make it so sweet.

“ji..?” he weakly tried to call out for his younger sister but his voice was strained with all consuming, raging pain. latching onto his wound with both hands now, his eyes were growing weaker and the buzzing noise in his ears was ringing so clearly, everything else felt like a frozen space in time. unable to hold himself up any longer, his body began to fall backwards and crumple onto the marbled flooring. it was in the moment of his collapse that eunchae had been exiting the kitchen area, instantly spotting minho at the bottom of the staircase.

she gasped and hastily took each step rapidly, descending to meet him. one of her hands patted at his cheek, trying to keep him conscious. “oh, shit. minho, what did you do this time?” she wondered, not too serious as the more pressing matter was his loss of blood. “stay with me, minho.” eunchae tried a soft plea, worry tangled in her voice.

his heavy and hazy eyes could make out her silhouette and slight color of her outline. “i… got jumped.” he breathed out, volume so low before he began to cough violently. eunchae pressed a firm index finger onto his lips to silently tell him not to speak. “reserve your strength.” what was she going to do? “jiyoo!” her voice yelled up to the second floor.

the lim sister had been working on reading a new book but she appeared above the pair and her eyes widened before she also rapidly descended the staircase. lifting the side of her brother’s leather jacket where he clung to his wound, jiyoo could almost taste the faint metallic in the air from the loss. “fuck. he’s lost a lot. here, we need to get him upstairs. now!”

without a second to spare, both women lifted minho from the ground, one supporting each side of his frame. jiyoo was careful not to press on his injury as she supported his weight with her friend. each step up the staircase felt like a year’s long trek, her brother’s legs hardly able to retain any balance. “we just need to get him to his den and — and i’ll grab the first aid materials. please, stay with him?” jiyoo urged the other woman, eyes wide with a seriousness behind them.

eunchae promptly nodded in agreement, jaw tightening because with minho that weak, he felt like dead weight and she could hardly manage to keep him steady with his sister. once the double doors of the den opened with jiyoo yanking one free, the pair of women nearly stumbled twice while setting minho onto one of the love seats off near a corner of the highly accented room.

“ah, ah..” minho’s head fell back upon the loveseat once he was sat upon it, chin up to the ceiling with more sweat trickling down the side of his face and neck. “ji..” he tried to reach for her hand but jiyoo had already taken off in a blur before he could register it with a blink. instead, he found eunchae reaching for his hand, taking it into both of her own. “shhh, she’ll be right back.” her tone comforting and welcoming to his buzzing ears and ringing head.

it hadn’t taken long for jiyoo to return with a large bag full of different materials: cleansing wipes, gauze pads to stop the bleeding quicker, wrap to taper around his midsection, a kit to stitch the wound up, and lastly, a large bandaid she hoped would cover the entirety of it.

eunchae’s eyes widened in surprise by how many things his sister had collected in records time. “does your house always carry these supplies?” her curious tone flitting over to his sister despite her eyes locked on the worn man nearly writhing in pain. “pretty much. i’ve been helping tend to min since we were teenagers. i’ve seen a lot of shit and i’ve been the only person to help him through it. no one else was going to do it.” besides, jiyoo knew minho got caught up in the wrong crowd specifically to care for her. she recalled nights he let her eat with his little money from sales on the street that evening and minho went hungry. “if you’re squeamish? look away.” she insisted and began to peel away his jacket enough to expose his side.

once she started peeling the shirt upward to reveal the injury, minho clenched his jaw and a hoarse sound of pain vibrated through his chest. “minho!” there was no use, the pain had become unbearable to the point that minho was on the verge of losing conciseness.

the male felt in and out of it, vaguely feeling the sensation of jiyoo pressing the gauze pad firmly against the tear in his flesh. “luckily, it’s not as deep as i thought.” he cried out when she applied more pressure, though the gauze was quick to soak up the blood and jiyoo knew the kind they held in the household tended to stop the bleeding quicker. minho was seeing black spots in his vision, realizing he was in the mercy of their aftercare before blacking out.

———-

eyes startled awake, the dark haired man nearly gasping for breath, blinking as he hastily looked around the den. he had forgotten about the scuffle, the blade slicing through his side and the loss of blood while trying to get home. it wasn’t until he felt eunchae’s palm press down on his chest, prompting him to sit back and not move that minho came back to reality. “don’t move so quick.” eunchae’s small voice warned him. “jiyoo just finished the stitches and wrapping the extra gauze. i’m just securing the last touch.” her brief explanation given while the medical tape carefully was woven around his torso where the injury had been cleaned and bandaged afterwards.

he winced lightly at the sensitive side of his body when the tape wound around his form once more. “you don’t need to help me, chae. jiyoo is pretty good at that.” though his tone was soft, he held strings of guilt for all the times he worried his poor sister. “i wanted to.” eunchae was honest, carefully cutting the wrapping before holding it in place with her palm as lightly as possible.

minho’s gaze turned not only apologetic in her direction but soft and welcoming. he supposed the universe rewarded him her help as a return of favor for him saving her life out of that ditch he’d caught her in. once her eyes met his, her fingertips stopped smoothing out the wrapping and she hesitated. “does it hurt?” brows furrowing in concern.

while it stung, it wasn’t nearly as bad now that he was looking at her this closely. minho thought she would have deflected her own stare but he found her peering back at him with the same softness. there was a small tug on the bandage wrap, eunchae securing the metal piece in place so the wrap wouldn’t come undone. “you said you got jumped?” her voice tiny, question filled with concern.

nodding, his eyes still linked to hers effortlessly. reaching out slowly, he set a palm atop her thigh. “thank you for helping me, chae.” his genuine gratitude noticeable in the way it reflected in his eyes, in his lips twitching into the faintest of exhausted grins. she couldn’t look away, no matter how hard she tried and minho wasn’t making a move to create more space either.

releasing her hold on the wrap, eunchae’s hand settled on his arm then, fingers curling around his skin. minho could swear he felt a connection, one that had formed right under his nose all this time that he was too afraid to confront. he already risked his sister’s life with his lifestyle. minho never wanted someone he cared for to be wound up in it and used as a target against him. first rule to the streets? no one plays fair and there are no rules. he’d learned that young as he swallowed thickly before the woman.

she traced faint lines against his skin and stared at him with deep intent. “when i saw you like that…” she didn’t know how to finish the sentence even, too startled to think of the horrible outcomes that could have happened. luckily, minho would live to see another sunrise. “i didn’t know what to do.. you scared me, minho.”

“i’m sorry.” he was quick to apologize, not to shove it under the rug but the reality was that he’d hoped eunchae would never see him in a position like that; weak, almost lifeless. carefully, he brought a hand to one of her cheeks, treading his thumb across her skin slowly. the softness of his touch was perhaps the gentlest he’d ever given to anybody. “i left my phone at home. i would have called otherwise.” and that was a promise. since eunchae had needed his help, minho had promised her he’d call if he ever needed hers.