Pain twitched through Chan's body as he regained consciousness, so violent that he screamed in panic.

The blue light of the fire brigade and the ambulance were reflected on the wet asphalt. Voices from above him passed dully to him, as if through thick cotton wool.

"You're safe, we're taking care of you," a calm voice suddenly appeared next to him. He felt a hand gently resting on his shoulder, as if it would calm him down. As if that could fill the emptiness in him.

"... papers with him...?"

There were hands on his body again, fingers rummaging through his clothes.

"No papers, no cell phones. Unknown patient.." Gloved fingers were searching him again and suddenly he felt cold metal on his leg. Heard his pants being cut without really understanding why.

The night air gnawed at his skin, raw and merciless leaving him stripped bare to strangers' mercy.

He was no stranger. He was Chan.

"Stay with us! We just want to help!"

Light dazzled in his eyes and he tried to pull his head away, but he was held.

"... male, mid-twenties..."

"... Thigh fracture, left..."

Panting, he curled up as his stomach rebelled. Panicking, he wanted to turn to the side, but immediately a weight held him down and hands carefully but firmly turned him to the side, positioning his legs and arms. Another lay on his shoulder and then carefully helped him to turn his head to the side.

Choking, he vomited the disgusting, glibbery lunch on the street and gasped hard. The taste was even worse than at the meal earlier and he grimaced in disgust.

"... concussion..."

"... several rib fractures..."

Every word carved him deeper into panic. The list of damage became heavier than the pain itself, a sentence written over his body that he couldn't protest against.

He wasn't able to explain anything. Not to say what his name was or where he came from. Instead, only a faint moan came out of his throat.

Strangers' hands were on his body. Feeling him, the pressure was unbearable. It felt like his leg was torn and he just wanted to leave, but couldn't move. Felt grotesquely foreign, as if it no longer belonged to him.

The voices around him became more frantic, hands held him, carefully lifted him onto a stretcher. "... to the hospital, now! Prepare the operation..."

It rumbled when he was pushed into the ambulance, the light was much too bright.

Chan stared at his arm, watching the paramedic put an access on him and attached an IV with clear fluid dripping into his veins, but his mind couldn't process any of it.

The siren sounded much too loud in his ears, each wail drilled into his skull, blending with the pounding of his heart and he wondered why the ambulance wasn't protected by sound. Even before he could laugh at his crazy thoughts, he lost consciousness again.

Only when the ambulance came to a stop almost abruptly, he regained consciousness and noticed how he was pushed into the emergency room. A mask pressed hard and angular into his face, the smell of disinfectant burned unpleasantly in his nose.

"... we have to operate you immediately, do you have any allergies that we should know about...?"

Chan shook his head in a daze and stared at the young doctor in front of him. Blue eyes watched him very attentively and burned into his brain.

"... how heavy and how tall are you...?"

But Chan couldn't really react anymore, although his height and weight immediately appeared in his thoughts, he just couldn't answer him.

"We have to go to the OR, now!"

Lights flickered above him and again he heard dull rattling of wheels. Felt how he was pushed somewhere.

Confused, he tried to understand what was happening. Why the lights above him were white and no longer blue.

Just before he fell asleep, he saw those incredibly penetrating, somehow beautiful blue eyes again.

Jeongin stood outside in front of the emergency room, thinking hard about whether it would be worth begging someone for a cigarette.

Not that he would normally smoke, but his heart was so in turmoil about what had happened to Hyunjin that he didn't really know how to handle it well.

But it was cold and wet outside, so no one really stood in front of the building for long. Most of them hurried into the building or back to their cars, no one stopped near him.

With trembling fingers, he rubbed his bare upper arms. He was supposed to be in the examination room a while ago, but he had needed a moment for himself.

A moment to take a deep breath and realize what had just happened.

In his mind, he begged every god and spiritual creature he knew that Hyunjin would get well again, but that was all he could do.

Just as he was about to step back into the protective warmth of the emergency room, sirens approached and he quickly stepped aside.

Hectic and bustle broke out right after the ambulance had stopped.

The doors were pushed open, doctors came from the emergency room to receive the patient and a young man with wet brown hair was pushed out of the ambulance.

Jeongin froze.

The clothes— so unmistakably the "uniform" of the patients of the psychiatric hospital. The brown hair and those insanely full, soft lips—

His heart raced and his knees threatened to give in under him, while tears burned in his eyes.

He rubbed them in shock. Pinched roughly into his arm, hoping that this wasn't real.

But as the pain twitched through him, his throat tightened and it felt like he couldn't breathe for a few terrible, endless seconds. As if someone were taking his breath away, without mercy.

Chan lay on the stretcher.

His Chan. The one who had persuaded him to do painting therapy. Had been there for him, even though he himself was so bad. The one who tried to protect him and Hyunjin.

Some bitter tears ran down his cheeks, but Jeongin wiped them away angrily. He had to be strong right now. He had to know what happened to Chan.

As inconspicuously as possible, he rushed behind the doctors and Chan to the emergency room to find out what they would say about him.

"Patient, male, approx. 25 years old, car accident, no papers. Poly trauma, suspected left femoral fracture, multiple rib fracture and traumatic brain injury. Circulation stable, access laid, left, 1000ml fluids infused, analgesia started..."

After that, the doors of the shock room closed behind the doctors, paramedics and other people, which Jeongin couldn't classify and he himself had to go further. Couldn't afford to stop there and get caught by anyone.

Chan— car accident— poly trauma—

He understood the individual words. Had seen Chan lying pale and unconscious on the stretcher.

And yet it was so incredibly difficult for him to understand what had happened in the last two hours.

Panic surged through him, burning away every thought but one: get help anyhow.

Forgotten was that he was supposed to be examined because he had lost consciousness again.

Forgotten that he should actually behave inconspicuously in a hospital.

Driven by the panic, he ran back to the elevators. He hammered impatiently on the button, but then decided to take the stairs because the damn elevator took so long.

His lower abdomen still hurt a little, but not even that could hold him right now. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and then to his and Hyunjin's room.

At least here in the hallway no one was to be seen and no one stopped him.

In their room it smelled of cleaning products, but at least it was clean again.

For seconds he just stood in the room and resisted the urge to break something. His fists clenched helplessly at his sides.

Then his eyes fell on Hyunjin's cell phone.

And suddenly he knew what he had to do.

Call Felix.

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