With a satisfied smile, Hyunjin watched Felix, who sat on the floor together with Minho and played with the kittens.

Their knees were touching and although Felix seemed very calm, Hyunjin knew that the younger one was just going crazy inside.

"I have to go.. Have fun," Hyunjin said with a grin, but Felix didn't even raise his head to look at him.

"Mhm, have fun at work," he said and glanced at Minho, who had one of the kittens on his lap and gently stroked the tiny head.

"See you later BABE," Hyunjin said with a provocative grin and shook his head when he saw Felix blushing.

Minho watched the younger one with a grin. "Sweet," he said quietly and reached for Felix's hand, which caused Hyunjin to leave the apartment with a satisfied smile and he finally went to work.

In all the excitement about the kittens, he had forgotten to ask Felix for the recipe for the brownies and he was a little annoyed about himself.

And yet he was somehow looking forward to work. Even though he didn't really want to admit it, he was looking forward to seeing Chan again and maybe seeing more of him than just before the night's rest began.

After he had changed, he walked through the corridors to the base in a good mood and again noticed how different the mood was during the day, compared to his night shifts.

In the afternoon, group therapy often took place, in addition to open leisure offers in which patients could voluntarily participate.

Yuna was already waiting for him at the base and smiled when she saw him. "Hey little one."

"You already know that I'm taller than you?" Hyunjin said with a grin and hugged her briefly.

"Wisdom, little one. It's about wisdom," Yuna replied with a superior smile and then had to grin when she saw Hyunjin sticking out his tongue.

"Come on, we'll make our rounds and then we'll see that we get the shift done as relaxed as possible."

Unlike usually during their rounds, Hyunjin walked silently next to Yuna and thought feverishly about how he should address the topic of baking with the patients. Because actually they were only responsible for the care of patients and not for leisure activities.

"What's going on? Something is bothering you," Yuan asked at some point when they had almost arrived at the base again.

Sighing, Hyunjin stopped and bit his lower lip. "I... uhm.. I know that we are not responsible for the free time of the patients, but actually I would really like to offer an afternoon with a baking workshop... Jeongin had given me the idea..." he murmured and looked at his fingers, as he didn't dare to look at his colleague.

Smiling, Yuna put a hand on his shoulder, which led to him finally looking at her. "I have to ask first, but I don't know what should be against it."

Relieved, Hyunjin exhaled and Yuna noticed how his body relaxed significantly.

"Come on, we only have the green lounge on our round and then I'll go ask," she said with a smile, knowing that Chan was in the lounge.

They had different lounges, with different thematic areas and the green one was the relaxation room, in which the main focus should be on peace and relaxation.

There were bookshelves with a wide variety of books available and was also the only lounge where soft music played.

Chan sat alone, at the very back of the room on one of the window sills and had a book in his hands, but stared out of the window.

"Go to him, I'm going to ask about the baking," Yuna whispered with a smile and gently pushed Hyunjin in Chan's direction.

Hyunjin looked after her until she disappeared around the corner and then actually walked towards Chan.

"Hello Chan," he said quietly and sat down hesitantly next to the older.

A small smile appeared on the older's lips and he turned to Hyunjin. "Hello."

For a moment, they sat next to each other in silence.

"My flowers are slowly wilting..." Chan murmured and looked at the younger one unhappy.

"I don't know how much longer I'll be able to pick them from the garden, but I'll get you some fresh ones later before my shift ends," Hyunjin said with a smile and had the strong need to reach for the elder's hand, but didn't dared to.

"Thank you," Chan whispered and looked out the window again.

He seemed very absorbed in his thoughts, even if Hyunjin couldn't really tell if that was something good or bad.

Just when he wanted to get up and leave the older one alone again, he turned back to him.

"Do you prefer dogs or cats?"

Surprised, Hyunjin looked at him. "Hmm difficult question... I used to have a dog when I still lived with my... my parents... uhm and since today I'm probably a cat dad.. and yet I can't really answer the question for you. I generally like animals very much... and you...?"

Chan smiled sadly.

"We have a dog... her name is Berry. But I have no idea who is taking care of her right now..." Chan murmured and sounded so sad that Hyunjin couldn't help it and reached for his hand.

"I can ask if they know anything about her," Hyunjin said quietly and brushed his thumb over the back of Chan's hand.

Chan nodded, unable to answer anything.

Hyunjin suppressed a sigh. He wanted to help Chan so bad but just didn't know how.

"Can we... can we go for a walk outside for a bit?" Chan finally asked quietly.

"Of course. Come with me."

After he took a deep breath, Hyunjin let go of Chan's hand and stood up.

The elder followed him on the way to the base, where Yuna sat and talked to one of the therapists.

Hyunjin waited until the two had finished speaking and then smiled at Yuna crookedly. "Can we go into the garden?"

Smiling, Yuna looked from Hyunjin to Chan and then to the therapist who was still standing next to her.

"Sure," she finally said and winked at Hyunjin, who bit his lower lip to suppress his swearing. Yuna just knew him too well and knew how to tease him.

"Thank you," he muttered and walked ahead insanely blushing towards the exit.

Chan followed him and actually had to smile when he saw the Hyunjin trying to hide how uncomfortable the whole thing made him.

He noticed again that he felt a little lighter near the younger one. A little less desperate.

When he realized where Hyunjin led him, his smile only became wider.

Shortly afterwards, they sat at the pond with the water lilies and Chan put his fingers in the cool water.

"What are the names of your cats?"

"Uhm, we haven't given them any names yet. I forgot to ask Felix what he would like to name them," Hyunjin said thoughtfully and had to smile at the thought of his best friend.

"The one with the brownies?"

Hyunjin nodded. "Yeah.. he probably lives with me somehow now."

Chan went silent and fished a stick out of the water.

"My best friend doesn't even know I'm here..." he finally murmured. Although he wasn't even sure if he would want that at all.

He hadn't thought of him since the accident and somehow the thought of leaving him all alone drove him crazy.

On the other hand, the loss of his family weighed incredibly heavily and he had the feeling that the burden simply would crush him at any moment and immobilized him.

"Would you tell me about him?" Hyunjin asked quietly.

But Chan shook his head. "Maybe another time," he murmured.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