There was a lot to be done on that Thursday before Kibum had to go to the hospital on Friday. All the kids each had something they needed to do so Heechul and Leeteuk decided to get everything done today because next week would just be too hectic. Leeteuk was taking most of the responsibilities since most of the stuff that needed done was at his house. He had to take everyone back home for more clothes because they’d be staying with Heechul for another two weeks, Henry had another violin lesson for an hour, and Sungmin needed to go back to his house for his own clothes as well. But Leeteuk had set it up so Kangin would be gone because he didn’t want Sungmin to throw a fit or anything.

While he took everyone with him, Heechul was taking Kibum out so they could run various errands together. Grocery shopping, a trip to the library so Kibum would have books to read while he was in the hospital, and then finally they had to pick Mir up from his session with Jia. Of course, Heechul planned on staying a little longer so he could talk with the psychiatrist. He was going to see if they could set up a few sessions for Kibum as well; it would probably due him some good.

So their day was very hectic and busy and it hadn’t even started yet. It was late in the morning and everyone was bustling around trying to get ready for the day. Heechul was in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone and Leeteuk was attempting to wake up his very sleepy son, who’d apparently been up all night on the phone with Zhou Mi, according to Eunhyuk.

“Hyung, do you know I left my hoodie?”

“Teukie hyung! I’m trying to talk to you!”

“Umma, I’m writing a letter to appa.”

“Wǒhěn è, umma, Wǒyào chī fàn.”

Heechul sighed softly and turned off the stove, bringing a pot of oatmeal over to the table.

“Donghae, your hoodie is on the couch where you left it. Eunhyuk, tattling on Henry isn’t talking. Sungmin, hurry up and write. Henry stop talking in Chinese, no one can understand you,” Heechul said, serving breakfast to everyone. They all immediately flocked to the table like hungry birds and sat down to eat. Leeteuk smiled softly at Heechul and gave him a soft kiss.

“I love you,” He said quietly, staring into Heechul’s eyes admiringly. Henry smiled at his umma’s, it always made him happy when they were all lovey dovey. He hoped that it would be soon that they finally got back together, but he knew it was not a matter of love but it was because of all the kids and their needs. Both of his mothers had responsibilities at their own homes which were keeping them apart for now, but Henry knew they both loved each other very much.

“Stop being cheesy, the kids are watching,” Heechul chided playfully, although it still made his heart flutter every time Leeteuk say those three words. He remembered the day when he was pregnant with Henry and Leeteuk had confessed that he was still in love with him. Though at first he wasn’t sure how he felt about his best friend, Heechul soon realized that he was still very much in love with Leeteuk as well. It was probably one of the best moments in his life.

“Please don’t kiss in front of us, Teukie hyung, we have innocent eyes here,” Eunhyuk said, elbowing Sungmin in the side. The older boy glared at him and stuck out his tongue; he’d seen enough romance movies and read trashy novels (because he was a er for them) not to be as innocent as they all liked to think that he was. After all, he was the oldest of them all.

“Shut up and eat your breakfast Eunhyuk,” Sungmin said, pinching his best friends arm.

“Yes, umma,” Eunhyuk said obediently, making his brothers laugh. Heechul chuckled softly at their goofy friendship and left the kitchen to head upstairs to his bedroom. Kibum was still sleeping but he needed to get up and eat breakfast so they could leave.

Heechul stepped into his room and flipped the lights on, causing Kibum to moan softly in protest in his sleep. Walking over to the side of the bed, Heechul sat on the edge and gently shook Kibum awake. Kibum fluttered his eyes open and blinked a few times until his vision focused on Heechul’s face.

“Hey, it’s time to wake up now. Breakfast is ready, come down and eat,” Heechul told him, brushing a few strands of hair out of Kibum’s face. It didn’t please him that Kibum was looking a little on the pale side that morning, his skin felt clammy too.

“I’m not hungry,” Kibum mumbled, closing his eyes again. Unfortunately Heechul was not going to let him go back to sleep, they had a lot of things that needed to be done today. He knew that Kibum probably wasn’t feelings good, but he couldn’t just stay home alone, especially after yesterday’s events. Heechul wanted him in sight just so he could watch Kibum’s behavior today to see if it was any different.

“I know you’re not, but you have to get up anyways. We have a lot to do today so go down and eat and then get dressed,” Heechul told him, gently pulling Kibum up from the bed. Not wanting to start the day off bad, Kibum just followed him out of the room. Yesterday had been really bad and his emotions were off the charts, Kibum didn’t want to go through that again. He still wasn’t feelings better, mentally, physically, and emotionally, but Kibum wasn’t going to cause anymore drama.

When they got down to the kitchen, Heechul gave him a bowl of oatmeal and they both sat down to join the meal. Kibum lifted a spoonful to his mouth and swallowed. While it did taste good, the feeling of it sliding down his throat hurt a lot. He winced slightly and took a drink of water, but it didn’t help that much. His throat felt raw, like he was suffering a sore throat.

“What’s wrong, Kibum?” Leeteuk asked him.

