“Kyungsoo he… he has cancer.”

Baekhyun froze as the elder’s words processed through his mind; the video game controller that was tightly in his grasp now slowly slipping out of his hands. The Junior felt his heartbeat rapidly increase, just as the electronic device collided to the ground with an audible thump. Suho’s words lingered in the air, but his mind refused to believe them.

“W-What do you mean… K-Kyungsoo has cancer?” asked Baekhyun, his voice suddenly quivering.

Suho clutched the paper in his hand, his gloomy eyes now avoiding all contact from the despondent boy near him. “This… this is an appointment sheet for a blood test for testicular cancer. It… it’s signed by K-Kyungsoo.”

A doleful silence engulfed the room, and almost immediately Baekhyun rose to his feet in bleakness. Within seconds the Junior was near the other figure, whose shivering eyes stuck to the paper like glue. A feeling of anxiousness flowed through Baekhyun, and without hesitation, the young boy snatched the sheet out of the elder’s grasp. Baekhyun couldn’t help but let his jaw tremble as his eyes scanned the document. The words danced across the paper, mocking him; but his eyes refused to believe them.

“N-No… this… t-this can’t be true,” Baekhyun whispered out, his words barely perceptible.

The older of the two snapped his head towards the other with a familiar sympathetic gaze. “Baekhyun-ah…”

“T-This c-can’t be true,” repeated said boy; his eyes quivering as he choked out the rest of his words. “This can’t be true.”

In one swift movement, Baekhyun bolted out of the bedroom door, the sheet in his hand crinkling due to the tightness of his grip. The young male’s footsteps echoed throughout the hallway while he made his way through it; a lump forming in his throat whilst he stomped down the nearby stairwell. The words that flowed through Suho’s mouth, the words that waltzed across his eyes; they were too much for Baekhyun to take. Everything was just so similar, so familiar to his senses. But Baekhyun wasn’t going to go through that again. He just wasn’t. And when he turned the corner and saw Kyungsoo walking in his direction, he made it verbally clear.

“Tell me it’s n-not t-true,” Baekhyun strained out; the male’s breathing staggering as he tried to imprison his emotions.

Kyungsoo jerked in shock at Baekhyun’s sudden appearance; the drinks in his hands almost tipping over their glasses. The former glanced over at the other briefly before raising an eyebrow. “What’s not true?”

Baekhyun stood stagnant, but his interior emotions continued to conflict with his exterior expressions. In a cracked voice he pleaded, “Please… t-tell me you’re f-fine.”

The younger male observed his friend’s conduct in pure confusion. That feeling, however, was immediately replaced with concern as he saw tears trace the rim of Baekhyun’s eyes. “Wait, Baekhyun hyung wha—”

“Just tell me!” barked Baekhyun, his voice laced with a familiar feeling of sorrow.

His unexpected shout caused Kyungsoo to jump back in his spot. With sweaty hands, the younger Junior placed the drinks he was holding on a nearby coffee table before averting his attention back to the male in front of him. Baekhyun’s actions beyond any doubt alarmed him, but it was the expression of agony and distress that decorated the other’s features that shook him up the most. That look full of grief and dolor; its striking familiarity caused pang of hurt to pierce straight through Kyungsoo’s chest.

So many questions clogged his mind. Why was Baekhyun acting like this? What caused Baekhyun to act like this? Running his tongue over his bottom lip, Kyungsoo shakily inquired, “H-Hyung I… I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m fi—”

“This!” shouted Baekhyun, shoving the crinkled paper in front of the other’s face. “I-I’m talking about this! This, this paper is about a tumor marker blood test for cancer, Kyungsoo. For ing cancer!”

Kyungsoo kept his posture, stunned by the flimsy leaf in his view. The document jeered at him; ridiculing him for leaving it unguarded. The younger male’s heart frantically against his chest, his eyes wide open like a clichéd deer in headlights. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. If anything, this wasn’t supposed to happen. And Kyungsoo, with his jaw trembling, was rendered speechless.

After opening and closing his mouth got a few seconds, Kyungsoo finally managed to ask, “W-Where did you f-find that?”

Baekhyun scoffed in disbelief at his friend’s question before his crippled voice exclaimed, “Does it freaking matter where I found t-this at? It has your f-ing signature on it, Kyungsoo. Y-Yours and your mother’s!”

