We Are Just Meant To Be 

Chapter Thirty-Eight 

It felt like an eternity before one of the doctors working on both Ji Yong and Seung Hyun stepped out of the room. It had Daesung, Seungri, and Young Bae moving to their feet and towards the doctor, with the question of their brothers condition at the tip of their tongues, Yet, before they could even utter a word, the doctor lifted a hand to stop them and simply said, “I’m afraid that the two remain in critical condition- we have tried everything we can, with no results.”

Seungri inched into himself, ready to cry, but Daesung was not about to crumble. “What about us! Could we try to give energy to Ji Yong? We are brothers from the same litter after all,” He urged, making the doctor look at him with consideration.

“We could try, but the bond between nekos is a delicate thing, you are going to have to keep in mind that it might backfire, and cause a cease in their bond,”

“A cease?” Young Bae had never heard of such a thing in his life.

“It means it could end up dissolving their bond, in any case, Seung Hyun being not your brother will be in danger by himself of dying,” the doctor frowned, thinking, “Does Seung Hyun himself have any close brothers that could help him?”

“But how could a cease happen!” Seungri demanded, “that should not be possible,”

“As hard as it is to believe, bonds created in mating can be easily dissolved by outside circumstances between the two of them,” the doctor gently explained, “We have done a bit of research on it, but there is no better explanation other than its something that we have no control over, and like any other relationship in the world can be easily severed. That is why is not uncommon to have been mated before when choosing someone new—but at the same time its not pleasant. After all, its detrimental to the mind and body and some Neko have gone crazy over it.”

“That is a big decision then,” Young Bae whispered, “Ji Yong and Seung Hyun are happily mated, if anything was to dissolve that, it might end up hurting them psychologically,” Daesung and Seungri both pursed their lips as they thought.

“How much time do we have?”  Daesung whispered once Seungri turned and buried his face in Young Bae’s chest.

It was hard- if a cease did happen, it would be hard on their brothers, but at the very least—they might still be alive to change that.

The doctor swallowed, looking from neko to neko, but holding his tongue about how re-establishing a bond between two who already had one might be a bigger strain. After all, bonds were never the same—if not they were weaker and uncomfortable when reestablished. “An hour at most,” he said.

Daesung nodded. “We’ll call Seung Hyun’s brothers to let them know what is happening, and we will be ready in half an hour,”

Calling Seung Hyun’s brothers was harder than expected; after all, it seemed their attention had been pulled in by the crisis of Dong Ho and Minki’s recovery and they weren’t answering their phones. The brother that ended up answering was not the one that they were hoping for. Siwon sounded dark over the line, demanding what it was that they wanted.

For a moment, Daesung thought about just hanging up and not telling him anything—but the thought that someone might do that to him when Ji Yong or Seungri were in danger made him grit his teeth and swallow his pride. “Seung Hyun is in critical condition, he doesn’t have long. He needs at least one of his brother’s here---” the line suddenly went dead.

Daesung in a breath, thinking that he had just been hung up like the matter of Seung Hyun’s condition didn’t mean anything. He turned to Seungri and Young Bae to tell them.

“That er!” Seungri cursed, ready to kick a wall—when an explosion across the hospital drew their attention.

Young Bae stood; ready to protect Seungri in case it was a thread. But all three of them were shocked to find themselves face to face with Dong Wook, and Siwon both standing there and looking overly protective and murderous.

“Where is our brother!” they demanded.

“How the hell did you know where to find us?” Daesung couldn’t help himself, he was still angry.

“You said critical condition! Where else would they be!” Siwon snapped.

Seungri scoffed, “Looks like you might get your wish,” his tone was so bitter, that for a moment it confused Siwon, but Seungri didn’t leave him much room to think about it. “They are not going to make it if we don’t try to offer them our energy, and since we figured since we come from similar litters that it would  help our brothers accept our energy—but at the same time this could cease their bond,”

“There must be something else we could do to help them!” Dong Wook shook his head, not ready to accept that. A cease was too close to home. It was what had parted their parents when they had been young. It was what had changed their family and hurt not only their mother—but them as well. It was well. 

“We’re on limited time; the doctors have tried all they could think off. This might be the only way,” Young Bae whispered, reaching a hand to place it on Seungri’s tense shoulder. He wanted to offer his soon to be mate all the support he could—but admittedly right now, even he was feeling helpless.

“We want to speak with the doctors,” Siwon firmly said. Dong Wook nodded as well.

Before long, they were standing in a room full of doctors, from the new fresh doctors that had just started working there a year or less ago, to the most senior and experienced doctors. Each of them had their opinion in the matter- but at the end of the day it seemed there were only three choices left. Either the death of one, the death of both, or the chance for them to live at the risk of a cease—none of the options were pleasant.

