author: jwhong005 / written: 20121130 / pairing: taecbum / rating: pg-13 / cr: tumblr icons / for chris, who i think ships them

In which the couple never imagined something like this to happen.

Lamely, Taecyeon showed a weak smile, trying to raise his hand off the bed before dropping it. It hurt and the anesthesia was making him drowsy all he time that he could barely think straight. He was lucky that he could even open his eyes at this point. Everything was numb and fuzzy and each time the lights flicked on in his hopsital room, he felt like he was staring directly into the sun. Things were not good for him. Not anymore. Things had been going wrong for the tall, six foot, broad shouldered male with a bit of a working out .

Five stiches were made above his left brow and his right leg from the knee down was being kept safely in a cast. It had broken in the wrong direction so the doctor had to break it again to make sure it would heal in the correct direction. His arm was a display of several black and blue marks combined with a small ensemble of tiny scabs to trail from his bisept to his elbow. On top of that Taecyeon had been told that he had a concussion—a small one, but a concussion all the same.

It had been like any other day when he left for work, nicely clad in a black suit with a white collared shirt matched with a pink tie his boyfriend had given him. He didn't do anything differently. He just walked down from his apartment and to his car in the parking lot safely. The ride to the office was normal as well. Nothing happened until after he left, happy to finally be done and get his free weekend started. He had promised his boyfriend who, sadly, hadn't moved in with him yet, that they would go out to Jeju Island together as an early Christmas gift to each other; a tribute to the first full year of being together.

A simple car crash would've been a godsend. Even Taecyeon would've been able to admit that he would've much rathered a bump from behind on the highway but luck doesn't always play in that favor when the dominos begin to fall. Knocked from behind, Taecyeon slammed into his breaks as a first instinct, soon regretting it when another car that was too close to stop, kept coming and crashed into the driver's side of the man's car. The airbag hit Taecyeon square in the chest, sending him back against the seat. No ribs were harmed. However, the wind was knocked right out of him.

One man injured, two men fined with speeding tickets. Of course it was Taecyeon that took the brunt of it all. The other two got off much easier. The only thing that suffered for them was their cars. One of the cars' bumpers came off and the other was dented a bit. Taecyeon didn't remember screaming or even uttering a noise. He figured he'd be found dead by the time the ambulance came. Traffic jams in Seoul would be impossible to get through—especially ones on the highway.

His temple bled a bit but the damage wasn't severely done enough to where it needed stitches. It simply brought unbearable headaches, making the concussion feel even worse. Not to mention the short term memory loss he was suffering. At first he figured that he hadn't been listening when the doctor was talking to him but soon he was finding that he wasn't sure what was real and what he just thought he had heard. But at least he was alright.

That's all that mattered, really. He would've been safe at home, curled up on the couch with his cat, reading a cheesy romance novel that he ate up so much. Or maybe even preparing for their anniversary vacation together.

For now ... for now he would sleep and worry about that another day. He was alive. For now, he was okay.

-

"Taecyeon-sshi,"

The male opened his brown eyes, groaning when he saw the fluorescent lights were shining brightly in his room. Immediately he gathered as much strength needed and put his arm over his eyes to shield them, yanking his IV cord slightly. "What?" he asked, not meaning to sound rude but he couldn't help it. The nurses hadn't been anything but nice to him so far but he couldn't help but be bitter when he was in so much pain.

"We need to check the bandage that we put on your back."

Oh, right. The bandage. It was no mistake but even before the accident, he had gotten into trouble. He took a piece of glass to the back to protect a coworker. Stupid. But he took care of it and it was nearly healed up until the car crash split it open when the tall male's body was crushed in the heap of metal. There was nothing he could've done to prevent the cut anyway. His friend, Jo Kwon, was much too irrational when dealing with a customer that needed help and soon the bipolar male was slamming a vase at the wall. 

That began Taecyeon's string of bad luck.

"Please sit up so that I can change it. I need to see if the stitches look alright." The nurse said, pressing a button to make the hospital bed mechanically move into an upright position.

Hissing in discomfort, Taecyeon slouched over, keeping his head down in his lap while the nice female opened the paper-thin hospital gown. She slowly peeled off the bandage, pursing her lips as she saw the irratated skin. She heard that the male had been heavily injured but her positive thoughts prevented her from predicting such a sight. The wound wasn't infected but it was ugly and long, a span of about three inches. Big for a cut caused by a shattered piece of glass.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch him too much,"

The nurse turned, showing a nervous smile. "Of course. I'll be done in a moment." She turned to the car she had tugged in behind her, getting the right size bandage she needed before putting it on the patient's back gently. After working there was very few things that could make her uncomfortable and this one visitor happened to be one of those things.

