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For moments nothing is heard other than the constant fall of raindrops.

"What... What on earth did you just say?" I ask, staring daggers at him, "You think this is funny?"

Jo shifts uncomfortable and turn to look at the opposite direction. Jin sighs and reaches out, "I know it comes as a surprise, I-"

I slap his hand away and poke his chest, not even flinching at the soft shirt oozing blood on my finger, "You think I'm gonna believe you?"

Jin reaches out his arms around me, "I'm sor-"

I growl and push him back, the hulking tiger grunts as I hit a sore spot from the fighting earlier. Huh. This is surprisingly familiar with Jo. Popping out 'I like you' crap out of nowhere, then trying to make me believe.

I point an accusing finger at him, "You're crazy. BOTH OF YOU. Here I was so worried about what happen between you two, I thought what could have- And you help him cover- I can't believe you- What the hell were you- ARGHHH!" I yell at them, not being able to be coherent at this point of time. Everything seems so confusing, and instinct tells me that I need to escape from these two jerks.

Jo speaks up, "I'm sorry, I-"

"Get lost!" I roar at them, turning away and sprinting off out of this stupid alley.

The raindrops whip my muzzle as I run; the journey back to the streets is surprisingly slow. Sounds cliché but true. Either that or my mind is thinking very fast.

No one ever liked me. I am only average, so what is it that they see in me? It is not possible. Why am I running from them though? Is it that I'm afraid of people's affection? Is it that my friends are lying to me about important things? Is it that I don't want these friendships to end up awkward? You know how it is different when you confess to your friend. I don't know what to think about.

Jin the white tiger, another man in this world that I won't expect to like me or near gay. But then again the same thing was said to Jo, so I guess Jin isn't kidding when he says that he likes me. Perhaps I am too stereotypical myself... Oh the irony.

I turn to the streets outside under the heavy rain. Behind me I hear shouts and noises. They can stay behind and beat the hell out of themselves for all I care, but- ugh!

My shoe steps on some random wet plastic bag that has to be there at that point of time. I slip and fall forward, onto the traffic, onto the road. I barely had time to react or hear the two meatheads shouting my name, before a loud bang is heard.

The pain shoots up on my right side, so bad it went numb almost instantaneously. I am thrown back onto the pavement like a rag doll, ending up with a good smash on the back of my head against some brick wall.

Everything happened so fast. In my vision, I was falling down, and then accelerated sideways before hitting the floor. There is so much noise around me, and my vision gets blurry. I try to focus my vision on the signboard of the opposite shop, but the more I try the hazier it gets. There is a lot of shouting... the last thing I know, is that I smell wet fur, blood and sweat.

-

I blink my eyes as I wake up. My entire body feels so numb, I don't know if I can even move. I shift my eyes and find a large back view... of the grey Jo in a white casual t-shirt under the sun's ray.

I try to figure out what on earth just happen but nothing comes up. Perhaps it's the stupid smell of disinfectant that's fuddling my mind or something... Wait. Disinfectant?

My ear twitches at the faint rhythmic beep of the heartbeat monitor. I groan, or tried at least. What came out was more like a weird rasping cough-like thing. Why the ruddy hell am I in a hospital with Jo?

Jo jumps at the sound of me somewhat groaning. He turns on the spot and looks like he is about to leap onto this single hospital bed. I seriously hope that the bed can withstand the impact if he really did jump.

He grabs my muzzle gently and asks if I'm awake. Hearing no response, he reaches out towards my eyes before I quickly make some form of sound. His red teary eyes go wide and he rushes to slam the button beside my bed for medical assistance.

-

After Dr. Tony is done with my check up, he pulls back the curtain, revealing not only Jo, but my entire family as well. The doctor tells them that I'm fine, just a few minor problems that will heal in time, but still require lots of rest.

Immediately when the doctor leaves and the door is shut, my mom goes into an all rage mode, showering me with her scolding, ignoring the others in the ward; in fact gaining their attention. Like I didn't physically feel bad enough already...

She goes on and on, from why did I end up like this, how could I be so careless, haven't she always tells me to look out for traffic and stuff like that. Everyone else can only stand and watch me getting reprimanded. My dad tries to help, only to get shoved behind by my mom.

