WHEN SUMMER ENDS

by Discordance

PART 2

Now

“Donghyuk!”

The former maknae jolted at the call from the kitchen, so intense was he at watching the movie playing on the screen. He quickly grabbed the remote control and pressed pause. “Hyung?”

“Can you call the others?”

“Really? The food’s done now?” He leapt off the sofa and scuttled across the living room floor into the hallway leading to the kitchen. He opened the sliding door and was immediately overwhelmed by the pleasant aroma of stir-fried vegetables and noodles hidden under their chef’s special sauce. “Oh, that smells so good!”

“Donghyuk!” Yunhyeong-hyung turned around from his position in front of the stove and pointed at him with the hand that wasn’t occupied by chopsticks. “Call the others or you won’t get any!”

Donghyuk spun so fast he almost gave himself whiplash and obediently went back out and down the hall. He stopped at the first few steps of the stairs and called upwards, “Food’s done! Get it before Hanbin-hyung eats it all!”

A few inaudible answers and Hanbin-hyung denying it reached his ears, along with a thump that sounded suspiciously like someone falling off the bed.

“Are they coming?” Yunhyeong-hyung asked the moment he entered back inside the dining room/kitchen area. The second-eldest was carefully putting the meal into a large bowl. Donghyuk walked over and reached into the cupboards to grab the bowls for the others to use.

“Yep,” he chirruped. Balancing the stack of bowls on one arm, he extended a hand for the forks. Just as he was about to grab them, his other arm wobbled under the pressure set by the bowls.

Yunhyeong-hyung exclaimed out loud and came back quickly from putting the food down on the table. Before Donghyuk could say anything, he took the bowls from his arm, scolding him in an instant. “Donghyuk, these cost a lot and you know you’re not strong enough!”

“Hyung, I’m fine,” he whined. He swiped for the bowls but his hyung danced easily away from his range.

“You just recovered from the flu,” Yunhyeong-hyung continued as if he didn’t hear. He set the bowls down on the table and Donghyuk followed, putting the forks and chopsticks in a pile on a napkin. “And you even went to the Hospital. Don’t overwork yourself.”

“They’re just bowls, hyung~ They’re very light.”

“You say that now.”

Loud voices echoed down the hall from the stairway. Yunhyeong-hyung looked up with an annoyed yet distinctly fond expression on his face. It sounded like they were fighting to go first at the stairwell and their voices were overlapping with thumps and laughter. “They’re going to get us in trouble with the neighbors again. And this time, it’s only just food.”

Donghyuk laughed. “Can you blame us?”

Against his obvious will, Yunhyeong-hyung broke out in a smile before going to put the rest of the materials away. Donghyuk always liked seeing his hyung’s smile. The other members weren’t joking when they mentioned on TV several times that they loved to (next to Donghyuk, of course) because of his reaction. He always made the result of their hard work so amusing, but the upturn of his lips would always remind them of what they truly thought but never said, for obvious personal reasons. Because sometimes, all they needed to start off on a good morning was seeing Yunhyeong-hyung’s infectious smile.

He watched as the second-eldest washed the dishes in the sink silently. His face was calm and peaceful but he also seemed to be concentrating intently on scrubbing every last bit of grime off the bowls.

Although he was childish, outrageously so at times that it would take their combined forces to stop him on his sprees, he would also very well show his right to be the second-eldest of their patch-work family. While the members were resting after a particularly long day, Yunhyeong-hyung would be cooking their food before they woke up. When Donghyuk needed to let out his frustrations and complaints and he didn’t go to Jinhwan-hyung, their resident eldest and counselor, he would always be there to lend him an ear and gently guide him in the right direction. When the members finally burst out of their united bubble, Yunhyeong-hyung would find the hole that had been made and help them see what they couldn’t when they were so blinded by their emotions.

Suddenly possessed by said emotions, Donghyuk walked behind the elder and slowly wrapped his arms around the hyung’s thin waist, his cheek resting against the broad back. He could feel the elder pausing in his work, but he continued washing after a few seconds. “What’s with you all of a sudden?” he joked casually and Donghyuk could hear the smile in his voice.

