Tsumori reluctantly turned to face his subordinate.

Time froze at that moment for Nowaki. At least, that's what it felt like to him. He had returned from wheeling in a patient to the operating room to remove a bullet from his leg. Upon returning, he noticed from a distance that Tsumori had a surprised look on his face while reading another patient's file. As Nowaki quietly approached him from behind, he was able to read the file name. He was briefly in denial, trying to convince himself that it was another person who happened to have the same name as Hiro-san. But when he instinctively called out Hiroki's nickname and saw the remorseful and concerned look in Tsumori's eyes when he turned around, then he knew it was true.

Tsumori spoke, as an attempt to defuse the current situation.

"Listen Nowaki, I-"

And in a flash, Nowaki snatched the file from his sempai's hands and ran into the ER desperately trying to find his lover.

'No, No, NO! This can't be happening!' he screamed in his head. He frantically looked through the different patients coming in. Seeing Tsumori coming after him, Nowaki tried to run to the operating section where the patients were being wheeled to. His attempt to find Hiroki/escape from Tsumori failed as he was able to catch him before he could go any further.

"Nowaki!" Tsumori shook him by the shoulders. "You cannot take this case! This has gotten way too personal for you to get involved."

Nowaki wiped the tears already steaming down his face while he begged Tsumori to let him go.

"P-Please, sempai! I have to s-see Hiro-san! I have to..." he trailed off as he crumpled to the floor of the ER, openly sobbing. Tsumori quickly kneeled down and helped him off the ground to the floor's doctor's lounge. In the lounge, they both sat down and Nowaki immediately weeped onto Tsumori's shoulder. Tsumori didn't even flinch at the sudden action; only by gently running his hand up and down his back and whispering words of comfort was Tsumori's way of soothing him. He knew it wasn't working, but he also knew that it was better than nothing.

"Shh, it'll be okay. He's going to be alright."

"Oh my God, please let him be ok. P-Please. I c-can't lose h-him..." More tears came and stained Tsumori's labcoat, but he didn't care. All he wanted was for Hiroki to be alive and for Nowaki to be happy. He just couldn't stand to see him like this. After several minutes of crying, Nowaki spoke again.

"I love him so much." he choked out.

"I know you do." Tsumori said in agreement.

"I don't know what I'd do without Hiro-san." he felt the tears well up in the corners of his eyes again.

He continued. "I can't imagine my life without him. After everything that we've been through, I realized a long time ago that he's my everything and I would do anything for him." His voice started shaking. "And now h-he'll probably never k-know that."

"Of course he knows you love him."

Nowaki sat himself up off of Tsumori. He hung his head and stared at the ground as he spoke.

"Yes, but I want officially profess my love to him. I wanted to give him something that every time he looked at it, he would always remember that I gave it to him because I loved him so much. Something that I worked so hard for..."

"What are you talking about" Tsumori questioned.

From his pocket, Nowaki produced a small, black velvet box and handed it to his sempai. Tsumori's eyes widened as he opened the box, absolutely shocked at the beautiful ring that was in front of him. The band was gold, with a heart-shaped diamond garnished at the top. Even through the lighting wasn't the best in the world in the lounge, the diamond glimmered and shined brightly in the box. Carefully taking the ring out, he saw inside the band was Hiroki's name engraved in it. Finally, after gawking at the ring for so long, he spoke up.

"Nowaki, the ring is beautiful!"

Nowaki just silently took the ring back, his head still to the floor.

Tsumori continued. "Heh, I guess that explains all that overtime..." he dryly chuckled.

Nowaki then buried his face in his hands. A new set of tears quickly followed. Tsumori, surprised at the unexpected reaction, wrapped his arms around him and again tried to console his friend.

'Please, please let him be alive. Nowaki doesn't deserve to suffer like this.'

His thoughts were interrupted as a doctor stood in front of the opening of the doorway holding a patient's file caught his attention.

A/N: Another short chapter, and just 4 days before Christmas!

I'm sorry that this chapter is also short, but I promise the next one will be longer. I just hope you guys can accept his as an early Christmas gift/apology chapter since it will probably be a while for me to upload the next chapter. School and work really take up so much time.

On a brighter note, Happy Holidays to all!