What surprised me is that after everything she had to say, she pulls me into a very tight embrace and sniffs lightly, controlling her tears whispering, "I was so worried that I might have lost you."

My dad stands there, watching me silently. I know he isn't very good in showing his feelings, so I don't blame him. My mom goes back and lean on his shoulder after letting go of me.

Jo is quietly standing at the back while my family visit me. After they are finally convinced that I'm alive and well, they left the ward with my sister telling me that Jo and some other guy has been here overnight while I was out.

The grey wolf still remains very quiet even after my family left. I open my mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud bang at the door, and the sight of a heavily breathing white tiger comes into my vision.

I got to say, that the both of them looks terrible right now. Jo lets out a whine when Jin bursts in.

Jin steps forward, his hulking figure looking pretty intimidating. His white paw reaches out, but stops halfway as he clenches his paw and withdraws it back to himself. He whispers softly, "I'm sorry I caused this to you. I can't believe I end up hurting you. Right now I don't dare to approach you 'cos you feel so... fragile."

I can't help but raise my eyebrow, "What exactly happened?"

Jo speaks up quietly, "You don't remember? You got into a car accident after Jin and I fought."

"Really?" I ask. Memories of the incident are very faint. I only remember lots of commotion, everything around me then was happening so fast, so quickly. The rain, the car, the slip and Jin was saying about...

Oh.

Jo explains further, "After you got hit, the driver drove you to the nearest hospital immediately. Moving you after an accident might do something worse to you, but we didn't have time to wait for an ambulance... So here you are, out of danger."

"Where's the owner of the car now?" I ask, "It wasn't his fault."

Straight after I mention that it isn't the driver's fault, both of them tense up immediately, lowering their heads avoiding my eye contact.

"I mean, I'm fine now anyway, I'm sure he will be relieved to hear that," I add on.

Jo forces a smile, "Yeah. I contacted him earlier. He will be visiting later at night actually."

Awkward silence follows after that. I know the fact that I got into an accident, but they don't have to be like that. It's very odd that the usual chummy gym buddies are being so quiet. I hope that they aren't feeling guilty. This incident was no one's fault. If there's anything to blame it would be that piece of plastic bag that had to be there.

"You know, this accident isn't any of you guys' fault?" I ask.

Jin gulps, "How can it not be? If I didn't tell you about that, you wouldn't have run."

Jo adds on, "Even if you ran, we couldn't catch you on time... Letting this happen to you, I've failed to protect you again."

Jo sniffs hard and looks outside the window. Jin shifts his lifeless tail, sits on the chair quietly and says, "How can I dare to say I like you if I can't even protect you from harm?

Jo sniffs even harder with his ears splayed down.

I sigh to myself, wondering what to do with these two guys. It really wasn't their fault.

"Don't be like that; no one wanted this to happen. Everything just happens to be. Anything could happen anytime, it's beyond our control," I say, hopefully making them feel better.

"No, he's right," Jo says, "Any dangers can occur to you, but I have repeatedly fail to shield you from harm. I even tried to..."

"Oh come on Jo... come here, both of you," I ask. Both of them look at each other then back at me, before shifting slightly towards me.

"Look, no one is at fault. I'm not angry at either of you. You guys can stop being so awkward if you two really wanna do something for me," I say, growling slightly in impatience.

"But-"

"Don't but me. You two have been great friends before this entire relationship thingy happened. Now you two are being like that, distant and everything, you two make me feel guilty, you know," I cut in.

"It isn't your fault, Typh," Jo says.

"Now you know how I feel?" I raise my eyebrow, "There's no one to blame."

The two still remain silent after what I've said.

"You two look terrible, by the way," I point out. True enough, Jo has a black eye, claw marks and bruises around his body. Jin was nowhere better, somewhat the same as Jo without a black eye, but more swollen areas. On top of that, their fur is unkempt, dishevelled. They had bloodshot eyes, tired from the lack of sleep.

Jo shies away from my eyes while Jin just looks down.

