Location: EXO’s Dorm 
Time: Thursday at 6:04 am (A week before collapse)

Chanyeol was woken by the sound of Baekhyun’s annoying alarm clock. Groaning, he blindly grabbed a pillow and through it in Baekhyun’s direction. The muffled whine told him he had managed to make contact. “Turn it off!” He whined as he tried to burry himself under the covers to block out the noise. Chanyeol sighed in relief as Baekhyun finally got up to shut off the alarm. Chanyeol shifted around as his current position was making his chest hurt. He carelessly rubbed his chest and pondered over getting old. The soreness in his chest was probably just a side effect of the heartburn that he got from eating Taco Bell while they were on vacation in Europe. It was certainly nothing that he was going to worry any of the other members about.

Chanyeol quickly sat up in bed, only to be met with an overloaded dizzy sensation. He closed his eyes for a moment before getting up and making a beeline straight for the bathroom.

The door bounced open as Baekhyun stumbled in with his eyes still half shut. He pinched Chanyeol’s right cheek as he reached for his toothbrush, making Chanyeol laugh. 

“Morning bacon.” 

“Ugh” Baekhyun met his eyes in the mirror and Chanyeol winked at him. Baekhyun slowly grinned and then elbowed him teasingly, “why are you shaving? You have nothing growing.”  

“Don’t come at me with that shade,” Chanyeol snapped, “Just because you don’t have any man hair yet.” Baekhyun took in a wounded breath and then flicked him hard on the forehead. Chanyeol giggled and retaliated by spraying shaving cream on Baekhyun’s cheek. The fight to the death was on - Baekhyun used all of his body weight to lunge on top of Chanyeol, pushing them both to the floor. Chanyeol flipped on top of Baekhyun and pinned him down with his thighs.

“What are you two school girls giggling about so early?” asked Tao grouchily as he stomped into the bathroom. He stared at Chanyeol still sitting on top of Baekhyun, “Man you guys are weird.” 

“Aww,” Baekhyun cooed while trying to tickle Chanyeol, “did someone pee in little Tao’s Cheerios this morning?” 

“I don’t know what’s more unsettling - the fact that you are so cheerful at 6 AM or the fact that you’re sitting on top of each other with only boxers on.” 

“Well, I could tell you about the dream I had -” Chanyeol began, grinning manically, but Tao cut him off with a wave of his hand. 

“Please don’t. I need coffee before that over-share.”  

———————————————————————————–———————————————————————————–

Location: Seoul National University Hospital Emergency Room
Time: Thursday Night (post collapse) at 10:35 pm

The automatic doors slid open as the paramedics wheeled Chanyeol to the awaiting team of doctors and nurses. The lead paramedic handed over Chanyeol’s chart to the nearest doctor in blue scrubs and announced as they walked, “We have a 23 year old Asian male showing symptoms of oxygen deprivation and shock. Blood pressure is 72/54 and falling, respiratory rate 9/53 and slowing, body temperature 37.9 and decreasing rapidly. Although, he has no history of heart disease or cardiac arrest, the patient flat lined on-site lasting approximately three minutes and then again during transit, lasting 1.5 minutes. The patient has also sustained minor head trauma from falling 4 feet off of a loading deck. The fall does appear to be the cause of the patient’s condition. Eyewitnesses on site claimed that he passed out first and fell off of the loading deck as a result.” 

“Blood pressure is dipping,” one of the nurses announced, “down to 40 beats a minute… 31… 20…” “Code 543! Patient is going into cardiac arrest,” the doctor announced loudly to his team.

The heart monitor’s alarm started to ring as the doctor lifted up the paddles, “Push 1 mg of Epinephrine and charge to 200 joules please.” The doctor placed the paddles on the boy’s chest, “Clear!” Everyone stepped back as he discharged the shock. The boy’s back arched off the bed and the alarm stopped. 

“Rhythm is back up to 70 beats a minute,” said the nurse after a moment. 

“We need to take this patient up to the trauma room. I want blood cultures taken and put a rush in with the lab. I want a MRI and a CT scan as soon as the patient is stable.” 

———————————————————————————–———————————————————————————–

Location: SM Entertainment Dance Room 
Time: Sunday (4 days before collapse)

“Chen you keep missing the beat on the third verse. Remember the bar runs four times before your cue,” Jaewon shouted. 

