Story plot: Seonghwa is in pain and he knows he should talk to someone, but he's scared. They're working so hard to make sure their next comeback is perfect. One night, Seonghwa can't sleep because of the pain. The others nearly drag him to the doctor the next day and help him through this situation.
They were practicing hard for the next comeback. Seonghwa is obsessed with the new dances and believed he had pretty much recovered from the injury to his ribs. Nevertheless, as the practices got more intense, the injury started to act up again. He refused to listen to his body. There was no way he was going to miss out on the EP.3 promotions and stages. Being on stage was his happy time, a moment where he felt true joy. He decided to hide it from everyone, simply because he didn't want people to worry about him again.
On the other hand, he knew that if he kept going, things might get worse.
At night, Seonghwa was glad that he didn't have to share a room anymore. He cried a lot. Having a battle with himself whether to tell everyone the injury is acting up again or keep quiet and hope it will pass by on it's own.
Every morning he wakes up in pain, thinking he should probably talk to someone. Eventually he always decides to take a ton of pain medication to kill the pain he's in and not talk to anybody about it.
I know I should talk. I know I should. But if I do, everyone will be worried and they probably won't let me participate in the EP.3 anymore. I want to be with everyone. I want to enjoy the EP.3 comeback but what if they won't let me. I'll be disappointing everyone. I can't drop out. I need to be strong and push myself through this.
And with those thoughts going through his mind, he keeps pushing himself and his body to the limits. But his boyfriends start to notice that with each practice, Seonghwa's energy level is dropping. Almost as if he's struggling to keep up with the pace of the practice.
After another long day of practice, Seonghwa goes straight up to his room to take a shower, giving the others some room to talk about what's going on.
"Am I the only one who notices that it seems like Seonghwa is struggling? Not with the choreography itself, but more like as if he doesn't have the energy?" Mingi asks as he looks at the others. "No I've seen it too. The first 2 hours seem to be just fine and after that he's just more reserved and not as powerful as he used to be." Wooyoung says. "Do you think he's hiding something from us?" Yunho asks. "It could be.. Maybe we should talk to him. Let him know that he can always talk to us." Yeosang suggests and they all agree. They'll wait until he finishes his shower and then talk to him about it.
Meanwhile, Seonghwa is sitting on the cold ground of his bathroom floor. The pain in his chest is definitely getting worse with each practice. He still refuses to talk to anyone about it. He's too scared that he won't be able to participate in their comeback.
It hurts so much. Every little movement is becoming painful at this point. But what can I do? I don't want everyone to worry about me. With all the pain medication it's manageable during the day. It only hurts a lot after practice. Which means that I could do stages and I can practice. I just need to be careful right?
He pushes himself off the ground and takes some more pain meds before making his way downstairs. He catches everyone looking at him from the couches. "Everything okay?" He asks as he walks over to them.
"Yeah we're all fine babe. We just want to talk to you for a minute is that okay?" Hongjoong asks carefully as Seonghwa agrees and snuggles on the couch with them.
Hongjoong looks at the others, hoping someone else is going to ask it. Thankfully, it's Yeosang who speaks up this time. "Yeah uhm.. We're worried about you hyung.. We're not sure if there is something wrong because you haven't really told us anything. But it's almost as if the longer we practice, the more you seem to struggle. Are you okay babe?"