"You two should get some sleep," I suggest. I try hard to convince them to go home and sleep, but they stubbornly refused, insisting that they probably can't get sleep at home anyway. Both of them end up napping with their heads on each side of my bed, catching some sleep for the day. I look at the both of them, Jo on my left, Jin on my right, wondering how my life will proceed from here. I thought of the possibilities, before closing my eyes and fall asleep.

--

"Typh!" Jo shout after him. Jo wanted to give some time for him to think about Jin's words. Jo never thought that Typh will take it with such hostility and run away. Jo and the white tiger gave chase immediately.

Jin was just as confused as Jo was, even more so as Typh was sprinting faster than he expected. He has just confessed about his feelings, not that he was very sure of it yet. The two furs can only call after him while chasing. They almost caught up with him when they saw Typh stumble over a piece of plastic, before his body was thrown to the left.

The act was so fast, they barely had time to register their shock before another surge of adrenaline rush through them, screaming at the top of their lungs for the same blue wolf that they adored. Fear grappled both of their hearts, something that they rarely felt, if ever.

The sight of Typh lying almost lifelessly on the ground with a pool of blood that was growing as seconds passed torn Jo's heart. He had once again failed to protect him. In fact, he might even die this time.

The driver, a panicking lion, had a paw on his head, not wanting to believe that he had actually hit someone with his car. Jin roared at him to snap out of it and help, but the lion was just as frozen and lost.

Jo wringed his hands as he contemplated what to do. He had lost Typh once, and he was going to lose him again for good. Jo didn't want that to happen; he wasn't going to wait for something to happen either. In theory no one should move the body to prevent more injuries, but there's not time to lose and there was a car.

Jin, as though reading Jo's thoughts, urged the lion to drive them to the nearest hospital. Jo on the other hand picked up Typh, as gently as he could and rushed into the car.

Throughout the journey to the hospital, other than rushing to lion to go faster, Jo had been trying to wake Typh up, who didn't regain any form of consciousness. The makeshift bandage from Jin's torn shirt isn't helping much. Jo took out one of his paw that was supporting Typh's head and saw it covered with warm blood. Typh's blood. The thought of losing Typh right in his arms killed him from the inside. There's so much that they have not done, even as best friends. Jo wanted to hug Typh, claim the wolf as his, whisper sweet things into his ear, take him to places that they have never been to, show him how great of a wolf he was, walk down the path of life together. All these things that he may never be able to do, all the dreams may just remain... as regrets. Jo really wished that the person being unconscious was him and not the blue wolf that he wanted. They were just about to go on their first date before such a tragedy happened. No... this couldn't be happening. Jo desperately wanted this to be just a nightmare. But the bloodied paw... it was too real.

Upon arrival, Jo rushed into the emergency room, with Jin clearing the path for them. Doctors and nurses quickly scrambled their equipment and sent Typh for immediate medical attention. When Typh was sent to a room that unauthorised personal was unable to enter, Jo knelt on the floor, feeling the lost of energy. He didn't know what to do anymore. He held up his bloodied paws and shook in fear. Jin, finding his friend broken down, sat beside him and held him close, both of them finding solace from each other from the incident that happened so fast and so painfully.

-

Few days have passed since then. Jo and Jin have been visiting daily, coming to visit him after school, bringing his homework on Typh's request. Jo thought that schoolwork shouldn't matter that this point of time, but Typh insists on not being behind class. Nationals are still drawing near they only have a few months left to the major examination that determines their future career. Jin thought that bringing homework was redundant simply because Typh's right arm is in a cast... how is Typh supposed to write? Over the few days, the three furs tried not to think too much about the incident. Typh had tried his best to comfort them and get over their traumatic experience. They seem to be moving on well... or so he thinks anyway. Jin and Jo had privately talked among themselves of course, coming to a consensus and rekindling their friendship. After all, both were at fault in that argument. Jin shouldn't have been so rash and physical, while Jo shouldn't have kept his feelings quiet. It was cliché; the two of them being best buddies had fought over someone they both liked at the same time. It was funny, but well, it was inevitable anyway. Of course, they weren't chummy right away, but at least they could laugh with each other again. And at the same time, one question still remained unanswered.

