Another three weeks passed in the Spectrum dorms and the atmosphere only seemed to darken, especially as exhaustion seemed to find make itself a permanent home amongst the members. Not to mention, they were all a bit stressed out over the fact that Sora’s conditioned had seemed to be improving for a couple of weeks before it took a very sudden and dangerous dive to the point that the company had to step in and withdraw Sora from promotions and his schedules due to fear of farther worsening Sora’s thought process.

The company, upon withdrawing Sora from the promotions for “personal reasons”, split what personal schedules he did have between the three oldest members of Spectrum – farther filling their schedules. Woojung, upon seeing his lover’s decrease in mental stability, requested to be pulled away from the group promotions after some convincing done by his three hyungs and so, his personal schedules were also split amongst the other Spectrum members or were just dropped. With the addition of Woojung’s schedule, the oldest three members had filled schedules which on average would only permit them to have one hour of sleep per night and all three of them looked as though they were on the verge of passing out.

As two more weeks passed and the good-bye stages finally arrived for the current bout of promotions, the three eldest were showing more and more signs of being severely fatigued and some were even showing signs of being ill due to the weakening of their immune systems due to lack of sleep and over exertion. While the oldest trio hardly saw each other or the other members, the younger trio – as promotions came to their end – saw each other for hours every single day of every week, but had hardly seen the three oldest members. Sora saw the others the least due to the company’s orders of him going to see a psychiatrist four days a week in an attempt to make him get better quicker – which seemed to be in vein, considering that his condition was staying a bit on the bad side despite how much Sora had begun to eat.

Sora sighed from where he sat at the table with Xue and Woojung, both of whom were just as quiet as he was, “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” questioned Woojung, looking at Sora in concern.

“For doing this,” muttered Sora, looking down at the food that no longer looked appetizing to him as his stomach churned with guilt.

“For doing what?” muttered Xue, peering at his hyung in worry?

“For making Woojung-ah drop out of promotions as well to take care of me and add even more schedules onto our hyungs’ work load…for practically drowning the three in work. I know as well as you do that they’re completely exhausted and not to mention they are so busy we hardly see them anymore…I’m sorry Xue, for unintentionally giving Shin a ton of work to do.”

Xue smiled in understanding, “It’s alright, hyung, don’t worry about it. I’m sure the hyungs don’t care either, they just want you to get better as well.”

Sora sighed, “I didn’t think it would be this hard…”

Woojung looked at the elder male in interest, “Why is it hard?”

Sora faltered and Woojung smiled, grabbing his hand and squeezing it encouragingly, “It’s just hard…I know I’m not in any way fat, but there is a part of my brain that is telling me I am, that keeps repeating it over and over again along with all the comments the neitizens said. It’s like I’m fighting with myself, it’s…I just don’t know, it feels like I’m two different people fighting with each other, but I’m not…I’m just one person.”

The duo nodded and Woojung smiled, “I know it’s hard, but you can overcome it, I’m sure you can. You’re stronger than you think; you can overcome it if you keep eating as healthily as you are now. Let’s focus right now on getting you back to a healthy weight and then focus on the battle with yourself mentally, okay?”

Sora sighed but nodded, “Alrighty.”

“Also, hyung,” stated Xue, drawing the attention towards him, “I know you’re worried about Woojung and I as well as the hyungs thinking of you as a burden, so, I’d like to say that you are not. You are not a burden, we’re doing the things we are not to get you off our backs but rather to see you happy and healthy again since it’s been a good while since we’ve seen the bright and smiling Sora rather than this gloomy version.”

Sora chuckled, “Thanks Xue.”

The magnae smiled, “I’m not as oblivious as people think I am.”

Woojung chuckled alongside his lover and stated, “Though we hardly see Younghun and Shin-hyungs, you’re the only thing they ask about when we do see them.”

Sora looked at him in wonder.

“They ask about you because they’re worried and they also told me to relay the message that they don’t care for their work load as long as you are getting better,” stated Xue, smiling widely, chuckling as Sora teared up a bit, “So, don’t worry for anyone but yourself.”

Sora nodded, smiling, “Thanks, Xue.”

Xue smiled widely and stated, “You guys go out for today. I’ll take care of the mess that the Younghun-hyung wanted us to clean up here in the dorms. Go and get out of the house for a bit. You two haven’t been on a date recently, so take tonight as your opportunity.”

