I Hope Love Is... [On Hold]

Seventeenth Verse

Seventeenth Verse

Be with me
not just in my mind
be here for real in my arms
come back to me
don't just be
across the ocean...

-translated from “Across the Ocean”
from Future Colors' fourth album Summer Love

-----------------------------------------------------

Seoul, five days ago, the evening of Jae and Mia's visit...

Minha awakened with a start, feeling that he was being watched. He'd fallen asleep after Jae sunbae and Mia noona left, and now the hospital room was dark-- it was already evening, and no one had turned on the lights yet. Blinking, trying to get accustomed to the gloom, he looked slowly around him and would have screamed if he'd had his voice. There were big, tall, dark shapes looming over him...

Then his vision gradually cleared to reveal his four bandmates sitting silently on the edge of his bed. He kicked Myungseok, who was the closest to his foot.

“Aish. You guys gave me the creeps!” he croaked.

“Well, it serves you right, sleeping so sweetly,” Jungkyu said, uncrossing his arms and standing up. He went over and switched on the light.

Minha rubbed his eyes grumpily at the sudden brightness. “What's up?” he whispered. “Why are you guys here? Don't you have scheduled stuff to do?”

“Nope, nothing more.” Jungkyu shook his head. “At first there were invitations because everyone was asking after you, but we did the last of that today. Tomorrow our schedule's got nothing on it. Tonight we're free.”

Minha reached for his phone and began typing.

-What did Manager say about that? Did you talk to President Kang?

“About that... we haven't had the chance to talk to President Kang yet. Either he's not in the office, or we just missed him.”

“Or Manager Oh takes the van and leaves us at the dorm with no transport,” Junhee added. And when Jungkyu gave him a sharp look, he said defensively, “I didn't say anything that isn't true, and you know it, hyung!”

-You guys are keeping something from me.

Minha folded his arms and stared at Jungkyu, who stared back. Minha reached for the closest thing at hand, which turned out to be a small stuffed toy that was a get-well gift from a fan, and threw it at his friend. Jungkyu ducked too late, and the pink bear caught him in the face.

“Uh-oh,” Myungseok said, and he and Sang-min quickly got out of the line of fire.

Jungkyu caught the bear as it fell, and spat out some pink fluff that had gotten into his mouth. He stared at the toy for a moment, then threw it back at Minha, who batted at it so that it fell on the bed.

“Don't even think about it,” Jungkyu said when Minha reached for the toy again. Minha threw it back at him anyway. Jungkyu caught it and threw it at Junhee instead.

“Why meee...” Junhee whined.

Minha reached for his phone again and typed. 

-Stop trying to be mysterious. What the hell are you keeping from me? You tell me now or I'll walk out of this hospital.

He looked at Jungkyu, changed his mind, and handed Junhee the phone.

“Me again?” Junhee complained. Both Jungkyu and Minha glared at him. He ducked his head and read the message out loud. “Sorry, Jungie hyung,” he muttered. “But Minmin hyung is scarier.”