“My throat hurts a lot,” Kibum said softly. Heechul frowned hearing this, remembering what Dr. Junghwa had said about Kibum’s throat being burned from throwing up so often. It made him feel bad because he didn’t know what he could do to make Kibum feel better. Just got to hope for the best. The surgery is tomorrow and he’s going to get better so he won’t throw up anymore and his throat will heal as well.

“Finish eating and we can go get ice cream later after we get Mir,” Heechul promised him. This seemed to perk Kibum up and he took another bite of the oatmeal.

“Hyung, really? You’re going to give Kibum and Mir ice cream? You’re crazy,” Donghae said with a wide grin, never forgetting the memory of Kibum being off the walls hyper. Heechul just sent him a smile. It was a risk he was willing to take. He knew tonight was going to be completely nerve wracking for Kibum, scared and anticipating tomorrow morning. If getting him hyper with ice cream would take his mind off it, Heechul was going to give him a big chocolate cone with extra sprinkles.

After they all finished eating, they went their separate ways. Leeteuk left first with the boys to go back to his house. Heechul ushered Kibum out the door once he’d gotten dressed. They got into the car and left the house to drive into town towards the market store. Knowing that he’d be at the hospital a majority of next week with Kibum, Heechul was stocking up on food for the boys. Leeteuk was staying so they could alternate days at the hospital so the others wouldn’t be home alone all week.

As they walked into the store, Heechul grabbed a basket and they walked through the aisles together. Kibum stayed by his side silently, holding onto the hem of Heechul’s shirt so they didn’t get separated at all. He was sort of glad that they were alone for today, or at least until they went to get Mir, because he didn’t particularly want to be around his brothers. He wasn’t angry with them or anything, but he wasn’t in the mood to be around people today. He just wanted to be by Heechul’s side alone for awhile.

“Do you want anything?” Heechul asked as they walked through the snack aisle. He couldn’t wait until after the surgery was over and Kibum could stomach food, he was going to fatten him up full of junk food until he gained at least thirty pounds or so. Yes, he was that much underweight. Being as skinny as he was now, Kibum could be the poster child for World Hunger or something sad like that.

“Can I get something to drink?” Kibum asked him. Feeling as crappy as he did was making him really thirsty and he felt a little dehydrated. Heechul nodded and Kibum picked out a bottle of red Gatorade to keep with him for the day.

After finishing the shopping, they headed back home real quick to put the groceries away before going on to the next task. When the library came into sight, Kibum smiled softly to himself. They walked inside together and Heechul followed Kibum this time as he strolled through the shelves in search of good books to read. It made him happy to see at least one of his kids that liked to read. As much as he bought books for Mir, his son never even took a glance at them. But Kibum was a nerdy sort of boy, really, if he wasn’t clinging to Heechul he had his nose in a book.

They were there for nearly an hour looking for books and by time Kibum had chosen enough to last him a week, it was nearly time to head out to pick up Mir.

“I have to talk to Mir’s psychiatrist for a little while, okay?” Heechul said as they walked out to the car together. The sky was getting cloudy and a few raindrops began to fall from the grey clouds.

“ ‘Kay,” Kibum replied softly as he got into the front seat. He put his bag of books in the back seat and then buckled up. Heechul glanced at Kibum from the corner of his eye while he drove. While Kibum did seem to be in a better mood today, Heechul could tell that he was keep mum on the fact that he still wasn’t feeling well. He didn’t know if it was just nerves from the surgery tomorrow or if Kibum was coming down with something, but Heechul really hoped it was just Kibum being nervous. If he was getting ill then the surgery would have to be put off for another week, which wasn’t good.

“Kibum, would it bother you if I talked to Jia about you?” Heechul asked hesitantly as he stopped at a red light. Kibum glanced over at him curiously.

“What do you mean?” He inquired.

“Kibum, the way you’ve been acting lately is just getting out of control. It’s not something I can deal with on my own, even with Leeteuk’s help,” Heechul told him honestly. Kibum felt his eyes water up hearing this. I was right; he doesn’t want to deal with my problems anymore. I’m just a nuisance to him.

“I’m sorry,” He apologized softly, lowering his head in shame.

“It’s nothing to be sorry about, I know you can’t help it. It’s just…I’m worried about your mental stability,” Heechul confessed. Kibum kept silent and twiddled his thumbs together as Heechul continued. “You’re not talking to me about what’s going on and I just want to be able to help you so that’s why I’m talking to Jia.”

“Okay,” Kibum said quietly.

“If you won’t talk to me…would you consider talking to Jia? Mir says she helps him a lot, I think you’d like her,” Heechul said, hoping that Kibum would agree. Although he wanted to be the one that Kibum confided in, that just wasn’t happening and Heechul just wanted him to have someone to talk to. Keeping everything bottled up wasn’t healthy.

“I don’t want to,” Kibum replied immediately, leaning his head against the window. The mere suggestion of talking to a psychiatrist just made him annoyed. Past experiences with talking to a doctor went horribly wrong and he never wanted to try that again.

“Alright, but I want you to think about it. I don’t like it when you don’t talk about what you’re feeling and thinking. Suppressing everything is what’s making you so emotional lately,” Heechul told him. Kibum sighed and turned his head to look at Heechul. That’s exactly what Tiffany said.

“