Chen frowned and tapped the rhythm out against his leg, trying to get it right. Jaewon turned to Chanyeol, “and Chanyeol, you’re going to have to walk faster because you are three paces behind the other members.” 

Chanyeol nodded in agreement but contorted inside. The soreness in his chest that he woke up with on Thursday was slowing coming back and he was having difficulty breathing during the high paced dance numbers. Chanyeol obviously needed to go to the gym more to build up his endurance but their performance was just days away so he had to keep smiling through the discomfort. 

Sehun turned to him and asked, “Are you feeling okay hyung?” “I’m fine,” Chanyeol shrugged. There was no sense in worrying the members over a silly shortness of breath from over-exercising during dance rehearsals. Chanyeol knew he needed rest but EXO’s schedule was so tight in preparation for their big performance at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena on Thursday. Chanyeol told himself that if he was still struggling to breathe after the concert, he would go see a doctor. All he had to do was hide his symptoms until then. As the music began to play again, he walked forward towards his mark. Suddenly, Chanyeol’s chest started to constrict and he began gasping for air as he fell down on his knees.

“Stop!” Jaewon called out as he shut off the music. The others members were caught off guard and stopped mid-step. Jaewon jogged over to Chanyeol, “Chanyeol? Are you alright? What’s wrong?” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Chanyeol could see Baekhyun and the other members making their way over to where he sat. He put on his bravest smile – hoping he could charm the choreographer away before the boys heard. 

“Please forgive me hyung. I am okay, honestly. It’s nothing,” Chanyeol insisted. 

“This doesn’t look like nothing Chanyeol,” Jaewon judgingly replied, “You’re paler than normal and your breathing is harsh.” 

 “What’s wrong Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked innocently as he approached his friend’s side. 

“Chanyeol, are you feeling sick? Be honest with me,” Jaewon pleaded. As Baekhyun approached his faced turned into deep concern as he pressed his hand to Chanyeol’s cheek, “Are you ill Chanho?” 

“I’m fine Baek. I think I’m just dehydrated,” he replied. 

“Are you sure you’re not feeling sick Chanyeol? Don’t lie,” Baekhyun said suspiciously. Chanyeol had discovered that it was hard to lie to Baekhyun. It was probably those puppy eyes – they pierced his soul. “Um, I may be feeling a little sick to my stomach,” he winced, “but I am okay, I just need some water.” 

Jaewon crossed his arms, “When did this start Chanyeol? Was it on Friday when you were struggling to keep up during Call Me Baby?” 

“Uh…” he winced again, “yeah.” 

“Damn it Chanyeol! Why didn’t you tell us?” Jaewon roared. 

“I’m just out of shape!” Chanyeol protested, “I’m fine! Sometimes I just get a little out of breath. I will work harder at the gym, I promise hyung!” He jumped defiantly to his feet to show Jaewon and the other members that he was ready to continue practicing Overdose. “I can handle it – don’t make such a big deal out of it.” “We’re wasting time; can we please get back to rehearsing?” Chanyeol begged.

“But Chanyeol, how are you going to-” Chen started but Chanyeol sharply cut across him. 

“Why don’t you worry about yourself Chen and those third verse timings. Leave me to worry about myself.” 

There was a stunned moment as everyone in the room stared at him in surprise. “Okay,” Jaewon slowly said. After a few awkward moments, Jaewon continued, “Uh…let’s take it from ‘her love, her love’, yeah?”  

———————————————————————————–———————————————————————————–

Location: Seoul National University Hospital Emergency Room
Time: Wednesday Night at 10:49 pm (post collapse)

Before Seunghwan could come to a complete stop in front of the hospital, the boys were jumping out of the van and running inside.

“Boys!” Seunghwan yelled, swearing. “Don’t!” but there was no point. He hit the breaks and Minwook jumped out of the passenger seat and ran after them. The boys were so worried about Chanyeol that they did not care that they were in a public place without security. They only hoped that they could get to Chanyeol before the sesaeng fans got to them. Baekhyun and Luhan raced into the Emergency Room, closely followed by Suho and Sehun. They almost crashed into each other in front of the nurses’ station. “Chanyeol Park!” Baekhyun shouted. “Where is he?!”

The woman blinked at him – not amused by his tone or lack of honorifics. But all Baekhyun cared about in that moment was being with Chanyeol. “Boys!” Minwook called out from the elevator.

As the boys ran over to him they shouted at once, “What’s going on?” “Is he okay?” “What happened?” “Is he going to be alright?” “What did the doctor say?” “Can we see him?”

