"Well... at least it's not something about the both of you," Henry stated, standing straight with his arms crossed over his chest as he kept staring at Hyun Ae's laptop.

"I know," Hyun Ae sighed, scrolling down the search page endlessly, full of trending news, most of it was about a fame-manipulating scandal, rumored to be done by Namjoon. "But all these... is going to make him like... being away from me."

"Did he call you yet?" She shook her head at Henry's question. "Don't you want to call him?"

"I... don't want to bother- oh?" Hyun Ae glanced at her phone, its screen lit up and a familiar name appeared.

She immediately picked it up and answered the call.

"Hello, Jungkook ah?"

"Noona? You're at the shop now? Can you please come here? Please... I beg you."

*

"We've heard things being thrown here and there, just... something that is not right in there," Jungkook huffed as he led Hyun Ae towards Namjoon's studio.

"We called him out, but he never responded and the door's locked too."

Jungkook tried to turn the doorknob, but just like what he had said, it was locked.

Hyun Ae sighed, then asked him. "For how long has it been..."

"Since the stupid news came out."

That would mean Namjoon had locked himself in the room since in the morning, and now lunchtime had passed, and he hasn't come out yet, even for lunch.

And this had got Hyun Ae worried a lot, of course.

She took a deep breath, then walked closer to the door, knocking on it. Not too hard, and not too soft either. Just enough for him to hear it.

"Namjoon? Namjoonie? I-It's me, Hyun Ae. Open the door, please," she called out and gave the door another knock. And suddenly the door opened.

Both Hyun Ae and Jungkook went still in their spots when Namjoon suddenly appeared before them, with his brown oversized hood covering half of his face, silent.

"Namjoon-" Hyun Ae was taking a step forward when Namjoon suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her into the studio, immediately closing the door.

"Are you okay?" Hyun Ae began to ask, and in a blink of an eye, Namjoon pulled her into a hug, burying his face into the crook of her neck.

"Let it all out," she whispered, kissing his head as she kept on patting it softly. She knew he was crying when she felt his tears on her skin.

The room was filled with the sound of his sobs. Hyun Ae looked around, and papers were everywhere. So were books, some decorations, and figurines all over the floor.

"Why don't we sit down first?" she mumbled, grabbing his arms as she guided him towards his brown couch in the studio.

As both of them sat down, Namjoon scooted closer to her and slipped his arms around her body, placing his head on her shoulder, still sobbing though he was now a bit okay.

"You know I didn't do it, right? You know I didn't," he sniffed, looking down at his fingers.

"Of course, you didn't. Plus, it was a rumor from a long time ago. Why is it up again?" Hyun Ae asked, running her fingers through his messy hair as she continued. "To be honest, I never thought that you'll react like this. I mean... things like this happened before, but you handled it calmly."

"That's what you don't know about me, or us," he chuckled, sobbing. "We always tell each other, that no matter what happened, we shouldn't show our real emotions to the fans, or they'll be worried."

"I AM WORRIED," Hyun Ae said, not realizing that tears began to roll down her eyes too.

She covered her face with her other free hand as her cry gradually became obvious to him.

Namjoon suddenly sat up straight and cupped her face with both of his hands, his breath staggering as he tried to calm her down.

"See? I don't want to see you cry, no please," he whispered, wiping away her tears with the sleeves of his hoodie jacket. Hyun Ae suddenly lunged forward and hugged him tightly, not saying a single word.

Only cries. A broken heart cry.

"I just want you to be fine. To take care of yourself. Be open with us, with me. Let it all out on me. Don't punish yourself, please! Don't lock yourself up like this! I... I..."

She couldn't say more but cry as her hug tightened around him.

Both of them were in that position for a moment, when suddenly Hyun Ae felt as if a weight went down onto her. It felt like something had dragged her down. And at that moment she realized something odd.

"Joonie?" Hyun Ae called out, shaking his body. But when there were no responses, she pulled away and found out that Namjoon had gone into an unconscious state. "You're... Jungkook ah! Jungkook ah!"

