C H A P T E R 1 0: Isn’t that the reality you wanted?

Two weeks. Two entire weeks had gone since Kibum and Jonghyun had met each other in the hallway for the first time.

Jonghyun had finally been through his knee-surgery, but due to a sloppy, unprofessional and extremely painful mistake, which almost lead his knee into a three times worst condition than it already was in, he has to undergo a new surgery, once his knee has recovered a bit from the failure (and the surgeon once again would find an empty spot in his apparently overbooked schedule).

Kibum at the other hand had made a progress. His leg’s paralyzing had slightly started to fade away, due to rehabilitation that had happened for an hour every single day, and his wheelchair had lastly been changed to crutches. To be honest, however, he felt anxious walking with them, since it always felt like he was about to bump into things, even though he might was not, and he most of all just wanted to return to the stupid vehicle again. But he couldn’t spend the rest of his days in a wheelchair just because he was blind – right?

The following days after the operation, was spent with Jonghyun lying in his bed and whining about how much his knee hurt. In the meantime, Kibum would happily sit by his side and keep him company or – when he eventually had gotten enough of the puppy’s complains for ones – talk with Taemin, who most of the time would be resting just a few inches away.

Even though Kibum wouldn’t admit it of course, he was pleased with the fact that Jonghyun’s surgery had been unsuccessful, which meant that he at least could stay by his side for a little longer, before he would be released and sent out in the real world again (and to Kibum’s big conviction forget everything about him and the stuff they had been through together). But then again, it was hard thinking like that, considering how much the older boy seemed to suffer from the pain in this instant. 

Taemin appeared to be a really sweet boy. He had started to call Kibum for umma, because he always was telling him what was right and what was wrong for him to do in his current situation, and to call Jonghyun for appa since he seemed to have some kind of strange effect on his umma.

“It’s dangerous to fool around like that when you have a concussion,” would Kibum always tell him, before tugging him into bed again, resulting in Taemin turning towards Jonghyun with a pouting face, and when the older boy then jokingly would answer something like: “Yeobo, just let the boy have a little bit fun, while he still is young and can enjoy it,” the butterflies in Kibum’s stomach would flutter cheerfully around and he was sure that his usually pale cheeks would turn burning tomato red of pure excitement, just by the thoughts of being a real couple.

Minho would often drop by as well. He seemed quite desperate every time he would talk to Taemin, who had been told – to save the complicated matters till later when Taemin eventually will be ready for the truth – that the boy was Jonghyun’s old friend from high school, which actually was true, but not the exact reason for Minho’s frequented visits. 

* * *

It was a sunny September day. Jonghyun was sitting in Kibum’s room, fully engrossed in his lovely guitar, which he hadn’t been able to touch for three days in straight. Kibum was as always comfortable placed in his bed with a smile playing around his lips as he once again was in a daydreaming state, listening to Jonghyun’s endless enchanting, singing voice.

First when the door opened behind Jonghyun’s back and a familiar woman voice echoed through his ears, he realized that today, was actually a Saturday. “Hi Kibum, how are you today? Ready for your weekly check up?” Jonghyun had long ago stopped his actions and was now shifting nervously in his seat, as he heard the door being closed again and a pair of footsteps approached them, stopping right beside him.

“Hello Mrs. Kim, I am doing great,” Kibum chirped, completely oblivious about Jonghyun’s reaction.   

The woman bent over a little and looked into the face of his son. “J—Jonghyun, what are you doing here?! And dressed like that?” She gasped, sounding just as surprised as she looked like, while she examined his hospital’s outfit, which still was slightly covered with a little stain of blood from the first time he ran into Kibum.

You see, the thing with Jonghyun’s family is that they are just like a whole bunch of fishes: They might be living together in the same bowl, but they are still individually and do just like it fits them the best, without thinking about the others first. Once Jonghyun wasn’t home for almost a whole month without his parents knowing where he had been and when he finally returned, they barely questioned him about it.

“O—Oh, hi mom,” Jonghyun answered, awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “I haven’t been home for almost two weeks, where in the world would you think I would be?”

 “Well, definitely not at the hospital, that’s for sure. You could have told me, you know! I was just thinking you were at yours manager again or hanging out that Minho guy, I wasn’t expecting you to be hospitalized,” She declared shocking. She wasn’t so much an aquarium fish as he and his father was; she actually cared about the family and wished that they could spend some more time together.       

Jonghyun just laughed and shook his head. “Mom, I hadn’t seen Minho since high school! Besides, I promised you that if I got the time, I would go and have a talk with Kibum, and now look at this; here I am and I don’t have anything else than time. – Isn’t that the reality you wanted?”