The youngest Junior’s mouth stood shut, his conscious refusing to make any other excuses. He simply couldn’t figure out what to say in return. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but ask himself: Was this the part? Was this the part where he mustered up all of his courage and revealed everything he had wanted to keep a secret? The rising action? The ? A novel where the protagonist is ostracized and altered into an artificial antagonist?

All of this made Kyungsoo vertiginous; everything was suddenly crashing down on him like a wall of un-cemented bricks. Kyungsoo opened his mouth to speak but his words denied the exit, opting to lodge in his throat as a forgotten Suho made his way towards Baekhyun in distress.

“Baekhyun,” began Suho, his voice struggling to sound calm. “Baekhyun please, just… please calm down. Let Kyungsoo expla—”

“I’m not calming down Suho hyung!” Baekhyun retaliated, his eyes never breaking contact with the male in front of him. The former’s breathing grew rigid, his vision getting blurrier by the second as his tears threatened to spill. “Were you even g-going to tell us—me—about this? W-Were you going to do w-what he did, huh Kyungsoo-yah? W-Were you? For God’s sake, tell me Kyungsoo! Tell me that what happened to h-him won’t happen to you! Tell me Kyungsoo-yah! Please… please just say it…”

Baekhyun’s voice transitioned into a whisper has an audible sob escaped through his parted lips. The young male felt Suho gently squeeze his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down; but it was futile. Baekhyun brought a shivering left hand towards his mouth, his eyes no longer restraining his tears. He not only wanted answers; he wanted reassurance. He needed reassurance. He needed to know that the past would never repeat itself again.

Kyungsoo stared at his friend in dismal, his heart clenching with every tear that slipped from the other’s eyes. Kyungsoo was once again rendered speechless. Just what exactly was he supposed to say? Not only did he not want to give them false news; he also didn’t want Baekhyun to go through the same ache again. He didn’t want him to suffer from the same incurable ache that still lingers though his heart.

Without a second thought, Kyungsoo took a few steps towards the other and pulled him into a sympathetic embrace. His abrupt action caused Baekhyun to freeze, but not long after, the latter found his arms making their way around Kyungsoo’s small frame. Placing his tear-stained face into the crook of the other’s neck, Baekhyun hands clung onto the younger’s shirt, wrinkling it in the process.

“Please…” cried Baekhyun once more as he felt Kyungsoo tighten his hold. “Please tell me you won’t u-unexpectedly leave me like he did.”

Kyungsoo bit his lip, a tear unknowingly running down his cheek as he let out a shaky breath. “I-I’m sorry Baekhyun hyung. I can’t… I can’t reassure you that I’ll be fine, t-that I don’t have c-cancer. I know I should’ve told you as s-soon as I found out, b-but I wanted to know i-if I truly had it before s-saying anything. B-But that’s all—”

“That’s not the only thing you need to explain,  Kyunsoo-yah,” Suho interjected silently, holding up a sheet he had in his possession. Kyungsoo stiffened as he eyed the paper, causing Baekhyun to break the embrace in both curiosity and confusion. But as soon as the latter’s eyes made contact with the pale document, he felt as though his heart had stopped beating.

A pregnancy blood test.

Baekhyun stared at Kyungsoo wide eyed before taking the document from Suho. The former stood flabbergasted, the paper shaking in his hands as he read it word for word. “Kyungsoo… K-Kyungsoo-yah… there’s a possibility that y-you’re p-pregnant?”

Said male attempted to speak, but all that came out was a painful sob. Drop after drop fell from Kyungsoo’s eyes, and his body made no effort in trying to stop them. If there was one secret he definitely wanted to keep hidden, it was the possibility that he could be pregnant. It was embarrassing, shameful even, for his friends to discover such a thing. Kyungsoo began to think that this was his fate; his punishment for his previous wrong-doings.

Casting his head down, Kyungsoo begged, “Please… p-please don’t tell anyone.”

“Don’t tell anyone?” spat Suho, his eyes burning through Kyungsoo’s head with an array of emotions. “I think you’d be doing everyone a huge favor by keeping it to yourself.”

The elder’s sharp words caught the attention of both Juniors, who gazed at him in shock. Kyungsoo specifically felt his heart drop at the Senior’s words, his voice clumping up in his throat while he stated, “S-Suho hyung, what do you—”

“I mean seriously, I’d rather you be diagnosed with cancer than having you pregnant,” Suho admitted bitterly, his voice dripping with distaste.

