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"Why would she want to come here?" Renjun asked as he momentarily watched Donghyuck hurry around to tidy up the place.

"Can you just help me?" The stressed boy asked as he managed to grab all of the scattered clothing they had laying around.

It had been his sad fate to have to clean for the expense of his friends. He barely had to clean for others in his dorm.

"It looks clean to me," Renjun half-joked to get a reaction out of the male. Yet he still got up to help.

Thankfully it had only been them. Jisung had gone to visit Chenle and Nomin were on a date of their own. At this point nobody questioned it.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted their movements. They both instantly locking eyes with one another before Donghyuck threw the bundle of clothing he had towards Renjun who tried his best to catch them all as they fell.

"Go go go!" Donghyuck urged towards the other boy who was hidden beneath the pile.

He was nervous beyond relief. He mentally cringed at the memory of his confession. She was surely here to talk about what happened. His only wishes were for her to hopefully not turn him down entirely.

He let out a big breath and leveled his breathing before he opened the door.

Aera stood sluggishly against the doorframe as she slowly looked up and met his eyes. Donghyuck watched her smile up at him, a smile of his own forming to match.

"Come in," he stepped aside and nervously watched her hesitate to enter. Eyes wandering around for any of the dream members.

"It's only me and Renjun here," she internally felt relieved to have more privacy. She wished to distract herself from everything she had just left at the hospital. The heartbreaking image of HyunTaes legs flashing in her mind the whole way to the dorm.

"Where's Renjun?" She peeked down the hall for the boy. She flinched at the sound of a door closing shut and Renjun emerged, out of breath and sweating.

"Hello Aera," he breathed out, and visibly tried to act casual as he leaned against a wall. The girl did not miss the look the boys shared, some kind of secret message to which they communicated.

"Sit," Renjun urged as he saw they had all been standing awkwardly around the living room. Aera sat down on the nearest couch to which they followed suit and sat on the opposite side.

Donghyuck stared at his hands nervously. Renjun nudged the boy to get him to speak up. Donghyuck knew that he wanted an answer to his confession but now that she was here and in front of him, he feared rejection. His stomach knotting at the thought that she had come to turn him down.

"Well this was great but I happen to have a great documentary playing," Renjun stood up to walk away but was pulled back by Donghyuck grabbing onto his sleeve.

"It's rude to just leave," the younger boy said through clenched teeth and moved his eyes widely to signal for the boy not to leave.

"I'm sure Aera wants to have a chat-" he looked at the girl who stared star stuck upon being put on the spot.

"Right Aera?" He pressed further as he tried to pry the other's hands off of him. Aera could feel her ears heat up out of embarrassment.

"Uh.. yea," she didn't argue knowing that she did come to talk to Donghyuck in private.

Donghyuck turned to stare at her, his heart accelerating. There was no getting out of this now. Renjun shoved his hands one last time before hiding in his room.

"This is kind of awkward," she rubbed her sweaty hands against her pants to dry them. Her fingers starting to pick at the loose skin on her thumb.

"We usually talk freely so let's not let anything change that," despite how true he wished for his words to be he knew that a lot had changed. Words being the effect of the awkward and unsteady atmosphere that surrounded them and by the second he could only grow angry at himself.

The weeks of feeling the indescribable nervousness and the acceleration of his heart were proof that he saw her more than a friend. And in those weeks he decided to bottle his feelings to avoid her distance. Yet his impulse got the best of him and there she sat. Physically present yet emotionally detached and closed off.

"Aera can we-"

"He's in the hospital," she cut through. Her voice was vulnerable and weak.

"What?" He asked confused at the change of atmosphere.

She finally looked away from her hands and met his confused gaze. Her eyes were lined with tears that were ready to spill. He silently panicked, unsure of her sudden tears and the reason behind them.

"HyunTae he-" she didn't get to finish her sentence before she was interrupted by a sob. Both of her hands shielding her face.

He grabbed both of her wrists and crouched down in front of her. Even though he did not know what had happened he felt a growing worry that caused his pulse to accelerate.

"Hey, Aria.. look at me," he tried his best to calm her down. Learning from before to help her concentrate on him in fear of a panic attack arising.

He cupped her face in his hands and lightly shook her head for her eyes to meet his.

"Aria, baby... I don't like to see you cry," he pleaded desperately. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"He got in a motorcycle accident," he heard her say. His heart feeling out for the guy he had once hated because of his jealousy. He knew he meant a lot to the girl.

"Is he okay?" He rubbed her back in hopes to comfort her.

"His leg-" he could feel her shaking under his embrace so he hugged her tighter.

"Hyuck," she detangled herself from him to stare at his face. His hair covering his forehead and shielding his arched eyebrow that stared at her with concern.

"He won't be able to swim," it finally made some sense to the boy. He thought about what a broken leg would've meant for himself. His dreams and aspirations could be terminated because of it and the same thing went for the swimmer.

He could not mutter any words that would make her feel better. Apologizing would only make HyunTae's fate even more real and that was something she wouldn't want to hear.

"Will he be okay?" She asked the question as she looked at him. Donghyuck knew that it wasn't something she specifically directed at him.

"Eventually," was his only response to ease the crying girl. His thumb softly rubbing her hands.
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a.n: kind of a short chapter :( I'm trying to think of what you guys would like to see and I'm sort of running out of creative ideas. But I'll try not to stop updating.

I also started up collecting Haechan pc's and let me tell you, these are hard times out here. I am going broke :((( in a week I got like 8 pc's/cc's ordered so we're getting there. If any of you guys are selling or trading, please let me know <3

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