It was cold in the waiting room where they all sat on old, worn out chairs. There was a television hung up in the corner of the room that was playing the news, but nothing could be understood over the static. The lights were flickering up above and over all it was not a comfortable plays to be, nor did it do anything to ease the tension and anxiety filling the air. The night was late and it was getting close to the end of visiting hours, which made everyone even more worried. It meant they were not going to be able to see Kibum tonight, which everyone was anxious to do.  

Sungmin sat on the hard plastic chair staring blankly into space. There was a tired Mir leaning against him on one side and a sleepy Henry on the other. It was way past the general time they went to bed, but no one wanted to go home until they saw Kibum. A few seats down, Eunhyuk and Donghae were sitting together holding hands, not even bothering to cuddle or anything while the adults were away. Every now and then, Eunhyuk would glance down at Donghae and see him wipe away tears. He was the most worried and scared right now; they all knew how close he and Kibum were. The whole situation was upsetting and no one even knew what was going on.

There was a commotion over at the nurse’s desk which made them all look up worriedly; but all it was only a new arrival in the emergency room, where they currently were. They all sighed heavily, patiently waiting for either Heechul or Leeteuk to come out and give them some news on Kibum.

Sungmin looked down at the two younger boys that were dozing off on him. He wandered if maybe he should go find Leeteuk and get the keys to take them back home so they could go to bed, but just as he was about to ask if they wanted to, there was the sound of footsteps and they all looked up to see Leeteuk walking over to them. Everyone eagerly jumped out of their seats as he entered the room, looking up at him expectantly.

“They’re moving him to a private room,” He said softly, reaching his arms out as Henry stepped forward to hug him tightly.

“Umma, is Kibum okay?” Sungmin asked for everyone. Leeteuk sighed and looked at all their tired faces. He knew they were exhausted; they’d been in the waiting room for almost three and a half hours now without any news.

“The doctor said you can visit him, but not for very long,” He said, which brightened everyone’s expressions. “But listen to me now: Kibum is very sick and he’s not awake. Do not be loud or cause any disturbances or there will be no more visiting him,” He warned them seriously. The boys followed Leeteuk through the halls of the hospital, making sure to be very quiet so that they did not disturb the other patients. After pushing through a door with a sign that read ‘Private Rooms’, Leeteuk ushered them towards a door on the right.

The sight before them made everyone tear up and want to cry. Kibum was lying on the bed covered with a blanket. There were two IV lines hooked up in his arms and a respiratory mask taped over his mouth and nose, ensuring that he got the oxygen that he needed. He looked so tiny and frail, so sick lying there. His face was so pale besides the faint blush of a fever on his cheeks his closed eyelids looked worn out and purple.

He looked like someone who was dying.

Mir’s lower lip trembled and his vision blurred as tears clouded in his eyes. He let out a soft sob and Heechul, who was sitting on the chair besides Kibum’s bed, beckoned him to come over.

“The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him yet; we’re waiting for his blood work to come back. But he’s not doing too well right now. His fever is high and he’s having trouble breathing on his own,” Heechul informed everyone quietly, hugging Mir close to him. The rest of the boys slowly moved closer to the bed, careful not to disrupt any of the lines that hooked up their brother to strange machines that sent off weird noises.

Donghae stepped closest to the bed and slowly reached his hand out to gently touch Kibum’s. He retracted it almost immediately, as if he’d been shocked. His hand is so cold…it feels like an ice cube. Is he –is he dying? The mere thought of that just made the tears roll down his face. Seeing that his boyfriend was upset, Eunhyuk instantly moved over and wrapped his arms around Donghae and hugged him tightly.

“Ahem. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Kim, the results are back,” A voice said from the doorway. Heechul looked and saw that the doctor was back, holding the results of Kibum’s blood tests in his hand. He moved Mir off his lap and headed over with Leeteuk, and the three adults stepped out into the hallways, shutting the door a crack.

“What did it show? Is Kibum going to be okay? What’s wrong with him?” Heechul asked immediately, his heart racing already as his thoughts when crazy thinking up a million different scenarios; each ending horribly. Leeteuk reached for his hand and held it tightly as the doctor adjusted his glasses.

“Kibum’s blood has come back positive...” He began, voice trailing off. Heechul and Leeteuk stared at him, both feelings their hearts pounding in their chests as they waited for him to continue.

“It’s come back positive for an overdose of corrupted heroin.”

Heechul felt as if his blood had been replaced with ice cold water. His heart felt like it’d stopped beating and the world came to a halt as that sentence replayed over and over in his mind like a taunting mantra.

Drug overdose.

Kibum had overdosed on drugs.

“What do you mean, corrupted heroin?” Leeteuk asked the doctor, wandering what the heck that meant and how it was affecting their baby. The doctor tutted softly and opened the folder containing the results and briefly read through them.

“Yes, the marks show on his arms of infected needle injections; hence why he’s running a fever. But we’ve started him on antibiotics to get that out of the way. Now, it shows that he had injected a large dose of heroin into his system but it had no affect on him due to his history of evident drug usage. Now, the heroin that he used was corrupted, meaning it was mixed with something else and we’re not sure what. We know that it’s some type of poison, no doubt, but we’re running more tests to find out which specific poison it is so we can find an antidote,” He explained.  

“What happens if you don’t?” Heechul asked, thinking of the worst. The doctor closed the folder and looked at them with serious eyes.

“You’ll have to prepare for the worst, but I wouldn’t advise it. Detecting poisons is not a terribly difficult task; I’m sure Kibum will be on the road for recovery by morning. But in which case, his case will be out of my hands and passed over to the juvenile officer’s,” He told them gravely. Hearing this sparked a flame of anger inside Heechul and he glowered at the doctor.

“Why?” He asked through clenched teeth.

“Because, Mr. Kim. Kibum has a record of drug usage and this is the third time he’s been admitted to the hospital for overdosing in the past year. We’ve cut some slack given his situation, but time has moved on. This needs to be dealt with.” With that, the doctor his heel and walked away from the two, leaving them to stand staring after him with bewildered expressions on their faces.

Leeteuk narrowed his eyes and turned to face Heechul, who looked just as angry as he felt.

“I don’t believe it. Kibum wouldn’t go off and do drugs, not anymore. He’s happy now, there’s no reason why he would do it,” Leeteuk said defensively, not wanting believe that their baby would purposely inject that garbage into himself. Kibum was more mature than that; he’d way since moved on from his drug days. Besides, even in the beginning he’d told Heechul that he didn’t like doing them, that it had just gotten out of hand once he’d gotten addicted.

Heechul and shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to believe. Sure, he agreed with Leeteuk and he didn’t want to believe it, but it was almost inevitable. While Kibum may not have wanted to do drugs, it could very well be that the medicine had worn off early and the withdrawal symptoms took hold of him. It was risqué anyways since they weren’t one-hundred percent sure that the medicine would actually last the same every time. So it very well could be that Kibum did this to himself.

Heechul just did not want to believe that.

Kibum wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t. This has to have something to do with whoever is following him. He was gone for four hours lost at night; surely that would have been the perfect time to grab him and hurt him. Whatever happened, I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Kibum is not going to Juvvie.

“Umma? What did the doctor say?”

The two adults looked over and saw Henry standing at the door, holding it open where everyone was looking out curiously. Leeteuk went over to his son and ushered him back into the room.

“Nothing, baby,” He said quickly, not wanting to expose them to the