Baekhyun sneered at Suho just as those words left the latter’s mouth, his tears gone and replaced with pure disbelief. “What the hell, hyung? Are you ing serious?”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, letting his tears fall freely. What else did he expect? For all of his friends to comfort him and say everything was going to be alright? This was the cruelty of reality; the exact cruelty he knew would occur. However, this was the harsh actuality that he expected from ordinary society, not from one of his closest friends. Not from Suho. And that’s what pained him the most.

Wiping away his tears with the palm of his hands, Kyungsoo dejectedly wrapped his hand around Baekhyun’s forearm before whispering, “Baekhyun hyung j-just… just let it be.”

“Let it be? Let it be, Kyungsoo-yah?” Baekhyung emphasized in rejection. “He’s basically saying that he’d rather you die!”

“It’s not natural, Baekhyun-ah,” reasoned Suho in digust. “You and I, heck, even Kyungsoo, knows it’s not normal. No matter what any doctor or scientist says, it’s wrong.”

Baekhyun huffed out in anger before retaliating. “No, you’re wrong! Just because it isn’t normal doesn’t mean it’s disgusting. Besides, he’s our friend, Suho hyung!”

“But he could possibly be a pregnant male, Baekhyun-ah! It’s wrong! In our society it’s simply wrong!” the Senior continued to emphasize in hopes that the other would come to his senses.

“ society! Our society insists that homouality is a sin, and what are we? Homo-ing-ual!” roared Baekhyun as he intensely glared at the elder. “Does that make us unnatural, hyung? Does that make us disgusting? And you should be the last one giving two s about society, given that your dad—”

Suho cut the other off with a sharp stare. “Shut up, Baekhyun. Just shut up. You don’t kn—”

“How about the both of you shut up,” whispered Kyungsoo, his voice cold and Baltic. He couldn’t take it anymore; the insults, the rejection. He simply had enough of their banter; it hurt too much for him to witness it. “I want you guys to leave. Both of you.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth in shock, unsure as to why he was being kicked out. “But Kyungsoo-yah, I—”

Kyungsoo shook his head, his tears resurfacing has he struggled to swallow his cries. “P-Please, just g-go.”

With that, the young male brushed past the other two, making his was way towards the stairs, and into his sanctuary.
 

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“Baekhyun hyung, can you please tell me where we are going?” complained Kyungsoo as they continued to walk through brances.

After yesterday’s unpleasant ordeal, Kyungsoo resorted to closing himself up in his bedroom, refusing to speak to anyone. He was too afflicted to tell his mother what had occurred, and he soon found himself bedridden with nausea. Everything that happened greatly affected his health and completely drained whatever once of energy he had.

Being Thursday, the young male was set on imprisoning himself in his room until it was to time to visit the dreaded hospital once again. His plans were changed, however, when Baekhyun barged into his bedroom, telling him that school had been closed due to a severe oil leak and that he had somewhere important to take the younger. Kyungsoo flat out refused; too tired and upset to do anything but rest. But Baekhyun insisted, and Kyungsoo finally agreed in an attempt to get some fresh air and get his mind off of the previous day’s events.

Baekhyun stood silent in concentration whilst he took a hold of a nearby branch. When he succeeded in taking a few more upward steps, he answered, “I told you it was a secret.”

Kyungsoo simply huffed as he continued to follow the other. Both males were currently in the woods behind a nearby park, one that Kyungsoo never knew existed. Whenever he questioned Baekhyun about their whereabouts, the latter simply smiled at him with an expression of nostalgia playing on his face before telling him it was a secret, albeit a very important one.

“I’m sure you’ll like it,” guaranteed Baekhyun as he proceeded up the forest. “We’ve always like the same type of things since we were younger.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kyungsoo before cheekily adding, “but that all changed once we got boyfriends. I mean, Chanyeol? Who would’ve thought you’d like someone like him?”

Baekhyun laughed at his friend’s statement, kicking some dirt down at him in retaliation. “Oh, shut it. I could say the same thing about you and Jongin. Seriously, your personalities are polar opposites. Polar!”

The younger Junior laughed at the amount of truth in Baekhyun’s words. His and Jongin’s personalities were truly like opposite poles of a magnet. However, whenever they were together, it was as though that barrier of polarity vanished.