Sora chuckled and looked at Xue, “You don’t have to clean it all yourself, we’ll help you.”

Xue sent a pointed glare Sora’s way, “Go have fun you two.”

Woojung smiled, “Thanks Xue.”

“I just want to see you both back at where you both had been months ago before all this happened,” stated Xue, “Plus, I want you both to get all of this off your minds for a bit since you both are seemingly stuck in the dorms every single hour of every day…”

“But…”

“Go,” stated Xue, cutting off Sora’s words.

Sora laughed as Woojung stood up and pulled him along, stating, “Hey, he’s giving us this opportunity; let’s use it before he changes his mind like he’s famous for doing.”

Xue smirked, “You guys have five minutes to get out of here before I change my mind.”

Sora, upon hearing the magnae’s words, happily pulled Woojung out of the room and to their shared bedroom. When they re-emerged from their room minutes later, they both were wearing different clothes and their hair was fixed properly.

“Ten…” called Xue.

“We’re leaving, we’re leaving!” called Sora, a bright smile on his lips as he pulled Woojung towards the front door the apartment.

Just before stepping out of the apartment, Woojung looked back at the magnae with a bright smile on his face as he mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

Xue nodded and spoke only after the door fully closed, “I’m happy to see him back to his usual self…hopefully we will be able to get him back to where he is like that all the time soon.”

The magnae sighed as he picked up his plate and dumbed the uneaten contents in the trash ben, figuring no one would want to eat half eaten food. As for Sora and Woojung’s plates that were hardly touched, he wrapped it up and placed them in the fridge figuring that they could reheat them later if they got hungry. He then carried on cleaning up the mess Sora and Woojung had made when they were making the meal before moving into the living room and looking at the mess that sat before him, unsure of where to start.

“What are you doing here alone?”

The familiar voice made Xue jump; the magnae had not heard the elder come in.

“I told Sora and Woojung to go out and enjoy some time together. I can tell that what has been happening is eating Sora up, not to mention your decreasing health alongside Minhyun and Younghun-hyung’s. Sora’s still thinking that he’s a burden and I saw the opportunity to cheer him up a bit, so I sent them out for a little bit since I can handle things here,” stated Xue, smiling towards his clearly exhausted hyung, “Are you done for tonight?”

Shin nodded, “I’m finished for the week, I have the next couple of days off, then I have a little bit this weekends and then I’m done for this bout of promotions.”

Xue hummed in understanding, smiling, “Then go ahead and get some sleep.”

Shin shook his head, “Sleep can wait, you look like you need some help here.”

Xue smiled, “Hyung, I can handle things here, if I couldn’t I wouldn’t have sent Sora and Woojung away.”

“I know you can handle it, but you deserve some time off as well since you’ve done a good job on keeping us hyungs updated on how Sora is doing, so how about we both work together to get it done faster?” questioned Shin, raising an eyebrow as he smiled at Xue.

Xue pouted but knew his hyung wouldn’t back off, “Fine, let’s clean up this mess together.”

Shin smiled at his victory, moving towards the younger and patting his shoulder, “Well, let’s get to it.”

Xue sighed, feeling guilty about making the elder help him with the chore left for him, Sora, and Woojung. He felt guilty for making the man who had hardly been at the dorms in the past week clean up his mess.

The two jolted out of their trances when a deep chested, hacking cough was heard coming from the entry way, the duo both turned to see the leader and oldest doubled over and coughing into his sleeve. They both watched as the man grimaced and forced himself back up straight, using the hand he didn’t cough into to message his aching chest.

“Hyung, you alright?” questioned Xue in worry.

Younghun nodded, kicking off his shoes into his own little shoe compartment, before replying with a hoarse voice, “It’s just a cold.”

“Hyung, you’ve had this cold for the past few weeks, are you sure it’s just a cold?” questioned Xue in worry, clearing noticing that it had worsened since the last time he had seen the elder.

Younghun smiled, “Don’t worry about me Ha Joon; I’ll be fine after getting some rest.”

Xue looked at the leader doubtfully and questioned, “Do you have schedules tomorrow?”

Younghun nodded, “I’ll be leaving for Busan for filming in two hours…”

“Oh,” muttered Xue in shock, “Go to bed then hyung…you need to rest.”

