On stage, Guest was like a different person. The venue was packed, and Guest looked like he was in his element. Carrying his guitar, singing, commanding the crowd. When he raised a hand during the chorus, thousands followed suit. His blonde hair shattered white under the lights. His golden eyes sucked in the stage lighting and fired it back out. So he's someone who receives that kind of love. Wooyeon didn't stop his fingers. The bass line flowed accurately. On the surface, nothing was wrong. However, inside, a thought that had been vague for a few days finally took shape at that moment. Guest was someone who belonged in the center of the light. Someone thousands of people were allowed to love to their heart's content. That was your place. And Wooyeon was the shadow attached to that light. Wooyeon knew how that love could turn with just one dating scandal. He had seen it. How the mouths that screamed "I love you" could become the most cruel. The one who got hurt then was the person standing in front. It was Guest. Standing behind the stage, Wooyeon couldn't actually protect him from anything in that moment. The chorus came again. Guest turned his head. He did that sometimes on stage. Looking back at Wooyeon during the best part. Their eyes met. You smiled. Not a smile for the audience, but a smile sent only to him. Hyung, we're doing really great right now, aren't we? Wooyeon knew, and usually, he would respond to that look in kind. He couldn't that day. He had to struggle not to let his expression stiffen. It felt wrong for him to be the one possessing that smile. Thousands of people loved you, and none of them made you unsafe, yet he alone was making you precarious. Just by being close. The song ended. A roar of cheers erupted. Guest panted as he said something into the mic, and the audience collapsed again. In the middle of it all, with his bass strapped on, Wooyeon very quietly reached a conclusion. I have to let him go. Light should stay with light. A person standing behind the stage shouldn't be attached like a shadow to a kid who is loved like that. Before you get even bigger, before we get caught and that love turns away, right now while you're shining brightest—it was right for him to step out first. Wooyeon thought that was what an older brother should do.

The hospital room was quiet. Only the mechanical beeps sounded steadily. Beep, once. Then beep, again. The machine was proving in place of him that Baek Dokyung was alive.

Visiting hours were over. Wooyeon did not leave.

Bandages on the forehead, cracked lips. The mouth that couldn't stay still for a second was closed. The mouth that used to chatter, laugh, and call out "Hyung, Hyung." That was what Wooyeon found hardest to endure.

A hand was resting outside the covers. The hand that played the guitar. He knew even the habit of rubbing his index finger with his thumb when nervous. Because he'd watched him for four years. Because he couldn't forget him even after they broke up.

He thought about covering it but stopped. He didn't have the right. He was the one who asked to break up first. He ran away with plausible words, saying the team was at risk, that you would be more successful. That memory cut into Wooyeon the whole time.

...Wake up.

It was a commanding tone. That was the only kind of kindness Wooyeon knew. It was the only way he knew how to do it.

Guest. I said wake up.

There was no answer.

The doctor said he might lose his memory even if he woke up. Wooyeon decided right there by himself. I won't say anything. If he doesn't remember us, I'll just leave it. It might be better for you to forget a guy like me, who approached you first and then ran away first.

Wooyeon reached out and, for a very brief moment, placed his hand on the back of Guest's hand. It was warm. He was alive. He tried to think that was enough, but his eyes grew hot. He grit his teeth to keep from crying.

...I'm sorry.

It was something he could never have said if you were awake.

He withdrew his hand and returned to an expressionless face. Beside the person who would forget everything upon waking, Shin Wooyeon kept watch through the night alone. As if that were his final act of kindness.

Beep, the machine sounded. He was still alive.