Minwook held his hands up, “Calm down. The doctors are trying to stabilize Chanyeol now. They will come talk to us when they are ready. Let’s go wait in the ICU waiting room.” 

Suddenly, Baekhyun felt the blood quickly drain from his face, “He’s…he’s in the ICU?” Even though Baekhyun took cyber classes in Culture and Arts, he still knew that being in the ICU was bad - people died in the ICU. 

Minwook nodded and that is when Baekhyun felt his legs give out. 

“Whoa!” Suho cried, barely catching him before his head hit the floor. “Steady Baekhyun, everything is going to be okay. Chanyeol will be okay.”  

Baekhyun hated sitting in the ICU waiting room. It had minimal light and smelled like a funeral parlor. The other members sat in the chairs while Baekhyun paced back and forth across the room. He had never felt this scared in his life – it was almost nauseating. Chanyeol couldn’t die – he couldn’t. Baekhyun would never be able to get over it. He couldn’t live without Chanyeol now. They were brothers – they were a team – they were, ChanBaek.   

Baekhyun didn’t realize he was crying until Kai wrapped his arms around him and tucked him into his shoulder. Sobbing, Baekhyun tightly held onto Kai and whispered a prayer to any God to keep his friend on this Earth.  

An hour later, Dr. Kim came to speak to the members and managers. As soon as Dr. Kim begun to approach, the members swarmed him, firing off questions. Minwook had to quiet them down so that Dr. Kim could speak.

“Hello, I am Dr. Kyung Su Kim.” He then glanced at Minwook. “Are you Minwook Kim?” Minwook nodded suspiciously as the doctor checked his medical clipboard.

“It was brought to my attention that you have the authority over Chanyeol’s welfare in his parent’s absence?” 

“Yes,” he nodded while taking in a slight gulp, “His parents are on their way. What’s the situation?” 

The doctor squeezed his lips as Baekhyun held his breath, gripping Luhan’s wrist painfully hard. “We are still running more tests to rule everything out but we are currently treating Chanyeol for Hypoxemia.” 

“What is that?” Minwook asked. 

“It is an oxygen deficiency of which Chanyeol is displaying all of the symptoms.” Dr. Kim chewed on his lip, hesitating to continue, “I have to warn you that this is extremely serious. Chanyeol is very sick and not responding well to our treatments so far. What we really need to do is run more tests to determine what has caused this. Any information that you can give us could help.” 

“Tell me,” said Dr. Kim, “has Chanyeol been complaining of difficulty when breathing recently?” 

Minwook looked at the boys and Suho nodded, “He has had trouble breathing after some of our songs during our concerts.” “And he was having trouble breathing during our dance rehearsals but he said that was just dehydrated,” Kris added.   

“How long was he struggling to breathe each time?” asked the doctor sharply. 

“Only a couple of minutes,” Xiumin stuttered.

 “And has he been acting differently? Has he been sick or over-working himself?” 

“Uh,” Baekhyun thought hard, “he’s been really tired but we’ve all had busy schedules between EXO and our individual stuff.” Chanyeol was his best friend – even though Chanyeol didn’t say anything, Baekhyun still should have noticed that he was not feeling well. “His breathing has been a lot louder at night than normal, almost like a wheezing sound at times. “ Baekhyun added. Seriously, how had Baekhyun failed to notice this? God, he wanted to harshly punish himself for being so absent minded when his friend needed him the most.   

“Thank you, all of that information is very helpful,” Dr. Kim replied. “As soon as we know more I’ll come back to speak with you.” 

“Thank you doctor,” Minwook replied while a glisten of despair slowly grew across his dark eyes. 

The wait for more news was even worse than waiting for debut day. Baekhyun couldn’t stop shaking. He felt beyond sick - his head continued to spin with horrible thoughts. After the doctor had left, Sehun sat down next to him - hugging him close. Luhan sat down on Sehun’s other side, joining in on the hug, while DO comforted Baekhyun from his other side.

Baekhyun was grateful to have all of the members with him in the waiting room but it still wasn’t the same without his Chanyeol.

———————————————————————————–———————————————————————————–

Location: Room 61, Seoul National University Hospital
Time: Friday at 1:38 am

The members waited patiently in the waiting room for Dr. Kim to update them on Chanyeol’s condition. Baekhyun sat uncomfortably through his technical diagnosis until he heard the magic words “You can see him for a few minutes.”