Before any other thoughts could invade Kyungsoo’s mind, both males had reached their destination. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but be left breathless at his surroundings. In his view was scenery that completely contradicted that of the woods they had just emerged from. Every inch of the ground was covered in vividly green grass, and small daffodils appeared scattered throughout.

To the far left of the field was a miniscule pond, and directly near it was a timber lodge normally seen when mountain skiing. The view was without a doubt stunning and pleasing to look at, and Kyungsoo would be as cliché as to say that it was a complete paradise; the oasis of the city.

“It’s beautiful, right?” asked Baekhyun as he ventured in. “I used to come here all the time when I was younger.”

Kyungsoo briefly furrowed his eyebrows together before a smile of remembrance crept onto his lips. “So this is where you went whenever you’d tell me you were going to Jeju Island?”

The other male let out a loud laugh whilst he sat down on the grass near the vivacious pond. “Yup, this is my very own ‘Jeju’. If anything, you could go as far as to call this my safe haven.”

“Safe haven?” inquired Kyungsoo. “How so?”

Baekhyun cheerlessly exhaled, casting his head down and picking at the grass strands on the ground. “This was… this is where I used to go back when everything with… you know… Baekbeom happened.”

The corners of Kyungsoo’s lips twitched downwards at the other’s words. He took a seat right next to Baekhyun, shooting him a joyless smile. “It’s… it’s been a long time since his passing. Four years, right?”

The older male merely nodded, reticence engulfing the both of them. Kyungsoo pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he began to reminisce. The passing of Baekhyun’s brother had impacted both of the really hard; more so Baekhyun than anyone else who was close to Baekbeom.

When Baekhyun was thirteen years old, his elder brother was diagnosed with lung cancer due to passive smoking. The diagnosis hit Baekbeom very hard, and it took him a couple of days to actually sit his parents down and tell them the heartbreaking news. The one person he refused to tell, however, was thirteen year old Baekhyun, who was only a few months away from graduating middle school.

Baekbeom’s reasoning for not disclosing the information with his brother was that he was afraid Baekhyun would lose focus of his studies and therefore would not be able to graduate. His parent’s agreed that Baekhyun’s education was extremely important, and decided to keep everything hidden form the youngest.

 Baekhyun knew something was wrong with his brother. The chest pains, weight loss, and shortness of breath came all too sudden and lasted way too long to be any normal sickness. However, no matter how many times he asked what was wrong, he was kept in the shadows. This lasted until he was finally informed about his brother’s situation. That, however, occurred right when Baekbeom was on his death bed; an hour and seven minutes before his passing.

“It was just so sudden, you know?” Baekhyun expressed, breaking the silence as his thin fingers continued to pluck at the grass. “I remember thinking that my family should’ve gone into acting with how well they hid it from me.”

Kyungsoo saw a drop fall onto the grass, and immediately realized that the older Junior was crying. Placing a hand on the other’s shoulder, he called, “Baekhyun hyung…”

“About yesterday,” brought up Baekhyun, twirling a piece of grass around his index finger, “I’m … I’m sorry for lashing out on you like that. It’s just that… when I saw the paper, thoughts of Baekbeom entered my mind and I couldn’t accept it happening to you. I mean, he was my brother, Kyungsoo. And I consider you my brother too, so I-I…”

Baekhyun’s words were cut short by a choked sob that fled his lips. Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from crying, his arms wrapping around the other’s quavering figure. A wistful silence surrounded them as Kyungsoo held the other tightly in his arms, rubbing his hand up and down Baekhyun’s back in an attempt to comfort him. The latter of the two sniffled, breaking the embrace in order to wipe away his fallen tears.

After regaining his composure,  Baekhyun stated, “You’re the only person I’ve ever brought up here.”

Kyungsoo widened his eyes in surprise. “Wait, really. The only one?”

Baekhyun nodded, finally looking up to meet the other’s eyes. “This was my escape from everyone and everything. I never really trusted anyone enough to take them here.”

The youngest male furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Then… why did you bring me here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” chuckled Baekhyun as a small smile played on his lips. “I brought you here because I trust you.”

“I know that,” exclaimed Kyungsoo, who nudged Baekhyun playfully for his remark. “I meant why now of all times? Why not before?”

