An hour later, Leeteuk and Kangin were gentle shaken awake by Heechul. Once awake, they noticed the nurse in the doorway and quickly got up, anxious to hear what she had to say. “What did the results say? What’s wrong with our son?” Kangin asked hurriedly, voice rough from sleep.

            The nurse looked down at her clipboard before looking up at them with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, but the tests didn’t show anything. We have done everything we could and nothing had provided any answers, so it was most likely just a single episode. I am here to discharge him,” she explained apologetically.

            “You can’t! He stopped breathing!” Leeteuk halfway yelled, the idea of bringing Ryeowook home without any answers filling him with absolute dread. It had been pure luck that Leeteuk had been there when he had stopped breathing and he knew they might not be as lucky if it happened again. He needed answers and he needed to know that Ryeowook was safe.

            “I’m terribly sorry, but there is really nothing more I can-“

            “I’m sorry, is this the room of Kim Ryeowook?” a doctor suddenly interrupted, rushing into the room, a clipboard in his hand which probably held the same information as the one the nurse was holding.

            “Yes?” Kangin answered, his brows furrowing at the situation. Having a doctor rush into the room didn’t really seem like a good thing and it left him very much on edge.

            “I understand that he is about to be discharged, correct?”

            “Yes, I was just about to do it,” the nurse answered, looking just as confused as all the other adults in the room. Heechul and Hangeng followed the conversation with immense interest.

            “There is one last test we could run on him, if you’d let us,” the doctor offered.

            “Which test?” Kangin asked, both apprehensive and hopeful.

            “We would like to check the acid level of his stomach. We would have to do an Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. It’s a procedure where we insert a thin tube with a small camera through the esophagus to check for damages on the esophagus and the stomach while it measures the acid level of the stomach at the same time. It’ll only take a few minutes and we will have immediate answers,” he explained, looking at the toddler who was playing with his brothers, Sungmin, and Hangeng on the floor.

            “When would we be able to do it?” Leeteuk asked with hope in his voice. He was desperate to find out what was wrong with the small boy he had come to love as his own son, and since the nurse had been about to discharge them, this seemed like their last chance to get some answers.

            “We can do it now if you’ll come with me,” the doctor replied with a friendly smile, understanding the anxiety of a sick child’s parents.

            Kangin nodded and turned to go over to where Ryeowook was playing. “Hey bunny. You are coming with me, we have to do another test,” he told him gently.

            Ryeowook looked up at him with big eyes. “Owwie?” he asked, clearly still remembering the needles with fear.

            Kangin lifted him up and placed him on his hip. “No, not this time, baby,” he assured him. Ryeowook looked at his appa with dubious eyes before turning to Leeteuk. “Wookie umma,” he insisted, pushing at his father’s chest to get away from him.

            Leeteuk hurried up behind him and took him from Kangin’s arms. “I’m here, sweetie,” he said as he Ryeowook’s hair while the toddler pressed closer and hid his face in his umma’s neck. “It’ll only take a second, Wookie. Can you be a big boy for umma?” The toddler nodded but kept a tight grip on Leeteuk as he began to follow the doctor.

            “Chullie, are you sure you are okay looking after the kids? I don’t know how long this will take,” Kangin said, hating to impose on his friend like this.

            “We will be perfectly fine while you are gone, now go get some answers,” Heechul smiled and gently pushed Kangin out the door so he could follow his son and nanny.

“You said he has been complaining about his throat hurting?” the doctor asked while looking over the results of the test Ryeowook had just been through. The toddler had whimpered when he had to swallow the tube but nonetheless did very