Soon, Taecyeon was left alone with the visitor. He his lips, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to calm his beating heart. Everytime he moved in a direction that made him uncomfortable it made him visibly shiver and he would become tense. Stop this, he thought to himself, clenching his fists around the white hospital sheets. I'll be alright. How many days have I been in here? Two?

"You aren't going to say hi to me?" the visitor asked, wearing a small smile as he kindly flicked off one lightswitch, making the room dimmer. "I came and saw you yesterday. Did you remember that?"

Taecyeon let out a pathetic laugh, wincing at the pain in his chest. "Of course I do. We still have a plane to get to if we want to make it to Jeju on time." The male reached out as he did before, this time reaching the other's outstretched palm, curling their fingers together. "That is if you still want to go."

"Pabo, you're too hurt to do anything." The other reprimanded, shaking his head with a pitiful laugh. He couldn't possibly give a genuine laugh in a place like this. It was too sad. "We always have our actual anniversary to do it. I want you to get better first."

Silence took over the hospital room in an eerie fashion. They just couldn't help it. Somehow, the silence felt nice. Silence excluding the steady heart monitor beeping in the background and the common pattern of the hospital carts passing the room on their respected routes. Yes, the silence was coming over their bit by bit.

The man in bed found it surprising. He hadn't expected the other to be as quiet as he was being right then and there. It gave Taecyeon time to think over things that had been happening. A week ago if silence came over them it would easily be replaced with an argument of some kind. The latter didn't like how Taecyeon went on frequent trips to places where he felt out of reach. It wasn't his fault that he was a representative of Samsung and had to travel. He was one of the few guys who worked there that spoke English without an accent to get in the way.

Since neither said anything for a total of fifteen minutes, the visitor came to the consensus that it was time to take his leave. Without saying goodbye or even looking over his shoulder, he got up from where he had sat down and left.

Damn did relationships hurt.

Within the hall, the visitor tried to hold back tears that stung the back of his eyes. Not noticing where he was heading exactly, he bumped into a tall figure, taller than the one had come to see. Only by a little bit. But he was drawn in to see who it was all the same. There was just something about the large stature that he couldn't help but keep his gaze from lingering over, even it's for a split second or two.

"You came to see Ok Taecyeon, right?" the tall one, presumed to be a doctor the other came to the conclusion of since he was wearing a white coat on his back. The shoter nodded, not offering much other than that. "I should let you know that he should be alright, however, we are unsure about the state of his memory loss. He may get worse or may even get better. We can't know until we release him. I can assume that we will be able to send him home once we're sure."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, the lithe male nodded. He had assumed the worst. Only his Taecyeon managed to get the worst all the time. "I understand."

"Can I get your name? I want to make sure that the name we have on his emergency contact list is the right one as well as your other basic information." The doctor asked kindly, taking the clipboard from underneath his arm, pulling the pen from the pocket of his jacket.

"It's Kim Kibum. Don't worry about the rest. I'm sure that the rest of the information is correct." 

-

Taecyeon's memory loss got worse over time. A week in the hospital went on by but Taecyeon couldn't really tell. He couldn't remember the little things and his doctor was becoming concerned. He hadn't been hit on the head that hard. There were things—easy things—that Taecyeon no longer were able to retain. His past memories still remained but his time before the hospital were easily forgotten. The worker's doctor soon became concerned that even Taecyeon's name would become foreign to him.

"Taecyeon-sshi," 

The male looked up, wearing a blank expression that clearly said that he wasn't sure who was talking to him or why exactly. The woman seemed like the kind of person that should be familiar. She was dressed in scrubs and a friendly smile showed, giving the other a look at her subtle dimples.

"Taecyeon-sshi, I was here yesterday, remember?" she asked, checking to see if the IV was still in correctly since she had seen it a few hours ago when the male had been sleeping. "I suppose that means your memory loss is about the same. Has that visitor of yours returned?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you positive?"

"Even if I thought I was positive, I'm sure that my memory would've proved me wrong. I haven't been able to think clearly as of late." Taecyeon frowned, trying to stomach the food he had just eaten. Hospital food was finally suited to settle in the male's stomach but it didn't make it taste any better. If he had shown up again, he would've had fresh food for sure. "This visitor I supposedly had, was it one of my parents?"

Taecyeon received a sympathetic smile and a nod of the head. A lie. 

Basically what had happened was, Taecyeon got into an accident prior to his anniversary with Kibum while coming home from work. The concussion caused slight memory loss with gradually became worse to where he began to loose memories earlier on his life--such as their relationship. Because of this, Kibum tried but was unable to help Taecyeon with his memory so he stopped coming since it was too hard to show up just to not be remembered the day after or even five minutes later. When the nurse asks Taecyeon if he had any visitors show up, it's because she wants to test his memory and he's already sure that he wouldn't be able to remember. The reason why she lied was to make the other feel better. So, in the end, Kibum leaves Taecyeon in the end and elopes with Jonghyun and has kids.