 “This is all your damned brothers fault!” Siwon snapped without thinking as he spun on Daesung and Seungri. “If Seung Hyun had never met your brother-!”

“We could say the same about your brother!” Seungri snapped, cutting Siwon off but before a fight could start, Daesung and Dong Wook were pulling their headstrong brothers back.

“Enough! Who cares about petty excuses, our brothers are in critical condition, we have to work together to figure this out, NOW!” Daesung hissed.

“,” Siwon snapped, turning away from all of them as he passed the room and continued to curse and tug at his hair. He, out of all of them knew that he had tried to cause a rift. That he had tried to cease Seung Hyun’s bond with Ji Yong because at the time all he could think about was that there was a brother he had never met and had been unable to protect and see that he would be happy. But- , he had never wished for this. He had just been acting like a to test that bond, he had made a fool of himself over it too—and now…

Looks like you might get your wish

- this had not been his intention. His intentions had been good, he had thought that they were proper—but this. a breath, he finally stopped pacing to notice that everyone was now waiting on him. He sharply nodded.

Young Bae was asked to step outside and wait as the doctors all moved to offer the rest gowns and protective masks before walking them into the tense and quiet room that had both Ji Yong and Seung Hyun lying on separate twin beds. The sound of their weak heartbeat, mixed with the white wash of the walls, and the sickening hospital chemical smell had them all feeling like this was bigger than fist anticipated.

Daesung and Seungri both rushed to their brother’s side. Looking at how the blond neko looked so fragile, tiny, and delicate lying on white bed sheets that seemed to match the pallor of his skin. “Ji Yong,” they both whispered as they stood on either side of the bed, each reaching for a cold- lifeless hand.

Dong Wook and Siwon hesitated for a second, before moving to Seung Hyun’s bed. They were scared; deep inside, that this might not work. After all, same litter or not- they had grown separate from Seung Hyun and had not even known he existed. But they both knew that they cared for him. He was their brother after all. Yet, full of conviction, from the promise they had made since they were young—they were always going to be there for each other, and that also meant Seung Hyun now that they knew that he was one of them.

Closing in, they reached for either hand of their brother and closed their eyes, listening closely to the instructions that were being given to them by the doctors.

Finding that strong bond that was there by birth, and connected them as family was simple and yet enlightening. If there had been any doubts about them being brothers before, they were now obliterated- this bond was not shared by anyone else but siblings. Across the room, Daesung and Seungri were also finding hope in being able to feel their bond to Ji Yong and then painfully waited for the doctors to guide them. “Alright, we’re monitoring everything now, please, go ahead,” the head doctor finally called. That was when they started to push their energy through the bond network, and started to feed it to their brothers. The doctors held their breath as they waited to see if there would be any change in Ji Yong or Seung Hyun’s conditions.

All too soon, the machines that were hooked around Ji Yong and Seung Hyun overloaded, and shut down. Bright light filtered the room, and Dong Wook, Siwon, Daesung, and Seungri, found themselves thrown away from their respected brother. Everyone in the room hissed, covering their eyes as the light grew in burning intensity.

“What happened!” The doctors were the first ones on their feet when the light died down, moving around the still unconscious couple and looking them over.

“They’ve reverted!” There was chaos all around them and the four perplexed nekos slowly opened their eyes. Daesung and Seungri shared a look before getting to their feet, trying to move in close and get a look at Ji Yong. Dong Wook and Siwon followed, moving to try and see if Seung Hyun was alright. Had it worked? Was their bond still intact?

“Please, someone take them outside!” a doctor called as he rushed to get into the ball of professional medicals currently awing in fascination over one thing or the other. Daesung and Seungri hissed as they were pushed out of the room. Siwon snapped, and nearly attacked, but a few guards had him thrown out with Dong Wook trying to ask for an explanation as to what was going on as he was pushed out as well.

“This isn’t fair!” Seungri cried, kicking the door without caring that it hurt him more than it probably did the wall, “They are OUR brothers! We have a right to be in there!”

“What’s going on?” Young Bae asked, worried as he reached a hand to Seungri to help calm him down. Seungri threw himself into his arms and just started to cry. Daesung shook his head- for once not being able to find his voice.

“We don’t know what is going on,” Dong Wook sighed, running a hand through his hair, and keeping a wary eye on his brother.

Young Bae sighed, and pressed Seungri closer to himself.

Inside the emergency room, the doctors were left in awe as they stared at the now stabilized couple. This was one of the strangest couples that they had ever had to deal with. “Someone, please call their parents,” the doctor finally decided, seeing as the situation really was out of their control now. The nurses in the room nodded, and left to do just that.

“This is amazing,” The second in command doctor said. The head doctor smiled at him. There had been ten different doctors working on this case, and many of them were still looking over at the couple, and taking their own analysis of the situation.