But he didn’t say anything. Yunhyeong-hyung didn’t seem to mind though and just continued washing, soon softly singing a tune in his naturally deep voice that caused Donghyuk’s face to pleasantly tingle from the vibration, a sense of ease in his actions that belied the experience he had in dealing with the younger’s sentimental moods.

“Love you, Donghyuk.”

Donghyuk smiled. “Love you too, Yunhyeong-hyung.”

It was another one of those busy days. The receptionist kneaded both sides of her temples in frustration, hunched over at her desk and wishing that she could just blend into the chair or, even better, the floor. Then at least she wouldn’t have to look up to see the chaos within the corridor.

Apparently there was this big construction accident that caused many injuries but thankfully no casualties, at least from what she heard. People of all ages were wheeled into the rooms and they were filling up quickly. It was a miracle that the family members or close friends were even able to be calmed down.

But she didn’t consider it a huge success because now she has a serious migraine.

She muttered incoherent words to herself, trying to ignore the typhoon of sounds that bombarded her ears so delightfully. She pressed the palms of her hands on her eyes, resolved to just take a few seconds to zone out every bit of noise surrounding her. Just for a few seconds…maybe a minute…just one minute…

“Miss? MISS!”

She jolted and quickly removed her hands from her face.

There was another family in front of her except…she blinked. No, it was definitely not a family, unless they were relatives. But from the way they were huddling together, and looking at her so urgently with such varying appearances, it was no doubt that they were very close. Friends or cousins, perhaps.

Right now, the one that had her attention was a distinctly familiar young man in a beanie looking at her with eyes of anxiety. Sweat was also beaded on his brow, but his voice remained stable. “Is there a Song Yunhyeong that was brought in here?”

Song Yunhyeong? There was something turning in her head at that. “Please wait one moment.” If anything, that appeasing statement just made his eyes scrunch even more, and if she looked at the other boys, it was likely they would have the same look on their face too. She tapped away at the keyboard, easily finding what she was looking for with practiced ease. She wasn’t the least surprised at the results, since she just remembered another family asking for the same name some hours ago. “He's currently in ER 7.” She pointed towards the hallway on the right. “Please go down this hallway – ”

She didn’t even get to finish before the small group of boys rushed off. She blew a loose strand away from her face and tucked it back behind her ear. “Kids. They're going to get themselves in some big trouble if they make a ruckus outside the room. At least the parents are there to stop them from doing anything idiotic.”

“You don’t know who they were?”

She turned around. Her colleague’s face was wrinkled with exhaustion and stress, but her expression of slightly detached pity gave her a reason to pause. “Should I know them?”

The older woman first stared at her then turned back to grabbing papers, as if the conversation wasn’t really worth her time. “You talked about that barbeque restaurant many times so I’m surprised you don’t remember who the son of the owner is. Or how famous.”

She stared at her colleague for a long moment. “What?”

A slightly aggravated sigh. “There was a large poster hanging from a wall. It’s not that easy to forget – it looked almost like a shrine.”

And then just like that, it clicked.

A handsome young man with gentle eyes gazing out. Signatures on merchandise and various pictures, banners of red and white. The smell of grilled meat and talking between laughter saturating the slightly steamy air in waves of comfort and tranquility.

Her head swerved around and she actually got out of her seat to look down the hallway, as if she could spot them with her limited vision among the ruckus. She looked back at her partner, aghast. “The boy is that Song Yunhyeong?” Her colleague watched her as she collapsed onto the wheelchair, her legs unable to withstand the disbelief. “I – I didn’t…”

The doors opened again and another small group of people rushed in. The older woman sighed and moved over to grab the wheelchair, pushing it and its occupant away from the desk before preparing for the next wave of clents. “Go splash water on your face. I’ll take over.”

She didn’t move but it did nothing to deter the wave of sadness that rose from her chest. After all, she was a customer who had visited once every few months when she started college many years back. She remembered the small restaurant then at its beginnings and she remembered the young boy with an apron. He and his infectious grin that tinged with awkwardness when he was put under the open adoration of elder women. He who had grown to be such a wonderful young man and who time and genetics had been kind to. To think that this was the same boy who was lying in the operating room…

She hoped against all hope that it wasn't true.