Baekhyun sighed before staring up at the cloudy sky. “I just wanted you to have a safe haven, also. With everything you’ve been going through, or are bound to go through, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to share this with you. Besides, in that ‘rare’ case that you are pregnant, that child is most certainly going to need a place to play in, right?”

Kyungsoo instantly coughed, the other’s words causing him to choke on his own saliva. “W-What? Y-You’re ok with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” questioned Baekhyun with a sincere look in his eyes. “I mean, sure I find it a bit… odd so to speak, but it necessarily isn’t some sort of sin that you need to be beheaded for. And I thi—hey, why… why are you crying?”

The younger Junior shook his head before smiling. “Nothing, it’s just that… I didn’t expect you to accept me so easily. I thought you’d…”

“React like Suho hyung did?” finished Baekhyun, who let out a puff of air when he saw the other nod. “You’re my best friend, Kyungsoo-yah, and nothing is going to change that. It’ll take some time to get used to, but that could be said for the both of us. I want you to know that no matter what, I’ll always be by your side though anything, just like you were always by mine when Baekbeom passed… Unless that child ends up looking like you, then we have some problems.”

Kyungsoo’s jaw hung open at his friend’s last statement, which resulted in Baekhyun rolling around the grass in a fit of obnoxious laughter. Kyungsoo took a hold of a handful of grass, tearing them out of the ground before throwing them at him. But all this did was make Baekhyun laugh even harder, and seconds later, Kyungsoo joined in.

It was moments like these that made Kyungsoo happy to have met Baekhyun back in preschool. Because not only did he make a friend; he also found a brother.
 

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Kyungsoo sat stiffly in his seat whilst he waited for his doctor to come back with the results of his blood tests. The Junior and his mother had been sitting in the examination room for a little over an hour, and his body couldn’t help but quiver in anxiousness. He was both nervous and scared; and it was truly enough to make him sicker in the stomach than he already was.

“Kyung-ah,” called out his mother, who was just as anxious as he was. She smiled down at him, taking a hold of his hand before gently squeezing it in reassurance. “I know you’re very nervous about the results, but I want to remind you that no matter what those results say, I will always be here to support you, ok? You are my son and I love you very very much, got it?”

The young male nodded, mirroring his mom’s smile. “Thanks, ma. I’m just worried about wh—”

Before Kyungsoo was able to voice out the rest of his worries, the examination room door creaked open revealing the stressed figure of his physician. The doctor entered the room with an audible sigh; a look of distress on his features. Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip as the physician took a few steps towards his chair and plopped down.

The elder man shuffled the papers in his possession around a bit before giving his undivided attention to his patient. “So, our Laboratory Technologists were able to retrieve your blood test results with little difficulty, which is an extremely positive sign as it lets us doctors know that the results are a very accurate representation of the patient’s current status. Now, Kyungsoo-ssi, would you like to receive the good news first, or the bad news?”

Kyungsoo bit the inside of his cheek, his heart beat gradually increasing. Without a second thought he answered, “The bad news, please.”

“Great, good news it is,” the doctor replied, once again shuffling through the sheets until he found a specific one. Scanning through the paper, he began, “According to your tumor marker blood test results, you tested negative for testicular cancer, and any other cancer you could’ve had. Though this does not mean that you cannot obtain cancer in the near future, it does mean you are healthy and will not be at risk for it any time soon.”

The Junior’s mom let out an audible sound of relief; her eyes beginning to tear up at the fact that her son was not diagnosed with cancer. She felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, knowing that Kyungsoo was not a risk and that the possibility of her losing her only child to cancer was nonexistent. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, was still anxious. Not to say that he wasn’t relieved that he tested negative for cancer, but he had now predicated the fate of the other test results. The one test that could completely change his entire life.

The pregnancy blood test.

Kyungsoo his lips nervously, opening his mouth before hesitantly asking, “W-What about… the other blood test?”

The male’s physician sighed as the question processed through his brain. After searching for, yet again, another document in his pile, the doctor leaned back in his chair; the contents on the page causing the elder man to tub his temples in uncertainty. “Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you take it, your pregnancy blood test results show that you are indeed… around five and a half weeks pregnant.”

Kyungsoo’s body froze at the other’s word; his mind trying to properly process what his doctor had just revealed to him. The young male felt several emotions slow through his body, but he wasn’t sure which ones he should act on. Should he cry? Should he smile? Should he faint? If anything, Kyungsoo had already predicted the results. If it had not been one, it definitely had to be the other.

