadn't met Jonghyun in the first place so it wouldn't hurt and I could love Zhou Mi fully.

But you know how heartbreak is. You can't just go straight into another relationship, because then both you and the person you are with know that you are still upset about the breakup. And that never went over well.

Sighing, I wiped my cheeks and looked up at the clock, squinting into the light. It was about eight, the time that Geng had told me I started work. I yawned as I rolled out of bed, carefully stepping around Zhou Mi, and then ran into the problem of clothes. I had none, and I didn't know where Zhou Mi had taken what I was wearing last night. And there was no way his clothes would fit me. Looking back once more at the sleeping man, I slowly opened the door and slipped out, closing it silently behind me.

Then I realized that I had no idea where Geng's room was, or even his office. But seeing as though Zhou Mi's room was at the end of the hall, there was only one way to go, so I set off down the hall hoping to find the front desk where I met Heechul the day before. I walked quickly, the cold floor pricking at my feet and urging me on. When I finally found myself at the gate to get into the ward I sighed in relief and looked through the doorway beside it, finding Geng sitting and typing something into the computer. He craned his neck to look over the counter towards the door before clicking him tongue in disappointment before checking his watch.

"Um, sir?" I said quietly, knowing he was looking for me.

He turned around in surprise and grinned. "Oh Henry! So you were already..." His voice trailed off when he saw my puffy eyes and that I was wearing Zhou Mi's pajamas. His eyes lifted back to mine, and I saw concern there. "You stayed here last night? Why?"

I shuffled my feet and looked down at them, wringing my hands nervously. "Well...I kinda..." I bit my lip. "I couldn't stay at my apartment."

He didn't say anything for a moment, but he reached over and handed me a tissue which I took gratefully, wiping my eyes delicately. "Do you want me to go with you to get your things?" He asked gently, making me look up in surprise. He gave me a friendly smile before standing and walking off towards Zhou Mi's room. "I'll leave Zhou Mi in charge and we'll go now okay? I'll be right back."

As he walked off down the hall I wanted to cry all over again at the kindness. Sniffling, I sat down in the chair and took another tissue before reaching down and tying my shoes properly. Geng came back just then with a jacket on and another draped over his arm.

"Here." He said, handing in to me. "Wear this, yours is in the laundry. Are you okay to go out in that?" He asked, gesturing to my pajamas. I nodded shyly and followed him out through the gate and out onto the street towards my place. Thankfully my place was rather close so we didn't have to walk very far, and Geng didn't ask me any questions. We just walked in a comfortable silence, side by side until we got to the foot of the stair to my floor and I froze, unable to go on.

Geng turned to look at me, already a few steps up the stairs. When he saw the look on my face he came back down and rested a hand on my shoulder. "What happened last night Henry?" He asked, watching me carefully.

I closed my eyes and hung my head. "My boyfriend has been cheating on me. I walking in on him with...with her last night." I shivered from the cold and wiped my eyes, putting on a brave front. "I didn't know where else to go, so I went to the ward and Zhou Mi found me." I started up the stairs with Geng behind me, steeling myself for what was in that apartment.

But when we walked in, it was still like a brick wall hitting me in the face. The girl was in the kitchen, my kitchen, wearing my apron, cooking with my things, while Jonghyun was sprawled on the couch, shirtless, and drinking a beer. He jumped to his feet when we entered and the girl whirled on her heel, both of them staring at us. I knew Han Geng was probably wearing an unfriendly expression, and I simply stared at them, my face unreadable.

"Henry?" Jonghyun stammered, looking at Geng uncomfortably. "What are you doing back here, I wont take you back you know." He shifted his weight to his other leg, eying us suspiciously.

"We're here to get his things." Geng said in a deep, rumbling voice, not at all like he normally talked. I resisted smiling at his antics and just walked past Jonghyun to the bedroom, refusing to look at the sheets, bunched up at the foot of the bed. Geng followed me, stopping in the doorway and turning his back to the room, crossing his arms over his chest like a bodyguard and glaring at Jonghyun. I smiled weakly to myself and pulled a big duffel bag from the closet to stuff clothes in. I grabbed every article of clothing I owned, grateful that it fit in the bag, before moving to the bathroom and taking all my things. Again, I ignored all the cosmetics that were already scattered across the counter. Once my bag was full I returned to the closet for another, having no qualms about taking Jonghyun's bags.

