It was almost eight at night. Kangin and Leeteuk walked back to the dormitory, occasionally exchanging a few comments here and there. When they entered the 12th floor dormitory, they found everyone huddled around a table set up in the living room, munching on chicken.

"HYUNG!"

Within seconds, Ryeowook had gotten up from his place, ran over and engulfed Leeteuk in a big bear hug.

"Leeteuk hyung, where did you go?"

"Have you eaten dinner?"

"Yah Ryeowook, let hyung have some space and catch his breath!"

With Eunhyuk's intervention, the interrogation by Ryeowook thankfully ended. Leeteuk gave a wane smile.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry for worrying you. I just wanted to take a walk at the park. And yeah, I have already eaten dinner on my own."

"Oh it's okay hyung! You look tired, do you want to sleep first? We can catch up tomorrow!"

"Yeah, that would be good. Thanks guys, don't sleep too late okay? You all have practice tomorrow."

Leeteuk walked back into his room and closed the door. The members shrugged and went about finishing their dinner and going back to their respective floors and rooms. When their manager came, they told him that Leeteuk had turned in already. Their manager shrugged and left, saying that they will have a meeting tomorrow then, at the practice rooms. They were to wait for him at 7.30am tomorrow morning to go to the company to practice the choreography for their upcoming album. The members didn't find Leeteuk's behavior weird. On his past few visits back to the dorm, he always turned in early. It must be tough in the army, they thought.

Except Kangin.

Kangin excused himself from dinner, saying that he didn't feel that hungry. He went into his room and sat on his bed. He knew that Leeteuk hadn't eaten. Leeteuk didn't really like to eat outside of the dorm. He said it was unhealthy to eat out too often, and he preferred cooking at home. Kangin knew Leeteuk didn't cook in the dorms. The rubbish bin was empty, save for a few empty drink packets, just like how it was when they had left the dorm earlier this morning.

Leeteuk's behavior felt off. Leeteuk rarely lied, and he would never skip a meal. But Kangin didn't know what was happening.

Troubled, Kangin lied down on his bed, thinking, until exhaustion took over and he drifted off to a restless sleep.

On the other hand, Leeteuk was awake. After he had excused himself from the company of his members and isolated himself inside the room, he had sat down on his bed, leaning against the wall.

It was now near 2am in the morning. Leeteuk had not moved from his position since he sat down. He didn't particularly thought of anything. He just sat there, in a daze. His head was pounding hard and his stomach rumbled softly.

I should really get some sleep.

Leeteuk stood up to change out of his now-dried clothes. A wave of dizziness washed over him and black spots clouded his vision.

What is happening…

It was 7am in the morning. Everyone was awake and Ryeowook was making breakfast.

"Hey! Breakfast is ready! We need to be downstairs in thirty minutes! So hurry up!"

"Yah someone go wake Leeteuk hyung up! I haven't seen him come out of his room!"

"I will get him!"

Donghae walked over to Leeteuk's room and gave a tentative knock.

"Hyung? Breakfast is ready and we need to leave in thirty minutes?"

There was no response. This time, Donghae gave two hard knocks.

"Hyung?"

Donghae tried to open the door, but the door was locked. Kangin happened to walk past and stopped.

"Is he not awake yet?"

"I don't know. He's not responding to my knocks and the door is lock."

Kangin tried knocking again but to no avail. Donghae ran to get the room keys in the living room and fumbled to find the one that fit Leeteuk's room. With a click, the door unlocked and Donghae and Kangin rushed into the room.

"YAH HYUNG!"

"SOMEONE CALL THE AMBULANCE!"

"What? Why? What happened?"

"Oh my god someone call the ambulance!"

"Huh what happened?!"

"YAH LEETEUK HYUNG FAINTED SOMEONE CALL THE BLOODY AMBULANCE AND STOP ASKING!"

It was a flurry of activity and panic in the dorm. Someone called the ambulance, another called the manager. Siwon ran up to get the other members who were still in the other the dorm.

Heechul burst into the room, worry etched on his face.

"Kangin, what the hell happened? Why did hyung faint?"

Kangin shrugged.

"I don't know, when we came in he was already on the floor. He feels really hot though."

Heechul sighed in frustration and bent down to touch the leader's body.

"Oh my god he's burning. WHERE IS THE BLOODY AMBULANCE?!"

"It's coming it's coming! I can hear the sirens"

Heechul, Kangin and a representative from the company waited outside the emergency room, where Leeteuk had just been wheeled into 20 minutes before. Heechul was pacing up and down, frustration and worry evident on his face. Kangin stared into blank air, in a daze. The rest of the members had protested when told they could not go to the hospital, but the company did not want this to leak into the media. Kangin and Heechul had insisted vehemently to accompany Leeteuk, and the company relented after making sure Kangin and Heechul took off their makeup, wore hats, masks and jackets.

Just then, the door of the emergency room opened and a doctor walked out.

"Family of Park Jungsu?"

The three men jumped up immediately.

"We are his members, how is he? Will he be okay? Why did he faint?"

"Oh it's nothing too much. Just exhaustion and a high fever. His blood glucose levels were low so we have him on an IV drip. We will keep him for observation but he should be able to leave in a day or two if his fever subsides. You can visit him in Ward 2A bed 20. He's still sleeping though."

The three men thanked him and the doctor left. Heechul and Kangin got permission to stay until lunch as the representative had to return to the company. They hurriedly made their way up to the ward.

Leeteuk had just woken up. His head was still spinning and his throat was parched. He could feel that his hand was hooked up to a drip. I must be in the hospital. He slowly sat up and wanted to go to the washroom. He felt nauseous and wanted to throw up. He could vaguely make out the setup of his room. It was a single bed ward, with an attached toilet just ten steps away.

"Hyung!"

"Yah hyung why are you sitting up?"

He could recognize those voices. It belonged to his members. Kangin… and Heechul.

"Feel like… throwing up… want to go… washroom… but my head hurts… everything is spinning"

Leeteuk coughed and held his head. It hurt so bad. He could feel it burning. I must have a fever.

His members were alarmed and Kangin rushed to get a basin from the washroom.

"Yah hyung! Don't move! Kangin went to get a basin from the washroom. Throw up in that. You shouldn't get off the bed, you are in no condition to!"

A basin was thrust in his hands and Leeteuk threw up. His throat hurt.

"I'm sorry"

"You have nothing to be sorry for! Get some rest okay? We will be here till lunch. Do you need anything else?"

"Wa..water."

Heechul grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand and gently gave it to the leader. After taking a few sips, Leeteuk let out a groan and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he had fallen asleep.

Kangin nudged Heechul and motioned for him to leave the room quietly. Once they were out of the room, they closed the door gently.

"He didn't eat anything yesterday you know… All he threw up was gastric acid."

"What!? Didn't he say he ate?"

"Yeah… but he lied. He didn't. I found him in a park… you know, the place he always go to when something's troubling him. I found him sleeping, sitting against a tree. His shirt was drenched, I think he got caught in the rain. Come to think of it, when we found him earlier this morning, he was still wearing that same shirt. I think he didn't change out. He must have caught a cold."

"Why didn't you make him eat then!? If you knew something was off, why didn't you ask him?!"

"I… I don't know. It's just… he's been like this you know… since he enlisted. Especially since... you know."

Thanks for to cherjeanne for the review! It was really motivating and great to hear from a reader! I really appreciate reviews so thank you for taking time to write a short note!

First off, sorry for the late update. I've been really caught up in schoolwork and this year is a really important one for me. Nevertheless, writing helps me to vent my frustration and I like to write (:

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Love,

Lyn