Chapter 23: Listen to My Prayers

Please read the A/N at the end of this chapter!

Jongin spent the rest of the week in the hospital room, leaving only to use the restroom, or to eat, or when Sehun and Luhan come to drag him away. But those times only amounted to so much, and Jongin found himself sitting by Kyungsoo’s bed longer than he expected himself to.

Baekhyun often visited, staying almost as long as Jongin did, and many times, Jongin would catch him staring at him. Jongin knew Baekhyun had questions, but he was much too tired to deal with Baekhyun’s inquiring eyes, and was thankful that he was tactful enough to keep them to himself for the time being.

Since Baekhyun stayed at the hospital a lot, Chanyeol often came too. Every time the Crown Prince would enter the hospital, there would be a flurry of movement as a parade of people rushed towards him, trying to get on his good side. Chanyeol tolerated the incessant chatter and forced compliments for a couple of days before getting tired of the hoard of people that would follow him around, much to Jongin’s relief.

Jongin, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol spent many hours huddled around Kyungsoo’s hospital bed, trying to pretend that there weren’t bodyguards and nervous, jittery doctors waiting outside the door. They tried to pretend that the bandages that were still wrapped around Baekhyun did not exist, and they tried to pretend that the tone of the heartbeat monitor didn’t falter now and then.

It was one of the rare days where Baekhyun would be busy, and Chanyeol would come visit Kyungsoo (and Jongin) by himself. Jongin nodded in cknowledgement as Chanyeol slid open the door and tip-toed into the room. He placed a bouquet of flowers next to the growing mountain of flowers (Chanyeol brought a fresh bouquet every time he visited) before grabbing an apple out of the basket of fruits and began peeling it next to Jongin.

“Here,” he said, handing a slice to Jongin.

“Thanks.” Jongin took it, but didn’t eat it, letting his hand drop to rest on his knee.

“He’ll be alright, Jongin,” Chanyeol said, gently rubbing Jongin’s back. “He’ll be alright.”

“I hope so,” Jongin replied, voice hoarse and uncertain, sounding completely foreign to his ears, and it soon faded into a silence that seemed much too familiar these days.

He cleared his throat.

“Anyways, you and Baekhyun seem to be even closer these days,” Jongin said, turning to look at Chanyeol, smiling weakly in an attempt to lighten the conversation.

Chanyeol flushed red and looked away. “Y-yeah.”

“What are you going to do?”

Chanyeol looked up, startled. “What do you mean?”

“About Baekhyun.”

“What about him?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Jongin said pointedly. “Hyung, even though you try to appear all scary and cold, you were never good at hiding your feelings.”

When Chanyeol chose to stay quiet and peel another apple, Jongin sighed.

“Dude, we all know you’re head over heels in love with Baekhyun.”

“.”

“Holy crap, are you okay?” Jongin exclaimed, staring at the cut on Chanyeol’s finger and tugging the knife out of his hands. “Uh, I’ll take over.”

Chanyeol nodded wordlessly, cleaning up the wound half-heartedly, eyebrows furrowed like he was thinking about something.

“Nothing.”

Jongin looked up from slicing the apple and looked at Chanyeol with surprise. “Sorry?”

“Nothing,” Chanyeol repeated. “I’m not going to do anything.”

“Ch—”

“Because, you know,” Chanyeol laughed a little, and the sound was like tiny little daggers, digging into his heart. “He’s my best friend.”

“I don’t think I understand,” Jongin began slowly. “So what if he’s your best friend?”

Chanyeol shrugged, leaning against the table, eyes staring steadfastly at the tiled floor. “We’re best friends. That’s all there is to it. Nothing more.”

He shoved himself away from the table and shot Jongin a grin.

“Sorry, gotta go. Jieun’s returning today, and Sehun’s supposed to pick her up. I don’t think he can handle her alone, so I’m going just in case. He told me to meet him at like, three or something.”

It was barely one-thirty, but Jongin decided to stay silent, knowing Chanyeol probably wanted some time on his own.

“Oh.” Jongin paused as he realized that wow, he’s been really detached from civilization. He hadn’t even realized his younger sister was coming back today. “Tell her welcome back and that I’ll go see her as soon as possible.”

Chanyeol nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll tell her. See you later, Jongin. Don’t stress too much.”

The door slid close behind Chanyeol, and Jongin slumped onto the bed again, peeking at Kyungsoo from over his arms.

“Kyungsoo-ah,” he whispered, reaching at and lightly touching Kyungsoo’s face with his fingertips. “When will you wake up? I miss you.”

Jongin closed his eyes, hand traveling to grip Kyungsoo’s, and felt a wave of fatigue come over him. Ever since Kyungsoo was admitted to the hospital, he had hardly slept, catching some shut-eye for only a few hours at most.