“We should probably get out there and explain things to their brothers,”

“Alright,” the second in command doctor agreed.

“Everyone, please prepare the patients to be moved to a room where we can keep them over night and monitor their conditions!” he finally called, getting back affirmative responses. “Shall we,” he said as he lead the way outside through the main doors. Both doctors weren’t surprised when they were surrounded by five worried neko.

“How are they?”

“Are they alright,”

“What’s going on!”

“Please, everyone relax, we are here to explain to you all what is going on!” as the head doctor said this, the doors to the emergency room opened, and they all had to move away to make room for the beds being pushed out. In the first one to come out, was Ji Yong. He looked alright, except for the fact that his hair a dark color and he no longer had his kitty ears. He was human.

Next to follow was Seung Hyun, basically in the same state, and as they were rushed past them to the room where they were to be monitored silence seemed to fall between everyone.  Not that Daesung or Seungri had much to say to begin with. Young Bae was the one to ask, once again, “What happened?”

“They have reverted back,” The head doctor answered, “As we know, every year, we revert back, for a day to a human state, because humanity is also a part of what we are. Another time that we might revert back is when we have just mated, and exhausted energy, but in those cases we are never in danger of depleted energy. For both is a state of being, and the other welcoming a change in our lives—but this,” the doctor shook his head.

“What we mean is that this is not normal,” the second in command doctor said, “Usually reverting back isn’t something that our bodies do because we are low in energy, even though it seems that way. Instead is a change in our lives, for one maturing, second, balance, and third, a new accommodation in our life in this case a mate who we will be sharing our energy with from now on,”

The head doctor finally took a deep breath and said, “At the moment we can’t say the real reason that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun have reverted back to a human state, other than it’s for the protection of their bond. They must still be conscious enough of their bond to know that what was going on, if they accepted the energy from their brothers that their bond could have been in danger or a cease,” the doctor’s eyes started to shine, “And if that is the case, then the bond between those two must be an amazing one! Something truly that we would like to know more about, but if not, we need to keep them here just to  make sure that the revert isn’t instead a way for their bodies to say that they are at the end and about to die.”

“The strong bond part sounds more appealing, ne?” The second in command doctor smiled, trying to keep the head doctor from being to morbid.

“So, there is a big chance that our brothers will be just fine?” Dong Wook asked.

The doctors hesitated once more, “We will like to think, but we can’t be so sure right now. For one, we don’t really know why they reverted, everything is in theory, and second, we don’t really know how any of this affects them at all.”

Silence fell over them once more.

“You are allowed to stay with them for now and look at them yourselves, but we don’t’ suggest staying over night, we rather not have a crowded room in case something happens or their condition changes for the worse.” The second in command doctor said.

“We will monitor them and keep a close eye on any change; we’ve also decided to call their parents in light of the situation,”

This caused Daesung, Seungri, and Young Bae to stiffen. They could already guess how their mother was going to act at the news of one of her son’s nearly dying and not knowing anything about it until now. Dong Wook and Siwon simply nodded, wondering if their father was really going to come around and show his face now that Seung Hyun was hurt. They had a piece of their mind that they wanted to share with the man that kept their brother from them.

With that, the doctors led them to the room where Ji Yong and Seung Hyun were and left them to themselves. The room was now empty, but there was a heart monitor on both of them and the steady beeping from their vitals that would let the doctors know immediately if there was any kind of change in the unconscious humans.

“I guess right now all we can do is hope that they are going to be alright,” Daesung muttered as he brushed his fingers over Ji Yong’s soft dark hair. Seungri sat at the corner of the bed, taking a few deep breaths about how he was feeling right now and Young Bae was holding his hand, while trying to allow him some room to breathe.

“Mom is going to be so pissed,” Seungri muttered, about ready to chew on his claws about how he was now more scared about having to face his mom.

Daesung groaned, moving away. “I have to go and check on Minzy and the kits,” he said, moving fast to leave the room, “call me if anything happens,” he said and ran out of the room, and hopefully his mother would not come looking for him.

“That’s not fair!” Seungri cried, ready to run after his brother. “Damn him using the kits and noona as an excuse!” he roared.

On the other side of the room, Dong Wook moved away from Siwon who was looking down intently at their brother.  “It’s okay, he has too or he will worry his mate. Its better that he leaves, we should probably get going as well, it’s almost morning.”

Seungri sighed and nodded his head. Young Bae reached out a hand to him, “We should go get breakfast and then come back,” he suggested. Seungri nodded once more and walked out of the room with Young Bae. Dong Wook wanted to go see his mate, and get some sleep before coming back to check in on his brother, but noticed that Siwon had not moved.

“Hey, Siwon, let’s get some breakfast,” he suggested, wanting his brother to budge.

“Not right now, I want to stay a little longer,”

“Oh,” Dong Wook wasn’t sure what he could tell him to change his mind. “Want me to tell Hee Chul where you are?” he softly asked.