The leader forced a smile onto his face and nodded towards the magnae and Shin, “I’ll be back in three days and then I’ll be one a break…I can make it until then so don’t worry about me, okay? Focus on Sora.”

Xue hummed and watched as the leader stumbled into his room.

“There is more than he’s letting on,” muttered Shin, sighing, “He’s stubborn though…”

Xue hummed, “I say we leave him alone for the time being.”

Shin nodded and turned his attention back to straightening up the living room with Xue, “So…”

“Huh?”

“Have you gotten out any?” questioned Shin, his eyes trained to the blanket he was folding up, “I mean…you’re out of school for break and you don’t have any schedules, so have you been out much?”

Xue shook his head, “I’ve been out some, but not a lot. I hung out with a couple of friends, but mainly those within the company…”

Shin nodded, pausing for a second before saying, “We haven’t gone out for a while so…”

“Want to go out tomorrow?” questioned Xue, knowing what the older male was going to ask.

Shin nodded, smiling, “Yeah, do you want to go out tomorrow?”

Xue blushed lightly as he boldly decided to say, “It depends…are we going out tomorrow as friends or are we going out for a date?”

“Well, which would you like to go as?” questioned Shin, smirking at Xue, laughing as pink slowly painted over the younger’s cheeks.

Xue frowned, “You should know hyung.”

“I do know,” stated Shin, “but I’d like to hear it from you as well…”

“I-I want to go as…”

Suddenly the door slammed open and in walked a raging Minhyun, “Where is that bastard?”

“Which one?” muttered Xue, “If you’re talking about Woojung, he’s out with Sora, but if you’re talking about Younghun-hyung, he’s in your room…?”

Minhyun slammed the front door behind him as he angrily kicked off his shoes and stormed into his room, slamming said door behind him as well. The males laughed as they heard Minhyun’s inaudible voice followed by Younghun’s before they both heard a loud coughing fit coming from the room.

“Do those two ever get along?” muttered Xue, “I know there was that short period of time where they did, but since then it seems like they hate each other…”

“I think they like each other more than we suspect they do, it’s just that they have a rather…unique way of showing it,” stated Shin, as if he had to ponder over the word to use when describing the relationship between Younghun and Minhyun.

“I feel like they’re ually frustrated,” stated Xue, “They’ve been ‘together’ for the past couple of weeks, but they have yet to actually to do anything, plus they haven’t seen each other for a good while, so…”

Shin looked at Xue, shaking his head, “Just drop it Xue and focus on the question I asked before after all, you never did give me your answer.”

“I’d like it to be a date,” muttered Xue, looking down at his feet shyly.

Shin laughed and wrapped an arm around the youngest Spectrum member, pulling him close and whispering in his ear, “Then, let this be a date.”

“How did it turn out with me like this?” muttered Xue, shivering as the elder’s breath ghosted across his skin, “I was the one who asked you about which you wanted it to be first.”

“You already know what I wanted it to be,” stated Shin, pressing his forehead against the magnae’s, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Say it,” stated Xue, raising an eyebrow as he peered at Shin who smirked and laughed, leaning in closer towards Xue.

The younger closed his eyes, thinking that the older male was going to lean in and let their lips meet, however, instead he felt a flick to his forehead and the older pulling away.

“See, I told you that you already knew,” stated Shin, laughing as he stepped away from the younger and looking around the room, “Well, I’ll let you finish the last of this on your own. I’m going to make sure Minhyun didn’t kill our leader.”

Xue pouted and watched as Shin walked away, bursting into Minhyun and Younghun’s room carelessly, knowing that the leader would probably thank him for doing so later anyways. 

So much has happened, huh?

Sora's condition got worse and the company forced him to drop out of promotions out of concern for his mental state and Woojung ended up dropping out as well to care for his lover.

Xue, being the sweet magnae he is, convinced WooRa to go out and spend some time out together to get their minds off of the situation for a little bit.

Minhyun is yet again mad at Younghun (for a reason that you will learn of in one of the coming chapters) - trust me when I say this time he is not being immature or insecure, he's just being a concerned not-lover. 

However, most exciting of it all: Shin and Xue are in the process of getting together! I know it was random, but in some of the previous chapters, there had been bulid up in between their characters and I got tired of just holding off again - thus, it may be a little random. 

Anyhow, this is a long enough author's note...

Sorry for any mistakes made in the chapter and if there are some confusingly worded parts (just like this note).