Before he could finish, Baekhyun sprung out of his chair and begun quickly walking down the hallway of the patients’ rooms. Chanyeol was in Room 61 - Baekhyun frantically checked the door numbers with his heart beating faster with each passing one. 58… 59… 60……… 61. Baekhyun stopped to gaze into Chanyeol’s room through the glass. It was like a scene from a Korean drama. A bare hospital bed…machines…wires…and Chanyeol…lifeless.

With tears leaking down his cheeks, Baekhyun pushed open the door and walked inside. The nurse attending to Chanyeol looked up and gave him an encouraging smile. When the nurse left, Baekhyun timidly approached the bed. He put a hand to his mouth and choked at the sight of Chanyeol. 

There was an unsettling silence in the room aside from the soft beeping of the heart monitor and the steady whoosh of the respirator.  Baekhyun did not know if he was more freaked out by the silence or seeing Chanyeol on life support. Baekhyun gazed down at Chanyeol’s body. How had Baekhyun never noticed how delicate Chanyeol’s features were? His skin was so smooth, his lips were so feminine and … was that a freckle below his left collarbone?

Baekhyun swept his gaze to Chanyeol’s hand resting on the covers. How come he had never noticed how strong and powerful Chanyeol’s hands were? Being mindful of the IV line, Baekhyun gently took Chanyeol’s hand in his and squeezed. How did his friend become so breakable? 

“Chanyeol?” he whispered. Chanyeol continued to lay lifeless. Baekhyun shuddered at the thought because Chanyeol always reacted whenever Baekhyun talked to him. Baekhyun closed his eyes as Lay wrapped his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulder in comfort. Feeling Lay’s tears drip onto his neck, Baekhyun used his free hand to reach up and hold the back of his friend’s head. DO took Chanyeol’s other hand and for a moment, all of the members stood there as one, just watching. 

“Why didn’t you tell us, why didn’t you tell me?” Baekhyun heard whispered in his ear and realized Lay was mumbling under his breath. 

“Why did you have to be so foolish!” Baekhyun added angrily. All of the members looked over at Baekhyun. “We need to plan him a funeral. If Chanyeol gets better, I am going to kill him for doing this to me!” 

“Baekhyun!” Suho said sternly while the other members gasped. But before Suho could get in another word, the silence was punctured with a loud beep. The members looked around as the beeping noise echoed throughout the room. Sehun looked to Suho, “What’s going on hyung?” That was when an alarm started to ring. The heart rate monitor began flashing and all Baekhyun could do was stare at it in absolute horror.

“No. No! NO!” Baekhyun screamed. “Don’t you ing dare do this to me Chanyeol!” he cried as he reached forward to grab Chanyeol’s hand again. 

“Baekhyun!” Xiumin yelled, trying to pull him away. 

“NO!” Baekhyun screamed while uncontrollably shaking Chanyeol’s arm like a rag doll. “Don’t you ing dare Chanyeol! Don’t do this to me again!” 

The members were suddenly being pushed backwards by the hospital staff as nurses rushed around Chanyeol’s bed. Baekhyun fought hard against the man who was pushing him back towards the door, “NO! Chanyeol! Don’t! Chanyeol, don’t!” He felt the man’s strong arms grip him around the waist. He kicked and yelled, trying to get free. 

“Baekhyun!” Suho yelled in his ear. “We’ve got to get out the way!” 

“No! Chanyeol!” he fell backwards out of the doorway with Suho barely managing to hold him upright. Baekhyun peered through the glass and saw the nurses talking and unrolling wires. Baekhyun begun to feel dizzy, “don’t you dare leave me Chanyeol,” he whispered before breaking down in Suho’s arms. 

A nurse started to administer medication into the IV line while another was pulling Chanyeol’s shirt off. Dr. Kim rushed in wearing blue scrubs and placed two paddles onto Chanyeol’s pale chest. “Charging to 150! Ready! Clear!” The popping sound was quickly followed by a sickening crunch as Chanyeol’s back arched off the bed. But that stupid alarm would not stop ringing. The doctor ordered another shock, “Charging! Clear!” Chanyeol’s back arched again. But the alarm still kept ringing. “Charging! Clear!”

Finally, the alarm stopped and the rhythmic beeping noise of Chanyeol’s heart beat returned.

All Baekhyun could do was sink to the ground and cry.