No longer after Hyun Ae called out, Jungkook entered the studio. And when the sight of the unconscious leader on Hyun Ae's lap came to him, he rushed toward the couple.

"What happened, noona?!" he asked nervously.

"His body... It's burning up. CALL THE AMBULANCE OR WHATEVER! QUICK!"

***

"He needs a lot of rest. There's too much work stress for him to handle. His body couldn't handle it anymore. You guys can bring him home, so he will be more at the comfort and heal faster when you guys are around," the doctor advised before he bowed down at both Jin and Jungkook and left them with his nurse.

"But... we're all busy working," Jin sighed, massaging his forehead.

"Hyung!" Jungkook suddenly called out when an idea struck him. "We can have Hyun noona take care of him."

"In our dorm?! What if people saw her going in and out of the area? That'll be another problem!"

"No, it's fine. We'll get her into the car at night after work, and then let her stay at the dorm until Rapmon hyung is healed. They can heal each other at the same time, you see..."

Jin went quiet after hearing Jungkook's plan. He looked over to his left, into the room where both Hyun Ae and Namjoon were.

"Let's try," Jin nodded.

Both of them began to walk into the room and stood beside Hyun Ae, who had been sitting on the chair beside sleeping Namjoon.

"Thank goodness, it's just a normal fever," Jin sighed as he patted her shoulder, getting her out of her trance and she looked up at both of them.

"Don't be sad, noona. If you want to, you can stay at the dorm and take care of him," Jungkook directly said, making her glance at him with a confused look.

"Can I?" Hyun Ae asked, looking over at Jin.

"Yes, of course. The doctor told us that he can be brought home and he will heal faster if he was in comfort. And I do believe that you're his comfort," Jin stated, nodding his head.

Hyun Ae looked over to Namjoon, who was still sleeping calmly. Then she looked down at her hand that had been in his large one, not wanting to let her go even in his sleep.

"Well... If my presence won't be bothersome to you guys..."

"No, absolutely not! You can even stay as long as you want. If it's possible, until he's fine," Jungkook urged, giving thumbs up to her as he kept on nodding his head.

"Well, okay then."

*

"Hyun Ae?" Jin called out as he walked into Namjoon's room with a face towel and a water-filled bowl.

Hyun Ae turned around to him after she pulled the blanket over Namjoon.

"Here's the towel and cold water," he said, passing the things over to her.

"Thank you," she smiled, dampening the towel with the water. And suddenly Namjoon weakly grabbed her hand.

"Did Hyun Wook know about this?" Namjoon breathed out, tilting his head towards her.

"Yes, he's well informed," she nodded, wringing the towel to remove excess water before placing it onto his forehead.

While she tried to place the towel properly on his head, Namjoon watched her with half-closed eyes.

"I'm sorry that you had to stay here..."

"What are you talking about? I am going to take care of you. I'm going to make sure you're fine anytime soon."

"Well, I'm going to leave the two of you and head back to BigHit. Hyun Ae, if there's anything you need, just call me, okay? I'm going to call you at night for your dinner," Jin reminded her, before he left the room and the dorm, resuming his work at their agency.

The whole house went silent, and so was Namjoon's room.

Hyun Ae scooted closer to Namjoon and grabbed his hand as she flashed him a smile that she hoped would lift his positivity.

"If you're hungry, tell me. I will cook anything for you," she whispered, drawing circles on his hand with her thumb.

They stared at each other for a moment; words weren't needed at that time. Adoring each other in silence was enough for both of them.

"Are you sad?" Namjoon suddenly asked in his soft voice, reaching his hand out to her left cheek. "I broke your heart earlier, right?"

"N-No?"

Hearing the answer, Namjoon chuckled as he sat up and hugged her.

He knew that she denied it. He knew that she was sad. He knew that she tried to make him less worried.

"I promise you that I'll be fine soon," he whispered into her ear, placing a kiss on her head.

When she nodded, Namjoon let go of her and Hyun Ae slowly pushed him back into the lying down position back onto the bed.

"You should sleep now. The doctor told us that you need lots of rest."

********************************************************
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