Baekhyun tells the doctors that he isn't scared. Baekhyun is a liar. He's scared to death, which is a bad metaphor because Baekhyun's having open heart surgery in a little less than 24 hours and he really could die. Actual death. It could happen.

The doctors tell him that the surgery is necessary. That even if he's scared—which he still swears aloud to them that he isn't—the odds are against him if he doesn't get the procedure done.

"You could die, obviously," a short, glaring doctor tells him.

"Dr. Do!" Another one of the doctors hisses, but honestly Baekhyun just appreciates that someone's willing to tell him the truth.

"What? There's always risks with surgery!" Dr. Do defends himself to his colleagues but Baekhyun doesn't care. Their drama doesn't matter to him. What matters to him is that no matter what, he's apparently going to die. Probably. Maybe. He doesn't know.

His father, on the other hand, is absolutely convinced that Baekhyun is going to die in surgery unless they find a shaman to perform a healing ritual first. Baekhyun's father is the regional leader of their people and Baekhyun knows the doctors think he's stupid for letting his dad dictate his choices, but Baekhyun believes in his ancestors too.

They'd told him yesterday that his heart could fail if he didn't get the operation done immediately, but his father had been adamantly against it and Baekhyun had respected the wishes of his elder, holding off until a shaman could be found. A day later, though feeble, Baekhyun's heart is still beating on and Baekhyun just knows the ancestors are looking out for him. Knows that they are blessing his respect for his people's traditions. Knows that whatever happens to him, it will be okay.

So yeah, he tells the doctors that he's not scared because the ancestors need to know that he appreciates their protection. Except Baekhyun's a liar. Because he's scared, terrified even, and he can't even say it.

When the shaman arrives it's a blessed relief from the worry that gnaws into Baekhyun's skull like a migraine. He sees his parents hovering just outside the door, praying over the room to sanctify it as a worthy space for their hallowed spiritual guide to enter. Before Baekhyun closes his eyes and the ritual begins, he sees the doctors too. They're watching and amazed. They listened when Baekhyun's father explained the ritual's purpose, but Baekhyun doesn't think they truly understood what it means for him to reconnect with his other soul. At least, not until it actually happens.

Baekhyun's eyes are closed but beyond his eyelids he catches flashes of light and the touch of sweet smoke to his lashes as the shaman performs his spiritual duties to reunite Baekhyun with his second soul. And it works. Suddenly Baekhyun's heart has an echo beat, one that pulses with his same rhythm. Somehow it's strong enough to beat for both of them. Baekhyun doesn't know how it works or even how he knows this, but when he opens his eyes to see a tall, skinny boy smiling a moon-eyed smile down at him, Baekhyun isn't surprised.

"Are you ready for this, Baekhyun?" The boy—Baekhyun's second soul—asks gently, voice soft yet somehow louder than the shaman's chanting and even the startled whispers of the disbelieving doctors.

"I am now," Baekhyun agrees with a sigh as his twin soul snakes a long arm around his waist and pulls Baekhyun's body close. The doctors protest. They say he can't have visitors other than immediate family and religious advisors. They say the boy must have snuck in. They say they're going to call security. They don't understand.

This boy—"Sehun," he shares with the whisper of a kiss to Baekhyun's hair as the doctors and Baekhyun's parents argue—is Baekhyun's other soul. His other half. His perfect match. Without him Baekhyun will die, surgery or no surgery. And so Baekhyun will not go into surgery unless Sehun is there. End of story.

He wins, in the end. Or else his father wins after saying he'll sue the hospital for religious discrimination and malpractice if something happens to Baekhyun. The doctors still don't believe, but that knowledge doesn't bother Baekhyun as he's prepped for his surgery and wheeled down the long hall to the operating room. Sehun's hand is clutched tightly in his as they go, and Baekhyun knows that Sehun's will be the last face his face sees. Maybe forever. Maybe not.

"Do you believe in fate?" He asks his soul, fingers curled around Sehun's in a death grip. Sehun doesn't seem to mind. He presses another kiss to Baekhyun's hair and nods, still smiling with those maddening crescents that make Baekhyun's stomach do flip flops.

"Cause I think you might be mine," Baekhyin admits after a pause. He's vaguely embarrassed and so his eyes are closed. But what the hell, right? He might be dying.

The bed stops rolling and a throat clears, but Baekhyun's blushing now and he keeps his eyes clenched shut. Hot breath against his lips surprises him into opening them. Sehun, suddenly, is right there and his mouth is brushing against Baekhyun's. And it's perfect.

"Then come back for me, Baek." Sehun's plea is so quiet Baekhyun almost missed it. "I don't exist without you." He kisses Baekhyun again before he unfolds his lanky body from where it was leaving over the rails. The attendant returns wearing a knowing smile, but Baekhyun ignores it.

He asks if Baekhyun's scared, right before rolling him through the OR doors. Baekhyun's feels the cool touch of Sehun's thumb brushing the pulse at his wrist. He shakes his head.

"No," he tells the attendant. "I'm not scared."

Baekhyun is not a liar. He doesn't have to be. Not with Sehun. Not anymore.