"Geng?" I called softly, smiling when he turned and came to me quickly. "Can you hold this open so I can put all my books and things in it?" He nodded and followed me over to the bookcase and held the bag securely while I piled my extensive collection into it, only just having enough room.

"Think you have enough books Henry?" Geng chuckled to lighten the mood. "You're just as bad as Zhou Mi." I smiled a little, glad to be compared to the angelic man.

Once I had everything from the bedroom, including the pictures of my family and friends from back home, we moved back into the living room area, still ignoring Jonghyun who still stared at us. Wordlessly, I walked right past Jonghyun to the corner where my expensive guitar sat, out of its case. As I was putting it in the case along with the sheet music and my notebook, he tried to stop me.

"You can't take that Henry." He snapped, trying to pull me away from the guitar.

"It's mine!" I snapped back, trying to shake his hand off my arm.

"I was the one who bought it for you!" He practically yelled, yanking me away. But, fortunately for me, Han Geng appeared and grabbed his arm forcefully, pulling him away from me roughly.

"Get your hands off him scum." He growled, protecting me while I put the case safely on my back. I stayed behind him while we made our way to the door, watching Jonghyun warily. As we were exiting, Jonghyun made a move to grab my arm again, but Geng caught his hand and pulled him to him, roughly grabbing his shoulder with one hand and glaring at him menacingly. "If I see you anywhere near him I'll injure you."

I stared at him, puzzled at the strange threat. It wasn't very scary, but I guess paired with his angry face it got the point across, because Jonghyun paled and stepped quickly back into the apartment.

Once we were safely down the stairs and crossing the street, Han Geng let out a huge breath and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly when I looked at him. "Thank God I scared him, I was worried he would call me on that one."

I stared at him. "What do you mean?"

He grinned. "Well I'm a pacifist."

I laughed, forgetting for a moment that my heart was broken.

~ ~ ~

Once we got back to the ward Han Geng told me the bad news.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any more beds. Our last one was given to Lee Sungmin when he was admitted." He explained as we sat in the commons area with Zhou Mi. at the moment, my stuff was piled on the floor in Zhou Mi's room because of this exact dilemma.

"I don't need a bed." I insisted, not wanting to be a bother. "I can just sleep on the floor somewhere."

Zhou Mi shook his head. "Nonsense, you can stay in my room, I'll sleep on the floor."

"I can't take your bed!" I exclaimed, blushing.

"It's really okay, I like sleeping on the floor anyway."

I sighed and put my forehead on the table, closing my eyes. A few seconds later, while Geng and Zhou Mi were talking, I felt hands wrap around my stomach and a warm cheek press between my shoulder blades.

"Henry~ play with me~!" A sweet voice said. When I turned around to see I saw Wookie in jeans and a t-shirt holding his bunny in his arms as he hugged me.

I chuckled and mussed his hair, getting up and following him over to where another person sat in a bean-bag chair, holding a strange object in his lap. "Yesung, Henry said...he would play with us!" Wookie chirped as he sat in the chair with him, the other guy moving a little to make room.

He looked at me and smiled. "I don't think we've met Henry. I'm Yesung." He shook my hand and I smiled back at him. Just then, a head popped out of the thing in his lap, and I realized it was the tortoise I had seen the day before. "And this is Ddangkoma." He laughed, petting the shell slowly. "She's part of the family, so you two should get to know each other." He said seriously, setting her on the ground and letting her wobble over to me. I sat down on the floor and smiled happily, letting her nip at my fingers and petting her shell with my other hand.

"She's awesome." I told Yesung, looking up at him with a huge grin. "I've never been this close to an animal before. My umma never let me have a pet."

"Well that is just tragic." A mean voice said from behind me. When I turned to see who it was, I was startled to see Heechul, the sweet, beautiful man from yesterday, glaring at me angrily, his arms crossed over his chest. "Why don't you just whine about it to the world you fucking pussy." He snapped, completely shocking me. Geng overheard that comment and turned around and ran over quickly, stopping behind him.

"Heechul, that is not nice." He scolded. "Apologize to Henry."