He and Jinhwan-hyung met with the other members at the entrance of the hospital. They had immediately called each other as soon as they were able to move from the shocking news, but they were definitely not much better off at the moment.

It was with desperation that they fought through the crowd of reporters and fans that had long gathered before they had arrived. They had no bodyguards and so some security officers dove into the crowd to confront the causes of the screams and overwhelming chatter. All the members held hands tightly as they were pulled and pushed in every direction, but they weren’t afraid of them.

They were too far gone to be anything less than terrified for Yunhyeong-hyung and Yunhyeong-hyung only.

Once they were safely in the hospital and the guards were yelling to let only those who actually needed to be in the Hospital to go through, they immediately rushed to the desk receptionist.

Hanbin-hyung had to practically yell to get the attention of the receptionist who was apparently not aware of her surroundings. He saw Jinhwan-hyung grab Junhoe’s hand while she told them the room and it took a few seconds before they were off in the speed of light, tendrils of ice gripping their hearts.

Because she didn’t say a hospital room number. She said ER 7. Emergency Room.

There were people everywhere and so they tried their best to weave through the gaps as quickly as possible, hands held tightly together, pulling one another in a solid link. His foot caught a wheel of a trolley and Donghyuk stumbled clumsily but regained his footing before he could collide with a body and lose speed.

Hanbin-hyung, Bobby-hyung and Chanwoo were just ahead of them by more than a few seconds. They got to the room before they did and when they finally went to the side to let a trolley pass for the last time, the first thing they saw was Hanbin-hyung and Bobby-hyung speaking with Yunhyeong-hyung’s dad by the sister and mom who were sitting down on the chairs across the hall of the emergency room.

Yunhyeong-hyung’s sister was staring at the phone on her lap. None of her hands were touching it but they cradled the air around it like something sacred.

The mom’s pinched eyes made it look like she was struggling not to cry. She was staring intensely at the entrance to the emergency room as if she was willing her spirit to carry through the doors that blocked them from reaching their only son.

Their only son. Please, please let it not be too late.

He heard Bobby-hyung interject with Hanbin-hyung’s explanation, pushing him towards the seats because he looked feverish and practically out of his mind. Chanwoo watched him refuse, but pulled him to an open seat at Bobby’s look, allowing Hanbin-hyung to lay his head on his shoulder and wrap an arm around his waist.

Off to the side, Donghyuk noticed Junhoe standing back and staring at the scene before him as he was. But then his younger brother turned and looked at the doors of the operation room and Donghyuk couldn’t bear to see the look in his eyes grow worse. So, barely aware of his movements anymore, he slowly slipped his hand into Junhoe’s and brought him to where everyone else was without any resistance.

They all sat in silence, a world away from the bustling halls of the Hospital. Bobby-hyung’s warmth eventually pressed against his as he leaned against him, throwing an arm over his and Junhoe’s huddled shoulders. Yunhyeong-hyung’s father sat with his family, where they clutched at each other in desperate need of an anchor. Jinhwan-hyung was hiding his face in the crook of Chanwoo’s neck, and there was a suspicious gleam trailing down towards the hem of the maknae’s shirt. The maknae himself was closing his eyes and leaning his head back, but the curves of his lips were wobbling imperceptibly and the skin around the corners of his eyes were shining.

All of this was absorbed into his brain and it was only then that the brevity of the situation finally caught up to him and the back of his eyes started to burn. He squeezed his eyes, his teeth clenching together as he swallowed hard to fight back the tears. Momentarily forgetting himself in banging his head against the top of the seat, an emotion-fueled attempt of ridding himself from the unpleasant thoughts that were threatening to break through his feeble barricade.

But a gentle hand cushioned his head and then he opened his eyes, Bobby-hyung remained in the same position, staring at the doors but aware and containing a hidden message in his silence and slight head tilt. He searched his hyung’s face and turned towards the other body lying next to him.

Junhoe was crying.