It’s so peaceful, Jongin thought as his eyes fluttered open and close, glancing at Kyungsoo. He smiled a little to himself as his eyes fell shut again, and suddenly, it seemed impossible to open them again. Soon, he found himself drifting in and out of consciousness.

Just as he was about to slip into slumber, he squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I miss you a lot,” he breathed. “Please wake up.”

---

Sehun sighed for the umpteenth time before poking Luhan in the cheek.

“Sehun-shi, will you please quit that,” Luhan said through clenched teeth, grabbing Sehun’s wrist none too lightly and placing it forcefully on his lap.

The two of them were sitting on a makeshift bench outside the airport, watching plane after plane land on the runway. Sehun had wanted to sit inside the building, insisting that they could welcome Jieun there instead, but Luhan had pointed out that Jieun was going to go directly to the main palace, thus making it pointless for her to go into the airport building.

“And besides,” Luhan had said. “You told Prince Chanyeol to meet you out here.”

Sehun had grumbled and stubbornly refused to leave the air conditioned building, but Luhan had forcefully dragged him—kicking and screaming—outside.

“I’m bored,” Sehun whined, kicking his legs like a little kid before turning to Luhan and grinning. “Let’s play a game.”

“I don’t want to.”

“B-but, I’m the prince! You’re supposed to do what I tell you to!”

“Prince Sehun, can you please sit like a normal person and be patient?” Luhan said, exasperated.

Sehun scowled at Luhan before facing forward again.

“Jieun’s late,” he muttered resentfully under his breath. “So is Chanyeol-hyung. He said he would come. It’s been an hour!”

“Ten minutes.”

“An hour, ten minutes, same thing,” Sehun said dismissively. “They are both irresponsible people. See, I’m the o—”

“Who’re you calling irresponsible?”

Chanyeol appeared out of nowhere behind Sehun and placed a hand threateningly on his shoulder, smiling sweetly.

“Talking about me?”

Sehun glared at him.

“Psh, of course not,” he replied, rolling his eyes and dragging Chanyeol onto the bench next to him. “You’re not irresponsible at all. You’re only, oh I don’t know, an hour late!”

Chanyeol looked at him, confused. “It’s only been ten minutes? I thought you told me to meet you at three. It’s three-ten.”

Luhan shook his head, mouthing don’t ask.

“Ugh, I swear, I’ve been in the sun since forever!”—it’s been half an hour, Luhan mouthed—“I’m going to get sunburnt, and then my beautiful pale skin will be all wrinkly and red, and I’m going to hate you all for life!” Sehun whined.

“Is it just me, or is he acting like a teenage girl on PMS?” Chanyeol stage-whispered to Luhan.

Luhan nodded seriously. “It’s that time of the month again.”

“Would you two shut up!”

Chanyeol and Luhan took one glance at Sehun’s comically frowning face before bursting in laughter. Sehun harrumphed and smacked them both on the arm before burying his face in Luhan’s neck.

“Luhaaaaan. It’s hot.”

“There there,” Luhan said, choking back giggles and patting Sehun awkwardly on the shoulder.

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow to the skinship, and Luhan’s cheeks took on a light flush. He looked pointedly away from Chanyeol, opting to instead stare at the cement in front of him. One of the guards gave him a salute.

Sehun continued mumbling nonsensically under his breath, and Luhan mhmmed haphazardly from time to time, but Sehun seemed satisfied enough.

“Oh!” Chanyeol stood up and grabbed Sehun’s arm. “She’s here.”

Sehun reluctantly pulled away from Luhan and stood up. Luhan followed his lead, primly smoothing out his dress shirt and standing a little bit behind Sehun. Sehun frowned and dragged him forward.

A small jet rolled onto the runaway, groaning to a stop in front of them. The stairs descended, and Sehun grinned when he caught a glance of dark black hair.

“Jieun!” Sehun shrieked, sprinting forward just as a pretty girl stepped down from the airplane, sunglasses pushed back onto her head. Her features held a surprising likeliness to Sehun’s—the same sharp chin and perfect heart-shaped lips.

He grabbed her in a bone-crushing hug, nearly knocking her over.

“I missed you!” He said almost accusingly when Chanyeol tugged him away from Jieun.

Jieun laughed, “It’s only been six months! Hello, Chanyeol-oppa.”

She leaned in to give Chanyeol a hug. Then, after she pulled away, she smiled at Luhan, who bowed in return, and shocked him by embracing him too.

“It’s been a while, Luhan.”

“Welcome back, Princess Jieun,” Luhan said politely, smiling warmly.

“Ugh, great, the twins are reunited,” a new voice spoke up.

The four of them looked up in surprise, only to see Jongin walking towards them, hands shoved in his pockets.

