Chapter XXII.

Fall Asleep

It’s the shudder that runs down his spine at 2 am in the morning that makes Jongin want to forget to sleep. Two days had passed since he last saw the form of a certain redhead and he’s a hundred percent sure that he’s about to lose hope that he’ll ever appear again.

The room remains dark, his numb body slowly becoming a part of what seemed to be the room’s usual decoration. With every seconds ticking away into lost space, Jongin taps his fingers, the only part of body he’s allowed to move, against the sheets of his hospital bed and listens while the hands of the clock turn as if marking how he slowly vanishes with every motion.

Soon enough after Kyungsoo’s leave, the visits of his two other best friends became more frequent and for the second time on that certain afternoon, Luhan enters his hospital room, carrying two paper bags in his hand and smiling a little as he meets Jongin’s eyes.

“Are you up for some cake? Taemin allowed me to bring some for you. I also have some milk and tons of medicine by the way.” Luhan says, glancing at the younger male for awhile before placing the items he bought on the table near Jongin’s bed.

Jongin shifts a little, nodding slowly in acknowledgement of his visitor’s words before he starts to fall into his own world again. He blinks and in an instant, he feels the presence of Luhan beside him though he opts to stay still.

Carefully, Luhan removes Jongin’s oxygen mask and cuts a piece of cake for the latter to eat. The other male bites the delicacy, chewing it in a pace as fast as his strength allows him to before losing his gaze into the distance.

“I’m sorry hyung.” He mumbles absentmindedly before Luhan places his mask back in place. Fixing Jongin’s blanket, the doe eyed man gently pats the younger male’s shoulder to assure him that it’s fine. He tucks him in, bringing the piece of cloth higher against Jongin’s chest before watching him stare into an uncertain direction.

Luhan breaks the silence. “Losing your sight again doesn’t mean you have to be sorry Jongin. Don’t even dare to start thinking that you’re becoming a burden to me and Sehun because we’re obviously fine with what we’re doing. Happy even ‘cause we know that we could help you.”

Jongin inhales in response, closing his eyes as fatigue overcomes him again. Like a shockwave surging through his body, the young male feels the tingling sensation that crashes onto him as sleep greets his sore body. His hold on the bed sheet slightly grows tighter as the after affects of his daily medicine intakes plus the abusive poking of different types of syringes against his body parts claims his frail form.

In succession, the sick male’s breathing grows normal and he finally succumbs into unconsciousness while Luhan watches sadly by the sidelines, trying hard not to let a tear destroy his cheery façade though Jongin was probably floating away into another dimension already.

He wraps the remaining piece of cake from what he had gotten to feed Jongin and places it next in the trash can. With careful movements, he arranges the milk and medicines he had bought for his best friend before occupying the chair next to the hospital bed once again.

Taking his phone out, Luhan dials Kyungsoo’s number for the sake of trying. Somewhat like a subtle approach to the harsh reality that the redhead might not really come back anymore because it’s hopeless, because maybe, the older male realized that it’s better to run away as early as possible than dying inside slowly with little to no chance of revival.

However, after a few minutes of waiting and listening to the intimidating ring within the other line, Luhan receives the same response he had been getting for the past few days. A beep then a simple “I’m busy, call you back later,” voicemail from Kyungsoo greets him into the end of the call and then a short pause followed by quietness which means the line has been put down.

Luhan soon puffs air into his cheeks, thinking of possible scenarios why his best friend had suddenly chickened out on Jongin but the idea itself although presented with much proof still seems so impossible that the male could hardly wrap any firm thoughts around it. So he decides to just finally watch out for Jongin until Sehun arrives to take him home.

He plays with his phone, checking on the other male every once in a while before he notices something that makes him quite skeptical. Standing up, Luhan goes nearer to Jongin and pushes the guy’s fringe into the side just to discover that the man is burning with fever again. Immediately, he presses the emergency button to call for Taemin’s attention as panic over rides his senses.

Shaking, he dials Sehun’s number while his other hand practically tightens its hold on Jongin’s own cold palms and fingers. A group of nurses followed by Minseok and Taemin enters the room in a rush and the next thing Luhan knows while speaking to Sehun in the phone, is that he’s being moved into the corner of the room to look at a combulsing Jongin with people in white uniforms and lab coat injecting something into him just to put him back into relaxing sleep which he could guess isn’t relaxing at all.

