Chapter 30 – Cancelled

[I’m at the hospital]

I just stared at the message on my screen like I was hallucinating.

“What?!” I exclaimed aloud and a few girls turned around to look at me funny but kept on their way as I gave them a little awkward smile and walked to a more secluded corner.

I had arrived at the venue not long before, and they were just starting to let people in. I hadn’t heard from him in over 2 hours, which was sort of weird, but never would I have imagined something bad had actually happened.

[What do you mean?!]
I quickly typed back but there was no answer.

[Tae, I’m about to go in, now is not the time to be cryptic!!!]

I mailed back in a panic. I waited again, and finally, just as I was about to call, the screen lit up again, but what it had to say didn’t really help alleviate my worries.

[Kobe Medical Research Hospital] was all it said.

I fumed out loud, gaining weird looks from all around but not caring a bit as I rushed for the nearest street, trying to find a taxi. I located one and hopped into it, showing the driver my phone and asking if the hospital was near. He nodded at me and told me to buckle my seatbelt, and I spent the whole ride biting my fingernails and obsessively checking my phone to see if a new message hadn’t appeared.

When I got there, I ran to the reception area and was immediately overwhelmed. The place was HUGE. I headed towards what I assumed was the reception desk, but the staff girl there argued with me that I needed to take a number and wait. I fought with the inner urge to slap her as I tried to explain that my boyfriend had been taken in just recently, and finally, she directed me to another desk, where the line was only half as long.

I was going crazy, waiting for my turn to come, when I saw a familiar sight walk by in the corridor. It was a tall guy wearing a black “STAFF” t-shirt and though I didn’t recognize his face, I recognized his shirt and decided that was good enough. Ditching my place in line, I ran after him, only thinking about what I was gonna say AFTER I’d grabbed him by the arm and made him spin around in annoyed surprise. His eyes widened when he saw me, and I just stood there, gulping, not really knowing what to say. I had no idea if he spoke Japanese, or English, and I was suddenly frozen in place. Finally, he rolled his eyes at me and motioned for me to follow him with a jerk of his head. I released the breath I’d been holding in and nodded gratefully. Rushing after him into an elevator.

We rode to the 4^th floor in silence, and then made our way through a series of wide hallways, until the rather large entourage parked outside one room at the end of the hall announced that we had obviously reached our destination. I saw him start talking with another man I recognized as one of their managers and he was pointing at me and shaking his hands and it was pretty obvious from just his body language that he just didn’t want me there. The guy in the STAFF t-shirt turned back towards me, put his hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture and said one word: “wait.” before making his way through the blockade and disappearing into the room.

The older manager crossed his arms over his chest, looking at me with a pleased expression (which really pissed me off) and I just stood there, trying to peak inside the room and keep calm at the same time.

A nurse left and I asked her in Japanese “Is he ok?” but before she could even answer me, I heard a long wail come from inside the room.

“EEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”

It sounded like someone was torturing him or something. Everyone turned to look at the door, and I turned to look at the sulky manager, who sighed, shaking his head, and held his hand up in reluctant defeat to let me through just as Taehyung called my name a second time, followed by a string of Korean words I didn’t understand. He was in the middle of his third attempt when I walked in and his view of me cut him short.

“Oh my god!!” I called out, dropping my bag at the door and rushing over to him. I didn’t know what had happened, but the sight of my boyfriend in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV and looking rather pasty was not a very reassuring one and I immediately assumed the worst. “Are you ok?!?” I asked, voice filled with worry, grabbing his face in my hands as if I needed to physically make sure he was alive.

“I’m fine.” he answered, looking at me with the most tender smile. His smile, if anything, immediately calmed the irate pounding in my heart, though I refused to let go of his face.

“Really, I’m fine.” he said, grabbing my hands from his face to pull them down, widening his eyes at me as if my worry was somehow amusing to him. “I just do that so they let you in.” he went on, with a pleased grin, referring to his earlier wailing, and I smacked him on the shoulder.

“Oaaaoooww!” he called out, in exaggerated pretend pain, “I’m in hospital!” he pouted, looking like he was close to tears, and for once, I decided to let it slide.

“My poor baby…” I cooed, petting his hair and the purest look of glee appeared on his face as he leaned into my hand and purred like a kitten. “Are you really okay? You didn’t tell me what happened…”

“Well… I still hurting a bit…” he said, raising himself up on his elbows a bit, so he was sitting up at level with me.