Siwon shook his head. “No, I’ll leave soon; I just…need a moment,”

Shrugging, Dong Wook nodded, “Alright,” he said and left.

Siwon on the other hand looked over at Seung Hyun, looking at all the similar facial features that they shared and at all the differences that they didn’t. He couldn’t help but to take in the situation, and then think back as to what had happened several hours ago in the battle arena. The thing that Seung Hyun had changed into back in the battle—the immense power and the aura that had conveyed such intent to kill and destroy- that had been something that he had never seen before. Something strangely that even the doctors had a hard time believing and even harder now that there was no recorded footage as to what had happened. All that remained was word of mouth about what other neko had seen.

Baring his teeth in anger, he shook his head and turned away, ready to leave. All he could think about was that he had to find out what it meant, if there was any record of that ever happening. If there was something not being said to him, then he would figure it out, and he was going to start with his mother. But first, he was going to go and find his mate, and then—then he was going to have a long overdue visit at his mother’s home.

Dong Wook will deal with their father if the bastard even dared to show his face. Huffing in his anger once more, he left with a mission in his mind. And that was to make sense of the mystery that was his brother, Seung Hyun, and that mate of his, Kwon Ji Yong.

Chung Ae was a woman not to be reckoned with when it came down to her children. The moment that the call had dropped in and her husband had told her the news, she had left in a rush to get to the hospital. Her husband, Jung Hee, struggled to keep up with her, but was there in time to keep her from killing the receptionist of the hospital when they told her that they were not sure who she was looking for. Chung Ae nearly had a panic attack then and there, thinking she had gone to the wrong hospital.

“Please forgive us, our son’s name is Ji Yong, Kwon-Choi Ji Yong,” Jung Hee managed, while holding on to his sobbing wife.

Startled, the receptionist turned to locate the room. “They are in the far left wing, near the emergency room in room 21. I could have someone take you there.” she offered. The man nodded his head. Just as the receptionist was giving one of the volunteers there instructions to take Ae Chung nad Jung Hee to go see their son a strange woman ran into the desk.

They were startled as they looked at her haggard face. Eyes so deep and black that they for a second reminded Ae Chung and Jung Hee of someone else. “Please,” the woman sobbed, her short white hair curling in around her pale, round, and beautiful face. “My son, I must see him. I was called that he’s not doing well.”

“Ah, yes, his name, I need his name to find his room,” The receptionist said, moving to help the panting lady who was now holding her chest. She furrowed her brows, looking like she was having a hard time spilling out a name. She gritted her teeth. The woman had so many thoughts running inside her head and they all could see it, seeing as the emotions displayed so clearly over her face.

“I… I don’t know his name,” she finally admitted, and then ground out, “My name is Choi Jun Yeon, please, if you can just find my son! I have to see him!” She desperately cried. This caused Ae Chung and Jung Hee to stop in momentarily as the volunteer had started to ask them to follow him towards their destination.

“You wouldn’t happen to be Choi Seung Hyun’s mom, wound you?”  Ae Chung asked, pursing her lips when the woman turned to look at her with hope.

“Yes, please, where is he,”

“He’s our son’s mate,” Ae Chung said, “You had better come with us then,” The woman nodded her head and followed along.  A thick silence filtered between them, one caused by Jun Yeon who didn’t say anything as they reached the room. Once there, Ae Chung no longer cared about the woman as she rushed to her little Ji Yong’s side, reaching his limp and cold hand between the warmth of hers. She started to cry, and for the first time, in a long time—was grateful to feel her faithful and dear husband’s hand heavy on her shoulder.

The other woman walked more sedately, shaking as she slowly approached Seung Hyun’s bed, her eyes wide as she took in the pale face of what should be her son. She had been shocked when she received the call. She had told them that they must be mistaken, but no, there she was listed in case of an emergency if the father could not be reached.

She had called Hyun Yoon, demanding to know what was going on, and why this child was under her care as well as his. Hyun Yoon had been full of worry, but he was too far away to make it quick and come and check so he had confessed to everything. Keeping one of her children away from her when she already felt guilty that she had lost two of them- and they were calling her crazy when she had said she knew that she was missing another. All this time, she had thought that she had been a useless mother, but it was Hyun Yoon’s fault for taking this one away.

Dropping down to her knees beside the bed, she reached for Seung Hyun’s hand. He was supposed to be a total stranger to her, but just one look at him and already she knew. This boy was hers. This was her baby, and she had abandoned him. Crying silently to herself, she brought his hands to her lips and gently said, “I’m so sorry Seung Hyun,”

From now on, mommy was going to be there for him.

She just hoped that it wasn’t too late.

I'm hoping to get back on track on updating! :) Life has been a bit rough but we shall see.