mask | DODAM

YEDAM

"i don't think 'aren't really common' is the right way to describe it," another male said. turning towards the voice, everyone gave their attention to yoshinori, or yoshi, as called by the other ten boys in the room. "i'm pretty sure that yedam is the only person on this planet with this idiosyncrasy."

other than jihoon and hyunsuk, who yedam has known since middle school, his other friends, that were currently gathered in the room all together to check for the said boy's condition, met yedam in high school, specifically his first and second year of high school. a few of them yedam met by pure coincidence (not really, they were saving him from being attacked and bullied when they witnessed it), such as yoshi, junghwan, and haruto. some others he met through jihoon and hyunsuk, such as junkyu and mashiho, and the rest he met through the various school activities that yedam got involved in, such as the music club, student council, or the volunteering club.

yedam met jeongwoo in student council, both of them being the president and vice president, respectively, by their second year in high school. asahi and yedam got to know each other after both of them being part of the music club, and jaehyuk was in the volunteering club with him since his first year in high school and was also yedam's senior throughout high school, helping the younger male with school related studies and pretty much anything that fell in between.

yedam didn't know where he would be in life if he had not met these wonderful ten people present in the room. he loved them all with his whole heart, and they returned the regard as well. his friends all had one common goal: to protect yedam from anything that would hurt him, such as people who hunt him down just to attack him when they think he's alone, or people in school who would bully him for his one-in-a-million diagnosed allergy that was practically nonexistent in the species of mankind.

despite this allergy, however, yedam didn't let it stop him from being social and warm hearted, inviting in anyone with open arms if they wanted to be associated with him (which wasn't a lot of people). he got involved in the community often and helped out those in need, of course with avoiding contact if yedam could detect any use of baby powder.

"that's true. there's really no one else that has a baby powder allergy. it is quite impossible to find someone else," jaehyuk stated, before a knock was heard on the door.

hyunsuk immediately took out yedam's mask from his pocket, where he kept it after picking up from the place yedam was last attacked, and handed it to the younger male, who grabbed it without hesitation and wore it over his nose and mouth.

"am i able to come in now?" the nurse asked before actually opening the door. she knew about yedam's baby powder allergy and she currently had some on her due to her using it this morning, so she wanted to alert the others in the room of her presence and help yedam get prepared for her entry to prevent him from hyperventilating and passing out once more.

"yes," yedam said, his voice slightly muffled from the mask he just put on. not a second later, the door opened and revealed the nurse, holding a clipboard and a pen in her hands to check up on yedam and his condition.

"how are you feeling?"

"i'm feeling okay. i still feel a little dizzy, but other than that, i'm fine," yedam explained briefly to the nurse, who was writing on a piece of paper on her clipboard, most likely for yedam's medical record.

nodding her head, the nurse looked up for a second, asking yedam another question before awaiting his response.

"do you know exactly what happened that caused you to end up here?"

a shake of the head was all the nurse needed as an answer for her to start writing on her clipboard once again. yedam knew he didn't have amnesia or anything, but it still bothered him as to how he couldn't exactly recall what happened to him. it was as if someone had surgically removed that part of his memory from his brain to purposefully make him forget about it.

luckily, the nurse was able to get some kind of insight from one of the other boys' in the room, his description mainly consisting of how yedam looked when he was found. afterwards, a few more back and forth movement of questions and answers occurred before the nurse clicked her pen closed and nodded her head, satisfied with the checkup.

"there don't seem to be any major problems. no trouble with vision, speech, hearing, or physical movement, other than your left arm which we got bandaged for you and the small number of cuts and bruises up and down your body. you were able to comprehend and answer my questions also, so i don't find anything majorly wrong. then again, you had only hyperventilated and passed out, not gotten in a car crash or something far worse that could result in a major physical injury.

"although a severe allergic reaction is bad, you seem perfectly fine and good to go. wait a bit for me to inform the doctor and we will see if he will discharge you today. additionally, i recommend you take some ibuprofen and claritin for your pain and allergy. i can ask a nurse to provide you some in a bit," the nurse informed before making her way to the door.

the eleven boys in the room bowed and thanked the nurse, and she bowed back before exiting the room and leaving the university students in the hospital room once more.

the only thing yedam had gotten from the short conversation with the nurse was information about how he had ended up at the hospital. jihoon had explained to the nurse earlier that he found the younger male hyperventilating by the back of the school, baby powder all over his left arm and scattered around the area, a bottle of baby powder a little ways away. jihoon also explained that yedam passed out on their way to the hospital from hyperventilating for too long, causing him to be admitted into the hospital in the first place.

"i don't know if there is any way for us to watch you closer. you were bullied for the third time this week, two of which got you in the hospital," junkyu stated, worry evident in his voice and face.

"yeah, and not to mention how we have different timetables from you," jeongwoo mentioned, adding onto junkyu's comment.

times like this made yedam feel like a burden to his friends and family. they would give up their time to watch over him and make sure he wasn't attacked, bullied, or anything else that fit in the same category just because he had an allergy to baby powder. he hated how their lives basically revolved around him, and it made him feel bad for being born this way. if he wasn't born with a baby powder allergy, then maybe his friends would be living better lives. maybe he would be living a better life.

"i'm sorry," yedam said, not exactly sure what he was sorry for because he was sorry for everything.

his apology caught the attention of the other ten boys in the room and they immediate shook it off. "what do you need to be sorry about? you didn't do anything wrong," mashiho said, countering yedam's statement.

"sorry for being a burden to all of you," the young boy specified, not giving any further details as to exactly how. the other just shook their heads and sighed, not wanting to have this conversation with yedam all over again.

"you're not a burden to us. we want to watch over you. we chose to. it's not your fault that you have this allergy, and i don't think it was any coincidence that you met all of us, either," asahi said, attempting to assure the younger male.

"yeah. it was more like fate," junghwan mentioned, causing a series of chuckles and laughs to be heard through the hospital room. a smile formed on yedam's face and he quickly dropped the topic, allowing himself to just enjoy the presence of being with his best friends.

yedam was glad to have met every single one of the ten boys that were present in the room, and it was no doubt that he enjoyed being with them, either. the university student hoped to have them in his life until the day he dies, which might actually happen at a young age for him if things continue to go the way they are for yedam.

but the boy could rest assured, because he knew his friends would stop at nothing to protect and care for him.

[YEDAM]