He ends the call then, sweaty palms rubbing together before he hears an odd beeping which makes him flinch as he stares at how everyone’s trying to revive the corpse that Jongin is slowly turning into. Next, Sehun’s entrance is almost like a strong crash, like he was planning on destroying the door, supposedly because he was in a hurry. He comes in with a worried look on his face which soon turns into devastation as he catches a glimpse of the current problem that is occurring inside the room.

And it actually scares him; it scares him so much with Luhan, to see how Jongin is fighting so hard for something that everyone will lose someday. It’s pathetic, in so many ways to be real but he shakes his head, bowing it and choking back a sob as a thought crosses his mind highlighting the fact how life could be so simple if it just doesn’t you up in the wrong places.

The rate of the heart monitor soon goes back to normal and everyone finally thinks, Hey we’ve lost you there for awhile buddy but thank God you came back, releasing out sighs that withheld so much agony, frustration and relief all at the same time.

Sehun and Luhan snaps back into reality too as soon as the nurses had left and Taemin is the only one in the room with them. He stares at the couple as Luhan falls into Sehun’s arms, crying.

Jongin breathes again but they all know he’s not about to wake up soon enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beep.

Twenty four hours since Jongin had been diagnosed into a coma and Luhan had never felt this weary at the span of his existence. The comforting arms of Sehun had kept him sane for the past few hours but since Kyungsoo hasn’t exactly appeared yet, the blond male had to leave again to look for the redhead much to his dismay.

Beep.

Rubbing his eyes, Luhan stifled a yawn before unlocking his phone. Noon had passes by in a blink of an eye and the doe eyed male almost fell off his chair by the bedside upon reading his lover’s message.

Fr: Hubby

Hyung I’ve found him. 88-2, Bangi-dong. Songpa-gu, Seoul. I’ve received a call from one of my friends earliersaying he’d be revealing his new sets of sculpture in that museum. I’ll try to catch him hyung, I will, for Jongin, for all of us.

Hope grows within Luhan and he actually gives himself a hard thump on the head for even forgetting the event that Kyungsoo had been preparing for the past days. Maybe it’s because he rarely even sees the redhead go home before that’s why he actually never thought that the other male could even finish the sculptures he needed.

Yet it seems like Kyungsoo had proven him wrong again and so he inhales, staring at the unconscious man in front of him.

“He’ll be arriving soon, just wait Jongin.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hot, a little too hot. Sehun swears below his breath as he weaves through dozens of people, all oddly staring at him as he pushed past them. Seriously, why does the parking area have to be so far away from the museum, Damn it and the weather’s not doing any help today, I swear. He thinks, lips forming a thick line while he continued to walk.

Since blessed with long legs, it takes Sehun only a few patient strides before he reaches his destination and walks inside the museum where an unquestionable amount of guests were already gathering to catch sight of  Kyungsoo and his masterpieces. Hurriedly, he searches past among the few groupps that had formed before bumping into a brunette who immediately recognized him.

“Mr. Oh?” She questions, smiling in acknowledgement as he turned towards her.

Sehun takes a step back, going to her with a look of relief. “Naeun! I’m really glad you’re here, isn’t it you’re one of this event’s organizers so perhaps have you seen Kyungsoo?”

“Kyungsoo?” Naeun mimics, staring whimsically at Sehun. “I’m sorry Mr. Oh but Mr. Do had notified me a day earlier that he couldn’t attend this art launching so I’m the one in charge to entertain the guest and host the viewing of his sculptures. I thought you would have known it since I believe you’re a close friend but it seems that you we’re not the least aware of his leave.”

Looking at the brunette helplessly, the blond male clenches his fist, his throat going dry. “You sure he’s not coming?”

Naeun nods her head, muttering a simple yes before one of her assistants whisks her away from the said man. She leaves in a rush, bowing to a distracted Sehun in the process before she left with an apologetic gaze sent towards him.

“Wait!” Sehun practically screams, catching most of the people’s attention in the museum as he runs after Naeun. “Didn’t he mention anything about where he’s going or where he is at the moment?”

“I’m afraid not Mr. Oh. He didn’t say anything and the last time I saw him was still yesterday morning, when we were fixing his sculptures here in the museum.”

“Is it possible that there are other people who might know of where his location is right now?”

“I’m really sorry Mr. Oh but aside from me, he hasn’t spoken to any of the staff yesterday therefore I’m certain enough that none of us here really knows where he is.”

Sehun sighs trying to smile but awfully failing. “You really don’t know where he is, do you?”

“No Mr. Oh.” Naeun sadly smiles. “And I apologize, I really want to help you right now but there’s so much that I have to do so I need to leave but I promise to contact you sir if ever I get any news about Mr. Do.”