“Where? What happened?” I asked, the worry not completely dispelled from my voice.

“Here…” he grinned, bringing his face closer to mine and grabbing my bottom lip between his own.

“Tae…” I laughed, and blushed, and felt giddy all at the same time, obviously wanting to kiss him more but knowing this was not really the place, “Are you really ok?” I asked for the millionth time, my eyes darting left and right to look into his own. His face was still so close that I could feel his breath upon my cheek, and he smiled again before answering me with another kiss.

Just then, there was a loud coughing sound – more like choking really – that came from behind us and made me turn around in surprise and embarrassment. It was only then I noticed that Taehyung wasn’t the only occupant of the room; In another bed, a bit further off, I recognized Yoongi’s green head as he rolled over away from us, mumbling something I didn’t catch under this breath. He was also plugged on an IV, but since he was turned away from us, I couldn’t really tell how badly he was doing. I guess if he had the energy to be grumpy, he must’ve been doing somewhat alright?

“Tae, what happened?” I turned back to my boyfriend with concern in my eyes.

“Just… we tired… but we fall down so… they say hospital…” he sighed, shaking his head as if it was all completely unnecessary. “Now they do this. Take many tests. So boring…” he said, pouting so cutely that it made me bite my own lip trying not to smile. Of course I failed and a mischievous grin appeared on his lips a moment later.

“Noona, you take care of me?” he asked, tugging on the front of my shirt childishly.

I rolled my eyes but I couldn’t really resist him so I let him pull me into a soft kiss.

“Aaaahh…. Korean, Korean, Korean…” I heard Suga’s grumpy voice rise up again, which made me pull away sheepishly and turn towards him. What I didn’t expect though, was the manager’s snarky response, Yoongi’s obviously unhappy comeback, and Tae’s loud booming laughter, all coming in quick succession, one after the other.

“What?” I just asked, perplexed.

Tae translated for me once he caught his breath.  “Why no one do this for me?” he started, imitating Suga’s voice, “and manager said ‘want me to kiss you?’” he finished, before starting to laugh again.

I turned to look at Suga, eyebrows raised, as I gave out a little chuckle of my own. He was looking away, sulking in embarrassment, but I did kind of feel bad for him. So, deciding to further the joke a bit, I stood up from my seat and walked over to his bed. He blinked his eyes open to stare at me in surprise.

“Yoongi, are you ok?” I asked softly, with the kindest smile I could muster.

“Yeah, yeah…” he replied with a little huff, looking away.

I smiled wider and ruffled his hair as a response, which he didn’t seem to like, then bent over to place a little peck over his fringe. He immediately looked up in surprise and I gave him a little wink before walking over back to my boy. Tae was staring at me with his mouth wide open, wrapping his arms around me possessively as soon as I’d gotten back within his reach.

“Waaaae, why you do that?!? You’re MY girlfriend!!”

I couldn’t see but I could hear both Yoongi and the manager gwaffing behind us.

*

Tae sulked for a good 10 minutes, but eventually got over it and started telling me about his morning, and practice, and every little thing he could think of until the moment they’d gotten taken here. He seemed pretty upset they hadn’t let them ride in an ambulance “at least”… It was about another hour before I was thrown out without much fanfare as the rest of the boys (and several more staff members) came in; along with more doctors. That’s when I realized, with sudden dread that the concert must have been cancelled because the sun was still shining out the window, and it was way too early for them to be here. I’d been told I could wait in the hall, but again, nobody would tell me what was going on. Though I’d seen enough from Tae and Suga to know they were fine, so I wasn’t nearly as worried, as I waited on my chair with the rest of the staff that wasn’t important enough to be in there.

Finally, after nearly two hours, they all came out. All of them. but they were being herded towards the elevator amongst a throng of staff rather quickly and Tae and I only had time for one quick hug before he was ushered along again. He made a face, shushing his manager in annoyance and requesting just one minute with me, during which he told me, with a terribly disappointed face, that they were going home.

“Home?!” I shrieked, without meaning to.

“Yes, to Korea” he said sadly, answering my unspoken question.

“But… but the show?! Tomorrow?!” I stuttered, bewildered.

Tae shook his head and a staff finally pushed him towards the open elevator, where everyone else was waiting for him to get in. He took his phone out of his pocket and brought it up in the air, shaking it in his hand to indicate that he’d text me.

I stood there, in total disbelief, watching the door close on all their faces as the lights on the elevator started to ping down.