The young Junior closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to his face to massage the bridge of his nose. All of his emotions were in an intense battle with each other, and they were interfering with his thoughts, But amongst the war, one thought stood out amongst the rest: What was he supposed to do now? Not only was he a pregnant male, he was a pregnant sixteen year old male. He was still struggling to maintain himself, so how was he supposed to care for someone else? Let alone a child?

And then there was Jongin, his boyfriend; the father of his unborn child. What was he supposed to tell him? Would Jongin accept him like Baekhyun? Or would he insult him like Suho and then end their relationship? These were the questions that plagued him, that scared him. The questions that ultimately broke him, unlike any of his other thoughts.

“K-Kyung-ah… Kyungsoo-yah. Please c-calm down,” pleaded his mother, who was relatively calm despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. Though the results to her were unexpected, she was still relieved; happy even, because nothing else in the world could overshadow the fact that her son was going to live. It was mother’s logic. But that logic pained his mother; it hurt her knowing the suffering her son would now have to go through bearing a child. “Kyungsoo-yah, p-please calm down. Y-You need to c-calm down.”

Her pleas, however, fell deaf to Kyungsoo’s ears. Painful sobs escaped his lips as thoughts of what he’d have to endure in the future invaded his mind. And it hurt; it hurt so ing bad. “M-Ma… Ma what a-am I supposed t-to do? W-What am I… s-supposed to do?”

Kyungsoo’s wails resonated throughout the room, breaking the heart of not only his mother, but his doctor also. The physician analyzed his patient with sorrowful eyes, trying his best to sympathize with the teenager. He saw how the boy’s body trembled in fear; the way the male’s mother pulled him into a deep embrace in an attempt to calm him down. Yet her attempts were futile, and the doctor decided it was time for him to step in and offer some assistance.

Rolling his chair towards the Junior, the doctor instructed, “Kyungsoo-ssi, I need you to listen to your mother, alright? We’re going to need you to calm down as to not put any stress on your body. At this stage, it could be very harmful to both you and the baby.”

“B-But I don’t w-want it. I d-don’t want it!” shouted Kyungsoo miserably, his heart clenching in his chest. Just thinking about what was to come was too much. He didn’t want to face the sneers, the insults, and the rejection. Yes, he had his mom and Baekhyun by his side, but what about the others? What about school; his future? What about Jongin? These thoughts, their reactions; that’s what haunted him.

His physician deeply inhaled, trying to reason with the young teen. “Listen to me, Kyungsoo-ssi. I understand how you feel right now. Your worries, your fears; they are very common. But as a pregnant teenager in South Korea, your options are very limited. If you didn’t already know, abortion here in Korea is illegal and punishable by law. Therefore, you are left with two options: either you give it up for adoption, or you keep it. Although you don’t have to choose these options anytime soon, please know that you have a big responsibility in your hands

“Before worrying about what other people think, of what other people want, just focus on what you want. Pregnancy is a very serious thing, especially in males, given their anatomy. So sure, if you don’t want it, an illegal abortion can be done elsewhere, but if you want to take responsibility of the life that you made, you’ll do what’s right. So which is it?”

Kyungsoo’s mother gently soothed his back to convince him to do the right thing. “Please Kyung-ah. Don’t make such brash decisions based on other people’s opinions. When I was pregnant of you at sixteen, my friends ostracized me and my mother kicked me out the house. And even though your father refused to acknowledge you as his, I still kept you. Abortion never crossed my mind, not even once. I created you and therefore made it my responsibility to raise you. Kyungsoo-yah, you have my full support in this. If you ever feel like giving it up for adoption I completely understand. But please don’t do some sort abortion; please don’t do something you’ll later regret.”

The younger Junior let out a shaky breath in response, his mother’s words genuinely impacting him. If his mother was able to raise him with no support, then what hindered him, who had the support from both his mom and his best friend, from doing so? This was the only thought that lingered in his head; the thought that won the war and emerged as the winner.

Without a second thought, Kyungsoo abruptly stood up from his seat, nearly dropping his seat to the ground as a result. The adults in the room eyed him in shock, but the teen ignored them; closing his eyes and gently breathing in order to regain his composure. Right now he had the fate of an unborn child in his hands, and through all of the pessimistic thoughts; he was going to do what he saw fit.