Jieun grinned, linking arms with Sehun and sticking her tongue out playfully at Jongin.

“Whatchu gonna do about it?” She asked playfully, before leaping forward and throwing her arms around Jongin.

“Whoa, watch it. This body won iest Male for like, two years in a row okay,” Jongin joked, hugging her back.

“Shut up, Jongin,” Jieun and Sehun said in unison.

Sehun walked over to peal Jongin’s away from Jieun.

“Now get away from my twin sister. Go get your own.”

Jongin rolled his eyes. “Whatever, dude. Just keep being weird or something.”

“Can we take this conversation somewhere else?” Chanyeol said suddenly. “I thought your skin was going to get all red and wrinkly, Sehun.”

Sehun gave an unmanly shriek before pulling Jieun and Luhan towards the car that was parked a few meters away.

Chanyeol shook his head before slinging his arm around Jongin’s shoulder, pulling him towards the car.

“I didn’t think you’d actually come,” Chanyeol said. “You haven’t left the hospital in forever.”

Jongin shrugged. “Well, she is my younger sister, and I haven’t seen her for six months.”

Chanyeol laughed, “I’m glad you decided to come out, Jongin. Fresh air is good for you.”

“Excuse me, isn’t that what I said to you when Baekhyun got hurt?”

Jongin gave Chanyeol a look, who flushed red and turned away.

“Hy—” Jongin began.

“Let’s hurry. They’re waiting for us.”

Jongin looked up, and sure enough, Sehun, Luhan, and Jieun were waiting patiently outside the car. Sehun was shooting them daggers from his eyes with his arms crossed and feet tapping.

“If you can move any faster!” He called.

“That brat makes me want to crawl there, just to make him suffer,” Jongin growled under his breath.

“I heard that!”

“Shut up, Sehun,” Jongin yelled.

---

Jongin found himself outside of Kyungsoo’s room again, this time with Jieun.

After Jieun settled into her room (which was basically her tossing her suitcase in a corner), she demanded to know everything that’s happened. News had traveled fast, and she, even though she had been abroad, had gotten news of the coup d’état. So, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Jongin sat down at the table to the side of her room and slowly told her the story while Luhan busied himself with making tea and refilling the plate with all kinds of snacks.

After a while, Sehun had gotten annoyed with his constant flitting around and urged him to sit with them.

Chanyeol had skimmed over Baekhyun’s injury, quickly reassuring Jieun that he was fine and that he was going to come visit her in a few days. However, Jieun insisted upon seeing Kyungsoo, and although they told her it was late, and that she was late, she refused to take no for an answer.

As a result, the four of them (Chanyeol had to finish some paperwork) returned to the hospital, and the overwhelming dread Jongin had temporarily pushed to the back of his mind returned.

“When’s he going to wake up?” Jieun whispered, taking a step closer to the bed. “Did they say?”

Jongin shook his head.

“No,” he said hoarsely. “They said he was stable, but he just won’t wake up.”

His voice caught a little at the end.

“He’ll be alright,” Luhan spoke up suddenly.

He had been straightening the flowers ever since they had walked in, and Jongin was surprised to hear his voice.

“Yeah,” Jieun agreed, taking Jongin’s hand. “You don’t have to worry, oppa. He’ll wake up soon. I can feel it. Besides, he still hasn’t sung a song for me yet. Remember that bet?”

Jongin smiled as he thought back to two years ago, on Jieun and Sehun’s birthday. They had been betting on whether or not Chanyeol could eat more than two large pizzas, and Kyungsoo had lost (he said no, and Chanyeol ended up eating three and a half). As a result, Jieun forced him to promise that he’d sing a song for her one day.

“Yeah,” Jongin said softly, brushing the hair away from Kyungsoo’s eyes. “Yeah.”

________________________________________________

A/N: The return of Holly's crappy writing!

Hello everybody, I'm back. I apologize for the long delay of this chapter. I had half of it written, but for some reason, I just couldn't being myself to finish it.

Now, before anything else, I just want to say that I've been thinking a lot about this story, and realized that I've focused on only three (if not, only two) main couples. And although I promised an OT12 story, I noticed that there are some characters that I haven't even introduced yet.

So, I was wondering if you guys wanted a story focused on only three main couples (BaekYeol, KaiSoo, and HunHan), or an OT12 story, as promised? If it's the latter option, then the story will have many more chapters (possibly up to fifty or even more).

Please vote on the poll/comment below, and I'll be sure to take your suggestions into consideration!

If anyone wants to know what I've been up to these past days/months/centuries  check out my blog post here.

Follow me on Tumblr if you want to ask me any questions!

Thanks to everyone who have continued to support this story, despite my lack of updates.