Chapter 28

It had been five hours since Taemin went into surgery.  Five hours of wondering.  Five hours of suffering through all of the ‘what ifs’ that bounced through their minds about the horrible news that they might receive when a doctor finally walked through that door.

They had been told that the surgery would take three to five hours, and it seemed like the doctors were going to take every second.  Key was rocking in his chair and anxiously biting his nails, continually glancing between the door and the clock on the wall.  No one had spoken a word for the last forty minutes, since the last time a nurse had come in with an update for them.  Key almost felt like he was vibrating he was so tense.  He sat on the edge of his chair, waiting for some news, any news.

And that was when the doctor walked in.  The same woman that Jonghyun and the Lees had met earlier walked through the door, looking far more tired than she had the last time that they had seen her.  Everyone stood up in mass and crowed around the exhausted woman.

“How is he? How’s my son?!” Mrs. Lee demanded when the other did not speak right away.

The doctor smiled, “Your son has made it through the surgery.  It was a close call though.  His heart stopped at one point.” 

Key inhaled sharply and then it seemed as though his body forgot how to exhale.  His heart had stopped.  Taemin’s heart had stopped.  Taemin’s heart had ceased beating.  Taemin had died.  If only for a few moments, Taemin had been dead on the operating room table.  He felt Onew propping him up on his left and Key realized that his knees had buckled.  For a moment key thought he own heart was going to stop as it shuddered within his chest, but he zoned back in as the doctor continued.

“We got his heart going again and we think that we have corrected all of his life threatening injuries.  We’ve rearranged his stomach so that it is back where it is supposed to be.  He is going to have some dietary constraints for a while as he will probably have a lot of heartburn due to the trauma.  His diaphragm was torn as we had suspected.  We have stitched it up as well but he is going to have a harder time breathing now, especially with his bruised lungs, though with rest these should resolve themselves now.  We had to wire several of his ribs together so that they will heal properly.” 

The woman heaved a huge sigh and closed her eyes for a minute.  She looked exhausted, Key thought as he waited anxiously for her to continue.  “He is not completely out of the woods yet, but he’s got a fighting chance now.  He’s stable for now, but it’s still not safe to take him off of the respirator, his lungs are still very weak.  I can’t say for sure when he’ll wake up – it’s up to him at this point.”

“When can we see him?” Key blurted out, desperate to see with his own eyes that the doctors had brought Taemin back, that the dancer was still here.

“He is in recovery right now and will be moved to the Intensive Care Unit within the next ten minutes or so.  I am afraid that visitation in ICU is family only.” She said, looking pointedly at the outspoken man.

SHINee stood in shock while the Lees looked pained for a moment.  What did she mean?  Key needed to see Taemin.  He felt like his heart would literally stop if they were apart for too long, he hadn’t been with Taemin when he was hurt, he hadn’t been able to be with him except for a few short moments when Taemin was unconscious and unaware of his presence.  Key needed to be there for him.  To be there when he woke up, so that Taemin would know that Key was there and that he could do something to help him recover – he couldn’t leave Taemin alone in this.  He had promised, all those weeks ago when their manager had first found out and he held onto a trembling Taemin in their old dorm, that he would stand by the dancer and they would go through this together, and he wasn’t going to break that promise now.   

“But…I have to see him!” Key cried.

“I’m sorry sir, but these are the rules of this hospital.  Taemin is in a very fragile state right now.  He cannot take the stress of having hordes of people parade in and out of his room.”

The doctor turned and left the room and a nurse came up to the Lees to give them Taemin’s room number.

Key and the rest of SHINee were in shock.  To Key Taemin might be a boyfriend, but to the rest of them he was their little brother.  Someone they would kill for any day.  And they were being told that they could not see him as he struggled through the hardest chapter of his life.   

“But!” Key cried, clutching his hand in the fabric of his shirt, and twisting it, forcing his hand deeper into the fabric.  “I promised him…” he whispered, “I promised…”

“You promised what son?” Mr. Lee asked of the distraught boy, having walked back over too SHINee.

“That he wouldn’t be alone, that I would fight with him through all of this.  I promised him weeks ago…that he wouldn’t have to fight alone…” 

Mr. Lee took in the sight before him.  While SHINee looked distressed, Key looked lost and unbalanced.  It almost seemed like he had deflated, and become a 2-D version of himself.  He quickly ran through all he had learned today about his son.

“You’re his boyfriend aren’t you?” The man asked quietly. 

Key looked up at the man and, through hollow eyes, and just nodded.  The conversation caught the attention of the rest of the Lee family who drew closer to the SHINee members, studying Key closely. 

Taemin’s dad however just stood back and appraised the young man in front of him.  He had known Key for three years now, and knew that Key had always paid especially close attention to his son.  They had always been close and half of Taemin’s phone calls home were consumed with talk of Key and what he had done for Taemin lately.  He probably should have guessed it when Taesun brought up the topic of homouality, because Taemin wasn’t the most out-going of people.  It took him a long time to get comfortable around anyone enough to trust them enough in a relationship, so it had to be one of the SHINee members.  So why not Key?

Mr. Lee sighed and placed his hands on Key’s shoulders.  “Well, I can’t be responsible for the breaking of a promise to my son can I?”  At Key’s confused look he continued, “We are allowed to put down four names on the list of people who can gain entry to Taemin’s room no matter the time.  We were going to ask you all which one of you all you wanted to put on the list, but it looks like that decision is done.”

Key jumped on the man, hugging him with strength he didn’t know his warn out body still possessed.  He felt as though he had gained a lost a thousand years over the course of that day.  He would see Taemin; he would help him get better.  There was nothing else. 

I don't quite know what to make of this chapter...  I feel like something fell flat in here but I'm not quite sure where the issue is...

I hope you guys are enjoying my story.  The next chapter is a little lighter.  There will be some flashbacks and stuff of pre-hospital keytae...so look forward to that!

Please comment!