Heechul turned to face Geng and yanked him down by the hair. "Don't tell me what to do." He growled before he kissed him, shocking me further. I just blinked, wondering if there were any straight people at the ward. After a few seconds Geng pulled away.

"Oh dear, okay Heechul." Without warning, he grabbed him around the waist and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder. "Let's go." And with that he disappeared down the hall, Heechul screaming, and leaving us wondering what just happened.

"Don't pay any attention to him." Zhou Mi said to me, sitting down and petting Ddangkoma as well. "He'll be better in about an hour."

I pointed off in the direction they went with my thumb, dumbfounded. "Wasn't he that super sweet guy I met yesterday or am I crazy?"

He chuckled. "Same guy, different personality." At my confused look he clarified. "Heechul has a split personality disorder. He has three different characters. The one you met yesterday was his nice one, and that was his mean one." He paused for a moment. "the mean one usually goes away after sex."

I blinked and looked over to the hall they had disappeared down. "You mean-"

"Yep." He said, shrugging and giving Ddangkoma a soft pat as she slowly made her way back to Yesung. I stared at him and Wookie. Yesung was playing with Wookie's hair as he rested his head in his lap, tossing his bunny up in the air and catching it and doing it again. "The answer to your question is yes." Zhou Mi said with a smile, watching my face.

I shifted my gaze to him. "How did you-"

"Your face says it all." He answered. I simply stared at him.

Wookie sat up abruptly. "Henry, you sure are...doing a lot of...staring today." He said in a concerned voice. "Is everything...okay?"

"Oh, everything's fine Wookie, don't worry." I reassured him. "I just didn't know you two were...well, you know."

Wookie blushed a little and cast a sheepish glance at Yesung, who just smirked. I smiled at them and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. Zhou Mi watched me silently. "Yawning so early in the morning?" He asked, leaning back on his hands.

I stood up, twisting my back to ease a little pain. "I don't know. I guess it's just stress. I'm gonna go visit with some of the patients."

"Just be careful around Kyuhyun, Siwon, and Shindong alright?" He called after me.

I waved him off since I wasn't going to see any of them and walked off down the first hall, stopping at the door to the middle room. After knocking and hearing nothing, I quietly opened the door and peered in, searching for the rooms occupant. He was sitting in the same spot as yesterday, and after shutting the door behind me, I moved to sit beside him with about a foot of space between us. He didn't move when I sat down, or give any sign that he knew I was there for that matter.

"Kibum?" I asked softly pulling my legs to my chest and craning my neck to try to get a look at his face.

Very slowly he lifted his head and looked over at me, and once again I was filled with immense sadness as seeing his face. But that was why I was here. Because I figured if I wanted to be sad and not be fawned over that this was the place to go. "...You're Henry right?" He murmured, resting his cheek on his forearm to look at me.

I nodded, doing the same. "Yeah. I just wanted someone to talk to." I replied.

"What happened to you?"

"I got dumped." I sighed, turning my head to stare at the floor.

"My fiance died." He said sadly, copying me.

"That's rough."

"Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No. Do you?"

"Not really."

We just sat there after that. In a way it was just what I needed, to sit with someone and be sad with them. I started crying shortly after we finished talking, just little hiccuping sobs that I tried to muffle with my arms. To my surprise, Kibum scooted closer to me and sat with our shoulders touching. He didn't say anything, he didn't try to comfort me in any way, and that was the only contact we had. But somehow that said more than anything else. After a few more minutes of me wiping my tears on my bare arm, Kibum jutted out his arm and silently offered me his long sleeve. I turned my head to look at him through tear-filled eyes but he didn't turn to do the same, he just sat there with his arm sticking out. I muttered a small thank you and wiped the tears off my cheeks with the long, baggy sleeve, my crying turning to sniffles until if eventually stopped.

"I cried a lot after it happened." Kibum whispered, catching my attention. He turned to look at me with those sad eyes of his. "Eventually the tears stop coming. But the pain...the pain never goes away." He was done after that, I could tell.

"Thank you Kibum." I whispered as I climbed to my feet and exited the room. Although I knew that your fiance dying was a lot different that getting dumped, but his words rattled around in my head for a long time after that.