I've spent a while writing today so be excited!  Seriously, I wrote four chapters today (including one that is actually 5 pages long - though that is not this chapter and it will need some MAJOR editing before I'll put it up for you guys but trust me, IT IS A REALLY GOOD CHAPTER).  Anyway, here is the next chapter.  This one is short, but another will be out soon so don't worry too much. 

Chapter 26   

Onew didn’t know what to do.  The only experience he had with hospitals was from when he was a small child and his grandmother had been brought in for heat – but this wasn’t something as simple as that, and now he was expected to actually do something.  What that something was exactly, he didn’t know, but there was just this sense that he should do something.  He rang his hands anxiously, his elbows pressed down hard into his knees as he rocked slightly in his chair, waiting like a man heading for the electric chair for any news on Taemin.    

They all sat there, on uncomfortable hospital chairs, waiting for news on the dancer.  With each passing moment the tension grew and Onew wanted to scream, jump up, hit something, anything to break the horrible silence.  But at the same time, he didn’t want to break the silence, because the silence allowed them to hear the approaching footsteps of nurses coming in to check on them, and it would let him hear the doctor coming to see them when Taemin’s surgery was done – whatever the outcome of that would be. 

Jonghyun looked dead on his feet, and considering how much longer the singer had been with Taemin than anyone else since this had happened that was understandable.  His eyelids kept drooping only for him to snap them open with a sudden shake of his head.  Or he would start to slope forward in his chair and when it came to the point of when he would loose his balance and fall from his seat entirely, he would suddenly snap awake and look around the waiting room as though to see if anyone had noticed his bizarre movement.    

Key was catatonic.  Once they had been led to this room to await the results of Taemin’s surgery, Minho had led his friend to a chair and sat him down.  The point on the wall that Key had been staring at when Minho walked away to get some coffee was the same point he stared at now.  The only difference was that his hand clutched around the cup of now ice cold coffee that had been steaming when Minho forced it into his hands almost two hours ago. 

They had been told that the surgery should take three to five hours, and nurses were coming over periodically and telling them that things were going well, it was all “according to plan,” though that didn’t mean anything to them.  What did they know about medical procedures or what this so-called plan was?  They just waited in the small room that did little to alleviate their stress.  Seriously, whoever decorates hospital waiting rooms needs to lighten up because there are few things more depressing than the grayish-blue wallpaper and red-flecked white tiles that seemed to fill rooms like this, with their stock-made dark blue plastic chairs that were more uncomfortable than any other chair in existence.    

Minho was alternately sitting next to Key and patting his friend’s back or pacing the floor of the waiting room, though given the small size of the room, it didn’t take very long to cover the room and return.  When he wasn’t pacing or trying to comfort Key, he was jumping up at every moment, running off to fetch anything that someone might need.  He had made at least five coffee trips already, as well as asked for blankets from the nurses as the AC seemed to be set at Arctic.  Onew suspected that he just liked being busy, and it gave him something else to focus on and pass the time until they heard about Taemin. But no matter what he did, Minho’s mind stayed with his dongsaeng if the intense expression on his face was any indication.  The Dream Team MCs may like to make fun of his serious expression all the time – but if they saw this one that would think what he shows on their show was the funniest and most light-hearted expression on the planet.  The rapper was so tense that his face could have been carved from stone and no one would know the difference.

Taemin’s family was huddled in another corner of the room.  Taesun cradled his mother to him as she cried and rocked and prayed, or just sat their quietly, clinging to her other child as though if she let go, something horrible might happen to him as well.  Mr. Lee read from his bible, trying to find some solace or strength in the words that he found there between making phone calls to other members of their family, like Taemin’s grandparents or Aunts and Uncles.    

Onew watched over them all.  He knew that he should feel something, but it wasn’t there.  He felt somehow empty, as though he would never smile again.  He knew intellectually that he was in emotional shock, and that his body was holding off on letting it hit him until later, and he didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry at that.  He knew tonight, he would be a mess, seething in rage at what had happened to Taemin and hysterical no matter the outcome of the surgery, but for now he was just there and waiting as the clocked ticked on and Taemin was worked on in the operating room and hope that he would see that goofy smile again, and hear that explosion of laughter, muffled by a hand that always manages to find itself in front of his mouth every time he laughs.  The only thing that mattered right now was Taemin and his recovery.  

Onew had never been one to really follow religion, any religion, but right now he prayed.  Please, save him.  Let him be alright.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, there will be another one up tomorrow! 

Oh, I have asked my friend whom I am basing this on to read this story when I'm done.  Of course I'll have to explain about SHINee to him and everything so that will be fun, but I think it might be interesting for him to see it from a different point of view.

As always: please comment!