On the day of discharge, which Typh insists on getting an early one, Jo and Jin are there to pick him home with his mom. It is quite weird, and his mom can't help but wonder what's going on between the three boys. Maybe Jo can pass off as a very concerned childhood friend, but that big white tiger boy? She had never seen him before nor heard of him before, so why is he being so concerned about her son? Then again, she sighs to herself, it isn't like she knows about her boy's life very much. Typh never shares with her; not like she hasn't been asking though. Oh well, she frowns as she dismisses the thoughts, writing the paperwork for a discharge.

Back in the room, Typh is packing up, not that there is much to. The two guys that had come along to pick him seem to be watching him the entire time. Typh noticed earlier that the both of them get slightly more jumpy at the sight of his injuries. Oh it isn't anything much anyway. His entire right arm is in a black cast; at least the doctor gave him back his fingers to write, his head is wrapped with a bandage, his right thigh had a long gash, and some other minor scratches.

"I'm done," Typh announces. The two guys look at each other then back at Typh.

"You know... so we- we have been wondering," Jo speaks up, "what will become of us?"

Typh smiles, having some sort of a déjà vu, he had thought about the possibilities days ago, and it seems to be happening for real.

"Come here, the two of you," Typh requests. He takes one paw from the each of them, stacks them together and holds it with the both of his paws.

"I have been thinking about it over the few days. I hope that my decisions will not affect any of our friendship, okay?" I ask. The both of them nodded.

"The thing is, Jo and I have been together for a long time, so we have experienced more things together, and I've already wanted to be with him since before you confessed to me, Jin," I say.

"I-I understand," Jin answers, slightly dejected.

I take off my right paw on the top and stroke his cheek, "But I'm sure we can be of very good friends, Jin."

The white tiger holds my paw with his, pushing it harder into his cheek, smiling with a stray tear, "I'm sure we will be, too."

Jo, on the other hand looks at me, perhaps his brain is registering slowly that I want him, but his tail has already started to wag fast. He leans forward and hugs me tight, eliciting a yelp as he pressed again my cast a little too hard. He nuzzles into my neck, making me shiver slightly.

Jo and I are finally together. He may not have said anything, but right now he is the happiest grey wolf you can ever meet.

-

Possibility 2

"Come here, the two of you," Typh requests. He takes one paw from the each of them, stacks them together and holds it with the both of his paws.

"I have been thinking about it over the few days. I hope that my decisions will not affect any of our friendship, okay?" I ask. The both of them nodded.

"So, I-" I say, before being interrupted by Jo.

"Typh," he calls, "I- I'm sorry to interrupt, but... I still can't get the guilt out of my head. It kills me to see you get hurt. After everything that has happened to you, I'm no longer confident to protect you... When I saw your blood in my paws, it haunts me. It was telling me right in my face about my failure. I don't dare to call myself to be yours if I can't protect you. Sorry Typh, but I-I can't..."

Jo slowly pulls away his paw from ours, clasping Jin and mine together, "I think Jin can protect you better, you should give him a chance."

Typh sighs then smiles, "I respect your decision, Jo. We can still be best friends, right?"

"Yeah."

Typh winks, "And who said Jin never had a chance?"

-

Possibility 3

"Come here, the two of you," Typh requests. He takes one paw from the each of them, stacks them together and holds it with the both of his paws.

"I have been thinking about it over the few days. I hope that my decisions will not affect any of our friendship, okay?" I ask. The both of them nodded.

"Actually, I don't think any of us are ready for a relationship yet," I say. Both of them immediately look disappointed.

"But hey, I'm not saying it's over yet. The three of us can start afresh from this moment on,"

"Really?" the both of them said together, hope brightening their eyes.

I laugh at the both of them, "We'll see."

-

Possibility 4

"Come here, the two of you," Typh requests. He takes one paw from the each of them, stacks them together and holds it with the both of his paws.

"I have been thinking about it over the few days. I hope that my decisions will not affect any of our friendship, okay?" I ask. The both of them nodded.

"So, I-" I say, before being interrupted by a loud bang and a brown figure that has been so familiar to my eyes.

GERRALD?!