All the way to work, Hyunjin was so busy with his thoughts that he almost forgot to take his turn.

The psychiatric hospital was located a bit outside of Seoul to provide residents with a quieter, less stressful environment.

Actually, Hyunjin knew the way by now as if in his sleep, but the thoughts of Felix's father and of course Chan, ensured that he paid little attention to the road.

He wondered what Felix's father could have wanted, but he couldn't think of a suitable answer. As far as he knew, Felix had had no contact with his father since he had moved out quite hastily.

Sighing, Hyunjin shook his head and focused on the street again. It was still quite dark outside, but that didn't really bother him. Not too long ago, he had often gone for a night walk with Felix after university. Had brought him home and far too often noticed how his parents fought.

He was glad that Felix was now living with him. Not only because he had company, but above all because he could see how his best friend blossomed and was more himself again. Apart from that, the time he spent with Minho apparently also seemed to help him.

The thought of the two finally made Hyunjin smile again and his mood got better.

He wondered why Felix already knew where Minho's bed was, but actually it amused him more than it surprised him. Felix loved cuddling and needed physical closeness almost as much as the air to breathe. Which had somehow been the reason why they had become friends.

Still smiling, Hyunjin parked in the employee parking lot and got out immersed in thoughts of his best friend.

The first pink streaks announced that the sun would soon rise and he decided to spend the morning with the residents in the garden if Yuna would let him.

Because, as he had noticed, Chan was often drawn to the garden. And even though he knew that he probably should have kept his distance from the older, he longed to see him.

And maybe be able to talk to him.

If he was honest with himself, he behaved like a teenager in love, but somehow he couldn't really change that.

With quick steps he walked to the side entrance, unlocked the door and went into the men's locker room. He liked to slip into his work clothes, because he didn't have to worry about his appearance at all. And it made sure that he somehow belonged here, even though he was actually just doing an internship.

With trained fingers he tied his blonde hair into a ponytail, put on his white sneakers and was ready for work.

Yuna was already sitting in the ward kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee and still looked pretty tired. "Good morning, little one."

"Hii," Hyunjin replied with a grin, realizing how excited he sounded.

"God, how can you be in such a good mood at this unholy time?"

"That's how it is when you're still young," Hyunjin teased and got a slap on the arm for it.

"Take a cup of coffee and let's go to the handover. The day already feels infinitely long." Yuna stood up yawning and watched the younger as he poured himself the coffee and then drowned it with milk.

⍭〄⍭

The breakfast had been relatively quiet at first, but at some point several residents had started screaming at each other and throwing food, which cause that pretty much all caretakers and therapists had been needed to get the situation under control again.

Hyunjin had looked around in panic to find Chan and Jeongin and saw with relief that Chan was standing protectively in front of Jeongin and was staring badly at everyone who was close to him.

Hyunjin had been ordered to bring the peaceful residents back to their rooms, which he had been really glad about.

But since Chan and Jeongin had sat quite far back in the room, the situation was almost under control again when he was finally able to take the two to their rooms.

"Hi Hyunjin," muttered Jeongin, who was different from usually, not smile.

"Hello Innie. Everything okay?" Hyunjin asked softly, but couldn't stop his gaze from turning to Chan, who smiled at him in surprise.

"Yeah... Chan took care of me," Jeongin whispered, abruptly stopping in front of his room door. "Thank you..." he whispered and wrapped his arms around Chan, who returned the gesture with a soft smile.

"Anytime, Little One."

With that, Jeongin disappeared into his room and Chan and Hyunjin were alone for the first time in what felt like ages.

"Hi Chan..."

"Hello Hyunjin."

Silently they walked side by side and neither of them really knew what to say.

"How are your cats?" Chan finally asked, as they stood in front of his bedroom door.

"Good, even if they still haven't gotten any names yet." With an uncertain smile on his lips, Hyunjin rubbed his neck. "I... I couldn't bring you any flowers, no flower shop was open that early," he said softly.

"It's okay..."

The smile on Chan's lips only slipped for a second, but Hyunjin had seen it very closely. Which directly made him feel terrible.

He wants to say something, but Chan had already opened the door to his room and had disappeared in it.

"Shit," Hyunjin murmured barely audibly and entered the room behind the older.

He stopped in surprise. He hadn't been to Chan's room for quite a while, because he had seen him in the garden, eating or in the lounges, if at all.

The room had changed. Although there wasn't big. changes, it now looked much more lively. The curtains had now been put back on. There were some books on the shelf on the wall and someone had hung pictures from the painting therapy group on the wall. But when Hyunjin took a closer look, he discovered that it was Jeongin's name on the drawings.

And although he liked the younger one and it was his own idea that they should befriend each other, he felt a sting in his heart.

But instead of saying something, he bit his lower lip and finally turned to Chan, who watched him expectantly.

"I... I know where my dog is by now..." Chan whispered, looking like it was hard for him not to burst into tears.

"That's... good, isn't it?"

Chan nodded slowly, but at the same time looked damn insecure and unhappy. "She's... with my best friend..." he whispered, chewing nervously on his nail. "Which means he knows where I am..."

"But if he's your best friend, then he'll understand. And be there for you when you need it."

"I don't want him to worry about me... he's having a hard time himself," Chan whispered and that was the moment when tears ran down his cheeks.

With slow, uncertain steps, Hyunjin walked up to Chan and felt his heart beat up to his neck. "Sometimes people are stronger than we would think."

He suppressed the desire to sit next to Chan and pull him into his arms, but he grabbed his hand and gently caressed the back of his hand.

"It's too late anyway... the therapist has already called him and invited him to come here. Tomorrow afternoon," Chan murmured, leaning his head against Hyunjin's arm.

"Well, luckily I have a late shift tomorrow."

Which actually caused Chan to raise his head and smile uncertainly at him. "Maybe... maybe you can be there...?"

"I will do my best to be there!"

Relieved, Chan nodded, broke away from Hyunjin and sank into his bed.

"Don't you have therapy soon?"

"No, in about two hours. On Wednesdays I always have therapy before lunch and I think I'll try to get some sleep before. The night wasn't that good," Chan muttered, closing his eyes.

"Oh okay... sleep well then."

Hyunjin quietly left the room and closed the door behind him. He understood Chan. If it had been up to him, he would still be lying in bed now or at least again after getting up for a small breakfast. But instead he had to work.

He stopped abruptly and thought hard about whether he had fed the cats in the morning or not.

With a quietly murmured "Fuck" he made his way to the staff kitchen, where they also had their compartments for their bags.

He had to search Felix and his chat for quite a while to find Minho's number, which he still hadn't saved until now.

Actually, he could have asked Felix directly, but he didn't feel comfortable sending the younger one alone to the apartment.

Hey Minho,
I'm not sure if I
fed the cats earlier... can
you maybe look after
them together with Felix?

He was about to put the phone back in his bag when a reply came from Minho.

Sure. When Felix
wakes up, we'll
get on our way.

Relieved, he stuffed his phone back into his bag, just at the moment Yuna came into the kitchen. She looked quite exhausted and a little annoyed.

"I swear I'm going to have at least twenty more gray hairs because of this day." Sighing, she let herself fall on the bench made of fake black leather.

"Fortunately, there are not too many of these days. Otherwise all your hair would be gray by now," Hyunjin chuckled, pouring two cups of coffee and placing one in front of Yuna as he sat down next to her.

"You're lucky I'm too tired to fight you," Yuna grumbled, reaching for her coffee.

From then on, the hours dragged on quite a bit and when they finally sat at the handover, Hyunjin was about to put his head on his arms and just fall asleep.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