“I… I’m going to keep the child. I want to keep the child. I’m not sure if I’ll give the baby up for adoption after it’s born, but I do know that I won’t get rid of it. Not if I’m capable of granting it its life.” Kyungsoo briefly stopped, a woeful smile playing on his lips. “Though I would like it if the baby’s father would accept the child as his own, if he decides to reject it, I believe that with the support of my best friend and mom, I could welcome this baby into the world. It’d definitely be hard, but I can do it.”

Kyungsoo’s mother beamed, a fresh batch of tears tracing the rim of her eyes. What she felt towards her son at this moment was pure affection and pride. Even though Kyungsoo had gotten himself into this mess through accidental disobedience, he still played the bigger person and opted to take responsibility for his actions. She felt as though she had raised him right; as if all of her hard worked had paid off. And it was a great feeling; a very great feeling.

Standing up next to her son, the petite woman placed an affectionate peck on Kyungsoo’s side temple. “You made a good choice, Kyung-ah. I’ll tell you now that it’ll be extremely difficult at times, but at the end, it’s all worth it. I promise you that. I love you so much you know that right?”

Kyungsoo nodded, grabbing his mother’s hand and intertwining their fingers fondly before turning towards his doctor. “Now that I’ve made my choice, can you tell me what else I should expect?”

His doctor smiled at him, happy with the other’s choice. “Why of course I can. Pregnancy in a male is no different than pregnancy in a woman. You will feel the same symptoms, and will carry the baby in your womb for the usual nine months. However, due to the male anatomy, pregnancy in males could be quite risky, but not to a dangerous extent. Just make sure you refrain from doing any straining activities, get a lot of rest, and drink plenty of water. Doing anything past your capability could be very fatal to your child and very harmful for you, alright?”

“I understand,” affirmed Kyungsoo as he listened intently.

“Great. Now, giving birth for pregnant males can only be done by cesarean section due to the fact that males, well, have es and not s. This surgical procedure is very safe and common, but I will still hand you a pamphlet so that you can gain more information about it,” explained the doctor, rolling his chair towards his touch screen laptop. “During these next nine months, you will have to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so I will be prescribing you a prenatal vitamin to ease you into your pregnancy diet. You are relatively healthy, but as a pregnant male these vitamins will definitely benefit you. Simply take one once a day, preferably in the morning during breakfast, and you're set. And last but not least, no drugs, smoking, or drinking at all for the next nine months. Is this all clear?”

Kyungsoo nodded at his doctor’s words, successfully processing them in his mind. “It’s a lot to take in, but I understand.”

The physician once again smiled, reaching up towards a cabinet and taking out a clear container. “Alright. So before I have you schedule an appointment, I want to make sure you are perfectly healthy and that your body is reacting well to the changes occurring. So I want you to go to the bathroom and give me a urine sample, ok? After that, we can discuss any further details.”

The young male nodded yet again, before flashing the elder man a small smile. Exiting the examination room, Kyungsoo headed straight to the hospital’s bathroom, his heart gradually calming down. However, as he neared the bathroom, the Junior felt his hear drop into his stomach; a strong feeling of nausea taking over him. All of the worries he thought he had left back in the examination room soon rushed back to him. And at that moment he felt unsure that his decision had been the right one, because not even a few feet away from him, someone was staring intensely into his eyes…

… And that someone was none other than Kim Jongin.

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A/N: Now, I know you guys are upset that I haven’t update in a very long time, and I’m not going to give you guys any excuses. I’ve just been applying to colleges and trying to get through senior year. I want to say that I’m sorry for taking so long and making some of you think that I was going to abandon this fic.  I want you guys to know that I would never stop writing this story, and that all of your sweet comments encouraged me to take a break from homework and update this thing.

So, a lot of things happened in this chapter. Some of you guys might not have liked Suho’s behavior, but I just want to say that every character in this fanfic has a story to them. Baekhyun’s story was partly revealed (there’s more to it), and Suho’s story will soon explain his behavior.

It’s almost 4AM, and I didn’t really proofread so sorry for any mistakes. I wish I could’ve made this chapter better for you guys since I was gone for so long, but I need to follow the plot I have formed, so I hope you guys can enjoy it as is. I also want to thank all of you guys that subscribed and commented. I’ve read each and every one of your comments and loved seeing your reactions : )

Anyways, I’ll end it here. I love you guys! ♥