He hadn’t noticed because he was controlling his breathing so well. But the normally composed singer was crying thin wet tears and staring up at the ceiling with a mouth partly open in askance. The mere sight of his strong-willed brother’s face crumpled in devastation was enough for the dam to break free. One clear line traced its way down his cheek, and then another, and it was only a matter of time before his shoulders started heaving with the strength of his broken sobs. His head was moved by a different hand to Junhoe’s shoulder where they leaned against each other, one a silent stream broken from a tank and the other a roaring waterfall revealed from the suffocation of a dissipating fog. The hand on his head trembled and moved to his shoulder instead and Bobby-hyung was joining their merged sadness, a silent steady rock of water just barely trickling out its essence.

They mourned the loss of their innocence, the illusion of safety and durability of their camaraderie, stripped down to the core, the fear of losing their loved one, their brother, their role model, their friend, overwhelming everything else. Every tear was just a reminder of their negligence and that none of them knew what was to become of their hyung who they all looked up to, no matter what age. Every tear was a reminder that they were the ones who had last seen Yunhyeong-hyung and the guilt that took hold of their hearts threatened to ruin their hold on reality.

Because the truth was, this was a rendition of what had already happened in the past. But this time, there were no second chances. There was no mock battle, no team competition, no judges. It was only Yunhyeong-hyung’s battle and the doctors’, and this time the idea of losing him, the pain that would follow right behind on their heels, would be unimaginable.

Because once he was gone, there would be no coming back. And that scared them more than anything they ever thought was possible.

-

It felt like hours before the doctor finally came out, weary eyes peeking out above a white mask. He took off his gloves and called, “Mr. and Mrs. Song?”

There was really no need, for the moment they saw the doors open, those awake scrambled to stand up, nearly falling over themselves, but by the time the boys got themselves in order, Yunhyeong-hyung’s parents were heading towards the doctor, exuding worry and distress. “How – how is he?” Yunhyeong-hyung’s mom asked carefully.

The doctor’s eyes scoped over the crowd in front of him,Yunhyeong-hyung’s parents and the rest of his family, the first by blood and the others self-proclaimed.

And then he exhaled. A wave of heat that everyone seemed to absorb and cover their hearts with a sheet of ice.

“No,” Jinhwan-hyung whispered.

Donghyuk just stared at the doctor. This wasn’t happening.

Bobby-hyung stood ramrod straight, fists shaking at his sides. He looked just a moment’s away from grabbing the older man and shaking him in denial, but his mannerisms were engrained into him to some extent.

The doctor shook his head, lifting his hands up in an effort to calm them down. “We did everything we could – ”

“You’re lying!” Junhoe shouted. Donghyuk quickly grabbed him around the middle to stop him from advancing.

The doctor looked at him sharply. “If you would let me finish,” he snapped. Immediately everyone stared at him, struck silent by his words and what it could possibly imply. Looking at everyone’s blank faces, he sighed again and bluntly said, “He’s alive. The operation was a success.”

Yunhyeong-hyung’s mom covered and even though Donghyuk could barely see through his own wave of tears, he knew everyone was feeling the same way.

“But.” The doctor stared intently at Yunhyeong-hyung’s parents. “As I said, we did everything we could do for our part, but as soon as the post-operation is complete, we will have to move him immediately to get an MRI scan.”

Donghyuk inhaled sharply.

“He has suffered from multiple broken bones and lacerations, an impalement on his right leg, and severe internal bleeding - they were all treated and he is out of immediate danger now that we had blood pumped into him. However we do not know the extent of the head injury he has. From what I understand, he was not brought to us immediately after the accident, so please be patient with us and wait in the Lobby. We will continue to do everything we can, but we need your full cooperation and support.”

Donghyuk couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Broken bones? Impalement? Severe internal bleeding? Head injury? “But he could recover, right?” he heard himself ask. Distantly. As if his mind and mouth was operating separately. “He’ll be alright?”

The doctor looked at him, but nothing from his eyes could be deciphered. “Please wait in the Lobby,” he repeated instead. “We will be with you when we can.”

And then he turned back into the operation room, the doors closing with barely any sound, but to them, it was a loud bang that echoed in their ears with the sound of finality.